Principle Qualities

Charm, intelligence, imagination

Principle Defects

Agressive and individualistic. Insists upon living only at his own rhythm.

Work

Clever and opportunistic. Not one for group work, unless everyone depends on him.

Best Role

Confidential agent.

Worst Role

Administrative employee.

Money

Greedy and spendthrift.

Luck

To be born on a summer's night, for in winter the granaries are empty and he must work very hard to feed himself.

Cannot Live Without

Passion

Adores

Everything off the beaten track, such as haunted castles, fried potatoes in Morocco, couscous in Sweden, frogs' legs in England, suet pudding and treacle in California.

Detests

Agendas, alarm clocks, family photograph albums.

Leisure Activities

Any voyage at all, provided that he thinks that he is the first to take it.

Favourite Places

Grottoes, catacombs, caverns, underground passages, undiscovered caves.

Colours

Red and black.

Plants

Savory, wormwood.

Flowers

Orchid, tuberose and thistle.

Skills

Salesman, commercial traveller, legal or financial expert, broker, critic, witer, politician (of an extreme party, never the centre), speleologist, doctor, anaesthetist, anatomical pathologist, criminologist, detective and, of course, spy.

The infancy, childhood and youth of the Rat will be without problems. He will live through them with insouciance, yet entranced by new discoveries. Adolescence may often cause problems, however, for this is an expremely sexual sign.

The Rat's maturity will be more difficult. Engaged by material struggles, he will be subject to financial ups and downs. an extremist on the sentimental level, the Rat will find it difficult to resist temptations and to avoid making brutal decisions.

In old age the Rat will be more peaceful. At this time he can master and even shed his aggressive instincts and greed, and finally accept the fact that he is a social animal belonging to a specific milieu within a certain historical and social context.