One cell of 144
Taurus + Year of the Rat
Two calendars cross at your birth date. This is the cell where Taurus meets the Year of the Rat, and the animal that lives in it.
Answer first
What animal is a Taurus born in the Year of the Rat?
A Taurus born in the Year of the Rat is the Aardwolf. The month and day set the Taurus half, the birth year sets the Rat half, and the crossing points at one cell in a grid of 144. Read the Aardwolf for the full reading of that cell.
The two halves
What each calendar brings
The Taurus half
Taurus holds April 20 to May 20, fixed Earth under Venus. You build slowly and keep what you build. Once you have decided a thing is good, the argument is over, whether or not anyone else has noticed. Read Taurus in the Western wing.
The Rat half
The Rat opens the twelve-year cycle and runs in a trine with the Dragon and the Monkey, the quick and inventive third of the wheel. You find the way in that nobody posted. Recent Rat years are 1996, 2008 and 2020. Read the Year of the Rat.
The crossing
What Taurus and the Rat make together
Taurus brings the weight that keeps a thing standing. The Rat year brings the wit that finds the unposted door. Put both in one creature and you get the Aardwolf.
You walk the same patch of ground again tonight, and you still find something there everyone else already gave up on.
The Rat runs in a trine with the Dragon and the Monkey. Held to the same Taurus season, those years give the Galápagos Tortoise and the Ringtail, the two crossings whose engines run closest to yours.
The boundary
Born near the boundary?
The Chinese year does not turn on January 1. It turns at the lunar New Year, somewhere between late January and mid February, so a birthday in those weeks can belong to the animal before this one. The year finder checks the real date for any year you give it.
Common questions
Questions about this crossing
Is the Aardwolf the same as being a Taurus?
Taurus is half of it. The Aardwolf is the specific crossing of Taurus with the Year of the Rat, one cell out of 144. Two people can share a Sun sign and carry different animals, because the birth year changes the second half.
What if I was born in January or February of a Rat year?
The Chinese year turns at the lunar New Year, which lands between late January and mid February. A birthday in those weeks can belong to the previous animal, so the year finder checks the real boundary before the grid names your crossing.
Which crossings share the Aardwolf's trine?
The Rat runs with the Dragon and the Monkey. Held to the same Taurus dates, those years give the Galápagos Tortoise and the Ringtail, the two animals whose instincts sit closest to the Aardwolf's.
One step away
Neighboring crossings
Or start over at the full 12 by 12 grid, or read how the crossing works.