It’s always interesting when you look at someone’s chart for the first time and they have exactly the kind of chart you would imagine. Howard Zinn, who told us the story of the United States from the viewpoint of people, not the power establishment, died yesterday at age 87. The beloved author, speaker and former professor at Boston University was a cult hero among generation after generation of the American left.
He lived long enough to experience his third Saturn return — well, he was one degree shy of exact, but that’s good enough for Saturn.
When looking at the chart of a notable person, or anyone for that matter, the first question to ask is: how is this chart a picture of the person? With Zinn, the aspects leap out: a chart weighted in Virgo and Libra, bringing a quest for both detail and social justice. But it’s one aspect — Jupiter opposite Chirion — that reveals that this is really the man’s chart.
Chiron among all the planets bestows a maverick spirit: the impetus to be different, as a matter of basic necessity. Yet put Chiron in in aspect to Jupiter and you focus those rays of warrior wisdom into something tapped into a vast database of worldly knowledge.
This aspect shows up with a crusading political spirit, sensitivity and intellectual prowess. We also find it in the charts of former Black Panther Bobby Seale, Patric Swayze, Jonathan Livingson Seagull author Richard Bach and M*A*S*H actor Alan Alda. One of the best books on feminism, ever, was written by Simone de Beauvoir, who also had Jupiter opposite Chiron.
Zinn shared a birthday with one of my favorite social crusaders, Betty Dodson. In The Secret Language of Birthdays, they are born “The Day of Astute Examination.” Those born this day “have the urge to untangle the mysteries that capture their interest. All the dark, misunderstood or uncharted areas of human knowledge attract them,” the authors say. “Their never-ending quest for information and details which can help them make sense of life and enrich their world takes them far and wide.” Indeed.
Zinn had help from many other aspects: his quadruple conjunction in Libra, for example: Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Pallas Athene, but Chiron in Aries pulled that grouping into sharp focus. And his Jupiter-Chiron is in a square to Pluto, which is alone enough to keep someone fired up for 87 years.