E. E. Cummings: Astrological Article and Chart

Horoscope and chart of E. E. Cummings

^* A planet less than 1° from the next House cusp is considered to be posited in the said House. 2° when the AS and the MC are involved

Astrological portrait of E. E. Cummings (excerpt)

Disclaimer: these short excerpts of astrological charts are computer processed. They are, by no means, of a personal nature. This principle is valid for the celebrities included in our database. These texts provide the meanings of planets, or combination of planets, in signs and in houses, as well as the interpretations of planetary dominants in line with modern Western astrology rules. Moreover, since Astrotheme is not a polemic website, no negative aspect which may damage the good reputation of a celebrity is posted here, unlike in the comprehensive astrological portrait.

Introduction

Here are some character traits from E. E. Cummings's birth chart. This description is far from being comprehensive but it can shed light on his/her personality, which is still interesting for professional astrologers or astrology lovers.

The dominant planets of E. E. Cummings

When interpreting a natal chart, the best method is to start gradually from general features to specific ones. Thus, there is usually a plan to be followed, from the overall analysis of the chart and its structure, to the description of its different character traits.

In the first part, an overall analysis of the chart enables us to figure out the personality's main features and to emphasize several points that are confirmed or not in the detailed analysis: in any case, those general traits are taken into account. Human personality is an infinitely intricate entity and describing it is a complex task. Claiming to rapidly summarize it is illusory, although it does not mean that it is an impossible challenge. It is essential to read a natal chart several times in order to absorb all its different meanings and to grasp all this complexity. But the exercise is worthwhile.

In brief, a natal chart is composed of ten planets: two luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, three fast-moving or individual planets, Mercury, Venus and Mars, two slow-moving planets, Jupiter and Saturn, and three very slow-moving planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Additional secondary elements are: the Lunar Nodes, the Dark Moon or Lilith, Chiron and other minor objects. They are all posited on the Zodiac wheel consisting of twelve signs, from Aries to Pisces, and divided into twelve astrological houses.

The first step is to evaluate the importance of each planet. This is what we call identifying the dominant planets. This process obeys rules that depend on the astrologer's sensitivity and experience but it also has precise and steady bases: thus, we can take into account the parameters of a planet's activity (the number of active aspects a planet forms, the importance of each aspect according to its nature and its exactness), angularity parameters; (proximity to the four angles, Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant and Imum Coeli or Nadir, all of them being evaluated numerically, according to the kind of angle and the planet-angle distance) and quality parameters (rulership, exaltation, exile and fall). Finally, other criteria such as the rulership of the Ascendant and the Midheaven etc. are important.

These different criteria allow a planet to be highlighted and lead to useful conclusions when interpreting the chart.

The overall chart analysis begins with the observation of three sorts of planetary distributions in the chart: Eastern or Western hemisphere, Northern or Southern hemisphere, and quadrants (North-eastern, North-western, South-eastern and South-western). These three distributions give a general tone in terms of introversion and extraversion, willpower, sociability, and behavioural predispositions.

Then, there are three additional distributions: elements (called triplicity since there are three groups of signs for each one) - Fire, Air, Earth and Water - corresponding to a character typology, modality (or quadruplicity with four groups of signs for each one) - Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable - and polarity (Yin and Yang).

There are three types of dominants: dominant planets, dominant signs and dominant houses. The novice thinks astrology means only "to be Aries" or sometimes, for example, "to be Aries Ascendant Virgo". It is actually far more complex. Although the Sun and the Ascendant alone may reveal a large part of the character - approximately a third or a half of your psychological signature, a person is neither "just the Sun" (called the sign) nor just "the first house" (the Ascendant). Thus, a particular planet's influence may be significantly increased; a particular sign or house may contain a group of planets that will bring nuances and sometimes weaken the role of the Ascendant, of the Sun sign etc.

Lastly, there are two other criteria: accentuations (angular, succedent and cadent) which are a classification of astrological houses and types of decanates that are occupied (each sign is divided into three decanates of ten degrees each). They provide some additional informations.

These general character traits must not be taken literally; they are, somehow, preparing for the chart reading. They allow to understand the second part of the analysis, which is more detailed and precise. It focuses on every area of the personality and provides a synthesis of all the above-mentioned parameters according to sound hierarchical rules.

Astrological Quadrants for E. E. Cummings

Each quadrant is a combination of the four hemispheres of your birth chart and relates to a character typology. The Southern hemisphere – the top of your chart, around the Midheaven – is associated with extraversion, action, and public life, whereas the Northern hemisphere prompts to introversion, reflexion, and private life. The Eastern hemisphere – the left part, around the Ascendant – is linked to your ego and your willpower, whereas the Western hemisphere indicates how other people influence you, and how flexible you are when you make a decision.

E. E. Cummings, the nocturnal North-western quadrant, consisting of the 4th, 5th and 6th houses, prevails in your chart: this sector favours creativity, conception and some sort of specialization or training, with helpfulness and relations as strong components. You need others' cooperation in order to work properly, although you are not very expansive: creating, innovating and thinking are what matter most to you because this self-expression enriches you and totally satisfies you.

Elements, Modes and House Accentuations for E. E. Cummings

E. E. Cummings, here are the graphs of your Elements and Modes, based on planets' position and angles in the twelve signs:

Cheers for communication and mobility, E. E. Cummings! The predominance of Air signs in your chart favours and amplifies your taste for relations and for all kinds of short trips, whether real (travels) or symbolic (new ideas, mind speculations). You gain in flexibility and adaptability what you lose in self-assertion or in pragmatism.

The predominance of Water signs indicates high sensitivity and elevation through feelings, E. E. Cummings. Your heart and your emotions are your driving forces, and you can't do anything on Earth if you don't feel a strong affective charge (as a matter of fact, the word "feeling" is essential in your psychology). You need to love in order to understand, and to feel in order to take action, which causes a certain vulnerability which you should fight against.

Earth qualities are under-represented in your chart, with only 0.00% instead of the average 25%. Deficiency in Earth may indicate that you have no interest in material and concrete values. It is likely that you live too much in your heart or in your mind, or even in your enthusiasm! The fact remains that you may end up in tricky situations, due to your lack of good sense or forethought: material life is unavoidable even if you are rather idealistic, dreamy, or easily content. You must tackle concrete life necessities, for fear of... being forced to cope with them, later, in much more unpleasant ways!

The twelve zodiacal signs are split up into three groups or modes, called quadruplicities, a learned word meaning only that these three groups include four signs. The Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable modes are more or less represented in your natal chart, depending on planets' positions and importance, and on angles in the twelve signs.

E. E. Cummings, the Cardinal mode is dominant here and indicates a predisposition to action, and more exactly, to impulsion and to undertake: you are very keen to implement the plans you have in mind, to get things going and to create them. This is the most important aspect that inspires enthusiasm and adrenalin in you, without which you can grow weary rapidly. You are individualistic (maybe too much?) and assertive. You let others strengthen and improve the constructions which you built with fervour.

Houses are split up into three groups: angular, succedent and cadent.

The first ones are the most important ones, the most "noticeable" and energetic houses. They are the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses. Their cuspides correspond to four famous angles: Ascendant for the 1st house, Imum Coeli for the 4th house, Descendant, opposite the Ascendant, for the 7th house and Midheaven for the 10th house, opposite the Imum Coeli.

Planets are evaluated according to a whole set of criteria that includes comprehensive Western astrology rules. At their turn, planets emphasize specific types of houses, signs, repartitions etc., as previously explained.

Cadent houses, namely the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th houses, are very emphasized in your chart, E. E. Cummings. They indicate important potential for communication, adaptability and flexibility. These houses are symbolically linked to the mind and intellect. The relative weakness implied by these characteristics indicates your tendency to hesitate or to be indecisive, but also your remarkable ability to start off again, which is a nice quality, finally: you can easily get yourself out of a tight spot thanks to your mobility and casualness, in the best sense of the term. This group of houses corresponds to evolutionary characteristics of your personality. However, they are only indications and you must include them in the rest of your chart in order to see whether they are validated or not!

N.B.: this dominant is a minor one.

Dominants: Planets, Signs and Houses for E. E. Cummings

The issue of dominant planets has existed since the mists of time in astrology: how nice it would be if a person could be described with a few words and one or several planets that would represent their character, without having to analyse such elements as rulerships, angularities, houses, etc!

The ten planets - the Sun throughout Pluto - are a bit like ten characters in a role-play, each one has its own personality, its own way of acting, its own strengths and weaknesses. They actually represent a classification into ten distinct personalities, and astrologers have always tried to associate one or several dominant planets to a natal chart as well as dominant signs and houses.

Indeed, it is quite the same situation with signs and houses. If planets symbolize characters, signs represent hues - the mental, emotional and physical structures of an individual. The sign in which a planet is posited is like a character whose features are modified according to the place where he lives. In a chart, there are usually one, two or three highlighted signs that allow to rapidly describe its owner.

Regarding astrological houses, the principle is even simpler: the twelve houses correspond to twelve fields of life, and planets tenanting any given house increase that house's importance and highlight all relevant life departments: it may be marriage, work, friendship etc.

In your natal chart, E. E. Cummings, the ten main planets are distributed as follows:

The three most important planets in your chart are Pluto, Venus and Mercury.

With Pluto as a dominant planet in your chart, you are a magnetic and mighty predator, like the Scorpio sign ruled by this planet, who needs to exert pressure on others in order to "test" them. You are always ready to evolve, to risk destruction for reconstruction - including your own - to live more intensely whilst imposing your secret authority on things and on people you encounter.

You may come across as wicked, cruel or too authoritarian, but actually you only follow your instinct, you sound people out, and you like to exert your domination simply because your vital energy is too powerful to remain inside. You are inclined to be passionate, with hidden motivations. You are sometimes misunderstood but one of your great Plutonian assets is to go successfully through each life ordeal with ever growing strength.

With Venus among your dominant planets, one of your first reflexes is... to please! Your look, your charm, and your seduction are omnipresent elements in your behaviour.

Your approach to things is connected to your heart, and for you, no real communication can flow if your interlocutors exude no sympathy or warmth. Cold and logical reasoning, clear thoughts and good sense are not important to you: if there is no affective bond with your environment, no connection can be established with the Venusian that you are, and nothing happens.

You have a strong artistic side, and you never neglect subjective but clear concepts such as pleasure, beauty, and also sensuality. However, sometimes to the detriment of efficiency, durability, logic, and... detachment.

With Mercury among your dominant planets, you are certainly cerebral, nervous, swift, curious, quick-witted, and you love to communicate. Your psychological pattern is intellectual, all the more so since Mercury is important, with its whole set of assets but also of weaknesses, obviously.

Your sensitivity, emotions, and heart's impulses give precedence to thinking, which can lead people to believe that you are a playful and witty but heartless person, intellectualizing situations and juggling with words and numbers whilst ignoring human aspects of things. Of course, it is said that cats always land on their feet - this is your Mercurian strength and your trump card!

Your weakness lies in your nervousness, and you may miss your goal because of your "over-intellectualization" that may be detrimental to other kind of energies such as instinct, spontaneity, heart, sensitivity, etc.

In your natal chart, the three most important signs - according to criteria mentioned above - are in decreasing order of strength Gemini, Libra and Aries. In general, these signs are important because your Ascendant or your Sun is located there. But this is not always the case: there may be a cluster of planets, or a planet may be near an angle other than the Midheaven or Ascendant. It may also be because two or three planets are considered to be very active because they form numerous aspects from these signs.

Thus, you display some of the three signs' characteristics, a bit like a superposition of features on the rest of your chart, and it is all the more so if the sign is emphasized.

With Gemini as a dominant sign, your qualities include being lively, curious, mobile, clever, and flexible: you often make others dizzy, and you may come across as a dilettante - a bit inquisitive, shallow, and insensitive because you may be too intellectualizing. However, your natural curiosity, a nice quality, and your quick humour, allow you to demonstrate to everyone how much they may gain from your company, and that your apparent flightiness hides an appetite (particularly mental) for life, which itself conceals a terrific charm!

With Libra as a dominant sign in your natal chart, you love to please, to charm, and to be likeable. Moreover, you are naturally inclined towards tolerance and moderation, as well as elegance and tact, as if you were meant to please! Of course, you always find malcontents who criticize your lack of authenticity or of courage and your half-heartedness, but your aim is to be liked, and in this field, you are an unrivalled champion!

Arian blood runs through your veins! You have that enthusiasm, frankness, courage, and fastness which usually make you so likeable in spite of your somewhat rough, naive, or violent side. As a bonus, Aries' gushing fire always gives you the impetus to make a fresh start, should you stumble or undergo life hardship!

The 6th, 12th and 1st houses are the most prominent ones in your birth chart. From the analysis of the most tenanted houses, the astrologer identifies your most significant fields or spheres of activity. They deal with what you are experiencing - or what you will be brought to experience one day - or they deal with your inner motivations.

Your 6th house is quite emphasized and indicates interest in work and daily occupations that take up a lot of your time: in analogy with Virgo, this house inclines towards perfectionism and training; somehow, you may be fulfilled through the process of being useful and investing your energy in your work. An environment appealing to you may be involved - your colleagues, for example - or a passion for one of these daily occupations. Medical positions or pets may play a role in your life; or ancillary love affairs too... These are a few possibilities indicated by an important 6th house.

The 12th house is emphasized in your chart: like the 8th house, it has a rich and complex meaning. Although its bad reputation is likely to scare most readers in the first place - it is indeed the house of hidden or isolated places, of solitude, of ordeals or enemies - it can also mean that a part of your life is very deep and intense. If your achievements are not visible in the public eye, you may fulfil yourself in a different but equally important way: you may be involved in secret activities, humanitarian causes, and projects in favour of disadvantaged people. You are likely to work in quiet and remote places. In many cases, you will gain from these hidden activities as many treasures as people who have a more public destiny. It may be because you sublimate your work, or only because you successfully carry out your task within your environment. There is no such things as a good or a bad house, because each area of life is necessary in its own way, and we need all of them, if we are to improve spiritually.

With a dominant 1st house, your magnetism is powerful, and your individuality as well as your willpower are out of the ordinary. You are a determined, strong-willed, and assertive person, with this relative criterion at least.

It is likely that you never go unnoticed when you are in a crowd or a in reunion: an important 1st house suggests that you are a charismatic person with above average vital energy, especially if the Sun is present in this sector.

Your personal interests are always important and you never forget them, which doesn't mean that you are self-centered, but only that you behave according to what is in harmony with your deep nature!

After this paragraph about dominant planets, of E. E. Cummings, here are the character traits that you must read more carefully than the previous texts since they are very specific: the texts about dominant planets only give background information about the personality and remain quite general: they emphasize or, on the contrary, mitigate different particularities or facets of a personality. A human being is a complex whole and only bodies of texts can attempt to successfully figure out all the finer points.

The Moon in Aries and in House 12: his sensitivity

D'un tempérament impulsif E. E. Cummings vous recherchez les émotions fortes à vivre dans l'instant car vous n'aimez guère attendre et vous vous lassez vite. Avec vous, il faut que cela aille vite et que cela bouge ! Votre vive imagination vous pousse à toujours plus d'enthousiasme, d'audace et d'indépendance car il vous faut entreprendre et réussir. L'échec ne vous fait pas peur et loin de vous freiner, la rivalité et le combat vous stimulent. Votre sensibilité à fleur de peau vous rend irritable et imprévisible : il est très facile de vous provoquer sans le vouloir, ce qui n'est pas pour faciliter votre vie familiale ou amicale. On peut vous trouver impatient, colérique, capricieux, instable et même agressif et l'on peut quelquefois à juste titre vous reprocher de ne pas tenir assez compte des besoins des personnes de votre entourage. Pourtant, vous pouvez être chaleureux  et prêt à aider et réconforter autrui lorsque vous arrivez à réfréner votre impulsivité. Ne soyez pas donc pas si inquiet de perdre votre identité en écoutant un peu plus les autres...

E. E. Cummings, vous avez du mal à montrer ce que vous ressentez, ou bien tout simplement vous considérez que cela vous appartient et que cela n'a pas à être exposé. Quoiqu'il en soit, même si vos émotions sont riches et profondes, elles sont ressenties intérieurement surtout et... (excerpt)

Mercury in Scorpio and in House 6: his intellect and social life

Vous êtes E. E. Cummings le type même du chercheur doté de grandes possibilités intellectuelles et imaginatives et d'une curiosité profonde. La recherche, les énigmes et les mystères vous passionnent et grâce à votre flair et votre intuition remarquables, vous cherchez à traquer sans fin la vérité, quels que soient les domaines, comme le feraient un psychanalyste ou un détective. Vous êtes cependant quelqu'un de très secret, plutôt introverti, qui éprouve des difficultés à se livrer et préfère souvent l'auto-analyse. Très lucide pour comprendre les mécanismes de chacun, vous avez pourtant du mal à communiquer : votre esprit critique teinté d'ironie et de causticité peut se montrer destructeur, d'autant que, plus que déterminé et obstiné, vous n'aimez pas céder. Vous aimez provoquer et pratiquez assez bien la contradiction et même si l'on vous trouve de mauvaise foi, il sera difficile de vous prendre en défaut.

Donner le maximum de votre puissance intellectuelle, c'est pour vous naturellement dans le travail que vous pouvez le faire, E. E. Cummings. A quoi bon se décarcasser la cervelle si ce n'est pour être utile professionnellement, grimper les échelons, être reconnu par ses collègues de travail et se... (excerpt)

Venus in Libra and in House 5, and the Sun in Libra: his affectivity and seductiveness

Dans votre thème, le Soleil et Vénus sont tous deux en Balance. La tradition souligne la sociabilité de votre Signe et une faculté d'adaptation hors pair. Sensible au regard de l'autre, il vous faut le plus souvent séduire sans heurter, vous faire remarquer sans vous marginaliser. Enthousiaste et ouvert à priori aux sollicitations du milieu dans lequel vous évoluez, vous résistez peu aux courants ambiants. Mieux vaut pour vous choisir d'emblée l'alliance des points de vue opposés. Vous ne serez que rarement sur la défensive, particulièrement sur le plan affectif. Et ce n'est que lorsque vos consentements vous auront conduit à d'inextricables contradictions que vous opterez pour une solution radicale. Ainsi, vos comportements peuvent dérouter votre entourage : les adhésions inconditionnelles d'hier deviennent refus systématique. Ce peut être une relation de couple sur laquelle repose totalement votre existence. Et qui soudain devient invivable tant se sont accumulés les compromis. Il vous faudra sans doute, en maintes circonstances, lutter contre un indéniable penchant pour les accommodements intenables à long terme. Les qualités de votre Signe solaire et vénusien s'exprimeront alors pleinement : apte à comprendre, voire intégrer, les raisons de vivre de l'autre, vous saurez adapter vos attitudes aux impératifs d'une vie commune dans laquelle s'expriment des valeurs divergentes. Un tableau idyllique, pour peu qu'on ne cesse jamais de vous montrer l'estime dont vous avez besoin.

E. E. Cummings, vous ne pouvez le cacher à personne : aimer, être aimé, plaire, tout cela est le centre de votre vie. Vous êtes toujours à la recherche de compagnie, et si possible d'une compagnie amoureuse car la solitude est une situation dont vous avez vraiment horreur. Ce n'est pas pour autant que la passion vous envahit à tout bout de champ : vous êtes plutôt tout en raffinement, en délicatesse et en charme, et vous savez fort bien utiliser les usages et les coutumes avec mesure et équilibre, ne perdant jamais de vue votre intérêt personnel, prêt en toute circonstance à vous adapter et à faire des concessions. Aimer tout en vivant parfaitement intégré dans la société : l'amour passe en quelque sorte après la bienséance qui est fondamentale pour vous. Vous êtes particulièrement doué pour tout ce jeu de courtoisie et de politesse raffinée où l'apparence compte au moins autant que le contenu ; c'est d'ailleurs l'un de vos grands atouts de savoir montrer ce que vous avez envie de montrer et d'arriver à vos fins avec élégance, douceur et bonté.

E. E. Cummings, avec une affinité certaine entre maison et planète, votre Vénus se trouve ici très à l'aise pour donner le meilleur d'elle-même en terme de puissance des sentiments, création artistique, goût pour les loisirs, activités récréatives, dons pour les arts plastiques ou la musique et même... (excerpt)

The Ascendant is in Gemini and the ruler of the Ascendant is Mercury, in Scorpio: his behaviour

The ruler of the Ascendant, also referred to as the chart ruler, brings a few interesting nuances to the meanings provided by the Sun and the Ascendant. The sign in which the ruler of the Ascendant is posited fine-tunes the style of personality described by the Sun and the Ascendant. It may strengthen it if the sign is identical to either of them.

The ruler of the Ascendant, E. E. Cummings, is Mercury. It is posited in the sign of Scorpio and makes you appreciate mysteries and the unknown. You need to understand, to solve riddles, and to take action behind the scenes, perhaps so as to be even more efficient. Your criticising skill is a weapon, but it may also backfire on you, just like your sometimes excessive obstinacy.

The Sun in Libra and in House 6: his will and inner motivations

Vous êtes un perfectionniste, E. E. Cummings, quelqu'un dont le souci permanent demeure de s'améliorer en toutes choses, accumuler des connaissances, devenir utile au meilleur de ses performances et de ses compétences. Le travail pour vous est un domaine important et en général contrairement à d'autres, vous... (excerpt)

Mars in Aries and in House 12: his ability to take action

Impulsif, impatient, rapide et énergique vous ? Oui bien sûr, E. E. Cummings. Vous êtes courageux et  capable d'efforts intenses et très importants sur une courte durée ; et quel rythme ! Que ce soit dans le sport ou bien sur le plan de la sexualité, vous n'êtes pas du genre à réfléchir, vous agissez, un peu "à la hussarde" et instinctivement. Vous parlez avec franchise sans vous soucier de l'opinion de l'autre et surtout sans supporter qu'il ne vous freine ou qu'il ne vous juge. Avec vous, cela passe ou cela casse, ce qui fait que tous vos échanges relationnels ne s'embarrassent pas de diplomatie ou de compromis. Vous êtes trop franc et trop entier pour perdre du temps avec de la finesse ou de la ruse mais c'est ce qui fait votre charme d'un certain côté car avec vous au moins, on sait à quoi s'en tenir.

L'action pour vous, E. E. Cummings, ne se conçoit, un peu curieusement d'ailleurs pour la plupart des gens, que d'une façon cachée ou secrète. C'est plutôt cet aspect des choses, la forme donc, qui importe par rapport à ce que vous allez accomplir effectivement. Pas de publicité sur... (excerpt)

Conclusion

This text is only an excerpt from the portrait of of E. E. Cummings, which we hope will inspire you to deepen your knowledge of astrology.

Regarding the sources of the birth data in our possession, kindly note that the pages we publish constitute a starting point for more detailed research, even though they seem useful to us. When the sources are contradictory, which occurs rarely, after having analysed them, we choose the most reliable one. Sometimes, we publish a birth date just because it is made available, but we do not claim that is it the best one, by no means.