Elvis Costello: Astrological Article and Chart

Horoscope and chart of Elvis Costello

Astrological portrait of Elvis Costello (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 Elvis Costello'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.

N.B.: as this celebrity's birth time is unknown, the chart is arbitrarily calculated for 12:00 PM - the legal time for his/her place of birth; since astrological houses are not taken into account, this astrological profile excerpt is less detailed than those for which the birth time is known.

The dominant planets of Elvis Costello

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.

Warning: when the birth time is unknown, which is the case for Elvis Costello, a few paragraphs become irrelevant; distributions in hemispheres and quadrants are meaningless, so are dominant houses and houses' accentuations. Therefore, some chapters are removed from this part.

For all paragraphs, the criteria for valuation are calculated without taking into account angles and rulerships of the Ascendant and of the Midheaven. The methodology retains its validity, but it is less precise without a time of birth.

Elements and Modes for Elvis Costello

Like the majority of Earth signs, Elvis Costello, you are efficient, concrete and not too emotional. What matters to you is what you see: you judge the tree by its fruits. Your ideas keep changing, words disappear, but actions and their consequences are visible and remain. Express your sensitivity, even if it means revealing your vulnerability. Emotions, energy and communication must not be neglected; concrete action is meaningless if it is not justified by your heart, your intellect or your enthusiasm.

The predominance of Water signs indicates high sensitivity and elevation through feelings, Elvis Costello. 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.

Fire's qualities are not very present in your chart, with only 4.14% instead of the average 25%, which means that you may lack warmth, enthusiasm, conquering spirit, or energy. You may look indifferent to others, with almost no desire, no joy of life or no enterprising ability. Actually, it is not true, but you should let go, force yourself to be more daring, and show your amazement as well as your vitality. You certainly have as much energy as others, you just need to release it, and it is up to you to display more of it, since it will be all to your benefit: shout, sing, pull faces, dance! That's the right mean for you... In the end, you'll never be accused of being sad, phlegmatic or a killjoy!

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.

Elvis Costello, 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.

Dominants: Planets, Signs and Houses for Elvis Costello

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, Elvis Costello, the ten main planets are distributed as follows:

The three most important planets in your chart are the Moon, Mercury and Mars.

The Moon is one of the most important planets in your chart and endows you with a receptive, emotive, and imaginative nature. You have an innate ability to instinctively absorb atmospheres and impressions that nurture you, and as a result, you are often dreaming your life away rather than actually living it.

One of the consequences of your spontaneity may turn into popularity, or even fame: the crowd is a living and complex entity, and it always appreciates truth and sincerity rather than calculation and total self-control.

As a Lunar character, you find it difficult to control yourself, you have to deal with your moods, and you must be careful not to stay passive in front of events: nothing is handed on a plate, and although your sensitivity is rich, even richer than most people's, you must make a move and spare some of your energy for... action!

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.

Mars is one of your dominant planets and provides you with its efficient energy and enthusiasm: with a powerful Mars in your chart, action - but also will and ability to undertake - is not an empty word for you. You are active, dynamic, willing to fight, courageous, and you are never afraid to move mountains, even though risks are part of the adventures that you start with determination.

However, your patience is not always up to your boldness and a kind of feverishness, or even anger, can tarnish the quality of your achievements. That would be a pity since the Marsian is a champion in matters of efficiency! Mars symbolizes display of action, conquering spirit that favours discipline and order - beware of not being fussy - and lies at the frontier between action and brutality, between conquest and potential aggressiveness.

In your natal chart, the three most important signs - according to criteria mentioned above - are in decreasing order of strength Cancer, Virgo and Libra. 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.

Cancer is one of your dominant signs and endows you with imagination and exceptionally shrewd sensitivity. Although suspicious at first sight - and even at second...- as soon as you get familiar with people and let them win your confidence, your golden heart eventually shows up, despite your discretion and your desire for security that make you return into your shell at the slightest alert! Actually, you are a poet and if you are sometimes blamed for your nostalgia and your laziness, it is because your intense inner life is at full throttle...

Virgo, associated with perfectionism, numbers and reason, is among your dominant signs: you inherit its sense of responsibility and tidiness, a clear mind, an unfailing logic, as well as a need to be useful and to fulfil your task to the best of your abilities. Obviously, people may think that you are too modest or reserved, suspicious or pessimistic because of your exceedingly critical mind, but aren't logic and wisdom great qualities? Of course, they are. Moreover, you keep your feet on the ground, you never behave irrationally and you are helpful and hardworking - what more can you ask for?!

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!

After this paragraph about dominant planets, of Elvis Costello, 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 Cancer: his sensitivity

Affectivité et intuition étant chez vous très développées, vous êtes Elvis Costello, très sensible à votre environnement. Vous "ressentez" les ambiances, les humeurs et les sentiments d'autrui et lorsque vous captez des influences négatives vous en éprouvez une sorte de malaise qui affecte immédiatement tout votre être, d'autant plus facilement que votre vive imagination risque de vous déstabiliser encore plus en amplifiant votre réceptivité. De nature anxieuse, vous vous inquiétez facilement pour votre entourage et vous efforcez de créer pour eux une atmosphère familiale rassurante, une sorte de bulle où vous trouverez aussi le réconfort chaleureux qui vous est si nécessaire et où vous pourrez paresser à loisir. Mais à trop vous préoccuper du bien-être de vos proches, il se peut que l'on vous reproche d'être trop envahissant et de tenter parfois, par un subtil chantage affectif, de régenter leur vie. Faites-leur confiance... et apprenez vous aussi à vous faire davantage confiance !

Mercury in Virgo: his intellect and social life

Vous avez Elvis Costello une grande aptitude à la logique et à l'analyse ainsi qu'une manière objective et critique de juger chaque aspect d'une situation. Appliqué, méthodique, ayant le sens du détail et doté d'une grande énergie nerveuse, vous pouvez tout à fait passer du temps à la réalisation de travaux intellectuels laborieux et minutieux. Bien que possédant une certaine facilité à vous exprimer, vous ne cherchez pas vraiment à vous mettre en avant et préférez souvent collaborer plutôt que prendre des initiatives : vous vous sentez moins anxieux quand vous savez exactement ce que l'on attend de vous et ce que vous avez à faire. Vous abordez tout avec rationalisme et éprouvez de la méfiance devant l'imagination et l'intuition. Amoureux des lettres autant que des chiffres, votre humour mordant risque parfois de déstabiliser votre entourage qui vous préférerait peut-être un peu moins exigeant et un peu plus démonstratif. Dites-vous bien que l'on ne peut pas toujours tout maîtriser...

Venus in Libra and the Sun in Virgo: his affectivity and seductiveness

Dans votre thème, le Soleil est en Vierge, Vénus en Balance. Les Signes de la Vierge et de la Balance sont par nature antinomiques à bien des égards. Alors que l'un (Vierge) est fonction de triage et de sélectivité, l'autre (Balance), associatif par excellence, se montre ouvert à toute sollicitation nouvelle. Cette dualité se retrouve dans vos comportements affectifs : ainsi, la séduction passe d'abord pour vous par la connivence, la conformité au modèle, l'idéal de fusion d'une Vénus Balance. Lorsque vous vous placez en situation d'aimer ou d'être aimé, c'est ce pôle qui joue. Vous manifestez alors un vif désir de faire de l'autre votre double, votre image. Et adoptez une attitude conforme à cette attente, tentant d'associer vos manières d'être plus que de faire ressortir les divergences. Divergences ou différences qui pourtant ressortent tôt ou tard. Car un Soleil Vierge se satisfait peu des conformismes évoqués plus haut, et réclame sa part de spécificité, de maîtrise. Vous prenez alors une certaine distance vis-à-vis de l'autre. Une attitude qui peut déconcerter autant que séduire. S'il vous est difficile de garder en toutes circonstances une parfaite cohérence (vous passez fréquemment de la réserve à l'enthousiasme, de la distance à l'intimité), vous savez en revanche mieux que d'autres nourrir une relation complice respectant le particularisme de chacun.

Elvis Costello, 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.

The Sun in Virgo: his will and inner motivations

Mars in Capricorn: his ability to take action

Elvis Costello, vous êtes si résistant et solide que vous êtes à même de faire face à n'importe quel défi ou épreuve. Vous agissez avec persévérance, rigueur et discipline, vous êtes si obstiné et patient que nul effort n'est impossible pour vous, comme si toute sensibilité et émotion ne parvenaient pas à vous détourner des buts que vous vous êtes fixés. Avec calme et lucidité, peut-être même avec froideur, vous faites face, prévoyez sur le long terme et rien ni personne ne vous empêchera d'aller au bout de vos responsabilités. Vous êtes un roc, solide à la tâche et votre volonté de fer n'a d'égale que votre résistance aux chocs. Votre sens pratique est également au service de votre ambition qui est réelle même si elle ne se devine pas. Sexuellement, vous êtes actif et énergique mais peut-être qu'avec un peu plus de chaleur vous deviendriez un excellent amant ; en effet, être démonstratif n'est pas vraiment votre souci premier.

Conclusion

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

Since the birth time is unknown,, these portrait excerpts do not take into account the parameters derived from the time, which means, the domification (Ascendant, astrological houses, etc.). Nonetheless, these analyses remain accurate in any case.

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.