James Whitcomb Riley: Astrological Article and Chart

Horoscope and chart of James Whitcomb Riley

^* 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 James Whitcomb Riley (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 James Whitcomb Riley'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 James Whitcomb Riley

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 James Whitcomb Riley

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.

James Whitcomb Riley, the diurnal South-eastern quadrant, consisting of the 10th, 11th and 12th houses, prevails in your chart: assertion and goals achievement are at the centre of your concerns. You are very keen to implement your dreams and your plans. You achieve your ambitions as soon as possible, whether through an active social life, highly charged friendly relations, or an urge to take actions in order to reap - in the eyes of the world, of course - the rewards of your dynamism. It is likely that spirituality or humanitarian actions are part of your motivations, sometimes at the price of some degree of isolation.

Elements, Modes and House Accentuations for James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley, here are the graphs of your Elements and Modes, based on planets' position and angles in the twelve signs:

The predominance of Water signs indicates high sensitivity and elevation through feelings, James Whitcomb Riley. 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.

Cheers for communication and mobility, James Whitcomb Riley! 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 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.

The Mutable mode is the most emphasized one in your natal chart, James Whitcomb Riley, which indicates a mobile character that is curious and thirsty for new experiences and evolution. You are lively and flexible, and you like to react quickly to solicitations, but don't confuse mobility with agitation, since this is the danger with this configuration - and with you, stagnation is out of the question. Security doesn't matter as long as you are not bored. You optimize, you change things, you change yourself... all this in a speedy way.

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.

The emphasis is on succedent houses in your chart, namely, the 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th houses, James Whitcomb Riley: this configuration usually endows a personality with affective and sensitive qualities. Obviously, to the detriment of self-confidence or self-assertion, but your heart qualities may be very important. These houses also favour realization. Time and patience are part of their characteristics. 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 James Whitcomb Riley

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, James Whitcomb Riley, the ten main planets are distributed as follows:

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

With Neptune as one of your three dominant planets, you are a secretive and ambiguous person, often confused or unclear about your own motivations! Indeed, you are endowed with unlimited imagination and inspiration, as well as with an extreme sensibility that may turn you into a psychic or a clairvoyant. On the other hand, your impressionability is such that you may have difficulties in separating what is concrete and solid from illusions or dreams.

A mystic, a visionary or a poet, you daydream, like any Neptunian, and you see what few people only can see, all of this being shrouded in aesthetic mists when you are fired with enthusiasm.

A boundless, infinity-loving man like you is inevitably likely to be more vulnerable and easily hurt because of your acute perception of events. In such cases, you are hit full in the face, and you may sink into gloomy daydreamings and dark melancholy.

That said, this mysterious aura definitely gives you an indefinable charm in the eyes of your close friends who are often fascinated by your unique ability to feel and to see what ordinary people can never see!

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 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 Scorpio, Gemini 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 Scorpio as a dominant sign, you are a strong and astute person, complicated and passionate, sometimes destructive and intolerant, but strong-willed, tough and daring, sometimes bordering on aggressive. So many qualities and dangers combined in one person! Obviously, this often results in a natural selection of people around you: those who stand up to you or admire you and those who can't bear you anymore! But that is precisely what you want. You are what you are and you are not going to transform yourself just to please. You are too proud and you never dread confrontations, although your way of fighting is secret, like your nature that, mysteriously enough, you are so reluctant to reveal even to your close friends who will never understand you. That said... what a hellish charm you have!

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!

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 8th, 10th and 4th 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 8th house is very highlighted: it is the most complex house of the Zodiac. It symbolizes above all passion and transformation, which often go hand in hand. Indeed, you have a tendency to experience everything to the bitter end, and you overstep propriety borders because you want to understand everything, even what is... forbidden. This house relates to complex spheres such as sexuality, possessions and dispossessions that don't depend on you (inheritances, donations, sudden financial losses), death too - not yours in particular, so, don't worry! - and understanding of hidden or occult things: here are the fields that affect you generally, because you are naturally interested in them or because life gets you involved in spite of yourself.

With a prominent 10th house, your destiny's achievement may be very notable: the 10th house represents your career, your public life, and your ambitions. A good deal of your energy may thus be used to successfully implement what you have in mind. Instinctively, you are very keen to make your dreams come true. Sooner or later, you will deal with the public, and your personal achievement will go through trials and ordeals: other people and visible actions.

With an important 4th house in your chart, your private life, your intimacy, as well as your family and home, play a fundamental role. Your security and your family unit, the one you come from, but also the one you set up when you get married and start a family - or even as a bachelor living alone in your sweet home - are necessary for you to blossom. According to the Tradition, your father may play an important role in your life.

After this paragraph about dominant planets, of James Whitcomb Riley, 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 Gemini and in House 8: his sensitivity

Il y a chez vous James Whitcomb Riley une tendance à garder les émotions à distance, comme s'il y avait un danger à en éprouver. Vous observez avec curiosité ce qui arrive et cherchez à comprendre et analyser d'une façon objective, logique et impersonnelle pour ensuite porter des jugements sûrs. Les contacts et la communication étant très importants pour vous James Whitcomb Riley, vous pouvez user, voire abuser de la parole et souvent avec humour car c'est aussi une façon de vous détacher de vos sentiments. On pourra parfois alors vous trouver superficiel tant vous semblez avoir à dire sans réellement donner l'impression de vous impliquer, mais vous avez ce besoin d'être tout le temps en mouvement, de découvrir et de communiquer afin d'éviter d'éprouver de l'ennui. Seul, vous pouvez également passer des heures au milieu des livres pour nourrir votre pensée si avide de connaissances. Attention cependant à ne pas passer à côté de vos sentiments à force de privilégier les émotions... intellectuelles !

Votre émotivité, James Whitcomb Riley, est intense, violente même parfois. Vous ressentez les choses et réagissez avec tant de force que cela peut parfois vous tourmenter vous-même ! Mais en contre-partie, vous êtes extrêmement intuitif, imaginatif, chaleureux et possédez une sorte de charme indéfinissable fait de densité d'être... (excerpt)

Mercury in Scorpio and in House 12: his intellect and social life

Vous êtes James Whitcomb Riley 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.

Vos pensées, James Whitcomb Riley, restent souvent secrètes et pour des raisons qui viennent de votre éducation ou de votre propre nature, vous ne communiquez qu'avec discrétion et parcimonie. En fait, vous vous intéressez souvent à des buts nobles et compassionnels, sans en faire aucune publicité évidemment. Votre force... (excerpt)

Venus in Virgo and in House 10, and the Sun in Libra: his affectivity and seductiveness

Dans votre thème, le Soleil est en Balance, Vénus en Vierge. Deux signes aussi différents que la Vierge et la Balance ne sauraient marquer une affectivité monolithique. A l'associativité d'un Soleil en Balance se mêlent les retenues et pudeurs d'une Vénus Vierge. Et vos attentes ne sont parfois pas conformes à vos désirs : ainsi, vous rêvez d'un couple dans lequel s'épanouira à loisir votre idéal d'harmonie par l'échange et le respect mutuel. Mais les différences de l'autre, si soigneusement acceptées d'emblée, ne seront que partiellement admises à terme. Car vous n'aimez que ceux et celles qui ne vous sont pas vraiment étrangers et dont les rythmes s'accordent naturellement avec vos désirs. Si vos aspirations vous portent à admettre la manière d'être de l'autre, vous savez en revanche ce que vous aimez. Et surtout ce que vous n'aimez pas. Le risque est alors d'enfermer votre existence dans des attitudes contradictoires: ce peut être adopter par souci de quiétude un mode de vie dans lequel vous savez ne pouvoir trouver de réel plaisir, ou au contraire vous fermer à une relation pourtant prometteuse par ce qu'un rien heurte vos attachements. Votre partenaire doit faire preuve de tact, d'une délicatesse sans laquelle se réveilleront tôt ou tard vos réserves. Avec le temps, vous vous montrez pourtant apte à maintenir un équilibre indéniable au sein du couple. Vous savez mieux que d'autres gérer vos contradictions, allier sélectivité et ouverture d'esprit, auto-protection et allant relationnel.

James Whitcomb Riley, vous avez des sentiments forts et puissants à l'intérieur, mais ce qui est certain, c'est  qu'il n'est pas question pour vous de les montrer sans peser, soupeser et étudier toutes les conséquences de vos discours et de vos actes : la fougue de la spontanéité est atténuée parce que vous ne pouvez vous empêcher de vous discipliner, sans doute en raison de votre pudeur, de votre discrétion ou de votre timidité ; vous êtes terrorisé car vous possédez un tel souci du qu'en dira-t-on que toute forme de passion ou d'expression trop rapide de vos sentiments constitue un danger pour vous. Vous êtes pourtant serviable simple et sans histoire, et même si la raison l'emporte toujours chez vous dans votre façon de considérer votre vie amoureuse, vous avez un coeur qui ne demande qu'à s'enflammer, mais alors dans un cadre bien réglé et où la vie pratique est soigneusement gérée avec bon sens, ordre et propreté. Votre sensibilité vous porte de toute façon à éviter les excès et débordements et selon vous, faire ainsi permet de trouver le bonheur sans aucun risque.

Avec une telle configuration et en l'absence de tensions avec d'autres planètes dans votre thème, vous êtes prédisposé James Whitcomb Riley, à créer un lien entre votre carrière et le domaine sentimental, même si cela peut prendre différentes formes : vous pouvez ainsi avoir la faveur et l'appui... (excerpt)

The Ascendant is in Scorpio and the ruler of the Ascendant is Pluto, in Aries: 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, James Whitcomb Riley, is Pluto. It is located in Aries and adds a note of rapidity and impulsiveness into your chart. You have a spontaneous and enterprising side which prompts you to take action quickly and to be a pioneer. However, as a consequence of this refreshing impetuosity, you may get bored quite quickly and move on to something else if you lose your enthusiasm.

The Sun in Libra and in House 11: his will and inner motivations

Vous êtes assurément une bonne âme, James Whitcomb Riley : vous appréciez par dessus tout de vous affirmer par le canal de l'amitié, la vraie, profonde et chaleureuse; rien ne vous gratifie davantage que de vous faire accepter et aimer par les amis et relations que vous aurez... (excerpt)

Mars in Gemini and in House 8: his ability to take action

James Whitcomb Riley, vous êtes d'une activité débordante sur le plan mental. Les idées se bousculent à toute vitesse et vous avez une facilité à réfléchir à plusieurs choses et surtout à les traiter en même temps. L'action sur le plan concret ou physique vous intéresse moins, car en fait une fois que vous avez "vu" une solution, sa réalisation n'importe pas tant que cela, il s'agit surtout d'avoir l'esprit en ébullition tout le temps. Cérébral et curieux, vous avez souvent une sexualité pleine de fantasmes où les idées plaisantes se mélangent avec vos désirs et sentiments pour les amplifier et les enrichir. Vous n'êtes donc pas simple mais si votre partenaire vous suit sur ce plan là, l'enjeu en vaut vraiment la peine. La joute verbale, le plaisir de débattre et le goût de la discussion sont permanents chez vous et un petit danger existe d'agacer un peu ceux ou celles qui n'auraient pas votre rapidité ou votre sens de l'humour.

James Whitcomb Riley, cette configuration atypique de votre thème natal est une des plus complexes à décrire en raison de la nature même de la maison 8, maison de transformation, maison des crises débouchant sur une reconstruction personnelle mais aussi maison de la sexualité, des domaines cachés de... (excerpt)

Conclusion

This text is only an excerpt from the portrait of of James Whitcomb Riley, 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.