Martin Gardner: Astrological Article and Chart

Horoscope and chart of Martin Gardner

Astrological portrait of Martin Gardner (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 Martin Gardner'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 Martin Gardner

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 Martin Gardner, 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 Martin Gardner

Martin Gardner, Fire is dominant in your natal chart and endows you with intuition, energy, courage, self-confidence, and enthusiasm! You are inclined to be passionate, you assert your willpower, you move forward, and come hell or high water, you achieve your dreams and your goals. The relative weakness of this element is the difficulty to step back or a kind of boldness that may prompt you to do foolish things.

Cheers for communication and mobility, Martin Gardner! 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.

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.

The Fixed mode corresponds to a majority of elements in your chart, Martin Gardner, and represents the desire for security and durability: you are able to concretely appreciate a situation and its stability. You definitely prefer to play the role of a loyal, obstinate and hard-working person, rather than to try new and risky experiences - beware, however, not to confuse obstinacy with intransigence. You structure, cement, and strengthen everything you find on your way: it is your nature, although you are not especially interested in swiftness: slow and steady...

Dominants: Planets, Signs and Houses for Martin Gardner

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, Martin Gardner, the ten main planets are distributed as follows:

The three most important planets in your chart are Uranus, Neptune and Mars.

Uranus is among your dominant planets: just like Neptune and Pluto, Uranian typology is less clearly defined than the so-called classical seven planets that are visible to the naked eye, from the Sun to Saturn. However, it is possible to associate your Uranian nature with a few clear characteristics: Uranus rhymes with independence, freedom, originality, or even rebelliousness and marginality, when things go wrong...

Uranus is Mercury's higher octave and as such, he borrows some of its traits of character; namely, a tendency to intellectualize situations and emotions with affective detachment, or at least jagged affectivity.

Therefore, you are certainly a passionate man who is on the lookout for any kind of action or revolutionary idea, and you are keen on new things. Uranians are never predictable, and it is especially when they are believed to be stable and well settled that... they change everything - their life, partner, and job! In fact, you are allergic to any kind of routine, although avoiding it must give way to many risks.

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!

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 Sagittarius, Scorpio and Aquarius. 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.

Sagittarius, an adventurous and conquering fire sign, is dominant in your chart: you are enthusiastic, enterprising, optimistic, very sociable, and mobile - you have itchy feet, both physically and mentally. Nobody gets bored with you because you are always planning things and suggesting excursions, at least... when you are around and not already gone on a trip! Obviously, so many movements for one man may scare people off, and some of them may even criticize your brutality or your tendency to loose your temper, but you are so warm and genuine, so expansive, isn't this a good thing? And all the more so, since your sense of humour is overwhelming...

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!

Aquarius is one of the most important signs in your natal chart: it endows your personality - at least one of its facets - with originality, to the point of eccentricity, in spite of a sometimes distant and humane side. Likeable and impassive at the same time, you are a paradoxical man, very hard to define because the two planets Uranus and Saturn blend their qualities to create the so complicated and endearing sign that inspires your character. Saturn's seriousness and impassivity is added to Uranus' rebellion, talent, individualism, charisma, extravagance, and unpredictability! One of your main characteristics is that you never open up on a personal basis, but you tend to do so easily in public. You are actually quite strange. Sexy and charming in public, despite your nice and sociable character, you could frustrate many of your admirers in private because of your impossibility to show deep and warm affection, emotions, tears... But appearance and reality are two different things anyway - you are a kind of a genius, or you have at least a tremendous charm with this sign. You have many friends and an active social life. If you are detached in your love life - only in this aspect, since the rest of chart will confirm it or not - this is no big deal!

After this paragraph about dominant planets, of Martin Gardner, 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 Sagittarius: his sensitivity

D'une nature optimiste et émotive, vous êtes, Martin Gardner, pris entre deux envies quelque peu incompatibles : vous êtes friand d'exotisme et d'indépendance, de mouvement, mais en même temps vous vous sentez bien dans une forme d'embourgeoisement et de conformisme de votre comportement ; en général, cela se traduit par une succession d'états d'âme tantôt tranquilles et bien adaptés aux différentes situations que vous rencontrez, tantôt empreints d'une envie irrésistible de changement et de renouveau. Plutôt d'une nature bon enfant presque naïve, vous avez confiance en vous et votre grande émotivité vous pousse à vivre intensément et avec variété des expériences émotionnelles d'une façon un peu dispersée mais qui, de toute façon, vous amènent les stimulations dont vous avez besoin pour être équilibré. Grâce à cette  attitude plutôt sympathique et avenante, vous bénéficiez d'une certaine popularité et cela d'autant plus que malgré votre soif d'aventures qui pourrait en effaroucher d'aucuns, vous vous adaptez aisément aux règles et usages du milieu dans lequel vous évoluez.

Mercury in Scorpio: his intellect and social life

Vous êtes Martin Gardner 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.

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

Dans votre thème, le Soleil est en Balance, Vénus en Sagittaire. L'amour est fait de découvertes et de valeurs communes : vos signes solaire et vénusien soulignent un caractère associatif marqué. L'échange constitue la base de vos comportements, y compris sur le plan affectif. Un Soleil en Balance sensibilise au regard de l'autre, au soutien inconditionnel d'un partenaire idéalisé, voire adulé. Une Vénus en Sagittaire accentue ce désir d'échange. Ainsi, votre affectivité se nourrit des différences. Loin de constituer un obstacle, les éventuels antagonismes enrichissent une relation de couple jamais figée. Vous serez plus que d'autres à même de suivre votre partenaire, d'épouser son mode de vie. Le risque est peut-être d'oublier vos propres valeurs. Un certain manque de sélectivité peut s'avérer parfois préjudiciable à votre plein épanouissement personnel : il est plus facile de comprendre que de refuser, et plus naturel d'accepter une attitude étrangère à votre mode de fonctionnement que de préserver vos modèles envers et contre tout. Vous aurez fréquemment besoin qu'on vous étonne, qu'on sollicite votre faculté d'approbation. Le caméléon a la couleur du milieu dans lequel il évolue : de même, vous saurez adapter votre manière d'être aux exigences de l'autre. Loin de tout égocentrisme, vous jouez volontiers un rôle stimulant au sein du couple. Apparemment "facile à vivre", vous aurez cependant besoin d'un partenaire à la hauteur de votre désir de découvertes : une forme subtile d'exigence...

Affectivement, vous êtes Martin Gardner, ouvert, franc et spontané et vous vous liez facilement tant votre enthousiasme peut s'exprimer avec jovialité, sans détours et avec un respect des valeurs morales bien établies. Dans certains cas vous pouvez être en opposition avec votre milieu d'origine ou votre famille en raison de votre goût pour la liberté, le dépaysement ou toute forme d'indépendance et d'émancipation. Vos sentiments sont ardents et vous vous emballez assez rapidement mais par contre, cette facilité à vous lier vous prédispose en conséquence à une certaine instabilité ; en d'autres mots, la fidélité n'est pas votre priorité essentielle tant que vous n'avez pas encore rencontré l'âme soeur. Les conditions idéales pour vivre au mieux vos sentiments amoureux sont de vivre en couple avec une certaine mobilité, faire des voyages, profiter du grand air, ressentir à l'intérieur de votre relation amoureuse cette liberté et cette indépendance dont vous avez absolument besoin depuis votre enfance et à ce prix, l'harmonie et la fidélité seront au rendez-vous.

The Sun in Libra: his will and inner motivations

Mars in Scorpio: his ability to take action

Votre volonté de fer fait partie de vos atouts, Martin Gardner. Elle est servie par une ingéniosité et une habileté qui peuvent faire de vous une personnalité puissante et crainte. Vous avez le flair pour trouver les faiblesses de ceux qui vous approchent et vous pouvez facilement les blesser par votre penchant naturel et inné à sonder ou tester leur force. Vous êtes extrêmement têtu et vous ne lâchez pratiquement jamais prise si vous êtes convaincu que vous avez raison. Sexuellement, vous êtes puissant et passionné. Dominateur et secret, vous êtes une personnalité magnétique avec qui il vaut mieux éviter tout conflit car vous pouvez être vraiment très agressif et rancunier et dans certains cas rares faire preuve de sadisme. Vous êtes finalement une personnalité aussi secrète qu'entière et dominatrice sur le plan de l'action et de la sexualité.

Conclusion

This text is only an excerpt from the portrait of of Martin Gardner, 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.