James Ellroy: Astrological Article and Chart

Horoscope and chart of James Ellroy

Astrological portrait of James Ellroy (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 Ellroy'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 James Ellroy

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 James Ellroy, 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 James Ellroy

James Ellroy, 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, James Ellroy! 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 Fixed mode corresponds to a majority of elements in your chart, James Ellroy, 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 James Ellroy

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 Ellroy, the ten main planets are distributed as follows:

The three most important planets in your chart are Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury.

Jupiter, the planet of expansion, organization, power and benevolence, is quite emphasized in your chart. Like any Jupiterian, you are warm, open, sociable, consensual, active and optimistic. You can use your self-confidence to erase differences of opinion, and you leave the task of analyzing and perfecting things to specialists. Your role, and you know it since you were young, is to gather, to demonstrate your synthesizing and conciliatory mind, and to naturally reap its fruits - power.

You appreciate legality, social order but also order in general. With you as a leader, every plan or human entity can be organized and structured. You excel at supervising. The Jupiterian type is indeed the politician par excellence, and a positive Jupiter in your chart is synonymous with good integration into society, whatever the chosen path.

Is this idyllic picture really perfect? Certainly not: each planet's typology has its own weaknesses. One of yours is pride, like the Solarian, but your will of expansion at all costs may generate a form of exaggeration in everything, endless pleasure, inappropriate self-confidence that could lead you to rough materialism and the thirst for absurd material comfort - in the worst cases, of course.

Saturn is part of your dominant planets: among the facets of your character, you have a grave and serious side, wise and somewhat severe, since your concentration can be powerful, to the detriment of carelessness and friendliness.

You often look austere, but it is only an appearance, a kind of modesty or reserve; however, it is true that the Saturnian, who is fond of time, effort, asceticism, rigour and sobriety, may have popularity issues. Nevertheless, honesty and straightforwardness, reliability, as well as slow, wise and deep mental process, although not very popular and visible qualities, eventually become noticed and appreciated. Saturnians' second part of life is usually easier and more fulfilling.

Like the Jupiterian, your Saturnian facet prompts you to seek the essential, security, and longevity. However, the difference with the former is that you will never give priority to wealth or "the bigger, the better" philosophy for the sake of power. Saturn, like Jupiter, symbolizes social integration, and it is usually considered positive to have a harmonic Jupiter and Saturn in one's chart because of their social adaptation capacities.

Your vulnerability lies in your too serious and austere side, which may lead to unwanted loneliness and affective frustration. This generally does not last because Saturnians often hide deep down a golden heart that ends up revealing itself...

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 Leo, Pisces 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.

With Leo as a dominant sign, you naturally shine brightly. Your dignity, your sense of honour, and your generosity can almost turn you into a solar mythological hero, a knight or a lord from the ancient times. People may blame you for your selfishness, your pride or your somewhat loud authority, but if you are self-confident, kind-hearted and strong-willed, it surely makes up for your little flaws, as long as they remain moderate...

Pisces is among your dominant signs and endows your personality with unlimited sources of emotions, dreams, imagination, and sensitivity, to the extent that you literally swim in a cloudy ocean of delightful impressions. These impressions are so intense and overwhelming that you don't really need to take action concretely, to show your dynamism or your willpower, since you already live so intensely with your feelings - you are as keen as a radar, always on the alert! That is why some people may not like your carelessness, and the lack of clarity in your opinions or actions; however they quickly notice your artistic talents, your poetic or artistic side, and your total lack of wickedness. Besides, you feel compassion for people in pain - empathy is one of your great qualities. Thanks to your flexibility, your intuition, and your generosity, you may spend an important part of your life helping others. And if you are creative or if you have well-known artistic talents, everybody will forgive your little flaws: absent-mindedness, lack of energy or of will, too dreamy temperament...

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 James Ellroy, 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 Capricorn: his sensitivity

Votre sensibilité est en retrait James Ellroy : plus que tout autre, vous avez tendance à vous enfermer dans votre tour d'ivoire, quelque part conscient d'une forme de supériorité souvent réelle mais parfois surfaite. Vos humeurs ne sont pas visibles car vous les disciplinez et les contrôlez complètement de main de maître. Difficile pour quiconque de savoir si vous êtes heureux ou contrarié, rien ou presque ne se voit. Vous fuyez les situations où vous devez dévoiler vos émotions tant vous êtes peu démonstratif. Attention, il ne s'agit pas ici de votre comportement sur le plan amoureux qui peut être tout à fait différent, mais du mode sensible quotidien par lequel vous vous exprimez. La foule vous fait peur et vous vous sentez bien dans le calme et même la solitude. Bien armé pour rester équilibré en toutes circonstances, vous gagnerez petit à petit à "vous lâcher" et donner un peu plus de vous car vous en valez la peine ; cela est  plus facile lorsqu'un projet ou une ambition sont là pour justifier une extériorisation de ce que vous ressentez. Les effusions gratuites d'émotions, particulièrement en groupe, vous sont étrangères ou refoulées car vous avez une certaine peur de vous livrer comme si vous étiez sur la défensive, sans aucune raison la plupart du temps.

Mercury in Aquarius: his intellect and social life

Vous êtes James Ellroy un "libre-penseur" qui appréhendez les problèmes avec un esprit rapide et efficace. Liberté, progrès et originalité sont vos moteurs.  Résolument tourné vers l'avenir, vous faites preuve d'ingéniosité et d'inventivité pour réformer ce qui n'a plus lieu d'être et innover sans cesse : psychologie, informatique, nouvelles technologies... n'ont presque plus de secret pour vous. Doté de qualités humaines et idéalistes évidentes, vous êtes un interlocuteur fort sympathique et très intéressant, même si l'on peut parfois vous reprocher votre côté rebelle et révolutionnaire. En effet, un esprit de contradiction assez développé semble vous animer : vous pensez rarement comme tout le monde et au risque de vous montrer obstiné, intransigeant et désagréable, vous le dites ! Au lieu de provoquer de soudaines ruptures amicales apprenez plutôt à persévérer dans vos efforts et laissez s'exprimer davantage votre potentiel créatif quand vous ressentirez une trop grande tension nerveuse.

Venus in Aries and the Sun in Pisces: his affectivity and seductiveness

Dans votre thème, le Soleil est en Poissons, Vénus en Bélier. A la fougue printanière et naïve d'une Vénus en Bélier résiste ici le scepticisme lucide d'un Soleil en Poissons. Les émotions de tous bords font sens, sollicitent immédiatement l'enthousiasme naturel du Signe vénusien. Pourtant, ce que les sens et l'affectivité véhiculent ne saurait combler la soif d'absolu du Signe solaire. Contraste évident : d'une part, la faculté de croire au "je t'aime" d'un jour ou à la passion du moment ; d'autre part la subtilité des modèles affectifs qui ne peuvent se satisfaire d'un instant d'exaltation, d'un amour fugace. Lutte entre le fugitif et l'essentiel, entre l'ardeur trouvé ici et maintenant et l'absolu jamais atteint mais seul capable de susciter un véritable engouement. Ces contradictions, si elles compliquent parfois votre vie amoureuse, font aussi la richesse et le charme - potentiel - d'une telle configuration : pour peu que vous parveniez à concilier détachement (Poissons) et implication (Bélier), subtilité et animalité, candeur et distance, vous serez apte à faire face à toute éventualité, passant tour à tour de l'enchantement à la clairvoyance... Programme épineux, défi à la mesure des ambitions de votre Signe solaire, de la soif d'inédit de votre Signe vénusien. Au-delà de vos contradictions, du début (Bélier) à la fin (Poissons), l'amour n'est-il pas un éternel recommencement ?

Coup de foudre, feu de paille, impulsivité amoureuse ? Tout cela représente votre façon d'aimer James Ellroy, ou plutôt de tomber amoureux et de garder tout au long de votre relation cette sorte de ressenti saccadé et vif qui peut paraître parfois un peu infantile ou en tout cas naïf  mais si généreux et gai ! Vous êtes indéniablement possessif et peu soucieux de ce que pense votre partenaire, mais heureusement, votre spontanéité et votre authenticité permettent facilement de vous faire pardonner. Quand l'intensité est là, tout va bien. Pas de romantisme ni de prise de tête avec vous, vous aimez avec ardeur et le seul risque pour votre couple, en dehors de quelques emballements - ou plutôt d'occasions et d'herbe tendre prises ici ou là - est que l'ennui s'installe et si c'est le cas, vous partirez sans le moindre regret et oublierez aussi vite ce qui vous consumait il y a peu de temps.

The Sun in Pisces: his will and inner motivations

Mars in Leo: his ability to take action

Quelle énergie James Ellroy ! Que d'initiatives et de force pour agir, construire ou combattre ! Vous faites partie des conquérants, loyaux et soucieux du panache et votre vitalité est telle que vous pourrez l'utiliser sans peine pour arriver à vos objectifs et exercer toute votre créativité. Vous êtes cependant si fier et si entier qu'il n'est pas question pour vous de distinguer chez autrui une once de contrariété sur votre route : vous risqueriez alors, si vexé, de courir dans la direction opposée par réaction. Sexuellement, votre magnétisme et votre énergie font des merveilles et en plus vous n'êtes pas compliqué, il suffit pour que tout se passe au mieux que l'on  respecte votre nature un peu dominatrice et que l'on vous porte un minimum d'admiration. Vous avez en général confiance en vous et en votre réussite et c'est ce trait de caractère particulier qui parfois peut faire de vous un vrai héros à la force herculéenne et au charisme solaire.

Conclusion

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