Angela Davis is an activist, writer, and advocate for the oppressed. As a young woman she studied extensively in the United States and Europe, becoming a formidable scholar and prominent figure in the black liberation movement. Today she is Professor emerita at University of California, Santa Cruz. Let’s take a walk around her birth chart and observe some of what it has to say about her life and character.
Taurus rising, ruler of the ascendant in the 8th house:
Taurus, fixed. Not easily perturbed. A formidable persona. A woman who is relentless in her pursuit of what she has her mind set to. Needing to methodically cultivate her own set of values from which she can operate in the world. With the chart ruler, Venus, in the 8th house, one of the important keys to this chart lies in the ability to stand firmly in her values while relating to values of others. How does she do this? Venus is in Sagittarius. By educating. By learning. By traveling. By broadcasting her message. Also by attracting (Venus principle) knowledge and philosophical postures that challenge her to confront the divergent attitudes of others.
Broadcasting is another important theme this chart:
Mercury in the 9th house:
Mercury is in Capricorn, cardinal earth, in the 9th house, the house of travel, learning, academia, philosophy, publishing, broadcasting. As the dispositor of Mars, Uranus, and Saturn in this chart, Davis channels her sharp, incisive mind, which receives worlds of information in moments, into that Mercury in Capricorn in the 9th. She concretizes revolutionary ideas into practical terms and disseminates them with the intention of creating structures that support the underrepresented, discriminated against, underdog.
We see the broadcasting and education theme again here. Her angular Aquarius Moon is in opposition to Jupiter in the 4th. A dignified, larger than life call toward personal leadership translated into a sense of responsibility for the group, especially the alienated group.
In fact, the chart is charged up with powerful oppositions —awareness coming from interactions with other people, or from situations outside of her. Her angular nodal axis has conjunctions at both the south and north nodes, propelling her toward a powerful personal destiny. Pluto conjunct the south node, ruler of the 7th house, is familiar with wielding power publicly, as well as working with powerful people. The Sun at the top of the chart conjunct her north node requires that she use that knowledge of power wielding to cultivate a powerful public persona who is concerned with masterfully championing the concerns of the group.
This is a dynamic chart. There are so many other configurations to explore — her grand trine in air, the Mercury square Neptune aspect, the deeper archetypal stories drawn from the richness of 71 years of life. All this and more, but I’ll end for now with the thought that her own life is a breathing monument to such an intriguing chart, let us look there for the living symbols. Happy Birthday Ms. Davis.
