Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s birth chart has pinged around the astrological corners of the internet since January.
A professional astrologer tweeted a screenshot of his email exchange with a member of Ocasio-Cortez’s staff, who confirmed she was born at 11:50 a.m. Oct. 13, 1989 in the Bronx.
With the internet shifting our relationship to celebrity, people boldly ask public figures for their birth information. I still haven’t recovered from when Lana Del Rey answered someone demanding her birth time in an Instagram comment.
The New York Times’ own Amanda Hess quote-tweeted the email from Ocasio-Cortez with “@BetoORourke release your birth time you coward.”
Astrologers of varying expertise have warred with their interpretations of Ocasio-Cortez’s chart. I’m most drawn to the concentration of planets in her upper left quadrant — specifically the 11th house.
Remember the three prongs of planetary placements: a planet is what you do, the sign it’s in is how you do itand its house is where you do it.
Ocasio-Cortez's 10th through 12th houses are focused on public life: career, community and service. If this sounds familiar, Herman B Wells’ birth chart is similar.
However her career shakes out, it’s likely to be a long one. Her spiritual work must live in the public eye. With all these planets in the free-thinking 11th house, she’ll be guided by her belief in what is good for society as a whole.
For comparison, I needed a politician whose career we can examine in retrospect.
Astrology is lovely for sussing out potential, but much of its certainty comes from reviewing history. Robert Hand’s staple “Planets in Transit,” published in 1976, uses former President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal as a case study for interchanges between birth charts and events.
I don’t want anyone midcareer or midterm like President Trump. Any 2020 hopefuls or even former President Barack Obama are too fresh in their public lives for me to comfortably cast their charts. I could look at Nixon or former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
A politician whose life I can speak on with authority? Richard II of England. Another Tricky Dick, if you will.
He’s the subject of my favorite Shakespearean history, and he was famously a terrible ruler who was deposed and assassinated decades before the Wars of Roses.
Flighty, given to flattery and delusional in his belief in the divine right of kings, Shakespeare’s “Richard II” has recently become en vogue due to its echoes of impeachment in the U.S. and its nationalist relevance to Brexit Britain.
The wonderful thing about medieval monarchies is they often recorded their heirs’ birth times specifically for astrology. Richard II was born at 10:10 a.m. Jan. 6, 1367 in Bordeaux, France.
Like Ocasio-Cortez, Richard’s upper left quadrant is busy, especially his 10th house. The 10th house covers reputation, someone’s rank in society. Richard ruled England from childhood and met infamy and violent death due to his public wrongs. Sagittarius is on the cusp of his 10th house, and his narcissism is Sagittarian energy at its worst.
His Sun and Mercury in stubborn, self-righteous Capricorn spell his doom. His god complex, from being a preteen king and believing the throne was his because God said so, was incompatible with the more progressive, 14th-century English society willing to challenge tyranny.
While Ocasio-Cortez and Richard II’s charts are similar in focus, their identities’ expression in the signs and planetary aspects make a world of difference. Astrology can tell us about a political leader’s potential to rule, not how their rule will affect society or their personal health.
I’ll look at Beto’s chart if he divulges his birth information, but only time will tell.
