The Light She Carries - Michelle Obama part 1
Wondering if you can get an astrology reading if you don’t know your time of birth? The answer is yes – but the astrologer needs to go into detective mode first to get to an accurate chart to read from!
I’m a fan of Michelle Obama and was curious to take a closer look at this powerhouse’s astrology chart, but her time of birth is not publicly known. For a Vedic astrology reading, the ascendant sign is key, and this changes approximately every two hours, running through the full zodiac everyday. I’ll share some of the detective work done to narrow down her birth time. My guess is around 8:20am - on 17 January 1964 in Chicago, making Michelle a Capricorn ascendant.
To “rectify” a chart, we start my taking pieces of the puzzle that we know – siblings, career, children, parents, partnerships, the “face” someone presents to the world – but one of the most important clues lies in what they say, literally the words that come out their mouth…
“You have to be prepared to have long stretches of discomfort…”, that is the pragmatic, long-term view of Saturn which the ruler of Capricorn. The ascendant is the self – personality & nature, physical appearance & strength. Capricorn ascendants are typically tall (5’ 11”) and well-built, seeking to follow a determined and practical path through life. They are well aware of their limitations, but also ambitious and much success is possible as having Saturn as a ruler makes them experts at persevering and learning from mistakes.
Follow along on the detective work…
Siblings: Jupiter can be a significator of an elder brother and is placed in the house of siblings. A sub-chart confirms that is in fact elder, not younger.
Career: Libra (7), symbolised by the scales (of justice), is placed house of career, this fits with Michelle’s career as a lawyer. Importantly, this chart suggests that it is very much the career/ public persona that she shows the world. The letters AL are Sanskrit shorthand for “our showcase image”. While the full chart reveals the depths of our personal life, there is always a particular aspect that reflects how others primarily perceive us.
Children: For a woman’s chart we look to both the house of children and that of life path/purpose / dharma. We know that Michelle & Barack have two daughters conceived via IVF. The house of children is ruled by Venus which is placed in Aquarius (co-ruled by Saturn & Rahu). Venus is well-placed in the house of family. Next, looking at whether children feature in her dharma, this house is ruled by Mercury, which has a more difficult placement and is co-joined by Ketu – the other half of the Rahu-Ketu karmic axis. Rahu and Ketu are linked to technological advancements, and Ketu to micro-surgery in particular. So having children with the assistance of IVF fits with this chart.
Parents: Two things to pick up here – firstly, a stable childhood, and the steadfast Saturn being the ruler of this house makes sense. Secondly, Michelle’s father was afflicted by multiple sclerosis, a nervous system / immune system disorder. Mercury rules the nervous system and also the house of father in this chart. Mercury has a challenging placement and some associations of this are losses, letting go and isolated places like hospital, it’s also the source of a more spiritual path.
Partner: In this case I used Barack’s chart to help identify the element (fire, water, earth, air). Did you know that Barack had another long-term relationship prior to Michelle? Well, it only became public in 2017! Barack’s first relationship partner likely had an air sign ascendant (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) or was a Leo rising. His second partner is likely to be an earth sign (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) or Pisces. Capricorn fits!
Finally, the title to her latest book is a fantastic clue…
· The Light We Carry – The primary luminary, the Sun, is on top of her in the ascendant. Enough said.
There’s lots more to analyse in Michelle’s chart, I was just sharing the process of figuring out the birth time so that we know we’re working with an accurate chart. Stay tuned for part 2 on Michelle Obama, where we take a deeper look at certain aspects of her chart.