Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011, and all the intervening time since then has been filled with analysis, praise, and retrospection. I wanted to see this entrepreneurial creative genius for myself, so I visited the natal chart calculated by and published in France’s “www.astrotheme.com“, a database which consists of more than 40,000 celebrity and event charts, the largest in the world, and then reproduced it for myself on Germany’s “www.astro.com” (formerly Astrodienst), site, making sure planetary and other positions matched. I was able to add and/or confirm positions of some asteroids and other bodies.
Family Life and Early Connections
Steve Jobs had a Syrian father and an American graduate student mother who were not married when Steve was born, although they did marry sometime later. It was a clear case of good fortune for mankind that the birth parents decided to have the baby rather than dispose of it during the pregnancy. Happily, unlike during subsequent decades, abortions were very seldom done in the mid-1950’s when Steve was born — and soon after being born on February 15, 1955, the child was happily adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, California. The father by blood is shown by SUN in 6th House. Sun in the 6th is a rather obscure position. which was the role of the birth father during Steve’s early life. Sun, also being one’s own resilient, resistant vitality, is somewhat weakened in the 6th House. The 6th House relates to affairs akin to Virgo, the 6th Sign, including work, service, and, unfortunately, health, since health would ultimately be a major concern for Steve. Also, there are very few aspects from Sun to other planets, so the birth father’s energy, the knowledge of father and child, as well as overall strength and length of life, were weakened.
Steve’s home life was not so bad, though, someone came along and gave him what he needed — The North Lunar Node, a karmic point that shows where new lessons would be learned; and Ceres, the ‘Grain Goddess’, asteroid which often proclaims a bountiful harvest, were in the 4th House, the house of the Home, along with Venus, the planet of one’s joys and loves, and fulfilment, such as one’s hobbies. It is apparent his adoptive mother and father were both tolerant and generous to him. Steve’s future inventions — the Apple, the Macintosh, the i-Pad, etc., would serve the needs of families in their homes.
You don’t hear much about Steve’s interactions with his siblings, and this is because of the presence of Saturn, the icy, repressive, emotionally distancing planet which removes siblings from sight if it falls in the 3rd House in a person’s natal chart… which is where it is in Steve’s. He did, however, have one full-blooded sister, who went on to become a novelist, but she was not only younger, but born and raised in the family which put Steve up for adoption, so they were nothing to each other as children. The Jobs did adopt more kids, but they were no real relation to Steve. Thus: Saturn in the 3rd House.
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Expansive, Abundant, Positive and Benevolent
The most elevated planets in Steve’s chart are Jupiter and Uranus in conjunction in Cancer in the 10th House, the home of business and career, and one’s ‘visibility’ in the world — how one is seen by others. Jupiter is expansive, abundant, positive, benevolent. It is a money-maker, and here it is, at birth, in the House of career. Jupiter is not always the greatest boon, it can sometimes show a person to be foolhardy, over-optimistic, and a lavish or impulsive spender. Uranus is brilliant, innovative, independent to the point of revolutionism if not anarchism. Added to Jupiter, it makes for ever more impulse and adventure. It is hard to restrain one who has a Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in a prominent place like the 10th House. It is “Give me Freedom, or Give me Death!’ Together, they are a brilliant combination, showing a progressive intellect always looking for “the new”:
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Computers themselves, and software yet to be developed, will revolutionize the way we learn. –Steve Jobs, quoted in: www.brainyquote.comHe also said:
I have a great respect for incremental improvement, and I’ve done that sort of thing in my life, but I’ve always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don’t know why. Because they’re harder. (Ibid)
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He was attracted to ‘the more revolutionary changes’ because his planets reveal him to be a revolutionary– scripted from birth.Travel was an important source of Steve’s education, as Jupiter relates to education abroad. Uranus linked with Jupiter shows that both travel AND education would come under unusual, perhaps sudden, circumstances. Education (Jupiter) would certainly be unconventional (Uranus). This explains his Reed College adventure. He left school after just one semester but continued to audit classes much longer, sleeping on the floors of friend’s lodgings and selling coke cans to make the small change to get meals. But he also learned significantly from his travels to India, where he visited the ashram of a Hindu Guru, but came back to the States with his head shorn, as a Buddhist. How many so-called entrepreneurs have ever done that?
Uranus is THE planet of the unconventional, and so it is no surprise that Steve also took a number of ‘trips’ on L.S.D., each of which was certainly the equivalent of a transoceanic journey into distant and formerly unknown lands. While many would scowl at psychedelic drug use, it is believed by many that, used correctly, it can be a teacher: It can transform and inspire. In one way, then, Steve is one of the first experimenters with L.S.D. whom we know must have used the experience in a fresh, positive, innovative way — because it matches his chart, and because it seems to have helped him stand out in every way from the crowd.
But Apple really beats to a different drummer. I used to say that Apple should be the Sony of this business, but in reality, I think Apple should be the Apple of this business. —Steve Jobs. quoted in: www.brainyquote.com
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Steve Jobs was that “different drummer.”
And that is what he needed to do, to be different, and to ‘beat that drum hard’, to become the icon he did. The Uranian (the inventor, the explorer, the surprising anarchist), is not a bad person (Jupiter is good, helpful, productive and kind!) It is shown in his chart; and it means this applies generally, throughout society. We need geniuses. We need geniuses who work hard. (Steve worked hard! See below!) Such people as this are the Thomas Edisons who gave us the brilliant glare of millions of light bulbs where before, there were whale-oil lanterns in the midst of a lot of darkness. Steve Jobs gave us the same kind of results that Edison did, when we look at all his many patents for a multitude of inventions. Score one for the open-minded, progressive, Uranian explorer.
Super-Abundant Use of Innovative Independence and Brilliance
The combination of these two planets also means that Steve made super-abundant use (Jupiter) of his innovative independence and brilliance. Cancer rules the home, the 4th House. Steve’s 4th House of home, is found in the area of his chart that rules business. He made his business out of his home — his Palo Alto garage, in fact, was the first home to Apple Computer. There is an axis in the chart between Venus and Jupiter, and Venus and Uranus. Hobbies (Venus in the house of the home), related to business. His work that started with his friend and early partner Steve Wozniak, on the game, Atari, led to what was eventually a work + home revolution.Uranus conjunction Jupiter equals “free-and-easy”, and Steve’s informal, conversational style, and lack of stiff formality, helped gain backers and early enthusiasts. As he said:
…Innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we’ve been thinking about a problem. —-Steve Jobs, quoted in: www.brainyquote.com
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Workaholism… and an Asteroid
All the major asteroids have now been proven to have important meaning in natal charts. The asteroid Vesta is just three to three-and-a-half degrees from Steve’s Gemini Midheaven. it is therefore the “most highly elevated” of all the orbs in Steve Job’s chart. I do make use of the most prominent asteroids, but astrologer Cathy Burroughs, who is more familiar with Vesta’s energies than I am, says of this same aspect in someone else’s chart;
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With Vesta on the Midheaven within 3 degrees, throughout the career of the native whose chart we are focusing on, this individual frequently veered toward overwork, often teetering on the brink of workaholism
This tendency has been precisely observed by Steve Job’s most familiar partners and friends.Partners and PassionsSpeaking of partners… His female partners are indicated by his natal Moon in Aries in the 7th house. The women in his life were active and aggressive and passionate; they had a mind of their own. When the mother of his first child, Lisa, felt abandoned by Steve, she went up to Oregon to live on a commune (as shown in “Pirates of Silicon Valley” (1999).
How did he deal with these passionate partners? His passions were intense, quick, yet often, just as quickly over; Venus opposition Uranus made sure of that. The anarchism of planet Uranus made the Venus-beams of love energy confused and confusing. His early relationships were fraught with peril for himself and his loves. The mother of his first child had to subsist on welfare for some years because Steve refused to admit his daughter was his. He had the strange idea that he was sterile, unable to conceive children. This was a bit of an exaggeration because he went on to have several more children after his first daughter, Lisa. He was destined to have children (Mercury in the 5th House, the house of children, including at least one boy), but Mercury squared Saturn (5th to 3rd) in the chart, showing misunderstandings, differences of opinion, and negative attitudes shown toward the children, resulting from the interaction of the children around him when he was growing up (3rd = house of Siblings, as mentioned above).
What kept Steve going, inventing, and throwing himself into his career, was the pivotal presence of Mars, the masterful and powerful energy fulcrum of domination and determination which aspects a number of planets in his chart; among them, a trine to Pluto which astrologers say makes one committed, passionate, and determined. As Cafeastrology.com says of this aspect between birth planets (for anyone, not just Steve Jobs):
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“For you, it’s all or nothing. You are baffled by, and possibly impatient with, others who do things halfway or half-heartedly.”
And that’s exactly what we’ve heard about Steve Jobs… insisting on perfection; firing someone he suspected of shirking or not giving 110% of his energy; pushing his employees to unheard of clock-hours; possessing a commanding and authoritative “aura”. And yet — linked with Neptune, opposed by Neptune, which represents the IDEAL. The same ideal which made him visit India to listen to the pandits and gurus; the same Neptune which drove him to drive those around him at Apple and Pixar to unheard-of dedication and discovery.
Steve Jobs had a 4 degree trine between Mars and Pluto, from Aries to Leo. The greatest inventor of the 19th Century, Thomas Edison, had a 6 degree trine between them, as well.
Desperate Decisions; Nobody Lives Forever… But Why So Young?
Sixth House Sun (health, not the best house for one’s vitality or longevity, as I hinted above) and Eighth House Mars (house of death, sex, regeneration). Moon in the sign ruled by Mars (Aries). Pluto in the 12th, the house of secrets and ‘skeletons in the closet’, perhaps of illnesses that people don’t want to think about, and therefore, don’t get treated properly. All of this points toward Steve NOT living to his 80’s or 90’s. No, he lived until his mid-50’s. Let’s explore why.Mars can lead to a wonderful sex-life, because in the 8th House there is much passion as well as intensity of a high order. It is similar to a Mars in Scorpio or Sun conjunction Mars energy when it comes to sex. But Mars since the most ancient times has been also linked to accidents, battles, (in the 8th House it would mean battles over other people’s money, inheritance and the like… reminiscent of Steve’s fights with his Board of Directors on several occasions. There is also a role which Mars plays in infections and illnesses: it can also lead to physical problems that can lead to dangerous operations. In Steve’s case it was a tumor on his pancreas. There is an exact opposition between Mars and Neptune in his chart; Neptune can be a planet of confusion, possibly deception or more likely, self-deception. Steve’s Mars and Neptune are extremely close by aspect, just a handful of minutes of longitude apart, and it is true that the closer the aspect, the more powerful the meaning thereof. Neptune highlighted in this way, makes for dilemmas having to do with diagnosis, not to mention treatment. Remember the idealism we spoke about in regards to Neptune? In opposition to Mars, it implies a dangerous teeter-totter of a possibly dangerous illness (Mars) and a hope-against-hope that looks to various modalities and treatments. Neptune also show a hard-to-diagnose, hard-to-treat situation. So there is just a lot of difficulty in knowing exactly HOW to handle the pancreatic Cancer and its aftermath.
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Steve Jobs squeezed four or five useful years into his life despite the debilities of the disease and the procedures which attempted to treat it. With Mars the planet of operations, paired with Neptune, a planet of confusion, there was, no matter how rich, how powerful Steve was in life, a confusion (Neptune) about how to go about treating the diseases that afflicted him. Would he even have an operation? (Mars) or would he try some other, more starry-eyed path (Neptune)? If he hesitated in deciding, or if he made the wrong choice in what kind of operation he undertook — the results could be fatal, even if prolonged by the best of care… Even a billionaire has a hard time overcoming the dangers of an 8th House Mars in exact opposition to Neptune. And that’s exactly what’s shown on his chart.
In the end, we can remember Steve Jobs for his public persona. as shown by his 10th House Jupiter and Uranus; and his ingenious addiction to making his work hugely significant and stimulating. (Mars trine Pluto and Vesta conjunct the Midheaven!) Just like Edison, Jobs brought light and excitement to the world which had been a darker, clunkier place before he came onto the scene. One final quote about his faith and vision in the future:
You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. –—Steve Jobs, quoted in www.brainyquote.com.
For a chart interpretation by Ed Augusts, visit
http://www.edaugusts.com/?page_id=2
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