Carl Van Doren
Carl Van Doren (born September 10, 1885, Hope, United States; died 1950), was an American biographer. Doren's honours include Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
Carl Van Doren’s zodiac sign was Virgo, Chinese zodiac was Wood Rooster, with Life Path 5 in numerology.
Virgo, Chinese zodiac was 
Wood Rooster, with 
Life Path 5 in numerology.Your match with Carl
Carl Van Doren’s AsterNym identity
The Steadfast Explorer
Earth represents stability. Earth-led charts are associated with patience, responsibility and the ability to make people or projects feel supported. Life Path 5 represents freedom: change, movement, variety and resistance to restrictive routines.
Earth Day Master (BaZi) × mutable Sun × Life Path 5, on the physical plane.
How common is the name Carl in the U.S.?
#1134
US rank in 2025
~508,017
Americans share it since 1880
1956
its peak year
In 1885, 494 American boys and 5 girls were registered Carl — 34th among boys and 1,066th among girls on the SSA's list that year.
US Social Security Administration public records
What Carl’s name adds up to
Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.
1
Expression · starting things
4
Soul Urge · solid ground
6
Personality · caring, responsible
The name opens on C (3) and closes on L (3). The value it repeats most is 5, which numerology reads as movement.
Pythagorean letter values · A=1 to I=9, then J=1 again
Carl’s lucky numbers, colours and stones
Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.
Lucky numbers
5 · 7 · 8
Lucky colours
Green & Teal
Lucky day
Wednesday
Direction
→ East
Season
spring
Stones
Sapphire, Emerald, Green Aventurine
Flower constellation
⭐ Aster · 💜 Lavender · 🌸 Green Orchid
Lavender · Lilac · Botanical green
The record
What sets Carl apart
The Pulitzer Prize for Biography came in 1939, when Carl Van Doren was 54.
Study took Carl Van Doren to UIUC College of Media and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Carl Van Doren lies at Cornwall Hollow Cemetery.
The family line: married Irita Bradford Van Doren.
On Wikipedia the categories read People from Cornwall, Connecticut, Van Doren family and Writers from Illinois.
Jack Ma (1964) and Colin Firth (1960) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.
- Educated at
- UIUC College of Media, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Columbia University
- Awards
- Pulitzer Prize for Biography (1939)
- Buried at
- Cornwall Hollow Cemetery
- Citizenship
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Wikipedia editions
- 13
What the chart says
Carl, according to the stars
Core essence
Carl notices. That is the whole thing: the detail everyone else walked past, the small fix that makes the day work, the way you looked slightly off when you said you were fine. The core of Carl is devotion expressed as usefulness. They love by improving things, and they are far kinder to other people than to themselves.
The vibe
Underneath, Carl cannot fully relax while anyone in the room is unhappy. The Moon in Libra feels through harmony and hates conflict in their own house. What Carl needs to feel safe is fairness, softness and a partner in the small decisions. They are at their best when someone else picks the restaurant and they get to enjoy it.
How Carl wants to be loved
Carl wants to be loved beautifully. Venus is at home in Libra: romance, manners, the date that was actually planned, a partner who is fair and easy to be around. Carl gives a lot of grace and needs it back. Treat them like a partner in everything, including the small choices, and they bloom.
How Carl creates
How Carl makes things happen: they are the ground everyone else stands on. A Yang Earth day master is the mountain, reliable, slow to move, immovable once it has. Carl creates by holding: the plan, the people, the standard. They are trusted before they have said a word, and the work is remembering that mountains are allowed to want things too.
Instinct
Instinct: Carl is sharp and confident, a Rooster year, and their gut reaction is to say the true thing out loud. Observant, hardworking, honest, and proud of looking the part. The Wood year adds growth: ideals, ambition, a need to be getting somewhere.
Purpose
Purpose: Life Path 5 is the free spirit. Carl is here to explore, to change, to taste everything and report back. Adventure, variety and freedom are not distractions from their purpose, they are it. The lesson is choosing, sometimes, and staying.
Triggers
Triggers: feeling unsafe, or seeing their people treated badly. Mars in Cancer means Carl does not fight for themselves easily but will go to war for someone they love. The anger comes out sideways at first, then all at once. Protectiveness is the whole engine.
Computed from Carl's birth date. Working below.
Where Carl sits
Six lines
Carl’s dot comes from the chart; yours is where you put it.
You likely balance a tight inner circle with a wider orbit you dip into.
You likely weigh most decisions but can move fast when it matters.
You likely share some feelings openly and keep others to yourself.
You likely handle some friction right away and let smaller things settle.
You may favor what's proven and workable over the untested idea.
You likely warm up at a pace that depends on the person and moment.
Tap each line where you sit.
All twelve of yours, from your birth date →✦ A real star from their birth night
Dedicate a star to Carl Van Doren
Three stars chosen from the real sky above Hope on the night they were born. Choose the story that connects you.
A 9 p.m. reference sky, not the birth minute. Dedications are commemorative and confer no ownership of stars.
The sky over Hope that night
Computed for 40.21°N, 9 p.m. local sky.
Overhead at Hope at 9 p.m. that evening: Sadr of Cygnus, within 2.2° of the exact zenith.
Of the 91 catalog stars above the horizon, Arcturus was the brightest.
Hope sits at 40.2°N, low enough that no headline star is circumpolar: everything bright rises and sets there.
Nothing below −49.8° declination clears the horizon at this latitude, so Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman were never visible from Hope on any night.
The Moon, 7% lit at waxing crescent, had already set; the Sun sat 31° below the horizon.
The name and the places
- Born in
- Hope, United States
The death is recorded at Torrington, Northwest Hills Planning Region in 1950.
No birth time is on record, so no astrocartography map can be drawn for Carl Van Doren: the lines move about fifteen degrees of longitude an hour. Shared Places can still draw yours.
How unusual Carl's chart is
Chart pattern score
53 / 100 · Unusual
3-planet stellium in Virgo · A bowl chart · No Fire planets
An AsterNym index built from stelliums, yods, grand crosses and chart shape. It is not a population percentile, and a high score is not a better chart. Without a birth time the houses are left out of it.
Score your own chart →The quick version
Virgo Sun
Virgo SunStandards nobody else can meet.
Carl Van Doren's Sun was in Virgo for the whole of September 10, 1885, so no birth time is needed to settle it.
What Virgo means →Wood Rooster
Wood RoosterSharp eye, sharper tongue.
Carl Van Doren was born on September 10, 1885, which falls in a Wood Rooster year of the Chinese calendar.
What the Rooster means →Life Path 5
Life Path 5Restless, curious, gone.
Carl Van Doren's birth date, September 10, 1885, reduces to Life Path 5 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.
What Life Path 5 means →What stands out in Carl’s chart
- The tightest major aspect in Carl Van Doren's date-only chart is Mars sextile Neptune, with an orb of under 1°.
- Three planets, Sun, Mercury and Jupiter, sit together in Virgo, which astrologers call a stellium.
- Five of the ten planets fall in Cardinal signs, making Cardinal the strongest modality in this chart.
- Carl Van Doren combines an Earth Day Master in BaZi with a mutable Sun and a Life Path on the physical plane, the combination AsterNym calls The Steadfast Explorer.
Carl’s birth chart
Reference chart · birth time unknown
Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 6° to 19° Libra depending on the hour.
No birth time, so the houses are a solar chart: the Sun’s sign counts as house 1.
Placements
Tap one to light it on the wheel.
The working: aspects, Chiron and the asteroids, dominant planets and configurationsshow
Aspects across every possible birth time
stableMarssextileNeptune0.3° to 1.0° orb
Carl’s drive opens doors for their imagination. Nothing happens until someone makes the first move.
stableUranustrinePluto0.7° to 0.8° orb
Carl’s need for freedom flows straight into their depths. Effortless, which is exactly why it gets taken for granted.
stableSunconjunctionJupiter1.0° to 1.8° orb
Carl’s core identity and growth act as one.
stableMercurysextileSaturn1.8° to 2.1° orb
stableMercurysquarePluto1.8° to 2.0° orb
stableVenussquareMars3.9° to 4.5° orb
stableSaturnsquareUranus4.6° orb
stableUranustrineNeptune6.8° orb
stableNeptuneconjunctionPluto7.6° orb
possibleMoonsquareSaturnorb from 0.1° to 12.8° depending on birth time
possibleMoonconjunctionVenusorb from 2.8° to 15.4° depending on birth time
possibleMoontrinePlutoorb from 2.9° to 16.7° depending on birth time
Chart signature
Elements
- Fire0 of 10
- Earth4 of 10
- Air4 of 10
- Water2 of 10
Modalities
- Cardinal5 of 10
- Fixed1 of 10
- Mutable4 of 10
Counted across the ten planets by sign, with no planets in Fire signs.
Carl’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith
What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.
⚷ ChironGemini 16°24′ (moves 0.02° over the day)
centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it
⚳ CeresScorpio 4°54′ (moves 0.38° over the day)
dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured
♡ ErosLibra 29°07′ (moves 0.72° over the day)
near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire
⚕ Hygiea ℞Taurus 16°04′ (moves 0.02° over the day)
main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well
⚸ Black Moon LilithCapricorn 22°16′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed
Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith
- Ceres sextile Mercury 0.1°
- Black Moon Lilith square Venus 0.3°
- Chiron square Jupiter 0.4°
- Hygiea trine Jupiter 0.7°
- Chiron square Sun 1.8°
- Ceres trine Saturn 2.1°
- Hygiea trine Sun 2.1°
- Eros square Mars 2.9°
Carl’s dominant planets
1. ☿ Mercury10 pts
rules the Sun sign, Virgo; in its own sign, Virgo; disposes Sun, Jupiter, Pluto; 2 major aspects
2. ♀ Venus5 pts
in its own sign, Libra; disposes Uranus, Neptune; 1 major aspect
3. ♅ Uranus3 pts
3 major aspects
Configurations in Carl’s chart
Stellium in Virgo · Sun, Mercury, JupiterThree or more planets in one sign (four, or three with a luminary, by AsterNym's count): a concentration astrologers read as that sign's themes dominating the chart.
Minor aspects
semi-sextile, semi-square, quintile, sesquiquadrate, biquintile, quincunx.
- Sun quintile Saturn 0.8°
More people like Carl
Other writers
- Edward G. Hill1883
- Will Durant1885
- Franz Kafka1883
- John Gould Fletcher1886
- Ethel Romig Fuller1883
- William Rose Benét1886
Born in United States
- Glen Cavenderactor
- Will DurantAmerican historian, philosopher and writer
- William Carlos WilliamsAmerican poet
- Charlie RossAmerican journalist
- Edward G. HillAmerican lawyer and poet from Mississippi
- George MinotAmerican physician
More charts like Carl’s
Fellow Virgo suns
- Liz GreeneAmerican-born British astrologer, psychologist and author
- Patrick CollisonIrish entrepreneur
- Anthony PadillaAmerican YouTuber, actor and producer
Born in Rooster years
- Pierfrancesco FavinoItalian actor
- Elia KazanAmerican director and actor
- Jan SterlingAmerican actress
Also born on September 10
- Jack Ma1964
- Colin Firth1960
- Karl Lagerfeld1933
- Ryan Phillippe1974
- Sam Kerr1993
- Elsa Schiaparelli1890
Fellow Yang Earth day masters
- Jameson WilliamsAmerican football player (born 2001)
- Trey McBrideAmerican football player (born 1999)
- Roger McCrearyAmerican football player (born 2000)
Other Virgo Rooster charts
- Patrick J. AdamsCanadian actor
- Kelsea BalleriniAmerican singer and songwriter
- Anne BurrellAmerican television chef
- Angie EverhartAmerican actress and model
Other Steadfast Explorers
- Will ShipleyAmerican football player
- Andrew MukubaZimbabwean American football player (born 2002)
- Jedrick WillsAmerican football offensive tackle
- Reid FergusonAmerican football player from the United States
Famous people with Life Path 5
- Justin SkuleAmerican football player
- Luke GoedekeAmerican football player
- Peter SkoronskiAmerican football player (born 2001)
From the journal: Why your Chinese sign might be wrong · What is feng shui?
Carl’s cards
Computed from September 10, 1885. Tap to flip.
Birth tarot card
TemperanceAsterNym identity card
The Steadfast ExplorerWestern zodiac
VirgoChinese zodiac
Rooster 酉Life Path
5 · Explorer☿ Ruled by Mercury
Quicksilver Hg
The working: BaZi pillarsshow
BaZi pillars
Day Master: yang Earth.
Year
乙
yin Wood
酉
Rooster
Metal
roots & early life
Month
乙
yin Wood
酉
Rooster
Metal
work & drive
Day
day master
戊
yang Earth
辰
Dragon
Earth
you & partnership
Where this comes from, and how it is worked out
Carl’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q5039991 (CC0), as do the occupations, works and awards above. With no documented birth time this chart is rated X on the Rodden scale, the astrological convention for how well evidenced a birth time is. The banner above lists what that leaves out. Entries are matched to Wikidata by entity id rather than by name, kept at day precision, and dropped where sources disagree on the date.
Tropical zodiac, whole-sign houses, modern rulers. Aspects on the western_v1 orb policy; minor ones at 1.5° to 2.5°, skipped where a major already holds. Minor bodies from JPL Horizons heliocentric vectors, Lilith as mean apogee. Dominance is an AsterNym score — rulerships, dispositors, aspect count — so other methods can name a different leader.
Portrait by Louis Edward Nollau, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The same Carl Van Doren at Wikipedia.
Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by Carl Van Doren.
Quick answers about Carl Van Doren’s chart
- What zodiac sign was Carl Van Doren?
- Carl Van Doren was a Virgo: born September 10, 1885, which puts the Sun in Virgo for the whole of that day.
- What was Carl Van Doren's Chinese zodiac animal?
- The Rooster, with the Wood element, from the Chinese lunar year of the September 10, 1885 birth.
- What was Carl Van Doren's Life Path number?
- Life Path 5, calculated in numerology.
- What was Carl Van Doren's Chiron sign?
- Chiron in Gemini at 16°. Position from JPL Horizons.
- Where was Carl Van Doren's Black Moon Lilith?
- Mean Black Moon Lilith in Capricorn at 22°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
- What was Carl Van Doren's dominant planet?
- Mercury, on AsterNym's dominance score (10 points: rules the Sun sign, Virgo; in its own sign, Virgo; disposes Sun, Jupiter, Pluto; 2 major aspects). Venus is second and Uranus third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.
