David K. Shipler
David K. Shipler (born December 3, 1942, Chatham Borough, United States), aged 83, is an American author who won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1987. Shipler's honours include Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and George Polk Award.
David K. Shipler’s zodiac sign is Sagittarius, Chinese zodiac is Water Horse, with Life Path 4 in numerology.
Sagittarius, Chinese zodiac is 
Water Horse, with 
Life Path 4 in numerology.Your match with David
David K. Shipler’s AsterNym identity
The Gilded Explorer
Metal represents precision. Metal-led charts are associated with standards, boundaries, discernment and the ability to remove what is unnecessary. Life Path 4 represents structure: foundations, systems and the patience to continue after the first enthusiasm fades.
Metal Day Master (BaZi) × mutable Sun × Life Path 4, on the physical plane.
How common is the name David in the U.S.?
#35
US rank in 2025
~3,689,613
Americans share it since 1880
1955
its peak year
Of the names registered in 1942, David came 6th among boys and 698th among girls, carried by 35,905 American boys and 114 girls.
US Social Security Administration public records
What David’s name adds up to
Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.
3
Expression · expression and voice
6
Soul Urge · being needed
6
Personality · caring, responsible
The name opens on D (4) and closes on D (4). Two values tie for most repeated, 4 and 9: craft against empathy.
Pythagorean letter values · A=1 to I=9, then J=1 again
David’s lucky numbers, colours and stones
Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.
Lucky numbers
4 · 2 · 3 · 7
Lucky colours
Blue & Black
Lucky day
Thursday
Direction
↑ North
Season
winter
Stones
Turquoise, Yellow Sapphire, Aquamarine
Flower constellation
🤍 Narcissus · 🌸 Peony · 💠 Water Lily
Frost white · Rose-gold · Moonlight white
Eight Mansions · Kua number
Kua 3, trigram Zhen 震, East group. Best direction South, worst Southwest.
A different tradition from the Direction above, and a different question: feng shui reads it from the solar year 1942, which turns at Li Chun rather than at New Year, and from sex, which Wikidata records as male. Work out your own →
The record
What sets David apart
David K. Shipler took the George Polk Award in 1982, at 40.
Training came by way of Dartmouth College.
The encyclopaedia's own shelving for David K. Shipler: Civil liberties in the United States, Writers on the Middle East and People from Chatham Borough, New Jersey.
Julianne Moore (1960) and Ozzy Osbourne (1948) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.
- Educated at
- Dartmouth College
- Instruments
- voice
- Awards
- Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (1987) and George Polk Award (1982)
- Citizenship
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Wikipedia editions
- 3
What the chart says
David, according to the stars
Core essence
David is the friend who says "let's just go" and means today. The core of David is faith that the world is bigger and better than the room they are in, and a restlessness to go and check. They are honest to the point of it being a sport, funny by accident, and impossible to keep small. Freedom is not a preference, it is oxygen.
The vibe
Underneath, David 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 David 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 David wants to be loved
David wants to be loved by someone who is also their favourite travel companion. Venus in Sagittarius needs laughter, honesty and a long leash, and gives the same. Possessiveness kills it; adventure feeds it. Go somewhere new with David and watch them fall for you again.
How David creates
How David makes things happen: they cut to it. A Yang Metal day master is the sword, decisive, principled, allergic to nonsense. David creates by clarifying, by deciding, by being the one who says what the thing actually is. Sharp with themselves first. The work is remembering that not every problem needs a blade.
Instinct
Instinct: David is free-spirited, a Horse year, and their gut reaction is to run toward the new thing. Energetic, warm, popular, honest to a fault, and impossible to keep indoors. The Water year softens it: intuitive, adaptable, feeling their way through people.
Purpose
Purpose: Life Path 4 is the builder. David is here to make things that last, to put structure under other people's dreams, to be trusted with the real work. Loyal, practical, honest, and learning that the plan can bend without breaking.
Triggers
Triggers: betrayal, and being handled. Mars in Scorpio means David runs hot underneath and cold on top; the anger is quiet, deep and long-remembered. They do not lose their temper, they decide. Point that focus at a goal and nothing survives in its way.
Computed from David's birth date. Working below.
Where David sits
Six lines
David’s dot comes from the chart; yours is where you put it.
You may draw energy from a wide network, many doors, lightly held.
You likely weigh most decisions but can move fast when it matters.
You may wear your feelings openly. What you feel tends to show.
You may want to resolve tension the moment it appears, rather than let it sit.
You likely balance practical steps with room to imagine further.
You may feel connection fast. Chemistry can arrive before the details do.
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 David K. Shipler
Three stars chosen from the real sky above Chatham Borough 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 Chatham Borough that night
Computed for 40.74°N, 9 p.m. local sky.
Overhead at Chatham Borough at 9 p.m. that evening: Mirach of Andromeda, within 6.2° of the exact zenith.
The brightest star above the horizon was Vega in Lyra, and 100 catalog stars were up in all.
From 40.7°N not one of the brightest stars stays permanently above the horizon — all of them rise and set.
Nothing below −49.3° declination clears the horizon at this latitude, so Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman were never visible from Chatham Borough on any night.
The Moon, 21% lit at waning crescent, had already set; the Sun sat 39° below the horizon.
How unusual David's chart is
Chart pattern score
44 / 100 · Quietly distinctive
3-planet stellium in Sagittarius · No Earth planets · A leaning bowl
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
Sagittarius Sun
Sagittarius SunRestless in a good way.
David K. Shipler's Sun was in Sagittarius for the whole of December 3, 1942, so no birth time is needed to settle it.
What Sagittarius means →Water Horse
Water HorseOpen road, open heart.
David K. Shipler was born on December 3, 1942, which falls in a Water Horse year of the Chinese calendar.
What the Horse means →Life Path 4
Life Path 4The one who reads the manual.
David K. Shipler's birth date, December 3, 1942, reduces to Life Path 4 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.
What Life Path 4 means →What stands out in David’s chart
- The tightest major aspect in David K. Shipler's date-only chart is Uranus trine Neptune, with an orb of under 1°.
- Three planets, Sun, Mercury and Venus, sit together in Sagittarius, which astrologers call a stellium.
- Five of the ten planets fall in Mutable signs, making Mutable the strongest modality in this chart.
- David K. Shipler combines a Metal Day Master in BaZi with a mutable Sun and a Life Path on the physical plane, the combination AsterNym calls The Gilded Explorer.
David’s birth chart
Reference chart · birth time unknown
Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 4° to 18° 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
stableUranustrineNeptune0.4° to 0.5° orb
David’s need for freedom flows straight into their imagination. A talent so smooth it can go unnoticed.
stableSunconjunctionMercury1.2° to 1.7° orb
David’s core identity and mind act as one. Wherever one goes, the other is already there.
stableSunoppositionSaturn1.4° to 2.5° orb
David’s core identity pulls against their discipline from across the wheel. Two ends of one rope.
stableSaturnsextilePluto1.7° to 1.8° orb
stableMarstrineJupiter2.5° to 3.3° orb
stableMercuryconjunctionVenus2.6° to 2.9° orb
stableMercuryoppositionSaturn2.6° to 4.2° orb
stableSuntrinePluto3.2° to 4.3° orb
stableSunconjunctionVenus4.1° to 4.3° orb
stableMercurytrinePluto4.4° to 6.0° orb
stableUranussextilePluto4.9° orb
stableVenusoppositionSaturn5.5° to 6.9° orb
Chart signature
Elements
- Fire4 of 10
- Earth0 of 10
- Air4 of 10
- Water2 of 10
Modalities
- Cardinal3 of 10
- Fixed2 of 10
- Mutable5 of 10
Counted across the ten planets by sign, with no planets in Earth signs.
David’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith
What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.
⚷ ChironLeo 29°17′ (moves 0.02° over the day)
centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it
⚳ CeresPisces 21°24′ (moves 0.13° over the day)
dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured
♡ ErosAquarius 26°39′ (moves 0.51° over the day)
near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire
⚕ HygieaLeo 14°20′ (moves 0.03° over the day)
main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well
⚸ Black Moon LilithCancer 10°50′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed
Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith
- Ceres trine Mars 0.2°
- Hygiea trine Venus 0.7°
- Hygiea trine Mercury 2.0°
- Chiron square Uranus 2.9°
David’s dominant planets
1. ♃ Jupiter7 pts
rules the Sun sign, Sagittarius; disposes Sun, Mercury, Venus; 1 major aspect
2. ☿ Mercury6 pts
disposes Saturn, Uranus; 4 major aspects
3. ☉ Sun5 pts
disposes Pluto; 4 major aspects
Configurations in David’s chart
Stellium in Sagittarius · Sun, Mercury, VenusThree 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.
- Jupiter semi-square Saturn 0.6°
- Venus quintile Neptune 1.3°
- Sun sesquiquadrate Jupiter 1.4°
- Mercury quintile Neptune 1.5°
More people like David
Other singers
- Bonnie Tyler1951
- Tony Bennett1926
- Gloria Gaynor1943
- Billy Idol1955
- Ernie Sabella1949
- Nina Simone1933
Born in United States
- Joseph SchwantnerAmerican composer (born 1943)
- Martin ScorseseAmerican filmmaker
- James GoodnightAmerican businessman
- Joe SurvantAmerican Kentucky poet laureate (1942- )
- Joe PesciAmerican actor
- Sharon OldsAmerican poet
More charts like David’s
Fellow Sagittarius suns
- Michael BennetUnited States Senator from Colorado since 2009 (born 1964)
- Anna ChlumskyAmerican actress (born 1980)
- Amy LocaneAmerican actress
Born in Horse years
- Julian AshbyAmerican football player (born 2002)
- Israel AbanikandaAmerican football player (born 2002)
- Tyler WarrenAmerican football player (born 2002)
Also born on December 3
- Julianne Moore1960
- Ozzy Osbourne1948
- Brendan Fraser1968
- Holly Marie Combs1973
- Lil Baby1994
- Tiffany Haddish1979
Fellow Yang Metal day masters
- Aaron GordonAmerican basketball player (born. 1995)
- Tristan EnarunaDutch basketball player (born 2001)
- PJ HallAmerican basketball player (born 2002)
Other Sagittarius Horse charts
- Olumuyiwa FashanuAmerican football player
- Andrew MukubaZimbabwean American football player (born 2002)
- Donovan JacksonAmerican football player (born 2002)
- Jalen MilroeAmerican football player (born 2002)
Other Gilded Explorers
- Troy FranklinAmerican football player
- Mario Edwards, Jr.American football player (born 1994)
- Davis MillsAmerican football player (born 1998)
- Dylan HortonAmerican football player (born 2000)
Famous people with Life Path 4
- Randal CremerEnglish politician
- John PopleNobel prize winning British chemist
- Paul Hermann MüllerSwiss chemist
From the journal: Is Western astrology outdated? · Reading your chart in order: a step-by-step method
David’s cards
Computed from December 3, 1942. Tap to flip.
Birth tarot card
The FoolAsterNym identity card
The Gilded ExplorerWestern zodiac
SagittariusChinese zodiac
Horse 午Life Path
4 · Architect♃ Ruled by Jupiter
Tin Sn
The working: BaZi pillarsshow
BaZi pillars
Day Master: yang Metal.
Year
壬
yang Water
午
Horse
Fire
roots & early life
Month
辛
yin Metal
亥
Pig
Water
work & drive
Day
day master
庚
yang Metal
寅
Tiger
Wood
you & partnership
Where this comes from, and how it is worked out
David’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q255158 (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.
The same David K. Shipler at Wikipedia.
Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by David K. Shipler.
Quick answers about David K. Shipler’s chart
- How old is David K. Shipler?
- David K. Shipler is 83 years old, born December 3, 1942 in Chatham Borough, United States.
- What zodiac sign is David K. Shipler?
- David K. Shipler is a Sagittarius: born December 3, 1942, which puts the Sun in Sagittarius for the whole of that day.
- What is David K. Shipler's Chinese zodiac animal?
- The Horse, with the Water element, from the Chinese lunar year of the December 3, 1942 birth.
- What is David K. Shipler's Life Path number?
- Life Path 4, calculated in numerology.
- What is David K. Shipler's Chiron sign?
- Chiron in Leo at 29°. Position from JPL Horizons.
- Where is David K. Shipler's Black Moon Lilith?
- Mean Black Moon Lilith in Cancer at 10°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
- What is David K. Shipler's dominant planet?
- Jupiter, on AsterNym's dominance score (7 points: rules the Sun sign, Sagittarius; disposes Sun, Mercury, Venus; 1 major aspect). Mercury is second and Sun third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.
