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Portrait of Jack Vance

Jack Vance

Jack Vance (born August 28, 1916, San Francisco, United States; died 2013), was an American mystery and speculative fiction writer. Vance is best remembered for Lyonesse Trilogy, Cugel's Saga and Dying Earth. Vance's honours include Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame and World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.

Jack Vance’s zodiac sign was Virgo, Chinese zodiac was Fire Dragon, with Life Path 8 in numerology.

Your match with Jack

Free, no account, stays on this device. Add a birth time later.

Jack Vance’s AsterNym identity

The Radiant Storyteller

Fire represents warmth, visibility and momentum. Fire-led charts are associated with enthusiasm, expression and the ability to encourage other people. Life Path 8 represents mastery: ambition, resources and turning sustained effort into visible results.

Fire Day Master (BaZi) × mutable Sun × Life Path 8, on the mental plane.

How common is the name Jack in the U.S.?

#15

US rank in 2025

~759,677

Americans share it since 1880

1927

its peak year

The SSA recorded 6,161 American boys and 43 girls named Jack in 1916: 26th among boys and 1,074th among girls for the year.

US Social Security Administration public records

What Jack’s name adds up to

Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.

7

Expression · depth and research

7

Soul Urge · understanding

9

Personality · generous, worldly

The name opens on J (1) and closes on K (2). The value it repeats most is 1, which numerology reads as drive.

Pythagorean letter values · A=1 to I=9, then J=1 again

Jack’s lucky numbers, colours and stones

Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.

Lucky numbers

8 · 1 · 6 · 7

Lucky colours

Red & Orange

Lucky day

Wednesday

Direction

↓ South

Season

summer

Stones

Peridot, Emerald, Carnelian

Flower constellation

🌸 Gladiolus · 💜 Lavender · 🌺 Poppy

Coral · Lilac · Flame orange

The record

What sets Jack apart

Jack Black (1969) and Shania Twain (1965) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.

What the chart says

Jack, according to the stars

Core essence

Jack 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 Jack is devotion expressed as usefulness. They love by improving things, and they are far kinder to other people than to themselves.

The vibe

Underneath, Jack is quietly running a checklist, and half of it is about you. The Moon in Virgo feels care as responsibility: did you eat, did you get home, is the thing you were worried about handled. What Jack needs to feel safe is order and the sense of being useful. Let them help, and thank them properly.

How Jack wants to be loved

Jack wants to be loved like home. Venus in Cancer needs to feel safe before it feels anything else, and then it feels everything. Remember the small things, meet the family, make the tea. Jack gives care in a hundred quiet ways and needs to know it is noticed. Consistency is the romance.

How Jack creates

How Jack makes things happen: they hold the flame steady. A Yin Fire day master is the candle, the lamp, the light that is close and personal rather than blazing. Jack creates intimacy, one room, one conversation, one person made to feel seen. Moody when the fuel runs low, magnetic when it does not.

Instinct

Instinct: Jack is larger than life, a Dragon year, and their gut reaction is to go big. Confident, lucky, a natural at the centre of things, and warm-hearted underneath the spectacle. The Fire year turns the volume up: warmer, bolder, more expressive, harder to overlook.

Purpose

Purpose: Life Path 8 is the powerhouse. Jack is here to build something big and run it well: money, influence, a body of work with their name on it. Ambitious, capable, generous when winning, and learning that power is for lifting people.

Triggers

Triggers: unfairness, and being forced to pick a side. Mars in Libra hates open conflict and will negotiate for hours to avoid it, then dig in absolutely when a principle is at stake. Jack fights for balance. The lesson is that sometimes the fair thing is to just say no.

Computed from Jack's birth date. Working below.

Where Jack sits

Six lines

Jack’s dot comes from the chart; yours is where you put it.

Intimate circleWide network
Jack

You likely balance a tight inner circle with a wider orbit you dip into.

DeliberateSpontaneous
Jack

You likely weigh most decisions but can move fast when it matters.

PrivateExpressive
Jack

You likely share some feelings openly and keep others to yourself.

Cool off firstResolve immediately
Jack

You likely handle some friction right away and let smaller things settle.

PracticalVisionary
Jack

You may favor what's proven and workable over the untested idea.

Gradual trustImmediate chemistry
Jack

You may build trust slowly, letting closeness earn its way in.

✦ A real star from their birth night

Dedicate a star to Jack Vance

Three stars chosen from the real sky above San Francisco 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 San Francisco that night

Computed for 37.78°N, 9 p.m. local sky.

At 9 p.m. the star closest to straight overhead at San Francisco was Sulafat, in Lyra, 83.0° up.

Of the 83 catalog stars above the horizon, Arcturus was the brightest.

San Francisco sits at 37.8°N, low enough that no headline star is circumpolar: everything bright rises and sets there.

Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman cannot be seen from San Francisco at all: they sit past the −52.2° declination limit this latitude imposes.

The Moon, 0% lit at new moon, had already set; the Sun sat 25° below the horizon.

How unusual Jack's chart is

Chart pattern score

12 / 100 · Reassuringly normal

1 planet at a critical degree

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

Sees the typo from across the room.

Jack Vance's Sun was in Virgo for the whole of August 28, 1916, so no birth time is needed to settle it.

What Virgo means →

Fire Dragon

Sets the standard, then raises it.

Jack Vance was born on August 28, 1916, which falls in a Fire Dragon year of the Chinese calendar.

What the Dragon means →

Life Path 8

Turns effort into standing.

Jack Vance's birth date, August 28, 1916, reduces to Life Path 8 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.

What Life Path 8 means →

What stands out in Jack’s chart

Jack’s birth chart

Reference chart · birth time unknown

Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 0° to 12° Virgo depending on the hour.

AriesTaurusGeminiCancerLeoVirgoLibraScorpioSagittariusCapricornAquariusPisces123456789101112Sun flows with Jupiter · Trine, 0.2° orbSun opens doors for Pluto · Sextile, 1° orbMoon flows with Jupiter · Trine, 1° orbSun fuses with Moon · Conjunction, 1.2° orbJupiter opens doors for Pluto · Sextile, 1.2° orbJupiter grinds against Neptune · Square, 1.8° orbMoon opens doors for Pluto · Sextile, 2.2° orbVenus grinds against Mars · Square, 2.7° orbSun in Virgo · 5°09′☉5°Moon in Virgo · 6°22′☽6°Mercury in Virgo · 29°30′☿29°Venus in Cancer · 20°09′♀20°Mars in Libra · 22°50′♂22°Jupiter in Taurus · 5°23′ · retrograde♃℞5°Saturn in Cancer · 25°55′♄25°Uranus in Aquarius · 17°01′ · retrograde♅℞17°Neptune in Leo · 3°37′♆3°Pluto in Cancer · 4°10′♇4°

No birth time, so the houses are a solar chart: the Sun’s sign counts as house 1.

Tap a planet, a sign, a house, an aspect line or an element to see what it means and what sits in it.
Lines drawn
Conjunction 0°
Sextile 60°
Square 90°
Trine 120°
Opposition 180°

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

  • stableSunconjunctionMoon0.0° to 6.9° orb

    Jack’s core identity and feelings act as one.

  • stableSuntrineJupiter0.0° to 0.7° orb

    Jack’s core identity flows straight into their growth.

  • stableSunsextilePluto0.5° to 1.5° orb

    Jack’s core identity opens doors for their depths. Nothing happens until someone makes the first move.

  • stableJupitersextilePluto1.2° orb

  • stableJupitersquareNeptune1.8° orb

  • stableVenussquareMars2.6° to 2.8° orb

  • stableMarssquareSaturn2.8° to 3.3° orb

  • stableMercurysextileSaturn3.0° to 4.2° orb

  • stableMercurysextileNeptune3.5° to 4.8° orb

  • stableMercurysquarePluto4.0° to 5.3° orb

  • stableVenusconjunctionSaturn5.4° to 6.1° orb

  • stableMarstrineUranus5.5° to 6.2° orb

Chart signature

Elements

  • Fire1 of 10
  • Earth4 of 10
  • Air2 of 10
  • Water3 of 10

Modalities

  • Cardinal4 of 10
  • Fixed3 of 10
  • Mutable3 of 10

Counted across the ten planets by sign: Earth leads this chart.

Jack’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith

What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.

  • ⚷ Chiron ℞Pisces 24°54′ (moves 0.04° over the day)

    centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it

  • ⚳ CeresLeo 7°39′ (moves 0.43° over the day)

    dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured

  • ♡ ErosGemini 21°58′ (moves 0.81° over the day)

    near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire

  • ⚕ HygieaScorpio 4°20′ (moves 0.35° over the day)

    main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well

  • ⚸ Black Moon LilithCancer 22°09′ (moves 0.11° over the day)

    mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed

Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith

  • Hygiea trine Pluto 0.2°
  • Hygiea square Neptune 0.7°
  • Black Moon Lilith square Mars 0.7°
  • Hygiea sextile Sun 0.8°
  • Eros trine Mars 0.9°
  • Chiron trine Saturn 1.0°
  • Hygiea opposition Jupiter 1.1°
  • Black Moon Lilith conjunction Venus 2.0°
  • Ceres square Jupiter 2.3°

Jack’s dominant planets

  1. 1. ☿ Mercury9 pts

    rules the Sun sign, Virgo; in its own sign, Virgo; disposes Sun; 3 major aspects

  2. 2. ☉ Sun4 pts

    disposes Neptune; 3 major aspects

  3. 3. ☽ Moon4 pts

    disposes Venus, Saturn, Pluto; 1 major aspect

Configurations in Jack’s chart

No stellium, grand trine, T-square, grand cross, yod or kite — the common case.

Minor aspects

semi-sextile, semi-square, quintile, sesquiquadrate, biquintile, quincunx.

  • Sun semi-square Venus 0.0°
  • Mercury biquintile Jupiter 0.1°
  • Neptune semi-sextile Pluto 0.6°
  • Sun semi-sextile Neptune 1.5°

More people like Jack

Other writers

Born in United States

More charts like Jack’s

Fellow Virgo suns

All about Virgo →

Born in Dragon years

Year of the Dragon →

Also born on August 28

Fellow Yin Fire day masters

What a Day Master is →

Other Virgo Dragon charts

Other Radiant Storytellers

The Radiant Storyteller explained →

Famous people with Life Path 8

Life Path numbers explained →

From the journal: Is astrology real or fake? · Sect: day charts vs night charts

Jack’s cards

Computed from August 28, 1916. Tap to flip.

Birth tarot card

The Star

AsterNym identity card

The Radiant Storyteller

Western zodiac

Virgo

Chinese zodiac

Dragon 辰

Life Path

8 · Achiever

☿ Ruled by Mercury

Quicksilver Hg

The working: BaZi pillarsshow

BaZi pillars

Day Master: yin Fire.

Year

丙

yang Fire

辰

Dragon

Earth

roots & early life

Month

丙

yang Fire

申

Monkey

Metal

work & drive

Day

day master

丁

yin Fire

酉

Rooster

Metal

you & partnership

Where this comes from, and how it is worked out

Jack’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q312632 (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 User Hayford Peirce on en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The same Jack Vance at Wikipedia, jackvance.com, IMDb and MusicBrainz.

Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.

Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by Jack Vance.

Quick answers about Jack Vance’s chart

What zodiac sign was Jack Vance?
Jack Vance was a Virgo: born August 28, 1916, which puts the Sun in Virgo for the whole of that day.
What was Jack Vance's Chinese zodiac animal?
The Dragon, with the Fire element, from the Chinese lunar year of the August 28, 1916 birth.
What was Jack Vance's Life Path number?
Life Path 8, calculated in numerology.
What was Jack Vance's Chiron sign?
Chiron in Pisces at 24°. Position from JPL Horizons.
Where was Jack Vance's Black Moon Lilith?
Mean Black Moon Lilith in Cancer at 22°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
What was Jack Vance's dominant planet?
Mercury, on AsterNym's dominance score (9 points: rules the Sun sign, Virgo; in its own sign, Virgo; disposes Sun; 3 major aspects). Sun is second and Moon third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.

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