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James Donald

James Donald (born May 18, 1917, Aberdeen, United Kingdom; died 1993), was a British actor.

James Donald’s zodiac sign was Taurus, Chinese zodiac was Fire Snake, with Life Path 5 in numerology.

Your match with James

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

James Donald’s AsterNym identity

The Gilded Architect

Metal represents precision. Metal-led charts are associated with standards, boundaries, discernment and the ability to remove what is unnecessary. Life Path 5 represents freedom: change, movement, variety and resistance to restrictive routines.

Metal Day Master (BaZi) × fixed Sun × Life Path 5, on the physical plane.

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

#6

US rank in 2025

~5,274,520

Americans share it since 1880

1947

its peak year

The SSA recorded 37,337 American boys and 182 girls named James in 1917: 3rd among boys and 486th among girls for the year.

US Social Security Administration public records

What James’s name adds up to

Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.

8

Expression · direction and scale

4

Soul Urge · solid ground

4

Personality · steady, dependable

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

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

James’s lucky numbers, colours and stones

Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.

Lucky numbers

5 · 2 · 8 · 9

Lucky colours

Red & Orange

Lucky day

Friday

Direction

↓ South

Season

summer

Stones

Emerald, Diamond, Carnelian

Flower constellation

🌿 Lily of the Valley · 🌹 Blush Rose · 🌸 Hibiscus

Ivory · Blush · Scarlet

Eight Mansions · Kua number

Kua 1, trigram Kan 坎, East group. Best direction Southeast, worst West.

A different tradition from the Direction above, and a different question: feng shui reads it from the solar year 1917, 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 James apart

Study took James Donald to Rossall School.

James Donald was 21 when the work began in 1938.

Cause of death is recorded as stomach cancer.

Wikipedia files James Donald under People educated at Rossall School, Male actors from Aberdeen and Royal Army Service Corps soldiers.

Tina Fey (1970) and Chow Yun-fat (1955) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.

Educated at
Rossall School
Working from
1938
Cause of death
stomach cancer
Citizenship
United Kingdom
Languages
English
Wikipedia editions
17

What the chart says

James, according to the stars

Core essence

James is the steady one, the person whose yes means yes and whose Sunday looks the same as it did last year because it was a good Sunday. The core of James is a deep loyalty to what is real: good food, a good bed, people who show up. They move slowly on purpose. Once they have decided something, it is decided, and that is a comfort to everyone around them.

How James wants to be loved

James wants to be loved in conversation. Venus in Gemini falls for a mind first: the banter, the shared joke, the person who keeps them guessing a little. Attention is the love language and boredom is the enemy. Keep talking to James like it is the first week, and it can feel like it for years.

How James creates

How James makes things happen: they cut to it. A Yang Metal day master is the sword, decisive, principled, allergic to nonsense. James 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: James is wise and watchful, a Snake year, and their gut reaction is to observe before moving. Elegant, intuitive, private, and usually right about people long before saying so. The Fire year turns the volume up: warmer, bolder, more expressive, harder to overlook.

Purpose

Purpose: Life Path 5 is the free spirit. James 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: being rushed, and being pushed. Mars in Taurus means James is slow to anger and very hard to move once they are. Patience is the superpower, stubbornness its shadow. Let them set the pace and they are unstoppable in their own time.

Computed from James's birth date. Working below.

Where James sits

Six lines

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

Intimate circleWide network
James

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

DeliberateSpontaneous
James

You likely think things through before you act. Haste rarely feels safe.

PrivateExpressive
James

You may keep feelings close, working through them before anyone sees.

Cool off firstResolve immediately
James

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

PracticalVisionary
James

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

Gradual trustImmediate chemistry
James

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

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 James Donald

Three stars chosen from the real sky above Aberdeen on the night they were born. Choose the story that connects you.

James’s birth-night reference starPhecdablue-white · Ursa MajorPhecda, in Ursa Major. A blue-white star, 86.4° above the horizon at 9 p.m. local time, the bright star nearest the zenith.Dedicate Phecda →The warmest lightCapellagolden yellow · AurigaCapella, in Auriga. A golden yellow star, 34.3° above the horizon at 9 p.m. local time, the warmest-toned bright star up that night.Dedicate Capella →

A 9 p.m. reference sky, not the birth minute. Dedications are commemorative and confer no ownership of stars.

The sky over Aberdeen that night

Computed for 57.15°N, 9 p.m. local sky.

Overhead at Aberdeen at 9 p.m. that evening: Phecda of Ursa Major, within 3.6° of the exact zenith.

The brightest star above the horizon was Arcturus in Boötes, and 95 catalog stars were up in all.

At 57.1°N there are stars that never set at all. Vega, Capella and Deneb stay up year round.

The trade is at the other end of the sky: nothing south of −32.9° declination ever rises from here, which puts Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman permanently out of view.

The Moon was at waning crescent, 6% lit, and already below the horizon, with the Sun -2° down.

The name and the places

Born in
Aberdeen, United Kingdom

The death is recorded at Wiltshire, South West England in 1993.

No birth time is on record, so no astrocartography map can be drawn for James Donald: the lines move about fifteen degrees of longitude an hour. Shared Places can still draw yours.

How unusual James's chart is

Chart pattern score

66 / 100 · Unusual

4-planet stellium in Taurus · 2 unaspected planets · A bowl chart

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 →

James Donald in 15 seconds

Taurus Sun

Slow to move, slower to leave.

James Donald's Sun was in Taurus for the whole of May 18, 1917, so no birth time is needed to settle it.

What Taurus means →

Fire Snake

Says less than it knows.

James Donald was born on May 18, 1917, which falls in a Fire Snake year of the Chinese calendar.

What the Snake means →

Life Path 5

Change finds them anyway.

James Donald's birth date, May 18, 1917, reduces to Life Path 5 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.

What Life Path 5 means →

What stands out in James’s chart

James’s birth chart

Reference chart · birth time unknown

Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 17° to 1° Aries or Taurus depending on the hour.

AriesTaurusGeminiCancerLeoVirgoLibraScorpioSagittariusCapricornAquariusPisces123456789101112Venus opens doors for Neptune · Sextile, 0.3° orbMercury grinds against Uranus · Square, 0.7° orbSun opens doors for Saturn · Sextile, 0.8° orbMoon opens doors for Uranus · Sextile, 0.8° orbMoon grinds against Saturn · Square, 1.7° orbMercury opens doors for Saturn · Sextile, 1.7° orbSun fuses with Mercury · Conjunction, 2.5° orbSun grinds against Uranus · Square, 3.2° orbSun in Taurus · 26°55′☉26°Moon in Aries · 24°27′☽24°Mercury in Taurus · 24°24′ · retrograde☿℞24°Venus in Gemini · 2°46′♀2°Mars in Taurus · 10°05′♂10°Jupiter in Taurus · 20°22′♃20°Saturn in Cancer · 26°06′♄26°Uranus in Aquarius · 23°40′♅23°Neptune in Leo · 2°26′♆2°Pluto in Cancer · 3°02′♇3°

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

  • stableVenussextileNeptune0.0° to 0.9° orb

    James’s affections open doors for their imagination. An easy alliance, and it pays off when it is used.

  • stableSunsextileSaturn0.4° to 1.2° orb

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

  • stableMercurysquareUranus0.4° to 1.0° orb

    James’s mind grinds against their need for freedom. The friction is lifelong. Worked with, it builds real strength.

  • stableMercurysextileSaturn1.4° to 2.0° orb

  • stableSunconjunctionMercury1.7° to 3.3° orb

  • stableSunsquareUranus2.8° to 3.7° orb

  • stableJupitersquareUranus3.2° to 3.4° orb

  • stableMercuryconjunctionJupiter3.6° to 4.4° orb

  • stableSunconjunctionVenus5.7° to 6.0° orb

  • stableSunconjunctionJupiter6.2° to 6.9° orb

  • stableSaturnconjunctionNeptune6.3° to 6.4° orb

  • possibleMoonsquareSaturnorb from 0.1° to 8.6° depending on birth time

Chart signature

Elements

  • Fire2 of 10
  • Earth4 of 10
  • Air2 of 10
  • Water2 of 10

Modalities

  • Cardinal3 of 10
  • Fixed6 of 10
  • Mutable1 of 10

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

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

What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.

  • ⚷ ChironPisces 29°03′ (moves 0.04° over the day)

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

  • ⚳ CeresVirgo 10°32′ (moves 0.17° over the day)

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

  • ♡ Eros ℞Scorpio 15°06′ (moves 0.36° over the day)

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

  • ⚕ HygieaAquarius 9°02′ (moves 0.10° over the day)

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

  • ⚸ Black Moon LilithLeo 21°24′ (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 0.5°
  • Black Moon Lilith square Jupiter 1.0°
  • Hygiea square Mars 1.1°
  • Chiron sextile Sun 2.1°
  • Black Moon Lilith opposition Uranus 2.3°
  • Chiron trine Saturn 2.9°

James’s dominant planets

  1. 1. ♀ Venus9 pts

    rules the Sun sign, Taurus; disposes Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter; 2 major aspects

  2. 2. ☉ Sun6 pts

    disposes Neptune; 5 major aspects

  3. 3. ☿ Mercury5 pts

    disposes Venus; 4 major aspects

Configurations in James’s chart

  • stellium, the shape it makesStellium in Taurus · Sun, Mercury, Mars, 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.

  • Jupiter quintile Neptune 0.1°
  • Venus semi-sextile Pluto 0.3°
  • Neptune semi-sextile Pluto 0.6°
  • Saturn quincunx Uranus 2.4°

More people like James

Other actors

Born in United Kingdom

More charts like James’s

Fellow Taurus suns

All about Taurus →

Born in Snake years

Year of the Snake →

Also born on May 18

Fellow Yang Metal day masters

What a Day Master is →

Other Taurus Snake charts

Other Gilded Architects

The Gilded Architect explained →

Famous people with Life Path 5

Life Path numbers explained →

From the journal: Why your Chinese sign might be wrong · What is feng shui?

James’s cards

Computed from May 18, 1917. Tap to flip.

Birth tarot card

Temperance

AsterNym identity card

The Gilded Architect

Western zodiac

Taurus

Chinese zodiac

Snake 巳

Life Path

5 · Explorer

♀ Ruled by Venus

Copper Cu

The working: BaZi pillarsshow

BaZi pillars

Day Master: yang Metal.

Year

丁

yin Fire

巳

Snake

Fire

roots & early life

Month

乙

yin Wood

巳

Snake

Fire

work & drive

Day

day master

庚

yang Metal

申

Monkey

Metal

you & partnership

Where this comes from, and how it is worked out

James’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q151567 (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 James Donald at Wikipedia and IMDb.

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

Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by James Donald.

Quick answers about James Donald’s chart

What zodiac sign was James Donald?
James Donald was a Taurus: born May 18, 1917, which puts the Sun in Taurus for the whole of that day.
What was James Donald's Chinese zodiac animal?
The Snake, with the Fire element, from the Chinese lunar year of the May 18, 1917 birth.
What was James Donald's Life Path number?
Life Path 5, calculated in numerology.
What was James Donald's Chiron sign?
Chiron in Pisces at 29°. Position from JPL Horizons.
Where was James Donald's Black Moon Lilith?
Mean Black Moon Lilith in Leo at 21°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
What was James Donald's dominant planet?
Venus, on AsterNym's dominance score (9 points: rules the Sun sign, Taurus; disposes Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter; 2 major aspects). Sun is second and Mercury third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.

More charts to explore