James Merrill
James Merrill (born March 3, 1926, New York City, United States; died 1995), was an American poet. Merrill is best remembered for The Changing Light at Sandover, Mirabell: Books of Number and Late Settings. Merrill's honours include Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, National Book Award and Bollingen Prize.
James Merrill’s zodiac sign was Pisces, and in the Chinese zodiac they were a Fire Tiger, with Life Path 6 in numerology.
Pisces, and in the Chinese zodiac they were a 
Fire Tiger, with 
Life Path 6 in numerology.How compatible are you with James Merrill?
Your birthday, just below, gives your match percentage with James. Under a minute.
Your AsterNym Match
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Two details and you have your number with James. Under a minute, and it is real astrology, not a quiz.
Your result includes:
- · Your compatibility percentage
- · What attracts you to each other
- · What you would bring to the match
- · Where you might clash
- · Whether you share lucky numbers, colours, stones or seasons
James Merrill’s AsterNym identity
The Gilded Healer
Metal represents precision. Metal-led charts are associated with standards, boundaries, discernment and the ability to remove what is unnecessary. Life Path 6 represents care: home, responsibility, beauty and the instinct to support the people nearby.
Metal Day Master (BaZi) × mutable Sun × Life Path 6, on the emotional 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
US Social Security Administration public records
James’s lucky numbers, colours and stones
Traditional correspondences calculated from AsterNym’s astrology, wuxing and numerology system.
Lucky numbers
6 · 1 · 3 · 4
Lucky colours
Red & Orange
Lucky day
Thursday
Direction
↓ South
Season
summer
Stones
Aquamarine, Yellow Sapphire, Carnelian
Flower constellation
🌼 Daffodil · 🌸 Peony · 🌸 Hibiscus
Sunlit yellow · Rose-gold · Scarlet
The same wuxing & numerology correspondences as your own print. One tradition, read for everyone
What the chart says
James, according to the stars
Core essence
James feels everything, and it is the best and hardest thing about them. The core of James is imagination with a soft heart behind it: the daydream, the creative pull, the instinct that knows how someone is doing before they do. They absorb the mood of a room and give back something kinder. Their softness is not weakness, it is the whole point.
How James wants to be loved
James wants to be loved as a friend first, and then as everything. Venus in Aquarius needs freedom, conversation and a partner who finds their strangeness delightful. Rules and jealousy make them cold; acceptance makes them devoted. Let James be fully themselves and they will never want to be anywhere else.
How James creates
How James makes things happen: they refine it until it shines. A Yin Metal day master is jewellery, precise, aesthetic, particular about the finish. James creates by polishing, by taste, by knowing exactly which detail makes the whole thing sing. Sensitive to being handled roughly, and worth handling well.
Instinct
Instinct: James is bold, a Tiger year, and their gut reaction is to leap. Brave, generous, a bit dramatic, magnetic to be around, and never boring for a second. The Fire year turns the volume up: warmer, bolder, more expressive, harder to overlook.
Purpose
Purpose: Life Path 6 is the nurturer. James is here to care, to make a home wherever they are, to be the person others come to. Responsible, warm, a little too willing to carry everyone, and learning to let themselves be looked after.
Triggers
Triggers: incompetence, and disrespect. Mars in Capricorn means James does not waste energy on anger; they use it. Controlled, strategic, relentless, the person who will outlast the problem. Cold when crossed, and quietly forgiving once you have earned it back.
Computed from James's birth date, not guessed. The full working is below.
Where James sits
Six lines. Tap where you sit on each.
James’s dot is placed from the chart. Yours is wherever you put it.
You may run on a few close bonds rather than a crowd. Depth is your default.
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 likely balance practical steps with room to imagine further.
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 James Merrill
Three stars chosen from the real sky above New York City on the night they were born. Choose the story that connects you.
No public birth time is available, so this is a 9:00 p.m. reference evening sky for that date and place. It is connected to the night of birth; it is not the sky at the birth minute, and no other reading on this page uses that time. Dedications are commemorative AsterNym records and do not rename or confer ownership of stars.
If you only read one paragraph
Pisces Sun
Pisces SunDreams in full colour.
James Merrill's Sun was in Pisces for the whole of March 3, 1926, so no birth time is needed to settle it. Traditional Pisces readings associate the sign with imagination, empathy and permeable boundaries: absorbing the mood of a place and turning it into something. Astrologers describe it as the mutable water sign, traditionally ruled by Jupiter and in modern practice by Neptune. The corresponding tension is drift, described in the tradition as a difficulty telling one's own feelings from everyone else's.
Fire Tiger
Fire TigerLeads by moving.
James Merrill was born on March 3, 1926, which falls in a Fire Tiger year of the Chinese calendar. Traditional Tiger readings emphasise courage, presence and the willingness to go first. The Chinese almanacs describe the Tiger as the sign others follow, bright and impulsive, at its best when the stakes are high. The corresponding caution in the tradition is burnout: a sign that burns brightly and, without pacing, burns out, with little left in reserve for the long middle of things.
Life Path 6
Life Path 6Care is the whole job.
James Merrill's birth date, March 3, 1926, reduces to Life Path 6 under the numerology method AsterNym uses. Traditional Life Path 6 readings associate the number with care, responsibility and beauty: home, family and the instinct to support the people nearby. Numerologists describe it as the path of the nurturer. The corresponding tension is over-responsibility, with the caution that carrying other people's burdens can become a way of avoiding one's own.
What stands out in James’s chart
- The tightest major aspect in James Merrill's date-only chart is Sun trine Pluto, with an orb of under 1°.
- Three planets, Sun, Mercury and Uranus, sit together in Pisces, which astrologers call a stellium.
- Five of the ten planets are in Water signs.
- James Merrill combines a Metal Day Master in BaZi with a mutable Sun and a Life Path on the emotional plane, the combination AsterNym calls The Gilded Healer.
James’s birth chart
Reference chart · birth time unknown
No documented birth time exists for James Merrill, so the positions below are checked across the whole birth date, not fixed at noon. The Moon ranges from 20° to 3° Libra or Scorpio depending on the hour. The wheel's houses are a solar chart, counted from the Sun's sign, because the Ascendant needs a time.
No birth time, so the houses are a solar chart: the Sun’s sign counts as house 1. A documented time would place them from the Ascendant instead.
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
Stable aspects hold for any birth hour. Possible ones depend on the hour, so their orb is a range rather than a number. Orb policy western_v1.
stableSuntrinePluto0.0° to 0.8° orb
James’s core identity flows straight into their depths. Effortless, which is exactly why it gets taken for granted.
stableMercurytrineSaturn0.0° to 1.2° orb
James’s mind flows straight into their discipline.
stableMercuryconjunctionUranus0.2° to 2.0° orb
James’s mind and need for freedom act as one. Wherever one goes, the other is already there.
stableSaturntrineUranus1.4° orb
James’s discipline flows straight into their need for freedom.
stableVenusconjunctionJupiter2.6° to 2.7° orb
James’s affections and growth act as one.
stableMarsoppositionPluto3.0° to 3.7° orb
James’s drive pulls against their depths from across the wheel. A see-saw looking for balance, often played out through other people.
stableSaturnsquareNeptune3.2° orb
James’s discipline grinds against their imagination. The angle that irritates, and the one that teaches.
stableSunsextileMars3.5° to 3.8° orb
James’s core identity opens doors for their drive.
possibleMoonsextileNeptuneorb from 0.1° to 10.5° depending on birth time
possibleMoonsquareMarsorb from 5.3° to 17.0° depending on birth time
Chart signature
Elements
- Fire1 of 10
- Earth1 of 10
- Air3 of 10
- Water5 of 10
Modalities
- Cardinal3 of 10
- Fixed4 of 10
- Mutable3 of 10
Counted across the ten planets by sign: Water leads this chart.
James’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith
Four minor bodies and the mean lunar apogee, placed in the same tropical zodiac as the planets above. None of these feed the chart signature, the rarity score or any ranking on this site: they are listed for readers who use them. Chiron, Ceres, Eros and Hygiea positions come from JPL Horizons; Black Moon Lilith is the mean apogee, the point most published Lilith tables use. The readings are the modern tradition’s, not AsterNym’s. Without a birth time the degree is the noon value and the day's movement is shown alongside it.
⚷ ChironAries 25°17′ (moves 0.05° over the day)
centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it
Chiron in Aries is read as a sore spot around asserting oneself: James may have learnt early that going first costs something, and built a way of leading that does not need permission.
⚳ Ceres ℞Leo 14°56′ (moves 0.16° over the day)
dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured
Ceres in Leo is read as nurture through encouragement and applause. James is read as someone who grows people by making them feel seen.
♡ ErosCapricorn 0°40′ (moves 0.56° over the day)
near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire
Eros in Capricorn is read as desire that respects competence and control. James is read as drawn to people who have built something.
⚕ HygieaCancer 10°16′ (moves 0.01° over the day)
main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well
Hygiea in Cancer is read as health tied to home, mood and belonging. James is read as someone who does not thrive far from a base.
⚸ Black Moon LilithLeo 19°09′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed
Black Moon Lilith in Leo is read as a pride that will not perform on demand. James is read as most dangerous when underestimated.
Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith
Major aspects only, at a tight 3° orb. The Moon is left out because its position moves 13° across an untimed day.
- Ceres opposition Jupiter 1.7°
- Hygiea trine Sun 2.1°
- Chiron trine Neptune 2.4°
- Hygiea conjunction Pluto 2.4°
Method: JPL Horizons heliocentric vectors, 1700–2100, cubic Hermite interpolation; geocentric, true ecliptic of date, tropical; geometric (no light-time or aberration); Lilith = mean lunar apogee (Chapront/Meeus mean perigee + 180°).
James’s dominant planets
Scored from rulerships, dispositors and aspect count. Without a birth time there is no Ascendant or house to score, and the Moon's sign is left out where it could change with the hour.
1. ♆ Neptune7 pts
rules the Sun sign, Pisces; disposes Sun, Mercury, Uranus; 1 major aspect
2. ♄ Saturn4 pts
disposes Mars; 3 major aspects
3. ♅ Uranus4 pts
disposes Venus, Jupiter; 2 major aspects
A Neptune-led chart is read as imagination and porousness leading: James is read as tuned to what is not said.
How the score is built
- Rules the Sun sign, Moon sign or Ascendant sign: 3 points each (traditional co-rulers of Scorpio, Aquarius and Pisces score half).
- Sits in a sign it rules: 2 points.
- Disposes another planet (that planet sits in a sign it rules): 1 point each.
- Angular: 2 points in the first or tenth house, 1 point in the fourth or seventh (timed births only).
- Every major aspect it makes: 1 point.
Dominance scoring is an AsterNym method. Other sites weight differently and can name a different leader for the same chart.
Configurations in James’s chart
Closed shapes among the ten planets under the site’s one aspect-orb policy. The Moon is excluded without a birth time, so a shape that needs it is not claimed.
Stellium in Pisces · Sun, Mercury, UranusThree 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 30° (orb 2°), semi-square 45° (orb 2°), quintile 72° (orb 1.5°), sesquiquadrate 135° (orb 2°), biquintile 144° (orb 1.5°), quincunx 150° (orb 2.5°). Pairs already in a major aspect are not repeated. Moon excluded without a birth time.
- Mercury semi-square Venus 0.2°
- Jupiter quincunx Pluto 0.5°
- Sun semi-sextile Jupiter 0.8°
- Venus semi-square Uranus 0.9°
- Mars biquintile Neptune 0.9°
- Saturn sesquiquadrate Pluto 1.6°
- Sun semi-sextile Venus 1.8°
- Uranus quincunx Neptune 1.8°
- Venus quincunx Pluto 2.1°
Houses need a birth time. None is documented for James Merrill, so no house placements are claimed for the planets or the minor bodies above.
More people like James
Other writers
- Kate Wilhelm1928
- Nadine Gordimer1923
- Philip Levine1928
- Philip W. Anderson1923
- James Wright1927
- Sheldon Harnick1924
Born in United States
- Irwin RoseAmerican biologist
- Robert F. KennedyAmerican politician and lawyer
- Harry Dean StantonAmerican actor
- Gunther SchullerAmerican composer and conductor
- Ben Roy MottelsonDanish-American nuclear physicist
- Martin RodbellAmerican biochemist
More charts like James’s
Fellow Pisces suns
- Tammy DuckworthAmerican politician and military officer (born 1968)
- Aaron EckhartAmerican actor (born 1968)
- Adam BaldwinAmerican actor
Born in Tiger years
- Sander BergeNorwegian association football player (born 1998)
- Dayot UpamecanoFrench footballer (born 1998)
- Takehiro TomiyasuJapanese association football player
Also born on March 3
- Alexander Graham Bell1847
- Jessica Biel1982
- Zico1953
- Brian Cox1968
- Keely Hodgkinson2002
- Nathalie Kelley1985
Fellow Yin Metal day masters
- Chuck StoneAmerican pilot, newspaper editor, journalism professor, and author
- J. Anthony LukasAmerican journalist
- H. G. BissingerAmerican journalist
Other Pisces Tiger charts
- Rhamondre StevensonAmerican football running back
- Julian LoveAmerican football player (born 1998)
- Teven JenkinsAmerican football offensive tackle
- Tua TagovailoaAmerican football player (born 1998)
Other Gilded Healers
- David QuessenberryAmerican football offensive lineman
- Luke GiffordAmerican football player, linebacker
- Bryce HallAmerican football player
- SunghoonSouth Korean singer and figure skater
Famous people with Life Path 6
- Immanuel QuickleyAmerican basketball player (born 1999)
- Jordan GoodwinAmerican basketball player
- Domantas SabonisLithuanian basketball player (born 1996)
From the journal: Is astrology real or fake? · Sect: day charts vs night charts
James’s cards
Every card is computed from March 3, 1926, none chosen. Tap one to flip it.
♃ Ruled by Jupiter
Tin Sn
Tap to flip
The working: BaZi pillarsshow
BaZi pillars
Day Master: yin Metal.
Year
丙
yang Fire
寅
Tiger
Wood
roots & early life
Month
庚
yang Metal
寅
Tiger
Wood
work & drive
Day
day master
辛
yin Metal
卯
Rabbit
Wood
you & partnership
No birth time is on public record for James Merrill, so this chart has three pillars rather than four. The hour pillar, the rising sign and the birth-sky star all need a time, and we would rather leave them out than invent one.
Where this data comes from
James’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q1368437, released under CC0, as do the occupations, works, teams and awards in the biography above. No documented birth time is available, so this chart is rated X on the Rodden scale, the astrological convention for how well evidenced a birth time is. Time-dependent results use a clearly labelled reference time and should not be read as their exact birth chart. Entries are matched to Wikidata by entity id rather than by name, kept only at day precision, and dropped where sources disagree on the date.
Portrait by Judith Moffett, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The same James Merrill at Wikipedia.
Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. Every entry is checked against its Wikidata record; where a person shares a name with someone else, the entity id is what settles which of them this is. What we will not tell you sets out the claims this site refuses to make.
These are traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions. AsterNym is not affiliated with or endorsed by James Merrill.
Quick answers about James Merrill’s chart
- What zodiac sign was James Merrill?
- James Merrill was a Pisces: born March 3, 1926, which puts the Sun in Pisces for the whole of that day. That is the Western star sign. In the Chinese zodiac they were a Fire Tiger.
- What was James Merrill's Chinese zodiac animal?
- The Tiger, with the Fire element, from the Chinese lunar year of the March 3, 1926 birth.
- What time was James Merrill born?
- No reliably documented birth time is public, so AsterNym does not calculate an Ascendant. This chart uses date-only positions: the wheel shows a reference solar chart (the Sun's sign as house 1), and the Ascendant is left uncomputed instead of guessed from an unverified time.
- What was James Merrill's Life Path number?
- Life Path 6, calculated in numerology from the March 3, 1926 birth date.
- What was James Merrill's Chiron sign?
- Chiron in Aries at 25°. Position from JPL Horizons for the March 3, 1926 birth date.
- Where was James Merrill's Black Moon Lilith?
- Mean Black Moon Lilith in Leo at 19°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
- What was James Merrill's dominant planet?
- Neptune, on AsterNym's dominance score (7 points: rules the Sun sign, Pisces; disposes Sun, Mercury, Uranus; 1 major aspect). Saturn is second and Uranus third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.
