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Portrait of James Merrill

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, Chinese zodiac was Fire Tiger, with Life Path 6 in numerology.

Your match with James

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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

James ranked 3rd among boys and 353rd among girls in 1926, the year of this birth, with 53,196 American boys and 358 girls on the register.

US Social Security Administration public records

What James’s name adds up to

Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.

9

Expression · the bigger picture

11

Soul Urge · insight

7

Personality · composed, private

The name opens on J (1) and closes on S (1). Two values tie for most repeated, 1 and 9: drive against empathy.

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

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 record

What sets James apart

Alexander Graham Bell (1847) and Jessica Biel (1982) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.

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. 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 may run on a few close bonds rather than a crowd. Depth is your default.

DeliberateSpontaneous
James

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

PrivateExpressive
James

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

Cool off firstResolve immediately
James

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

PracticalVisionary
James

You likely balance practical steps with room to imagine further.

Gradual trustImmediate chemistry
James

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.

James’s birth-night reference starCastorwhite · GeminiCastor, in Gemini. A white star, 80.6° above the horizon at 9 p.m. local time, the bright star nearest the zenith.Dedicate Castor →The warmest lightCapellagolden yellow · AurigaCapella, in Auriga. A golden yellow star, 61.3° 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 New York City that night

Computed for 40.71°N, 9 p.m. local sky.

Overhead at New York City at 9 p.m. that evening: Castor of Gemini, within 9.4° of the exact zenith.

Of the 105 catalog stars above the horizon, Sirius was the brightest.

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 New York City on any night.

The Moon, 83% lit at waning gibbous, had already set; the Sun sat 36° below the horizon.

How unusual James's chart is

Chart pattern score

28 / 100 · Reassuringly normal

3-planet stellium in Pisces

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 →

If you only read one paragraph

Pisces Sun

Dreams 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.

What Pisces means →

Fire Tiger

Leads by moving.

James Merrill was born on March 3, 1926, which falls in a Fire Tiger year of the Chinese calendar.

What the Tiger means →

Life Path 6

Care is the whole job.

James Merrill's birth date, March 3, 1926, reduces to Life Path 6 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.

What Life Path 6 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 20° to 3° Libra or Scorpio depending on the hour.

AriesTaurusGeminiCancerLeoVirgoLibraScorpioSagittariusCapricornAquariusPisces123456789101112Sun flows with Pluto · Trine, 0.3° orbMercury flows with Saturn · Trine, 0.3° orbMercury fuses with Uranus · Conjunction, 1.1° orbSaturn flows with Uranus · Trine, 1.4° orbVenus fuses with Jupiter · Conjunction, 2.6° orbSaturn grinds against Neptune · Square, 3.2° orbMars faces off with Pluto · Opposition, 3.3° orbSun opens doors for Mars · Sextile, 3.6° orbSun in Pisces · 12°22′☉12°Moon in Libra · 27°09′☽27°Mercury in Pisces · 25°47′☿25°Venus in Aquarius · 10°35′♀10°Mars in Capricorn · 16°01′♂16°Jupiter in Aquarius · 13°12′♃13°Saturn in Scorpio · 26°04′♄26°Uranus in Pisces · 24°41′♅24°Neptune in Leo · 22°54′ · retrograde♆℞22°Pluto in Cancer · 12°42′ · retrograde♇℞12°

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

  • 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

  • stableVenusconjunctionJupiter2.6° to 2.7° orb

  • stableMarsoppositionPluto3.0° to 3.7° orb

  • stableSaturnsquareNeptune3.2° orb

  • stableSunsextileMars3.5° to 3.8° orb

  • 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

What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.

  • ⚷ ChironAries 25°17′ (moves 0.05° over the day)

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

  • ⚳ Ceres ℞Leo 14°56′ (moves 0.16° over the day)

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

  • ♡ ErosCapricorn 0°40′ (moves 0.56° over the day)

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

  • ⚕ HygieaCancer 10°16′ (moves 0.01° over the day)

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

  • ⚸ Black Moon LilithLeo 19°09′ (moves 0.11° over the day)

    mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed

Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith

  • Ceres opposition Jupiter 1.7°
  • Hygiea trine Sun 2.1°
  • Chiron trine Neptune 2.4°
  • Hygiea conjunction Pluto 2.4°

James’s dominant planets

  1. 1. ♆ Neptune7 pts

    rules the Sun sign, Pisces; disposes Sun, Mercury, Uranus; 1 major aspect

  2. 2. ♄ Saturn4 pts

    disposes Mars; 3 major aspects

  3. 3. ♅ Uranus4 pts

    disposes Venus, Jupiter; 2 major aspects

Configurations in James’s chart

  • stellium, the shape it makesStellium 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, semi-square, quintile, sesquiquadrate, biquintile, quincunx.

  • 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°

More people like James

Other writers

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More charts like James’s

Fellow Pisces suns

All about Pisces →

Born in Tiger years

Year of the Tiger →

Also born on March 3

Fellow Yin Metal day masters

What a Day Master is →

Other Pisces Tiger charts

Other Gilded Healers

The Gilded Healer explained →

Famous people with Life Path 6

Life Path numbers explained →

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

James’s cards

Computed from March 3, 1926. Tap to flip.

Birth tarot card

The Devil

AsterNym identity card

The Gilded Healer

Western zodiac

Pisces

Chinese zodiac

Tiger 寅

Life Path

6 · Guardian

♃ Ruled by Jupiter

Tin Sn

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

Where this comes from, and how it is worked out

James’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q1368437 (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 Judith Moffett, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The same James Merrill at Wikipedia.

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

Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not 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.
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 was James Merrill's Life Path number?
Life Path 6, calculated in numerology.
What was James Merrill's Chiron sign?
Chiron in Aries at 25°. Position from JPL Horizons.
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.

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