James Tate
James Tate (born December 8, 1943, Kansas City, United States; died 2015), was an American poet. Tate's honours include Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, National Book Award and Guggenheim Fellowship.
James Tate’s zodiac sign was Sagittarius, Chinese zodiac was Water Goat, with Life Path 1 in numerology.
Sagittarius, Chinese zodiac was 
Water Goat, with 
Life Path 1 in numerology.Your match with James
James Tate’s AsterNym identity
The Gilded Storyteller
Metal represents precision. Metal-led charts are associated with standards, boundaries, discernment and the ability to remove what is unnecessary. Life Path 1 represents initiative: beginning, working independently and moving before everyone agrees.
Metal Day Master (BaZi) × mutable Sun × Life Path 1, on the mental 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
Of the names registered in 1943, James came 1st among boys and 453rd among girls, carried by 80,278 American boys and 272 girls.
US Social Security Administration public records
What James’s name adds up to
Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.
4
Expression · building what holds
3
Soul Urge · being heard
1
Personality · self-directed
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
1 · 2 · 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 2, trigram Kun 坤, West group. Best direction Northeast, worst East.
A different tradition from the Direction above, and a different question: feng shui reads it from the solar year 1943, 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
James Tate took the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 1966, at 23.
Pittsburg State University and University of Iowa shaped the training.
The encyclopaedia's own shelving for James Tate: Emerson College faculty, Pittsburg State University alumni and Surrealist poets.
The same date carries Jim Morrison. The sky is shared; nothing after it is.
- Educated at
- Pittsburg State University and University of Iowa
- Awards
- National Book Award (1994), Guggenheim Fellowship (1976) and Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1992)
- Citizenship
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Wikipedia editions
- 13
What the chart says
James, according to the stars
Core essence
James is the friend who says "let's just go" and means today. The core of James 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, James is calm in a way that steadies other people. The Moon in Taurus wants comfort that can be touched: the same mug, the same song, the friend who does not need explaining to. What James needs to feel safe is consistency. Show up the same way twice and you are in.
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 creative and kind, a Goat year, and their gut reaction is to make it beautiful. Artistic, gentle, easily moved, and the friend everyone confides in. The Water year softens it: intuitive, adaptable, feeling their way through people.
Purpose
Purpose: Life Path 1 is the pioneer. James is here to go first, to start the thing, to trust their own read when nobody else has a map. Independence is the gift and the lesson: the best version of James leads without needing to do it alone.
Triggers
Triggers: being bored, and being talked over. Mars in Gemini fights with words and wins, then forgets it happened. James scatters energy across three projects at once and somehow finishes two. The trick is choosing the argument worth having.
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.
You likely balance a tight inner circle with a wider orbit you dip into.
You may leap first and adjust as you go. Waiting can feel like losing momentum.
You likely share some feelings openly and keep others to yourself.
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 James Tate
Three stars chosen from the real sky above Kansas City 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 Kansas City that night
Computed for 39.05°N, 9 p.m. local sky.
Mirach stood nearest the zenith over Kansas City at 9 p.m. that evening, 84.9° above the horizon in Andromeda.
Of the 99 catalog stars above the horizon, Vega was the brightest.
From 39.0°N not one of the brightest stars stays permanently above the horizon — all of them rise and set.
The trade is at the other end of the sky: nothing south of −51.0° declination ever rises from here, which puts Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman permanently out of view.
Sun 35° below the horizon, Moon up and 93% lit at waxing gibbous.
The name and the places
- Born in
- Kansas City, United States
The death is recorded at Springfield, Hampden County in 2015.
No birth time is on record, so no astrocartography map can be drawn for James Tate: 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
37 / 100 · Quietly distinctive
2 planets at a critical degree · Mars retrograde · 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.
James Tate's Sun was in Sagittarius for the whole of December 8, 1943, so no birth time is needed to settle it.
What Sagittarius means →Water Goat
Water GoatNeeds beauty like air.
James Tate was born on December 8, 1943, which falls in a Water Goat year of the Chinese calendar.
What the Goat means →Life Path 1
Life Path 1Front of the line, alone.
James Tate's birth date, December 8, 1943, reduces to Life Path 1 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.
What Life Path 1 means →What stands out in James’s chart
- The tightest major aspect in James Tate's date-only chart is Mercury sextile Venus, with an orb of under 1°.
- Three planets, Mars, Saturn and Uranus, sit together in Gemini, which astrologers call a stellium.
- Four planets were retrograde on the birth date: Mars, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto.
- James Tate combines a Metal Day Master in BaZi with a mutable Sun and a Life Path on the mental plane, the combination AsterNym calls The Gilded Storyteller.
James’s birth chart
Reference chart · birth time unknown
Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 3° to 16° Taurus 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
stableMercurysextileVenus0.3° to 0.7° orb
James’s mind opens doors for their affections. An easy alliance, and it pays off when it is used.
stableUranussextilePluto2.1° orb
James’s need for freedom opens doors for their depths. Nothing happens until someone makes the first move.
stableMercurysquareNeptune2.3° to 3.8° orb
James’s mind grinds against their imagination.
stableUranustrineNeptune2.4° to 2.5° orb
stableVenussextileJupiter2.9° to 4.0° orb
stableMarssextilePluto2.9° to 3.3° orb
stableMercurytrineJupiter3.2° to 4.7° orb
stableJupitersextileSaturn3.2° to 3.3° orb
stableSunoppositionMars3.4° to 4.8° orb
stableNeptunesextilePluto4.5° to 4.6° orb
stableMarsconjunctionUranus5.0° to 5.4° orb
stableMercuryoppositionSaturn6.4° to 8.0° orb
Chart signature
Elements
- Fire3 of 10
- Earth2 of 10
- Air4 of 10
- Water1 of 10
Modalities
- Cardinal2 of 10
- Fixed4 of 10
- Mutable4 of 10
Counted across the ten planets by sign: Air leads this chart.
James’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith
What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.
⚷ ChironVirgo 15°20′ (moves 0.04° over the day)
centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it
⚳ Ceres ℞Cancer 4°59′ (moves 0.20° over the day)
dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured
♡ ErosSagittarius 17°30′ (moves 0.65° over the day)
near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire
⚕ HygieaLibra 22°07′ (moves 0.35° over the day)
main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well
⚸ Black Moon LilithLeo 22°03′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed
Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith
- Chiron square Sun 0.4°
- Ceres square Neptune 1.0°
- Hygiea trine Saturn 1.6°
- Black Moon Lilith sextile Saturn 1.7°
- Eros conjunction Sun 1.8°
James’s dominant planets
1. ☿ Mercury7 pts
disposes Mars, Saturn, Uranus; 4 major aspects
2. ♃ Jupiter7 pts
rules the Sun sign, Sagittarius; disposes Sun; 3 major aspects
3. ♇ Pluto4 pts
disposes Venus; 3 major aspects
Configurations in James’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.
- Venus biquintile Uranus 0.0°
- Saturn semi-square Pluto 0.2°
- Sun semi-square Venus 0.3°
- Sun quintile Neptune 0.3°
Born the same day as James
Jim Morrison was born on December 8, 1943 too, the same date and the same year. The Sun sign, year animal and Life Path are shared exactly. What the chart cannot reach is the birthplace. Kansas City sits at 39.0°N, far enough north that Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman never clear the horizon. Same sky, different lives.
More people like James
Other writers
- James Alan McPherson1943
- Annie Dillard1945
- Doris Kearns Goodwin1943
- Gerrit Komrij1944
- Joseph Ellis1943
- Patrick Modiano1945
Born in United States
- Stephen GreenblattAmerican literary critic, theorist and scholar
- Henry ThreadgillAmerican jazz musician (born 1944)
- Robert De NiroAmerican actor
- Henry KravisAmerican businessman
- Gail MillerAmerican businesswoman
- David J. WinelandAmerican physicist
More charts like James’s
Fellow Sagittarius suns
- Abigail JohnsonAmerican businesswoman, business executive, heiress, billionaire
- David RudishaKenyan middle distance runner
- Hande ErçelTurkish actor and fashion model
Born in Goat years
- Redouane HalhalMoroccan and French footballer
- Henrik FalchenerNorwegian footballer (born 2003)
- Petar SučićCroatian footballer (born 2003)
Also born on December 8
- Jim Morrison1943
- Nicki Minaj1982
- Sinéad O'Connor1966
- Ian Somerhalder1978
- Sammy Davis Jr.1925
- Ashish Chanchlani1993
Fellow Yang Metal day masters
- Ron Harper Jr.American basketball player (born 2000)
- Christian BraunAmerican basketball player (born 2001)
- Aaron GordonAmerican basketball player (born. 1995)
Other Sagittarius Goat charts
- Kyshawn GeorgeSwiss basketball player (born 2003)
- Alexander GerkoRussian-British businessperson
- Theodore Permadi RachmatOwner and Founder, Triputra Group
- John PaulsonAmerican family office manager
Other Gilded Storytellers
- Tyler NickelAmerican basketball player (born 2003)
- Josh OkogieNigerian basketball player (born 1998)
- Alexandre SarrFrench basketball player (born 2005)
- David DobrikSlovak YouTuber
Famous people with Life Path 1
- Hilary KnightAmerican ice hockey player
- Rei KawakuboJapanese fashion designer, business woman
- Mon LaferteChilean Mexican singer-songwriter
From the journal: Do twins have the same birth chart? · Cusp signs aren't real. Here's why
James’s cards
Computed from December 8, 1943. Tap to flip.
Birth tarot card
The SunAsterNym identity card
The Gilded StorytellerWestern zodiac
SagittariusChinese zodiac
Goat 未Life Path
1 · Pioneer♃ Ruled by Jupiter
Tin Sn
The working: BaZi pillarsshow
BaZi pillars
Day Master: yang Metal.
Year
癸
yin Water
未
Goat
Earth
roots & early life
Month
甲
yang Wood
子
Rat
Water
work & drive
Day
day master
庚
yang Metal
子
Rat
Water
you & partnership
Where this comes from, and how it is worked out
James’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q531155 (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 Elsa Dorfman, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The same James Tate at Wikipedia, jamestate.net, Instagram and MusicBrainz.
Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by James Tate.
Quick answers about James Tate’s chart
- What zodiac sign was James Tate?
- James Tate was a Sagittarius: born December 8, 1943, which puts the Sun in Sagittarius for the whole of that day.
- What was James Tate's Chinese zodiac animal?
- The Goat, with the Water element, from the Chinese lunar year of the December 8, 1943 birth.
- What was James Tate's Life Path number?
- Life Path 1, calculated in numerology.
- What was James Tate's Chiron sign?
- Chiron in Virgo at 15°. Position from JPL Horizons.
- Where was James Tate's Black Moon Lilith?
- Mean Black Moon Lilith in Leo at 22°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
- What was James Tate's dominant planet?
- Mercury, on AsterNym's dominance score (7 points: disposes Mars, Saturn, Uranus; 4 major aspects). Jupiter is second and Pluto third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.
