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Katherine Boo

Katherine Boo (born August 12, 1964, Washington, D.C., United States), aged 62, is an American journalist. Boo's honours include Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, National Book Award and MacArthur Fellows Program.

Katherine Boo’s zodiac sign is Leo, Chinese zodiac is Wood Dragon, with Life Path 4 in numerology.

Your match with Katherine

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Katherine Boo’s AsterNym identity

The Tidal Architect

Water represents depth and adaptability. Water-led charts are associated with instinct, memory and the ability to find a path around obstacles. Life Path 4 represents structure: foundations, systems and the patience to continue after the first enthusiasm fades.

Water Day Master (BaZi) × fixed Sun × Life Path 4, on the physical plane.

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

#186

US rank in 2025

~652,750

Americans share it since 1880

1990

its peak year

Of the names registered in 1964, Katherine came 82nd among girls and 2,017th among boys, carried by 5,074 American girls and 17 boys.

US Social Security Administration public records

What Katherine’s name adds up to

Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.

6

Expression · taking responsibility

5

Soul Urge · freedom

1

Personality · self-directed

The name opens on K (2) and closes on E (5). Two values tie for most repeated, 2 and 5: tact against movement.

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

Katherine’s lucky numbers, colours and stones

Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.

Lucky numbers

4 · 1 · 6 · 7

Lucky colours

Green & Teal

Lucky day

Sunday

Direction

→ East

Season

spring

Stones

Peridot, Ruby, Green Aventurine

Flower constellation

🌸 Gladiolus · 🌻 Sunflower · 🌿 Fern

Coral · Gold · Forest

Eight Mansions · Kua number

Kua 7, trigram Dui 兌, West group. Best direction Northwest, worst North.

A different tradition from the Direction above, and a different question: feng shui reads it from the solar year 1964, which turns at Li Chun rather than at New Year, and from sex, which Wikidata records as female. Work out your own →

The record

What sets Katherine apart

Katherine Boo took the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2000, at 36.

The classrooms behind this chart: Alexandria City High School and Barnard College.

Katherine Boo was married Sunil Khilnani.

The encyclopaedia's own shelving for Katherine Boo: Radical centrist writers, New America (organization) and Journalists from Washington, D.C..

Erwin Schrödinger (1887) and George Soros (1930) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.

Educated at
Alexandria City High School and Barnard College
Awards
National Book Award (2012), Pulitzer Prize for Public Service (2000) and MacArthur Fellows Program (2000)
Citizenship
United States
Languages
English
Wikipedia editions
8

What the chart says

Katherine, according to the stars

Core essence

Katherine is warm the way the sun is warm: not trying, just doing it. The core of Katherine is a big open heart and a need to be seen loving with it. They are generous with praise, with time, with the spotlight when they trust you, and they will remember every kindness you paid them for years. Loyal to a fault, and glad of the fault.

The vibe

Underneath, Katherine cannot fully relax while anyone in the room is unhappy. The Moon in Libra feels through harmony and hates conflict in their own house. What Katherine needs to feel safe is fairness, softness and a partner in the small decisions. They are at their best when someone else picks the restaurant and they get to enjoy it.

How Katherine wants to be loved

Katherine 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. Katherine gives care in a hundred quiet ways and needs to know it is noticed. Consistency is the romance.

How Katherine creates

How Katherine makes things happen: they seep in. A Yin Water day master is rain, mist, the still pool that reflects everything. Katherine creates by sensing, by imagination, by noticing what nobody else said. Their influence is quiet and total. The work is not dissolving into everyone else's weather.

Instinct

Instinct: Katherine 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 Wood year adds growth: ideals, ambition, a need to be getting somewhere.

Purpose

Purpose: Life Path 4 is the builder. Katherine is here to make things that last, to put structure under other people's dreams, to be trusted with the real work. Loyal, practical, honest, and learning that the plan can bend without breaking.

Triggers

Triggers: feeling unsafe, or seeing their people treated badly. Mars in Cancer means Katherine does not fight for themselves easily but will go to war for someone they love. The anger comes out sideways at first, then all at once. Protectiveness is the whole engine.

Computed from Katherine's birth date. Working below.

Where Katherine sits

Six lines

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

Intimate circleWide network
Katherine

You may draw energy from a wide network, many doors, lightly held.

DeliberateSpontaneous
Katherine

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

PrivateExpressive
Katherine

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

Cool off firstResolve immediately
Katherine

You may want to resolve tension the moment it appears, rather than let it sit.

PracticalVisionary
Katherine

You likely balance practical steps with room to imagine further.

Gradual trustImmediate chemistry
Katherine

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 Katherine Boo

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

Katherine’s birth-night reference starRastabanyellow · DracoRastaban, in Draco. A yellow star, 76.4° above the horizon at 9 p.m. local time, the bright star nearest the zenith.Dedicate Rastaban →The warmest lightAntaresdeep red · ScorpiusAntares, in Scorpius. A deep red star, 23.7° above the horizon at 9 p.m. local time, the warmest-toned bright star up that night.Dedicate Antares →

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

The sky over Washington that night

Computed for 38.90°N, 9 p.m. local sky.

At 9 p.m. the star closest to straight overhead at Washington was Rastaban, in Draco, 76.4° up.

The brightest star above the horizon was Arcturus in Boötes, and 84 catalog stars were up in all.

From 38.9°N not one of the brightest stars stays permanently above the horizon — all of them rise and set.

Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman cannot be seen from Washington at all: they sit past the −51.1° declination limit this latitude imposes.

Sun 10° below the horizon, Moon up and 30% lit at waxing crescent.

How unusual Katherine's chart is

Chart pattern score

15 / 100 · Reassuringly normal

No Air planets

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

Leo Sun

Generous with the spotlight, mostly.

Katherine Boo's Sun was in Leo for the whole of August 12, 1964, so no birth time is needed to settle it.

What Leo means →

Wood Dragon

Sets the standard, then raises it.

Katherine Boo was born on August 12, 1964, which falls in a Wood Dragon year of the Chinese calendar.

What the Dragon means →

Life Path 4

Plans, then plans the plan.

Katherine Boo's birth date, August 12, 1964, reduces to Life Path 4 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.

What Life Path 4 means →

What stands out in Katherine’s chart

Katherine’s birth chart

Reference chart · birth time unknown

Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 15° to 28° Libra depending on the hour.

AriesTaurusGeminiCancerLeoVirgoLibraScorpioSagittariusCapricornAquariusPisces123456789101112Mars opens doors for Uranus · Sextile, 0.6° orbMercury opens doors for Neptune · Sextile, 0.8° orbSun opens doors for Moon · Sextile, 1.9° orbNeptune opens doors for Pluto · Sextile, 2° orbMercury fuses with Pluto · Conjunction, 2.8° orbVenus flows with Saturn · Trine, 2.8° orbVenus fuses with Mars · Conjunction, 3.2° orbVenus opens doors for Uranus · Sextile, 3.7° orbSun in Leo · 19°57′☉19°Moon in Libra · 21°51′☽21°Mercury in Virgo · 15°56′☿15°Venus in Cancer · 5°25′♀5°Mars in Cancer · 8°34′♂8°Jupiter in Taurus · 24°22′♃24°Saturn in Pisces · 2°34′ · retrograde♄℞2°Uranus in Virgo · 9°08′♅9°Neptune in Scorpio · 15°08′♆15°Pluto in Virgo · 13°08′♇13°

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

  • stableMarssextileUranus0.3° to 0.9° orb

    Katherine’s drive opens doors for their need for freedom. An easy alliance, and it pays off when it is used.

  • stableMercurysextileNeptune0.5° to 1.1° orb

    Katherine’s mind opens doors for their imagination.

  • stableNeptunesextilePluto2.0° orb

    Katherine’s imagination opens doors for their depths. An easy alliance, and it pays off when it is used.

  • stableVenustrineSaturn2.4° to 3.3° orb

  • stableMercuryconjunctionPluto2.5° to 3.1° orb

  • stableVenusconjunctionMars3.1° to 3.2° orb

  • stableVenussextileUranus3.3° to 4.1° orb

  • stableSunsquareJupiter4.0° to 4.9° orb

  • stableUranusconjunctionPluto4.0° orb

  • stableMarssextilePluto4.2° to 4.9° orb

  • stableSunsquareNeptune4.3° to 5.3° orb

  • stableMarstrineSaturn5.6° to 6.4° orb

Chart signature

Elements

  • Fire1 of 10
  • Earth4 of 10
  • Air1 of 10
  • Water4 of 10

Modalities

  • Cardinal3 of 10
  • Fixed3 of 10
  • Mutable4 of 10

Counted across the ten planets by sign.

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

What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.

  • ⚷ Chiron ℞Pisces 17°39′ (moves 0.04° over the day)

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

  • ⚳ CeresSagittarius 23°08′ (moves 0.01° over the day)

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

  • ♡ ErosLeo or Virgo during this date

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

  • ⚕ HygieaCancer 3°07′ (moves 0.28° over the day)

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

  • ⚸ Black Moon LilithSagittarius 23°29′ (moves 0.11° over the day)

    mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed

Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith

  • Hygiea trine Saturn 0.5°
  • Chiron opposition Mercury 1.7°
  • Hygiea conjunction Venus 2.3°
  • Chiron trine Neptune 2.5°
  • Eros opposition Saturn 2.6°

Katherine’s dominant planets

  1. 1. ☉ Sun7 pts

    rules the Sun sign, Leo; in its own sign, Leo; 2 major aspects

  2. 2. ☿ Mercury7 pts

    in its own sign, Virgo; disposes Uranus, Pluto; 3 major aspects

  3. 3. ♂ Mars5 pts

    5 major aspects

Configurations in Katherine’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 0.5°
  • Mars semi-square Jupiter 0.8°
  • Mercury quintile Venus 1.5°

More people like Katherine

Other writers

Born in United States

More charts like Katherine’s

Fellow Leo suns

All about Leo →

Born in Dragon years

Year of the Dragon →

Also born on August 12

Fellow Yin Water day masters

What a Day Master is →

Other Leo Dragon charts

Other Tidal Architects

The Tidal Architect explained →

Famous people with Life Path 4

Life Path numbers explained →

From the journal: Why there are 12 signs and not 13 · Compatibility triangles: the four trines explained

Katherine’s cards

Computed from August 12, 1964. Tap to flip.

Birth tarot card

The Fool

AsterNym identity card

The Tidal Architect

Western zodiac

Leo

Chinese zodiac

Dragon 辰

Life Path

4 · Architect

☉ Ruled by Sun

Gold Au

The working: BaZi pillarsshow

BaZi pillars

Day Master: yin Water.

Year

甲

yang Wood

辰

Dragon

Earth

roots & early life

Month

壬

yang Water

申

Monkey

Metal

work & drive

Day

day master

癸

yin Water

巳

Snake

Fire

you & partnership

Where this comes from, and how it is worked out

Katherine’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q6376310 (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 Katherine Boo at Wikipedia.

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

Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by Katherine Boo.

Quick answers about Katherine Boo’s chart

How old is Katherine Boo?
Katherine Boo is 62 years old, born August 12, 1964 in Washington, D.C., United States.
What zodiac sign is Katherine Boo?
Katherine Boo is a Leo: born August 12, 1964, which puts the Sun in Leo for the whole of that day.
What is Katherine Boo's Chinese zodiac animal?
The Dragon, with the Wood element, from the Chinese lunar year of the August 12, 1964 birth.
What is Katherine Boo's Life Path number?
Life Path 4, calculated in numerology.
What is Katherine Boo's Chiron sign?
Chiron in Pisces at 17°. Position from JPL Horizons.
Where is Katherine Boo's Black Moon Lilith?
Mean Black Moon Lilith in Sagittarius at 23°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
What is Katherine Boo's dominant planet?
Sun, on AsterNym's dominance score (7 points: rules the Sun sign, Leo; in its own sign, Leo; 2 major aspects). Mercury is second and Mars third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.

More charts to explore