Michael Swanwick
Michael Swanwick (born November 18, 1950, Philadelphia, United States), aged 75, is an American science fiction author (born 1950). Swanwick is best known for Vacuum Flowers, Stations of the Tide and Dogfight. Swanwick's honours include Theodore Sturgeon Award, Nebula Award for Best Novel and Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
Michael Swanwick’s zodiac sign is Scorpio, Chinese zodiac is Metal Tiger, with Life Path 8 in numerology.
Scorpio, Chinese zodiac is 
Metal Tiger, with 
Life Path 8 in numerology.Your match with Michael
Michael Swanwick’s AsterNym identity
The Radiant Scholar
Fire represents warmth, visibility and momentum. Fire-led charts are associated with enthusiasm, expression and the ability to encourage other people. Life Path 8 represents mastery: ambition, resources and turning sustained effort into visible results.
Fire Day Master (BaZi) × fixed Sun × Life Path 8, on the mental plane.
How common is the name Michael in the U.S.?
#21
US rank in 2025
~4,448,633
Americans share it since 1880
1957
its peak year
In 1950, 65,136 American boys and 179 girls were registered Michael — 4th among boys and 642nd among girls on the SSA's list that year.
US Social Security Administration public records
What Michael’s name adds up to
Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.
1
Expression · starting things
7
Soul Urge · understanding
3
Personality · bright, quick
The name opens on M (4) and closes on L (3). The value it repeats most is 5, which numerology reads as movement.
Pythagorean letter values · A=1 to I=9, then J=1 again
Michael’s lucky numbers, colours and stones
Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.
Lucky numbers
8 · 1 · 3 · 4
Lucky colours
White & Gold
Lucky day
Tuesday
Direction
← West
Season
autumn
Stones
Topaz, Red Coral, Rutilated Quartz
Flower constellation
🌼 Chrysanthemum · 🌺 Red Dahlia · 🤍 White Camellia
Gold · Crimson · Silver
The record
What sets Michael apart
Margaret Atwood (1939) and Chloë Sevigny (1974) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.
What the chart says
Michael, according to the stars
Core essence
Michael does not do surface. The core of Michael is intensity, the kind that wants the real story and can tell when it is not getting it. They love completely or not at all, keep their own counsel, and have a private loyalty that runs deeper than anyone outside it will ever know. Trust from Michael is earned slowly and never given lightly.
The vibe
Underneath, Michael is porous: other people's moods get in, and so does beauty, and so does the sad song. The Moon in Pisces feels everything and forgives most of it. What Michael needs to feel safe is gentleness and someone who does not make them explain the tears. They will love you back with their whole imagination.
How Michael wants to be loved
Michael wants to be loved completely or not at all. Venus in Scorpio is intense, private and all in, and wants the same depth back: no games, no half measures. Trust is the whole thing. Be honest with Michael even when it costs you, and they will be the most devoted person you have ever met.
How Michael creates
How Michael makes things happen: they hold the flame steady. A Yin Fire day master is the candle, the lamp, the light that is close and personal rather than blazing. Michael creates intimacy, one room, one conversation, one person made to feel seen. Moody when the fuel runs low, magnetic when it does not.
Instinct
Instinct: Michael 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 Metal year sharpens it: principled, determined, clear about what is right.
Purpose
Purpose: Life Path 8 is the powerhouse. Michael is here to build something big and run it well: money, influence, a body of work with their name on it. Ambitious, capable, generous when winning, and learning that power is for lifting people.
Triggers
Triggers: incompetence, and disrespect. Mars in Capricorn means Michael 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 Michael's birth date. Working below.
Where Michael sits
Six lines
Michael’s dot comes from the chart; yours is where you put it.
You may run on a few close bonds rather than a crowd. Depth is your default.
You likely think things through before you act. Haste rarely feels safe.
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 Michael Swanwick
Three stars chosen from the real sky above Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia that night
Computed for 39.95°N, 9 p.m. local sky.
Mirach stood nearest the zenith over Philadelphia at 9 p.m. that evening, 84.3° above the horizon in Andromeda.
Of the 99 catalog stars above the horizon, Vega was the brightest.
Philadelphia sits at 40.0°N, low enough that no headline star is circumpolar: everything bright rises and sets there.
The trade is at the other end of the sky: nothing south of −50.0° declination ever rises from here, which puts Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman permanently out of view.
The Moon, 74% lit at waxing gibbous, was still up; the Sun sat 49° below the horizon.
How unusual Michael's chart is
Chart pattern score
10 / 100 · Reassuringly normal
1 planet at a critical degree
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 →Michael Swanwick at a glance
Scorpio Sun
Scorpio SunAll in or nowhere near.
Michael Swanwick's Sun was in Scorpio for the whole of November 18, 1950, so no birth time is needed to settle it.
What Scorpio means →Metal Tiger
Metal TigerLeaps first, apologises never.
Michael Swanwick was born on November 18, 1950, which falls in a Metal Tiger year of the Chinese calendar.
What the Tiger means →Life Path 8
Life Path 8Wants it all. Gets most.
Michael Swanwick's birth date, November 18, 1950, reduces to Life Path 8 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.
What Life Path 8 means →What stands out in Michael’s chart
- The tightest major aspect in Michael Swanwick's date-only chart is Mars opposition Uranus, with an orb of under 1°.
- Michael Swanwick combines a Fire Day Master in BaZi with a fixed Sun and a Life Path on the mental plane, the combination AsterNym calls The Radiant Scholar.
Michael’s birth chart
Reference chart · birth time unknown
Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 14° to 26° Pisces 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
stableMarsoppositionUranus0.0° to 0.8° orb
Michael’s drive pulls against their need for freedom from across the wheel. A see-saw looking for balance, often played out through other people.
stableSunconjunctionVenus1.0° to 1.3° orb
Michael’s core identity and affections act as one. Each makes the other louder.
stableVenussquareJupiter1.1° to 2.3° orb
Michael’s affections grind against their growth.
stableNeptunesextilePluto1.4° orb
stableVenussextileSaturn2.3° to 3.5° orb
stableSunsquareJupiter2.4° to 3.3° orb
stableSunsextileSaturn3.6° to 4.5° orb
stableSunsquarePluto5.4° to 6.4° orb
possibleSuntrineMoonorb from 0.0° to 11.2° depending on birth time
possibleMoontrineVenusorb from 1.0° to 12.3° depending on birth time
possibleMoonoppositionSaturnorb from 3.3° to 15.7° depending on birth time
possibleMercurysextileSaturnorb from 5.0° to 6.4° depending on birth time
Chart signature
Elements
- Fire2 of 10
- Earth2 of 10
- Air2 of 10
- Water4 of 10
Modalities
- Cardinal3 of 10
- Fixed4 of 10
- Mutable3 of 10
Counted across the ten planets by sign: Water leads this chart.
Michael’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith
What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.
⚷ ChironSagittarius 21°18′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it
⚳ CeresCapricorn 3°45′ (moves 0.37° over the day)
dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured
♡ ErosScorpio or Sagittarius during this date
near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire
⚕ HygieaCapricorn 7°42′ (moves 0.37° over the day)
main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well
⚸ Black Moon LilithGemini 4°41′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed
Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith
- Eros sextile Saturn 0.0°
- Black Moon Lilith opposition Mercury 0.8°
- Eros square Jupiter 1.2°
- Hygiea opposition Uranus 1.3°
- Chiron trine Pluto 1.4°
- Hygiea conjunction Mars 1.7°
- Chiron sextile Neptune 2.8°
- Eros conjunction Venus 2.9°
Michael’s dominant planets
1. ♇ Pluto7 pts
rules the Sun sign, Scorpio; disposes Sun, Venus; 2 major aspects
2. ☉ Sun5 pts
disposes Pluto; 4 major aspects
3. ♀ Venus4 pts
disposes Neptune; 3 major aspects
Configurations in Michael’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.
- Jupiter quincunx Saturn 1.2°
- Sun semi-square Mars 1.4°
- Sun sesquiquadrate Uranus 1.8°
More people like Michael
Other writers
- Paul Starr1949
- Robert Zemeckis1952
- Harry Turtledove1949
- Charles Ducal1952
- Lois McMaster Bujold1949
- Kim Stanley Robinson1952
Born in United States
- Phil McGrawAmerican television personality (born 1950)
- Anthony DavisAmerican pianist and composer
- Peggy NoonanAmerican author and conservative columnist
- Louis KilzerAmerican journalist and essayist
- Amy MadiganAmerican actress
- Bob IgerAmerican businessman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company
More charts like Michael’s
Fellow Scorpio suns
- GiselleJapanese singer and rapper (born 2000)
- Charles BasseyNigerian basketball player (born 2000)
- Jock LandaleAustralian basketball player (born 1995)
Born in Tiger years
- Rudy PankowAmerican actor
- Alex YeeBritish triathlete
- BizarrapArgentine DJ and producer (born 1998)
Also born on November 18
- Margaret Atwood1939
- Chloë Sevigny1974
- Megyn Kelly1970
- Rick Owens1961
- Andrew Forrest1961
- Allyson Felix1985
Fellow Yin Fire day masters
- Mike GesickiAmerican football player
- Malcolm RoachAmerican football player (born 1998)
- Jonathan AllenAmerican football player (born 1995)
Other Scorpio Tiger charts
- Cale MakarCanadian ice hockey player
- Juan SotoDominican baseball player (born 1998)
- Lee KnowSouth Korean singer and dancer (born 1998)
- Jordan LoveAmerican football quarterback
Other Radiant Scholars
- Rudolf Ludwig MössbauerGerman nuclear physicist and Noble Prize in Physics
- James FranckGerman-American physicist
- Marvin HamlischAmerican composer and conductor
- John HarbisonAmerican composer
Famous people with Life Path 8
- Edmund S. MorganAmerican historian
- David KertzerAmerican historian and anthropologist
- Edwin Way TealeAmerican conservationist
From the journal: Your Sun, Moon and rising signs: the Big Three explained · What does Elon Musk say about astrology?
Michael’s cards
Computed from November 18, 1950. Tap to flip.
Birth tarot card
StrengthAsterNym identity card
The Radiant ScholarWestern zodiac
ScorpioChinese zodiac
Tiger 寅Life Path
8 · Achiever♂ Ruled by Mars
Iron Fe
The working: BaZi pillarsshow
BaZi pillars
Day Master: yin Fire.
Year
庚
yang Metal
寅
Tiger
Wood
roots & early life
Month
丁
yin Fire
亥
Pig
Water
work & drive
Day
day master
丁
yin Fire
巳
Snake
Fire
you & partnership
Where this comes from, and how it is worked out
Michael’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q455510 (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 Mike VanHelder, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The same Michael Swanwick at Wikipedia, IMDb, X and MusicBrainz.
Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by Michael Swanwick.
Quick answers about Michael Swanwick’s chart
- How old is Michael Swanwick?
- Michael Swanwick is 75 years old, born November 18, 1950 in Philadelphia, United States.
- What zodiac sign is Michael Swanwick?
- Michael Swanwick is a Scorpio: born November 18, 1950, which puts the Sun in Scorpio for the whole of that day.
- What is Michael Swanwick's Chinese zodiac animal?
- The Tiger, with the Metal element, from the Chinese lunar year of the November 18, 1950 birth.
- What is Michael Swanwick's Life Path number?
- Life Path 8, calculated in numerology.
- What is Michael Swanwick's Chiron sign?
- Chiron in Sagittarius at 21°. Position from JPL Horizons.
- Where is Michael Swanwick's Black Moon Lilith?
- Mean Black Moon Lilith in Gemini at 4°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
- What is Michael Swanwick's dominant planet?
- Pluto, on AsterNym's dominance score (7 points: rules the Sun sign, Scorpio; disposes Sun, Venus; 2 major aspects). Sun is second and Venus third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.
