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Portrait of Rita Dove

Rita Dove

Rita Dove (born August 28, 1952, Akron, United States), aged 74, is an American poet and author. Dove is best known for The Darker Face of the Earth, Sonata Mulattica and Thomas and Beulah. Dove's honours include Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Fulbright Scholarship and Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.

Rita Dove’s zodiac sign is Virgo, Chinese zodiac is Water Dragon, with Life Path 8 in numerology.

Your match with Rita

Free, no account, stays on this device. Add a birth time later.

Rita Dove’s AsterNym identity

The Radiant Storyteller

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) × mutable Sun × Life Path 8, on the mental plane.

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

#1287

US rank in 2025

~285,230

Americans share it since 1880

1949

its peak year

In 1952, 6,148 American girls and 12 boys were registered Rita — 66th among girls and 2,351st among boys on the SSA's list that year.

US Social Security Administration public records

What Rita’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 R (9) and closes on A (1). Two values tie for most repeated, 4 and 9: craft against empathy.

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

Rita’s lucky numbers, colours and stones

Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.

Lucky numbers

8 · 1 · 6 · 7

Lucky colours

Blue & Black

Lucky day

Wednesday

Direction

↑ North

Season

winter

Stones

Peridot, Emerald, Aquamarine

Flower constellation

🌸 Gladiolus · 💜 Lavender · 💠 Water Lily

Coral · Lilac · Moonlight white

The record

What sets Rita apart

Jack Black (1969) and Shania Twain (1965) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.

What the chart says

Rita, according to the stars

Core essence

Rita notices. That is the whole thing: the detail everyone else walked past, the small fix that makes the day work, the way you looked slightly off when you said you were fine. The core of Rita is devotion expressed as usefulness. They love by improving things, and they are far kinder to other people than to themselves.

The vibe

Underneath, Rita is an optimist who needs the door left open. The Moon in Sagittarius feels best in motion, out in the world, laughing at the thing that went wrong. What Rita needs to feel safe is freedom and the truth, in that order. Try to contain them and they vanish; trust them and they come back every time.

How Rita wants to be loved

Rita wants to be loved attentively. Venus in Virgo shows love through service, the fixed thing, the remembered appointment, and wants to be loved the same way: notice what they did. Big words matter less than the follow-through. Be reliable with Rita and they will quietly make your whole life run better.

How Rita creates

How Rita makes things happen: they light the room. A Yang Fire day master is the sun, warm, visible, impossible to ignore, generous with energy and expecting the same back. Rita creates in front of people and is at their best with an audience and a cause. The work is learning to rest before the fire does it for them.

Instinct

Instinct: Rita 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 Water year softens it: intuitive, adaptable, feeling their way through people.

Purpose

Purpose: Life Path 8 is the powerhouse. Rita 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: being fenced in, and being lied to. Mars in Sagittarius fights loud, laughs it off, and is genuinely fine ten minutes later. Rita has boundless energy for anything with a horizon in it and none for the small print. Aim them at something far away and step back.

Computed from Rita's birth date. Working below.

Where Rita sits

Six lines

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

Intimate circleWide network
Rita

You likely balance a tight inner circle with a wider orbit you dip into.

DeliberateSpontaneous
Rita

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

PrivateExpressive
Rita

You may wear your feelings openly. What you feel tends to show.

Cool off firstResolve immediately
Rita

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

PracticalVisionary
Rita

You may favor what's proven and workable over the untested idea.

Gradual trustImmediate chemistry
Rita

You may build trust slowly, letting closeness earn its way in.

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 Rita Dove

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

Rita’s birth-night reference starVegablue-white · LyraVega, in Lyra. A blue-white star, 83.3° above the horizon at 9 p.m. local time, the bright star nearest the zenith.Dedicate Vega →The warmest lightAntaresdeep red · ScorpiusAntares, in Scorpius. A deep red star, 19.1° 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 Akron that night

Computed for 41.07°N, 9 p.m. local sky.

At 9 p.m. the star closest to straight overhead at Akron was Vega, in Lyra, 83.3° up.

Of the 83 catalog stars above the horizon, Arcturus was the brightest.

Akron sits at 41.1°N, low enough that no headline star is circumpolar: everything bright rises and sets there.

Nothing below −48.9° declination clears the horizon at this latitude, so Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman were never visible from Akron on any night.

The Moon, 56% lit at first quarter, was still up; the Sun sat 10° below the horizon.

How unusual Rita's chart is

Chart pattern score

25 / 100 · Reassuringly normal

1 planet at a critical degree · A leaning bowl · No retrogrades at all

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 →

Virgo Sun

Fixes everything except the need to.

Rita Dove's Sun was in Virgo for the whole of August 28, 1952, so no birth time is needed to settle it.

What Virgo means →

Water Dragon

Big energy, bigger plans.

Rita Dove was born on August 28, 1952, which falls in a Water Dragon year of the Chinese calendar.

What the Dragon means →

Life Path 8

Wants it all. Gets most.

Rita Dove's birth date, August 28, 1952, reduces to Life Path 8 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.

What Life Path 8 means →

What stands out in Rita’s chart

Rita’s birth chart

Reference chart · birth time unknown

Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 0° to 14° Sagittarius depending on the hour.

AriesTaurusGeminiCancerLeoVirgoLibraScorpioSagittariusCapricornAquariusPisces123456789101112Jupiter grinds against Pluto · Square, 0.9° orbNeptune opens doors for Pluto · Sextile, 1.8° orbSun grinds against Moon · Square, 2.1° orbVenus flows with Jupiter · Trine, 2.3° orbMercury opens doors for Neptune · Sextile, 2.6° orbUranus grinds against Neptune · Square, 2.7° orbMercury grinds against Jupiter · Square, 3.5° orbJupiter opens doors for Uranus · Sextile, 3.6° orbSun in Virgo · 5°16′☉5°Moon in Sagittarius · 7°19′☽7°Mercury in Leo · 17°13′☿17°Venus in Virgo · 23°00′♀23°Mars in Sagittarius · 0°32′♂0°Jupiter in Taurus · 20°45′♃20°Saturn in Libra · 12°52′♄12°Uranus in Cancer · 17°10′♅17°Neptune in Libra · 19°50′♆19°Pluto in Leo · 21°39′♇21°

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

  • stableJupitersquarePluto0.9° orb

    Rita’s growth grinds against their depths.

  • stableVenustrineJupiter1.7° to 2.9° orb

    Rita’s affections flow straight into their growth.

  • stableNeptunesextilePluto1.8° orb

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

  • stableMercurysextileNeptune2.2° to 3.0° orb

  • stableUranussquareNeptune2.7° orb

  • stableMercurysquareJupiter3.1° to 3.9° orb

  • stableJupitersextileUranus3.6° orb

  • stableMercurysextileSaturn4.0° to 4.7° orb

  • stableMercuryconjunctionPluto4.0° to 4.8° orb

  • stableSaturnsquareUranus4.3° orb

  • stableSunsquareMars4.6° to 4.9° orb

  • stableSaturnconjunctionNeptune6.9° to 7.0° orb

Chart signature

Elements

  • Fire4 of 10
  • Earth3 of 10
  • Air2 of 10
  • Water1 of 10

Modalities

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

Counted across the ten planets by sign: Fire leads this chart.

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

What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.

  • ⚷ Chiron ℞Capricorn 6°45′ (moves 0.02° over the day)

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

  • ⚳ CeresGemini 11°15′ (moves 0.24° over the day)

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

  • ♡ ErosScorpio 2°14′ (moves 0.67° over the day)

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

  • ⚕ HygieaTaurus 26°34′ (moves 0.10° over the day)

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

  • ⚸ Black Moon LilithLeo 16°59′ (moves 0.11° over the day)

    mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed

Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith

  • Black Moon Lilith conjunction Mercury 0.2°
  • Chiron trine Sun 1.5°
  • Ceres trine Saturn 1.6°
  • Black Moon Lilith sextile Neptune 2.8°

Rita’s dominant planets

  1. 1. ☿ Mercury9 pts

    rules the Sun sign, Virgo; disposes Sun, Venus; 4 major aspects

  2. 2. ♃ Jupiter5 pts

    disposes Mars; 4 major aspects

  3. 3. ♀ Venus4 pts

    disposes Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune; 1 major aspect

Configurations in Rita’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.

  • Mercury semi-sextile Uranus 0.1°
  • Sun semi-square Neptune 0.4°
  • Jupiter quincunx Neptune 0.9°
  • Venus semi-sextile Pluto 1.4°
  • Mars sesquiquadrate Uranus 1.6°

More people like Rita

Other writers

Born in United States

More charts like Rita’s

Fellow Virgo suns

All about Virgo →

Born in Dragon years

Year of the Dragon →

Also born on August 28

Fellow Yang Fire day masters

What a Day Master is →

Other Virgo Dragon charts

Other Radiant Storytellers

The Radiant Storyteller explained →

Famous people with Life Path 8

Life Path numbers explained →

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

Rita’s cards

Computed from August 28, 1952. Tap to flip.

Birth tarot card

Strength

AsterNym identity card

The Radiant Storyteller

Western zodiac

Virgo

Chinese zodiac

Dragon 辰

Life Path

8 · Achiever

☿ Ruled by Mercury

Quicksilver Hg

The working: BaZi pillarsshow

BaZi pillars

Day Master: yang Fire.

Year

壬

yang Water

辰

Dragon

Earth

roots & early life

Month

戊

yang Earth

申

Monkey

Metal

work & drive

Day

day master

丙

yang Fire

午

Horse

Fire

you & partnership

Where this comes from, and how it is worked out

Rita’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q445740 (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 Robert Kennicott, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The same Rita Dove at Wikipedia and MusicBrainz.

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

Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by Rita Dove.

Quick answers about Rita Dove’s chart

How old is Rita Dove?
Rita Dove is 74 years old, born August 28, 1952 in Akron, United States.
What zodiac sign is Rita Dove?
Rita Dove is a Virgo: born August 28, 1952, which puts the Sun in Virgo for the whole of that day.
What is Rita Dove's Chinese zodiac animal?
The Dragon, with the Water element, from the Chinese lunar year of the August 28, 1952 birth.
What is Rita Dove's Life Path number?
Life Path 8, calculated in numerology.
What is Rita Dove's Chiron sign?
Chiron in Capricorn at 6°. Position from JPL Horizons.
Where is Rita Dove's Black Moon Lilith?
Mean Black Moon Lilith in Leo at 16°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
What is Rita Dove's dominant planet?
Mercury, on AsterNym's dominance score (9 points: rules the Sun sign, Virgo; disposes Sun, Venus; 4 major aspects). Jupiter is second and Venus third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.

More charts to explore