Van Cliburn
Van Cliburn (born July 12, 1934, Shreveport, United States; died 2013), was an American pianist. Cliburn's honours include Presidential Medal of Freedom, Order of Friendship and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Van Cliburn’s zodiac sign was Cancer, Chinese zodiac was Wood Dog, with Life Path 9 in numerology.
Cancer, Chinese zodiac was 
Wood Dog, with 
Life Path 9 in numerology.Your match with Van
Van Cliburn’s AsterNym identity
The Evergreen Visionary
Wood represents growth. Wood-led charts are associated with patience, adaptability and the drive to keep developing. Life Path 9 represents compassion: generosity, completion and the ability to consider more than one person’s experience.
Wood Day Master (BaZi) × cardinal Sun × Life Path 9, on the intuitive plane.
How common is the name Van in the U.S.?
#972
US rank in 2025
~31,194
Americans share it since 1880
1954
its peak year
The SSA recorded 184 American boys and 14 girls named Van in 1934: 414th among boys and 2,280th among girls for the year.
US Social Security Administration public records
What Van’s name adds up to
Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.
8
Expression · direction and scale
4
Soul Urge · solid ground
4
Personality · steady, dependable
The name opens on V (4) and closes on N (5). The value it repeats most is 3, which numerology reads as voice.
Pythagorean letter values · A=1 to I=9, then J=1 again
Van’s lucky numbers, colours and stones
Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.
Lucky numbers
9 · 3 · 4
Lucky colours
Green & Teal
Lucky day
Monday
Direction
→ East
Season
spring
Stones
Ruby, Pearl, Green Aventurine
Flower constellation
💠 Larkspur · 🤍 Jasmine · 🌸 Green Orchid
Sky blue · Pearl · Botanical green
The record
What sets Van apart
Pablo Neruda (1904) and Vinícius Júnior (2000) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.
What the chart says
Van, according to the stars
Core essence
Van feels the room before entering it. The core of Van is care, the practical kind that remembers what you said in March and has already made the tea. They protect their people with a fierceness that surprises anyone who only knew the soft exterior. Home is not a place for Van, it is whoever they have decided to keep.
How Van wants to be loved
Van wants to be loved in conversation. Venus in Gemini falls for a mind first: the banter, the shared joke, the person who keeps them guessing a little. Attention is the love language and boredom is the enemy. Keep talking to Van like it is the first week, and it can feel like it for years.
How Van creates
How Van makes things happen: they grow upward. A Yang Wood day master is the tree, the one with a direction and the patience to keep at it through a bad season. Van builds in the open, wants to be useful, and is at their most creative when there is something to reach for. Bend rather than break is the lesson they learn a few times.
Instinct
Instinct: Van is loyal to the bone, a Dog year, and their gut reaction is to protect their people. Honest, fair, a little anxious about the world, and the most dependable friend in the room. The Wood year adds growth: ideals, ambition, a need to be getting somewhere.
Purpose
Purpose: Life Path 9 is the humanitarian. Van is here for the bigger picture, to give, to finish what others started and hand it on. Wise beyond their years, compassionate, a little world-weary, and learning to receive as freely as they give.
Triggers
Triggers: being bored, and being talked over. Mars in Gemini fights with words and wins, then forgets it happened. Van scatters energy across three projects at once and somehow finishes two. The trick is choosing the argument worth having.
Computed from Van's birth date. Working below.
Where Van sits
Six lines
Van’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 weigh most decisions but can move fast when it matters.
You likely share some feelings openly and keep others to yourself.
You likely handle some friction right away and let smaller things settle.
You may be drawn to big possibilities. The practical follows after the vision.
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 Van Cliburn
Three stars chosen from the real sky above Shreveport 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 Shreveport that night
Computed for 32.51°N, 9 p.m. local sky.
Overhead at Shreveport at 9 p.m. that evening: Izar of Boötes, within 7.3° of the exact zenith.
Of the 79 catalog stars above the horizon, Arcturus was the brightest.
Shreveport sits at 32.5°N, low enough that no headline star is circumpolar: everything bright rises and sets there.
Rigil Kentaurus, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman cannot be seen from Shreveport at all: they sit past the −57.5° declination limit this latitude imposes.
Sun 7° below the horizon, Moon up and 2% lit at new moon.
How unusual Van's chart is
Chart pattern score
39 / 100 · Quietly distinctive
3-planet stellium in Cancer · No Fire 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 →If you only read one paragraph
Cancer Sun
Cancer SunGuards the people, guards the past.
Van Cliburn's Sun was in Cancer for the whole of July 12, 1934, so no birth time is needed to settle it.
What Cancer means →Wood Dog
Wood DogWorries so you don't have to.
Van Cliburn was born on July 12, 1934, which falls in a Wood Dog year of the Chinese calendar.
What the Dog means →Life Path 9
Life Path 9Endings come naturally.
Van Cliburn's birth date, July 12, 1934, reduces to Life Path 9 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.
What Life Path 9 means →What stands out in Van’s chart
- The tightest major aspect in Van Cliburn's date-only chart is Mars trine Saturn, with an orb of under 1°.
- Three planets, Sun, Mercury and Pluto, sit together in Cancer, which astrologers call a stellium.
- Van Cliburn combines a Wood Day Master in BaZi with a cardinal Sun and a Life Path on the intuitive plane, the combination AsterNym calls The Evergreen Visionary.
Van’s birth chart
Reference chart · birth time unknown
Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 24° to 6° Cancer or Leo 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
stableMoonsquareUranus0.0° to 6.6° orb
Van’s feelings grind against their need for freedom.
stableMarstrineSaturn0.2° to 0.9° orb
Van’s drive flows straight into their discipline.
stableSunconjunctionMercury1.1° to 2.7° orb
Van’s core identity and mind act as one. Wherever one goes, the other is already there.
stableVenustrineJupiter1.5° to 2.6° orb
stableMercurysquareJupiter2.6° to 3.3° orb
stableMarssextileUranus3.0° to 3.7° orb
stableSaturnsextileUranus3.9° to 4.0° orb
stableSunconjunctionPluto4.1° to 5.0° orb
stableSunsquareJupiter4.4° to 5.3° orb
stableMercuryconjunctionPluto6.1° to 6.8° orb
possibleMoonconjunctionPlutoorb from 0.4° to 12.1° depending on birth time
possibleSunconjunctionMoonorb from 5.4° to 16.2° depending on birth time
Chart signature
Elements
- Fire1 of 10
- Earth2 of 10
- Air4 of 10
- Water3 of 10
Modalities
- Cardinal4 of 10
- Fixed3 of 10
- Mutable3 of 10
Counted across the ten planets by sign: Air leads this chart.
Van’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith
What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.
⚷ ChironGemini 7°41′ (moves 0.06° over the day)
centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it
⚳ CeresGemini 21°59′ (moves 0.41° over the day)
dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured
♡ ErosCancer 19°53′ (moves 0.92° over the day)
near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire
⚕ Hygiea ℞Pisces 3°35′ (moves 0.07° over the day)
main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well
⚸ Black Moon LilithCancer 29°16′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed
Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith
- Eros conjunction Sun 0.3°
- Black Moon Lilith square Uranus 1.9°
- Eros conjunction Mercury 2.2°
- Hygiea sextile Uranus 2.4°
- Chiron square Neptune 2.6°
Van’s dominant planets
1. ☽ Moon7 pts
rules the Sun sign, Cancer; disposes Sun, Mercury, Pluto; 1 major aspect
2. ☿ Mercury6 pts
disposes Venus, Mars, Neptune; 3 major aspects
3. ♅ Uranus4 pts
disposes Saturn; 3 major aspects
Configurations in Van’s chart
Stellium in Cancer · Sun, Mercury, PlutoThree 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.
- Mars quintile Neptune 0.5°
- Venus semi-square Uranus 0.7°
- Mercury semi-sextile Venus 0.9°
- Neptune semi-square Pluto 1.1°
More people like Van
Other pianists
- Matyáš Novák1998
- Billy Joel1949
- Rudolf Serkin1903
- Sylvan Fox1928
- Alexander Malofeev2001
- Alan Menken1949
Born in United States
- Arthur MitchellAmerican dancer and choreographer, co-founder of Dance Theatre of Harlem
- Roger ReynoldsAmerican composer (born 1934)
- Alan ArkinAmerican actor, filmmaker
- Louise FletcherAmerican actress
- Roland FlintAmerican writer and academic
- Jacques d'AmboiseAmerican dancer and choreographer
More charts like Van’s
Fellow Cancer suns
- James Forman, Jr.American author and professor
- Mark S. WatsonAmerican editor and correspondent
- Ralph Barton PerryAmerican philosopher
Born in Dog years
- Neil deGrasse TysonAmerican astrophysicist and science communicator
- Claudia SchifferGerman model
- Tina FeyAmerican actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright
Also born on July 12
- Pablo Neruda1904
- Vinícius Júnior2000
- Tupou VI of Tonga1959
- Phoebe Tonkin1989
- Hilary Knight1989
- Bill Cosby1937
Fellow Yang Wood day masters
- Justin Trudeau23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025
- Avril LavigneCanadian singer
- Orhan PamukTurkish novelist, academic and Nobel laureate
Other Cancer Dog charts
- Boris NuraliyevRussian entrepreneur, scientist
- Michael MilkenAmerican investor
- George W. BushPresident of the United States from 2001 to 2009
- Sylvester StalloneAmerican actor and filmmaker
Other Evergreen Visionarys
- Henry FondaAmerican actor
- Jack KlugmanAmerican actor
- Roy ScheiderAmerican actor
- Robert ShawBritish actor and writer
Famous people with Life Path 9
- Jay CutlerAmerican football player, quarterback
- Ryan CabreraAmerican musician
- Michael CheAmerican comedian
From the journal: Is astrology real or fake? · Sect: day charts vs night charts
Van’s cards
Computed from July 12, 1934. Tap to flip.
Birth tarot card
The MoonAsterNym identity card
The Evergreen VisionaryWestern zodiac
CancerChinese zodiac
Dog 戌Life Path
9 · Healer☾ Ruled by Moon
Silver Ag
The working: BaZi pillarsshow
BaZi pillars
Day Master: yang Wood.
Year
甲
yang Wood
戌
Dog
Earth
roots & early life
Month
辛
yin Metal
未
Goat
Earth
work & drive
Day
day master
甲
yang Wood
申
Monkey
Metal
you & partnership
Where this comes from, and how it is worked out
Van’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q366355 (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 Leo Medvedev/Лев Леонидович Медведев, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The same Van Cliburn at Wikipedia, IMDb and MusicBrainz.
Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by Van Cliburn.
Quick answers about Van Cliburn’s chart
- What zodiac sign was Van Cliburn?
- Van Cliburn was a Cancer: born July 12, 1934, which puts the Sun in Cancer for the whole of that day.
- What was Van Cliburn's Chinese zodiac animal?
- The Dog, with the Wood element, from the Chinese lunar year of the July 12, 1934 birth.
- What was Van Cliburn's Life Path number?
- Life Path 9, calculated in numerology.
- What was Van Cliburn's Chiron sign?
- Chiron in Gemini at 7°. Position from JPL Horizons.
- Where was Van Cliburn's Black Moon Lilith?
- Mean Black Moon Lilith in Cancer at 29°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
- What was Van Cliburn's dominant planet?
- Moon, on AsterNym's dominance score (7 points: rules the Sun sign, Cancer; disposes Sun, Mercury, Pluto; 1 major aspect). Mercury is second and Uranus third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.
