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William Jay Smith

William Jay Smith (born April 22, 1918, Winnfield, United States; died 2015), was an American writer, translator, editor. Smith served as United States Poet Laureate. Smith's honours include Rhodes Scholarship, Rome Prize and Russell Loines Award for Poetry.

William Jay Smith’s zodiac sign was Taurus, Chinese zodiac was Earth Horse, with Life Path 9 in numerology.

Your match with William

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William Jay Smith’s AsterNym identity

The Steadfast Lightkeeper

Earth represents stability. Earth-led charts are associated with patience, responsibility and the ability to make people or projects feel supported. Life Path 9 represents compassion: generosity, completion and the ability to consider more than one person’s experience.

Earth Day Master (BaZi) × fixed Sun × Life Path 9, on the intuitive plane.

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

#9

US rank in 2025

~4,215,725

Americans share it since 1880

1947

its peak year

Of the names registered in 1918, William came 2nd among boys and 536th among girls, carried by 45,291 American boys and 172 girls.

US Social Security Administration public records

What William’s name adds up to

Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.

22

Expression · building at scale

11

Soul Urge · insight

2

Personality · warm, careful

The name opens on W (5) and closes on M (4). The value it repeats most is 1, which numerology reads as drive.

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

William’s lucky numbers, colours and stones

Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.

Lucky numbers

9 · 2 · 3 · 7

Lucky colours

Yellow & Ochre

Lucky day

Friday

Direction

• Center

Season

the turning of seasons

Stones

Diamond, Diamond, Citrine

Flower constellation

🌼 Daisy · 🌹 Blush Rose · 🌼 Chrysanthemum

White · Blush · Gold

The record

What sets William apart

Robert Oppenheimer (1904) and Jack Nicholson (1937) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.

What the chart says

William, according to the stars

Core essence

William is the steady one, the person whose yes means yes and whose Sunday looks the same as it did last year because it was a good Sunday. The core of William is a deep loyalty to what is real: good food, a good bed, people who show up. They move slowly on purpose. Once they have decided something, it is decided, and that is a comfort to everyone around them.

The vibe

Underneath, William is quietly running a checklist, and half of it is about you. The Moon in Virgo feels care as responsibility: did you eat, did you get home, is the thing you were worried about handled. What William needs to feel safe is order and the sense of being useful. Let them help, and thank them properly.

How William wants to be loved

William wants to be loved tenderly. Venus in Pisces is the romantic of the zodiac: soft, giving, a little dreamy, and easily bruised. They love without keeping score and need a partner who will not take advantage of that. Be gentle with William, be honest, and they will make the ordinary feel enchanted.

How William creates

How William makes things happen: they make things grow. A Yin Earth day master is the garden soil, generous, nourishing, the reason other people's ideas take root. William creates by caring for the thing until it works, and they are often the quiet reason a whole group is thriving. The work is keeping some of that richness for themselves.

Instinct

Instinct: William is free-spirited, a Horse year, and their gut reaction is to run toward the new thing. Energetic, warm, popular, honest to a fault, and impossible to keep indoors. The Earth year grounds it: practical, patient, someone people lean on.

Purpose

Purpose: Life Path 9 is the humanitarian. William 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: sloppiness, and being told they are overthinking it. Mars in Virgo means William channels energy into fixing, sorting, getting it right, and gets sharp when others do not care. The critic turns inward first. Give them a problem worth solving and watch them come alive.

Computed from William's birth date. Working below.

Where William sits

Six lines

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

Intimate circleWide network
William

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

DeliberateSpontaneous
William

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

PrivateExpressive
William

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

Cool off firstResolve immediately
William

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

PracticalVisionary
William

You likely balance practical steps with room to imagine further.

Gradual trustImmediate chemistry
William

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 William Jay Smith

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

William’s birth-night reference starTania Australisdeep red · Ursa MajorTania Australis, in Ursa Major. A deep red star, 78.7° above the horizon at 9 p.m. local time, the bright star nearest the zenith.Dedicate Tania Australis →The warmest lightArcturuswarm orange · BoötesArcturus, in Boötes. A warm orange star, 30.8° above the horizon at 9 p.m. local time, the warmest-toned bright star up that night.Dedicate Arcturus →

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

The sky over Winnfield that night

Computed for 31.92°N, 9 p.m. local sky.

Tania Australis stood nearest the zenith over Winnfield at 9 p.m. that evening, 78.7° above the horizon in Ursa Major.

Sirius was the brightest thing up that night, one of 106 catalog stars above the horizon.

From 31.9°N not one of the brightest stars stays permanently above the horizon — all of them rise and set.

Nothing below −58.1° declination clears the horizon at this latitude, so Rigil Kentaurus, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman were never visible from Winnfield on any night.

Sun 15° below the horizon, Moon up and 90% lit at waxing gibbous.

How unusual William's chart is

Chart pattern score

37 / 100 · Quietly distinctive

T-square onto Jupiter · 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 →

Taurus Sun

Slow to move, slower to leave.

William Jay Smith's Sun was in Taurus for the whole of April 22, 1918, so no birth time is needed to settle it.

What Taurus means →

Earth Horse

Happiest halfway there.

William Jay Smith was born on April 22, 1918, which falls in a Earth Horse year of the Chinese calendar.

What the Horse means →

Life Path 9

Gives without keeping score.

William Jay Smith's birth date, April 22, 1918, reduces to Life Path 9 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.

What Life Path 9 means →

What stands out in William’s chart

William’s birth chart

Reference chart · birth time unknown

Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 15° to 27° Virgo depending on the hour.

AriesTaurusGeminiCancerLeoVirgoLibraScorpioSagittariusCapricornAquariusPisces123456789101112Mercury grinds against Saturn · Square, 1° orbVenus faces off with Mars · Opposition, 1.6° orbSun opens doors for Pluto · Sextile, 1.9° orbMars grinds against Jupiter · Square, 2.1° orbSun grinds against Neptune · Square, 2.6° orbSaturn fuses with Neptune · Conjunction, 3.4° orbVenus grinds against Jupiter · Square, 3.7° orbJupiter opens doors for Saturn · Sextile, 4° orbSun in Taurus · 1°45′☉1°Moon in Virgo · 21°53′☽21°Mercury in Taurus · 8°45′ · retrograde☿℞8°Venus in Pisces · 15°31′♀15°Mars in Virgo · 13°54′ · retrograde♂℞13°Jupiter in Gemini · 11°46′♃11°Saturn in Leo · 7°46′♄7°Uranus in Aquarius · 27°03′♅27°Neptune in Leo · 4°20′♆4°Pluto in Cancer · 3°40′♇3°

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

  • stableMercurysquareSaturn0.7° to 1.2° orb

    William’s mind grinds against their discipline.

  • stableVenusoppositionMars1.1° to 2.1° orb

    William’s affections pull against their drive from across the wheel.

  • stableSunsextilePluto1.4° to 2.4° orb

    William’s core identity opens doors for their depths. Nothing happens until someone makes the first move.

  • stableMarssquareJupiter2.0° to 2.3° orb

  • stableSunsquareNeptune2.1° to 3.1° orb

  • stableVenussquareJupiter3.3° to 4.1° orb

  • stableSaturnconjunctionNeptune3.4° to 3.5° orb

  • stableJupitersextileSaturn3.9° to 4.1° orb

  • stableMercurysquareNeptune4.2° to 4.7° orb

  • stableMercurytrineMars4.9° to 5.4° orb

  • stableSunsquareSaturn5.6° to 6.5° orb

  • stableSunconjunctionMercury6.3° to 7.7° orb

Chart signature

Elements

  • Fire2 of 10
  • Earth4 of 10
  • Air2 of 10
  • Water2 of 10

Modalities

  • Cardinal1 of 10
  • Fixed5 of 10
  • Mutable4 of 10

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

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

What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.

  • ⚷ ChironAries 1°15′ (moves 0.05° over the day)

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

  • ⚳ CeresCapricorn 9°21′ (moves 0.07° over the day)

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

  • ♡ ErosAries 19°56′ (moves 0.72° over the day)

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

  • ⚕ HygieaAries 0°22′ (moves 0.33° over the day)

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

  • ⚸ Black Moon LilithVirgo 29°12′ (moves 0.11° over the day)

    mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed

Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith

  • Ceres trine Mercury 0.6°
  • Chiron square Pluto 2.4°

William’s dominant planets

  1. 1. ♀ Venus7 pts

    rules the Sun sign, Taurus; disposes Sun, Mercury; 2 major aspects

  2. 2. ☉ Sun6 pts

    disposes Saturn, Neptune; 4 major aspects

  3. 3. ☿ Mercury6 pts

    disposes Mars, Jupiter; 4 major aspects

Configurations in William’s chart

  • t square, the shape it makesT-square onto Jupiter · Venus, Mars, JupiterAn opposition with a third planet squaring both ends. Read as a driving tension that resolves through the apex planet.

Minor aspects

semi-sextile, semi-square, quintile, sesquiquadrate, biquintile, quincunx.

  • Mercury quintile Uranus 0.3°
  • Neptune semi-sextile Pluto 0.7°
  • Sun semi-square Venus 1.2°

More people like William

Other poets

Born in United States

More charts like William’s

Fellow Taurus suns

All about Taurus →

Born in Horse years

Year of the Horse →

Also born on April 22

Fellow Yin Earth day masters

What a Day Master is →

Other Taurus Horse charts

Other Steadfast Lightkeepers

The Steadfast Lightkeeper explained →

Famous people with Life Path 9

Life Path numbers explained →

From the journal: Fixed, cardinal, mutable: the modality cheat sheet · Why there are 12 signs and not 13

William’s cards

Computed from April 22, 1918. Tap to flip.

Birth tarot card

The Moon

AsterNym identity card

The Steadfast Lightkeeper

Western zodiac

Taurus

Chinese zodiac

Horse 午

Life Path

9 · Healer

♀ Ruled by Venus

Copper Cu

The working: BaZi pillarsshow

BaZi pillars

Day Master: yin Earth.

Year

戊

yang Earth

午

Horse

Fire

roots & early life

Month

丙

yang Fire

辰

Dragon

Earth

work & drive

Day

day master

己

yin Earth

亥

Pig

Water

you & partnership

Where this comes from, and how it is worked out

William’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q4355736 (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 William Jay Smith 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 William Jay Smith.

Quick answers about William Jay Smith’s chart

What zodiac sign was William Jay Smith?
William Jay Smith was a Taurus: born April 22, 1918, which puts the Sun in Taurus for the whole of that day.
What was William Jay Smith's Chinese zodiac animal?
The Horse, with the Earth element, from the Chinese lunar year of the April 22, 1918 birth.
What was William Jay Smith's Life Path number?
Life Path 9, calculated in numerology.
What was William Jay Smith's Chiron sign?
Chiron in Aries at 1°. Position from JPL Horizons.
Where was William Jay Smith's Black Moon Lilith?
Mean Black Moon Lilith in Virgo at 29°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
What was William Jay Smith's dominant planet?
Venus, on AsterNym's dominance score (7 points: rules the Sun sign, Taurus; disposes Sun, Mercury; 2 major aspects). Sun is second and Mercury third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.

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