William Raspberry
William Raspberry (born October 12, 1935, Okolona, United States; died 2012), was an American journalist. Raspberry's honours include National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame, Pulitzer Prize for Commentary and Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award.
William Raspberry’s zodiac sign was Libra, Chinese zodiac was Wood Pig, with Life Path 4 in numerology.
Libra, Chinese zodiac was 
Wood Pig, with 
Life Path 4 in numerology.Your match with William
William Raspberry’s AsterNym identity
The Gilded Pioneer
Metal represents precision. Metal-led charts are associated with standards, boundaries, discernment and the ability to remove what is unnecessary. Life Path 4 represents structure: foundations, systems and the patience to continue after the first enthusiasm fades.
Metal Day Master (BaZi) × cardinal Sun × Life Path 4, on the physical 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
The SSA recorded 40,204 American boys and 163 girls named William in 1935: 4th among boys and 498th among girls for the year.
US Social Security Administration public records
What William’s name adds up to
Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.
3
Expression · expression and voice
7
Soul Urge · understanding
5
Personality · restless, adaptable
The name opens on W (5) and closes on M (4). The value it repeats most is 9, which numerology reads as empathy.
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
4 · 2 · 5 · 8
Lucky colours
Green & Teal
Lucky day
Friday
Direction
→ East
Season
spring
Stones
Opal, Diamond, Green Aventurine
Flower constellation
🧡 Marigold · 🌹 Blush Rose · 🌿 Fern
Amber · Blush · Forest
Eight Mansions · Kua number
Kua 1, trigram Kan 坎, East group. Best direction Southeast, worst West.
A different tradition from the Direction above, and a different question: feng shui reads it from the solar year 1935, which turns at Li Chun rather than at New Year, and from sex, which Wikidata records as male. Work out your own →
The record
What sets William apart
The Pulitzer Prize for Commentary came in 1994, when William Raspberry was 59.
The schooling ran through University of Indianapolis.
The record gives prostate cancer as the cause, and Rock Creek Cemetery as the resting place.
Wikipedia files William Raspberry under Deaths from prostate cancer in Washington, D.C., People from Okolona, Mississippi and Journalists from Indiana.
Luciano Pavarotti shares the birth date exactly, so the chart below is nearly the same document for them both. What follows the chart is where they part.
- Educated at
- University of Indianapolis
- Awards
- Pulitzer Prize for Commentary (1994), Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award (1999) and National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame (2006)
- Cause of death
- prostate cancer
- Buried at
- Rock Creek Cemetery
- Citizenship
- United States
- Wikipedia editions
- 3
What the chart says
William, according to the stars
Core essence
William makes the room fairer just by being in it. The core of William is a feel for balance, in people, in colour, in who has not been asked their opinion yet. They are charming because they are genuinely interested, and they can see every side of a thing, which is a gift and, on a bad day, a very slow way to choose dinner.
How William wants to be loved
William 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 William and they will quietly make your whole life run better.
How William creates
How William makes things happen: they refine it until it shines. A Yin Metal day master is jewellery, precise, aesthetic, particular about the finish. William creates by polishing, by taste, by knowing exactly which detail makes the whole thing sing. Sensitive to being handled roughly, and worth handling well.
Instinct
Instinct: William is warm and generous, a Pig year, and their gut reaction is to trust. Big-hearted, fun, sincere, a lover of good things, and deserving of people who are as honest as they are. The Wood year adds growth: ideals, ambition, a need to be getting somewhere.
Purpose
Purpose: Life Path 4 is the builder. William 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: being fenced in, and being lied to. Mars in Sagittarius fights loud, laughs it off, and is genuinely fine ten minutes later. William 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 William's birth date. Working below.
Where William sits
Six lines
William’s dot comes from the chart; yours is where you put it.
You may draw energy from a wide network, many doors, lightly held.
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 William Raspberry
Three stars chosen from the real sky above Okolona 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 Okolona that night
Computed for 34.01°N, 9 p.m. local sky.
At 9 p.m. the star closest to straight overhead at Okolona was Scheat, in Pegasus, 80.6° up.
The brightest star above the horizon was Vega in Lyra, and 88 catalog stars were up in all.
Okolona sits at 34.0°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 −56.0° declination ever rises from here, which puts Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman permanently out of view.
The Moon, 99% lit at full moon, was still up; the Sun sat 44° below the horizon.
The name and the places
- Born in
- Okolona, United States
The death is recorded at Washington, D.C., District of Columbia in 2012.
No birth time is on record, so no astrocartography map can be drawn for William Raspberry: the lines move about fifteen degrees of longitude an hour. Shared Places can still draw yours.
How unusual William's chart is
Chart pattern score
31 / 100 · Quietly distinctive
T-square onto Pluto · 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 →Libra Sun
Libra SunEvery side of every argument.
William Raspberry's Sun was in Libra for the whole of October 12, 1935, so no birth time is needed to settle it.
What Libra means →Wood Pig
Wood PigWarm, sincere, easy company.
William Raspberry was born on October 12, 1935, which falls in a Wood Pig year of the Chinese calendar.
What the Pig means →Life Path 4
Life Path 4Slow, solid, lasting.
William Raspberry's birth date, October 12, 1935, reduces to Life Path 4 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.
What Life Path 4 means →What stands out in William’s chart
- The tightest major aspect in William Raspberry's date-only chart is Saturn sextile Uranus, with an orb of under 1°.
- William Raspberry combines a Metal Day Master in BaZi with a cardinal Sun and a Life Path on the physical plane, the combination AsterNym calls The Gilded Pioneer.
William’s birth chart
Reference chart · birth time unknown
Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 18° to 3° Aries or Taurus 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
stableSunsextileMars0.0° to 0.3° orb
William’s core identity opens doors for their drive.
stableSaturnsextileUranus0.0° orb
William’s discipline opens doors for their need for freedom.
stableMercurysquarePluto2.2° to 3.1° orb
William’s mind grinds against their depths. The friction is lifelong. Worked with, it builds real strength.
stableMarssquareNeptune2.4° to 3.1° orb
stableJupitertrinePluto3.0° to 3.2° orb
stableMercurytrineSaturn3.7° to 4.5° orb
stableMercuryoppositionUranus3.7° to 4.5° orb
stableVenusoppositionSaturn5.3° to 5.8° orb
stableVenustrineUranus5.3° to 5.8° orb
stableVenusconjunctionNeptune5.7° to 6.1° orb
stableUranussquarePluto6.7° to 6.8° orb
possibleMoonoppositionMercuryorb from 0.0° to 11.6° depending on birth time
Chart signature
Elements
- Fire2 of 10
- Earth3 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: Water leads this chart.
William’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith
What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.
⚷ Chiron ℞Gemini 16°07′ (moves 0.02° over the day)
centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it
⚳ CeresLibra 7°08′ (moves 0.45° over the day)
dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured
♡ ErosAquarius 15°19′ (moves 0.08° over the day)
near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire
⚕ Hygiea ℞Taurus 8°58′ (moves 0.17° over the day)
main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well
⚸ Black Moon LilithVirgo 20°11′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed
Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith
- Chiron square Neptune 0.6°
- Hygiea trine Venus 0.7°
- Black Moon Lilith square Mars 1.9°
- Chiron opposition Mars 2.2°
- Chiron trine Sun 2.4°
- Eros sextile Mars 3.0°
William’s dominant planets
1. ♀ Venus8 pts
rules the Sun sign, Libra; disposes Sun, Uranus; 3 major aspects
2. ☿ Mercury5 pts
disposes Venus, Neptune; 3 major aspects
3. ♇ Pluto5 pts
disposes Mercury, Jupiter; 3 major aspects
Configurations in William’s chart
T-square onto Pluto · Mercury, Uranus, PlutoAn 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.
- Sun sesquiquadrate Saturn 0.6°
- Mercury semi-square Neptune 0.6°
- Saturn biquintile Pluto 0.7°
- Mars sesquiquadrate Uranus 0.8°
Born the same day as William
Luciano Pavarotti was born on October 12, 1935 too, the same date and the same year. The Sun sign, year animal and Life Path are shared exactly. What the chart cannot reach is the birthplace. Okolona sits at 34.0°N, far enough north that Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman never clear the horizon. Same sky, different lives.
More people like William
Other writers
- Kenneth Silverman1936
- Shirley MacLaine1934
- James M. McPherson1936
- Gordon S. Wood1933
- Robert Caro1935
- Charles Sheffield1935
Born in United States
- Robert CaroAmerican journalist and author
- Annie ProulxAmerican novelist, short story and non-fiction author (b. 1935)
- Barry C. BarishAmerican physicist
- Carol ShieldsAmerican/Canadian author
- John Franklyn MarsAmerican businessman
- William FriedkinAmerican director and producer
More charts like William’s
Fellow Libra suns
- Tommy LeeAmerican drummer
- Patson DakaZambian association football player
- Zheng QinwenChinese tennis player
Born in Pig years
- Linda HoganAmerican television personality
- Brett GardnerAmerican baseball player
- Greta GerwigAmerican actress and filmmaker (born 1983)
Also born on October 12
- Luciano Pavarotti1935
- Hugh Jackman1968
- Aleister Crowley1875
- Josh Hutcherson1992
- Lara Trump1982
- Mia Threapleton2000
Fellow Yin Metal day masters
- André LwoffFrench microbiologist
- Richard Adolf ZsigmondyAustrian chemist
- Georges J. F. KöhlerGerman immunologist
Other Libra Pig charts
- Jesse EisenbergAmerican actor
- Doja CatAmerican singer and rapper
- FredBrazilian association football player
- JiminSouth Korean singer and dancer (BTS)
Other Gilded Pioneers
- Pierre Strong Jr.American football player
- Trent ScottAmerican football offensive tackle
- Garrett WilsonAmerican football player (born 2000)
- Troy FranklinAmerican football player
Famous people with Life Path 4
- John FiedlerAmerican actor
- Henry JonesAmerican actor of stage, film and television
- Bibi AnderssonSwedish actress
From the journal: The twelve Day Officers, and how Chinese date selection works · Your Sun, Moon and rising signs: the Big Three explained
William’s cards
Computed from October 12, 1935. Tap to flip.
Birth tarot card
The FoolAsterNym identity card
The Gilded PioneerWestern zodiac
LibraChinese zodiac
Pig 亥Life Path
4 · Architect♀ Ruled by Venus
Copper Cu
The working: BaZi pillarsshow
BaZi pillars
Day Master: yin Metal.
Year
乙
yin Wood
亥
Pig
Water
roots & early life
Month
丙
yang Fire
戌
Dog
Earth
work & drive
Day
day master
辛
yin Metal
酉
Rooster
Metal
you & partnership
Where this comes from, and how it is worked out
William’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q8017378 (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 Knight Foundation, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The same William Raspberry at Wikipedia.
Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by William Raspberry.
Quick answers about William Raspberry’s chart
- What zodiac sign was William Raspberry?
- William Raspberry was a Libra: born October 12, 1935, which puts the Sun in Libra for the whole of that day.
- What was William Raspberry's Chinese zodiac animal?
- The Pig, with the Wood element, from the Chinese lunar year of the October 12, 1935 birth.
- What was William Raspberry's Life Path number?
- Life Path 4, calculated in numerology.
- What was William Raspberry's Chiron sign?
- Chiron in Gemini at 16°. Position from JPL Horizons.
- Where was William Raspberry's Black Moon Lilith?
- Mean Black Moon Lilith in Virgo at 20°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
- What was William Raspberry's dominant planet?
- Venus, on AsterNym's dominance score (8 points: rules the Sun sign, Libra; disposes Sun, Uranus; 3 major aspects). Mercury is second and Pluto third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.
