Joe Biden birth chart without a reliable birth time

Birth data

Joe Biden was born on November 20, 1942, at St. Mary's Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the eldest of four children in an Irish Catholic family. The date and place are firm and the time is not, so the chart is cast for noon. Its main features do not depend on the hour: four planets in Scorpio, two of which, the Sun and Venus, square the axis of Chiron and the North Node.

What is known and what is not

The date and Scranton are given by the archived vice-presidential biography on the White House website, by the Miller Center at the University of Virginia and by Wikidata. Wikidata also names the hospital, and the coordinates are those of its building. Astro-Databank cites a birth notice in the Scranton Times-Tribune of November 20, 1942: a son was born "this morning" at St. Mary's Hospital to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Biden of Baltimore. No hour is given.

The only time in circulation is 8:30 a.m. Astrologer Marion March quoted it from Celeste Longacre's newsletter "Welcome to the Planet Earth" of April 1987, noting that the time came from Biden himself. On that basis Astro-Databank and Astrotheme rate it A, "from memory". We could not find that newsletter, nor any interview, memoir passage or family statement with an hour. Our rule for A needs the quote itself, so the chart carries Rodden rating C and 8:30 a.m. stays a version. It fits the morning birth notice, but there is a second reason not to build houses on it: at 8:30 the Ascendant is at the very start of Sagittarius, and a quarter of an hour earlier it would be in Scorpio.

The chart is cast for 12:00 Eastern War Time (UTC-4). This was daylight time, kept all year in the United States from February 9, 1942. The chart has no houses, Ascendant or MC. The Moon's sign is not known either: during November 20 the Moon moved from Aries into Taurus, so we give neither its degree nor its aspects. The section on unknown birth times explains how such charts are read.

A stellium in Scorpio

The Sun at 27°42′ Scorpio, Mercury at 21°46′ Scorpio, Venus at 28°44′ Scorpio and Mars at 12°41′ Scorpio form a stellium. The Sun and Venus are conjunct, orb 1°01′. Mars in Scorpio is in its own sign in the classical scheme.

Tradition links Scorpio with endurance, deep attachments and a long memory for both loyalty and slights. With four planets in this fixed water sign, astrologers read a nature that seldom does things by halves and holds on to what it has chosen.

Sun and Venus square Chiron and the Node

The tightest aspect in the chart is Venus at 28°44′ Scorpio square Chiron at 28°53′ Leo, orb 0°09′. The Sun also squares Chiron, orb 1°10′. Next to Chiron, at 0°07′ Virgo, stands the North Node: the Node is conjunct Chiron with an orb of 1°13′. So Venus squares the Node too (orb 1°23′), and the Sun squares the Node with an orb of 2°24′.

Modern astrologers associate Chiron with a sore spot that in time becomes a source of understanding for others, and the nodal axis with a direction of growth. In tradition the square stands for tension that has to be resolved through action (more in the article on the square aspect). Here it touches both the sense of self (the Sun) and attachments (Venus).

Trines to Jupiter in Cancer

Jupiter at 25°07′ Cancer, retrograde, is in the sign where classical astrology counts it exalted. Three of the Scorpio planets trine it: the Sun (orb 2°34′), Mercury (orb 3°21′) and Venus (orb 3°36′). Both signs are water, so the trine joins the element, and tradition reads such links as warmth, ease in talking to people and faith that effort will pay off.

Saturn on Aldebaran

Retrograde Saturn at 9°56′ Gemini stands 0°57′ from Aldebaran, one of the four royal stars. Ptolemy gave the star the nature of Mars, and tradition links it with directness and readiness to meet resistance head on. On Saturn, the planet of duty and long timelines, astrologers read this as stubbornness in a task once taken on. Saturn also sextiles Pluto at 7°13′ Leo, orb 2°42′.

Events often compared with the chart

• December 18, 1972: his first wife Neilia and daughter Naomi are killed in a car crash while he is in Washington preparing to take his Senate seat.
• January 1973: sworn in as senator for Delaware at 30, the youngest since 1935.
• September 23, 1987: withdraws from the 1988 presidential race.
• August 23, 2008: Barack Obama announces Biden as his running mate.
• November 7, 2020: the major networks and AP declare him the winner of the presidential election.
• January 20, 2021: inaugurated as the 46th President.
• July 21, 2024: announces he will not seek reelection and endorses Kamala Harris.

These dates are starting points for your own work with transits. We do not make predictions about the health, court cases or future careers of living people.

Planet positions

Calculation: Swiss Ephemeris 2.10.03.

Aspects

Joe Biden in other systems

• Birth chart in the appInteractive chart with transits
• Human DesignBodygraph, type and strategy

Aspect patterns and fixed stars

Patterns are found from the aspects in the table above, stars by a conjunction within 1°.

• Stellium: Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars in Scorpio
• Aldebaran: Saturn, orb 0°57′

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