Midheaven in Sagittarius
Your destiny is commensurate with the image of your deeply sociable and exuberant nature. You always look at things in broad and optimistic ways, and you rapidly get the status matching your high calibre. You make use of your charm and your boldness, and you have the guts to aim higher than what would be the norm. In this regard, you are the opposite of Virgo people, but it does not matter because your method proves efficient and in any case, the result fulfils your ambition at least. The following professions are most likely to suit you very well: explorer, pilot, taxi and lorry driver, jockey, manager of a racehorse stable, international businessman/woman and any expatriate job, corporate manager, tour operator and travel agent, import-export trader, serviceman/woman, magistrate, politician, ambassador, sociologist, priest/priestess, or spiritual leader.
Planetary Positions and Aspects of Thomas Merton
Positions of Planets Sun 10°25' Aquarius Moon 12°37' Leo Mercury 27°01' Aquarius Venus 23°48' Sagittarius Mars 0°52' Aquarius Jupiter 29°08' Aquarius Saturn 25°59' Я Gemini Uranus 11°34' Aquarius Neptune 28°45' Я Cancer Pluto 0°29' Я Cancer Chiron 16°15' Pisces Ceres 14°30' Pisces Pallas 21°14' Aquarius Juno 23°48' Я Virgo Vesta 7°35' Gemini Node 26°30' Я Aquarius Lilith 3°01' Я Taurus Fortune 26°36' Virgo AS 24°25' Pisces MC 27°10' Sagittarius
Planets in Houses * Sun House 11 Moon House 5 Mercury House 12 Venus House 9 Mars House 11 Jupiter House 12 Saturn House 3 Uranus House 11 Neptune House 5 Pluto House 4 Chiron House 12 Ceres House 12 Pallas House 12 Juno House 7 Vesta House 3 Node House 12 Lilith House 1 Fortune House 7
* In keeping with the common practice, we consider that a planet posited within 1 degree of the next house belongs to that house. We allow an orb of 2 degrees for the ASC and the MC.
Positions of Houses House 1 24°25' Pisces House 2 8°20' Taurus House 3 5°49' Gemini House 4 27°10' Gemini House 5 18°02' Cancer House 6 13°45' Leo House 7 24°25' Virgo House 8 8°20' Scorpio House 9 5°49' Sagittarius House 10 27°10' Sagittarius House 11 18°02' Capricorn House 12 13°45' Aquarius
List of Planetary Aspects Sun Conjunction Uranus Orb 1°08' Mercury Conjunction Jupiter Orb 2°07' Venus Conjunction MC Orb 3°22' Saturn Conjunction Pluto Orb 4°30' Sun Conjunction Mars Orb 9°32' Moon Opposite Uranus Orb 1°02' Saturn Opposite MC Orb 1°11' Mars Opposite Neptune Orb 2°07' Sun Opposite Moon Orb 2°11' Venus Opposite Saturn Orb 2°11' Pluto Opposite MC Orb 3°19' Venus Opposite Pluto Orb 6°41' Venus Square AS Orb 0°36' Saturn Square AS Orb 1°34' Pluto Square AS Orb 6°04' Mercury Trine Saturn Orb 1°02' Jupiter Trine Pluto Orb 1°20' Jupiter Trine Saturn Orb 3°09' Mercury Trine Pluto Orb 3°28' Neptune Trine AS Orb 4°20' Mercury Sextile MC Orb 0°09' Jupiter Sextile MC Orb 1°58' Mercury Sextile Venus Orb 3°13' Venus Sextile Jupiter Orb 5°20' Mars Inconjunction Pluto Orb 0°22' Jupiter Inconjunction Neptune Orb 0°23' Neptune Inconjunction MC Orb 1°34' Mercury Inconjunction Neptune Orb 1°44' Uranus SemiSquare MC Orb 0°36' Sun SemiSquare AS Orb 1°00' Moon SemiSquare Saturn Orb 1°37' Sun SemiSquare Venus Orb 1°37' Sun SemiSquare MC Orb 1°45' Moon SesquiQuadrate MC Orb 0°26' Sun SesquiQuadrate Saturn Orb 0°33' Saturn SesquiQuadrate Uranus Orb 0°35' Venus BiQuintile Neptune Orb 1°02' Mars BiQuintile Saturn Orb 1°06'
Biography of Thomas Merton (excerpt) Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 December 10, 1968) was one of the most influential Catholic authors of the 20th century. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, in the American state of Kentucky, Merton was an acclaimed Catholic spiritual writer, poet, author and social activist. Merton wrote over 60 books, scores of essays and reviews, and is the ongoing subject of many biographies. Merton was also a proponent of inter-religious dialogue, engaging in spiritual dialogues with the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and D.T. Suzuki. His career and his life was suddenly cut short when he was 53, due to an accident when he was electrocuted stepping out of his bath.
Biography of Thomas Merton (excerpt)
Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 December 10, 1968) was one of the most influential Catholic authors of the 20th century. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, in the American state of Kentucky, Merton was an acclaimed Catholic spiritual writer, poet, author and social activist. Merton wrote over 60 books, scores of essays and reviews, and is the ongoing subject of many biographies. Merton was also a proponent of inter-religious dialogue, engaging in spiritual dialogues with the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and D.T. Suzuki. His career and his life was suddenly cut short when he was 53, due to an accident when he was electrocuted stepping out of his bath.
Astrological Profile of Thomas Merton (Filtered Excerpt)
Disclaimer : these short excerpts of astrological charts are computer processed. They are, by no means, of a personal nature. This principle is valid for the 77 264 celebrities included in our database. These texts provide the meanings of planets, or combination of planets, in signs and in houses, as well as the interpretations of planetary dominants in line with modern Western astrology rules. Moreover, since Astrotheme is not a polemic website, no negative aspect which may damage the good reputation of a celebrity is posted here, unlike in the comprehensive astrological portrait.
Introduction
Astrological Portrait
Here are some character traits from Thomas Merton's birth chart. This description is far from being comprehensive but it can shed light on his/her personality, which is still interesting for professional astrologers or astrology lovers.
In a matter of minutes, you can get at your email address your astrological portrait (approximately 32 pages), a much more comprehensive report than this portrait of Thomas Merton.
Astrological Dominants of Thomas Merton
This section presents the main astrological dominants in Thomas Merton's birth chart. When the time of birth is unknown, four dominant factors are displayed: elements (Fire, Earth, Air, Water), modalities or modes (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable), dominant planets, and dominant signs.
If the birth time is known, three additional dominants are included: dominant houses, house accentuations (angular, succedent, cadent), and quadrant distribution, which offers insight into psychological orientation and behavioral tendencies.
These astrological dominants form a kind of background tone a first impression of temperament and chart structure. They provide useful context ahead of the more detailed interpretation based on planetary positions by sign, house, aspect, and dignity.
Astrological Quadrants for Thomas Merton
Each quadrant is a combination of the four hemispheres of your birth chart and relates to a character typology. The Southern hemisphere the top of your chart, around the Midheaven is associated with extraversion, action, and public life, whereas the Northern hemisphere prompts to introversion, reflexion, and private life. The Eastern hemisphere the left part, around the Ascendant is linked to your ego and your willpower, whereas the Western hemisphere indicates how other people influence you, and how flexible you are when you make a decision.
Thomas Merton, the diurnal South-eastern quadrant, consisting of the 10th, 11th and 12th houses, prevails in your chart: assertion and goals achievement are at the centre of your concerns. You are very keen to implement your dreams and your plans. You achieve your ambitions as soon as possible, whether through an active social life, highly charged friendly relations, or an urge to take actions in order to reap - in the eyes of the world, of course - the rewards of your dynamism. It is likely that spirituality or humanitarian actions are part of your motivations, sometimes at the price of some degree of isolation.
Elements, Modes and House Accentuations for Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton, here are the graphs of your Elements and Modes, based on planets' position and angles in the twelve signs:
Cheers for communication and mobility, Thomas Merton! The predominance of Air signs in your chart favours and amplifies your taste for relations and for all kinds of short trips, whether real (travels) or symbolic (new ideas, mind speculations). You gain in flexibility and adaptability what you lose in self-assertion or in pragmatism.
Thomas Merton, Fire is dominant in your natal chart and endows you with intuition, energy, courage, self-confidence, and enthusiasm! You are inclined to be passionate, you assert your willpower, you move forward, and come hell or high water, you achieve your dreams and your goals. The relative weakness of this element is the difficulty to step back or a kind of boldness that may prompt you to do foolish things.
Earth qualities are under-represented in your chart, with only 0.00% instead of the average 25%. Deficiency in Earth may indicate that you have no interest in material and concrete values. It is likely that you live too much in your heart or in your mind, or even in your enthusiasm! The fact remains that you may end up in tricky situations, due to your lack of good sense or forethought: material life is unavoidable even if you are rather idealistic, dreamy, or easily content. You must tackle concrete life necessities, for fear of... being forced to cope with them, later, in much more unpleasant ways!
The twelve zodiacal signs are split up into three groups or modes, called quadruplicities, a learned word meaning only that these three groups include four signs. The Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable modes are more or less represented in your natal chart, depending on planets' positions and importance, and on angles in the twelve signs.
The Mutable mode is the most emphasized one in your natal chart, Thomas Merton, which indicates a mobile character that is curious and thirsty for new experiences and evolution. You are lively and flexible, and you like to react quickly to solicitations, but don't confuse mobility with agitation, since this is the danger with this configuration - and with you, stagnation is out of the question. Security doesn't matter as long as you are not bored. You optimize, you change things, you change yourself... all this in a speedy way.
Houses are split up into three groups: angular, succedent and cadent.
The first ones are the most important ones, the most "noticeable" and energetic houses. They are the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses. Their cuspides correspond to four famous angles: Ascendant for the 1st house, Imum Coeli for the 4th house, Descendant, opposite the Ascendant, for the 7th house and Midheaven for the 10th house, opposite the Imum Coeli.
Planets are evaluated according to a whole set of criteria that includes comprehensive Western astrology rules. At their turn, planets emphasize specific types of houses, signs, repartitions etc., as previously explained.
Cadent houses, namely the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th houses, are very emphasized in your chart, Thomas Merton. They indicate important potential for communication, adaptability and flexibility. These houses are symbolically linked to the mind and intellect. The relative weakness implied by these characteristics indicates your tendency to hesitate or to be indecisive, but also your remarkable ability to start off again, which is a nice quality, finally: you can easily get yourself out of a tight spot thanks to your mobility and casualness, in the best sense of the term. This group of houses corresponds to evolutionary characteristics of your personality. However, they are only indications and you must include them in the rest of your chart in order to see whether they are validated or not!
Note: this dominant is a minor one.
Dominants: Planets, Signs and Houses for Thomas Merton
In astrology, planets symbolize core drives, signs shape how they express themselves, and houses show where they manifest in life. A dominant planet points to a strong inner dynamic, a dominant sign reflects prevailing temperament, and a dominant house highlights key life priorities.
This triad or duo when the birth time is unknown offers a broad overview of personality before deeper interpretation through aspects and dignities. It serves as a prelude to more detailed chart analysis.
In your natal chart, Thomas Merton, the ten main planets are distributed as follows:
The three most important planets in your chart are Venus, Saturn and Pluto.
With Venus among your dominant planets, one of your first reflexes is... to please! Your look, your charm, and your seduction are omnipresent elements in your behaviour.
Your approach to things is connected to your heart, and for you, no real communication can flow if your interlocutors exude no sympathy or warmth. Cold and logical reasoning, clear thoughts and good sense are not important to you: if there is no affective bond with your environment, no connection can be established with the Venusian that you are, and nothing happens.
You have a strong artistic side, and you never neglect subjective but clear concepts such as pleasure, beauty, and also sensuality. However, sometimes to the detriment of efficiency, durability, logic, and... detachment.
Saturn is part of your dominant planets: among the facets of your character, you have a grave and serious side, wise and somewhat severe, since your concentration can be powerful, to the detriment of carelessness and friendliness.
You often look austere, but it is only an appearance, a kind of modesty or reserve; however, it is true that the Saturnian, who is fond of time, effort, asceticism, rigour and sobriety, may have popularity issues. Nevertheless, honesty and straightforwardness, reliability, as well as slow, wise and deep mental process, although not very popular and visible qualities, eventually become noticed and appreciated. Saturnians' second part of life is usually easier and more fulfilling.
Like the Jupiterian, your Saturnian facet prompts you to seek the essential, security, and longevity. However, the difference with the former is that you will never give priority to wealth or "the bigger, the better" philosophy for the sake of power. Saturn, like Jupiter, symbolizes social integration, and it is usually considered positive to have a harmonic Jupiter and Saturn in one's chart because of their social adaptation capacities.
Your vulnerability lies in your too serious and austere side, which may lead to unwanted loneliness and affective frustration. This generally does not last because Saturnians often hide deep down a golden heart that ends up revealing itself...
With Pluto as a dominant planet in your chart, you are a magnetic and mighty predator, like the Scorpio sign ruled by this planet, who needs to exert pressure on others in order to "test" them. You are always ready to evolve, to risk destruction for reconstruction - including your own - to live more intensely whilst imposing your secret authority on things and on people you encounter.
You may come across as wicked, cruel or too authoritarian, but actually you only follow your instinct, you sound people out, and you like to exert your domination simply because your vital energy is too powerful to remain inside. You are inclined to be passionate, with hidden motivations. You are sometimes misunderstood but one of your great Plutonian assets is to go successfully through each life ordeal with ever growing strength.
In your natal chart, the three most important signs - according to criteria mentioned above - are in decreasing order of strength Aquarius, Sagittarius and Cancer. In general, these signs are important because your Ascendant or your Sun is located there. But this is not always the case: there may be a cluster of planets, or a planet may be near an angle other than the Midheaven or Ascendant. It may also be because two or three planets are considered to be very active because they form numerous aspects from these signs.
Thus, you display some of the three signs' characteristics, a bit like a superposition of features on the rest of your chart, and it is all the more so if the sign is emphasized.
Aquarius is one of the most important signs in your natal chart: it endows your personality - at least one of its facets - with originality, to the point of eccentricity, in spite of a sometimes distant and humane side. Likeable and impassive at the same time, you are a paradoxical man, very hard to define because the two planets Uranus and Saturn blend their qualities to create the so complicated and endearing sign that inspires your character. Saturn's seriousness and impassivity is added to Uranus' rebellion, talent, individualism, charisma, extravagance, and unpredictability! One of your main characteristics is that you never open up on a personal basis, but you tend to do so easily in public. You are actually quite strange. Sexy and charming in public, despite your nice and sociable character, you could frustrate many of your admirers in private because of your impossibility to show deep and warm affection, emotions, tears... But appearance and reality are two different things anyway - you are a kind of a genius, or you have at least a tremendous charm with this sign. You have many friends and an active social life. If you are detached in your love life - only in this aspect, since the rest of chart will confirm it or not - this is no big deal!
Sagittarius, an adventurous and conquering fire sign, is dominant in your chart: you are enthusiastic, enterprising, optimistic, very sociable, and mobile - you have itchy feet, both physically and mentally. Nobody gets bored with you because you are always planning things and suggesting excursions, at least... when you are around and not already gone on a trip! Obviously, so many movements for one man may scare people off, and some of them may even criticize your brutality or your tendency to loose your temper, but you are so warm and genuine, so expansive, isn't this a good thing? And all the more so, since your sense of humour is overwhelming...
Cancer is one of your dominant signs and endows you with imagination and exceptionally shrewd sensitivity. Although suspicious at first sight - and even at second...- as soon as you get familiar with people and let them win your confidence, your golden heart eventually shows up, despite your discretion and your desire for security that make you return into your shell at the slightest alert! Actually, you are a poet and if you are sometimes blamed for your nostalgia and your laziness, it is because your intense inner life is at full throttle...
The 11th, 5th and 12th houses are the most prominent ones in your birth chart. From the analysis of the most tenanted houses, the astrologer identifies your most significant fields or spheres of activity. They deal with what you are experiencing - or what you will be brought to experience one day - or they deal with your inner motivations.
The 11th house is among your dominant houses. Therefore, social life and friendships are very important, even strategic to you.
You think that group activities, whether in the humanitarian field or simple gatherings of friends, are endless sources of inspiration and of enjoyment, provided that there are no tensed aspects in this sector. Everything human is important to you, often more important than your own success, unless your 10th house is also powerful.
The 5th house is one of your dominant houses: hobbies, love life, sports, and games, including speculation and all kinds of entertainment, are fields that you actually take seriously! On a more subtle level, artistic creation as well as other forms of creation - including begetting children - could be one of your assets. You gain from taking part in leisure associations and various activity clubs in which a catchword resounds more than for most people: pleasure.
The 12th house is emphasized in your chart: like the 8th house, it has a rich and complex meaning. Although its bad reputation is likely to scare most readers in the first place - it is indeed the house of hidden or isolated places, of solitude, of ordeals or enemies - it can also mean that a part of your life is very deep and intense. If your achievements are not visible in the public eye, you may fulfil yourself in a different but equally important way: you may be involved in secret activities, humanitarian causes, and projects in favour of disadvantaged people. You are likely to work in quiet and remote places. In many cases, you will gain from these hidden activities as many treasures as people who have a more public destiny. It may be because you sublimate your work, or only because you successfully carry out your task within your environment. There is no such things as a good or a bad house, because each area of life is necessary in its own way, and we need all of them, if we are to improve spiritually.
After this paragraph about dominant planets, of Thomas Merton, here are the character traits that you must read more carefully than the previous texts since they are very specific: the texts about dominant planets only give background information about the personality and remain quite general: they emphasize or, on the contrary, mitigate different particularities or facets of a personality. A human being is a complex whole and only bodies of texts can attempt to successfully figure out all the finer points.
The Moon in Leo and in House 5: his sensitivity
You seek other people's attention and approval, Thomas Merton, you need to exteriorize your emotions, to interpret them, and even to dramatically enact them because it is essential for you to shine at the front of the stage. You always try to achieve more and better than anyone else and, whatever the situation may be, you strive to remain warm, generous, loyal, honest, straightforward and courageous. You are always available when your assistance or your advice is needed and you are glad and proud to help. However, you must be wary not to overdo, as you may be domineering! You are not indispensable and people might think that you are self-centered and authoritarian when you handle things with no regard for your entourage's views. It would be regrettable that you project such an image because it may only reveal a lack of self-confidence and you are only trying to reassure yourself...
Entertainments, hobbies and parties, love affairs, holidays, here are the areas where you express best your emotions, Thomas Merton. You like children's company, your popularity is often good and you use it in order to increase the number of your encounters in order to see your seductive... (excerpt)
The Ascendant is in Pisces and the ruler of the Ascendant is Neptune, in Cancer: his behaviour
Psychologically speaking, your nature is adaptable and receptive, exactly the opposite of the sign of Virgo whose very essence is to analyze every detail, thus creating a definite duality between the self and the outside world: conversely, Pisces absorbs and erases all forms of differentiation they face. With Pisces, there is no opposition, no conflict and no individual reaction. There is only fusion, non-separation, a perpetual and mobile spreading of the self over some blurred and huge sensation of sympathy with the environment. It is the absolute reign of feelings and emotions over the intellect and its separative logics.
As you are born under this sign, you are emotional, sensitive, dedicated, adaptable, nice, wild, compassionate, romantic, imaginative, flexible, opportunist, intuitive, impossible to categorized, irrational, seductive, placid, secretive, introverted, pleasant, artistic, and charming. But you may also be indecisive, moody, passive, confused, wavering, lazy, scatterbrained, vulnerable, unpredictable and gullible.
In love, Sir, you are the very type of the sentimental romantic in the highest meaning of the term. You live your love affairs in your mind. You upkeep the weft of your endless daydreamings just to exacerbate your emotions and your feelings, over and over again.
You fall in love frequently and according to how your encounters develop. You adjust to the person you set your heart on and you may harbour illusions because your imagination and your capacity to intensely live a virtual life are very strong. You are utopian and you are so gentle that you usually achieve your aims in spite of your boundless passivity: you seldom take the first step, except when you are thrown a line, which is as big as a tree trunk
You live for love and through love. Your only weakness may be your lack of determination at the early stage of a relationship. However, once you get started, if there is any compatibility, you trap your prey with your overflowing affectivity and your unlimited sensuality.
Pisces waters are shifting and changeable. When other opportunities appeal to you, you are able to handle two relationships simultaneously. You achieve an alternate osmosis with your partners and you see no harm in doing so, because you live the instant with plasticity and in communion.
You loathe solitude and you prefer to be caught in the nets of a woman even though she does not match your personality. If, by lack of chance, your partner belongs to the domineering and unscrupulous type, you may be trapped and wake up bitter and disappointed that you extended for too long the illusion of a marvellous story.
Once you find your soul mate, your home is usually harmonious. In your couple, love is immense, even mystical. Like a wave, it bathes the shores of your emotions, which range from the noblest feelings to the wildest physical passions. Since you merely live in concrete life, it is necessary that your partner be well grounded, so that your home is well up kept and your children are properly reared!
The ruler of the Ascendant, also referred to as the chart ruler, brings a few interesting nuances to the meanings provided by the Sun and the Ascendant. The sign in which the ruler of the Ascendant is posited fine-tunes the style of personality described by the Sun and the Ascendant. It may strengthen it if the sign is identical to either of them.
The ruler of the Ascendant, Thomas Merton, is Neptune. In the sign of Cancer, it enables you to grasp the surrounding ambience and impressions as if you were an emotional radar. Therefore, you may shift from enthusiasm to boredom or rejection, should you subtly sense that you are appreciated or spurned, even though your feelings are unfounded.
The Sun in Aquarius and in House 11: his will and inner motivations
In the sentimental sphere, you are particularly sensitive to the values of friendship, in the sense that you see yourself as a link within a chain, certainly a different and original one, but with no will to flatter your ego or to individually assert yourself. On the contrary, your aim is to immerge yourself in your friendly relations and to participate in projects and ideals of the whole human community.
As you are born under this sign, you are idealistic, altruistic, detached, independent, original, surprising, gifted, contradictory, innovative, humanistic, likeable, friendly, self-confident, impassive, quiet, intuitive, creative, charitable, elusive, disconcerting, generous, tolerant, paradoxical, and you cannot stand any kind of constraint. But you may also be marginal, resigned, distant, utopian, maladjusted, eccentric and cold.
In love, Sir, you are totally elusive. The human warmth you show in your group meetings quickly turns into a distant and sober attitude as soon as you are alone together. It is obvious that it may cause some problems if you were thought to be different. Your reluctance to talk about yourself, although not disturbing under other circumstances, is quite inappropriate in the private sphere.
The distance you maintain, as well as your lack of emotionalism, may suddenly disappear to give room for a real relationship, since you are prone to mood swings. The necessary condition is that you have centres of interest to share with your partner. Converging passions will ensure that the magic of your relationship can develop. Ideally, a deep friendship should be the basis of your initial relationship, because friendship is a feeling that particularly suits you; in such a case, imperceptibly, conducive closeness may transform friendship into the true love you give yourself up to eventually.
You are loyal, faithful and surprising. Once you find your soul mate, you feel more comfortable and, if the harmony with your partner is rich enough, you may stay with her your whole life through. You certainly have moments that seem strange to your partner, for instance when you are impersonal or even cold. But your natural magnetism, your communication skills and your shrewdness as you play with words, work wonders for patching things up.
You avoid problems that may cause emotional or sentimental complications. Because you are often disconcerting, your partner may need some time to adjust: you disappear suddenly when you do not want to deal too closely with your individuality. And you reappear as quickly with excuses and a charming casualness, and again, you are disconcerting!
You are interested in things that are out of the ordinary. Your erotic imagination may be immense and inexhaustible. You belong to the cerebral type and you cannot separate physical and sentimental aspects from your imaginations intense activity. As a result, you explore with lucidity all the possibilities that may suit you best.
You definitely are a good soul, Thomas Merton: above all, you like to assert yourself by means of friendship, the true one, that is deep and warm; nothing is more rewarding than to be accepted and loved by your friends and by the persons you select... (excerpt)
Conclusion
Astrological Portrait
This text is only an excerpt from the portrait of of Thomas Merton, which we hope will inspire you to deepen your knowledge of astrology.
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