Readings of Ai Weiwei's and Sinéad O'Connor's natal charts | Anita Ngai

All views expressed are that of the writer.

Ai Weiwei and Sinéad O'Connor are icons of asserting agency through their resistance to authority. But at the same time, both lives were swept up and tossed about by the times, by vast and invisible forces—in Ai's case, the Communist Party, his father and his displacement; in O'Connor's case, the Church, her parents and her mental health. 

To explore the two artists' lives, this poem draws on the powers of Chinese (八字 BaZi) and western (spatial relocation) astrologies, themselves crafts that have gone through the ebbs and flows of history: once an essential aspect of the mainstream intellectual framework, then dismissed by the sciences, becoming a fixture of printed press, and recently, experiencing a popular revival; from another perspective, a tool to oppress or a source of solace for people during plagues, natural disasters and other plights. That these readings are conducted in the UK is meaningful: a place where the modern western horoscope column was born, and where BaZi — extremely popular but existing in a legal grey area in mainland China — can be freely practised.

Note: Most widely reported birth data were used for the readings, but no independent verification was carried out. Furthermore, nothing in the poem should be taken as professional analyses.

Sources: These websites were referenced to map out the natal charts: astro-seek.com; astrologyreadings.online; suanming.com.tw.

UP IN ARMS OR: WHAT’S ALREADY DECIDED

Ai Weiwei

Birth data: 18th May 1957, 14:00, Beijing, China*

Sun Taurus in 9th House, Rising Virgo, Moon Capricorn in 4th House, Mercury Taurus in 8th House, Neptune Scorpio in 2nd House

Retrogrades in Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune; Empty houses: 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th

Natal Chart

Taurus natives are known to be strong-willed and sometimes stubborn. Bulls are slow to get angry, but can be violent when aroused.

You are philosophical and constantly seek higher truths.

You may be a prince, you have an ancestor, with a name and a surname. But the turtles flip over at moments through the ages, revealing poetry verses on the underbelly.

Your currency is in what is hidden, in exposing the concealed.

You are clear-headed. You craft how you meet the world with precision. You scale what you stand for. You know what you are doing.

Beijing

Your splay-shaped chart suggests that your talent requires concentrated attention to arrive at meaning.

New York

Neptune moves to 8th and dissolves boundaries around hidden power, institutional authority, east and west and within the self. The 4th becomes empty, but a cluster forms in 5th to 8th.

You do not feel this is home, but personal relationships and transformation are activated.

You freely float and you see bright colours everywhere, in galleries, on the streets, in homes of artists and writers, on casino tables.

You feel unhindered in this fertile environment, and accumulate and coalesce for use later.

Beijing

All planets in natal positions: Moon in 4th, and Sun and Venus in 9th, forming a cluster with 8th,10th, 11th and 12th. There is another cluster with the Moon in 4th, Neptune in 2nd and Saturn in 3rd.

You naturally encounter the world from an outsider or foreign perspective.

You see everything in symbols and make sweeping moral arguments with the large-scale, yet detailed physical and aesthetical: pots, seeds, metal bars.

You have the assertive energy to reveal and transform hidden forces, and bring radical disruption to the collective; you simplify to provoke.

You feel most yourself here as this is your solar core, and have the most inner strength to fight, to take it all off to block the muddy horse.

You manifest your views and ideas to prove your existence. You strive for a platform.

Berlin

Your 10th of career is now empty. But Sun and Mercury are in 11th; Neptune is in 5th and the 6th is no longer empty. Mars keeps the 12th occupied.

Your splay clusters move into a most coherent relationship to each other: transformation feeds expressive creativity feeds public, collective output, all above by a moral foundation.

You recognise this is your non-home and identify with floating people; the un-settledness shapes your output so you see everything filtered through rage-orange.

You continue to push for visibility of the buried, whether in earthquakes or state structures.

You get a platform and a life jacket. You are exoticized and become the platform.

Cambridge

Pluto and Jupiter in 4th with Mars in 1st suggest a transformed family structure. Planets become scattered, dissolving the focused energy for expression and unmasking in the natal splay.

Your desire to assert is still strong, but you dip in and out.

Your new identity on the home front consumes most of your productive energy.

You may care and control all too pressingly; whatever you push on—authority, media, children—they push back strongly.

Montemor-o-Novo

This relocation creates a stellium in your 12th. The 9th and 11th sit empty, unlike in Beijing, where they hosted the chart-defining Sun and Venus, and a radically charged Uranus. Neptune moves into 6th.

You turn inward, away from the most public-facing and combative energies.

You tend well to daily work, routine, craft and health, and labour flows fluidly and porously.

You settle in, you see the trees, the water, so you are not constantly excavating.

You reflect, you flow, you let memories and people pass, histories come and surface, instead of violently dissecting and poking at them.

Beijing

If you return to your place of birth, you appear with the compromising wisdom of progressed Cancer and Leo phases and the maturity of two Saturn Returns. Ultimately, you are a Taurus Sun.

You still feel most at home in your solar core, but you come to accept the structure calmly.

You re-see the books, the classics, and the teachings, and you think about your legacy.

You re-reverberate with past scenes of the west occupying your people’s land and minds.

You re-realise the home you want to maintain, and your birthmark re-darkens in burgundy.

You do not choose, you do not know anything with certainty. Relocation readings differ depending on timing of physical moves and the corresponding planetary positions.

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Sinead O’Connor

Birth data: 8 Dec 1966, 07:37, Dublin, Ireland, female (ying)

(Lunar: Year of the Yang Fire Horse, 27th day of the 10th month, Hour of the Dragon)

Chart Core Structure: Eating God Star

Supporting Star: Hurting Officer

Elemental Composition: Core Identity: Xin Metal, Geng Metal; Expression: Zi Water, Ren Water; Foundation:Chou Earth, Ji Earth; Pressure & Drive: Bing Fire, Wu Fire, Ding Fire

This chart dominated by the Eating God。It is oriented almost entirely towards creative expression and is indifferent to wealth and success metrics。The subject of this chart has words that can slice through all, but when untempered, can come back to hurt the self。There is an insufficient focus of the mind, swift to joy, swift to anger。This chart demands care and attention, but the more its subject fights for them, the more she discovers the battle is with the self。Though there are sons and daughters, they are not solid in existence, and may or may not be at the burial。

Luck Cycle starts 1 month 21 days after birth, so this natal chart faces the external world almost immediately as an infant。Very little of a protected, ordinary childhood before larger forces of the life path come into play。

1st Major Luck Cycle: Ji Hai Pillar, 1967-1976

Chou Earth, representing this person’s mother and family environment, is under constant harm from Wu Fire,which acts as a Seven Killings Star in this chart。Xin Metal is unrooted, implying isolation and helplessness。The configuration exerts its strongest impact during this first luck cycle, though it remains a constant throughout her life。

2nd Major Luck Cycle: Wu Xu Pillar, 1977-1986

The Hurting Officer takes over from the Eating God in strength, and with Geng Metal reinforcing the self, innate talent is unleashed in an aggressive and combative manner。During this cycle, this person is more sensitive to and oriented towards sensory beauty, but is also more easily hurt。Capacity for expression is fostered。

However, as the Hurting Officer becomes more prominent, this person will lack the fortitude to handle its power, giving way to inner rebellion and emotional turmoil。

3rd Major Luck Cycle: Ding You Pillar, 1987-1996

The arrival of Hai Water allows the Hurting Officer to take deep physical root, providing raw fuel for her Eating God expressive talents to crystallise。The innate Ji Earth pressurises this flood of creativity and channels its power to a rich fertile ground, bringing great success in her career, a peak period in life。But such prominence of the Hurting Officer also marks a turning point, so the person should adopt a defensive stance and avoid conflicts。Also avoid。。。no, do not avoid。No use to avoid。The subject of this birth chart must not stay silent, must not accommodate, must not only self-preserve。The plant withers when it is not fighting, arguing, provoking。Fever takes over the body, the heat goading this person’s actions。

4th Major Luck Cycle: Bing Shen Pillar, 1997-2006

The visiting Wu Xu Earth stacks onto the natal Ji Earth, creating too heavy a weight that gradually suffocates the Eating God and Hurting Officer, leading to a decline in creative capacity。As the Earth blocks the creative Water from flowing,trapped energy risks accumulation into health issues or yearning for harmful outlets。Because the drive from moral compulsion is still strong in this chart, this person should maintain channels of expression—for beauty, for joy, for sadness, for inequities—to avoid tumultuous ebbs and flows of inner energies, which may lead to mind-mouth-heart detachment。

5th Major Luck Cycle: Yi Wei Pillar, 2007-2016

Natal Ding Fire is unleashed and starts its attack, and neither the Metal nor Earth are strong enough to defend the self:health shows significant decline and suppressive pressures emerge in the career, even though her Eating God still longs to create and her Hurting Officer cannot silence its critical voice。Avoid acting purely on instinct—the subject of this chart should by this age develop habits to look deeper beneath others’ intentions and the systems they are in, instead of getting into games of ping pong with no consideration of the longer term。Damage caused to the opponent will be less than the damage caused to the self。

6th Major Luck Cycle: Jia Wu Pillar, 2017-2026

Visiting in this period is Shen Metal, which reinvigorates the Eating God。However, without supportive Earth as in earlier cycles, emotions spill out in an unchanneled manner。Furthermore, the subject of the chart is kept in public view as the natal Bing Fire is woken up。The Fire eventually melts all natal and visiting Metal, hollowing out her body。

Then, in the seventh year[AN1] —double Gui Water, both visiting and natal, washes out the Bing Fire, abruptly removing the spotlight; visiting Wei Earth’s harsh dry plate clashes with the natal Chou Earth, tectonic forces destroying the body’s walls of defence; and visiting Mao Wood drains the natal Zi Water, depleting the last traces of stamina。This simultaneous arrival of three elements obliterates all vitality from this chart。

*You are a man of many selves—you could have other natal charts: 13 May, 28 August.