Veteran actor William Shatner came full circle today launching across the final frontier as the oldest space traveller yet in the footsteps of his fictional alter-ego, Captain James T Kirk of Star Trek. He was on board a rocket operated by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin company and returned safely to earth.
Born 22 March 1931 4am Montreal, Canada, he’s had a full and illustrious career starting in classical Shakespearean theatre in his twenties before moving onto a variety of roles in film and television before landing Star Trek in his thirties. His version oddly enough only lasted three years and at the time was not too successful but it later became a cult hit and stuck with him for the rest of his career. He later played T.J. Hooker and then winning awards in the legal dramas The Practice and Boston Legal as well as appearing in advertisements, games, TV shows and music albums. He’s always had a reputation for accepting any work that came his way.
He’s been married and divorced four times and famously had a falling out with Leonard Nimoy who played Mr Spock opposite him after a long friendship though he never knew why.
He is part of that tough-minded, resourceful, constantly on-the-go Depression generation with Saturn in Capricorn opposition Mars, Pluto, Jupiter in Cancer square an innovative Uranus North Node in Aries. He’s spilling over with initiative and restlessness with so many Cardinal planets including an Aries Sun and Mercury. Though I’d hazard a guess he leaves a fair amount of chaos in his wake. His Neptune in the 7th hints at commitment issues in marriage. His Taurus Moon will be indulgent and give him some anchoring.
Oddly enough Leonard Nimoy was born only four days after him so has a remarkably similar chart, apart from a Cancer Moon. Neither would be especially easy personalities to get on with, however appealing Shatner’s boisterous approach to life appears.
Shatner has, felicitously, his Solar Arc Neptune conjunct his Midheaven at the moment, giving him a genuinely cosmic crown. Though life looks more boxed in through 2022/23 with tr Pluto opposition his 6th house Mars, which may tie him down.
With 19 events Starkman rectified his chart to 4.36.48 EST Asc 22Aqu28′.
Venus conjunct Asc, helio Venus conjunct MC- immense popularity.
MC trine Mercury and Uranus, helio Mercury sextile Asc
He made his trip to space when transiting Jupiter exactly conjunct Asc with orb 7′!
Transit Mercury sextile MC
Converse transit Uranus trine cusp 9
I’m glad the super speedy space trip went well and all arrived back safely and I did watch it. Nonetheless, call me a kill joy but I can’t help think what an obscene waste of money for a few minutes in space. I could think of better things it could have been spent on and god knows we shouldn’t be aspiring to go to other planets; we can’t even look after the one we’ve got.
The thing about Shatner is that its NOT just Leonard Nimoy he fell out with. There’s his daughter. There’s all the other cast members too. This article is interesting and suggests there was nothing inexplicable about he and Nimoy parting ways.
https://www.liveabout.com/leonard-nimoy-died-hating-william-shatner-3987061
Wow, interesting, Nimoy was unbending which on one hand is commendable and on the other too unforgiving maybe. He had nothing more to say and just walked away. He was done. People read the room wrong and screw up sometimes. Unless it was Shatners MO to do it all the time. Did Marjorie ever write about Nimoy’s chart? I’ll check.
Though I never really cared for his acting (and womanizing role) in Star Trek (of which I am a huge fan), and feel lukewarm about the ‘space tourism’ (which doesn’t really take you anywhere – SpaceX may have come closest) I found myself moved by Shatner’s opportunity to experience, briefly, his fantasy come true. Saturn must be at play given this reward came late in life. He was able to articulate for all earthlings how precious our planet is.
The Uranus conjunct North Node in Aries makes the public identify him with cutting-edge technology and as you note, “boldly going where no (90-year-old) man has gone before.” In addition to his “Star Trek” fame, I’m thinking of the Priceline commercials. At the time he was their spokesman, e-commerce was still in its infancy and the idea of negotiating for a hotel room or plane flight was considered revolutionary. Now, with the near-space flight, Shatner has cemented his reputation in the zeitgeist for being a pioneer (Aries).
As an aside, I saw him on one of the daytime talk shows (Oprah? Ellen?) a few years back and he was wiping tears from his eyes when he talked about the inexplicable end to his friendship with Nimoy.
Thanks Marjorie – I was hoping you’d look at this. William Shatner’s Aries stellium and Sagittarius MC really are descriptive of “boldy go” and voyaging out to new places! His Mars with Saturn and Pluto must have been difficult in any close relationships though. Plus that airy Venus sextile Uranus might be fun, but so restless and detached as well. Despite my very mixed feelings about space tourism, I did enjoy watching the whole escapade, and hope that, just maybe, when influential/famous people see our beautiful planet from space they go on to really fight to preserve and conserve what we have, and encourage others….
Curiously, the news today mentions another famous Aries – Elton John – whose successful single with Dua Lipa (‘Cold Heart’) has made him the first artist with a UK top 10 single in six different decades. Elton John, 25th March, 1947, has Aries Sun, Taurus Moon, and Venus in Aquarius like William Shatner.
Life imitating art.
William Shatner, along with David Attenborough and Clint Eastwood are in a tiny minority of individuals in their
nineties, who still have bodies and minds which haven’t been destroyed by age and disease.
Good luck to him.
Robert, nice observation….have you checked the similarities amongst their charts? That must be super interesting. Before looking at them, what springs to mind is that people of their generation were Real Men in the sense that they lived through tough times, bad early days but stayed On Track (mind you, that could be contradicted by the women in their lives…perhaps). Being a mid last century type, I do feel though that its the lack of Woke that Makes the Bloke……no blame on others for who they were!
Could Tr Pluto opposite his 6th house Mars suggest health issues?
Best not to speculate on those I find, it creates a kind of nocebo effect.