Rory John Gates
Zip Dobyns
The media have officially declared Bill Gates to be the richest man in the world. So, when he has his first son, having already had a daughter, what would we expect in the son’s chart? According to the local media, Rory Gates was born in Seattle, WA on May 23, 1999 at 14:40 PDT. Traditional astrology would expect his chart to be dominated by Venus and Jupiter for a lucky life. But as the child of two very intellectual parents, we would also expect a high focus on the mutables as keys to mental skills. Both guesses would be right.
The mutables and Aquarius are all keys to different facets of the mind, and they provide the major theme in Rory’s chart. His Sun is closely conjunct Mercury in its own sign of Gemini and they are in the house of Sagittarius, thus blending the insatiable curiosity of Gemini with the search for TRUTH of Sagittarius which is willing to go wherever is necessary to find ultimate meaning. Chiron, an alternate Jupiter, and Juno and Pluto are in Sagittarius in the Gemini house. The MC in Gemini adds to the emphasis pointing to a mental career. The polarity shows the perpetual student, teacher, writer, and/or traveler, with verbal fluency that lives to learn and to communicate.
Adding practicality to the mental emphasis, Rory’s Moon and all his Ascendant equivalents are conjunct in Virgo, with all but the Ascendant in the Pisces house. Virgo seeks efficient functioning, in one’s job and one’s body. It shows potential skill with analyzing and organizing details, thoroughness, realism, and the follow-through that can achieve results in the physical world. Industria is in 1 Leo 32, sextile his Sun and trine his Chiron. Rory won’t just live in his head.
Neptune, Uranus, and the south lunar node in Aquarius added to the north node and Vesta in the house of Aquarius fit an involvement with technology, pointing to the drive to go beyond conventions and traditions, to innovate and invent, to reject any limits. The potential for creative brilliance is also supported by Jupiter, as the planetary key to the search for TRUTH, in Aries, sign of personal identity in action. The pattern is strengthened by Jupiter’s opposition to Mars (identity in action), which is in an air sign for an additional focus on the conscious side of the mind that deals with abstract principles and peer relationships. The sextile of the MC to Jupiter and its trine to Mars adds still more to the strength of the pattern. Bill and Melinda Gates could not have picked a more appropriate chart for a son to follow in their footsteps and perhaps surpass them. With the south lunar node representing first a lesson and, once learned, one’s gift to the world, Rory’s incredibly tight conjunction of the south node and Uranus suggests that he will pursue and share new knowledge. And, he will do it passionately in the house of Leo, and with thoroughness and tangible results with the close aspect to Vesta, the Virgo asteroid, in Leo in the house of Aquarius.
Of course, Rory is not just a brilliant mind. His Moon conjunct his Ascendant, East Point, and Antivertex shows his strong identification with his mother, with the capacity for empathy and compassion represented by the Moon and by its position in the house of Pisces. His identification with his mother and a sensitive side to his nature is a repeated theme since Venus is a ruler of his first house Libra and its position in Cancer in the tenth house points to a tenth house mother. Ceres says it again, with its placement in Cancer in the tenth house. Though not a repeated theme, an identification with Rory’s father is also shown by Jupiter, a ruler of the 4th house, in the sign of Aries. Parents can be positive or negative role models, but the harmony in Rory’s chart suggests mostly positive models.
The fixed sides of life are also strong in Rory’s chart. Both Jupiter, ruling his IC, and Saturn, the typical key to father, are in the 8th house. Saturn in Taurus in the house of Scorpio fits a father connected to money. Taurus symbolizes our personal earning and handling of finances while Scorpio symbolizes joint resources including debts, inheritance, return on investments, etc. Letter eight in our alphabet is our ability to give, receive, and share money, possessions, sensuality, pleasures, and power with close, lasting, peer relationships. It is certainly appropriate to have both keys to father, rulers of Rory’s 4th house, in the Scorpio house. Bill Gates has just increased his charitable foundation to make it the largest in the world to match his position as richest man in the world. But, with his Mars in the 2nd house, Rory will also make and control his own money as part of his personal identity in action. He will also have some personal power over the family’s joint resources with Aries in his 8th house.
If we take Venus, Pluto, and Juno as keys to Taurus and Scorpio, personal and shared resources, and Chiron and Jupiter as keys to conscious values and faith which guide our goals and choices, the midpoints of these factors could add emphasis to the picture of financial aspirations. The midpoint of Venus/Juno is in 25 Virgo, on Rory’s Ascendant, and Venus/ Chiron is on his East Point in 23 Virgo. Venus/Mercury and Venus/Sun are both on Rory’s MC. Venus/Antivertex is on his Vesta and his mean north lunar node. Venus/Jupiter in 4 Gemini trines his Neptune and opposes Juno. Jupiter/Pluto is on his Uranus and south lunar node. The Arabic Part of Jupiter (Ascendant plus Jupiter minus Sun) is on the true north lunar node. The Arabic Part of Venus is in 9 Scorpio, opposite Saturn. Oppositions can be partnerships or they can represent struggles until compromises are worked out. The north node of Jupiter is in 4 Cancer, conjunct Ceres, and the north node of Chiron is on Mars. Astrology keeps saying the same thing in many ways.
Rory also has some appropriate asteroids. Williams for his father’s name is within one degree of his Sun, on the midpoint of Sun/Mercury,. Midas is in 14 Gemini, and since the lunar nodes are mostly retrograde, they will move back into a very long-term sextile/trine to Midas. Moira, a goddess of fate, is on Rory’s Jupiter, trine Fortuna in 23 Leo and quincunx his East Point and Fama for fame. Nortia, the Etruscan goddess of fortune, is in 23 Pisces on Rory’s West Point, equivalent to being on his Descendant. Nehalennia, the Roman goddess of fortune, is in 14 Cancer, sextile his Karma. Ops, another Roman goddess who was associated with abundance, is in 5 Libra, conjunct Washingtonia, trine Neptune, and opposite the NORC. Oppositions can function as partnerships or can show competition and the need for compromise. It will be interesting to see whether Rory continues his father’s competitive relationship with the U.S. federal government, or whether he works out a compromise.
The asteroids which could relate to technology include the NORC, a prototype computer, ASCII, the set of symbols, Eudora, the goddess of waves which could include the electronic variety, Tesla, the great inventor, Urania, goddess of scientific knowledge, and Prometheus, who brought inventions to humans. The NORC in 6 Aries trines Urania in 6 Sagittarius. Tesla in 21 Pisces is conjunct Icarus, suggesting overreach. It also opposes the Moon and trines ASCII in 20 Cancer. Eudora in 24 Cancer is semisextile Fortuna and sextile the midpoint of East Point/Ascendant. Prometheus in 13 Sagittarius opposes a conjunction of the north node of Neptune and the south node of Mercury in 13 Gemini. Many more might be mentioned, but we will close with the Part of Fortune trine to Karma in 14 Taurus. The Prometheus quincunx to Karma in addition to several other quincunxes in Rory’s chart add to the picture of a life that will constantly open up new knowledge for the world.