Marvin Gaye’s birth chart
Born 2 April 1939, in Washington, D.C. StarMap has no verified birth time yet.
Aries Sun · Virgo Moon
Marvin Gaye’s zodiac sign and chart, in brief
2 April 1939 was a Sunday: the day Marvin Gaye was born in Washington, D.C. The Sun was in Aries, so Aries was their zodiac sign, with the Moon in Virgo. Marvin died on 1 April 1984, aged 44. StarMap has no verified birth time for Marvin, so the chart is cast for midday and leaves the houses out.
Earth carries the most weight: four of the ten planets, against fire three, water three and air none. Cardinal signs hold five, mutable signs four and fixed signs one. Aries holds a stellium, three planets in one sign: Sun, Mercury and Saturn. No two planets sit closer to an exact angle than Jupiter and Neptune: an opposition, about 0.1° from exact at midday. Aspects to the Moon are not counted, because the Moon moves about thirteen degrees in a day. Mercury, Neptune and Pluto were retrograde. The Moon was waxing gibbous, between first quarter and full.
StarMap's dataset holds 22 other people born on 2 April, among them Alec Guinness, Michael Fassbender and Serge Gainsbourg.
See the sky the day Marvin was born: the stars over Washington, D.C., drawn as a star map with the date and the place beneath.
Marvin Gaye’s Sun, Moon and rising sign
Sun sign
Aries
about 12° Aries at midday
An Aries Sun starts things. For Marvin Gaye that points to energy that is direct and impatient with delay, and to feeling most like themselves when there is something to go first at. The work of this placement is finishing what the spark began.
Moon sign
Virgo
in this sign all day; the degree depends on the birth time
A Virgo Moon feels by fixing. When something is wrong, Marvin is likely to look for the practical cause and to calm down by tidying, planning or being useful. The lesson of this Moon is to accept help without a to-do list attached.
Rising sign
The rising sign changes about every two hours, so it cannot be known without a birth time. The table below shows which sign was rising over Washington, D.C., at each hour of the day.
Marvin Gaye’s rising sign, by birth time
StarMap has not verified a birth time for Marvin yet. It shows a birth time only when Astro-Databank rates it AA, A or B on the Rodden scale (AA from a birth certificate or record, A from the person, someone close to them or a news report, B from a biography). Until then, this is the rising sign for every possible time of birth on 2 April 1939, computed for Washington, D.C..
| Born around (local time) | Rising sign |
|---|---|
| 00:00 to 00:50 | Sagittarius rising |
| 00:50 to 02:45 | Capricorn rising |
| 02:45 to 04:15 | Aquarius rising |
| 04:15 to 05:30 | Pisces rising |
| 05:30 to 06:45 | Aries rising |
| 06:45 to 08:10 | Taurus rising |
| 08:10 to 10:05 | Gemini rising |
| 10:05 to 12:30 | Cancer rising |
| 12:30 to 15:00 | Leo rising |
| 15:00 to 17:25 | Virgo rising |
| 17:25 to 19:55 | Libra rising |
| 19:55 to 22:25 | Scorpio rising |
| 22:25 to 24:00 | Sagittarius rising |
Times are rounded to five minutes. Close to a boundary, a few minutes either way change the answer.
The chart wheel
Drawn for midday on 2 April 1939, with only the aspects that held all day. The Moon may stand up to eight degrees either side of where it is drawn. How to read a chart wheel
Placements
| Sun | 12° Aries 03' |
|---|---|
| Moon | Virgo |
| Mercury | 13° Aries 11'℞ |
| Venus | 2° Pisces 46' |
| Mars | 6° Capricorn 47' |
| Jupiter | 21° Pisces 32' |
| Saturn | 19° Aries 51' |
| Uranus | 15° Taurus 48' |
| Neptune | 21° Virgo 25'℞ |
| Pluto | 29° Cancer 14'℞ |
| North Node | 8° Scorpio 34' |
| South Node | 8° Taurus 34' |
Positions at midday, local time. Without a birth time there are no houses.
Marvin Gaye’s planets, sign by sign
Each planet by sign: what the placement is traditionally taken to mean, not a claim about Marvin Gaye’s private life.
With the Sun in Aries, Marvin Gaye's sense of purpose tends to come alive when there is a clear start line. They probably feel most like themselves pushing into something new, though that energy can burn hot and fade before the finish. The typical pattern is a project launched with excitement, then handed off once the routine sets in.
The Moon in Virgo runs towards order, and a messy space or an unfinished list can unsettle Marvin's mood more than most people would guess. Small, useful tasks are calming. The trouble can start when Marvin's own needs become another chore to get right instead of something to enjoy.
Mercury in Aries suggests that Marvin thinks in quick, decisive strokes and says what they mean without much preamble. Sometimes the words arrive before the thought is fully formed, which can come across sharper than intended. It is a mind that finishes other people's sentences and prefers a fast decision to a long meeting.
Venus in Pisces loves without much guard, and Marvin probably values emotional and even spiritual connection over anything practical. The temptation can be to idealise a partner before really seeing them. Generosity in relationships comes easily here, and so does missing the moment when giving starts to outweigh getting.
Mars in Capricorn acts with discipline and patience, playing a longer game than most, and in Marvin's case its anger tends to be controlled, arriving as coldness rather than heat. The tendency is to go quiet and distant instead of saying what is wrong. A frustration is something to outwork rather than voice.
Jupiter in Pisces
21° Pisces 32' at midday
growth and excess
For Marvin, Jupiter in Pisces means finding growth in compassion, imagination and a willingness to trust things that cannot be fully explained. The overreach is an idealism about people or situations that the facts do not quite support. Others lean on this generosity of spirit more than they let on.
Saturn in Aries builds discipline around learning to act with patience instead of pure impulse. For Marvin, that suggests a doubt that takes the form of second-guessing: too fast, or not fast enough? Confidence in their own initiative tends to come slowly, once the rush goes out of every decision.
Uranus in Taurus
15° Taurus 48' at midday
freedom, generational
Uranus in Taurus is a generational placement that Marvin shares with many people born within a few years. That generation rethinks ownership, land and what security means, often through technology that unsettles older arrangements. Personally, that may be a reluctance to prize things simply because an older generation did.
Neptune in Virgo
21° Virgo 25' at midday ℞
imagination, generational
Neptune moves slowly, so Marvin shares its place in Virgo with people born years either side. The imagination of this generation turns towards service, craft and idealised routines of self-improvement. In one life it can mean chasing an impossibly perfect daily practice.
Pluto in Cancer
29° Cancer 14' at midday ℞
power, generational
Pluto in Cancer dates Marvin to an era rather than describing one person. Those born in it live through deep transformation of family, home and nationhood. What an individual may carry is intensity around belonging and who counts as family.
Aspects in Marvin Gaye’s chart
How the planets stand to each other, tightest first. Without a birth time the orbs are those at midday, and aspects to the Moon are left out because the Moon moves about thirteen degrees in a day.
Jupiter opposition Neptune
about 0.1° at midday
The choice, as this opposition frames it for Marvin Gaye, is between pursuing a real opportunity and getting lost chasing an idealised version that does not quite exist. Testing an exciting idea against the plain facts protects the optimism; it does not undermine it.
Sun conjunction Mercury
about 1.1° at midday
With the Sun conjunct Mercury, Marvin's sense of self and way of thinking are fused, so an opinion can feel like a statement of who they are. They are likely to speak their mind readily, and telling a passing thought apart from their identity is a practice worth keeping up.
Venus sextile Mars
about 4.0° at midday
A sextile between Venus and Mars tends to let Marvin go after what they like without much inner conflict, because affection and drive are pulling the same way. It is a pleasant, workable confidence, at its most useful in the early stages of anything new.
Sun square Mars
about 5.3° at midday
Impatience, or a habit of picking fights that did not need picking, can come from the clash between Marvin's sense of self and their drive to act. With the Sun square Mars, a pause between the impulse and the action turns this friction into determination they can use.
Mercury conjunction Saturn
about 6.7° at midday
With Mercury conjunct Saturn, Marvin's thinking is likely to be careful and structured, and they tend to say only what they are sure of. That makes their word worth taking, and the risk is that caution keeps an idea back until it feels perfectly finished.
Sun conjunction Saturn
about 7.8° at midday
With the Sun conjunct Saturn, identity is built through discipline and steady effort, often with an early sense that a place has to be worked for rather than assumed. It tends to make Marvin reliable and serious, and the growth comes from believing that they have done enough to rest.
One more aspect, listed without a reading. It is between two of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, whose aspects hold for years at a time, so everyone born while it holds shares it.
- Uranus trine Neptuneabout 5.6°
Aries Sun and Virgo Moon, like Marvin Gaye
Also born on 2 April
How this page is made
Planet positions are computed with the astronomy-engine ephemeris and checked against Swiss Ephemeris. Birth dates and places come from Wikidata; birth times, where StarMap has one, come from Astro-Databank and are shown with their Rodden rating. The readings describe what a placement is traditionally taken to mean. They are written by StarMap for reflection and entertainment, not as statements about the person’s private life. New to charts? How to read a birth chart.
Birth data: Wikidata. StarMap has not verified a birth time yet. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on the file page).
StarMap is for entertainment and self-reflection. It does not predict health, money or legal outcomes.