Maya Angelou’s birth chart
Born 4 April 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, at 14:10 (Rodden AA).
Aries Sun · Libra Moon · Leo rising
Maya Angelou’s zodiac sign and chart, in brief
Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on 4 April 1928, a Wednesday. The Sun was in Aries, so Aries was their zodiac sign, with the Moon in Libra and Leo rising. Maya died on 28 May 2014, aged 86. The birth time, 14:10, comes from Astro-Databank with a Rodden rating of AA, which means it was quoted from a birth certificate or birth record.
Of the ten planets, five are in fire signs, three in water and two in air; none is in earth. Across cardinal, fixed and mutable signs the split is five, two and three. Aries holds a stellium, three planets in one sign: Sun, Jupiter and Uranus. No two planets sit closer to an exact angle than Sun and Pluto: a square, 0.2° from exact. Two planets were retrograde: Saturn and Neptune. The Moon was full.
StarMap's dataset holds 19 other people born on 4 April, among them Robert Downey Jr., Heath Ledger and Andrei Tarkovsky.
Maya Angelou’s Sun, Moon and rising sign
Sun sign
Aries
14° Aries 48'
An Aries Sun starts things. For Maya Angelou 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
Libra
11° Libra 21'
A Libra Moon feels through relationship. Harmony nearby tends to settle Maya, and conflict, even other people's, can unsettle them. What restores this Moon is beauty, fairness, and one person who truly listens.
Rising sign
Leo
23° Leo 57'
Leo rising comes across as warm and impossible to miss. People assume confidence whether or not it is felt, and Maya's presence can change the temperature of a room.
The chart wheel
Drawn for 14:10 on 4 April 1928, with the eastern horizon on the left. How to read a chart wheel
Placements
| Sun | 14° Aries 48' | House 9 |
|---|---|---|
| Moon | 11° Libra 21' | House 2 |
| Mercury | 20° Pisces 25' | House 8 |
| Venus | 21° Pisces 44' | House 8 |
| Mars | 27° Aquarius 53' | House 7 |
| Jupiter | 16° Aries 07' | House 9 |
| Saturn | 19° Sagittarius 05'℞ | House 4 |
| Uranus | 4° Aries 01' | House 8 |
| Neptune | 26° Leo 40'℞ | House 1 |
| Pluto | 14° Cancer 59' | House 11 |
| North Node | 10° Gemini 58' | House 10 |
| South Node | 10° Sagittarius 58' | House 4 |
Maya Angelou’s planets, sign by sign
Each planet by sign and house: what the placement is traditionally taken to mean, not a claim about Maya Angelou’s private life.
Sun in Aries
14° Aries 48' · ninth house
purpose and vitality
With the Sun in Aries, Maya Angelou'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 Sun in the ninth house lets travel, ideas and a bigger philosophy of life shape the person Maya is becoming, more than any single job or role could. They need room to explore new places and new questions, or they start to feel smaller and duller than they are.
Moon in Libra
11° Libra 21' · second house
needs and habits
A Libra Moon needs harmony in the immediate surroundings to feel settled day to day, and a tense conversation nearby can throw off Maya's whole afternoon. Comfort comes from pleasant company and pleasant spaces. The habit to watch is smoothing things over before they have worked out what they want.
Security, with the Moon in the second house, comes from familiar things and clearly held values, and for Maya sudden change or big leaps hold little appeal. When their sense of what matters is shaken, their whole mood follows it.
Mercury in Pisces
20° Pisces 25' · eighth house
mind and voice
Mercury in Pisces thinks in images and impressions more than straight lines, and Maya is likely to communicate through metaphor, tone and instinct rather than clean argument. Explaining a conclusion they nonetheless feel certain about can be the struggle. It is the kind of mind that knows something is off before it can say why.
Mercury in the eighth house can draw Maya's mind to what is hidden, complicated or left unsaid, and small talk may bore them within minutes. Someone with this placement is often the one who asks the question everyone else in the room was avoiding out of politeness.
Venus in Pisces
21° Pisces 44' · eighth house
love and values
Venus in Pisces loves without much guard, and Maya 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.
Venus in the eighth house wants intimacy that goes all the way down, not the kind that stays comfortably light, and Maya is inclined to build trust slowly and value it highly once it exists. The placement suggests that whatever Maya shares with someone means more when the bond behind it is solid.
Mars in Aquarius
27° Aquarius 53' · seventh house
drive and anger
Mars in Aquarius acts on principle, and its anger surfaces most over unfairness or hypocrisy rather than personal slights. Maya can detach from a conflict so thoroughly that the other person feels shut out. The issue tends to get argued with heat while the relationship itself is treated with strange calm.
Mars in the seventh house is associated with directness in close relationships, and Maya probably says what they think rather than letting things simmer. Mars here brings energy and frankness into partnership, so disagreements tend to be aired, not avoided.
Jupiter in Aries
16° Aries 07' · ninth house
growth and excess
Jupiter in Aries grows through bold, direct action and taking the first step before feeling fully ready. Maya's overreach, on this reading, is starting more than can realistically be finished. A burst of confidence tends to get a new venture off the ground, whether or not the groundwork is in place.
The ninth house is Jupiter's natural home, and travel, higher learning and big philosophical questions excite Maya more than almost anything else. Someone with this placement is often the first to say yes to the unplanned trip or the ambitious course of study.
Saturn in Sagittarius
19° Sagittarius 05' ℞ · fourth house
discipline and doubt
Saturn in Sagittarius builds discipline around belief and meaning, testing a big idea hard before committing to it. In front of people who might challenge a conviction, Maya is likely to hedge. Over time, someone with this Saturn often becomes a credible voice on the very questions they once felt they had no right to answer.
Saturn sits in the fourth house of Maya's chart, a placement linked with the weight of home and family responsibility on a person's shoulders, often from early on. With this placement, a stable home is apt to be built by sustained effort, and the security created there tends to mean more because of the work it takes.
Uranus in Aries
4° Aries 01' · eighth house
freedom, generational
Uranus spends about seven years in each sign, so Maya shares Uranus in Aries with many people of a similar age. It marks a generation that pushes for change through direct, individual action rather than waiting for permission. In one life it can appear as impatience with the slow-moving institutions older generations built.
Intimacy is something Maya is likely to approach in their own particular way, sometimes resisting the usual expectations about how far two lives should merge. With Uranus in the eighth house, sudden insights about the self tend to arrive through close, unguarded relationships rather than in solitude.
Neptune in Leo
26° Leo 40' ℞ · first house
imagination, generational
Neptune in Leo is the imagination of an age group, not of Maya alone. It dreams in terms of fame, spectacle and larger-than-life self-expression. The trace of it in one person is a pull towards performance as a way of feeling real.
With Neptune in the first house, Maya may come across as a little hard to pin down, with a dreamy or elusive quality that other people sense but cannot quite name. Maya's sense of self can shift depending on the company they happen to be in.
Pluto in Cancer
14° Cancer 59' · eleventh house
power, generational
Pluto in Cancer dates Maya 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.
Maya's loyalty, once given, holds through far more strain than a casual friendship could. With Pluto in the eleventh house, friendships and group involvements can carry intensity, sometimes including a falling-out that reshapes who counts as the true circle.
Aspects in Maya Angelou’s chart
How the planets stand to each other, tightest first.
Sun square Pluto
0.2° applying
With this aspect, Maya Angelou's identity can get entangled in struggles over control, whether inwardly or with people who challenge them. Whenever Maya chooses to change rather than to dominate, the friction turns into hard-won strength they can rely on the next time things get difficult.
Jupiter square Pluto
1.1° separating
Ambition can turn into a struggle for control under this square, over outcomes that were never fully Maya's to control. The considerable drive involved is better aimed at transformation than at domination, which tends to produce a result that lasts.
Mars opposition Neptune
1.2° separating
Maya may find direct action pulling one way and, the other way, a tendency to lose momentum in doubt or in an unclear picture of what is wanted. Getting specific about the goal, even roughly, tends to restore the energy that vagueness drains.
Mercury conjunction Venus
1.3° applying
Mercury conjunct Venus ties Maya's thinking closely to what they love, so they probably talk about affection and beauty with ease. It lends a diplomatic, pleasant way of putting things, especially when the subject is close to the heart.
Sun conjunction Jupiter
1.3° applying
Maya's identity carries a natural optimism and a generous sense of scale, so they tend to think bigger than the room requires. Confidence comes easily with the Sun conjunct Jupiter, and the discipline worth building is matching that optimism with follow-through.
Mercury square Saturn
1.3° separating
Self-doubt can get into thinking when Mercury is square Saturn, in the form of over-editing or delaying a decision that was ready. Sharing the unfinished thought anyway, again and again, is what loosens the doubt's hold over what Maya is willing to say out loud.
The rest, listed without a reading.
- Venus square Saturn2.6°
- Jupiter trine Saturn3.0°
- Sun opposition Moon3.5°
- Moon square Pluto3.6°
- Sun trine Saturn4.3°
- Moon opposition Jupiter4.8°
- Mercury trine Pluto5.4°
- Venus trine Pluto6.7°
- Moon opposition Uranus7.3°
Aries Sun and Libra Moon, like Maya Angelou
Also born on 4 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; the birth time comes from Astro-Databank and is shown with its 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, Astro-Databank (Quoted BC/BR). Birth time rated AA on the Rodden scale. 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.