The Element Encyclopedia of Birthdays

The Science of Astrology

For the skeptics who struggle with the concept of “as above, so below,” ponder this: Science has shown that the gravitational pull of the moon on the Earth impacts the water in our oceans and tides. And up to 60 percent of the human adult body is made up of water!

Although some studies show that lunar phases can affect a person’s mood and behavior, to date there is no proven link between the position of the moon, sun and planets at time of birth and human personality. However, research into the seasons, and even the month in which a person is born, suggests otherwise.

In the early 1970s, researchers from the UK compiled data from the British population census showing clearly that architects tended to be born in the spring, secretaries in the summer, miners in the autumn and electricians in the winter. The researchers asked members of the British Astrological Association (BAA) to indicate which signs were associated with the professions of nurse and labor union official. The astrologers’ predictions corresponded with the researchers’ own findings that there was a statistical bias toward nurses being born under the signs of Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio and Pisces, and labor union officials being born under one or other of the other signs.

Over the years research has focused on the influence of one star in particular—the sun. This is because ultraviolet radiation (UVR), a type of radiation emitted by the sun, is believed to cause genetic changes in the developing baby that may have a shaping effect on their life and personality. This could explain from a scientific perspective why many of us believe that common characteristics and fates are shared by those born at the same time of the year. For example, researchers have found that your chances of living beyond 100 are higher if you are born in November or December. However, it is important to remember that the research on which this is based, on the impact of sun radiation, doesn’t necessarily apply to people born in the southern hemisphere, where summer starts in December and finishes at the end of February.

Here’s a snapshot of other significant findings by different researchers to date. Bear in mind that new studies come out all the time; now you have this book, you may want to keep track of them.

Happiness: According to a UK study, people born in March, April and May tend to be more optimistic than people born at other times of the year. But those born in winter and spring can also be more prone to mood swings, with January being the month most linked with bipolar disorder and May being the month most linked with depression. Those born in September, October and November have the lowest rates of depression, but can be more prone to irritability. Another study from Austria suggested that happy people are more likely to have been born in June, July and August. Meanwhile, research from Japan found that people born in December, January and February were likely to be more pessimistic than those born at other times of the year.

Personality: Swedish researchers found that women born between February and April were more likely to be novelty seekers than those born in October and November. Men born in spring were more likely to be impulsive, while those born in winter were prone to introspection. According to small studies of celebrities, being born in January and February increases the chances of becoming famous, as these months are linked to creativity. In general, many studies show that those born in winter are less positive in their outlook on life than those born in the summer. In addition, November- and winter-born children may end up being bigger, taller and more academically inclined than those born in summer, according to American psychiatrists, with September-born babies most likely to go to college. Babies born in the fall also tend to perform better at athletics and sports.

Health: British research has shown that those born in winter have a greater risk of developing heart disease and an increased risk of obesity. In general, the latest research into our month of birth and health in the northern hemisphere suggests that being born in January, June, August and December neither increases nor decreases the risk of disease; October and November are associated with increased risk, with September not far behind; February, March, April and July have a decreased risk; and May is the healthiest month of all in which to be born.

None of this research should encourage prospective parents to try to time the births of their children. There are many academic children born in the spring and many healthy people born in November. Your personality and your health are influenced by so many things other than the month you were born in. But what all this science of birthdays does show is that there is some scientific correlation between month of birth and personality traits. I have taken this correlation into account when creating the 366 profiles.

Highly Influential

You’ll notice a “Born today” list of names for each of the birthday profiles. The characteristics these people had or have in common were also taken into account during the creation of each profile. Some of these people are world famous, but others less so. They were selected for inclusion because in my opinion in their different ways they are all people who maximized or are maximizing the mystical potential of the day they were born.

The people chosen all tilted or are tilting the world in a more positive or uplifting direction. (You won’t find Hitler, born on April 20, listed, for example, or Charles Manson, born on November 12.) In other words, we can admire and learn from them. Knowing you share a birthday with someone influential or inspirational can be educational and motivational.

Details about these individuals have been kept as concise as possible, simply listing their full name and what they are most well known for. This brevity will hopefully encourage you to do your own research about them because their life choices may offer you further inspiration about your own life choices. If in your research about people born on your birthday you do stumble across less savory examples, don’t let that dishearten you. Every person is born a complex mix of positive and negative potential. There are saints and sinners born every single day of the year. Your personality is formed and your destiny created not by your potential for positive or negative, but by the choices you make every day and what you actually decide to do with your one precious life.

Potential and Pitfalls

Even though there may be certain similarities for people born on the same day, as mentioned earlier, never ever forget that every person is born unique and full of their own potential, just as every new day is also unique and full of its own potential. Bear in mind, too, that there are going to be both blessings and challenges associated with each birthday in the year.

We all have free will. Each one of us has a choice. We can choose to maximize the blessings of the day or allow negative choices to drain our potential. The purpose of our lives is to evolve. It is only by facing and overcoming challenges that we learn and grow. Sometimes growth hurts, but this struggle isn’t necessarily a negative thing. It can be the very best thing for your evolution or spiritual awakening. In other words, if your birthday seems to focus more on overcoming challenges, this doesn’t put you at a disadvantage. Quite the opposite. It suggests huge potential for personal growth and living a life of deep meaning.

The Basics of Chinese Astrology

Chinese astrology is similar to Western astrology in that it helps its followers understand themselves and others better. It also consists of 12 signs and each of these signs offers profound insight into personality traits. And just as in Western astrology your horoscope consists of more than your sun sign, that’s also the case with Chinese astrology. Each sign has an element, a balance of yin and yang and divisions to consider.

However, the similarities end there. The names of the 12 signs in Western astrology derive from constellations, whereas the names of the 12 signs in Chinese astrology derive from animals. The Chinese believe that the animal sign you are born under impacts your personality and destiny, as expressed in the saying, “This animal hides in your heart.” According to ancient myth, the Jade Emperor (some variations say it was the Buddha) called all the animals to take part in a race. But only 12 animals came, so these 12 were given the honor of having a year named after them according to their finishing place in the race, with the rat coming in first and the wild boar or pig last.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two systems is that Chinese astrology determines your zodiac sign by year of birth, while Western astrology determines it by day and month of birth. Also, the Western zodiac year begins at the spring equinox. In the East each Chinese sign is determined by the lunar calendar and begins at Chinese New Year, which is the second new moon after the winter solstice.

So, given these differences, is it possible to find correspondences between Chinese astrology and the Western signs? The answer is yes, because the 12 Chinese signs that make up the 12-year cycle known as Sheng Xiao (“birth likeness”) actually correspond to the 12-year cycle of the planet Jupiter in Western astrology. It is therefore possible to match each Chinese sign to a Western counterpart. I have taken this East-meets-West astrology correspondence into account when creating each birthday profile.

In the Heed Your Signs section of this book, you will notice that each sun-sign description also includes its Chinese astrology counterpart description. For example, if you are an Aries, your Chinese sign correspondence is the Dragon. You will therefore have a natural affinity with the symbolic qualities of that mythical animal.

In addition to your Chinese astrology sun-sign match, you are also encouraged to read the relevant section for the animal that corresponds with your year of birth (see tables below). That animal may well be associated with a different sun sign to your own. For example, if you are a Taurus born in 1996, you should read your corresponding Chinese astrology sign, which is the Snake, but you should also read the section about the Rat, as you will have an affinity with both Snake and Rat characteristics and can discover much of value about yourself from reading both.

1920s

1921Rooster1922Dog1923Pig1924Rat1925Ox1926Tiger1927Rabbit1928Dragon1929Snake

1930s

1930Horse1931Goat1932Monkey1933Rooster1934Dog1935Pig1936Rat1937Ox1938Tiger1939Rabbit

1940s

1940Dragon1941Snake1942Horse1943Goat1944Monkey1945Rooster1946Dog1947Pig1948Rat1949Ox

1950s

1950Tiger1951Rabbit1952Dragon1953Snake1954Horse1955Goat1956Monkey1957Rooster1958Dog1959Pig

1960s

1960Rat1961Ox1962Tiger1963Rabbit1964Dragon1965Snake1966Horse1967Goat1968Monkey1969Rooster

1970s

1970Dog1971Pig1972Rat1973Ox1974Tiger1975Rabbit1976Dragon1977Snake1978Horse1979Goat

1980s

1980Monkey1981Rooster1982Dog1983Pig1984Rat1985Ox1986Tiger1987Rabbit1988Dragon1989Snake

1990s

1990Horse1991Goat1992Monkey1993Rooster1994Dog1995Pig1996Rat1997Ox1998Tiger1999Rabbit

2000s

2000Dragon2001Snake2002Horse2003Goat2004Monkey2005Rooster2006Dog2007Pig2008Rat2009Ox

2010s

2010Tiger2011Rabbit2012Dragon2013Snake2014Horse2015Goat2016Monkey2017Rooster2018Dog2019Pig

2020s

2020Rat2021Ox2022Tiger2023Rabbit2024Dragon2025Snake2026Horse2027Goat2028Monkey2029Rooster

2030s

2030Dog2031Pig2032Rat2033Ox2034Tiger2035Rabbit2036Dragon2037Snake2038Horse2039Goat

Numerology Basics

What astrology does through sun or animal signs, numerology does through numbers. Like astrology, numerology is an ancient symbolic method that can be incorporated into a birthday profile to help you reach a better understanding of yourself and the meaning of your life. Numerologists assert that the universe is a mathematical construct. God is believed to be the master mathematician and the vibrational energy of people, places and things is expressed through the sacred power of numbers. By reducing birth dates and names to a number, we can allegedly reveal a person’s personality and destiny.

Although numerology probably has its origins in ancient Babylonia and among the early Hebrews, and many different systems have been used in different parts of the world, numerology is most often associated with the fifth-century BC Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras. He believed that there were mathematical connections between the cosmos, humanity, music, shapes, colors and numbers. If certain number patterns appeared, they could be used to predict the destiny of a person. According to Pythagoras, numbers were the source of energy in the world and the numbers 1 to 9 represent the nine stages of life. He is quoted as having said, “The world is built upon the power of numbers.”

Numerology assigns characteristics to the digits 1 to 9. Any larger number than 9 is reduced to a single digit by adding all the digits together—for example, the number 123 becomes 1 + 2 + 3 = 6. The qualities of 123 are therefore equivalent to the number 6. Using the single digits as a guide, the patterns of different dates and a person’s name (each letter of the alphabet is assigned to a number between 1 and 9 and several letters are therefore attached to the same number) can be examined to define character and future influences. Briefly, the numbers 1 to 9 represent the following characteristics or qualities:

1 1. Independent, creative, ambitious, extrovertDownside: Can be arrogant and selfish, with tunnel vision

2 2. Sensitive, domestic, imaginative, musicalDownside: Can be timid and gullible

3 3. Scientific, powerful, knowledgeable, multitalentedDownside: Can be superficial and hedonistic

4 4. Practical, stable, honest, trustworthyDownside: Can be stubborn and overly serious

5 5. Energetic, sensual, daring, flirtatiousDownside: Can find it hard to commit

6 6. Perfectionist, creative, artistic, compassionateDownside: Can be super-sensitive and overemotional

7 7. Intellectual, philosophical, imaginative, intuitiveDownside: Can be impractical and secretive

8 8. Practical, just, trustworthy, noble, powerfulDownside: Can be opinionated, impatient and intolerant

9 9. Spiritual, humanitarian, visionary, a healerDownside: Can be self-serving, possessive and volatile

Although in the majority of cases number combinations are reduced to singledigit numbers, it is important to point out that this is not the case for the master numbers, 11, 22 and 33, which are believed to have extra intuitive potential due to the pairing of the same number. Just as astrologers believe no one sign is better than another, numerologists believe no number is better or worse than any other. All the numbers have potential as well as a downside in the same way that every person has a light as well as a dark or shadow side. The downside simply suggests challenges associated with this number; if these challenges can be faced and overcome, they can be a source of incredible personal growth.

In the creation of each profile for this book, the interpretations of numbers in relation to the date of the month in which you were born is taken into consideration. This is called your birth day number. It is one of the five core numbers in numerology based on either your birth date or birth name and indicates the skills that come naturally to you as well as any day-to-day challenges you need to face. According to numerologists, your birth day number has a permanent influence on your life and has great significance in helping you understand who you are and where your talents lie.

Tarot Basics

Each day of the year is also associated with a Tarot card.

Although the true origins of Tarot cards are unknown and may date back to ancient Egypt or earlier, the Tarot cards that we know today originated in Italy during the fifteenth century. The Tarot deck consists of 78 cards in total, comprising the 22 major arcana cards, which the nineteenth-century French occultist Eliphas Levi saw as having symbolic links to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the 56 minor arcana cards, which are divided into four suits: wands, representing the element of fire; swords, the element of air; cups, the element of water; and pentacles, the element of earth. There are several versions of the Tarot deck in use today, but most are based on the Rider-Waite deck designed by Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith in 1910.

Although each minor arcana card has a divinatory meaning, the major arcana cards are of greater significance in this book because they represent universal or archetypal life themes and the quest for self-knowledge and finding purpose—which is what each birthday profile hopes to reveal. Each day of the year is associated with a major arcana card. You may want to meditate further on the profound wisdom of the Tarot card listed in your profile and what insights it can offer you about yourself and your life. Their meanings are briefly summarized below.

The Fool: Represents the divine child, one who is completely trusting and spontaneous. The Fool is beginning a journey and has no idea where it will lead, but he is also content because he listens to his heart.

The Magician: Symbolizes creative power, curiosity and infinite possibilities. Called the Magus in some Tarot decks, the Magician has access to all four elements of the Tarot to manifest the divine work he has come to Earth to achieve.

The High Priestess: Signifies mystery, dreams and the power of intuition. It is spiritual awakening.

The Empress: Represents the ability to adapt and flow according to the needs of the moment. The Empress draws her strength and peace from the natural world.

The Emperor: Is the balance to the Empress and symbolizes work, money, grounding. It is the ability to express your skills and assert your authority in the material world.

The Hierophant: Is a symbol of inner wisdom, also known as your Higher Self. It’s also a compilation of the previous four cards, synthesizing and empowering these initial stages of spiritual growth and evolution.

The Lovers: Signifies the awareness of opposites and the relationship between opposites. The Lovers indicates the need to find balance within yourself and in your relationships with others.

The Chariot: Represents your personal will aligning itself with a power greater than yourself. It is the struggle between your ego balancing itself with the needs of others and the world.

Justice: Symbolizes a rebalancing process, so what has been out of harmony in your life can seek resolution. It is also the karma card.

The Hermit: Signifies a period of solitude or the need to walk alone for a while to discover who you truly are. The Hermit card indicates the need to empower yourself rather looking for validation externally.

The Wheel of Fortune: Represents a period of dramatic change or the need for change. The wheel of fortune often turns unexpectedly and forces you to step outside your comfort zone, the place where all personal growth happens.

Strength: Symbolizes your potential to rise above challenges you are encountering. It suggests that you are far stronger and more capable than you think you are.

The Hanged Man: This card suggests the need to take a different perspective on life. It is also the card of surrender or simply letting things be.

Death: Signifies letting go of the past so that new things can begin. It is the card of rebirth and renewal.

Temperance: Is a card of moderation and patience. It represents acceptance of a situation and the need to balance opposites or open your mind to differing viewpoints.

The Devil: Symbolizes the pleasures of the material world. It is preoccupation with status, money and power and the need to reconnect with what really matters in life.

The Tower: Signifies the shattering of limiting beliefs about yourself and your life. It suggests sudden change, but also liberation.

The Star: Represents spiritual healing and inspiration. This illumination was made possible through the shattering of illusions or beliefs that have been limiting you.

The Moon: Symbolizes great creativity but also illusion. Something in your life may not be all that it seems.

The Sun: Signifies confidence. It is finding the courage to be yourself and loving the person you are.

Judgment: Represents rebirth and awakening. It is the card of judgment but also of second chances and new beginnings. It suggests that you have the power to change your life for the better.

The World: Symbolizes completion and a joyful celebration of the dance of life. The World card incorporates the universal themes of all the previous cards.

Many astrologers and numerologists believe that the major arcana cards are related to astrological and numerological personality tendencies. For example, the Emperor card is ruled by the astrological sign of Aries and the number 5. As such, the symbolic meanings of these major arcana cards, when considered in combination with the meanings offered by astrology and numerology, can offer another layer of insight to each birthday profile.

The Basics of Color Healing

Each astrological sign is associated with a certain color or colors. According to color therapists or chromotherapists, these can have a special significance in a birthday profile because our lives can be enhanced if we surround ourselves with the colors that are most harmonious with our own personal vibrations for that day.

Color analysts assert that every color vibrates with its own energy and, because of this, can have a healing impact on mood and wellbeing. Seven colors in particular—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, the colors of the rainbow—have carried religious, occult and mystical significance since ancient times.

In the late nineteenth century, color theory began to receive attention in the West; in 1878 Edwin Babbitt published The Principles of Light and Color, highlighting a theory of healing with color. Modern research can offer credible evidence for some of the ancient claims about colors. Studies show that they really can trigger emotional and physical healing. Many psychologists use color to produce beneficial effects in homes, workplaces and hospitals.

Wearing particular colors can also have a similar effect. For example, wearing blue helps create an atmosphere of peace and relaxation. Blue is also the color of communication and truth. Another harmonious and healing color is green. It is believed to promote self-love. Orange is a stimulating and creative color. Wearing or seeing orange can increase energy and focus. Yellow and gold have a re-energizing effect when mood is low. They are also cleansing and purifying colors. Perhaps the most stimulating and potent color for mind and body is red. It is believed to boost confidence and energy. Purple is the color of intuition, self-knowledge, and personal and spiritual growth. As you read your birthday profile you may want to surround yourself with the color purple.