Ask Ada: How Do I Create a Character with Astrology?

Question: This may sound crazy, but I’ve been trying for a long time to create myself as a fantasy character (think Dungeons & Dragons). Ideally, the character (me) would be the protagonist in a book that would eventually turn into my memoir. I’ve always related strongly to my astrological signs, so I thought I would delve more deeply searching for the most objective, truthful perspective on myself. I need help in translating my chart into a character and selecting a “class” for myself. I have a number of squares and opposition aspects, which is making it even more challenging. If you could check my chart and let me know your thoughts on what class/subclass would best represent my chart, I would really appreciate it.

I can’t tell you how excited I was to get this in my inbox.

What you’re describing is the essence of narrative astrology.

Narrative astrology asks questions like: If my life was a story, what kind of story would it be? What kind of character am I? What is my story about?*

These are the great questions of philosophy, translated into the language of story, just like you translated the language of story into the language of Dungeons and Dragons.**

Human beings are storytelling creatures. Stories are how we give our lives meaning. Stories are so wired into the way our brains work, we need stories to understand what’s happening around us.***

All of this is to say… You’re not crazy. Or, at least, you’re not any more crazy than Frodo was when he volunteered to take the One Ring to Mount Doom.

I’m using The Lord of the Rings as a metaphor purposefully because your chart reminds me quite a lot of that story.

You have four planets in Sagittarius, the sun in Scorpio, the moon in Leo, and a Taurus ascendant.

In the language of literature, this is the chart of a complex character with lots of internal conflict. There is intense drive in the pursuit of meaning. (Sagittarius is the sign of the philosopher.) Your heart was made for joy (moon in Leo), but you need to feel secure and safe (Taurus ascendant) in order to express yourself authentically. As if this wasn’t enough, there is a deep awareness of the potential for evil in the human heart (sun in Scorpio).

If your life was a novel, some of the themes would be: How do you find meaning in a world full of evil and suffering? How do you find the security in an insecure world? How do you find joy?

That sounds an awful lot like a Hobbit on a great quest against an ancient evil, facing impossible odds. At least, to me.

If that resonates with you, I want to encourage you on your quest. There are a lot of people out there who will tell you you’re crazy for doing something hard. That’s just because they’re jealous.

* We dive into those questions in depth in my course Reading Stories in a Natal Chart.

** I don’t think it’s an accident that the greatest philosophers have also been the greatest storytellers. I don’t know if anyone will be reading Discourse on Method in 300 years, but we’re still coming up with creative ways of telling the story of Plato’s Cave over 2000 years later (see also: The Matrix).

*** Source: Spellbound by Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD

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