The Charts of athletes - Mars, Pluto and the Nodes

Success, success, success.. can an astrological chart tell whether one will become successful or not?  Perhaps yes, and perhaps not.  Someone born at the same hour into different families of different backgrounds are likely to grow up quite differently, this goes back to the question of nature or nurture.  Not attempting to answer this age-old question that so many professionals, astrologers and psychologists have probably tried to answer for decades, excited and mesmerized by the stellar performances of this year’s Hong Kong’s Olympic medalists, I’m just going to share some of the insights I discovered from reading their charts!

Factors of Success

20th century French sociologist Alain Girard remarked that there are two important factors that underlie success in life.  Girard wrote, “For almost everyone as soon as he enters life, the future is decided and it unfolds from childhood and adolescence under the family’s influence.”  Statistics indicate that two-thirds of famous people originate from 5 percent of the population comprised primarily of the wealthiest and most intellectual people.Well, how often do we hear of someone’s child growing up to be blah blah because their parents did so and so.. there’s certainly no coincidence of some sort of inherited energy that pass down generations to generations.

Along this train of thought, I poked into Edgar Cheung Ka Long (two-time gold medalist fencer)’s Wikipedia page and discovered that both his father and mother were basketball players who played in top leagues in Hong Kong, suggesting some level of inheritance around athletic excellence and athletic interest.  However, I do notice his height (Cheung is 6 ft 4 in) is rather an anomaly as he’s much taller than either of his parents; but perhaps there’s a grand or even great-grandparent who has exceptional physical build, that unfortunately I cannot verify….

Siobhan Haughey, four-time Olympic medalist / swimmer representing Hong Kong, on the other hand, has a paternal grandfather who served as the Taoiseach (equivalent to a country’s president/prime minister!) in Ireland four times - that’s some level of success running in the family albeit in an entirely different arena!

A second factor that Girard attributes to success is however, more personal.  He said, “Only a small number of children from privileged social groups achieve true success.  In order to succeed, a ‘special quality’ is necessary.  This quality is derived from the individual’s natural talents and ambition sustains it…”

It is this second factor of success that astrologers have discovered a link between one’s astrology chart and one’s destiny.   So what are some traits that make up a sports champion?  I think most would agree that just having the right physical build for a certain sport is not enough, having the psychological strength to deal with all the trials and tribulations of getting to the top are likely to be equally important.

In astrology, these traits can be generally represented by the planet Mars and Pluto, Mars is traditionally associated with our physical strength, self-directiveness and combativeness, while Pluto is associated with willpower, strategy and intuition. Not to my surprise, all three local Hong Kong Olympic medalists have one or the other of these two planets in aspects to the lunar nodes (see below for further explanation of this).

Mars, Pluto and the Lunar Nodes

For any type of success, the lunar nodes cannot be ignored.  In fact, the lunar nodes is one of my favourite and studied part of the chart as it just says so much about a person’s destiny and life path.  For your information, the lunar nodes are represented by the glyph that resembles a headphone (north node) and an upside down one (south node).

The node is the intersection between moon’s path around earth and earth’s elliptical orbit around the Sun – astrologers believe that this is the gateway through which souls incarnate into earth.  The South Node is supposed to represent the gifts, lessons and unfinished businesses we bring to this life from other lifetimes while the North Node shows us the path and direction we are meant to work and move towards in this lifetime.

When the lunar nodes make aspects to another planet in the astrology chart, that planet immediately becomes highlighted for the purpose of implying one’s sense of destiny and purpose.

Hong Kong Olympic Medalists Cheung Ka Long, Siobhan Haughey and Vivian Kong

We can find this in both Cheung Ka Long and Siobhan Haughey’s charts - their Mars are both in aspect to their North Nodes, implying strong physical strength, endurance and initiative. People born with these aspects can be highly self-driven, they are not content to wait for opportunities to land but instead will go out to make their own! In Cheung’s recent interview, he mentioned that he chose to pursue the path as a full-time athlete while he was in Form 4 studies, much against the wish of his mother who at that time didn’t think it was a good idea.

(Please note the birthtime of 12:00PM is false as birthtimes cannot be accurately ascertained online, therefore the house placements of all planets are incorrect but I do not need those information to make my analysis for the purpose of this article)

Note however, that the signs of their Mars are different; Cheung’s Mars is in Virgo while Siobhan’s Mars is in Sagittarius, which could suggest that their underlying motivation to win may be different, Virgo tends towards a nag for perfectionism and implies a drive to succeed through repetitive and relentless improvements; while the Sagittarius energy may be motivated by a love of adventure and the desire for growth and expansion.

On the other hand, female gold-medalist fencer Vivian Kong has her Mars in the sign of Aquarius without an obvious aspect to her lunar nodes; however, her nodes are aspected by Saturn and Pluto.  With Pluto being the planet of power and shadow; those with Pluto North Node configuration can display tremendous determination, stamina and willpower and are also believed to be masters of strategy - definitely saw such a display of talent with her ability to turn the tables after trailing 1:7 in her final combat for the gold medal during this year’s Olympic games!

Other well-known athletes I’m aware with who has this interesting Mars or Pluto North Node configuration include Simone Biles (American world champion female gymnast, her documentary is now on Netflix btw), Jessica Watson, the youngest girl ever to sail solo around the world (watch Netflix movie “True Spirit” if you don’t know who she is..) and well-known female Chinese springboard diving champion Guo Jingjing.

So if I have Mars or Pluto North Node, does that mean I will become a successful athlete?

Well, not necessarily, because for sure not everyone born with Pluto or Mars aspected to the North Node will become a successful athlete or an athlete at all! This same energy may be expressed in other life specialties. Also, other determining and critical factors like a person’s physical build, family background, country we grow up in etc etc., will all play a role in shaping the choices we make and the paths we forge for ourselves in life. Put simply, depending on everyone’s life circumstances, we may just choose to pursue different paths and apply those energies in different ways!

A lot more can also be said about all these wonderful athlete’s charts, but for now, I’ll keep the scope to Mars, Pluto and their nodes as a little introduction to what these chart points can mean.

Enjoy this wonderful Olympic Season - the first since the end of the Covid pandemic =)