I have prepared a rectification of Julian Assange’s birth time that I think has a lot of merit and potential. Julian Assange was born on July 3, 1971 in Townsville, Queensland, Australia (official birth time unknown).
We always start the rectification process by finding a strong starting point with a sign on the Ascendant. After researching many articles and interviews with Assange, I felt two very strong possibilities for his Rising sign: Aquarius or Sagittarius.
Assange has been described as: tall and lanky, nomadic, cynical, strange, elusive, cautious, paranoid, highly intellectual, maverick, altruistically motivated, charming but cautious, forgetful and masking details about his life.
This description provides strong corroboration for the Sagittarius ascendant, colored by its ruler Jupiter in Scorpio sitting in the 12th house and receiving a close conjunction of natal Neptune. In addition, Assange’s Moon in Scorpio would also fall in the 12th house, a perfect location for a man who works “behind the scenes.” The natal Sun would be situated in the eighth house reinforcing your elusive nature and elusive personality. That was enough to convince me of a solid starting point for the birth time rectification process.
Now I had to find unequivocal corroboration of the solar arcs and the transits of the outer planets to the angles of the horoscope (or to the natal Sun or Moon) during major life events. Everything has to fit together throughout the course of your life. The horoscope needs to sing from birth throughout the present.
Assange was born into domestic turmoil. A childhood and lifestyle quite described as Tom Sawyer. No mention of his biological father. Within the first 6 months of her life in 1971, her bohemian single mother moved with Julian to Magnetic Island in Australia. As she described, “living in a bikini and going native with my baby and other moms on the island.”
Working from my proposed birth time of 3:01 PM (Ascendant 2 Sagittarius 16, Midheaven 20 Leo 13), transiting Neptune was conjunct the Ascendant and transiting Saturn was opposite the Ascendant in 1971, with the Solar Arc ( SA) Saturn opposite the Ascendant (exact February 1972).
Shortly after his first birthday (approximately around August/September 1972; exact date unknown), his mother married SA Midheaven opposite Mars (November 1972) and SA Neptune conjunct Ascendant (February 1973).
Four years later, in 1976 (4 or 5 years), the family moved back to Magnetic Island with Jupiter SA conjunct the Ascendant (Sept 1976).
In 1979, at the age of 8, her mother left her husband to start a tumultuous relationship with a musician. The Secondary Progressed (SP) Moon opposed the Midheaven, and transiting Uranus was square the Midheaven in 1979.
This new relationship gave birth to a baby boy (born c. 1980 or 1981), however, in 1982, when Julián was 11 years old, the relationship with the musician ended. Julian’s mother was afraid that her father would take the baby from her, so she told Julian, “Now we have to disappear.” They went into hiding in 1982 (they returned to Magnetic Island again) and lived on the run for the next 5 years. In 1982, the SA Midheaven was square Neptune, SA Mars was square the Ascendant, and transiting Uranus was conjunct the Ascendant.
In 1987, they stopped living on the run. After his 16th birthday in 1987, Julian began his early professional life “hacking” computers with transiting Pluto conjunct his Moon in Scorpio.
In 1989, at the age of 17, Julian fell in love with a sixteen-year-old girlfriend, they moved together in a squatters’ syndicate in Melbourne, until they found out she was pregnant (April 1989). When Julian was 18 years old in 1989, they were married in an unofficial ceremony and gave birth to a son on January 26, 1990 in Melbourne. Transiting Neptune and transiting Saturn opposed Julian’s natal Sun throughout 1989.
Problems arose on September 29, 1991 when Julian was arrested for hacking into computers. Over the next few months in 1991, his wife took her child and left Julian. The following year, in 1992, Julian pleaded guilty to the charges and was found. It is also reported that he had an emotional breakdown, fell into a depression, and was hospitalized in 1992. In 1991 and 1992, transiting Pluto squared the Midheaven for a prolonged transit. Transiting Uranus opposed his natal Sun in 1991.
In 1993 and 1994 Julian was working as a computer programmer in Melbourne. The following year, in 1995, Julian wrote “Strobe”, a free open source port scanner. Also in December 1995 he was arrested and fined again. The Moon of the Solar Arc was in conjunction with Neptune in the 12th house (exact August 1995). Transiting Pluto was approaching in conjunction with his Ascendant (first exact strike January 10, 1996).
Beginning in 1997 (ultimate success, tr. Pluto conjunct the Ascendant), Assange co-invented the deniable Rubberhose encryption system. Originally, he intended the system to be used “as a tool for human rights workers who needed to protect sensitive data in the field.” Transiting Uranus was square the Moon, and the SA Moon was conjunct the Ascendant.
In 1999 (27/28 years old), after a lengthy custody battle for the last seven years, Julian finally reached a child custody agreement with his wife in court. It was also in 1999, that Julian registered the domain name, leaks.org, although he did not start anything with it at that time. SA Mercury was in conjunction with the Midheaven. Transiting Saturn opposed your Moon.
Shortly after settling the custody court cases, her hair (which had been dark brown) began to lose its color and turned prematurely gray. Assange was burned out and riding a motorcycle through Vietnam, working various jobs to earn money as a computer consultant to support his son. In 2000, transiting Uranus opposed his Midheaven, SP Moon conjunct his Ascendant, and SA Uranus conjunct his Moon.
From 2003 to 2006, Julian studied physics and mathematics at the University of Melbourne, though he never graduated.
It was in 2006 that he began to formulate his ideas for WikiLeaks, barricading himself in a house near the university to begin work. WikiLeaks launched in December 2006 by publishing its first document with SP Luna opposite Midheaven, and transiting Saturn conjunct Midheaven.
In 2007, he left Australia permanently and went to Kenya for several months. Assange claims to have changed the 2007 Kenyan presidential election by exposing corruption at the highest levels. While in Kenya, staying inside a guarded compound in Nairobi, six armed men entered the compound but fled when Assange began yelling alerting the security team. He was sure they were after him, as he says “there was no one else worth visiting in the compound.” Transiting Neptune opposed his Midheaven throughout 2007.
In 2009, he received Amnesty International UK’s Media Award for his work in Kenya. SA Sun opposite Node (October 2008), SA Uranus square Node (December 2009).
On March 30, 2010, he moved to Iceland, where he rented a house to run his operation. In April 2010, the most explosive leak from him: a secret video filmed by a US attack helicopter of Iraqi civilians murdered in cold blood. SA The Midheaven was in conjunction with Pluto (exact March 2010).
In June 2010, Pentagon officials were trying to find his whereabouts with the SA Ascendant square Uranus (July 2010). In November 2010, Interpol placed Assange on its red wanted list with the first hit of transiting Saturn square her Sun.
***
More corroboration for a birth time around 3:01 pm:
Natal Mars conjunct North Node in Aquarius, angular opposite Midheaven: “Assange preaches [Sagittarius Ascendant] a radical democracy that is taking online activism into new and uncharted territory.”
Natal Saturn in Gemini opposite his Ascendant: his youthful face, his premature gray hair, his cautious nature, his sense of humor, his communications business. His mother’s description of him as a child, taken from the Herald Sun newspaper, “He was a charming boy, very sensitive, good with animals, quiet and with a wicked sense of humour.”
Corroboration using Sabian Symbols, taken from Blain Bovee’s book, The Sabian Symbols & Astrological Analysis:
Ascendant 3 Sagittarius: “The ocean covered in whitecaps:”
“Apply this pair of degrees with a mind to awareness of deeper issues beneath the surface appearance; reasons for apparent generosity; suspicions of being duped. Beware of disguises. Be alert for anonymous gifting ; occult stealth; organizations wearing the hat of charity. A coup for detecting undercurrents”.
Midheaven 21 Leo: “Poisoned Chickens:”
“Dispelling notions of being the chosen one; Think about the effects of poison: One drop induces a healing crisis; Too much of the wrong poison really takes the life out of a dream, and sometimes literally takes the life out of it. Be alert for the Young, naive illusions; Mature, sober outlook; Matters sour; Matters rising beyond inhibitions.”
Moon 8 Scorpio: “The Moon shining across a lake:”
“To apply this couple of degrees with a mind to clever cunning to get around trouble; to win back lost business. Consider slippery stories; slippery slopes that can lead one into deep water; mere reflections of the truth; ahead of their time; ahead of the law; clever delays and detours; quick wit; finding forgotten treasures; smoothing friction; a moonlight state of mind.”
Julian Assange describes himself as the type of person who, according to him, “can hack into the most sophisticated computer system. But he can forget to show up for an interview. Or cancel at the last minute.” Sounds to me like a Sagittarius Ascendant with Neptune conjunct Ascendant ruler Jupiter in Scorpio in the 12th house.
Life events adjust to the proposed birth time, and the horoscope begins to sing.
© Copyright Lauren Delsack December 2010