John F. Kennedy’s BaZi: Xin Metal Ringed by Officer and Seven Killings

When John F. Kennedy was born, the family clock read three in the afternoon; today every clock in the house where he was born is stopped at three. The chart comes out as Ding-Si, Yi-Si, Xin-Wei, Bing-Shen: Xin Metal (the fine metal of jewels) born in early summer, with Seven Killings (Ding Fire) and Direct Officer (Bing Fire) showing on the stems and more Direct Officer hidden in the two Si Fire branches. In BaZi, Officer and Seven Killings stand for power, institutions, pressure and crisis. A chart ringed by them, belonging to a man elected US president at 43, is the most “on topic” chart in this series. But we will also be clear about the places where it does not fit.

Birth data: a family account, and clocks stopped at three

The United States first adopted daylight saving time in 1918, so in May 1917 there is no hour to take off. Brookline lies nearly 4 degrees east of the Eastern time zone’s standard meridian (75° W), so the true Sun runs about 18 minutes ahead of the clock, which gives 15:18. “Three o’clock sharp” looks a little like a rounded time, and three o’clock is exactly the boundary between the Wei and Shen hours, so we also cast all twelve hours:

11 of the twelve hours read balanced, and most favor Earth, Water and Metal. Even if he was actually born in the Wei hour, the overall direction would not change. Below, the Shen hour is the main chart.

The Four Pillars and the Ten Gods

Our strength engine scores being in season, roots, exposed stems, Resource and companions against Wealth, Officer and Output: below 0.35 reads weak, above 0.55 reads strong.

The score is 0.417: balanced. Xin Metal is out of season, but the day branch Wei Earth is Resource, the hour branch Shen Metal is a root, and the Si branches hide Geng Metal and Wu Earth, so it holds up. The favorable elements are Earth (Resource), Water (Output) and Metal (companions); the unfavorable ones are Wood (Wealth) and Fire (Officer and Seven Killings).

On climate (tiao hou), an early-summer chart runs hot and dry, and our engine flags it as “hot and dry, short of Water; needs Water to moisten the chart.” In this chart Water is Output, standing for expression, eloquence and talent, and it is also what the chart lacks most.

Three key features of the chart

1. Officer and Seven Killings both showing: Direct Officer stands for institutions, standing and legitimacy; Seven Killings for power, nerve and crisis. When both show, the classics call it “mixed Officer and Killings” and traditionally see many sources of pressure and a complicated situation. But it is common in the charts of politicians and soldiers, whose work is dealing with power and crisis. Kennedy went from naval officer to congressman, senator and president, and in office faced the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is hard to find a life more full of Officer and Seven Killings.
2. The Officer star combining with the self: the hour stem Bing Fire (Direct Officer) comes to combine with the Day Master, exactly as in Marilyn Monroe’s chart; both are Xin Metal, both have the Bing–Xin combination. The classics read the Officer star combining with the self as “standing and status come looking for you”.
3. The Yi–Xin clash: the month stem Yi Wood (Indirect Wealth) clashes with the Day Master. Among the Ten Gods, Indirect Wealth stands for the father and for large, moving money; his father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., was a tycoon and political figure who mapped out his sons’ path into politics and shaped them profoundly. This is a parallel, not a verdict.

Luck pillars: one step every ten years

For a man born in a yin year (the year stem Ding is yin), the luck pillars run backwards, starting at age 9.

“fav / unfav” reads the stem first, then the branch: whether each one’s element is favorable (useful), unfavorable, or neither (neutral) for this chart.

The two luck pillars before that, Gui-Mao and Ren-Yin, have the same structure: a Water stem (Output, favorable) over a Wood branch (Wealth, unfavorable). Output stands for talent and performance, and in these years he published a book, became a war hero and won elections on his speeches and his image. Wealth is unfavorable: the family fortune bankrolled his campaigns on the one hand and was a constant target for his opponents on the other.

The Xin-Chou luck pillar from 1955, with Xin Metal (Friend) on the stem and Chou Earth (Indirect Resource) on the branch, is favorable in both stem and branch, the first entirely favorable luck pillar of his life. In it he won the Pulitzer Prize and, at 43, became the youngest person ever elected president of the United States.

Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, aged only 46, within this same entirely favorable luck pillar. We do not use BaZi to discuss death or accidents, and that holds for every chart in this series; and precisely because of this, a favorable luck pillar can only say whether the chart is comfortable. It cannot guarantee anything.

Some key years

In 1960, a Geng-Zi year, the stem Geng Metal is Rob Wealth and the branch Zi Water is Eating God, so luck pillar and year pillar are favorable in every stem and branch. Zi Water is the climate element he lacks most, and it is also Output, standing for eloquence and performance; that year, in the first televised debate in history, his calm, camera-ready performance turned the race, and he won by a narrow margin. 1943, a Gui-Wei year, is also entirely favorable: he survived an accident at sea and became a hero. We list these parallels and do not take them further.

Where does the chart miss his real life?

Zi Wei Dou Shu chart

The same birth time, cast in Zi Wei Dou Shu (San He school, the same engine as our Zi Wei chart tool, using the same true solar time as the BaZi chart above). BaZi weighs the five elements and what the chart favors; Zi Wei looks at which stars fall in which palace. The two systems ask different questions, so the Zi Wei chart is shown on its own first, followed by where it agrees and disagrees with the BaZi reading.

The gold frame is the Life Palace; the shaded palaces are its three-sides-and-four-directions (Wealth, Career, Travel). Solid badges are the birth-year transformations (Lu, Quan, Ke, Ji), red names are the six malefic stars, and the small word after a major star is its brightness.

Kennedy’s Life Palace holds Tian Tong (in the You palace), and Tian Tong carries the Quan transformation right there in the Life Palace. Tian Tong is the star of good fortune: mild-tempered, well liked, knows how to enjoy life. Quan gives this gentle star extra command and decisiveness. That is very much the impression he gave: relaxed, funny, at ease on camera, yet able to make the call when it counted. The Body Palace falls in the Career Palace, which holds Tian Ji with the Ke transformation. Tian Ji is strategy and Ke is reputation and a gift for words; he won a Pulitzer Prize for Profiles in Courage and is remembered for his speeches, so this palace reads well. The Wealth Palace holds Ju Men with the Ji transformation. Ji in the Wealth Palace of a man born into a very rich family looks like a poor fit; but it can also be read as “money matters that come with talk and controversy”, and his family’s fortune and his father’s political donations were a constant line of attack for his opponents. Both readings are hindsight.

For school, leap-month and Zi-hour settings see the Zi Wei chart page; for how the two systems differ see BaZi vs Zi Wei Dou Shu. The hindsight warning applies here too: once you know the outcome, any star can be made to explain it.

Western astrology chart

The same moment of birth, cast as a Western natal chart (tropical zodiac, Placidus houses, the same engine as our natal chart tool). A natal chart uses the sky at the moment of birth, so it needs no true-solar-time correction, but it does need the latitude of the birthplace to fix the Ascendant and the houses. BaZi and Zi Wei are both derived from the Chinese calendar, while a natal chart computes planetary positions directly. Because the three systems start from different places, the chart is listed on its own below, followed by where it agrees with the BaZi and Zi Wei readings.

Libra rising: charming, and good at showing poise in public. Kennedy was the first presidential candidate to win a televised debate, and his image was itself political capital. The chart ruler Venus and the Sun are both in Gemini in the 8th house. Gemini is eloquence and communication, while the 8th house is crisis, power and shared resources, and this is the center of gravity of the whole chart. (Astrological tradition also links the 8th house with life and death; this site does not read life and death from a chart.) Saturn is in the 10th house (career) and in its detriment, traditionally read as a career that carries heavy pressure, with power that comes with trials. BaZi reads him as balanced Xin Metal surrounded by Officer and Seven Killings, again a structure hemmed in by responsibility and power; the two systems say much the same thing.

Domicile, exaltation, fall and detriment in brackets are the classical categories for how comfortably a planet works in a sign; they are not verdicts of good or bad. For how to read the big three, the ten planets and aspects, see rising sign, Moon sign, the ten planets and aspects. The hindsight warning applies here too: once you know the outcome, any sign can be made to explain it.

How much Officer and Seven Killings is in your chart?

The four pillars, strength score and luck pillars on this page all come from the same engine as the chart on our home page. Enter your birth date to see whether Direct Officer or Seven Killings shows on your stems, whether your Day Master can carry them, and which elements are favorable for you. For how to read a chart heavy in Officer and Seven Killings, follow the further reading below.