I just found out David Tennant hates astrology with a passion!I’m devastated. It was only when he became the tenth Doctor Who that I got right back into a show I hadn’t watched since being a small child in the 1970’s. Back then I watched mostly from behind the sofa, as it seemed the only safe place once those Daleks arrived. It was a show that became the source of countless childhood nightmares (oh, that theme music!), but then I grew up to be an astrologer much in love with all things of star and space and fell for this Tennant Time Lord incarnation immediately. I rejoiced in the weekly triumph of Geek Chic over all manner of monsters and scary folk, armed only with a sonic screwdriver, a winning smile, and the kind of confidence and optimism born from the conscious memory of nine previous lifetimes. What can I say, he’s my kind of guy.
It’s surely a measure of his skill as an actor that I’m confusing fantasy and reality in such matters, but now I find David Tennant hates astrology I’m all shattered dreams and disappointment. I won’t ever be able to ask for an autograph in case he shoos me away sternly, and sadly my hero now seems to be angrily aiming that sonic screwdriver directly at me from my favourite Who wallpaper. In the most intolerable twist of fate imaginable, being an astrologer means I’ve actually become one of Dr Who’s monsters.
And I’m making it all worse for myself because I can’t help thinking the whole thing reeks of his sun in Aries nature. Yes, Tennant’s an Aries. Surely no surprise there. Only an Aries could spit nails on a subject without having researched it first. But maybe that’s just my Moon in Aries instantly assuming he hasn’t. Whatever, I’m now on a galactic quest in search of the astrology of Dr Who. I need to soothe my soul the best way I know…
The Tom Baker Connection
Legend has it that back in the 70’s, when Tom Baker was caretaker of the Dr role, (he of the long scarf and wide-eyed grin), while I was quivering uneasily behind the sofa armed only with Sindy dolls and a Spacehopper to see off those Cybermen, elsewhere a wee Tennant was so thrilled by Baker’s performance, he made a decision there and then that acting was his destiny. In true sci-fi plot style, it turns out Dr Who literally inspired a future incarnation of Dr Who. And if astrology is doing its job properly, it’s going to show up in a birth chart comparison of both actors. David Tennant born 18th April 1971, Bathgate, West Lothian
Tom Baker born 20th January 1934, Liverpool, England
I don’t have birth times for either Baker or Tennant (and am too nervy of a brusque response from my hero to write and enquire further), but just a Googled birthdate and a midday birth time is enough info to bring up a chart showing a number of fascinating astro aspects between the pair, including a Sun/Moon conjunction, and a Sun square Sun aspect. Both are significant indicators of strong links between two charts, but there was also another aspect that got my attention: the North Node of the Moon, which is famous for being an indicator of destiny in a chart. Both actors share North node in Aquarius, just a couple of degrees apart at 19 and 21 degrees. It takes around 19 years to return to its starting point in a cycle, so a strong link like this to another chart isn’t something that happens everyday.
An argument often thrown at astrology in an attempt to invalidate it is that all children of David Tennant’s age had this aspect, but not all went on to become Dr Who. But trying to be detail specific when it comes to destiny is missing the point, as astrology speaks strongest about shared wavelengths and similarity of energies (symbolised by the planets, signs, etc), which spark an individual resonance or recognition, tuning-fork fashion; in this case like an acorn in the presence of an oak tree recognising the potential blueprint held within.
Hotspots
Astrologers look for patterns in charts and between charts, and these patterns can run on like a connecting thread, spanning generations and events. Widening the search to join the dots, I looked at the chart for the first ever Doctor Who series, (first aired 23rd November, 1963, 17.15pm). The Sun (identity) had just moved into the first minutes of the sign of Sagittarius, just the right symbol for the nomadic adventurer spirit that characterises the soul of the The Doctor. Moon was conjunct Saturn at 17 degrees of Aquarius (Saturn is the planet associated with time and authority, and therefore Time Lords - check out his funky retro spaceship for a true Saturn symbol).
This 17 degree Aquarius point was cosily close enough to Baker and Tennant's shared North Node degrees to suggest this area might be a hotspot between Dr Who related charts, in which I could expect to see planets and angles repeatedly cropping up. It’s oh so difficult without birth times to get an accurate picture of who might have what at that hotspot, but soldiering on, I looked at info for writer Russell T Davis (27th April 1963), and found he had Saturn at 22 degrees of Aquarius (in exact dynamic 90 degree aspect to David Tennant’s Saturn in Taurus, btw).
The original Dr Who series ran from 1963 to 1989, then returned to tv screens on 26th March 2005, thanks to the genius of Russell T Davis's brilliant writing. Scanning the classic series last episode chart (6th December 1989) for any sign of action on those hotspot Aquarius degrees showed the North Node back at 19 Aquarius; while the new series in 2005 had Neptune (imagination) at 17 Aquarius.
I could have gone on and on with the Aquarius trail, as more clues were everywhere, but it was dinner time and the washing machine needed reloading, unfortunately signalling my journey through time and space had to draw to a close for now. However there was just time to check the United Kingdom chart (1st Jan 1801), because when something like Dr Who is taken to the hearts of the nation in such a huge way, it’s going to be seen resonating with the UK chart strongly too. And along with some other great aspects to the charts, I found the UK's Venus (relationship and value) to be located at 17 Aquarius.
I’ve concentrated on those aspects between 17 and 22 Aquarius here, but there’s plenty more I haven’t mentioned. No doubt plenty more I couldn’t see because of thumbnail sketch birth details. I can imagine many people might not see a meaningful connection between a bunch of numbers and a few charts, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s these kinds of collective ‘coincidence’ patterns that reveal the true nature of astrology. Because real astrology is more about patterns than predictions, more about free will than fate, and turns out to have more in common with a Time Lord than with a Mystic Meg. Forget the touch and feel clockwork universe that sceptics get so panicky about questioning; now that it’s all mandelbrots and fractals there's plenty of room in that weird old world of quantum chaos for astrology to exist quite happily without causing any damaging ripples at all in the fabric of the space-time continuum, as a result of rocking that boat of accepted reality.
Read this article here for an insight into how astrology and strange but true weird science now sit comfortably side by side.
