A Star Chart for Sylvia Plath’s Birthday

Sylvia Plath was born on October 27 and somehow she always enters my thoughts around this time of year.... Last year what would have been her 75th birthday was marked with an academic symposium at Oxford; on her birthday this year, I came across her natal astrological chart online, purporting to explain the trends of her life and her ultimate end in suicide by the positions of the planets at her birth. It turns out Plath is a common choice of online astrologers posting charts of famous people — there is even a long discussion among astrologers about the interactions between Sylvia Plath’s and Ted Hughes’ charts, at Astrodatabank. (I’m no expert, not even much of a believer in astrology — to learn more about it, visit Molly Hall’s About.com Astrology guidesite.)

More on Sylvia Plath:
Thinking about Sylvia Plath as the winter darkness comes on
Our biographical profile of Plath, with links to buy her books
“On the Decline of Oracles,” audio recording of her reading