Chris Mccandless’s Chart Interpretation

Chris Mccandless’s Chart Interpretation

I decided to do a quick chart interpretation of Chris Mccandless.  If you haven't read the book Into the Wild which is about him, this chart interpretation won't be as interesting.  It's really interesting to point out that the book relates to his chart quite a bit.  This is also a pretty average interpretation and I probably missed a lot.

So the first thing I’d like to point out about Chris Mccandless is that his Sun is in the zodiac sign Aquarius.  In other words, he is an Aquarius when you look at astrology from a basic perspective.  You know how when you ask someone, “What’s your sign?”  That’s his sign.  The Sun sign is your general personality.  So for Chris, because his sign is in Aquarius, he’s going to be rebellious at heart, a natural innovator, and super intelligent.  Aquarius’s are the water bearer.  They always have ideas that are profound and way beyond their time.  McCandless’s Rising sign (AC), which is the beginning point of the first house, is in Gemini.  The rising tells you how someone appears.  Having a Rising in Gemini makes someone appear intelligent.  Learning and exchanging ideas is the role they take on life.  McCandless probably read a lot of books, or appreciated learning in general.  Socially, he probably couldn’t sit in one conversation too long without getting bored.

Moving on, his Mercury is also in the sign of Aquarius.  Mercury represents the mind, so not only is his personality aquarian-like, but he also thinks like an Aquarius.  Jupiter, in his chart, is in the 4th house.  Jupiter represents expansion, and philosophical thinking and the Forth House represents the home or the deepest parts of yourself.  So, Jupiter in the 4th House basically means that a lot of his energy will be focused on inner spirituality. Jupiter here indicates a wealthy background, too.

Now what starts to get interesting, is that he has his Sun and Mercury opposing Jupiter.  An opposition between planets is a harsh aspect, which can cause conflict within someone’s personality or life.  Having his Jupiter opposite Sun and Mercury indicates a couple of things.  First thing, this probably made him believe that he could do anything.  Jupiter expanded his Sun (personality) to the point where he felt like he would be safe no matter what he did.  At the beginning of the book, it mentioned that people thought he was crazy or narcissistic and this could be why.  Most narcissists believe they can do anything, but I’m not saying he’s narcissistic at all.  His confidence was just way beyond.  The second thing this indicates is that he was trying to find himself somehow.  His ego has been skewed from his spirituality and so he needed to find it somehow.  Lastly, this could simply indicate depression.

His Sun, Mercury, and Jupiter alone are all being squared by neptune.  A square is a negative aspect too.  Neptune, negatively, can indicate delusion.  It can also indicate very vivid dreams and fantasies that feel like they will never be achieved.  McCandless needed to find this idealized spirituality, which only made him want to push harder to find them.

This next part will be a bit of a mouthful, but looking at his 11th house, he has, Mars, Chiron, and Saturn.  The 11th house represents society and people.  Saturn here indicates isolation and loneliness.  Saturn is a restrictive planet.  McCandless most likely felt disconnected from people.  Mars is the way someone takes actions and expresses anger.  So, he probably was mad at society in general, but in a passive-aggressive way because it’s in the sign Pisces.  His Mars conjuncts (next to) Chiron in the 11th house opposing Uranus and Pluto in the 5th house.  The 5th House is like someones hobbies or creative pursuits.  Chiron is where someones deepest pain is.  Connecting with society or living like society was a nuisance.  The Mars opposite Uranus tells you that he was a very risky person.  Uranus represents sudden events.  Mccandless probably many sudden actions in life.  Pluto opposing Mars indicates actions taken that are secretive, power-driven, or death related.

Okay, so in a nutshell this means, he was confident, delusional and innovative enough to take the path he chose without really considering the consequences.  Combined with his desire for deeper sense within and aquarian nature, it makes a lot of sense why he just decided to journey into the wild far away from society.  He wanted to find a true purpose.  I’m really sorry to talk about his death, but the actions he took to journey into the wild (mars) were risky and out of the blue, such as giving away all his money and burning his possessions (uranus).  He took these actions in secret which ended up leading to his death.  He left without any of his family knowing and then he was finally discovered after he died nineteen days later (pluto).

It’s also interesting to note, that he has his Sun conjuncting his Midheaven (MC).  The Midheaven is someones public image.  The way in which large groups of people see you and how you affect them.  This makes a lot of sense because a lot of people learned about him and his story after he died, making him a rather public person.  Many people who have conjunctions to the MC or have a lot of planets in the 10th House are always on the news or seen by large amounts of people.

I realize that this was a rather negative interpretation and I’m sorry if I was offensive at all, but I just wanted to explain in the detail the things that really caught my eye.  There’s a lot more about his chart, but this is the gist of it.   He has many marvelous qualities in his chart that I have not mentioned and he’s, without a doubt, one of the most interesting and intelligent people I’ve learned about.