No doubt about it; Steve Jobs was a genius who did, indeed, change the world. His chart shoots down some old myths of interpretation about astrology but verifies others. He was born on February 24, 1955 at 7:15 pm in San Francisco. We know now that he was adopted and that his biological parents did not keep him because his father was Syrian, and his mother’s family did not approve. Jobs did not respond to his father’s repeated attempts to contact him, right up to the end. The ruler of the tenth, which I’ve come to agree is the parent of the same sex as the child, is ruled by Mercury. Mercury is square Saturn. Saturn is also considered the father in anyone’s chart, and it is square Pluto in fixed signs. This shows non-communication and power struggles with all father figures (or authority in general), and most likely applies to his adopted father, as well.
One of the myths of astrology is that Mercury square Saturn is “not too bright.” You’ll find judgments like that in older texts. I ran across it first in the Rosicrucian astrology course and searched further because I was born with Mercury retrograde conjunct Saturn in the 12th house, and read that I was probably retarded!! I actually made straight A’s. (One wonders how to make a grade A plural since the apostrophe shows possession, but without it, it is the word, “as.”) Well, we know that Jobs had a retrograde Mercury, and it was square Saturn, so that myth goes out the window. His Mercury is actually rather weak when compared to other indicators. However, it is the chart ruler. When the chart ruler is in the fifth house, the drive of the person is toward creativity with an urge to stand out, to be special in some way. In Aquarius, it can easily be inventive and inclined toward electronics or future-oriented creativity. The square to Saturn just indicates that he learns by ‘doing,’ that he has to have solid evidence and hands-on experience while learning. It also indicates that he has to know the basic premise behind anything he is trying to understand. He isn’t a “memorizer.” He builds, which is what Saturn does. Everything has to have a logical purpose. The square of Saturn to Pluto shows hard work, perseverance and obsession. Since those two rule the fifth and third, then it would be obsession about his creative (5th) ideas (3rd).
In an early interview, the writer made much of his temper and “in your face” attitude. That comes from Moon and Mars in Aries…and especially Mars in the 8th house, which is extremely private and determined. He wanted only the best (Virgo rising and Sun in the 6th) and was a perfectionist with very little patience with mediocrity.
Mars is important in this chart because it is part of a configuration involving Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. His Uranus/Jupiter conjunction shows originality and ability to expand on unique ideas; the fact that it is trine Saturn shows he can bring those ideas down to practical application. This is a traditional interpretation that has been verified many times. It would have been a moot, generational thing if not for the Mars, which personalizes it and allows him to USE his ideas. Neptune (ruler of the seventh) is opposing Mars, and shows vision for the public (7th)—maybe even some psychic ability. However, it is also a bit deceptive, which can explain how he could cheat his first partner out of several hundred dollars early on.
When he died, solar arc Neptune was exactly, to the minute, quincunx Uranus. Quincunxes are separative, and since Uranus rules his sixth house, and Neptune the seventh, we could say his spirit separated from his public life, his work and his illness—and isn’t that what death is? Plus the Moon was in between squaring Mars and Neptune, and Neptune was in between a trine and sextile to them. More than likely, he was unconscious at the end and the passing was easy. Solar arc Pluto was five minutes past trining the MC. Mars, ruler of the 8th and natally occupying it, was just minutes from sextile Pluto—more indications of an easy passing.