I just watched the most amazing PBS documentary on Walt Disney. Those of you who know me will probably laugh or roll your eyes, knowing how much I love Disney and his movies. He truly was amazing, and his movies are an art form that will last through the ages, at least in my mind. Anyway, this documentary left me completely awe-inspired and determined to do something, to create a legacy of my own. So I turn to astrology and writing, of course!
What comes to mind when you hear “Disney”? The common household name has almost lost association with the man behind it, though he is still remembered today through his legacy of animated movie classics. Walt Disney was quite a character. He was a master of creative ideas. He had vision, drive, and a deep-seeded fear of failure.
While I was watching this documentary, within the first few minutes of it I was already captivated and curious of his natal chart. I had my theories – he was obviously driven, and had the determination to get things done, suggesting in my mind that he had a very strong Capricorn aspect in his chart. (I later found when I looked up his natal chart, that Capricorn is in fact his dominant.) Yet he had the playful energy of a strong fire sign. I kept thinking Aries might be his AC, due to his high-arching eyebrows and long nose and face shape. However, his Ascendant is in Virgo. I was surprised by this, but after reflecting more on the documentary, I realized that many interviews had described him as coming off as anxious – he would be tapping his thumbs and fingers on the desk in meetings, chain-smoking while the gears in his head were always turning. Virgo is a very critical sign related to the nervous system, so in his case, his fear of failure and his constant nervous activity could be related to this.
But I was right about the playful fire-sign energy! His sun sign is Sagittarius, and he’s very strongly influenced by his sun in his outward appearance. Sagittarius is also very dominant in my own chart, and all the Sagittarius people I know have a similar energy. They’re often reserved or somewhat nonchalant, but also are very playful mentally, and can show amazing active energy when need be. They are innocent and sweet-hearted souls with a passion for learning and teaching.
For a visual aid, here is Walt Disney’s natal chart, compliments of AstroTheme.com (GREAT website for anyone interested in astrology!)
His chart is very bucket-shaped, with the handle reaching up to the MC and Pluto/Neptune. Disney’s dominant signs are Capricorn, Sagittarius, and Gemini; and his dominant planets are Mercury, Neptune, and Pluto.
I particularly find it interesting that so much is centered around Mercury, the planet of communication, ideas, and generally quick-thinking. Specifically his Midheaven, relating to the career and outward public appearance. Also conjunct his Midheaven are Neptune and Pluto, which brings up his desire to tell stories relating to fantasy and nature, and thus giving us the dream-like worlds he created through his artistic communication abilities. See how I tied Neptune and the MC together like that? Cool, huh? Now watch me add Pluto into the mix.
Pluto is in his 9th house, corresponding to Sagittarius, which is ruled by Jupiter. This represents an expansive desire to learn. Sagittarius is the “eternal student,” essentially. Gemini learns in quick snippets – think that person always on the move that might watch the news here and there, but relies mainly on word of mouth for their knowledge. Sagittarius dives into the full experience. Sagittarius learns by doing, and with this placement of Pluto, he dives extra deep into his passions. Pluto represents life and death, sex, and the deeper issues that may lie underneath. Disney was known for bringing to attention issues of the human condition and aspects of life in America through his animation, usually very subtly through symbolism, or word-play. Disney knew exactly how to communicate deep emotions and fantastic stories.
With his Moon in Libra, Disney was a complicated emotional person. He tried to come off as happy and even-tempered, though he really was only that way half the time. Libra is the balancing scales, equal sides of yin and yang. Opposites meeting and balancing. Balancing his emotions (traditionally the Moon is the emotional self, the unconscious, the feminine side, mystery…) was hard for Disney. He was so full of them, with his Moon placed in his first house, relating to Aries. When I’m looking at houses in relation to what’s involved in said houses, I learned a trick somewhere along the way in my studying. I simply can’t remember where I read/picked this up, so forgive me for not citing this. But the houses are all aspects of the self. In order of the zodiac, starting with Aries, we read, “I am…I have…I think…I feel…I do…I serve…I love..” and so on and so forth. There’s a whole list of correspondences for all the signs, but here’s an idea.
I’ll probably use this image a lot on my blog, as I find it incredibly helpful for reference!
SO! Back to Disney! His first house is where his Moon is positioned. Moon being emotions, first house saying “I am___”, his first house reads to me as “I am emotions.” But his Ascendant starts out his first house in Virgo, quickly transitioning into Libra, leading me to believe that he calculated his deep emotions, and maybe tried to restrict them, but in the end, they served (again, key word for Virgo is service) him as incredible fuel for his career. He turned them into the ideas that shaped his work.
Disney also comes off as quite the work-a-holic. He was known for working long hours, dedicating much of his time to his animation ideas, working to make his dreams a reality. Again, his Midheaven conjunct with Neptune, planet of dreams and fantasy, that makes sense. His career and his dreams are directly linked. With his Pluto also closeby, a sign of dedicated studious depth, and Saturn/Mars/Jupiter in Capricorn, opposite all this at the Midheaven, you end up with one determined-as-hell man.
Disney had a very deep fear of failure when it came to his business ventures. The documentary described it as likely being related to his father. His chart also describes it as being linked to his father and his early home. His Saturn, Mars and Jupiter are all in Capricorn in his 4th house. The 4th house is associated with Cancer and the Moon – relating to motherhood, the household, and nurturing. This house being right in Capricorn, the “fatherly” sign of stern restriction and dedication, along with Mars and Saturn, puts high emphasis on restrictive action, and is even more emphasized with Jupiter in the mix, the planet of expansion. It seems all his life he had an internal conflict going on, thinking, “Am I good enough? Or am I a failure, like dad?” His father had such an influence on him, constantly uprooting the family to move from place to place after all of his business ideas had failed. Walt saw his father’s failure and it scared him. He did not want to end up like his father, so as a result, he was very determined with his creative work. He worked hard and he was good at it.
Moving slightly over to his 3rd house, represented by Mercury and Gemini – symbolic of childhood life and siblings – Walt’s 3rd house begins in Scorpio, an intense and tricky sign, but also passionate and deeply loving. It transitions into Sagittarius, where Walt’s Sun is, conjunct Uranus, with Mercury lingering back in Scorpio. Walt had many siblings – he was one of 4 boys and 5 total children. He was very close in particular with his brother Roy, who became a loyal business partner in his animation quest for a long time. Roy brought out Walt’s true self, and he knew Walt’s true self. They discussed business plans, creative ideas, and Roy advised Walt very often financial situations, becoming his business partner/manager when they formed Disney brothers animation company. His brother Roy was an essential part of his success, shown in his chart by the ties to the Sun and Mercury and his Midheaven area.
So here we have a rough overview of Disney’s natal chart! Hope this has been as informative for you reading as it has been for me doing the research and writing it!
Keep an eye out, I’ll likely get further into Walt Disney’s chart including asteroids soon – obviously the man is of interest to me – but for now it’s late and I’m getting on a bus at 6am so no time for that!
I’ll end this post with an image of Disney and his classic character creation, Mickey Mouse. Mickey is in many ways an extension of Walt that will live on forever as living, breathing art that playfully touched our childhood hearts. Think of it this way: Mickey embodies the Sagittarius-energetic, silly, and sometimes troublesome, Capricorn-determined, and successful spirit of Disney.
Kiki's Astrology 