Birthday Charts: Insights from MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Year

Associated Press, Copyright 1963

Have you ever wondered how astrology can reveal the themes and events that shape your year? In my latest video, I dive into the practical application of Solar Return charts (“Birthday” charts) and annual Profections—two powerful tools for understanding the cycles influencing your plans, priorities, and personal growth. Using Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" year as a case study, I’ll show you how these techniques can highlight key turning points and help you navigate the year ahead with more clarity and focus.

A Solar Return Reading on or near your birthday is a helpful way to prepare for the year ahead. These personalized readings offer grounded, actionable insights into the key themes and opportunities you can expect, helping you make the most of your time and energy. Click the link below to watch the video and learn more—and if you’re ready, book a Birthday reading to start your year with a clear plan and purpose.

Transcript

Hey y'all, this is Cathy Gnatek. I'd like to share a talk I gave last night at the Twin Cities Meetup on birthday charts. They're called Solar Return Charts, and I also talked about Profections—how you figure out what Profection year you're in. Profections and Solar Return Charts go kind of hand in hand. You'll see that in the video.

There's a cool example with Martin Luther King's chart from the year he gave—or his birthday year—when he gave the "I Have a Dream" speech. We could all use some of that energy right now. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. If you enjoy the video, like and subscribe. It helps folks find me. Have a great day.

I will try to keep this to maybe 15 minutes or so, so that we have plenty of time to talk. I might do a deeper dive on this later. I have found more and more Solar Return Charts to be very helpful. I've taken a deep dive in a separate class that I'm involved in—a group of people working through some ancient Hellenistic and medieval techniques on Solar Returns. Boy, they can give you a lot of interesting information.

I will use Martin Luther King's chart along with the year that he gave the "I Have a Dream" speech—the Solar Return Chart from that year—to show you some of the stuff you can see from a Solar Return Chart. Especially during years where it's a big year for us, they can really pop.

A Solar Return Chart is simply a chart that—it’s a birthday chart. It doesn’t necessarily have to happen on your birthday. It could be the day before, the day after, or the day of. It’s when the Sun returns to the point it was exactly when you were born. You see 28 degrees—I can’t read the minutes here—and the Sun takes 365 odd days (that’s why we have 360 degrees in a chart) to go around the entire chart and then return to the point you were born.

The inner wheel: if you look at a Solar Return Chart, you always, always, always need to connect it to the birth chart. If you read the Solar Return Chart on its own, as if it’s going to talk about what will happen to you the following year, that doesn’t work. Your birth chart is the grounding or the root chart for who you are. If you don’t have the potential—if your birth chart shows certain limitations or certain extra positive things for you—that’s always going to be the structure through which your astrology is expressed. The Solar Return Chart helps flavor that, helping you understand how it might express itself.

So, happy birthday! It’s on your birthday. It helps predict the energy of the next year.

To work with a Solar Return Chart, we will also look at what Profection year it is for you. That is, Lydia, when you were asking—when some folks were talking about, like I said, it’s a first house year for me. I can’t remember; somebody else said it was a 12th house year.

Every year, a super easy way to understand one part of the energy for you is to find out what year it is for you—what house year. From the age of zero to one is a first house year (see the ascendant, that’s the first house). From one to two is a second house year. From two to three is a third house year. From three to four is a fourth house year, and so on. Then we get to ages 11 to 12, the 12th house year. Then 12 to 13 is a first house year, and so on.

I just turned 60 in September—happy birthday—and I’m in a first house year again. It’s pretty easy. There’s a website, Astro-Seek.com, where you can pull up your birth chart. If you go under the traditional house calculator (it’s on the left and you hit that button), it will show you what Profection year you’re in. If you go to my YouTube channel, I did a 15-minute video that shows you how to use Astro-Seek to do that—or use it in general to pull up your birth chart, etc.

May I ask a question real quick? On March 13th, I turn 72. So will I be in my zero year then?

Yeah, exactly. That’s another way. You could figure it out just looking at this chart as well, but if you didn’t want to have to—yes, absolutely.

Oftentimes, 12th house years might be a little bit more difficult, although as we get older they’re not as difficult because we’ve lived through life and the ups and downs and stuff. But first house years can be pretty dynamic. My year has had its difficulties, but it’s also like a first house year can be about coming into your own because the first house has to do with who you are.

Lydia, also, and everyone, you could go back and look at the themes of what happened when you were 60, 48, and 36. No, I’m just saying—because I looked back. When I was 48, I gave a big presentation. It was a big deal for me, and the same thing happened this year. It was a big deal from feeling like I stepped more into my authentic sense of who I was. It wasn’t like I got fame or fortune or anything out of it, but it was that kind of thing. It was a real pivotal moment for my self-development. So you could think about that a little bit.

Thank you.

You’re very welcome. So, you take the Solar Return Chart and use your understanding of what house and sign are important for you and what year you’re in to help you interpret it. It highlights certain points in the Solar Return Chart, and I’ll explain that now.

The way that works is every year has a time lord. It’s like the planet that’s in charge—it’s the "boss." Its energy is going to be important. The time lord is the planet that rules the sign that house is in. I’m a Scorpio rising, and Mars rules Scorpio, so Mars—the god of war—is responsible for the year for me.

At the beginning of the call, I talked about how I’m in a Mars-ruled year and a Mars-ruled month. I won’t go into the month piece yet, but I had an accident recently. It wasn’t a bad accident, but it was striking for me. That fits the vibe of Mars ruling my year because Mars can be responsible for accidents.

If you’re in a second house year and Sagittarius is your second house, Jupiter would be responsible for the year because Jupiter rules Sagittarius. I didn’t include it in these slides, but I have a slide from another presentation I can send folks. It explains which planets rule which signs.

The planet—the primary time lord—is the one that rules the sign for the house of that year. Then you can have these secondary time lords that are like the managers for the year. They’re the ones doing the day-to-day work for you, and they can also be very important. In your birth chart, these secondary time lords are any planets in that house.

For example, I’m a Scorpio rising. Say I had the planet Venus in my first house. Then Venus would add a flavor to that year. She’d maybe add some abundance, goodness, and beauty—things like that. That can add a bit of flavor.

I was thinking of an example to show you. Off the top of my head, I thought, “Oh, I wonder who I could use as an example.” I considered using myself, but that gets dull after a while. Then I thought, “I wonder if, when Martin Luther King gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech, you could see the potential in his birthday chart—his Solar Return Chart from that year.”

He gave that speech on August 28, 1963. Interestingly enough, we’ll find out later why it’s interesting. That speech wasn’t just about racism and the dream of equality. It was also about economics—the need for people to have jobs to support themselves, the need for everyday working jobs. We’ll see how that theme plays into his Solar Return Chart.

Let me move this up for a second. Oh, I guess that’s where we will go with that slide. Okay.

This is the last slide. It’s a lot of information on one chart, but I’m going to try and break it down for you. There’s a little color coding to the circles in the chart. Jupiter, I always color blue. Jupiter rules Pisces and Sagittarius. Venus, I always color pink. Venus rules Taurus, which is Martin Luther King’s first house, and Libra, which is his sixth house. The Sun, I always color orange. That’s to give you a little vibe.

Without even thinking about anything I’ve told you about Profection years or time lords, one of the first things I see in his birthday chart is this: Venus, in his birth chart, is in Pisces. Venus is exalted in Pisces, meaning she’s held in high regard. She’s got an excellent reputation and can bring prominence. That’s why there’s a little star here. I put a star whenever I see something that’s exalted or in excellent shape.

The first thing I see here is that Jupiter—the god of expansion, abundance, good fortune, and opportunities—who rules Pisces is in his own sign, in his joy, and in the 11th house. His Jupiter in this birthday chart is just wow. It’s popping. As an astrologer, I see that and think, “Oh, this could be an excellent year for this person.”

Especially because that Jupiter is right on that exalted Venus, bringing abundance and optimism to his Venus and Moon. This is promising. By the way, the Moon in mundane astrology can represent "the people" as well. You can see exuberance and enthusiasm with so many people at that speech.

That’s just from looking at this without considering what Profection year it is. But if we look at his Profection years, he’s in an 11th house year. Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon are all in Pisces, a sign that has to do with spirituality, depth, and compassion.

The 11th house, if anybody remembers, is the house of groups, organizations, and our creative expression in the world. It’s where we join together with other people to pursue our passions and dreams. You can see the "I Have a Dream" speech already reflected in the prominence of this year.

Another thing you can do with a Solar Return Chart is break it down by events that might happen by month. At the beginning of tonight’s chat, I mentioned that it’s a sixth house month for me, which is ruled by Aries. Aries has to do with health, and Mars rules Aries. So, I have a double Mars year: first house year, sixth house month. Mars rules both, and they both have to do with health. And I got into an accident that could have harmed me.

For Martin Luther King, it’s not Mars—which is a difficult planet—that’s prominent. Instead, it’s Jupiter and Venus that are popping for him. It’s a Jupiter year and a Venus month. From August 15th to September 15th, it’s a Venus month ruled by Libra.

Libra is a sign that has to do with justice and social justice. It also has to do with beautiful speech. The Moon represents "the people" among other things, and the Moon is up here with Venus in his 11th house. The Moon and Venus are both responsible for managing this year along with Jupiter because they’re in that 11th house in his birth chart.

Here’s the Moon saying, “Okay, the people are going to come out and support you.” I love astrology, and you can tell—it blows my mind. I just opened this up, played with it, and it unfolded in a really visual way for me.