As Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook phenomenon faces it first “big” challenge from Google + in the social networking world, I look at the student, come entrepreneur whose creation has affected the lives of millions of internet users right around the globe.
Mark hails from Dobbs Ferry, New York and was born on 14th May 1984 (no birth time yet known). If anyone reading this article does know Mark’s time of birth I would love to receive it. He has a steady Taurus, with a secretive Scorpio Moon (the lack of a birth time does not affect this at all). Just these two placings say so much about Mark and his motivations. Taurus needs to build, to make and to have possessions. Taurus is protective and Mark has stumbled upon a creation in Facebook which fulfils all these requirements for a comfortable life. Mark hasn’t sold Facebook on and still remains CEO and president, as you would expect from a protective Taurus. He is now work 13 billion dollars – mind boggling isn’t it? Moon in Scorpio is far more fascinating. The Moon in Scorpio needs to know everything; not knowing everything going on around one for a Scorpio Moon can be personal hell. The Scorpio Moon is also very controlling and secretive. On launching his first version of Facebook at Harvard where the pictures and personal details of all the students in the dorms were featured and posted online, one wonders what the original motives of Mark with his Scorpionic Moon actually were? At the time he stated “it was just a bit of fun!!”. Hmm…? Now of course there are few people in the developed world who have not heard of it.
His chart features 3 sets of oppositions which make two distinct wedge formations. The Sun in Taurus is joined by Venus also here. Venus is strong here in it’s home sign and will give Mark a friendly, kind disposition. Yes, friends and social interaction are highlighted all under the influence of Venus. Venus sits opposite a powerful combination of Mars, Saturn and the Moon all in big business Scorpio. Saturn shows the ability to administer large organisations and Mars in Scorpio is hugely energetic and also gives Mark the mind of a detective. He is able to delve beneath the surface to find out the motivations of all around him, and in the process get to the truth. Mars in Scorpio is jealous, revengeful and ruthless. Behind this friendly youthful façade lies a man who can make tough decisions if need be. This opposition makes a wedge with lucky expansive Jupiter in Capricorn at the point. For an international venture and business, you could not wish for a nicer aspect. Jupiter will allow expansion of the idea on a worldwide scale. The only fear would have been over-exerting one’s reach with the business venture, however the Saturn/Jupiter sextile would have kept a nice check on things making sure that Mark moved on and expanded Facebook at a careful rate.
Looking at Mark the man for a moment, a conjunction between the Moon and Mars makes Mark rather competitive and the opposition between the Mars And Venus makes him very attracted to the opposite sex although any relationships may be quite stormy (Moon/Mars) and be beset by disappointments (Saturn opposite Venus). One thing you can be sure of is that Mark in relationships will not hurry, Taurus goes at it’s own pace and when in love will be extremely possessive. Mark can also be very direct and forthright, having a me first attitude (Sun opposite Mars) which may irritate others around him.
Uranus sits alone unaspected to all the other planets on the chart, yet at the midpoint of Saturn and Jupiter. What was at the focal point of this international business success and also the factor without which none of Mark’s considerable success would have been possible? Technology, ruled by Uranus. An unaspected planet will dominate the chart and Mark’s life revolves around computers and computer programming. Uranus is a most social and humanitarian sign and you can see and feel the appropriateness of Facebook as we entered the Age of Aquarius (represented by Uranus). Mark from an early age was fascinated by computers. He learned basic computer language and created programmes, as we all did in those early years, however he had an unusually creative edge and he invented computer programmes amongst others to aid his father in his dental practise. As technology progressed, so did he, and at college he hit upon the idea that was to transform his life.
The other wedge formation I mentioned features a Mercury in Aries opposition to Pluto in Scorpio working out to Neptune in Capricorn at the point. This is very much an echo of the picture I mentioned before. Mercury in Aries is outspoken and entrepreneurial in practise, always coming up with new ideas and heading projects and opposite Pluto we see the big business angle, as well as the need to search below the surface. Neptune provides the creative inspiration to bind all these motivations together. On the day that Facebook was launched (4th Feb 2004), the transiting North Node was conjunct Mark’s natal Venus, this social idea was to fulfil his “destiny”. Transiting Pluto was quindecile Mark’s natal North Node - a transformational moment, and transiting Uranus representing the technological revolution he was initiating was trine to natal Pluto, sextile to natal Mercury and sextile to natal Neptune, lighting all three points on the inspirational natal wedge on his chart. So often I write of the outer planets causing problems and difficulties, but here working in tandem, they provided the conditions for enormous future success.
Mark for sure has an investigative urge at the heart of his being and that is what Facebook is all about isn’t it? Communicating, maintaining & finding friends and associates from the comfort of your laptop or even mobile phone. Mercury is all about keeping in touch. With Pluto connecting Mercury it is also “working out what others are up to”, in truth it’s a form of consensual voyeurism on a global scale, one that we all subscribe into willingly!! You’ve got to say it is genius, and Mark was the one clever enough once it started spreading from college to college to exploit to see the global potential, and to exploit the idea to the full.
The one aspect that sums up everything on Mark’s chart is the quindecile from Pluto to Venus. A quindecile can be seen as an obsessional, hugely focused store of energy. According to Ricki Reeves and her excellent book “The Quindecile” she says that this aspect is the control and manipulation of others, possibly driven by powerful sexual needs. This is also a drive for money, power and finance and benefit is gained through transformational experiences within relationships and the sharing of one’s perspectives. It sums up much of what I have written in the past six paragraphs neatly into two sentences, and proves that there is much, much more to Mark Zuckerberg than the notion of the computer geek who made it big.
