Tucker Carlson, arguably the most influential voice in American media, has enjoyed a spectacular rise to pre-eminence as a spokesperson for an increasingly cynical and divisive political electorate. He’s been described as a “paleo-conservative,” expressing right-wing views that embrace nationalism, racism, sexism, and xenophobia. And yet his opinions merely reflect those of many conservative politicians, typically from the Republican camp, yet at the same time find sympathetic support across a much wider political spectrum.
His father was a “gonzo journalist,” and for a period Carlson worked a similar route, writing regular cultural/political pieces for Esquire, Slate, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, and The Wall Street Journal. Eventually he found his way into cable TV where he found a niche at Fox News within which his opinions and combative interviewing style found favor with viewers, taking his ratings to record highs never achieved by predecessors like Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity.
Carlson’s horoscope presents a bit of a conundrum, wherein a seemingly accurate birthtime of 10h07 on May 16, 1969 in San Francisco produces an ascendant in the first degree of Cancer, prompting most astrologers to speculate, what if he had been born just four minutes earlier, rendering a Gemini ascendant?
Notwithstanding that possibility, let’s examine his horoscope to see what it reveals. For starters, it offers an abundance of yogas. There is one Raja yoga formed by the mutual aspect between 9th lord Jupiter and 4th lord Venus. It’s powerful because both of its participants are strong – Jupiter retrograde, Venus exalted. Meanwhile, Rahu’s association with Venus creates a nodal Raja yoga, one variety of which occurs when a kendra lord (Venus) associates with one of the nodes (Rahu) in a trikona. Here, Rahu acts as a proxy for its sign lord Jupiter, thus facilitating a union between a kendra lord and a trinal lord (by proxy). The fact that these two pairs of yogas form along the 3rd/9th house axis is one corroboration of the writing/publishing/media career that Carlson embraced.
Separately, there are a pair of Dharma-Karma Adhipati yogas formed by the mutual aspects between lagnesh Moon and yogakaraka (5th and 10th lord) Mars. These yogas are also strong because both participants bring strength to the union. Although the Moon is technically in mixed condition (strong because exalted, weak because dark), Mars more than compensates, since it is doubly strong, being both swarashi and retrograde. Forming across the 5th/11th house axis, this yoga at one and the same time reflects the quickness of Carlson’s mind, and the abrasive energy with which he frequently attacks his critics, guests and other targets of his vitriol.
Even on the most basic level, this Chandra-Mangala yoga gives a high level of energy, and here it is focused on intellectual scrutiny (5th house) and social discourse (11th house). By virtue of its impulse for action, a Chandra-Mangala yoga is considered one of the most basic wealth yogas, largely on the premise that if the individual is driven to action, something good will inevitably develop as a consequence of that enterprise.
And in Carlson’s case, the notion of wealth generation is substantiated by the presence of three classic Dhana yogas, wherein a trinal (1st, 5th, or 9th) lord must combine with a money (2nd or 11th) lord. The first of such yogas is formed via the association of lagnesh Moon with 2nd lord Sun. In this pair, the Moon is in mixed condition, the Sun ordinary. In the second Dhana yoga, 2nd lord Sun is in mutual aspect with 5th lord Mars. Although the Sun is ordinary, Mars has two sources of strength. And in the third Dhana yoga, 9th lord Jupiter is in mutual aspect with 11th lord Venus. And as noted earlier in the context of the Raja yoga formed by these two unconditional benefics, both participants are strong.
As if we needed corroboration that Carlson is quick-witted and intelligent, we find a classic Budhaditya yoga formed by the association of Sun and Mercury in the 11th house from whence they aspect and thus activate the 5th house of critical thinking. Intelligence aside, many of Carlson’s critics accuse him of being hypocritical and prone to talking out of both sides of his mouth, suggesting that he will say anything to provoke controversy, for which reason he is seen as an archetypal contrarian.
This is substantiated to some degree by the only angular graha in his horoscope, the debilitated Saturn in his Aries 10th house. As lord of the 8th, obstructive Saturn also suggests the potential for reversals in career, something we have witnessed just in the past year. Furthermore, although Saturn clears the hurdle of scrutiny to achieve a Neechabhanga status, it is nonetheless an isolated graha, and thus forms no yogas with any other graha. Therefore, it is merely Neechabhanga, unable to elevate itself to Neechabhanga yoga, let along Neechabhanga raja yoga. Thus, it remains a sort of Achilles’ heel in his horoscope.
Now let’s review the essential timeline of his life to see if his dasha-bhukti sequence makes sense in light of his career progression. During his 1981-88 Mars dasha (5th lord in the 5th house bodes well for academia), Carlson attended private schools and university. For the bulk of his 1988-2006 Rahu dasha (activating the 3rd/9th house axis), he worked in print journalism and gained entry to the broader reach of TV via CNN, PBS, and MSNBC.
In his 2006-22 Jupiter dasha, he hit his stride and acquired a mass audience courtesy of Fox News. In particular, note November 2016 when he began hosting Tucker Carlson Tonight after which, over a period of a few years, it became the most watched show on cable TV, doubling from two million to sometimes five million viewers each night. At that time, he was running Jupiter-Venus, the conjoined periods of two powerful grahas that form stellar yogas – both a Raja yoga and a Dhana yoga!
Ironically, in April 2023 during Saturn-Saturn, Carlson was summarily dismissed from his primetime post. Fox News gave no formal justification for terminating his contract, but insiders opined that there were a few reasons, including Carlson’s coverage of the January 6th Capitol Hill insurrection, the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, and some derogatory-language criticism of Fox News’ Chairman Rupert Murdoch. The latter possibility is reflected in Carlson’s horoscope, since a debilitated Saturn in the 10th house is suggestive of an anti-authoritarian stance in general, and poor relationships with supervisors in particular.
Thanks perhaps to its Neechabhanga status, Carlson has quickly recovered during his Saturn-Saturn period, moving on to establish a streaming show of his own, Tucker on Twitter. The first episode discussed the recovery of an extraterrestrial spaceship with its pilot, Zelensky’s persecution of Christians, and a vague conspiracy theory regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. It remains to be seen whether Carlson’s eclectic and provocative brand of journalism will find favor with Twitter’s owner (and therefore Carlson’s “supervisor”) Elon Musk. Clash of titans, anyone?
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For a YouTube discussion of Tucker Carlson’s horoscope via the perspective of Jyotish, see: https://youtu.be/6-ijZAo5eyc
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Alan Annand is a Vedic astrologer, palmist and author. He’s a graduate of the British Faculty of Astrological Studies and was for many years their sole tutor for students in USA and Canada. After being introduced to jyotish, he was certified by the American College of Vedic Astrology, and went on to enjoy advanced instruction from Hart de Fouw. Aside from consulting and tutoring, he has long been a professional writer, straddling the corporate and creative worlds. His New Age Noir crime novels feature an astrologer protagonist whom one reviewer has dubbed “Sherlock Holmes with a horoscope.” His books on Vedic astrology — Kala Sarpa, Parivartana Yoga, and Stellar Astrology, Volumes 1-3 — have been praised for the quality of their research and writing. His latest book — Kama Yoga: Love, Marriage & Sexuality in Jyotish — can be found on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Annand/e/B0052MM0PO
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