Solunars by Aldebaran Sidereal Academy

Richard Williams, father and original coach of Venus and Serena Williams, was born February 14, 1942 in Shreveport, LA. There is no record of his birth time and little chance it will ever emerge: Her was born in a sharecropping family. As eldest of five children, there's a good chance his mother would have remembered the time had she been asked while alive, but no older siblings who might have remembered.

What this man and his wife Oracene accomplished was mind-blowing (cantankerous and difficult as he seems to have been personally). His life was dramatized in the Acadamy Award winning film King Richard. Even if the story was romantically tipped to his advantage, it's objectively true this sharecropper's son had two black daughters that grew up in poor Compton and went on, without any of the usual advantages, to be the greatest tennis players in the world at a time that no Black female had ever reached championship status in the sport.

Williams famously wrote up an 85-page plan for how to get his daughters (not yet born at the time he wrote the plan) to the top of the tennis world - then he and his wife executed it across their daughters' young lives.

What little we know for sure from his chart shows an out-of-the-box thinker with great endurance and drive, probably interpersonally challenged with sharp, harsh behavior and likely relationship disruptions, though an innovative, wide-ranging mind with genius-like insight and enormous persistence: All this from Aquarius-Capricorn luminaries, Mars conjunct Saturn (probably with Moon-Mercury square Mars), and Venus opposite Pluto.

Significant dates;
Married Betty 1965
Divorced from Betty 1973
Married Oracene 1980 (met '79)
Venus born June 17, 1980
Serena born September 26, 1981
Divorced from Oracene October 29, 2002
Stroke July 2016
Film King Richard released November 19, 2021

Married Betty 1965
Divorced from Betty 1973
Married Oracene 1980 (met '79)
Venus born June 17, 1980
Serena born September 26, 1981
Divorced from Oracene October 29, 2002
Stroke July 2016
Film King Richard released November 19, 2021
Oracene's birth: Apr 3, 1952, Saginaw, MI

Do we get any clear clues to a birth time from these dates?

For the film's release, progressed Sun (for a noon birth) was 20°23' Aries, which would square natal Moon if he was born about 8 AM. Oracene's Mars was 24° Libra, probably squaring his Moon (22° Capricorn at noon): It describes their relationship quite well and suggests a later time than the 8 AM (almost any part of the day later except very late).

Looking for Solar Arcs to or by Moon, I don't see much. The closest possibilities seem to be for the movie release, and these aren't clear. For example, he might have had d Sun or Uranus to his Moon (but other planets are in the neighborhood). He might have had d Moon to natal Venus (birth after noon) or Pluto (birth before noon). None of these, though, is a slam dunk.

The one truly spontaneous (not connected to earlier specific events) date in this list is his stroke in July 2016 (the first of two strokes). It might be the best event to pursue (and then fine tune with the others). Wikipedia gives it as July 2016. The Atlanta Black Star reported on July 15, 2016 that he had suffered a stroke, but without specifying exactly when, but quotes his wife as saying he "fell ill last week before his daughter's 22nd Grand Slam win." The paper came out on a Friday, so "last week" probably means the week ending July 8 (transiting Mars was moving slowly opposite natal Saturn that whole week); Serena's 22nd Grand Slam win was reported July 11, saying it had occurred at Wimbledon, England "on Saturday," which would have been July 9. So his stroke was in the week before July 9 (Demi-SLR was 7/7/16 but I don't know where he was located). - I just found one site saying he recovered "at home" after he was briefly hospitalized, and everything reads like this is where the stroke and hospitalization occurred (rather than him being at Wimbledon). I believe they lived in Atlanta.

The Demi-SLR had several aspects that could be consistent with a stroke, but the most obvious is transiting Mars opposite natal Saturn (within a few minutes). More vaguely, Saturn and Neptune aspected his Jupiter, and there was a Sun-Mercury conjunct square opposite Pluto in space, similar to other aspects I've seen for brain bleeds.

For Atlanta, transiting Mars set at 2:58 AM, crossed IC at 9:59 AM, rose at 4:58 AM, culminated at 9:57 PM. These gave possible natal Moon positions of 13°16' 17°10', 21°03', and 23°48' Capricorn. The first one is too early, and we should substitute one day later at 26°33'. (None of these puts Sun-Mercury-Pluto concurrently angular.)

Mars culminating (Moon 23°48') puts natal Pluto setting and natal moon-Mercury (squared by Mars) on other angles. Mars rising was as good, with natal Pluto on IC and Moon at 26°33'. But all four remain possibilities.

We can double check against the June 23 full SLR. Mars opposite his Saturn is still in place with no other big possibilities (Saturn-Neptune to his Jupiter being the only other thing of interest). For this, Mars set at 3:52 AM, crossed IC 10:52 AM, rose at 5:48 AM, and culminated at 10:48 PM. These gave possible natal Moon positions of 11°25', 15°14', 19°04', and 21°50' Capricorn. The first two are too early so, jumping the Dsc and IC crossings until the next day gives Moons of 24°38' and 28°30' Capricorn.

Therefore, the Demi-SLR suggests natal Moon positions of 17°10', 21°03', 23°48' and 26°33' Capricorn. The SLR suggests natal Moon positions of 19°04', 21°50', 24°38', and 28°30' Capricorn. None of these match closely enough that both can be placing transiting Mars opposite natal Saturn exactly angular.

Demi: 17°10', 21°03', 23°48', 26°33'
SLR: 19°04', 21°50', 24°38', 28°30'

I haven't included squares to the angles. Adding these, the Demi-SLR suggests Moon longitudes of 17°02', 20°42', 24°20', and 27°16' (none of which match the SLR possible times). For squares to angles, the SLR suggests Moon longitudes of 18°43', 22°22', 25°20', and 28°19', none of which close match Demi times. The closest fit it the 24°38' of the SLR and 24°20' of the Demi, Moons 0°18' apart for times a little more than half an hour apart with average angle displacement of each over a quarter of an hour - too far!

So it isn't true that, for Atlanta, Mars opposite his Saturn was precisely angular in BOTH the lunar and the demi.


This leaves checking the Demi-SLR for the Sun-Mercury-Pluto aspect being exactly angular. Picking Pluto (for various reasons), here are the eight Moon positions for which the Demi-SLR had Pluto exactly: 15°24, 19°17', 19°21', 22°30', 23°08', 25°38', 25°41', 25°55'. Do these match any of the proposed positions from the full SLR? The closest (and the only close one) is 22°22' vs. 22°30', which is pretty close! Each could have the key factors within 2° of the angles. A natal Moon halfway between these at 22°26' Capricorn gives a birth time of 12:14 PM CWT. - a quite remarkable chart. From the lunars, it looks close but maybe not exact, so it's time to refine it with such things as solar arcs and transits.

Married Betty 1965
Divorced from Betty 1973
Married Oracene 1980 (met '79)
Venus born June 17, 1980
Serena born September 26, 1981
Divorced from Oracene October 29, 2002
Stroke the week ending July 9, 2016
Film King Richard released November 19, 2021
Oracene's birth: Apr 3, 1952, Saginaw, MI

First, the 12:14 AM time puts Oracene's Mars about a degree and a half from square his Moon and (as it would be for any birth time) opposite his Mars to the degree. This btw is another example (a very good one) of what has become obvious is a basic Mars-Mars interchange: Battle buddies fighting side by side.

The angles respond to transits either a little early or a little late with so many natal planets close to angles that it confuses whether it is the natal planet or an angle. For example, Venus squared his Moon when Serena was born whether it crossed his Descendant or not. Sun opposed his Uranus when the movie was released whether it crossed Descendant or not. One very strange transit for the movie release is Saturn (conjunct his natal Venus no matter what) also in the degree of Midheaven. Was this the usual "Saturn cycle" life peak expected, or a wrong transit?

So let's settle into the Solar Arcs with focus on angle contacts (and, to a lesser extent, Moon). Are they there? Do they suggest slight adjustments? (If the above estimation process is correct, the time can't be too far off.)

His first stroke (the week before 7/9/16) has transiting Saturn 36' before his IC, surely shown the start of his serious physical weakening. Other directions are interesting but don't help with the time. This one is really good. (Jupiter is opposite his Sun for any birth time.)

There really aren't a lot of solar arcs involving angles or Moon for these events, which might mean we should tread lightly. I'm slightly encouraged by progressed Moon square natal Pluto (0°52' sep.) for his divorce from Oracene. But his natal progressed to the date and place of Oracene's birth doesn't provide anything interesting.

But if his stroke was in Atlanta, it occurred during the few days SNQ Ascendant crossed over transiting Saturn and SQ Ascendant floating across natal Neptune. PSSR MC conjoined his Pluto the last two days of that week. These two to-the-day techniques are quite expressive of a high-impact debilitating event that left him confused and cranky. A couple of days later, PSSR Moon entered a two-month square to solar Neptune for his recovery time.

I'm left with the mixed results that for the single best event we have, the charts line up really well - but across the list of events, the overall response is quite poor. Not symbolically wrong: Just nothing much happening.

Therefore, I give you, for what it's worth, the possible time of 12:14PM for this most interesting figure. And for the compromise time, how do the lunar and demi come out for his stroke. Presuming it was in Atlanta, here are his returns. First, the SSR which has a really satisfying surprise! The Mars to Saturn was exactly angular in the SSR. This is in addition to many other indications, especially among natal planets, plus fitting stroke aspects foreground:
The full SLR had the right planets as the most angular, though slightly wider than I'd like. Mars' foreground opposition to Saturn at 0°09 is the closest foreground aspect.
And the Demi-SLR is dominated by the Sun-Mercury-Pluto configuration as intended. (Mars to Saturn remains 0°15' but not foreground.)