Chapter Five

BILL GATES - CAPITALIST ENTREPENEUR

Bill Gates is one of the most exciting businessmen of our time. For more than a quarter of a century, Bill Gates has been a technology and business wunderkind. Captivating the attention of the business community at home and abroad, he is the personification of the capitalist entrepreneur.

He pioneered, and then came to dominate, the first computer revolution. Now he wants to lead the next one. In his 1995 book, The Road Ahead, Gates says "there's never been a leader from one era who was also a leader in the next . . . But I want to defy historical tradition."

What about Bill Gates made him capable of leading the first computer revolution, and can he defy history by leading the second? What can be seen in his astrological chart which shows how he achieved such monumental success, and indicates whether he will succeed in achieving his next goal?

An astrologer does not immediately know from looking at a birth chart how powerful and famous someone is going to become. Astrology cannot predict exactly what will happen. However, Bill Gates' chart is startling in its degree of focus and power, showing the seeds of great potential. His chart shows creativity, commitment and intellectual power. It also shows his fierce competitive drive, his originality and his broad vision. Although it may not be clear just how smart he is, nonetheless the chart does show someone with a sharp and incisive mind as well as an aggressive bent, someone who thrives on intellectual combat and competition.

In the astrological symbolism of Bill Gates' birth chart, his extraordinary talent for innovation and originality, what might be referred to being "weird, wired and willful," is shown by many of his key planetary positions. An electrifying current connects together his intensity with his aggressive, pioneering spirit. Having this much intensity and ardor hardwired into his nature is additionally enhanced by the total focus and integration of his chart.

Great potential is never a guarantor of success. Even an astrologer using every technique in the book can't know exactly how each life will unfold, but Bill's chart does scream out that this is a person of great abilities. Bill was fortunate to have had parents who recognized his unusual gifts and offered him both a family and school environment which nourished his formidable talents. Still only in his forties, Bill has already realized so much of the potential of his chart.

We'll look at the astrological markers in Bill's chart, which when astrologically stimulated at specific times, triggered off his ecstatic connection with computers and his daring adventure in starting Microsoft with Paul Allen. Later, we'll look at the chart of the 1st Trade of Microsoft on the Stock Exchange, symbolic of Bill. s new role in the business world. After looking at the challenges of the classic mid-life period when he married and set out new markers for future, we. ll see how Bill was then forced to respond to the challenges of Netscape and the Internet, reorganizing Microsoft to drive forward into new territories.

Comparisons between the charts of Microsoft. s 1st Trade on a public stock exchange and the chart of the U.S. demonstrate the challenging and confrontational legal struggles which continue to unfold at the frontier of antitrust law for the information age. Another interesting chart, demonstrating Bill Gates. tight connection to America's destiny, is the chart of the launching of MSNBC, Microsoft's cable TV network. Lastly, we'll look at what Bill's personal chart looks like as he heads, along with the rest of us, into the 21st century.

BILL'S POWER PAIRINGS

Bill Gates has six conjunctions, or power pairings, in his chart. A conjunction is formed when two planets are very close to each other (or when a planet is close to the Ascendant or Midheaven). The combined energies of the two then become more powerful than either would be alone.