Were you born under strange stars?

Before we examine the birth chart placements that indicate apex weirdness, a note about the word itself.

The term “weird” originates from the Old English wyrd, which means “destiny.” It was used to refer to the Moirae sisters, the trio of Greek fates who elegantly determined the course of life by spinning, measuring, and cutting the cords that determined when a person is born, lives, and dies.

As such, the OG meaning of weird loosely translates to “having the power to control destiny.”

In this sense and my estimation, weird is power and sameness is sickness.

Read on to see if your birth chart holds the destined power of the unusual. To generate your birth chart, use a calculator like this one.

If your chart does not include any of the following indicators, do not worry—everyone has some eccentricity. To discover yours, examine the house or houses in your birth chart where Uranus and Neptune are located, as this energy can reveal which aspects of life you are most likely to express your unique attributes.

Aquarius anything

Aquarius is the sign of the outsider and the unrepentant strangeling.

Possessing Aquarius in any of your personal placements (Sun, Moon, Rising, Mercury, Venus, Mars) ensures that an individual will challenge the status quo and promote the avant-garde.

Apart from the crowd but easily drawing spectators/detractors these weridos incite change, suspicion, alarm, outrage, conversation, fear and head scratching wherever they roam.

Examples include:

Nic Cage (Venus in Aquarius), Christian Bale (Sun + Mercury in Aquarius), Britney Spears (Aquarius Moon), Amanda Bynes (Aquarius Moon), Harry Styles (Aquarius Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars), Howard Hughes (Mars in Aquarius), Steve Jobs (Mercury in Aquarius), David Bowie (Aquarius rising), Andy Kaufman (Mercury in Aquarius), John Malkovich (Aquarius Moon) and Yoko Ono (Sun + Venus in Aquarius).

Uranus in the First House

The First House is the house of the self. It is home to our ascendant or rising sign and is associated with image, our style of initiation, and how we are perceived by others. Any planetary placement within the First House will be more pronounced in the personality of the individual.

Uranus is our planet of innovation and awakening, rebellion and liberation, the unconventional and the uncontrollable.

This is perennial, angsty, electric, defiant, obvious teenager energy. It’s weird with nowhere to hide.

For evidence of the wonderous weirdo pedigree of this placement, see natives like John ‘give peace a chance’ Lennon, Fiona ‘this world is bulls–t’ Apple, Kurt ‘they laugh at me because I’m different; I laugh at them because they’re all the same’ Cobain, and Robert ‘allergic to smiles and sunshine’ Smith.

Mercury in Pisces

Mercury is our planet of cognition and expression. In the sign of Pisces, Mercury operates in the unconscious, rather than the conscious mind.

Close as they are to the proverbial veil, it is challenging for them to make sense, get to a discernible point, or distinguish dreams from reality.

The communication style here is vague and a touch rudderless, leaning heavily on metaphor and light on facts, punctuation, or reason.

These folks are more inclined to speak in tongues, commune with the dead, or transmit alien frequencies than have a commonplace exchange about pork rinds or weather.

Case in point? Mercury in Pisces native Kesha confessing that she owns a bra and headdress set made from the teeth of her fans and had to have a vaginal exorcism to rid her pink parts of phantoms.

For further evidence, see fellow Mercury in Pisces alumnus Lady ‘Mother Monster’ Gaga and Joan ‘Monster Mother’ Crawford.

As Neptune rules Pisces, having the planet in the Third House of communication equates to a similar incoherent, albeit inspiring, mode of expression.

Sun conjunct Uranus

In astrology, the Sun represents our ego, essential selfhood and the path we are walking towards wholeness while, as we’ve established, Uranus represents the strange, the unconventional and the liberating.

When these two luminaries are tongue kiss close in the birth chart, a blessed weirdo is born unto us.

For these individuals, the unusual is not only preferable but largely inescapable.

For evidence see Aaron ‘ayahuasca’ Rogers, Mary ‘Frankenstein’ Shelley, Walt ‘pure imagination’ Disney, Clara Barton, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Janelle Monae, Mr. Rogers, René Descartes,

Sacha Baron Cohen, Moby, Keanu Reeves, Willem Dafoe, Mata Hari, Kate Bush, Sigmund ‘who’s your daddy’ Freud, Jayne Mansfield, and Ram Dass.

Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.