It’s always interesting to research the news events that occurred on the day of your birth. Take, for instance, the recent Mars-Pluto transit and its eerie synchronicity with stories of sexual abuse, murder, and police investigations. Some of us are born during particularly stressful moments in history, and at birth, we receive an imprint of that planetary energy. Liz Greene once commented on how astrologers might point to “nasty” aspects in the sky and link them to dark world events, only to then confront a newborn carrying those very same configurations in their natal chart. The kinds of aspects we call “volatile” in a mundane chart are the same ones that show up in personal horoscopes. What do we make of it? In my own research, I uncovered some intriguing information connected to my Mars in Aquarius square Uranus (though it’s a wide square). I was born in 1979, during a time charged with revolutionary and transformative energy. Mars in Aquarius was square Uranus, and globally there were major attempts to overthrow power. Revolutionary groups and extremists were active, and in one incident, an ambassador was kidnapped and later killed in a shootout between his captors and the police.

In my chart, I also have the Sun opposite Saturn, an aspect of authority, ego tension, and the difficult, lifelong process of self-development. This same Mars-Uranus energy surrounding my birth was mirrored in several real-world events: a gender reassignment surgery made headlines, and a violent gas explosion—both dramatic representations of radical change and disruption.

I was born the day after a total solar eclipse. On my actual birthday, the police went on strike in New Orleans. For a time, there was no law and order, an apt mirror of Mars-Uranus’s rebellious, anti-authoritarian flavor. This transit doesn’t sit well with confinement or oppression; it resists dictatorship and fights for freedom and people’s rights.

On my son’s birthday—the largest world summit in history took place. Leaders from around the globe gathered for what was called a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to make bold decisions on development, security, human rights, and United Nations reform. The symbolism of Pluto was especially prominent: powerful (Pluto) leaders (Sun) coming together to reshape the world. On this same day, North Korea agreed to halt its nuclear (Pluto again) weapons program in exchange for aid and cooperation. A striking example of Pluto’s transformational and power-centered influence.

If you’re not up for diving into historical archives, perhaps you’ll find inspiration in someone like Laurence Kim Peek, the real-life inspiration for Rain Man. Laurence would stop people on the street, ask for their birth date, and then recite everything that happened on that day in history.