If you’re not aware, Lou Holtz passed away this month. Holtz was a hall of fame college football coach who coached for many teams during his career, but he is best remembered for his dominance with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the late 1980s and early 1990s. From 1988-1993, The Fighting Irish won the national championship and an additional four out of five bowl games. Under Holtz’s leadership, they compiled a record of 66-9-1 over this timeframe and he won a whopping 76% of the games they played over his entire tenure at Notre Dame. While many are honoring his accomplishments and legacy, I pulled Holtz’s natal chart to see what he was working with. Unfortunately, there is not confirmed birth time so the houses will have to be ignored, but we don’t need them. Even without house placements, this chart is a powerhouse.

Holtz had a tight t-square configuration with a strong, dignified Mars at the apex that is pulling in a supportive trine from a dignified Venus. This shows that he was a relentless, hard driving individual who knew how to get things done, but he also had an additional rare quality of inspiring others to drive just as hard. He understood how the physicality of the sport was amplified by talent and artistry as well as to work with working with others to maximize both. This t-square is a great configuration for a coach.

And if we extend the orb a bit, Uranus can be tied into this t-square, creating a grand cross configuration. Uranus is supported by a trine from the other benefic, Jupiter. Uranus is known for its breakthrough tendencies so any aspects between Uranus and Jupiter are often seen as signatures for shocking success. When we add all these dynamics to Holtz’s Capricorn Sun that was in sextile with and disposited by Saturn, it is easy to see that he was a no-nonsense leader and disciplinarian who was going to will his way to victory in just about any scenario he encountered and this was because he understood success and knew how to win.

But the I thought about that a second. Because he actually did not win at everything he touched. If you look at his record, Holtz was never able to achieve everywhere else the dominance that he established Notre Dame. His tenure at South Carolina afterwards was a losing effort and when he coached at the New York Jets in the 1970s, he lasted only one year. These varying degrees of success inherently debunks any notions that Holtz could will his way to victory consistently. Even with all his talent – even with his powerful natal chart – he was not able to completely control his fate.

Why is that?

Astrology has insights into this question as well. When we take a look at the two variables associated with his greatest success – location (Notre Dame) and time frame (late 1980s – early 1990s) – it becomes clear that fate had a much greater hand in his success.

Location

This bi-wheel contains a comparison of Holtz’s natal energies (inner wheel) with Notre Dame’s (outer wheel). Like Holtz, the creation of Notre Dame does not contain a published time so the house positions for this chart and evaluation will be ignored. The most immediately noticeable dynamic within Notre Dame’s chart is the t-square involving Pluto, Mars, and Saturn-North Node-Jupiter (apex point). This achievement-oriented and aggressive configuration is symbolic of Notre Dame’s football program and probably contributed to its historic success. The alignment of Holtz’s Sun with the apex of this configuration confirms that he was a focal point for this program and his equally strict and stoic Capricorn leadership was exactly what they needed. The tight trine aspect between Holtz’s dispositor (Saturn) and Notre Dame’s Mercury further reinforced their acceptance of his disciplinarian approach. This appreciation for his coaching style was then amplified by the alignment of their Venus with his Jupiter. In fact, this last alignment is evidence that they loved him and would enjoy an incredibly harmonious and successful relationship. Notre Dame’s North Node symbolized something much grander and possibly teleological. It inferred that the hiring of Holtz contained a degree of fate. When considered alongside the rest of this powerful synastry, it is clear that Notre Dame was a destiny for Holtz, but he was also needed by them. It was a relationship that would accentuate his already tremendously powerful chart.

But even Notre Dame’s chart is not enough to explain Holtz’s breakthrough success with them. For this, we also need to look at the astrological currents during this time frame. The bi-wheel chart below analyzes solar arc directions (middle wheel) and transits (outer wheel) to Holtz’s natal chart (inner wheel). The transits and solar arcs were anchored for the beginning of the 1988 football season. We will consider this our starting point to analyze the flow of energies over the next two years. For those who are not proficient in astrology, I have circled and labeled the planetary energies of this timeframe that were major factors in the manifestation.

Timeframe

At this timeframe, Holtz’s Jupiter – Uranus trine had finally arrived (by solar arc movement) in alignment with his Venus – Mars trine. This means that the break through success referenced earlier had reached a point where it could release and express this natal potential through his equally dignified and strong Venus – Mars combo. This grand trine configuration of energy offered the strongest theme of sports success. It practically guaranteed it.

Mars was also active by solar arc movement due to its alignment with Holtz’s North Node. With Mars dispositing his natal Mars as well as being a natural significator for sports, this alignment was critical in foreshadowing his destiny being actualized through athletics (Mars).

Transit Mars and Jupiter had aligned with Holtz’s Mars (his t-square apex) to create a yod configuration. This configuration has a reputation for manifesting in a manner that feels fated or destined. With transit Mars and Jupiter making a triple pass,[i] the effects of this yod configuration were greatly amplified offering a moment in time where his life trajectory would be irrevocably altered.

Transit Saturn and Uranus pulled this entire picture together with their alignments to all the previously referenced planets. The opposition to solar arc Uranus, the sextile to solar arc Jupiter and natal Venus, and the sextile to natal Mars created a kite configuration that was unbeatable. These productive configurations that have a reputation for overcoming odds and pulling off the impossible.

From there, Saturn moved on to its epic conjunction with Neptune in the 1990s that was also aligned with Holtz’s Jupiter (which, if you recall, is also aligned with Notre Dame’s Venus) and manifested as a realization (Saturn) of dreams (Neptune) that were massively beneficial and successful (Jupiter and Venus). These alignments specifically show the connection between Holtz’s and Notre Dame which was then amplified by the major transiting forces of the timeframe.

Because solar arcs move slowly they remained aligned with Holtz’s Venus – Mars but were eventually joined by transit Jupiter. These alignments were reinforced by the transiting North Node and tertiary progressed Jupiter’s (not imaged in the chart) arrival at Holtz’ Venus. Of note, this dignified double Jupiter alignment (by tertiary progression and solar arc) with Holtz’s Venus cannot be overstated. It is a massive signature of good fortune and success. The inclusion of the North Node brought about an opportunity for Holtz to realize a destiny and he took it. All these activations occurring simultaneously are a major reason why Notre Dame went 24-1 over that two years ago span under Holtz’s leadership and won a National Championship and a bowl game.[ii]

From there these astrological currents started to dissipate as the planets slowly pulled out of orb of alignment and the record afterwards reflects this. While Holtz was still successful at Notre Dame, his later seasons fell short of the dominance he established from 1988-1990.[iii] And again, when he transitioned to South Carolina in 1999, he was even worse. By that point, the energies had completely moved on.

Fate and Destiny

Between Holtz’s inherently powerful chart, its strategic alignment with Notre Dame, and the convergence of astrological currents that unleashed everything, it is hard to imagine him NOT being as successful as he was. The odds alone of these factors coming together in the exact way they did is practically impossible which is why it is not a surprise that we he was unable to replicate that success without those factors. All this refutes any notion that it was arbitrary or that Holtz was completely in control. Which, if not arbitrary, again shows how astrology reveals the impact of fate and destiny in lives.

But Lou Holtz is not just an interesting example because of his success and its astrological correlations, but also because he appeared to have a personal understanding of fate. Apparently, Holtz was known for preaching the maxim, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.” This stoic perspective makes an important point about fate.[iv] While accepting that a part of life is subject to circumstances outside our control, it also emphasizes that for exactly this reason it is crucial that we then focus on what IS in our control: ourselves. The famous stoic Marcus Aurelius had a Capricorn Moon and inherently understood this wisdom. So, it makes sense that Holtz with his Capricorn Sun did as well. And there may be something to that earthy Capricorn quality of self-control and discipline that can offer guidance to the rest of us. For as we see our world falling apart, we must remind ourselves that while much of our existence may be governed by fate, that still does not change the fact that we have the ability to respond to it. We can manage ourselves…and we can help each other.

Astrology adds a layer of awareness to this that those ancient Stoics and Holtz did not have. As a matter, neither does most of the world. I tend to believe that much of the problems of our existence stem from the fact that most have never “seen” fate and destiny as it is displayed by astrology. If they could, it might alter the assumed “10/90” ratio. But would that change the intent behind it? Does it rob us of our ability to creatively respond? Or would it destabilize us (as it does many students) as we analyze layer upon layer of impending potential and mountains of thematic synchronicity? It is my hope that it will motivate and inspire us to create a more empathetic world based upon this awareness that existence is governed by an enormously interrelated web of factors that, more often than not, contain hints of fate and destiny. If so, then it seems that the best thing we can do is ask, “what can I learn from this?” And within that willingness to learn and grow and the awareness of how little we actually control we may find ourselves softening and our compassion increasing so that we can help each other to live more in harmony and balance with what must be. For as astrologers, coming to terms with fate and destiny is the most important work we can do as we interpret this existential system to help others with theirs.

End Notes

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[i] A triple pass contact is when a transiting body aspects a natal planet, goes retrograde, aspects that natal planet a second time, turns direct, and then aspects it a third time. This triple pass has a tendency to amplify the relationship between the two bodies because the connection occurs over a much longer duration than normal.

[ii] It should be emphasized that we did this analysis without house placements, rulerships, the part of fortune, angular alignments, the Moon, etc. This shows how resonant and accurate astrology can be.

[iii] I left out a few later transits because my readers are probably already overwhelmed with the deluge of astrological details I dropped on them. But if you are interested in delving deeper, transit Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus were also aligned with Holtz’s Jupiter and Sun at the same time the transit North Node was rolling over all these planets (which constituted a nodal return for Notre Dame) in route to its nodal return on 1992. These dynamics were further ignited by Holtz’ tertiary progressed solar return that occurred in 1991. Transit Pluto also formed supportive aspects (trine, sextile) with his Saturn and Sun which was strengthened by tertiary progressed Mars aligned with transiting Pluto as well. Finally, a transiting dignified Saturn aligned with his grand cross, provided strong leadership and discipline during this timeframe. All these future alignments helped to provide great tail winds for Holtz to maintain his success.

[iv] This specific quote originated with the American pastor, Charles Swindoll, but many variations of it existed in past ages from various Stoics.