(photo acknowledgment below)

Dag Hammarskjöld
Checking His Time of Birth Against Events in His Life
Hammarskjöld’s chart was somewhat difficult to check against events. His life was not typical. He did not marry. He did not have children or affairs. No dates were given for the purchase of his modest homes in Sweden (a cottage) and New York. His health was excellent, and he never had a serious accident (except his final one). I have the year of death of his mother (1940), father, and brother, Åke (1937).

The data source gave 11:30 a.m., supplied by Drew at the Church of Light, as an “approximate time” for Hammarskjöld’s birth . Approximated by Hammarskjöld? It did not say.

Hammarskjöld was an eminent Swede by the time he was asked to be Secretary General, but his name was not well known outside of Sweden. His birth data would have been coveted by astrologers only after he became Secretary-General. So, I presumed Drew asked him for it, and, therefore, it was Hammarskjöld himself who gave us the approximate time of 11:30 a.m. Whatever reasons for knowing his birth time, I did not question Hammarskjöld’s reliability and accuracy, so the 11:30 a.m. chart is the one I started with. It turned out suitable for Hammarskjöld life. It has also held up well measured against events, some of which are shown below.

(1) Father’s Death, October 12, 1953
The death of his father occurred after Hammarskjöld had assumed office at the United Nations. I normally look in the 7th and 10th charts for parent’s death. I have yet to find a father’s death in the 4th chart, the logical place for it since that chart also shows the individual’s relation to his father. I did look at both those charts. However, when Hammarskjöld accepted the role of Secretary General, for him it involved a shift in the center of gravity of his consciousness from his 7th chart to his 6th chart. Accordingly, his 6th chart mostly clearly showed his father’s death. Below is his data for that chart for the date of his father’s death.

The midpoint between c saturn and progressed c saturn is 21 Capricorn 56, putting it within this set which contains progressed sun/mars/saturn/neptune.

The set lacks reference to an Angle, which is required. Hammarskjöld had pC MC at 9 Scorpio 38, square b mercury (ruler of B Asc) at 9 Leo 07, which is in c 8th house. Progressed b6 pluto was at 24 Sagittarius 31, square B Asc at 24 Virgo 40. So, he had mercury (with 8th house influence) and pluto--the shock of his father’s death--on Angles at the time.

He also had a progressed mercury opposition uranus, a progressed venus conjunct NN opposition uranus, pb6 moon conjunct saturn, and progressed b6 NN square progressed c6 mercury (ruler of c 8th and C MC) in Pisces. He had progressed c sun at 21 Scorpio 28 conjunct progressed b mars (8th ruler) at 21 Scorpio 32. And more, but I want to show what happened with his return for that period.

Since Hammarskjöld was living in New York when his father died, his 40° return was cast for that locality. It occurred on September 9, 1953 at 2:33:52 a.m. EDT. I do not use rulers in return houses. I go strictly by planets on Angles and aspects to both (return and its harmonic) moons. “Planets on Angles” also includes return planets that fall on birth/conception Angles.

The above gives him 6th chart-specific mars/mars/pluto on his return Angle.

(a) plus (b) above shows his return to have mars/mars/saturn/pluto on his return Angles. When a family member dies, people also often have jupiter on an Angle. I stands for the sympathy and respect given the individual who has lost a loved one.

His return harmonic moon was at 20 Capricorn 02, a degree in which it picked up his progressed sun/venus/mars/saturn/neptune.

Return uranus was at 27 Gemini 55 and return neptune at 28 Virgo 11, aspecting his c6 moon (co-ruler of c 8th house) at 27 Gemini 36 (in 9th/8th).

His return harmonic mercury was at 11 Scorpio 15 (sign) conjunct his C Asc at 12 Scorpio 48.

Return harmonic mars was at 19 Taurus 33, square his pB MC at 19 Leo 09.

(2) Brother Åke’s Death, 1937
Åke Hammerskjold, who “succumbed to a rheumatic illness,” was 44 years old when he died. In 1936 he had been appointed a judge in the International Court. His death--the literature does not say if it was unexpected, but it appears unexpected since he accepted an international appointment the year before--would have been a shock to his brother, Dag.

I used July 1, 1937 as a rough midpoint of the year since only the year was available. Some times this is helpful, some times not. In this case, it was helpful. The 7th chart was used because at that time it was Hammarskjöld’s main chart.

He has another Angle/mars:

Neither mars/Angle, however, gave me much confidence regarding checking Hammarskjöld’s time of birth. But the set below did.

On January 1, 1937 pb7 saturn was at 20 Pisces 30R. On January 1, 1938 it was at 19 Pisces 50 R. So, progressing b7 saturn (it came from 11 Aries 00R in 7th/4th) was passing from Hammarskjöld’s c 4th, opposition his C MC, into his c 3rd house when he lost his brother. I would not use this by itself to test birth time, but with so many other events it, at least, is in line with what could be expected.

Hammarskjöld had sun, mercury, mars, saturn and neptune on Angles when his brother died.

At the time Hammarskjöld also had pc7 sun at 14 Sagittarius 45 opposition c neptune at 14 Gemini 46 and square b7 mars at 14 Virgo 34 (3rd and 8th ruler). With (a) above, then, he had suns to mercury, mars, and neptune, but not saturn. And (a) showed a progressed mercury/mars. Progressed mercury/saturn came from pb mercury at 16 Scorpio 38 conjunct progressed c7 saturn at 16 Scorpio 37.

(3) Officially Installed as Secretary-General by the Assembly, April 10, 1953
The 7th and 10th charts are the sites indicating an honor such as this. In addition, the germane sets of his 6th chart are also shown below.

His All-Charts Set
When an Angle progresses to a non-harmonic (that is, shell) planet, the condition exists in all charts. Hammarskjöld had two all-charts sets at the time, sets (a) and (b). They should be included with sets (c), (d)...etc. of his 7th, 10th, and 6th charts shown below.

He was asked to be Secretary-General on March 31, 1953. He was installed in office on April 10, 1953. I used the latter date.

Sets shown are limited primarily to those either on or influencing Angles.

The above influences speak for themselves except, perhaps, that to the 12th. I do not know. Being asked was a complete surprise (12th?) to Hammarskjöld. The 12th also has a correlation with the 6th in the expression, “serve or suffer.”

Jupiter rules b 3rd, but it starts out at 8 Taurus 00 in 8th/6th houses. Its arrival to the forefront position of opposition his Asc suggests a connection made between his interests (3rd) and service (6th). Jupiter was moving slowly. It was at 13 Taurus 04 on the date of his death, September 17, 1961.

His 7th Chart Additions

The sequence for the above was that first c saturn progressed to square b7 mercury. As it was moving away, pb venus entered, giving Hammarskjöld essentially an Angle-influence venus/mercury.

(d) is a second jupiter/Angle for Hammarskjöld’s installation as Secretary-General. This one is 7th-chart specific. B MC’s location in c 8th house may indicate Hammarskjöld’s (feeling of) being included--counted in--among world leaders.

Summing up: Hammarskjöld’s 7th chart had benefic influences to his progressed chart of Angle/jupiter, Angle/mercury, Angle/jupiter, and Angle/mercury/venus.

His 10th Chart Additions
Including (a) and (b) above, Hammarskjöld also had the following:

Aside from representing a benefic/Angle influence, (c) is particularly strong because it includes a harmonic node.

Summing up: Hammarskjöld’s 10th chart had benefic influences to his progressed chart of Angle/jupiter, Angle/mercury, and Angle/venus/node.

His 6th Chart Additions
Including (a) and (b) above, Hammarskjöld also had the following:

His pb jupiter and its harmonic, pb6 jupiter are a little past 13 degrees of fixed signs, aspecting, if a bit late, his C Asc.

The only progressed planet in (c) is pb6 moon. In the 6th chart it moves approximately 8 degrees per month. It does not seem like much, but it is an Angle ruler, the timing is exact for the day of his installation, and the set it brings forefront is the one which spells out his mystical attitude (jupiter/neptune) to service (6th chart).

Summing up: Hammarskjöld’s 6th chart had benefic influences to his progressed chart of Angle/jupiter, Angle/mercury, and Angle/moon/venus/jupiter/neptune. By itself, the progressed moon to this set would mean nothing. He had experienced it many, many times before in his life. Correlated, however, with the strong benefic and longer-term Angle influences in all three charts, it was revealing.

Hammarskjold was re-elected Secretary-General on September 26, 1957. At that time he had an all-charts progression of pC MC at 13 Scorpio 40 opposition pb jupiter at 13 Taurus 01. Transiting jupiter was at 12 Scorpio 29 conjunct C Asc at 12 Scorpio 48. T6 venus was at 12 Aquarius 41 (11:00 a.m. EDT, a guess), forming a set with C Asc /jupiter. The harmonic of progressed c venus (ruler of c 6th house, co-ruler of c 10th) formed sets in all three charts--10th, 7th, and 6th--that were forefront.

His 6th, 7th, and 10th charts each have chart-specific benefics either on Angles or ruling Angles at the time Hammarskjöld became Secretary-General to the United Nations.

Other progressions, not included here, for events using the 11:30 a.m. birth time satisfied me. Along with pre-progressed influences to Angles, among which is c mercury conjunct B Asc [for a brilliant man known for his thinking (mercury) ability] in c 10th house, 11:30 a.m. is a strong contender for Hammarskjöld’s correct time of birth.

Photo Acknowledgment
The picture at top--Hammarskjöld taking questions at a press conference--is a "color drawing" scan of a photo from between pages 266-267 of the book by Urquhart. Details about the book are given in the Bibliography of the main paper.

Data Acknowledgments
Hammarksjöld birth and conception data are listed in Data Acknowledgments in the main paper.