Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photographer and journalist · France · 1908–2004

Leo 28.9° · born August 22, 1908
Birth time unknown

Birth date sourced. Birth time unknown.The Moon remained in Cancer throughout that civil day. Mercury crossed from Leo into Virgo during that day, so its sign is left open. Everything below uses only what the complete civil day settles.

The day, read honestly

The Sun stands at 28.9° Leo, in domicile — the planet in its own sign, running on home rules. Of everything the chart can be read for without a birth time, that is the loudest single fact in it.

Positions at 12:00 civil time in Chanteloup-en-Brie—a reference instant, not a birth time. No houses, rising sign, angles, or sect were computed.

Where the Sun actually stood

28.9° of Leo is the Sun's exact seat — third decan, 20°–30°, sub-ruled by Mars in the old triplicity scheme. The degree is the address; the sign is only the street.

Closer to the ground

Venus holds 15.6° Cancer, Mars holds 28.9° Leo — in the old shorthand, attraction that works by atmosphere; effort spent in bursts and openings.

The angles that hold

The day's firmest angle joins the Sun and Mars — a conjunction holding at 0.1°. A conjunction concentrates rather than balances — the pair burns one fuel line. Behind it, Jupiter sextile Pluto at 0.1°, and Venus conjunction Neptune at 0.6° — both still well inside the orbs this site uses. Every angle named here holds for the whole of that day at the birthplace, so an unknown hour cannot take it away.

The standing structure

The Moon opposes Uranus while both square Saturn. The t-square is the figure the old texts trusted for output: friction with a fixed address.

The classical map

The oldest layer of the scheme — seven planets, four conditions — flags three placements in this chart. The Sun in Leo at 28.9° is in domicile — the planet in its own sign, running on home rules; the Moon in Cancer at 10.3° is in domicile; Saturn in Aries at 9.4° is in fall — the tradition’s uphill placement, strength earned rather than given. None of this ranks anyone; dignity describes footing, and footing can be worked with.

The shape of the whole

Counting only the 9 placements whose signs hold for the whole day, the chart runs 4 fire, 3 water, 1 earth, 1 air by element and 5 cardinal, 3 fixed, 1 mutable by modality. Mercury crossed from Leo into Virgo during that day, so its sign is left open. Saturn and Uranus were retrograde — apparent retreat against the stars, which the old reading takes as a function working from the inside first.

The Moon, and how far it can move

The Moon stayed in Cancer for the whole of that day at the birthplace, covering 12.0° between midnight and midnight. The sign survives the missing hour; the degree does not, and is given as a reference rather than a fact. At the noon reference it stands at 10.3°.

Where this comes fromSources, revisions, and exactly what this chart assumes

Source article: Henri Cartier-Bresson · revision 1362337156
Wikidata: Q156567 · revision 2522279311
Retrieved: 2026-07-26T18:47:50.947Z
Birth date: 1908-08-22 · day precision · proleptic-gregorian
Birthplace: Chanteloup-en-Brie, France · Q419367
Coordinates: 48.8550, 2.7392 · from Chanteloup-en-Brie
Reference instant: 1908-08-22T11:50:39.000Z · noon civil time, not a birth time
Omitted: Rising sign, houses, angles, and sect—all require a birth time.
Unknown-time range: Moon travelled 12.02° · The Moon remained in Cancer throughout that civil day.
Open signs: Mercury crossed from Leo into Virgo during that day, so its sign is left open.
Engine: astronomy-engine (repository dependency) · @zodiacs/engine/internal/math
Portrait: Ihei Kimura · public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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