An introductory psychology book could probably clue you in to the fact that Rebel Boy writer and social critic Christopher Hitchens truly wants to be liked. Like all famous people, he certainly has his adoring fans.

Astrologically it goes like this. Christopher Hitchens has four planets in Aries (sun, Mercury, Mars, Venus), two planets in Libra (moon and Neptune), two planets in Leo (Pluto and Saturn), one planet in Gemini (Uranus) and one planet in Aquarius (Jupiter).

If you’ve been studying your astrology books, you’ve noticed that Hitchens is all fire and air. He has no earth or water. Possibly his rising sign is in one of these elements, but I don’t know his time of birth to determine the rising sign.

All fire and air means just that – that he’s all fire and air – inspired, intuitive, energetic, enthusiastic, overbearing, impulsive, self-aggrandizing, confidence, gregarious, unrestrained and social. He’s social to the point where he can’t be alone. Hitchens is a true extrovert who gets his energy from others and being around others.

Aries is the cardinal fire sign and Libra is the cardinal air sign. These signs are opposite. While Hitchens portrays his mostly Arian sun (trailblazer, initiator, warrior), his moon represents his reactive nature. Actively he is the warrior, reactively he is the peacemaker.

Aries is self and Libra is other. We reflect off of others to understand our own selves, our definition against them. As a Columbus astrologer puts it, “How do you know if you’re tall unless you compare yourself to others?” That’s Libra. No others, no definition of the self.

It’s an interesting concept. If you were alone on this planet, would you have a personality at all? If no one was around to respond to you, would it matter who or what you were? Would you even think about it?

Moon in Libra suggests that no matter how rebellious Hitchens is, he has an emotional need to be liked. Combined with all this Aries energy, I could see him being passive-aggressive. I do see that in some of his writing, as when he attacks Mother Theresa and Bob Hope after they have already died. My personal feeling is that he would have generated much more heat from attacking these two loved persons while alive over attacking the idea of God.

Attacking the idea of God is a very good way to get people to notice you, the goal of Aries. Aries is also competitive so I think Hitchens may be competing with God himself. The bad news for Hitchens is that God will always be more popular.

Neptune conjunct the moon also makes Hitchens a hopeless romantic. And an idealist. And, actually, naïve about the true motivations of others.

Because all of his planets are in fire and air, Hitchens has no square aspects. Squares are formed when two planets are at a 90 degree angle. Squares represent frustrations in your personality’s various aspects. For example, for someone with sun square Mars, life isn’t fast enough. Sun square Mars is like driving on the freeway with all the orange cones out, where three lanes merge into one.

While a square sounds bad, it represents a drive, a motivating force. While Hitchens has lots of Aries impulsiveness, he doesn’t truly have internal motivation. Unless a force comes from the outside, he probably doesn’t accomplish much. Aries is good at beginning things, but not finishing things. He must be pushed from without to finish projects.

This probably explains his love of debate. While he doesn’t have square aspects in his chart, he does have oppositions (Aries – Libra). He probably doesn’t know at all what he thinks until someone throws out the first idea, the first punch. He’s better at responding than initiating.

The lack of water and earth in the chart represents a lack of emotional connection and physical connection. While Hitchens defended his smoking and drinking, his body was probably sending him signals, signals he ignored because the body is part of the earth, not the world of ideas.

Earth is like this. You feel hungry. You go the store, buy some food, pay for the food, cook the food then eat the food. If this seems simple, it’s because you have earth in your chart. For Hitchens, when he feels hungry, he might simply ignore it. Or grab food if it’s around. Or get up to look for food, see an interesting book and forget the hunger.

Lack of earth is probably why Hitchens is ill today from smoking. He ignored his body and its needs. Ideas last forever, bodies don’t. Bodies are earth. Ideas are air.

Water is like this. You forgot to meet your partner for dinner. You ask, “Are you angry?” and your partner says, “No” in a short and cutting way. You know that “no” means “yes.” You have to deal with the response and person in a feeling, non-logical way. For Hitchens, “no” would mean, “Good, we can go have fun now.”

Often someone with an element missing will find a partner strong in that element. Hitchens probably has a partner who can both cook the meal and tell him when he’s full. This partner probably also has to mention that he looks sad today so that he realizes that the nasty encounter he had truly did bother him.

Having compatible elements and lack of square aspects does bestow something akin to happiness. It’s easy to be yourself because you get along with yourself. You don’t really fight with yourself the way others do.

Hitchens’ chart is the chart of a purely social being, which he demonstrably is. He doesn’t have hidden motivations or a hidden agenda, really. He just wants to be popular and to be liked.