Slate had an interesting article today about J. Edgar Hoover and his long-time male companion, Clyde Tolson. Hoover was a lifelong bachelor as was Tolson. Hoover and Tolson vacationed and socialized together and were generally accepted as a couple.

Were they homosexual?

No one knows, definitively, if they actually performed the act that would make them homosexual – sex.

Does one need to have sex to be homosexual? If Hoover and Tolson were asexual friends who cared neither for sex nor the company of women could they be deemed homosexual?

What’s most interesting to me about this situation is that Hoover carried out a lifelong male companionship in the open.

How did he do it?

Others kept his secret, I believe, simply because, as head of what is now called the FBI for 48 years, he kept the secrets of others.

Hoover’s sun is in Capricorn and moon in Pisces. Hoover’s chart consists of earth, water and air signs. He has no fire signs. Fire relates to confidence and energy. Fire is in-your-face aggressive. Hoover was not.

Capricorn is sign of the zodiac associated with career and success. The most important recognition for a Capricorn is respect. Capricorn likes to be in control and is known to hold back emotion to handle life in a cold and calculating manner. More than smart, Capricorn is shrewd.

Pisces is not like Capricorn. It is sensitive and empathetic feeling every emotion and reaction in the environment. Because of that, moon in Pisces often retreats from the world to shed the psychic debris collected in regular human interaction. Pisces can be manipulative and/or easily manipulated through emotions. Pisces feels pity for the people of the world and often feels self-pity as well.

Hoover appears to have protected his emotional, sensitive and possibly homosexual self by learning the secrets of others. In other words, he blackmailed himself some privacy. If, in 1924, you wanted to remain and bachelor and socialize exclusively with another male, would you put yourself in the public eye?

Hoover was obviously shrewd. Putting himself in the public eye at the top of the “public eye” allowed him to live any damn life he wanted. Clever.

Hoover’s moon in Pisces is squared by Pluto in Gemini. Hard moon-Pluto aspects are Ohio Astrology’s “mark of a politician.” This aspect suggests a difficult time with the mother with unmet early emotional needs and, in response, a need to control the environment.

The strong Capricorn sun drove Hoover to reach the top, the goal of Capricorn. Top of the ladder, top of the heap, it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s the top.

Hoover’s Mars in Taurus opposite Saturn in Scorpio suggest frustrations in two areas: 1) money and 2) sensuality. This aspect suggests forced but reluctant sharing of money. Maybe Hoover himself was blackmailed or maybe his partner spent all his money. It would be interesting to see in what houses this aspect resides. This we can’t know without the time of birth.

Hoover’s Pluto, Neptune and Jupiter are all in Gemini, the sign of communication. His generation made great strides in communication. Hoover was part of that stride, the covert part. Gathering intelligence and spying involves communication and advanced techniques. That’s the Pisces.

For me, the astrological chart is like the DNA of the personality. It’s fascinating to see how we adapt to the world through our personality. In the end, you have to be you. I don’t know if Hoover was homosexual, but he definitely acquired the privacy and protection to live his life as he wanted.

It’s only too bad he didn’t allow others the same privilege.