Ayn Rand

Few thinkers have polarised readers as fiercely as Ayn Rand. Born Alisa Rosenbaum in Russia in 1905, she fled to the United States in 1926 and, after early struggle, seized fame with The Fountainhead in 1943 and her sprawling Atlas Shrugged in 1957. From these she built Objectivism, a system exalting reason, rational self-interest and laissez-faire capitalism while rejecting faith, altruism and collectivism. Over 37 million copies sold; academic philosophers largely dismissed her, yet her influence on libertarian and conservative thought endures.

Her Sun in Aquarius in the ninth house is the visionary who shines through big ideas and philosophy: the fringe, futuristic, revolutionary mind meant to be seen as a philosopher and to change how the collective thinks, even while championing the sovereign individual against the tribe. Her Moon in Capricorn in the seventh house is the stoic, unspoiled psyche forged to grow up fast, cool and dutiful, that finds itself through the serious one-on-one bond. And her Cancer Ascendant wore a soft lunar mask over that flinty core. Whatever one makes of her creed, Rand chased a hard, uncompromising logic all the way to the end.