From the point of view of Astrology, the birth of any entity, whether a person, state, institution or company, simply has to happen in a certain period of time when the planets take positions in signs and houses and form aspects contained in the horoscopes of their creators. When it comes to companies, the reference example is currently the leading and most famous manufacturer and distributor of sports equipment on the planet, Nike Inc.
The company was founded on 25.1.1964 as “Blue Ribbon Sports” by Bill Bowerman, a sports coach at the University of Oregon, and Philip Knight, his student at the university. 30.5.1971, the company’s management, inspired by the name of the Greek goddess of victory, changed its name to Nike Inc.
Before analysing the chart of the company itself, it is important to look at the charts of its founders, because after that, it will be clear why they founded the company “quite by accident” on that very day.
Bill Bowerman (19.2.1911. Portland 09:02 AM) was, as noted, the coach of athletic disciplines such as running, long jump and hammer throw at the University of Oregon in Portland. During his long career, he coached a large number of top athletes who won numerous medals in major competitions, including several famous Olympians such as Otis Davis and Steve Prefontaine. During the 1960s, he began experimenting with the design of sneakers with the goal of making running easier for athletes. In 1964, he partnered with his student, the aforementioned Phil Knight, with the goal of founding a company that would manufacture and sell sneakers. His job was to improve the design of the sneakers, while Phil Knight was in charge of distributing and selling them.
NATAL CHART Bill Bowerman
His chart contains several striking positions and aspects of the planets. In the first place, Mars, as the ruler of the ASC, is in the 10th house on the 13°of the sign of Capricorn. So, Mars is placed not only in the sign of its exaltation, but it is also on the degree of Aries, so it is not difficult to assume that he did something that is in the symbolism of this planet, as he was a sports coach (Mars). Mars is in sextile with Jupiter in Scorpio, the ruler of the 9th house and the Moon, the ruler of the 4th house, so he was a coach at the university (Jupiter, 9th house) in his hometown (Moon, 4th house), as well as the coach of the Olympic (Jupiter) national (Moon) team. In addition to Mars, another planet in his horoscope is in the sign of its exaltation, and that is Venus, placed on the 20°of Pisces, which forms a trine with its dispositor Neptune on the 19th degree of Cancer. This aspect describes the design (Venus) of a certain type of footwear (Pisces, Neptune), and considering the importance and power of Mars in his horoscope, it had to be the design of sports shoes, so they are running shoes.
Jupiter and the Moon, with whom Mars is in sextile, are in the 7th house, so at one point he had to enter into a business partnership (7th house), and since Jupiter is in that house, as the ruler of the 9th house, it is a partnership concluded at the university (Jupiter) with his student (Jupiter).
Phil Knight (24.2.1938. 18:25 Portland) has in his chart, like his partner, two planets placed in the 7th house, but unlike his partner, these two planets are the Sun in the 5° of Pisces and Venus in the 10° of the same sign, so his partner is presented as someone who is a professor and coach (Sun), as well as a designer (Venus) of sports shoes (Pisces). What they also have in common is a strongly placed Mars, which in his chart is on the 18° of Aries, near the top of the 9th house of which he is the ruler and which, like his partner, is in sextile with Jupiter in the 15° of Aquarius. As Jupiter is one of the rulers of the 7th house, and Mars the ruler of the 9th house, it is a partnership made at the university. Given that his ASC is in the sign of Virgo, and Mercury, the ruler of ASC in the 6th house in Aquarius, it was expected that his role in the partnership was a practical side of the business, such as advertising, distributing and selling (Mercury) products (6. House). MC in Taurus and Venus, the dispositor of MC, in Pisces in the 7th house, shows that his business cooperation with his coach will pay off tremendously. On Forbes’ list of the richest people in the world, published at the end of 2015, Phil Knight is on the 15th place with an estimated value of 28 billion dollars.
NATAL CHART Phil Knight
From all of the above, it can be seen that the two men who founded Nike Inc, who do not belong to the same generation, but were born 27 years apart, miraculously have the following common positions and aspects in their horoscopes:
- Mars placed in signs in which he has strong dignity, in Capricorn and Aries;
- Mars not in any aspect, but specifically in sextile with Jupiter;
- Exalted Venus in Pisces;
- Exalted Mercury in Aquarius;
- Two planets in the 7 house.
All of the above was important to point out, because based on that, it is understandable why the company was founded on 25.1. 1964 at 16:51 in Portland.
In the company’s chart, the Sun and Mars, as dispositors of ASC and MC, are in conjunction in the sign of Aquarius in the 7th house. Any aspect of these two planets, especially conjunction, is most often found in the horoscopes of various sports organizations, and especially must be formed at the time of the establishment of the organization whose primary activity is the production of sports equipment. Both planets are in the 7th house, so the company was created as a result of a partnership (7th house) between two men (Sun and Mars). One is presented as a middle-aged man who is a professor or coach (Sun), and the other as a young man who is an athlete (Mars). Both planets are in sextile with Jupiter on the 13° of Aries, laid on the MC itself, which on the one hand shows that the company was founded at the university (Jupiter), and on the other that in time will become the most successful (Sun) sports equipment manufacturer (Mars)globally (Jupiter). That these three planets are in mutual aspects is not a surprise, because that could have been expected. What is interesting is that Mars and Jupiter are in sextile, which is an aspect that is present in the charts of both founders of the company, and these two planets are even in the same signs as in the horoscope of the other founder, only in swapped places, in the first example Mars is in Aries, and Jupiter in Aquarius, while in the second example it is the other way around, Mars is in Aquarius, and Jupiter in Aries.
NATAL CHART Blue Ribbon Sports
The sextile of Mars and Jupiter is not the only aspect that is common to all three charts. As both founders have Venus in Pisces in their charts, it is no surprise that Venus is in the same sign in the company’s chart. What is surprising is that Venus is on the 10° of Pisces, which is exactly the degree at which Venus is in the horoscope of the younger founder. Since Venus is in the exact sextile with Uranus in his chart, and in the chart of another founder in the almost exact trine with Neptune, Venus is in the company’s chart, logically, in aspects with both planets, in opposition to Uranus and the trine with Neptune. Such coincidences simply cannot be and are not accidental, because the company’s horoscope must contain the positions and aspects of the planets that its founders have.
As mentioned, the management of the company changed its name to Nike on May 30, 1971. It is not a surprise that the Sun was in the sign of Gemini on that day, because Gemini as a sign symbolizes naming, on the one hand, and changing the name on the other. In general, when any organization splits, that is, splits into two parts or when it changes its name, important planets or angles are usually in this sign. The Sun in Gemini is in the trine with Uranus in Libra, which is another indicator of the change (Uranus) of the name (Gemini), as well as in the trine with Mars, which is again placed in the sign of Aquarius. So, as 7 years earlier, Mars was in the sign of Aquarius and in the aspect with the Sun, with the difference that in the first example there is a conjunction, and in the second a trine of these two planets. Although not of great importance, it is important to note that on the day of the name change, Jupiter was in the sign of Sagittarius in opposition to the Sun in Gemini and in the wider sextile with Mars in Aquarius. Thus, both on the day of the founding and on the day of the name change, the same three planets were in mutual aspects.
NATAL CHART Nike Inc.
One may ask why Mars in both horoscopes is in the sign of Aquarius, since Mars has no special dignity in that sign. In fact, it could be expected that Mars will be in one of the three signs in which it has great power, as well as in the sign of Leo. The answer to this question is simple, if one study the history of this company a little.
From the very beginning the company has adopted the philosophy of advertising its brand by sponsoring top athletes. The first athlete with whom they signed a sponsorship contract was a Romanian tennis player, Ilie Nastase, which is indicated by the position of Jupiter (tennis) in Aries (the first) on the MC itself. However, the company experienced its biggest breakthrough (Mars) during the 1980s, when they signed a sponsorship deal with the then rising superstar who would later turn out to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Michael Jordan (February 17, 1963. Brooklyn, New York) and began production of a series of sneakers called “Air Jordan” which continues to this day.
This scenario is not surprising, because it is logical that a company that has three planets in this sign in its horoscope, becomes the leading manufacturer of sports equipment (Mars) when it signs a contract with a basketball player (Mars in Aquarius) who, born only a year earlier, also has three planets in this sign, with the difference that he has in his chart the Sun, Saturn and Mercury in the sign of Aquarius, and the company Sun, Saturn and Mars in this sign. In other words, when the company entered into business cooperation (7th house) with the rising basketball (Aquarius) star (Sun) in ascendence (Mars), from that moment it became the world’s largest (Jupiter) sports equipment manufacturer (Aries) in the world. Since the Sun and Saturn are in the sign of Aquarius in both his and the chart of the company, it is expected that they have established a long-term (Saturn) cooperation that has lasted for more than 30 years.
