Mirror Mirror - The Astrology of Famous People and the Actors who Portrayed Them
by Alex Trenoweth
Review by Karin Hoffmann, 2022
Mirror Mirror - The Astrology of Famous People and the Actors who Portrayed Them
Order at Wessex Astrologer or amazon.com
The opening scene
What an idea for a book! You really have to have an inspired moment to think this up. And that’s exactly what Alex Trenoweth had, when she was watching Julie & Julia with her mother, because in her childhood the author had been a huge fan of Julia Child. During the film she was wondering how the average sized Meryll Streep could fill out the huge frame (6ʹ2ʺ) of the television cook from the 1970s and 80s. But she did. Big time.
So, Alex being a keen astrologer, started to research into the charts of both portrayer and portrayed, and - lo and behold - came up with significant synastry connections between the two. This was in 2009 and an idea was born.
Between 2009 and 2019, Alex watched nearly 200 biopics, i.e. movies depicting famous people, and diligently studied the astrology of the stars and their actors. Another two years later, the essence of her findings (about 100 movies) found their way into this amazing book.
Whatʹs in it?
The structure of the book is actually quite interesting, as it categorises the chapters according to the planets, starting with Pluto, all the way through to the Moon and Sun, even the Nodes and Chiron have a say.
Each chapter starts with a short introduction of the quality of the key planet, what it represents and how the films fit into the theme of the planet. For example, Neptune contains Goodfellas, Sid and Nancy and Pursuit of Happiness. All of them dealing with Neptunian themes such as confusion, dreams, addiction, psychic insights and imagination, illusions and disillusionment, dissolution and decline, but also the immense creativity and faith associated with this realm.
Each film analysis contains a short summary of the story of the movie, the chart data of the person being portrayed as well as the portraying actor/actress, plus the release date. All these are put in relation in a triwheel synastry chart and into key words on the synastry connections. This brief analysis focuses on conjunctions and oppositions and provides a skeleton for deeper analysis.
This is an amazing number of films to go through (from 1950s to present) and a wide range of topics. As a non-film-buff, I found it fascinating to read the summaries and found myself browsing youtube for the trailors to get a feeling for the movies and see the actors (also being very ignorant when it comes to putting faces to actorsʹ names). As a film layperson, it makes you want to find out more about the films and the people they portray. In order to be made into a film about, you obviously need to be or do something special, so the analysis is also interesting from a psychological point of view.
The astrological remarks, as mentioned, are mostly brief and to the point, mainly listing planetary connections and transits (of the release date). Insofar, it is a book that requires some astrological skill, as explanations on synastry aspects or transits are kept to a minimum. Of course, had they been more detailed, the book would have been twice as thick, and it might have overwhelmed the reader with astrological analysis.
As it is, the book is a great encyclopedia of biopic movies, and the brief astro analysis is enticing the more seasoned astrologer to look deeper, and the beginning astro enthusiast to get to grips with the planetary energies.
After all, there is nothing like a moving picture to illustrate the core of planetary meanings:
- Pluto is about transformation, profound changes, crime, the dark side, science and research, life and death - or just death, a phoenix rising from the ashes, healing. The films in this category are A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Al Capone, Madame Curie and Schindlerʹs List.
- Neptune was already mentioned above.
- Uranus is associated with upheavals, revolution, rebellion, thinking outside the box, miracles, inspiration. All of this comes across in Amadeus, The Miracle Worker and The Story of Louis Pasteur.
- Saturn deals with boundaries, strength and limitations, about discipline as well as about punishment and the consequences of oneʹs actions. Themes that come up in 127 Hours, Ali, Coalminerʹs Daughter, Dead Man Walking, Eddie the Eagle, Invictus, Shine, The Iron Lady.
- Jupiterʹs omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, his restlessness and need to explore, his traveling and not least his excessiveness are portrayed in Frida, Lust for Life, Moulin Rouge and The Spirit of St. Louis.
- Evita, James Dean, Jesse James, Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Raging Bull represent the temper, passion, aggression and fire of Mars, god of war.
- Venusʹ love and beauty as well as the astrological topic of relationships are illustrated in Diamond Jim, Iris, Jackie, Lady Sings the Blues, My Week with Marilyn, Stand and Deliver, The Dolly Sisters and Wilde.
- Bohemian Rhapsody, Frances, Grace of Monaco, Mata Hari and Young Man With a Horn deal with the Mercurian themes of communication, learning, but also confusion, double messages and spying, and not least communicating via music.
- The changeable and versatile Moon connects us with the past, with mother, emotions and memories, with empathy, caring and children. These and more lunar themes are emphasised in the main characters in Chaplin, Gorillas in the Mist, My Left Foot, The Pianist, The Queen and Walt Before Mickey.
- The Sun, center of our solar system and all of life, features films whose characters are important for their impact on culture and the issues they raised. These are Boys Town, Cry Freedom, Hotel Rwanda, La Bamba, The Elephant Man.
- The Nodes and their quality of ʹfatednessʹ make you feel that actor was actually destined to play this part, as in A Cry in the Dark, Coco Before Chanel, Funny Girl, Gandhi, Lincoln, Patton, Miss Potter, Ray, Selena, The Aviator or The Buddy Holly Story.
- And finally, the Wounded Healer Chiron, with its themes of pain and suffering, but also healing and the complicated lives of wounded people: Dance with a Stranger, Factory Girl, Judy, Silkwood and The Karen Carpenter Story.
Following the planet sections, there are two more categories:
- ʺMultiplesʺ, i.e. different films on the same person, portrayed by different actors, such as Ted Bundy, Thomas Edison, Elizabeth I ... and more, and
- Alexʹs ʺFavouritesʺ.
If youʹre interested to know what they are … well, youʹll need to buy the book.
And true to movie form, you even get an extra feature at the end: a sneak preview of Alex Trenowethʹs book Growing Pains with an extract of the introduction and the chapter on kids born with Jupiter in Aquarius.
Credits
Reading this book, Iʹd say, it was worth every hour Alex Trenoweth spent watching near 200 movies, analysing and comparing hundreds of charts and characters, and finally spending two years putting it all on paper.
In her book, she makes it clear that not any old actor or actress can play any old role. There has to be a connection between the personality of portrayer and the portrayed, as Julia Parker also points out in her Foreword. Actually, even with characters in ʹnormalʹ films (not biopics), the role needs to fit the actor, and if we were to check out the charts of fictional characters, we may even find connections there.
Mirror, Mirror is very stimulating for further research into both movies and astrology, as well as just a really good and inspiring read for film and astrology buffs - even for those who previously thought they werenʹt into movies.
By the way, if you are still undecided, check out this extract from the book:
Where to order:
The Wessex Astrologer or amazon.com
