The Oscars are upon us again. This year, three out of the five nominated movies are autobiographical. One of them is “The Theory of Everything”. In it, Eddie Redmayne plays Stephen Hawking (the famous English scientist) and in case you haven’t seen the movie yet, Eddie Redmayne does a truly outstanding job at portraying Stephen Hawking – twisted body, crooked smile and all. It is an extremely touching moving and an exquisite performance that will probably win Redmayne an Oscar for Best Actor.
However, I’m not writing this blog just to inform you of this fact, or make a “who is going to win the Oscar” prediction. I am writing it because I happened to notice several major astrological similarities between Stephen Hawking’s and Eddie Redmayne’s charts. Mere coincidence? I think not.
Steven Hawking – 8 Jan, 1942 Eddie Redmayne – 6 Jan, 1982
As usual, I am using the sidereal charts. Unfortunately, we don’t have an exact time of birth for either celebrity. I’ve done a lot of work on Stephen Hawking’s chart and while I couldn’t pinpoint an ascendant, I could determine that he was born after 8am in the morning – after the Moon had moved from Leo, to the sign of Virgo. Hawking has a Virgo Moon aspected by the optimism-inducing Jupiter – something that explains his ability to remain upbeat pretty much throughout his life, despite his condition. The same Jupiterian beneficence also allowed him to remain alive for 49 years longer than the doctors predicted, 49 and counting that is. For those not familiar with his life, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with ALS (a motor-neuron disease) at age 22 and given only 2 years to live. Today, at 73, he is one of the best known scientists of all times, having developed all his major theories while in an wheelchair, his only means of communication – a computer. A most inspiring life indeed.
As you can notice in the charts above, both Hawking and Redmayne have the Sun in Sagittarius (according to the sidereal chart). This is not surprising, since they are born in the same month of January, only two days apart. Their Mercury and Venus also share the same sign in both charts: Capricorn. Sun represents our soul, our ethics and values in life. Mercury represents our way of thinking (linear thinking) and Venus represents our way of enjoying life. The fact that these planets are in the same signs in the two charts creates a lot of common ground for the two people.
But what clinches the deal, so to speak, putting this beyond the realm of mere coincidence, is the fact that both charts have Mars and Saturn together. Moreover, Redmayne’s Mars and Saturn are in Virgo, where Hawking’s Moon sits.
Let me explain. Mars and Saturn conjoined point towards a passionate personality and a very intense life. By passionate I mean driven, ambitious, at times obsessive and generally relentless in the pursuit of goals. This kind of intensity, if not properly channeled, can lead to burnout or self-destructive behavior.
It takes intensity to recognize intensity, making Redmayne a very good choice for the role of Stephen Hawking. The fact that his Mars and Saturn, his ambitious streak, sit in Virgo, where Hawking’s Moon (personality, emotional nature) can be found, is even more remarkable. It gave Redmayne a natural curiosity into Hawking’s personality and inner life, a natural desire to excel in its portrayal and maybe even an obsession with deciphering Hawking’s character.
Taking into account how these two charts connect, it comes as no surprise that Redmayne is a favorite for Best Actor.
Hawking spent his entire life in search of one simple, elegant formula, that would explain all workings of the universe. This formula would bring together various fields of physics, unifying them and would show how everything is connected to everything else, all the time. This was (and is) his main obsession.
We don’t have this formula yet. But we can definitely discern some proof of it when we see “coincidences” like the one I talked about in this blog, at work. Two people who share a lot in terms of ethics and values (the Sun), way of thinking (Mercury) ways of enjoying life (Venus), who both have a very passionate, obsessive streak (Mars and Saturn together) but are born 40 years apart and are from completely different walks of life – these two people meet when one of them is cast to tell the other’s painful yet inspiring story…Coincidence? I think not!