Colin Firth: An Astrologer's Muse

What do we think of when we think of Colin Firth? The King's Speech, with it's slew of awards and attention, probably comes to mind. Astrologically speaking, what are some of planets (qualities/characteristics) that come to mind...? He has an alluring sweetness that lives side by side a subtle reserve. I would guess Venus (that alluring part) and Saturn (that reserved part) are strongly placed - conjunct his Sun, conjunct his ascendant or descendant, etc - or at the very least, placed for our palpable enjoyment in an angular house like the 1st, 7th or 10th. If life imitates art, it would make sense he has had ample cinematic opportunity to portray romantic roles - which he has (Love Actually, Bridget Jones' Diary) and personify the more stiff, moral character of Saturn as he did as King George VI in King's Speech. 

James Lipton called him his most articulate guest he's had in all the years he's hosted the show Inside the Actor's Studio. Maybe compliments flow like chocolate rivers in Wonka's factory, but having been in the audience, this one seemed quite fitting. He was impressively articulate (Gemini/Mercury), quoting dead poets and waxing philosophic about the arts (Sagittarius/Jupiter). He was responsive and receptive (the Moon), answering thoughtfully the sometimes awkwardly worded questions posed by the studio audience.  He was funny: he joked about wanting God to compliment his performance in Mamma Mia when he arrived at those pearly gates,  in response to Lipton's questionnaire-as-rorschach test. What can we "pin" funny too? A sense of the ridiculous (Pisces), a resourcefulness for blunt one-liners (Sag), a sizzling passion for mischief, shock, awe (Pluto, Scorpio). He had a disarming presence (Taurus rising) ... is your head spinning yet? 

We start to see how he can embody so many qualities and personify so many planets. Maybe it's the sign of a good actor (we can paint him in so many ways) or just that astrology can be really confusing.  We wouldn't want to rob ourselves of the joy of thinking about the man and really reflecting on how he engages our senses by running to his chart and painting him in our own selfish, star-studded corner. Even if we knew his chart, that doesn't offer us divine understanding about how each of his signs, or sides, interact with one another. Astrology wants us to tap into the complexity, not settle for paper thin descriptions of someone because he is this or that or has this in that or the other. Astrology is an art form, it offers us language and hopefully deepens our fascination and understanding of the human animal and the human potential. 

Some people were incensed last week when they thought their sun signs had changed. "I'm sooo not Capricorn!," someone had said to me, bewildered that she may be lumped into this famously poker-faced sign. We may forget that we are a totality of all the energy of the universe -- each planet has an expression in our chart. The chart is just a picture of the sky at the exact moment you were born. If you have any appreciation of astrology, then every facet of that picture means something.  Saturn was somewhere when you were born and Capricorn was at the cusp of some house. We are all way too complex for a sun sign to encapsulate the totality of who we are and if we are living according to some rigid idea of what our sign means, then maybe it was good for you to try on another sign for a week.