Stella Wonderly - Cinemastrology: The Movie Lovers Guide to the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars

Welcome to
CINEMASTROLOGY

We are born at a given moment, in a given place, and, like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born. Astrology does not lay claim to anything more.

CARL JUNG

We think of stars as celestial beings. And once in a while, they smile at us from the pages of People magazine.

A. E. HOTCHNER

WE LIVE IN AN AMAZING AGE. Never before has humanity had so much astrological information at its fingertips. The number of websites, blogs, podcasts, videos, and software devoted to the study of the stars is unprecedented. Similarly, we have access to more movies now than ever before. The majority of Hollywoods staggering one-hundred-plus-year outputalong with international and independent filmsis available for browsing, streaming, and downloading at the click of a button. Not to mention the deluge of celebrity that confronts us from all corners, all day and all night.

For movie fans and devotees of astrology, this wealth of information and entertainment makes us feel like kids in a cosmic candy store. Its wonderfulbut its a little overwhelming! Who has time to absorb every detail about the heavenly bodies that influence our daily lives? And who could possibly watch every single motion picture out there?

Dear reader, welcome to Cinemastrology: the art and the science of selecting movies based on your zodiac sign. As a celestial cinemaven (both an astrologer and a movie expert), I have done the hard work for you. Using an astute understanding of what makes each of the twelve signs tick, combined with a vast knowledge of classic and contemporary cinema, I have created the ultimate guidebook to the stars in your horoscope and the stars on the screen. And its easy. All you need is a birthday and a passion for film entertainment.

Movies, just like everything else on this planet, fall under the auspices of the celestial orbs that travel across our skies. For millennia, stargazers have looked upward to find patterns that relate to their lives. In fact, astrology predates recorded history. Because the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars move in predictable paths, early thinkers in Babylon, Egypt, and Greece posited that the movements of these heavenly bodies coincided with earthly events. As above, so below became the credo for the connection between the glimmering night skies and the ground beneath our feet.

The zodiac (a word that means circle of animals) originated through years of observation. Past civilizations noticed that those born around the same time of year shared some remarkably similar personality traits. Using twelve major constellations as guideposts, the ancients devised a system of interpretation thats been refined over the centuries into modern astrology. Today, we have an accurate idea of the ways in which the cosmic energies influence our world and even our very personalities. A common misconception is that astrology suggests that we are controlled by forces beyond our free will, but this isnt how it works. Longtime Hollywood astrologer Carroll Righter put it best when he said, The stars impel, they dont compel. What you make of your life depends on you.

If youre new to astrology, youre about to meet a glamorous all-star cast. The ten celestial bodies used in basic astrology are: the sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Each planet rules (influences) at least one of the twelve signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. Every sign relates to one of the four elements: creative, passionate fire; practical, steady earth; cerebral, sociable air; or emotional, intuitive water.

Astrology goes much deeper than this. Those who are already astro-experts know the complexities of ascendants, aspects, houses, quadruplicities, and so forth. For the purposes of this book, though, we will stick to sun signs.

The sun is the force that goes the farthest toward defining our identity. Its the cornerstone of popular astrology. The sun is not the only factor in our astrological makeupfar from it! Each person has a unique birth chart based on his or her exact time and place of birth. But the sun sign is the one everyone knows. Its the simplest to determine, and the one we give when anyone asks, Whats your sign? Since British astrologer R. H. Naylor began popularizing sun signs in 1930, the population of the Western world has been reading horoscopes in magazines and wearing Leo medallions around their necks. This is sun-sign astrology at work.

Hollywoodthe film business and the community of those who work in ithas a history of conjoining the stars. In the 1930s, a craze for astrology emerged in movies like the horoscope-themed thriller Thirteen Women (1932), and When Were You Born (1938), starring Anna May Wong as an astrologer. The cycle continued into the 1940s with The Heavenly Body (1944), with Hedy Lamarr as an astronomers wife who is a closet astrology addict. The experimental 1970s gave us the cult oddity The Astrologer (1976), featuring Craig Denney as a carnival mysticturnedfamous psychic. More recently, the crime drama Zodiac (2007) recounts the manhunt for the astrology-obsessed serial murderer dubbed the Zodiac Killer.

Off the screen, hordes of celebrities (Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Lana Turner, Tony Curtis, and Ronald and Nancy Reagan, to name a few from the past) have consulted astrologers to determine the most auspicious dates for career decisions, weddings, and even conceiving children. In the 1950s and 60s, Tinseltown saw a trend for zodiac parties, at which no names were used, only astrological designations: Miss Aries, meet Mr. Libra.