Aspects for the week beginning 5 October 2014

Cilla Black and her Soul Group

I have hugely enjoyed the three part TV biopic about Cilla Black.  The actress Sheridan Smith who has portrayed her has drawn superlatives for her performance.  She has completely brought her subject to life, brought out her essence, seeming more Cilla than Cilla herself.

The screenplay was engaging and fast-paced.  When reading Cilla’s autobiography written after her husband Bobby Willis’ death, I did not notice an emphasis on his role and character.  But this is one of the themes which was brought out really well in the biopic. It seems that Bobby was a good songwriter.   The new facts on which this portrayal was formed seemed to come from last year’s show “The One and Only Cilla”.  The other highlights of the screenplay for me were the character of Cilla herself, feisty and ambitious, and the poignant life and death of Brian Epstein.

Cilla was lucky enough to have been at the right place at the right time with the right people.  It seems as though the soul group came into incarnation with the script that Brian Epstein would act as their Svengali.  He had a genius for knowing the direction the careers of his protégés should take.  He managed other acts, but the biopic focuses on Cilla and the Beatles.  Cilla had the courage and faith in herself to take part in the emergence of this rock and roll phenomena, and be one of the prominent female artists of her era,  but she also had a karmic link with the Beatles and Brian Epstein, which is shown in the astrology of their chart comparison.  Cilla provided the female balance for the group, and her advancement was a karmic reward, or a karmic calling in of favours.

Cilla

Cilla has an electrifying exact conjunction of the Sun and Uranus in Gemini, and this conjunction keys into many of the main players in the group.  Notably, her Sun is exactly trine the Sun of Bobby Willis in Aquarius, who was her road manager, and a great support to her, later marrying her.  This would be a true Soul Mate connection, according to Linda Goodman.

Brian Epstein

Sheridan Smith manages to look exactly like Cilla, but the Brian Epstein and Bobby Willis characters were not so well matched.  However, their performances were utterly convincing and very sympathetic.  The script really brought out the struggles of these two men in their lives.

The poignancy of Brian’s emotional life, but also part of his genius and sensitivity to music, is shown in his chart by a conjunction of Venus and Neptune in the 1^st House squaring Chiron.

Karmic Link between Bobby and Brian

There was a lot of interplay and jostling for power over Cilla’s career between Brian Epstein and Bobby Willis as portrayed in this biopic.    One can conclude that this was karmic.  It is shown in their charts by Brian’s North Node conjunct exactly Bobby’s Sun, and trine Cilla’s Sun.

Cilla and Brian

There was obviously a strong bond between Cilla and Brian.  Cilla’s Mercury  (her Sun ruler)was exactly trine Brian Moon, which fostered their mental and emotional communication.  Cilla’s Mars was also  exactly sextile Brian’s Moon, which is a strong emotional connection. Cilla’s Neptune trined exactly Brian’s moon, and she inspired him.  Her Pluto was two degrees away from Brian’s South Node, which is a profound karmic connection.

John Lennon’s relationship with Brian

A feature of the connections within the soul group are exact Sun and Moon links, which are very personal. John  Lennon’s Uranus trined exactly Brian’s Sun, and his Neptune was exactly conjunct Brian’s Sun, also providing inspiration for Brian..

Cilla Karmic Link with John Lennon

John Lennon Ascendant in Aries was exactly trine Cilla’s North Node – More karma, and lives intertwining.  Moreover, John Lennon’s Jupiter was exactly sextile Cilla’s Moon – he brought her luck!

Close Links between Paul and Brian

Paul McCartney’s Venus was conjunct exactly Brian’s Midheaven/Careerpoint: Paul provided an artistic/musical standard for Brian’s career path.  Paul’s Ascendant was conjunct exactly Brian’s Sun in Virgo: another intensely personal link.

Paul and Cilla

Paul has three exact Sturn links with Cilla’s chart, indicating that Paul may have been more critical in shaping Cilla’s style.

Lennon/McCartney

This songwriting due deserves more than a few lines, but in the context of this theme, I would pick out their Marses exactly sextile, making for a good working relationship, and a laddish culture. Paul’s Ascendant was also trine exactly John’s Uranus, so they were able to spark each other’s brilliance.

George Harrison

In his natal chart, George had North Node exactly conjunct Chiron, a karmic mission of healing through creativity in Leo.  With Brian, George had Moon sextile exactly Brian’s Asceadant, and George’s Uranus was trine exactly with Brian’s Moon, both emotional connections.

George and John

John Lennon’s Uranus was trine exactly George’s Sun, another brilliant Sun-Uranus connection.  Uranus also rules groups, and that is another reason why it figures so strongly in the synastry of the group. George’s Neptune was conjunct exactly Brian’s Sun, another inspirational aspect.

Ringo

Ringo’s Jupiter was trine Brian’s Venus exactly, so Brian may have found Ringo uplifting in some ways,  However. Ringo also had Saturn square exactly Brian’s Mars, so there may also have been a sense of frustration with each other. Ringo’s Ascendant was also opposite exactly Brian’s Sun.  It is interesting that Ringo came into the band later than the other three, and has a different plantetary emphasis.

Brian Epstein Death

Without giving too much away about the biopic for those who have not seen it, it does conclude with the suicide of Brian Epstein, and very heartwrenching it is.  Pluto was exactly trine his Midheaven at the time of death, possibly indicating he had concluded a phase of his work.  There may also have been a sense for him that he was not needed as much as before.

Jupiter at the time was conjunct Cilla’s natal North Node, and she was embarking on a new phase of karma and work, in T.V. which proved to be a medium to which she was ideally suited.

Jupiter was trine exactly Lennon’s Ascendant, so he may have been feeling that his creativity and  life were flowing freely.

In contrast, Saturn was trine exactly Paul’s Chiron, so he would have been feeling a healing crisis, plus with Uranus square his Midheaven, a new career direction may have been forced on him due to the shock event.  It seems to register very strongly in his chart.

Sheridan Smith

Sheridan Smith, the actress who plays Cilla seems to have been born to play her, and her mannerisms and body language were a perfect portrayal.  One would have expected a close connection between her chart and Cilla’s.  The connection is not stunning, so it appears that with a lot of hard work Sheridan has carried out a very skilled work of art. Sheridan’s Mercury is exactly trine Cilla’s Midheaven, and her Mars is conjunct Cilla’s Saturn, but most strikingly her Sun in Cancer is close to Cilla’s Ascendant.

Aspects

Sunday (5^th) begins a week of mixed aspects, but begins on a high of Mars trine Uranus.  This favours electrical goods, engineering and sport (such as cricket on the village green).

The Sun opposes Uranus on Tuesday (7^th) and almost the opposite occurs: electrical goods play up, and sport is incident-prone.

We have an eclipsed Full Moon on Wednesday (8^th) in the sign of Aries.  There will be a tussle between selfish aims and co-operation. Following on from this high tension, Venus squares Pluto, and relationships continue to flounder.  However, by the evening a trine between Mars and Jupiter may bring new energy which saves the day, or part of the day.

Retrograde Mercury re-enters Libra from Scorpio on Friday (10^th) so a softening of words could occur where recently there was abrasiveness.  The same day, the Sun sextiles Jupiter, and you could glimpse and make use of a lucky streak, so look out for this opportunity!

Finally, on Saturday (11^th) Venus opposes Uranus, which brings more testing of relationships, but with the Sun conjunct the North Node in Libra, there may be a sense of karmic fairness, either karmic rewards or just desserts. If you are involved in such a scenario, ask yourself what you have contributed.  It’s only half a week to go before the Great British Bake Off final, and with 20 layers requested for the semi-final, could they ask for more?  What will you be serving as your showstopper?  Next week will be exacting karmically, but fair.

The week in bullet points:

• Sunday – energetic and constructive fireworks
• Tuesday – the spanner in the works
• Wednesday – relationships on the brink, but later new energy arriving
• Friday – soft words, and a stroke of luck
• Saturday – more disruption in relationships, but some karmic balance