American Hustle and the Astrological Feminine

I saw American Hustle for the first time last night. Putting aside a commentary that this movie along with others such as the Wolf of Wall Street are teaching unthinking minds to accept, righteously declare, and wallow in a life of decadence (hee hee) my mind drifted to another aspect of the movie altogether.

As an Astrologer, and a fervent lover of the craft of film-making, I tend to research the sun signs of the actors and/or the director(s). This gives a greater insight into the story the director wants to tell, and the performance given by the actors.

I know the four main actors' (Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence) sun signs from researching their previous works, and they are all highly talented and skilled artists. American Hustle was surprisingly good. Before watching it, I clearly saw that the movie was merely another work glorifying crime, and had dismissed it as being over-hyped.

The story, however, was quite good. It had a lot more texture, and the performances were a little raw, yet highly layered and sophisticated. And now on to the Astrology:

I immediately took note of the feminine energy in the film. Both Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence are Leos, and both women display the shadow feminine nature of Leo.

Jennifer Lawrence's character is entirely self-absorbed and extremely psychologically unstable and destructive, though not without good reason. She is not getting the attention she needs from business-minded Aquarius, Christian Bale's character. (Note that Aquarius and Leo oppose each other in the zodiac.) However with and unstable Leo, ruled by the Sun, this leads to Solar flares of destruction, symbolized by the two fires she starts in the house. She does it to get attention, but also because she is not feeling love. Bale's character does not love her, he is interested in someone else.

The other is Adams's character, also a Leo, who expresses the shadow feminine by bouncing from Bale (whom she was romantically involved with initially) to Cooper's character on a whim. Adams' character does this to protect her sensitive heart, also feeling Bale's Aquarian detachment and coolness. The planet in common that rules Cooper and Bale's Sun sign is Saturn, which is a cool, detached, orderly planet energy.

Cooper, who is a Capricorn, takes control of Bale and Adams by limiting (Saturn) their criminal activities to suit his supposedly noble cause. Adams's Leonine character is drawn to this new masculine energy, hoping that it will bring order to her inner, emotionally chaotic nature.

An interesting note with the two Leos is that their characters were not only emotionally unstable, they were willing to do nearly anything to receive affection, even if it was unhealthy. Lawrence's character was intellectual, voicing her frustrations and outsmarting Bale's character just to see him sweat, Adams's character also outsmarting Bale, but  she was emotional and sexual, using sex to manipulate Bale's emotions.

The Dark Solar Feminine is broken in this movie, and craves the love and attention as a shining star that it so desperately needs to feel whole. Though self-love is the real lesson we all must learn, the movie resolves the Lioness's struggle through the true love of a man. Adams finally 'gets real' with herself and admits she loves Bale; Lawrence finally grows beyond her and Bale's dyfunctional marriage and falls in love with another man (what is his name?!?) who appreciates her--the Solar Feminine is made whole, to shine without violent flare born of brokenness, emptiness.

I simply found it interesting that David O. Russell chose this energy to portray the feminine in the movie--he himself teeters on the cusp of Leo and Virgo (but the way he told the stories in the movie is an entirely different blog).

To quote one of my favorite Energy teachers, David Deida, Feminine Essence is fulfilled by the flow of Love.   'American Hustle' demonstrated this knowledge beautifully.

Peace,

Excelsior Joymagic aka

G.A.B.E.