I know it’s Leo season and this post makes no sense as it is not about Leo energy, but I’ve been feeling quite nostalgic recently. Could be the combined energy of the Venus retrograde and the fact that the planet Pluto has been sitting this entire year, on top of my Immum Coeli (the seat of the soul, the root of an individual’s being) and in the 4th house, the most nostalgic house of the zodiac. Since the North Node entered Aries this past week, I shared on Instagram (@ms_bontemps) that I have been listening to a lot of 90s dark rock. I grew up glued to the television screen, watching American movies, MTV and Cartoon Network and absorbing like a sponge some pretty intense and charged up imagery.

If in other parts of the world, parents were applying the findings of psychological research which ascertained that children’s behavior’s were strongly influenced by what they saw on television (especially their mimicry of violent attitudes – see Bobo de clown experiments), in the post-communist Romanian landscape of the 90s, growing up with a colour Tv was a privilege and if we could, we all lavished in it. Most people couldn’t afford a television during Ceausescu’s times and even if they did, it mostly showcased black and white, scheduled propaganda. So because my parents thought that they were cool and progressive they did not consider it necessary to limit my screen time because they also believed it taught me English, a language I apparently needed to learn how to speak in order to seek my economic fortune elsewhere, once I was old enough to work and travel (which I did at some point and then returned home, as I became aware of my early conditioning & realized I like living in my own country).

In this context, I grew up watching most of the violent and sexually-charged things that were abundantly available in the dark ages of the Pluto in Scorpio era. This is why whenever I listen to Marylin Manson, Deftones, Bush or Nine Inch Nails or when I re-watch Terminator, the X Files, The Twilight Zone or Blade Runner, as disturbing as it may seem from a contemporary moral lens, I actually feel a fuzzy sense of nostalgia. Looking back, I see that we made a lot of progress in terms of how we protect children but at the same time we live in an increasingly surveilled and censored era which does impact the creativity one can exert in art, music and films.

Case in point, when was the last time you saw in the cinema a really good erotic thriller? I always think that as an adult if you want to consume such entertainment nothing beats the movies that were created between the years 1983 and 1995 (or the time-span of the Pluto in Scorpio era). And speaking of these movies, I was re-watching last night ‘Fatal Attraction’, which made me think of ‘Basic Instinct’ and suddenly I realized something interesting from an astrological point of view. Aside from the fact that both movies have reached cult status by now and both star Michael Douglas as the leading man (a truly bizarre casting choice), both movies are also lead by two awesome women who were born with Pisces Suns!

Sharon Stone who plays Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct and Glenn Close who plays Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction are both born in March but years apart. So I immediately thought, is there something in their charts that made them gravitate towards such roles? It is not surprising to me that they both reached public exposure during the Pluto in Scorpio, since Scorpio and Pisces are Water signs and as such they energetically support each other’s goals. So as Pluto was making a beautiful trine to both Sharon and Glenn’s Suns, they reached a public form of empowerment in their work by appearing in these movies in the years 1987 and 1992. One interesting fact that I wasn’t aware of until I started writing this article is that Sharon Stone lost custody of one of her sons after Basic Instinct appeared. The more you dive into this story the more you understand how unfairly she was treated, although karmically this can be explained by the strict energy of her Saturn in the 4th house placement (the house of privacy, nurturing and motherhood) conjunct her Moon (so affecting in a negative way her emotions and feminine receptivity). When unfair or cruel things happen to us that leave us often gobsmacked and in need of some logical explanations as to why we deserved that, then you can rest assured that karma and Saturn and Pluto are involved, and unfortunately Sharon has strong energies in her chart from both of these planets. She has even claimed in an interview that as she suffered a near fatal stroke in 2001, she was clinically dead for a couple of minutes and witnessed the afterlife.

Pluto deals with sexuality, intensity, violent passions and deep transformation. It also brings up themes of betrayal, control and murderous intentions. So Pluto shined its dark light and helped these actresses embody two of the most iconic roles of that era, being both laced with sexual intensity and murderous circumstances. But aside from the transit, was there something else in their natal charts that influenced this choice of roles? Let’s have a look at their charts and explore what else helped them embody the darker side of the dual, Pisces sign.

_{Birth-chart of actress Sharon Stone taken from https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Sharon_Stone}

Sharon Stone’s was born on March 10, 1958 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Her significant markers are her Sun in Pisces in the 7th house (conjunct Mercury and the asteroid Lilith, the Wild Feminine Archetype), her Moon in Sagittarius in the 4th house (loosely conjunct Saturn – I wrote about this placement of hers in a previous post, see here), and her Ascendant in Virgo (conjunct Pluto retrograde at 0 degrees!). Her destiny is marked by a powerful North Node in Scorpio in the 3rd house (conjunct Jupiter and Neptune) and a South Node in Taurus in the 9th house (conjunct her Part of Fortune). She actually went through a reverse nodal return in the years 2022 and 2023, which might have placed her in some destined and growth-related circumstances. This news-piece about her turning her home into an art studio really stuck with me, because we can see the influence of the Nodes at work in her life since Taurus energy rules over art and beauty, while Scorpio is about expressing emotions in a way that helps the soul transform. Therefore painting and making art is a perfect way to play with this Scorpio/Taurus nodal energy in her chart.

_{Birth-chart of actress Glenn Close taken from https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Glenn_Close}

Glenn Close was born on March 19, 1947 in Greenwich, Connecticut and she is 76 years of age. Her big threes are her Sun in Pisces in the 8th house (conjunct Mars and Mercury retrograde), her Moon in Aquarius in the 7th house (conjunct Venus), and her Ascendant in Leo (conjunct Pluto and Saturn retrograde). Her destiny points revolve around a North Node in Gemini in the 11th house (conjunct Uranus) and a South Node in Sagittarius in the 5th house (conjunct the asteroid Lilith, the Wild Feminine Archetype). We can clearly see that Glenn’s destiny is to open people’s minds and to get them to think differently about art and femininity. She is doing this by mostly playing villains or gender-swapping characters with a fierce precision and commitment to her craft which I admire. for example she had some brilliant dialogues with John Malkovich when they played together in Dangerous Liaisons. It’s funny or rather fitting, because she shares a lunar placement with him, seeing as they both were born with an intelligent and provocative Moon in Aquarius, and Aquarius energy is all about witty discussions.

Coming back to her chart, the first thing that stands out to me is her Sun in the 8th house which offers Glenn a rather Scorpionic energy to her already emotional and imaginative Pisces identity. It could be why she is usually cast in the role of the villain like in ‘Fatal Attraction’ but also in the cartoony role of Cruella DeVil (which she played to perfection, because I can’t see any other person playing in this role *silent nod to Emma Stone, who tried*) or as the scheming Marquise de Merteuil from ‘Dangerous Liaisons’. In addition to this, Glenn is truly a force to reckon with since she has both Pluto and Saturn conjunct the most visible part of her chart, the Ascendant (her aura, her body, her presence and the opportunities she attracts towards her; so all of these are darkened by the energies of these two ‘malefics’). I think that in person, as on screen, Glenn can be quite intimidating and a little bit of a perfectionist who might’ve struggled with people’s perceptions of her – which I am sure where not that favorable (to put it mildly). Saturn and Pluto make people criticize you and teach you some harsh lessons through what you attract towards you, but Glenn seems to have developed so much fortitude and a healthy sense of humor in coping with these placements, which I attribute to her playful Leo Ascendant energy and her whimsy & intelligent Aquarius Moon.

She is an actress who received so many prizes and accolades in her career for her transformative acting and yet she never got an Oscar, which is the ultimate recognition as an experienced actress. She jokingly said she is ‘keeping the record up’ by being nominated for one 7 times already, but I can see that it is a karmic burden she is supposed to bear in her career since her capable and professional Midheaven in Taurus is unfortunately squared by her Saturn in Leo (and it is retrograde, which makes this energy even more dense and powerful). This placement is connected to slow rewards in work, a legacy that is built after overcoming many setbacks and frustrations, and also with the side-effect of not being the most popular with the public; nonetheless, I do believe she might receive an honorary Oscar for her entire career, since her South Node is in Sagittarius, the sign of competition, awards and growth and it could help unleash a big career blessing for her just when she least expects it.

Of course, in such an article I can only scratch the surface of the actual interpretation of the charts of these talented Piscean actresses. I was mostly interested in exploring why they received these roles and why these roles made them so well-known. As always, Pluto and Saturn have something to do with it but once we take a look at the position of the nodes of the Moon, the karmic South Node and dharmic North Node, it emerges quite clearly just how destined some things in our lives are and how in spite of our free-will the flow of life can lead us into situations that darken our perception before they bring on the light and adulation of many. If these actresses’ work is new to you, you can start here with Sharon Stone’s filmography and for Glenn Close please check out this list. Happy discoveries!

With universal love,

Lexi