I think by now it’s obvious from the content of my articles, that I have a soft spot for intense individuals who border on the insane. I’m fascinated to see how people cope with duress, with the challenges life throws at them, and most often the pressures that they place upon themselves. I think this is why I have always been attracted to psychotherapy and I’m actively involved not only in my own healing but in that of those who I am fortunate enough to cross paths with.

In 2025, I randomly saw a large number of movies which involved dark, intense and rather disturbing topics. I think I was drawn to them because it was a way to safely and creatively experience my own private wrestling match with some dark and heavy emotions. It’s as if what I was feeling inside was spilling over into a warped, emotional reality, enhanced in its dream-like quality by my viewing of so many movies. I blame the transits of Saturn and Neptune for putting me in this state, and while I understand that there is an underlying logic to this sullen cosmic energy, I still cannot bring myself to enjoy the process. Around May of this year, when dad died, I started sleeping during the day and getting up around evening time to then sit all night and watch movies, read, cry and pray.

I lost so much this year. Despite my resistance, 2025 vacuumed me of pleasure, joy, hope and faith. I felt in equal parts, shame, guilt, intense anxiety and despair. Some days I struggled to get up and when I did, I was struck by how pointless doing anything was. I often didn’t know what to do but to put on a movie with my projector, curl up in a foetus position, sip cold, black coffee and see the stories of people whose fates are worse than mine.

During a couple of such sedated days, I got a chance to watch two rather niche but equally powerful movies. I saw Resurrection (2022) with Rebecca Hall directed by Andrew Semans, and Antiviral (2012) with Caleb Landry Jones directed by Brandon Cronenberg. I personally felt like I couldn’t shake these movies off of me, long after I finished watching them. The first movie made me weep so hard as the credits rolled in, and the second was more of a mindfuck that made me press replay, just so I could understand what I had just watched. One thing I knew for sure was that the impact of the stories I just saw was exactly what I needed: a cure for getting out of my life and my wounded Self; a fascination for trying to understand two fictional characters with fucked up fates. I felt suddenly inspired…

Both movies display difficult subjects. In Resurrection, an abusive ex returns to torment a woman who just managed to build a better life for herself, but for most of the movie you find yourself doubting her sanity rather than believing that the villain’s comeback is doing any actual harm. In ‘Antiviral’, an employee working for a high-tech company is obsessed with a celebrity to such an extent that he injects her diseases into his body just to feel close to her.

Antiviral is the debut feature of Brandon Cronenberg, the son of famously weird Canadian director, David Cronenberg (who created Existenz, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Crash etc.) Compared to his father’s work, I find Brandon’s movies to be unique and mesmerising, but even more ruthless and clinical than David’s movies are. if you are to consider Infinity Pool and what a distorted ride that movie was. I guess it’s just the astrological difference of their solar imaginarium, seeing as David is a Sun in Pisces and Brandon is a Sun in Capricorn.

Coming back to Antiviral, I have to say that I really liked the idea which was a direct critique of our obsession with celebrities, amplified as the story was by the excellent acting. Even if the movie was engrossing, certain gory scenes could’ve been better polished if not altogether scrapped out; also, the movie did lack a certain empathy and emotionality. On the other hand, Resurrection was so tightly controlled and filmed that it made you feel slightly claustrophobic, thereby matching the viewer’s complicity with Margaret’s own palpitating and overwhelming emotions. I think I’m saying that this latter performance made me feel more, while the first experience was intellectually interesting but too clinically delivered.

Superficially speaking, I think that what mesmerised me so much about both of these performances is the fact that we are looking at two flawed but also gorgeous people who were filmed with such a dedication that it felt their connection with the audience almost became tangible (for example, at a certain point I am pretty sure I was more familiar with Rebecca’s snot and sweat and Caleb’s bloody gushings more than with my own bodily fluids).

Antiviral doesn’t pack an emotional punch like Resurrection does, a movie at the end of which I felt shattered seeing how simultaneously soulfully free and yet physically condemned Rebecca Hall’s character, Margaret, was. In Resurrection the psychological unravelling she experiences as a result of years of cruelty and gaslighting was masterfully done. The entire movie rests heavily on Rebecca’s acting chops and mad presence, at least up until the point where she shares a couple of scenes with Philip Roth and you feel your blood curdling in your veins as you witness their back and forth and find out what traumatized her this much that she is losing control at the mere sight of this small and insignificant man.

Since these were two tough viewing experiences, demanding a lot from their audiences – even if the acting was so unhinged it was close to perfection – I was vibrating with curiosity to look into the natal charts of both Rebecca and Caleb and see if there were certain energies they disposed of which made them gravitate to these stories. You may be aware that we tend to play out the inherent astrological energies we contain inside, through the work that we do. Actors and performers in general do this in a very visible and public way, which provides countless study cases for interested astrologers to explore, seeing as the world of film – or the land of Neptune – is a giant projection screen for what lies within.

Let’s first look at Rebecca’s chart. Born on May 3rd 1982 (age 43 years) in London, UK, Rebecca is a Sun in Taurus and a Moon in Aries. You can see her birth-chart below:

Her Moon is conjunct Venus in her fall in Aries, her Taurean Sun is conjunct the Wounded Healer asteroid, Chiron, while her destiny points are a South Node in Capricorn (her comfort zone) and a North Node in Cancer (her growth area). With a witty and domicile placement of Mercury in Gemini and an almost perfect conjunction between her natal Neptune and Lilith (the Wild Feminine asteroid) in freedom-loving Sagittarius, this is a woman who can think for herself and someone who gains her sense of freedom in life through martyrdom, escapism and acting. Although her fierce core brings a lot of determination and grit to the table, while her Saturnian comfort zone makes her a natural stoic and professional, what really gets her to gravitate towards harrowing tales and emotionally-intense roles is her natal Jupiter in Scorpio and that North Node in Cancer, placements which tell me she just finds so much joy and pleasure from bringing to life twisted stories and exploring deep emotions.

Catharsis, rebirths and life-and-death experiences are her happy place. In addition to this, with a stellium of planets in the beautiful, relationship-prone and justice-driven sign of Libra, involving Saturn, Mars and Pluto she is a force to reckon with, both on screen and outside of it. As a sidenote, her husband is a fellow actor: Morgan Spector, a Sun in Libra man whose solar energy touches upon Rebecca’s stellium in Libra, letting me know that their relationship is anything but easy but it can also be quite hot and stubborn in its longevity and perseverance.

Now, let’s explore Caleb’s chart. Born on December 7th 1989 (age 35 years) in Garland (TX) in the US, Caleb is a Sagittarius Sun with a Moon in Aries, as you can see below:

Caleb was born with a Jupiter conjunct Chiron in Cancer (a marker for painful success or fame that wounds the soul), a South Node in Leo and a North Node in Aquarius, and what is perhaps the darkest and most fascinating part of his chart comprising of a close conjunction between Mars and Pluto in Scorpio (further enhanced by a nearby Lilith) and a stellium in grounded and restrained Capricorn. Having just one of the Saturnian or Plutonic energies can severely weigh down and intensify your chart, but Caleb has them both! His Capricorn stellium includes the planets Venus, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus and Mercury. With Saturn almost perfectly conjunct his Neptune in the sign of Capricorn, he is an almost walking-and-talking embodiment of the collective energies we are at the mercy of in 2025, a year which is marred by the conjunction between these two giants of our solar system and the ensuing chaos that they are creating in our lives.

Although Caleb’s Saturn is domicile – which means that it functions better than the current Saturn in Pisces transit – and some would argue that his Venus is not conjunct his Saturn because it is so far apart by degree, but being in the same sign makes the planet function in a similar way. We see here the roots of intense emotional deprivation and a need to mask it with toughness, rules, rigidity and calculation – similar traits he displays so well in his character, Syd March from Antiviral. His energy is further darkened by the stealth ruthlesness and volcanic desires cloaked within the Mars-Pluto conjunction in Scorpio. No wonder that more recently, he starred in Dracula: A love tale (a dissapointing and unwatchable adaptation, in my view).

One thing that stands out is that both Caleb and Rebecca share in common a Moon in Aries placement. Aries, being the first sign of the zodiac is usually associated with new life, vitality, lifeblood and the forceful rebirth of Nature after the dead of winter. When Aries energy exists in the Moon position of a native, this primal fire energy works at a deeply unconscious level, and it is somehow softened but also even more subtly powerful as it pervades a person’s complete aura and sense of being, especially when they rest and relax. Here is how astrologer Donna Cunningham describes this lunar position in her book “Moon Signs: The Key to Your Inner Life”:

Aries is the best Moon sign, at least according to those who have it. They have to be the best at nearly everything they do – otherwise it ruins their whole day. They’re not always aware of this instinctive competitiveness, for the Moon’s traits are often unconscious. Nonetheless, Aries represents the urge to be out in front of the pack, so many Aries Moon natives display outstanding leadership and pioneering abilities. Active and vital, they’re easily bored by routine and want to be busy all the time.

— p. 142

It’s fascinating that these are not the only two creepy roles that Caleb and Rebecca decided to take on, since I still have on my watchlist The Listeners and Nitram; the first movie is about a woman hearing strange noises no one else can hear and the latter about a man who committed a massacre in the 90s, a script based on a true story. I also need to say that I loved Rebecca in the Night House, but I am saving my thoughts on that movie for an upcoming post on Pluto and 4th house matters.

The crux of this article is basically just me saying that as a depressed Sun in Pisces woman who struggled to get out of bed and continue to live this year, getting in touch with the work of two Moon in Aries performers who literally electrified the screen with their presence and passion for their craft, woke me up back up to life.

So, if you are doubting your energy and your work, please don’t. The way you are and the effort and passion you put into your craft and into your work can be so important to someone out there, in ways you may not even be aware. Inspiring a resurrection, passion can literally bring people back up to life, as it tends to be highly infectious… and against this type of infection, I don’t think we need any antivirals.

With universal love,

Lexi