Steven Spielberg – A lifetime making movies

Another year, another Spielberg blockbuster. The film maestro was in London this week for the premiere of “War Horse” his latest epic set in the UK and Europe depicting a story of a boy and his horse (Joey) at the time of World War One. From Jaws, to ET, the spellbinding Schindler’s List to Saving Private Ryan, Steven has struck gold on the silver screen many, many times, and is now one of the most powerful men in the film industry.

Steven Spielberg was born on 18th December 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio at 18.16 hrs. He is a knowledgeable Sagittarian with a deep emotional Scorpio Moon and a Cancerian ascendant. The Sun Moon combination shows somebody who needs to keep on top of absolutely everything going on around them. A Scorpio Moon shows quite controlling secretive tendencies and if that control and information flow is disrupted, then the subject can go into panic mode; the need to know is paramount. The Sun being in a fire sign shows inspiration and enthusiasm, and this with the Scorpio Moon is controlled into a solid form. All those grand ideas from the Sagittarian Moon and all the emotion from the Scorpio Moon as well as the Cancerian ascendant (which is in trine with the Moon) also in a water sign make a very powerful combination. Of course the form that Spielberg uses to meld all those energies is through film.

There is a great amount of creative force on this chart. Three planets sit in the artistic 5th house, that very powerful Scorpio Moon (the chart ruler with Cancer on the ascendant) which here is in a playful mood. This is a very expressive place for the Moon to be, all the emotions are fully on tap. Notice how many of his films involve children, which are highlighted in the 5th house We all know Steven and his general manner is quite quiet and understated. That is because this Moon receives a square from a powerful Saturn/Pluto conjunction. The Saturn influence tones down the outward emotion of the Moon making Steven more shy than you would expect. His self confidence, especially early in his life would have probably been quite low. However there is such emotion here that it has to come out, in this case through his creative talents as a director and maker of films and his thus his work.

Also in the 5th house sits Jupiter and Venus. This a wonderfully colourful, optimistic combination, hugely idealistic with grand pretentions. Any films that Steven does will be have an element of social outreach. These films will have to be popular, big in scale and even if they have a dark nature with the Scorpio influence, here there is almost always an optimistic thread running through them; Jupiter Venus in Scorpio is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. When I say big by the way, I mean blockbuster big. Jupiter in Scorpio square to Pluto is as big as the universe, maybe even bigger than that; Steven was never meant to make small art-house movies.  The Jupiter Venus conjunction in the 5th makes a trine to the Pisces Midheaven, a sure sign if ever there was any doubt that Steven’s work (Midheaven) was going to be in TV and the movies (Pisces/Neptune).

Another signature for movie making is seen in Pisces’ ruler Neptune which sits in the 4th house in social Libra at the point of a mini grand trine completed by a trine between Mercury in the 6th house in Sagittarius and the Saturn/Pluto conjunction in the 2nd house of money and possessions. Here Mercury brings a technical excellence to his filmmaking. The Mercury 6th house shows a real attention to detail, as does the Sun/Mars conjunction. Steven is a real perfectionist and everything from the editing, special effects and music will be approved and overseen by his careful hand on the tiller. He will be a very well read as a man, making sure he has all back up work and history to hand before he does a project. Mercury in Sagittarius need a wide breadth of knowledge on which to call upon.

Saturn/Pluto in the 2nd house is hugely interested in making money. The reason is fear, a fear that at some point in your life you will run out, so you work hard and diligently to make sure you have enough. Pluto here makes it a compulsive, obsessional pursuit. Steven will not only crave huge wealth, but also huge personal power. Filmmaking was always going to prove to be big business for him with this money making combination connected to his filmic Neptune. The trine from Mercury to Saturn and Pluto shows a real determination and a very organised attitude and it is complemented by the Sun Mars conjunction also in the 6th house that brings great energy and drive to your everyday work.

Now not all was well as Steven grew up, as Neptune in the 4th house shows a disrupted family life. Here he would daydream (Neptune), while the family fought around him. Notice that the chart seems to be in two almost separated sections. There bottom section of planets seemingly well connected together and a separated t-square connecting the Sun Mars and Uranus to the Midheaven. Whenever I find a split like this, with the Sun in one formation and the Moon in the other, I always suspect that there was a split in the family. True enough, the parents went their separate ways when Steven was in his teens, and he chose to live with his father. The Sun (representing the father) conjunct Mars opposite Uranus shows a very independent man who was active if a little unpredictable and aggressive. Steven’s relationship to his mother with that brutal Saturn/Pluto square to the Moon (representing the mother) looked far more difficult, so I am not surprised that he left to live with his dad. His childhood also upset him. One other little clue for all budding astrologers out there. If ever you see a chart with most of the planets in the bottom hemisphere of the chart, you know that the upbringing for the subject would have been difficult. Steven was rather afraid of his Jewish roots (note religious Neptune in the 4th house) especially as his grandfather was an orthodox Jew. He received much abuse from the kids at school lowering his self esteem (Saturn in 2nd house).   

These experiences toughen you up though and eventually you do build up confidence. Steven took the active independence of his father with him as he grew up, and I am sure it was this influence in his chart inherited that encouraged him to create his own studio DreamWorks (notice the Neptune influence in the title) and break away from the Hollywood moguls. Like his father broke away from the family, he divorced himself from the Hollywood filmmaking fraternity to go it on his own. Just goes to show the lessons we learn in early life become useful later on. For example, in so many of his films there is conflict between the parent and the child or a complete lack of the parent to guide the child. It is a theme that he took from his own upbringing into his work, starting from the classic film ET where Elliott’s father was never even shown.

Steven has gone on to become (arguably) the greatest filmmaker of a generation. Next year, he plans to release Lincoln with Daniel Day Lewis in the lead role (he never does a bad film) and there are rumours that a film about Martin Luther King are in the pipeline. Plenty then to keep the ever busy Mr Spielberg in his director’s chair.