Liam Neeson – From the backstreets of Ballymena to the bling of Hollywood.

It’s a long while since I did one of my celebrity profiles and thanks to a suggestion a few weeks ago, I’ve decided to look at the astrology of Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, star of films like Taken and Schindler’s List. Liam was in the news in the past couple of months as he was awarded the freedom of his home town of Ballymena, an honour he finally agreed to after rejecting it back in the year 2000. I believe returning home and being accepted as Ballymena’s favourite son now in a peaceful and more religiously tolerant Northern Ireland gave him great joy.

Liam was born on 7th June 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. The chart above is a rectified chart, done by Astrologer Noel Tyl and as with all rectified charts should be taken with a little caution. Liam is a Sun Sign Gemini with a freedom loving Sagittarian Moon and Ascendant. This is an airy chart with 5 planets in air signs, thus he will find it important to get out his message, to network and using his mind in a logical and matter of fact manner more than relying on his emotions, as is the way with most Geminis. Those with a predominance of air in their chart can seem rather detached and cold sometimes, as any emotional warmth within them often can’t get through so easily. This is not so the case with Liam as his Moon is in fiery Sagittarius in his 12th house. That warmth will come out in private and more personal moments, but maybe in public he will seem a little more reserved and cool.

The combination of Sun and Moon shows an opposition of communicating ideas and thoughts (Sun in Gemini) and the need for those opinions to be listened to and to be respected (Moon in Sagittarius); in all that he does, he will want to make an impact on people. These two planets are in direct opposition and it suggests that his father and mother were total opposites in nature and character, but also committed to each other, both Sun and Moon were not affected by any aspects from malefic planets to affect their union. That opposition brings a personality at cross purposes with itself, his emotions and his brain and desires shown through Venus and Mercury conjunct to the Sun are not married well with his emotions, and this will cause some internal restlessness within him. The Moon in the 12th house does keep the emotions under the surface and he will feel that he will be unable to empathise with people around him as much as he would like. This is a little bit of a reclusive position, and although his has to be in the spotlight through his work, I suspect he would prefer to keep out of the way as much as he can. This position will give him a love of the oppressed man, the one who has to fight for his right to survive.

The triple conjunction in the 6th house shows someone who can put up with routine and the ordinary grind of every day work, a guy who is a perfectionist and very organized, someone who is artistic and possibly creative with his hands, a man who appreciates beauty and design, a guy who is kind, articulate and thoughtful. These planets oppose the Moon and this gives him a real interest in his past, his roots, and  in human stories. Have you noticed that he often plays people from the past, men who were significant in their time? He has portrayed Rob Roy, Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins, particularly poignant for him and also Oskar Schindler, who he brought to life brilliantly on the silver screen.

This opposition focuses in on Neptune in his 9th house conjunct to his Libran Midheaven, the planet of film and acting in a sandwich between his point of public projection and career, the Midheaven and Saturn, the planet of ambition. This 9th house indicates a serious attitude to religion and beliefs, and also fear. We have modest and conservative Virgo on the cusp of his 9th house, and it is known that Liam came from a Roman Catholic background in Northern Ireland at a time when the province was seething with religious tension between Catholic and Protestant. Neptune and Saturn shows fear of the religious tensions that were at their heights when he was approaching adulthood but also ambition, and Neptune’s spiritual reach and the suffering it brings extended into his local environment as Pisces, Neptune’s sign is the ruler of the 3rd house which has authority over these areas of his life. The influences on this 3rd/9th house axis would shape much of his life. He initially wanted to be a teacher, Saturn in the 9th highlights the learning and teaching element of this placing however in 1976 he joined a local (3rd house) acting and dramatic (Pisces) society in Belfast and this fuelled his artistic side. The 9th house is also the house of international travel and eventually his talent took him abroad (9th house) to work (Saturn) as an actor (Neptune/Midheaven) in Hollywood.

These planets make a couple of square aspects to Uranus which heightens his talent in creative terms, it gives him a bit of star quality and an attitude not to look back but to always move forward, to update and adapt his style and the kind or roles that he plays. Liam is a very adaptable actor who has appeared in thoughtful roles as well as big blockbuster and action movies – active Mars sits conjunct to the Midheaven too. This Uranus is in the 7th house of one’s wife and partner, and we all know about the tragic accident that occurred to his wife Natasha Richardson on the ski slopes in Quebec, Canada. On that day 19th March 2009, transiting Saturn in his 8th house of death squared his triple Sun Mercury Venus conjunction. The Sun through Leo was ruling his 8th house of death where Saturn was moving, Mercury ruled his 7th house of his wife, and 9th house of incidents abroad. Venus ruled his 5th house of sport and 10th house of public awareness. That natal Uranus under severe stress from Saturn and Neptune predicted the shocking accident that was to come to affect his life and family – the transiting Nodes were also square to his natal Jupiter in his 4th house of the home and family, the South Node, the one of detriment was moving in his 8th house too.

That 8th house is occupied by Pluto which sits at the point of a mini grand trine from Sun/Mercury/Venus and Neptune. This brings great depth to his character and to his artistic work, he will have a talent to go beneath the surface of any role to get to the real motivations of the man that he portraying. Here is a fascination with power and the politics of control and also of the more unexplained areas of life including mortality and death. Connecting to his Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Neptune there is a depth and gravitas to his work, to his talent and to his relationships and even through his manner of communicating.

Liam has Mars retrograde also conjunct his Midheaven in Scorpio in his 10th house, a very active and competitive position and one where one has to use some of the internal rage and latent anger that sits inside one, the retrograde element here of Mars in Scorpio boils up a storm inside. He took up amateur boxing in his younger years and he still loves it immensely, that’s the stirring of his love of the underdog in his Sagittarian Moon coming out too. His 5th house of competition and sport has Taurus sitting there and this is always an indication of someone who has to let the energy within them go through some type of physical exercise or competition. In his work, he will be very driven to do well and with Mars opposite to Jupiter in Taurus his 4th house he will love any adventure and also very driven to have a large spacious and comfortable home. Jupiter in the 4th house as well as a Sagittarian ascendant indicates he will hate to be hemmed in and will love the wide open spaces of the countryside. It also suggests that he will always do well in purchasing property and in real estate matters too.

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