CAROL movie astrology: Cate and Rooney

Cate Blanchett as Carol, Rooney Mara as Therese

Carol movie

 Cate and Rooney astrology

 written in the stars

2023 update

This post was written in 2016 & because of its popularity the content deserves another update.

A confirmed birth chart for Cate Blanchett is added here and my expanded analytic techniques 7 years later can offer further observations

click to enlarge

Although several qualities found in Cate's chart were listed in the original post - as I write her Ocean's 8 movie is on TV - and I am more directly aware of the Pisces quality Cate is able to project through her north lunar node. The north node position can reveal a lot about a person's impact upon the masses. Her node being in Pisces reinforces the role played also by Neptune in her chart: Neptune energy is a perfect tool for actors to embody because it enables great fluidity shape-shifting mystery - which means being able to play a variety of roles. A Neptunian person can inhabit many personas.

The north node in Pisces in Cate's chart sits at 27 degrees. 

This position triggers and is triggered by 12 degrees in any sign in the Fixed group: [Aquarius Taurus Leo Scorpio ]

Cate has Saturn Sun and rising sign in Taurus.

Her rising sign at 15 degrees is in range of the 12 degree activation point but the midpoint location of Saturn and her Taurus Sun is almost 12 degrees. 

This combination of Taurus [body] with a Neptune/Pisces [fantasy]  influenced north node explains the powerful charm that Cate has as well as that talent for inhabiting the form or body of others.

Taurus being one of the fixed signs can also express is ways that are Aquarius Leo or Scorpio - these 3 other signs have more charisma than what we expect of a Taurus - and those 3 signs are very useful to a performer/actor - Aquarius providing eccentric or unusual traits - Leo loving to perform and be appreciated - Scorpio having a magnetic charisma that can easily spill over into very overt sexual allure or pulling power. All four of the signs in that fixed group are significant as they create the chart structure  -the horizontal and tilted vertical lines have one fixed sign at each end in her chart.

Having a compatible fiery Venus and Mars [Aries and Sagittarius] gives the Taurus energies much more "mojo"

The Aquarian traits get even more of a boost through the related planet Uranus being angled [sesquisquare] to the 15 Taurus rising sign/ascendant.

Having the combination of Jupiter and Pluto in close contact will always impart an enhanced power of some sort to a person. They are placed in Virgo for Cate. Virgo is a mind energy which is well adapted to organising classifying analysing and noticing details. This has the potential to turn into obsessive perfectionism when Pluto's capacity for ruthless exploration is magnified even further by Jupiter.

This combination is also great for therapists or anyone needing to do deep investigation or analysis - a forensic level of detail. Imagine this is how Cate prepares for her roles. fortunately the flip side of Virgo is Pisces - and this also being a very strong trait provides some escape once the role unfolds.

It is unsurprising then that so many fall under the spell cast by Cate Blanchett -to the point of obsession. Fellow actor Val Kilmer was quite open about the impact on him. Of course his birth chart  shows why he was bewitched.

Cate has gone on record in the context of roles she has played  -such as in Carol and Tar and her sexuality in real life has been queried. Her response [very Aquarian and very Pisces] is that she doesn't like labels - reflecting her individuality as well as her capacity for fluidity.

Reading between the lines it is easy to see that Cate wants the freedom to be who she is in any context without being confined or pressured by a label. Her movie choices enabled by her star power give her the ultimate freedom to inhabit roles where she can explore fluidity in a safe way because it is a role a performance.

In March 2014, after two weeks of rehearsals

 a 34 day shoot began for the movie Carol.

The two leads Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara 

not only got to play two women in love

 but also had an intriguing encounter

 with their shared real life chemistry

this post has ongoing updates:

latest: The 2 Rachels paired up for steamy scenes in Disobediance

Scroll to end for details

Who is Cate Blanchett?

2016 Oscars

There’s no denying that Cate Blanchett is a force of nature. According to online commentary, every superlative imaginable is evoked when her name arises: goddess, beautiful, talented, gifted, graceful, intelligent. The outward evidence of this abundance of formidable qualities is her highly impressive acting career –which she now combines with 4 children and a long-term marriage. 
The unseen evidence is the stuff that an astrologer can analyse based on the type of energy template she was delivered when born - not long before sunrise on May 14 1969.

the fluid grace of Cate Blanchett in a scene from Carol

What you get in the complex package called Cate Blanchett is 

• a highly intelligent, wide-ranging and intensely analytical mind [Mercury-Mars opposition, Pluto-Jupiter in Virgo] 
• a forthright personality [Venus and Mars in fire, Mars-Mercury], 
• a comfort in using swear words [Mars-Mercury, Venus in Aries]
•  an earthy sensuality [Sun in Taurus, Taurus rising] 
• an abundance of fantasy/pretend relationships/sexual encounters – channelled through performance/acting roles [ Neptune in Scorpio in 7^th] 
• the ability to inhabit any role [Neptune opposite the Sun] 
• the capacity for continual reinvention [Pluto-Sun] 
• bags full of charisma and a born performer [Sun rising, Sun-Pluto] 
• fame and fortune [Jupiter-Sun] 
• an extraordinary degree of success, empowerment and beneficial/growthful experiences [Jupiter-Pluto-Sun] 
• complex, intense, passionate –and to use her own word volcanic - emotions [Moon-Jupiter-Pluto] 
• highly attractive with wide appeal to both sexes [Venus-Mars] 
• a rebellious quality, drawn to the unorthodox and clearly capable of relationships which do not fit the conventional mould [Uranus] 
• the ability to tap into the spiritual underlayers of existence and 
• the need for reform, uprising and progressive social change [Jupiter-Pluto-Neptune-Uranus]
•  the need to balance duties, traditional responsibilities with the urge to be free, independent, innovative [Saturn-Uranus] 
• the attraction towards meaningful and powerful work that has grand-scale significance for humanity and 
• the ability to essentially be a shapeshifter, a shamanic force that channels universal forces [Pluto-Jupiter-Sun-Moon-Neptune-lunar nodes all connected]

Basically, you don't get all the blessings that Cate Blanchett has on board unless you've been very very good in your past life/lives...and this is just some of what Cate Blanchett is made of.

some of the countless covers featuring Cate as style icon

Taureans need to feel secure and having this Sun sign Cate's adult life path has accordingly been traditionally structured [Saturn]- more than likely as a consequence of the childhood trauma, instability and insecurity resulting from the death of her beloved father, when she was just 10 years of age: a deep commitment to work, marriage and motherhood all seeking a place in her life - but the parts of Cate that are yet to fully unfold are where her biggest impact lies.

Essentially, Cate Blanchett has an innate ability to be of great benefit to humanity through her acting work  - or any other societal contribution -when she picks projects that offer that potential. Having said that, the opportunity is also there to steer or direct projects rather than performing in them.

It could be said that Carol is one of those significant socially meaningful projects.

Regarded as ground-breaking for its treatment of a same sex love affair as part of life, part of the spectrum of human experience and not a choice deserving entrenched guilt,punishment and tragic outcomes.

A movie such as this is far from the sort of fodder that the awards institutions too often gravitate towards and the diversity debate -which let's be real, is not just about race is still too fresh to pull this movie gem into contention –despite independent reviewers and audiences being literally spellbound by the combined efforts of cast, direction and production.

A comment recently encountered online said words to the effect that Cate is such a consistently top performer that it is now hard for her to stand out. 

Charlize Theron’s best work saw her radical transformation in Monster –and garnered her multiple awards including an Oscar -just as Leonardo Di Caprio is expected to achieve in 2016 for a similarly intense immersion in The Revenant –these are the sort of edgy performances that typically shoot to the top –so what chance is there to really impact upon the masses when a story is fundamentally no less powerful, but far more subtle, refined, eloquent and beautiful?

Who is Rooney Mara?

Rooney Mara is more of a mystery than the Cate already known publicly and explored here.

Rooney on a range of covers

Born April 17 1985 she is an Aries.Her whole birthchart is not known due to no birth-time published online.
Her Moon may be in Pisces and Taurus Rising on the Ascendant -the Pisces being reflective of the far-away look captured in so many press images, her real life interest in photography, her sensitivity, comments such as " I really soak up everyone's emotions and moods" and "I need a lot of alone time as a human" - two comments that are classic Pisces.
An interview worth referencing
and here Rooney...describes herself as having been "a dark, brooding, miserable little adolescent..." and
"I've always been a very sensitive person, and people tell me that if I'm in a certain mood and I go into a room, my mood will permeate the room. It's not on purpose—I'd rather be invisible in those moments—but I'm really bad at faking how I feel. Like, my emotions kind of live all over my body at all times, and there's not a good way for me to hide it."  and
"Because I'm highly empathetic, it's easy for me to put myself in the character's shoes. It's, you know, finding the truth of the moment."

the planets when Rooney was born - here positioned for a guessimated birth at 6.30am gives Taurus rising and most of her planets submerged in the subconscious zone [12th]
A chart with this birth time would add even more karma, compatibility and attraction factors into the mix with Cate's positions

Rooney's highest profile work as Lisbeth Salander in the US version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo captures her combination of planets in Aries [Sun, Mercury-Venus] and the Scorpio-Taurus intensity-sensuality [ Saturn, Mars, Pluto, lunar nodes] energies that have the capacity to generate brooding anger, revenge – that ability to swing from light to dark, the repressed and oppressed self that lingers in passive mode until breaking out into any form of aggression.

So much of all that is internalised for Rooney and likely has to mostly come out through her acting roles. Like all zodiac signs, Aries too can swing into its polarity sign Libra as a survival technique – when the environment demands a fashionable, personable, sweet, soft and feminine persona.

The passion, intensity, sensuality and sexuality of Rooney Mara is all there able to be tapped – it is the sense of  depth, restraint and self control of these potent inner forces that lends an edge to her performances and elevate her charisma.

So now comes the karmic part of the story

Every time our unconscious is working something out, it calls into our lives the people who have within the pieces of the answer we are seeking - 
Martin Schulman, Karmic Relationships

Nothing happens without the essential causes and conditions to be in place.

The Carol project is well known for lingering long in processes, delays – and having been in development since 1997 - and it is known that Cate attached herself to the movie early in the process and had an executive producer’s role.

But nothing about this movie was 100% right until Rooney Mara was finally signed on. That is karma in action. She first declined it. Time passed. Then the timing was right.
Cate and director Todd have joked that they were waiting for Rooney to be born - in reality it is a born again role for her.
Cate confirms the perfect mix: "It feels like it couldn't've happened with any other group of people in any other way at any other time. And that in itself is special."

A film like Carol would be nothing without all the ingredients working. In terms of Cate and Rooney they needed the right chemistry to carry off a story involving love, attraction, desire and their shared expression. 

Chemistry is of course just a catchphrase for attraction, an attraction that has to be credible when it forms the core of a story.

Both women have the appropriate qualities as indicated by their astrological profiles to be very attuned to sensual and sexual energies but that alone doesn’t make a match –we all know of other people’s sexual vibes that are a jarring repulsive disharmony with our own, just as we know when we meet someone that sets everything on fire.

Cate and Rooney were destined to spark very nicely and for both of them in their true personas, out of character, Carol was a highly significant encounter, played out within the safe domain of a movie. 

This movie was a personal release and an enriching experience for both women –as evidenced by their commentary in the countless press interviews the pair took part in. The intensity of the impact on both of them is apparent in their deep analysis of the story, both in its own historical societal context and it’s contemporary relevance.

Cate and Rooney have reinforced the bottom line that Carol is a film about love. To fully comprehend that we need to embrace fluid sexuality, recognise the sexuality spectrum and keep declaring the irrelevance of labels.

Carol Love Scene soundtrack by Carter Burwell,was part of the hypnotic mood of Carol


Also read the Cate Blanchett Rooney Mara Timeline 1969-2016

The astrological dynamics of Cate and Rooney include significant factors such as:

Cate May 14 1969 Taurus Sun, Aries Moon, Taurus Rising

Rooney April 17 1985 Aries Sun, Moon possibly Pisces, Rising sign possibly Taurus.

• Cate's Moon at 24 Aries is in close conjunction with Rooney's Sun 27 Aries = yin and yang conjoined, a love match

• Cate’s Sun 23 Taurus exactly conjunct Rooney’s Mars 23 Taurus = passion
• Cate’s Sun 23 Taurus closely opposite Rooney’s Saturn 27 Scorpio =endurance & a significant karmic link

• Cate’s Mars 15 Sagittarius tightly conjunct Rooney’s Uranus 18 Sagittarius =excitement
• Cate’s Neptune 27 Scorpio exactly conjunct Rooney’s Saturn 27 Scorpio = enduring fascination
• Cate’s Saturn 2 Taurus tightly opposed to Rooney’s Pluto 3 Scorpio = obsession
• Cate’s Pluto 22 Virgo tightly trine Rooney’s Mars 23 Taurus = sexual intensity
• In addition both have Venus in Aries – a nice capacity to connect through shared way of relating as well as swinging between the Aries-Libra opposite sign options –though Cate’s is primarily extroverted and Rooney’s is more often internalised [retrograde]
• Cate's Venus-Pluto energy is triggered by Rooney's Mars-Jupiter -by exact midpoints
• Cate's Moon-Venus matches Rooney's Venus-Pluto -again a midpoint connection
• Cate's Mars-Pluto exactly conjunct Rooney's Pluto
• Cate's Venus-Mars match Rooney's Mars-Pluto
• Cate's Eros is conjunct Rooney's Eros

[ Astologers with experience in relationship dynamics will be having some OMG moments reading just how many points of connection exist...in even a brief summary]

In summary

The preponderance of shared Taurus/Venus, Scorpio/Pluto, Aries/ Mars and Saturn aspects makes for an intense, exciting and enduring dynamic between Cate and Rooney beyond their Carol characters.

No surprise then that Rooney describes Cate as magnetic and that Cate says of Rooney: She’s incredible. She seems very still on the surface, but she’s volcanic.

Again, this is just part of the dynamics between Cate and Rooney. The more you look, the more connections you find -including the energies in play when they first met in February 2014, and what activations of their personal energies were triggered during the period of the film shoot in 2014.

In some senses they carry a flavour of past life twinship -with all the intensity and closeness that entails. In other ways it is a highly erotic attraction.

The heavens - as viewed from earth when Cate was born


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What was written in the stars in the time frame of the movie shoot from March 12-April 25 2014 is that the making of this movie had a meaningful effect on both Cate and Rooney in terms of their understanding of relationships, particularly same sex love and desire.

The influences affecting them both in the time of the movie shoot included most significantly, multiple Venus [relating] activations –by the Sun, Mercury, Uranus, Pluto, Mars.
The Sun being in Pisces in the first fortnight endowed a special movie magic and the highly romantic overtones. Then the over-riding solar energy shifted into the passionate sign of Aries until late in the shoot, then the sensual sign Taurus for the final 5 days.
(If only more films could be shot in keeping with the appropriate prevailing influences -that's when authenticity happens) 

For Rooney the April Sun in Aries and the transiting lunar nodal axis in Libra-Aries strongly energised her birth Sun position in Aries.
Aries and Libra are the fundamental relating energies - so for Rooney the Self-Other dynamic was very emphasised.

The nodal axis is a significant turning point trigger when in contact with personal planetary positions.

For Cate – whose Venus was majorly impacted by multiple planets in the period April 20-22 2014 – Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto all reached the 14 degree point activating her 14 degree Venus. This was undeniably a life changing point in her experience and awareness of relationship dynamics and potentials.
Fast forward two years from the 2014 Carol shoot and Cate cannot resist repetitive flirting with a self-confessed still-besotted Rooney. The Independent Spirit Awards of February 27 2016 saw Cate cheekily plant a hand on Rooney's left breast, much to her amusement, as the pair shared the introduction to the screening of their movie.

Cate's timeline towards eventually starring in Carol  involved her exposure to the writings of Jeanette Winterson [ author of 1985 Oranges are not the only fruit , reading Patricia Highsmith novels including Price of Salt / Carol in 1999.  

Cate starred in Notes on a Scandal [2006] -where she, as art teacher Sheba was a younger straight woman who was the object of older teacher Judi Dench's lesbian infatuation

Having seen the 2013 French movie Blue is the Warmest Colour Cate got to award its star Adele Exarchopoulos with an award at Cannes in 2014. Adele was considered later for the role of Tiger Lily in Pan [2015] - but that role went to...Rooney Mara.

Both Cate and Rooney, because of significant similarities in their life paths are experiencing very connected life changes especially intensely in the period 2016-2018 that involve for both of them their personal relationships, feelings, connections.

Expect this to be a very transformational period for both of them on deep levels
The Movie

This  movie stands out for having so many addictive qualities -so you will hear of lots of people wanting more, watching it over and over, waiting impatiently for the DVD for continual replaying and referencing. 
What makes a film so hypnotic? A combination of the charismatic lead actors Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, the way director Todd Haynes structures the delivery of the story, the sort of lines and scenes constructed by screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, the musical score by Carter Burwell -and of course the original story created by Patricia Highsmith. With all these players converging around a love story the chemistry between Cate and Rooney had to be credible enough to make audiences swoon, be entranced and hooked into this story in a way that few movies achieve. Cate Blanchett alone is a Class A drug. With Rooney Mara's irresistible cuteness as a counterforce the onscreen relationship entered the realm of the deep and meaningful we all so truly desire. When the real world fails to deliver, books and movies serve to keep us believing.

Fan mania over the Carol movie and its stars has flowed over extensively into social media with endless tribute pages, blogs and posts on sites including Tumblr, You Tube, Facebook and in chat forums. 

May these two amazing women go forth and change the world


Related material:

young Patricia Highsmith [1921-1995]

Rooney Mara

Screenwriter Phyllis Nagy sees aspects of Carol author Patricia Highsmith in Rooney Mara - another intriguing dynamic.
Astrology again provides the planetary matches between the Sun position of both women and the link between Patricia's Pluto and Rooney's Venus and Mercury.
Rooney was born Patricia Rooney Mara
Her sister is called Kate.
Cate's baby girl adopted early 2015 has Patricia as a middle name

Further material:
The Carol script by Phyllis Nagy - a PDF download
Cannes press notes on Carol -a 37 page in depth PDF

Videos:
Firstly a 10 minute edited video of Carol conversation that occurred on November 14 2015


next a 28 minute Conversation from Nov 13 2015


October 14 2015 BFI London

October 9 2015 New York - start from 6 mins in for best material

A laugh out loud Carol parody by Saturday night Live's Kate McKinnon

Reviews:
Women in Love

Carol is this year’s most devastatingly romantic film

A Masterpiece of the romantic genre

Shimmering, Swooningly Romantic 'Carol'

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara fall head over heels in Todd Haynes' pitch-perfect love story

2017 movie Disobediance with Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz is another greater pairing.
Canadian Rachel M is a Scorpio turning 40 this November 2018. she shares an exact birth date with NZ born stunt actor Zoe Bell. There was a lot of Scorpio intensity on this day.

Zoe Bell

British Rachel W [48] is a Pisces and with Pluto opposite Venus on her birthday she gets a big dose of intensity on top of her inherent sensitivity.

Its quite common for Scorpios & Pisces to be attracted to each other and the on screen chemistry for the 2 Rachels was very authentic.