Girl
Power!
Over
the last few years, teen grrrls have had several role models
to look up to on both the big and little screens, including
Keri Russell, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Claire Danes and Reese
Witherspoon.
So
what do these four young women have in common? They were all
born under the sign Aries, and exhibit qualities such as a pioneering
spirit, an ability to seize the moment and an independent streak
that personify the warrior-like sign of The Ram. Being the first
sign of the zodiac, Aries types are known to be fearless folks
who love to say "I did it first!" and exhibit bravery and a
willingness to go where no man (or in these cases, young woman)
has gone before. Aries is ruled by the planet Mars, which is
associated with a sense of passion and urgency that up until
recently was (unfairly) associated with men alone, not women.
Keri
Russell of TV's Felicity portrays an intelligent,
poised, compassionate college student, and in real life she
shows the same independence, smarts and understated hipness
that her popular character does.
Sarah
Michelle Gellar has become a major star thanks to the huge success
of her show, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Like Buffy,
Sarah is a pioneer (she was one of the first of the "teen sensations"
of the late '90s) who seems like just a regular gal at the same
time. No wonder girls everywhere relate to her.
Claire
Danes is a real risk-taker. In the mid-90s she portrayed Angela
on MTV's (the ultimate teen network, before the WB!)
My So Called Life. It took a lot of guts for the lovely
and sensitive Claire to expose the "I don't fit in/I'm so awkward/I
hate the way I look" inner life that every teenager (and many
adults!) can relate to. Since then, she's come into her own
as a powerful young woman in thoughtful blockbusters like
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (opposite heartthrob
Leonardo DiCaprio) and Brokedown Palace.
And
Reese Witherspoon, who first impressed audiences and critics
in 1992 in the coming of age movie Man on the Moon,
really came into her own in arguably the most adult teen movie
of the late '90s: Election. She showed her versatility
when she played opposite her (now) husband Ryan Phillippe in
the huge hit movie Cruel Intentions, an updated
version of Dangerous Liaisons with a cool young
cast (Gellar was also in this film).
Fast
Starters
All
four of these young Aries stars hit their stride when two key
planets were in their sign. Saturn is the planet that rules
hard work, discipline, structure and finding one's place in
the concrete world. This industrious and focused planet went
into brave and bold Aries in April, 1996. Saturn moved out of
Aries and into Taurus in June of that year, but slipped back
into Aries in October, 1998 (the same fall season that Felicity
premiered).
Jupiter
is the planet of good fortune, expansion and boundless opportunities.
This-high spirited (and very youthful-feeling) planet joined
Saturn in Aries in 1999, a highly successful year for all four
young stars. But in mid-February 2000 the "Aries cycle" ends,
when Jupiter joins Saturn in slow-moving (Venus, not Mars, ruled)
Taurus. What will these girls do then?
Aries
people are known to be great at starting things, but they find
it much more challenging to follow through and keep a high level
of energy going for a long period of time. In looking at the
charts of these four fiery young women, and the upcoming transits
of the planets in the sky, here are some thoughts about what
the future might hold for them.
Following
Their Passions
Lucky
Sarah Michelle Gellar (born April 14, 1977) has a Jupiter return
(when the generous planet returns to the exact degree it was
at at the time of her birth—this happens for all of us about
once every twelve years) in July, 2000. Sarah's Jupiter is in
Gemini, sign of the great communicator, and the writer. She
may end up writing a screenplay with a bud a la Matt Damon and
Ben Affleck, and we all know how successful that venture turned
out to be for those boys!
Claire
Danes (born April 12, 1979) won’t have her Jupiter return until
summer, 2002. Her Jupiter is in Cancer, the most family-oriented
sign. Don't be surprised if she weds her long-time beau, rocker
Ben Lee. But this Aries is also likely to benefit, career wise,
from Jupiter and Saturn passing through Taurus, the sign with
the most patience, during the first half of 2000. These powerful
planets make a trine (smooth, natural aspect) to Claire's Saturn
in Virgo, another diligent earth sign. She may get hold of a
great screenplay, just as Winona Ryder did with Girl
Interrupted, and develop a future Oscar winning film.
Keri
Russell (born March 23, 1976) and Reese Witherspoon (born March
22, 1976) are born just a day apart, and both grrrls will be
experiencing a transit of Pluto (planet of major emotional transformation)
to their Neptunes (the planet that rules dreams and movies!)
at the end of 2000. Starring roles in deeply personal films
seem very likely for both these Rams.
Whatever
they end up doing, one thing’s for sure: These four young Aries women
have changed the face of pop culture at the turn of the millennium
and have given girls around the globe role models to look up to.