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In 1987,
Keanu Reeves’ breakthrough performance as dim-witted dude Ted Logan in
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure made him a star, but
at the same time it created a space cadet image the actor has found hard
to shake. The blank look on his face and his goofy demeanor during interviews
don't do much to dispel the image.
Career wise,
Reeves has bounced like a Nerf ball from mega-hits like Speed
to bombs like The Replacements. But with The Matrix,
he may have tapped into something so big that even he isn't fully aware
of its significance. As one showbiz columnist once asked, "Is he
a gifted actor or just a lucky moron?" His horoscope provides some
interesting clues.
 Keanu
Reeves was born on September 2, 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon, with a tight
gathering of four planets in his chart, including Mercury, the Sun and
the generational planets Uranus and Pluto, all together in Virgo. Let's
examine this powerful planetary formation, known as a stellium, piece
by piece.
A
Different Way of Thinking
Mercury,
the planet of communication, was retrograde, or appearing to move backward,
at the time of Reeves’ birth. When a person seems a bit different in the
way he thinks and expresses himself, one of the things that usually shows
up in the horoscope is a retrograde Mercury. During retrograde periods,
Mercury's energy flows in an inward direction, and the mental processes
of a person born at that time function opposite to the way of most other
people.
On the plus
side, this gives Mercury retro folks the ability to come up with some
pretty original ideas, but on the minus side, it can also lead to reinventing
the wheel. On top of that, they frequently find it pretty difficult to
get anyone else to understand what they're saying.
Reeves’ retro
Mercury points to a subjective turn of mind. Mercury's conjunction with
the Sun indicates even further subjectivity, and his thinking may be somewhat
self-absorbed since the Sun represents the self.
Uranus, the
planet of individuation, adds a dimension of uniqueness, independence
and perhaps eccentricity. The proximity of Mercury to lightning-fast Uranus
is also an indication of a potentially brilliant mind, but it's sort of
like having a hand calculator linked up to a giant computer. Mercury may
have trouble processing all the data.
Pluto is
also a part of the stellium. Pluto is known as the planet of power and
transformation, but it is also secretive. When Pluto is prominent in an
individual's chart, as it is here, it often imparts a degree of inscrutability
to the personality. Sometimes these people employ a deadpan, almost blank
expression as a defense in order not to let others know what is going
on in their minds.
The
Shadow of Saturn
This package
of planetary energy bundled up in Virgo gives Keanu a somewhat humble,
if not self-effacing, attitude. Those with many planets in Virgo tend
to be perfectionists, and very critical of themselves. In interviews,
Keanu is self-deprecating, calling himself a "meathead," somebody
who knows nothing. Is Keanu’s “interview style” just a humble Virgo act,
or is it possible he really sees himself this way?
Having a
Virgo stellium is not necessarily an indication of a poor self-image.
But in Keanu's case, Saturn, the planet of limitations and blockages,
is casting its shadow across the Virgo planets from its position in the
opposite sign of Pisces. Saturnian hangups are said to be the result of
the psychological impact of the father. Shortly after Keanu was born,
his mother and father split. His mother took him to New York and later
Toronto, where there were three more marriages and three stepdads. A
strong, consistent father figure to provide a male role model is obviously
missing from Keanu's life story, and may have left its impact in terms
of his self-image.
The
Excellent Adventure Begins
In high school
the only things that interested Reeves were acting and hockey. After he
dropped out of school, his real-life excellent adventure began. In 1986,
actor Rob Lowe was in Canada filming Youngblood, a movie
about hockey. Jupiter, the planet of excellent adventure, was moving through
Pisces, a sign associated with film, first conjuncting Keanu's Saturn
(work) and then opposing his Virgo planets, and he got a bit part. He
found himself doing the only two things he really cared about—acting and
hockey. This prompted a move to Hollywood, where he got a role as a messed
up teen in River's Edge, followed a year later by Bill
and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
A
Pop Culture Symbol
When “personal”
planets such as the Sun and Mercury conjunct “generational” planets like
Uranus and Pluto as they do in Reeves’ chart, it can indicate that the
individual may become identified with generational issues. In 1999, Saturn,
the planet that opens and closes the major chapters in our lives, was
in Taurus in a favorable trine aspect to Reeves’ Virgo stellium, including
his Uranus and Pluto.
Key words
for Pluto and Uranus in conjunction are "powerful revolutionary."
In The Matrix, Reeves played the leader of a revolt against
a future society in which humans are enslaved by technology. The film
was hugely successful, and Reeves’ image was suddenly transformed. Saturn,
contacting his stellium, crystallized the potential in his chart to become
a pop culture symbol for the current generation's love-hate relationship
with technology.
Currently,
as Saturn passes over Jupiter in his chart, Reeves seems to be everywhere.
He has two films, Sweet November and The Gift,
screening simultaneously in theaters, and The Matrix 2,
coming in 2002 when Jupiter will be transiting in his Cancer Moon sign,
promises to be a major cinematic phenomenon.
He seems
to be enjoying his success, and is happily involved in a relationship
with his co-star in Sweet November, Charlize Theron. As
for his self-image, let's hope Reeves doesn't forget the slogan of the
future utopia that Bill and Ted helped create: "Be excellent to each
other!" The best place to start practicing that philosophy, especially
for a Virgo, is with oneself.
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