What do Mona Lisa and Julia Roberts have in common? Mystery, a charming smile, spontaneity, and charm? Or the desire for both freedom and love?
What do Mona Lisa and Julia Roberts have in common?
It is obvious that both women are women who believed in themselves. From Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait, the face of a browless beauty gazes out, her smile and eyes speaking volumes in an elusive way: the ability to maneuver, a touch of mischief, a sense of superiority. Julia, who also resembles a little fox, has a more democratic smile that suits the modern era. What unites them is their mystery! To modern astrologers, mystery is a relative concept: a glance at the horoscope and it becomes quite clear—Leonardo da Vinci could have uncovered the secrets of Mona Lisa, as he was well-versed not only in sacred geometry but also in astrology, though he considered it sufficient to leave behind only the masterpieces of his art.
What is Julia Roberts’ mystery? She was born on October 28, 1967, in the small town of Smyrna, Georgia, USA. Her brother Eric was the first to break into the big screen: he made his film debut when Julia was just 11 years old. She followed her brother to New York right after school, but at first, her search for roles was unsuccessful, and she had to work part-time in a small shop on Manhattan. The situation changed when Eric helped her land a role in the film “Blood Brothers.” Although the filming was completed in 1986, the movie only hit theaters two years later, by which time the actress had already appeared in several other films.
Julia gained recognition after her role in the romantic comedy “Mystic Pizza” (1988), where audiences remembered her for her charming smile, spontaneity, and the charm exuded by her character on screen.
Her success was solidified by the iconic “Pretty Woman” (1990), and Julia was beloved by audiences worldwide. This somewhat naive love story between a prostitute and a wealthy businessman (played by Richard Gere), despite its banality and “Cinderella-like” simplicity, could not leave the average viewer indifferent, and Roy Orbison’s song “Pretty Woman” remains hugely popular to this day. However, her career then hit a lull, and after a series of less successful films, Julia began losing her status as a megastar—until the release of “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (1997) turned things around. The box office success of the film proved to Hollywood producers that Julia could be successfully cast in romantic comedies, and by taking this path, they were not mistaken: “Notting Hill” (1999) and “Runaway Bride” (1999) turned out to be…
As for Julia’s personal life, it is far more complicated. Her first fiancé, Dylan McDermott, never made it to the altar with Roberts (rumors suggest the cause of their breakup was the “warm feelings” Julia felt for Richard Gere during the filming of “Pretty Woman”).
Her engagement to Kiefer Sutherland, who left his wife for Julia, also never reached the wedding day. Kiefer cheated on his fiancée with a dancer, but when Julia found out about it (from the newspapers), she decided not only to break up with him but also to take revenge (in true Scorpio fashion). When the wedding preparations were already complete and all the guests had been invited, Julia announced—just four days before the ceremony—that she had no intention of going through with it. Yet, Julia did eventually tie the knot, albeit briefly. When the actress’s press secretary announced to journalists that Julia had married Lyle Lovett in some small town with practically no witnesses, everyone took it as a joke. After all, Lovett was one of the most handsome men America had ever known, and Julia had only known him for a few weeks—or even less. What prompted the actress to marry this man?
She was already 26, and perhaps she feared loneliness, feared she would never marry; secondly, she had stopped getting film roles… Their union lasted about two years—June 25, 1993, to March 22, 1995. On the wedding day—June 25—Julia’s Moon in Virgo was conjunct her natal Venus but opposed the transiting Black Moon in Pisces. There was also a conjunction of the transiting Lilith with his natal placement, and the transiting Moon was in opposition to his natal Pisces—so the outcome was predetermined. Julia, who cultivated an image of a strong woman of the world, tried her best to conceal behind her mystery the nakedness and vulnerability of her soul. She even refused to appear nude in films, joking, “I don’t know if my former algebra teacher needs to know what my ass looks like,” or another of her gems: “I will never appear nude; when they film me in clothes, it’s an illusion—when they film me without clothes, it’s a different story.”
Turning to the actress’s cosmogram, certain degrees stand out in Julia’s chart—Mercury, though in Scorpio, is retrograde at 14° Sco—excesses, hysteria. The Sun at 5° Scorpio—an active mind without realization. Venus at 19° Virgo (in fall)—indecisiveness, a sense of wonder in nature, a person who cannot settle anywhere. Retrograde Saturn at 8° Aries—willfulness, rebelliousness (as she once said about George W. Bush: “He will never be my president; he’s a disgrace”), quarrelsomeness, and reckless adventures with unpleasant consequences. Jupiter at 2° Virgo brings fatalism and inertia; combined with the star Megrez, it points to juvenile psychopathy, and Megrez also pushes a person to act as an astral guide.
Some associate the Scorpio sign with the label of the death sign, and in many families, it manifests: Julia is no exception. When she was ten years old, her father died of cancer (a square from the Moon in Leo to the Sun in Scorpio, with the Sun at 5° Scorpio in direct opposition). This fact indicates certain psychological complexes in the girl who grew up without a father, and Lyle, who is ten years older than Julia, unconsciously fulfilled the role of a strong shoulder, as he, too, was born under the sign of Scorpio—November 1, 1957. His Moon in Pisces in his cosmogram suggests an understanding without words; he offered Julia not only marriage but also psychological support, having experienced “Cyrano de Bergerac” himself, and he genuinely loved Julia. It was a marriage of two damaged, complex people: Julia already had a difficult experience with men and longed for stable relationships, and her birth year—1967, the Year of the Goat—speaks of her constant need for a male shoulder. With her distrustfulness, she dared to enter into this union because she needed it. However, Fire women cannot imagine a life with a controlling, domineering man or a traditional marriage that would suit Lyle—a Scorpio-Rooster. Julia, with her Moon in Leo, needs not only passion but also excitement within the home.
A complex creature—a Fire woman (1967 was a Fire year)—wants adoration but is burdened by it. Mental stimulation is what she needs, and after a long break from family life, the actress turns her attention to her “sword-bearer”—a cameraman who is always by her side, shaping her image on screen as she desires. On July 4, 2002, at midnight, on her ranch in New Mexico, she married cameraman Daniel Moder (born January 31, 1969)—again a Rooster (on the cusp of Monkey)—this time an earthly, sensual, and domestic one (with a Moon in Cancer).
At the time of the wedding, the transiting Moon in the last degree of Aries (“Imposing one’s line on others,” the 30th degree of Aries is considered a malefic one—life plays cruel jokes on a person, such a degree of the Sun in Hussein) conjoined Julia’s North Node. What can be said about this marriage? It is temporary, first of all, based on the natal Venuses of both: in Julia’s chart, Venus is in detriment in Virgo, conjunct Pluto and in opposition to Chiron in Pisces (which indicates the paradoxical nature of her marriages), while in Daniel’s chart, Venus is connected to the star Scheat—”The extreme degree of misfortune in opposition to the Black Moon in the 26th degree of Gemini.” (Venus governs the quality of family life.) Also unfavorable are the characteristics of his planets: the Sun in the 12th house of Aquarius—destruction, violence, exile for ideas, a vagrant life. Mercury retrograde in the 7th house of Aquarius—stubbornness, pedantry, rudeness, a desire to achieve everything for oneself, cynicism. Venus in the 29th degree of Pisces—”a dead fish”—a weak personality, which can lead to suicide or insanity. Mars in the destructive degree of Scorpio at 19°—a spiritual breakdown, pessimism. The South Node and Uranus in Libra do not favor a strong union, and Uranus in the 4th house of Libra indicates a lack of calling and a life far from the city (Daniel has a psychology degree but works as an operator, recently living with his family in isolation on Julia’s ranch). Saturn in the 21st degree of Aries is also in a malefic degree. It should also be noted that Julia is a Scorpio with the Moon in Leo, and Daniel is an Aquarius—a combination that is far from easy. For some time, about 10 years, until the twins grow up, this marriage may hold, but the catalyst for divorce will be Julia (it is worth mentioning that Scorpios are often widows).
In the film “Mona Lisa Smile,” Julia plays the role of an art teacher at a university in America in the early 1950s, a time when a woman was still dependent on a man. Julia created the image of an independent woman seeking pure, equal love and was disappointed in it—perhaps she was playing out her desire for both freedom and love simultaneously.
Valentina Wittrock
