Samantha Morton – Fire & Jupiter gave her hope

‘I dedicate this award to every child in care, or who has been in care and who didn’t survive’ was the heart-wrenching declaration of actress Samantha Morton as she was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship at the weekend.  After unlikely beginnings she has had an award-strewn career with recent credits for The Walking Dead, Harlots, Rillington Place and Fantastic Beasts.

  Born 13 May 1977, no birth time, Nottingham, England, she had eight siblings and after her parents split up when she was two, she lived with her violent alcoholic father. Aged eight, she was placed with several foster families, then in a children’s home, where she was abused. She has managed to rise above it all, explaining ‘I had the most magical, feral childhood as well as some of the horrible stuff happening. When I was little… I would do anything for a laugh. The world is tough enough. We have got to smile and invite the light in.’

  She is a Sun Taurus with a Fire Grand Trine of an enthusiastic Mars Venus in Aries trine Saturn in Leo trine Neptune, formed into a talented Kite by Neptune opposition Jupiter in Gemini – making ever-optimistic and lucky Jupiter the leading planet. Her Jupiter sextile Mars Venus also forms a yod inconjunct Uranus in Scorpio – such a Uranian yod suits her for an unconventional path in life allowing her independent-minded high spirits free rein with at times defiant, wilful acting out.  When she first had her epiphany at 13 that acting was her destiny tr Pluto was conjunct her Solar Arc Uranus triggering her yod into gear.

  Clearly life has not been as easy as she makes it sound with her Venus Mars opposition Pluto hinting at brushes with violence. But her confidence and optimism saw her through.

 Skipping down the Times obituaries today I noticed a Burma Road survivor from World War Two, who stayed alive through four gruelling years of torture and starvation as a Japanese POW, coming home weighing six stone. He died at 104 and it always amazes me how people such as him who suffered such health-damaging experiences manage to hang on to a ripe old age. Jack Jennings, 10 March 1919, was a Sun Pisces but he had Mars and Venus in Aries like Samantha Moreton trine Neptune in Leo with Saturn also in Leo; and a Jupiter Pluto conjunction in Pisces square his Aries planets.  Fire plus Jupiter definitely helps.

Years ago giving an astrology lecture on child abuse while the aftermath of the Fred West horrors were still fresh, one astrologer in the audience pointed out that the West children who survived had strong Jupiters and the one who ended up under the patio didn’t. Jupiter can be a life saver.

  I was touched by Samantha Morton’s dedication to those in care who did not survive. It reminded me of a boy I saw during training on a psychiatric emergency intake ward. He looked 12 but was 17, had been in the care system since birth, bounced around several times with the only foster mother he was attached to committing suicide, and ended up at 14 as a child prostitute in Piccadilly. He was mentally retarded (as known then) and had AIDs. Since this was the 1980s he was going to die. Over the years it has stuck in my mind as the worst thing I ever saw – no choices, no chances, a life of misery, disappointment and abuse and dead before he left his teens. Astrology has no real answers to these kinds of stories and certainly neither does religion.

  But all power to Samantha Morton for reminding the world of those who lacked a safety net either internal or external.