Mirror Mirror: The Astrology of Famous People and the Actors Who Portrayed Them

There aren’t too many astrology books that are just plain fun. This is a delightful book that will both entertain and educate and a treat for people (like me) who are die-hard film buffs.

Trenoweth assembled over one hundred examples of well-know people about whom biographical films were made and compared their charts to the actors who took the roles. The chart connections are startling and quite precise. The book presents a smorgasbord of case studies useful for beginning and intermediate astrologers, as the best way to learn astrology beyond the basics is to look at a lot of charts and learn how to read and compare them.

The book is organized by planets. The author works her way from the outermost invisible outer planets - Pluto, Neptune and Uranus – to Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, the Sun, the Nodes, and Chiron. There is a section called “Multiples” that features famous individuals who have been portrayed by more than one actor. The comparisons include a description of the film’s storyline and remarks about the chart connections. The final presentation of charts is called “Favorites” and offers the dual charts of eighteen historic figures and celebrities with the actors who immortalized them on film.  

The innumerable charts in this book deserve special mention, both for the extent of data collection as well as the effort that went into formatting charts into a book format. Both are quite substantial chores! Each historic person’s chart is the inner chart of a biwheel, the actor’s chart as the outer wheel, and chart data on the edges (not all have time of birth). Charts are provided for all of the comparisons, providing a gold mine of chart data and charts! The biwheels make it easy to see the shared contacts. The charts occupy a full page of the 6” x 9” book size; the glyphs are small but legible. The only peculiarity is that no retrogrades are indicated on the charts.

It’s uncanny how the specific planet connections between subject and actor aptly describe the focus of the film portrayal. No biographical film portrays every aspect or incident in a person’s life but rather highlights a crucial period of development, achievement, or in some cases, ruination. Actors channel a particular facet of their subject through these planetary connections, and the shared chart contacts make them particularly suited for the roles.

Each chart comparison occupies 3 – 5 pages, making this book perfect for short spurts of reading and absorption. Trenoweth doesn’t delve too deeply into the chart contacts, leaving plenty of room for teachers with students to explore the charts together.

“Mirror Mirror” is a good book for experienced astrologers to acquire for the chart data and amusement. It’s as close as any book has ever come to being “escapist astrology literature”! That said, this book has the potential to be extraordinary valuable as a tutelary text for astrology teachers. The sheer abundance of charts to examine and discuss makes the book a great text for students with a basic grasp of astrology who are ready for practical exercises to take them to the next level with chart-reading. Well done!

~review by Elizabeth Hazel

Author: Alex Trenoweth
2021, The Wessex Astrologer, Ltd.
350 pages, £24.00 pb or $29.78 pb