Alex's Asteroid Astrology

The 96^th annual Academy Awards kicked off an hour earlier than usual this year, at 4 PM PDT in Los Angeles, California, with asteroid Oskar 750, for the nickname of the gold statuette given to winners, at 11 Sagittarius widely squared the Sun at 20 Pisces (which, aptly, conjoined Neptune, ruling film, at 27 Pisces).   Oskar is also more closely trine the 14 Leo Ascendant of the event, its public face and the name commonly used to refer to the ceremony.  Asteroid Academia 829 (for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which sponsors the awards) at 27 Aquarius conjoins Venus at 28 Aquarius, outing the Awards as the popularity contest they truly are.

A conjunction of asteroid Nike 307 at 21 Taurus, named for the Greek goddess of victory, with Uranus at 19 Taurus suggested some unexpected (Uranus) wins (Nike), and that was certainly true for me.  Only three of my advance picks made it to the winner’s circle, but still, that’s better than I normally do.

Coming as a shock to no one was “Oppenheimer”’s Best Picture triumph.  And it was a triumph, indeed, with asteroid Oppenheimer 67085 at 3 Pisces conjoined asteroid TRIUMF 14959 at 5 Pisces.  TRIUMF is named for an acronym of a Canadian particle research facility, but operates reliably in its phonetic sibling’s meaning of superlative victory, with “Oppenheimer” garnering seven awards in total.  Oppenheimer is also conjoined Academia at 27 Aquarius, making it the clear choice for Academy members, as well as sesquiquadrate asteroid Victoria 12 at 17 Libra (Nike’s Roman counterpart) and conjunct Saturn at 11 Pisces, symbol of peer recognition and career success.

Director Chris Nolan accepted his Best Director Oscar with asteroid Nolan 9537 at 20 Aquarius, conjunct Academia and asteroid Fortuna 19 at 23 Aquarius, guaranteeing Academy notice and conferring good fortune.  As well, asteroid Christophe 1698 at 28 Leo opposes Nolan/Fortuna/Academia, with victorious Nike on the fulcrum of a T-Square from 21 Taurus.

Like his creation, Nolan (born 28 July 1970, no time available) owns a stationary asteroid Academia.  At 3 Aries, Academia trines the 6 Leo Sun and opposes asteroid Oskar at 11 Libra; the Academia/Oskar polarity is T-Squared to asteroid Nolan at 8 Capricorn, further personalizing this energy to him. Nolan has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, but this was his first win, with transit Nike exactly atop his natal Saturn (peer recognition, career) at 21 Taurus.  Success from this project was predicted by asteroid Oppenheimer at 13 Gemini exactly squared Victoria at 13 Virgo, with transit Victoria conjunct natal Oskar and the transit Sun opposed natal Victoria. As well, natal Nike at 27 Leo exactly opposed Academia for the ceremony, in a T-Square with transit Nike.

“Oppenheimer” premiered 21 July 2023, with an exact trine from asteroid Oppenheimer at 23 Sagittarius to asteroid Oskar at 23 Leo, asteroid Victoria at 13 Leo throwing in its two cents for cosmic good measure.  Asteroid Academia at 6 Sag is embedded at station (turning direct five days later), another indication that the Academy would be effusive in its response.  Its 28 Cancer Sun opposed Pluto at 29 Capricorn granted immense power and force, as well as reflecting the film’s subject matter, relating to the potential total annihilation represented by the creation of the atom bomb.

Cillian Murphy, in that film’s title role, also seemed a lock for Best Actor, with asteroid Kiliaan 28059 (alternate spelling) at 21 Taurus exactly conjunct Nike on Oscar Night.  Born 25 May 1976 (no time available), Murphy’s Academy Award is prefigured by asteroid Oskar at 29 Aries squared asteroid Kiliaan at 26 Cancer, with Saturn (career) close by at 28 Cancer.  That the nod would come via his work on “Oppenheimer” is symbolized by asteroid Oppenheimer at station from 17 Capricorn, widely opposed Kiliaan but exactly squared natal asteroid Nike at 17 Libra.  And, lookee there – that’s the exact degree of transit Victoria for his win!  Funny how that works…

Secondary indicators of success for Cillian Murphy as Robert Oppenheimer include asteroid Roberts 3428 at 17 Taurus conjoined fame-and-celebrity-inducing Jupiter at 14 Taurus, and asteroid Roberta 335 at 10 Leo, conjunct natal Academia at 7 Leo.

More of an upset (for me, anyway) was Emma Stone’s win as Best Actress for her work as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things.”  I had picked Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” based on asteroid Gladstone 159902 at 20 Taurus, also conjunct Nike.  Real world considerations supported my choice:  the Academy likes to stroke its sense of progressivism, inclusivity and lack of bias, and Gladstone, a Blackfeet and Nez Perce native, would have been the first person of indigenous descent to win that award, no small fact in her favor.  But Uranian unpredictability reared its ugly head here, and the victory went to Emma Stone.

Oddly, part of her name also appears in “Gladstone,” and as one of my more sympathetic correspondents opined in the aftermath of my humiliation, “I’m sure Stone was Glad to have won!”  It’s true, the cosmos does play such linguistic tricks from time to time, but Emma Stone stands triumphant on her own as well, with asteroid Emma 283 at 11 Capricorn squared Victoria at 17 Libra, and asteroid Stone 5841 at 5 Scorpio granted angular force and prominence by conjunction with the 8 Scorpio IC of the Awards.  Emma is also semisquare Academia at 27 Aquarius and Stone opposes Greater Benefic Jupiter at 13 Taurus, widely squared the 14 Leo Ascendant.

Born 6 November 1988 (no time available) Emma Stone’s path to an Oscar was already confirmed as viable with her win in 2017 for “La La Land.”  No shock, asteroid Nike at 25 Pisces is at station, exactly inconjunct asteroid Oskar at 25 Leo, while asteroid Academia at 17 Virgo widely opposes Nike, reiterating an Academy Award win.  Stone is a born actor (literally), with her Sun at 14 Scorpio exactly squared asteroid Actor 12238 at 14 Leo.  Her angular prominence at the 2024 Awards is underscored by that Actor exactly conjunct the ceremony’s Ascendant, with the Sun exactly squared.

Emma Stone was also built for the part of Bella Baxter (though, having seen “Poor Things” myself, I’m not sure that’s a compliment), with the Sun conjunct asteroid Bella at 10 Scorpio (itself exactly conjoined asteroid Victoria, granting her the win for that role); and asteroid Emma at 7 Gemini squared asteroid Stone at 6 Virgo, conjunct asteroid Poor 13227 at 5 Virgo (for “Poor Things”).  Put it all together, and it spells “identification with the role.”  Again, not necessarily a good thing, though it paid off professionally.  Transit Oskar at 11 Sagittarius makes a T-Square of the natal Emma-Poor/Stone square, and transit Nike at 21 Taurus squares natal Oskar at 25 Leo.

The other epic fail I encountered in my predictions was for Best Supporting Actor.  I chose Ryan Gosling for “Barbie,” simply because he was the only nominee who didn’t have PNAs (Personal-Named Asteroids) which came into contact with negative influences.  With asteroid Ryan 2936 at 15 Gemini, opposed asteroid Oskar at 11 Sagittarius and trine Victoria at 17 Libra, he seemed a good candidate for an Oscar win.  Turns out, not so much, but I did find it interesting that he had a very prominent role in the Awards ceremony itself, bringing down the house with his show-stopping live rendition of “I’m Just Ken” from the movie, backed up by Guns N’ Roses’ Slash on guitar.  So he may not have walked off with a statuette, but he’s part of 2024 Oscar history nonetheless.

I’ll admit, Robert Downey Jr was probably my last choice, based on the skies that day.  But there was considerable cosmic interference, since there were two nominees called Robert (Downey and De Niro).  In these cases, it’s virtually impossible to distinguish between contenders celestially, as what applies to one, applies to both.  And the Robert indicators weren’t favorable at all. 

There are no exact matches for the name, but three that act in its stead:  asteroid Roberto 96257 at 27 Cancer conjoined asteroid Nemesis 128 at 23 Cancer, while asteroid Roberts at 26 Aries was in square.  Nemesis represents ruin or downfall, or at minimum, a block or obstacle to progress or ambition.  So, although asteroid Roberta 335 at 14 Capricorn was squared asteroid Victoria at 17 Libra, a good placement for winning, I doubted that either Robert could overcome the Nemesis influence.  And particularly not Downey; using asteroid Downs 24027 as celestial shorthand for Downey, I found it at 14 Virgo, conjoined asteroid NOT 2857 at 19 Virgo, another indicator of failure or negation.

Frankly, I was wrong.  For one thing, I failed to account for the fact that, while conjoined NOT, Downs is also opposed the spotlighting Sun at 20 Pisces, placing Downey in an enviable position.  That, plus the Victoria activation, should have clued me in to the possibility of his win.  But blissfully unaware of the crow it was serving up to me, the cosmos, in the form of the voting Academy members, went with Downey for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss in “Oppenheimer.”

Born 4 April 1965 (no time available), Robert Downey Jr, like Emma Stone, has the Sun at 14 Aries squared asteroid Actor at 22 Cancer.  And like the film which garnered him his Oscar, he has asteroid Academia at station, at 22 Sagittarius trine the Sun and exactly inconjunct Actor.  With the Sun exactly squared asteroid Nike at 14 Cancer (still within orb of Actor), he’s got a winning vibe, and two prior Oscar nominations under his belt (as Best Actor for 1992’s “Chaplin” and Best Supporting Actor for 2008’s “Tropic Thunder”).  Third time was the charm, and Downey claimed his award at last.

Rubbing salt in my wound, we see asteroid Oskar at 5 Taurus conjunct Victoria at 7 Taurus.  Well, duh.  (To be fair, I didn’t rate the charts of all 20 nominees in advance – I’m crazy, but not that crazy!)  Tying him to the movie and his role is asteroid Oppenheimer at 4 Capricorn, exactly squared asteroid Downs at 4 Aries; and a stunning affirmation of the prole that would bring him the win, in asteroid Lewis 4796 at 6 Taurus, neatly parsing the Victoria/Oskar pairing.  Transit Victoria for the event conjoined natal Roberta, and opposed his Sun.  Further, transit Oskar at 11 Sagittarius conjoined natal Roberts at 7 Sag, was semisquare natal asteroid Strauss 4559 at 25 Capricorn, and exactly squared natal Saturn; and transit Nike conjoined natal Jupiter at 26 Taurus, boosting his reputation with an Oscar win.

I redeemed myself somewhat with my pick of Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Best Supporting Actress, who took Oscar gold for her portrayal of Mary Lamb in “The Holdovers.”  As with Ryan Gosling, Randolph has a PNA opposing Oskar and trining Victoria for the ceremony, asteroid Joya 7899 (for Joy) at 16 Gemini, plus asteroid Devine 3561 (approximating Da’Vine) at 4 Aquarius, conjunct Pluto at 1 Aquarius.  Pluto is power, pure and simple, and also represents transformative experience, for which winning an Oscar certainly qualifies.  Devine is also semisquare the Sun, putting her in the spotlight for the occasion.  Not to be outdone, we have asteroid Divini 375798 (also for Da’Vine) at 12 Scorpio, angular on the 8 Scorpio IC (as with Emma Stone’s PNA) and widely opposed Nike.

I like to say that “once is an anomaly, twice is a coincidence, but three times is a pattern.”  We had that third cosmic resonance in Robert Downey Jr’s win, and now a fourth with Randolph.  Like Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor winners, Randolph (born 21 May 1986, no time available) sports a stationary asteroid Academia, implying that the Academy Awards could play an outsized role in her biography.  Academia turned retrograde two days before her birth, and is also exactly conjunct Mars, ruling competitions of all types, and squares natal Nike at 23 Libra, promoting the win.  The “winning performer” vibe is further reflected in a conjunction of asteroids Victoria and Actor at 1 and 7 Taurus, which is trine to natal Oskar at 8 Capricorn with Neptune (films) at 5 Cap; both Taurean points also conjoin natal Devine at 28 Aries.

The role for which she won, Mary Lamb, is seen as asteroid Mary 2779 at 26 Aries opposed Nike at 23 Libra, with asteroid Divini at 27 Cancer on the fulcrum of a T-Square, which becomes a full-fledged Grand Cross with Academia/Mars.  Asteroid Lamb 16089 at 11 Aries squares Oskar/Neptune.  Academia was squared by transit Victoria for her win, while transit Oskar conjoined natal Saturn with Joya at 6 and 8 Sagittarius, and transit Nike was approaching her 0 Gemini Sun, just within orb.

Perhaps it’s just me, but these Oscars seemed especially jocular, with the hilarious John Cena routine, when the ostensibly nude actor presented the award for Best Costume Design; and the reunion of mismatched “Twins” stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, who both played “Batman” villains, riffing off “Batman” title role alum Michael Keaton in the audience.  Host Jimmy Kimmel also excelled, with asteroid James 2335 at 4 Aries, conjoined Master-of-Ceremonies Mercury at 1 Aries.

So I had to scope out the placement of asteroid Thalia 23, named for the Greek Muse of comedy, and asteroid Hilaritas 996, named for the Roman goddess of rejoicing, and the root of our word “hilarity.”  True to form, there Thalia was, at 21 Virgo in tight opposition to the 20 Pisces Sun.  Backing her up in the celestial choir was Hilaritas at 28 Pisces, conjunct the Sun/Neptune pairing and asteroid James.

And so, a good time was had by all.  Except me, smarting from my cosmic rejection.  Well, there’s always next year…