Keri Russell

The following essay was previously featured in the Aries issue of Constellation. Although M:I:3 has come and gone, Felicity fans should groove on this article.

Perhaps only fans of the TV series Felicity will be familiar with Keri Russell, but soon more than those who watched her WB character navigate the waters of college life in NYC will know her by name. Russell will be starring opposite Tom Cruise as an agent-in-training in Mission Impossible 3, coming to theaters on May 5. A reader may not necessarily get excited about a Tom Cruise franchise. However, this film is directed by JJ Abrams, the mastermind behind Felicity, Alias and Lost.

So no doubt MI3 will be good, and Keri Russell's connection to Abrams from their TV series obviously influenced her being cast for her role. In Felicity, Russell's character was emotionally intense and very relationship-oriented, wanting to go deep or not at all. A tad obsessive one might say, since the reason she chose to enroll at University of New York was to follow Ben (Scott Speedman), her high school crush, across the country from California. Actors often express the dynamics of their horoscope in the roles they play. We can see how Russell's chart shows up in Felicity's fictional life. Venus, Russell's love planet, is in fantasy-prone Pisces, making several stressful aspects to powerful outer planets. Squaring Neptune, the planet of fantasy and the ruler of her Venus' sign, Russell is in love with love, likely to fall head-over-heels, seeing her lover through a veil of delusion. After all, the boy Felicity followed turned out not to be able to handle her intensity -- Felicity saw what she wanted to see. This intensity is governed by obsessive Pluto, the planet that wants to get to the bottom of things, to figure out what's going on beneath the surface. Venus is exactly 150 degrees away from Pluto (an inconjunct), her Capricorn Moon is square Pluto, and her Aries Sun is opposite Pluto. When the Sun is influenced by an outer planet, one's whole personality acts as a channel to express that archetype -- in this case, the principle of power, intensity and regeneration. In particular, the 180 degree opposition is a relationship aspect, so Russell is either attracted to powerful, intense or secretive men -- since the Sun in a woman's chart relates to important men in her life -- or she herself integrates this power in her own approach to relationships. In aspect to the Moon, Pluto intensifies her emotions and suggests wounds from childhood. In addition to the influence of Neptune and Pluto, Russell's Venus is in a stressful angle called a sesquisquare to Saturn, planet of hardship. She may feel blocked from having a successful relationship, or at least she must put in conscious effort to make one work.

Russell's Saturn is in the family-oriented sign of Cancer, ruled by the Moon. Conversely, her Moon is in melancholy Capricorn, which is ruled by Saturn. Hence, they are in mutual reception, meaning that Saturn and the Moon are in each other's signs. Although these two planets mutually reinforce each other, they have the disadvantage of being in signs that don't suit them. The Moon wants comfort, family and nurturing -- Cancer -- and is instead in Cancer's opposite Capricorn, which is restrictive, hard-working and depressive. Saturn wants success, structure and discipline, and is instead in Capricorn's opposite sign Cancer, which is just too soft for Saturn's tastes. These signs concern the apparently opposing needs for the comfort of family and the need to achieve in the work world. Both signs are somewhat conservative and concerned with the past. There is some element of this conflict in Felicity's initial struggle between studying to be a doctor -- which would lead to material success and her father's approval -- and studying to be an artist -- which is a much more intuitive Cancerian pursuit.

Russell is a very initiating person as both her Sun and Moon are in cardinal signs. An Aries knows what she wants, and goes for it regardless of how her actions will impact others. What's more impulsive than following a man across the country? Russell's Aries Sun is also tightly square -- ninety degrees away from -- Mars, the ruler of Aries, which makes her all the more focused on acting to meet her desires, preferably as soon as possible. With her Sun, the locus of her personality, in tense relationship with two very aggressive planets -- Mars and Pluto -- Russell has a lot of drive. Let's hope she succeeds.

Keri Russell: Born March 23, 1976 in Fountain Valley, CA. Source: imdb.com

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