Angela Lansbury: A Study in Sextiles

Angela Lansbury has had a long, wonderful career as a film, television, and stage actress. She's best known for the beloved film Bedknobs and Broomsticks and her long-running television series Murder, She Wrote, where she played Jessica Fletcher with grace and style from 1984 to 1996. She's been in over 50 films, over 30 television productions, and 17 stage shows. Unlike most British actors of her generation, Lansbury started in films and eventually took stage roles. Her birth chart shows that horrible circumstances lead to opportunity.

She was born on October 16, 1925, 12:45 am, in London, England. She has a Libra Sun conjunct Mercury, giving charm, talent, and gentle beauty. The Moon and Mars are also in Libra, showing the need to work hard and keep her emotions steady while juggling career and family demands. The chart shows a mandate to learn how to cope with unexpected turmoil and trouble – which makes sense, since many of her most famous characters do exactly that. Like many actors, her acting roles provide a conduit for manifesting troublesome chart placements.

Lansbury's natal chart hosts a T-square, a configuration formed by two squares and an opposition that connect three planets: Jupiter in Capricorn opposite Pluto in Cancer, with both planets squared by Mars in Libra. The Jupiter-Pluto opposition suggests destructive events that bring irrevocable changes. Mars is the focal planet that has to cope with, mitigate, and make the best of the Jupiter-Pluto upheavals. The T-square is the catalyst that forced her to learn how to adapt and thrive in new environments during her early years.

A chart features several sextiles. The 60-degree sextile aspect brings opportunities to connect with new people and situations, but it doesn't guarantee results. Her Mars-Jupiter square provides the motivation to work hard and remain cheerful. Her Libra Moon sextiles Venus in Sagittarius (Venus rules Libra), Jupiter in Capricorn sextiles Saturn in Scorpio (Saturn rules Capricorn), Ascendant/Neptune in Leo sextiles Sun/Mercury in Libra (Sun rules Leo), and the Moon sextiles North Node in Leo. When one planet in an aspect rules the sign that the other planet occupies, it's called “reception.” Lansbury accrues huge benefits from these receptions. It's even easier for her to get opportunities presented by others and make the most of them. It's especially fortunate to have the ruler of the Ascendant, the Sun, sextile the Ascendant. Opportunities land right in her lap!

Lansbury's mother Moyna MacGill was an actress. She enrolled Angela in dancing and drama schools until her father, Edgar Lansbury, died of stomach cancer. Moyna remarried a man who turned out to be a tyrant. When the opportunity came to evacuate to Canada at the onset of World War II, Moyna (symbolized by Moon and Venus) took the opportunity to flee an unhappy marriage. The family relocated to California and socialized (more Moon/Venus) with other British emigrées. Angela met an actor who introduced her to director Mel Ballerino, who gave her secondary roles in in The Picture of Dorian Grey and Gaslight. She received Oscar nominations for both roles. Angela turned adolescent losses and a difficult overseas relocation into the start of a splendid career.

Angela married an older man in 1945, then discovered he was bisexual. The marriage dissolved within a year (they remained friends). She married Peter Shaw in 1949. He was supportive of her career and helped guide and manage it. They were together for fifty-eight years until his death in 2003! Their sons are both directors in television and film, and her daughter is a restauranteur.

Lansbury's sextiles have helped her meet the right people at the right time, and get the right offers for good roles at the right time. Her Leo Ascendant and cheerful Libra Sun attracted a long and happy marriage and a magnificent career in show business. A blend of confidence, charisma, and charm are the magic ingredients!