When an actor or actress plays a part, the way we distinguish a good performance from a bad one is if it is utterly believable. This happens when the thespian merges their Self so utterly and completely into the role that they become the character they are portraying.
What I note is that in some, as yet, unexplained part of our reality, sometimes character reveals our destiny even when the character is an assumed one. This is extremely interesting to students of metaphysics because the whole premise of the efficacy of manifesting rests on a person's ability to assume the feeling of being, or having, something so completely, that it shows up in their life.
Incidentally, the words Self-efficacy is defined as a person’s perception of their ability to produce an effect or reach a goal.
So, what are we to make of the fact that Liam Neeson portrayed a bereaved husband in the film, Love Actually?* Or that he has already shot performances in the upcoming films "After Life" and "Five Minutes of Heaven," (neither of which are in distribution at this time).
We all know the phrase 'Art imitating life' but what is this phenomena? No one would ever want to be deemed responsible for attracting tragic events into their life and it's obviously not as simple as saying that if one plays a part then that precise destiny will befall you. That is patently wrong. You only have to think of some of the bizarre roles assumed in Sci-Fi films or thrillers - Anthony Hopkins won't suddenly be found eating human livers with fava beans and a nice Chianti like Hannibal Lechter.
That said, the roles one is drawn to, or invited to play as an actor/actress, may show some correlation to a repressed or unconscious side of the psyche. Maybe it is a case that we are all drawn to play out their greatest fears (or in some cases fantasies) at some level. Or perhaps to work through a role to prepare us for a later, real life event which, at some unconscious level, we know lies ahead. I am reminded here of the Professor who specialised in a very rare form of brain cancer and then died from this same disease herself.
No one knows what's really going on, but again metaphysicians/quantum physicists would say that the answer lies somewhere in the fact that every moment in time, has the quality of everything that will happen, has happened or will ever happen within it and that our Time/Space perceptions are illusory. So the fact that someone chooses some course of action at any given time can hold the outcome, just as astrology looks at the birth moment as describing the course of life.
There is a case to be made for this line of thinking for the 'synchronicity of life' is apparent all around us. Vanessa Redgrave ( Natasha's mother) was, in a few weeks time, due to reprise her role in the play 'The Year of Magical Thinking'. This is a story of bereavement and personal grief set around the real life personal loss of the play's writer, Joan Didion. who lost her daughter and husband. The daughter was in a coma in hospital and later died.
Reviews for the Broadway show which originally ran from 2007, told us that Didion found solace in "magical thinking," and was stunned by the realisation that "life changes in the instant".
The Redgrave family has been beset by drama both on and off the stage. Here is a brilliant article on Natasha and the family One that will be particularly interesting to astrologers wishing to know how the 'chart fitted the life'**.
There are many other cases of life imitating art; just a couple of very well known examples that spring to mind are the fact that Christopher Reeve had played a paralysed Police officer in the film Above Suspicion prior to becoming paralysed himself. Grace Kelly filmed The Swan in which she played a Princess. She then went on to marry Prince Rainier and become Princess Grace of Monaco.
The parallels are, therefore, not always negative. However, when a play or film come out where the actor or actress has an affair, becomes a parent, plays an alcoholic, is beareaved or faces some particularly emotionally charged event, it has been noticed that, in many cases, there is some issue around these themes playing out in their personal lives - or of those close to them. The 'law' of attraction, where like meets like, appears to be at work.
I'd be interested to hear of any examples you may have noted in this area over the years. I believe that discussing these subjects will help us to move closer to understanding more about how we may consciously, or unconsciously, collaborate with our fate.
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* The film Love Actually was produced by Tim Bevan who was married to Natasha Richardson's sister, Joely so the extended family were probably also immersed in this role to a greater extent than normal.
**For more on the astrology of Natasha and Liam Neeson please see my latest newsletter here
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