Sam Neill

His ten planets divide three in earth, three in air, two in fire and two in water, an even spread with nothing missing. Neill was a New Zealand actor, born in Northern Ireland, who also made wine, which is a second trade that depends entirely on soil, weather and patience and has nothing whatever to do with being looked at.

The Sun and the Moon both sit in Virgo, five degrees apart, with Venus in the sign as well. Three planets inside eight degrees of one sign is a tight group, and Virgo is the sign of attention to the exact small thing, of correction, and of work that is judged on whether it was done properly rather than on how it looked. A vineyard is a Virgo project. So, in a quieter way, is a long career of being reliably good in other people's films.

Not one of his ten planets was retrograde at birth, so nothing in the chart was reviewing itself, and the Sun makes easy contact with Mars at seven tenths of a degree, which puts identity and drive on uncomplicated terms. There are no yods and no T-squares anywhere. This is an unusually unobstructed chart, and a working life of fifty years without a visible crisis is what that reads like from outside.

He died in Sydney on 13 July 2026, at seventy eight. The Moon that day was balsamic and three per cent lit, which is the phase that finishes things and is already looking past them. The Sun had reached Cancer, water, against his natal Virgo earth, and it stood conjunct his natal Mars within two thirds of a degree while transiting Mercury, the ruler of his Sun sign, sat a tenth of a degree from his Sun. The sky was touching the two planets that had always worked together.