Autism Five Autistic Children One Description of Autism This is a long paper--thirty-seven word processing pages.

However, those pages include appendices, citations, and data for five people for three of their twelve charts. Undoubtedly some of them can be scanned. Because of its size, it has been placed in two directories. Simply read to the bottom of Autism1, then click on Autism2 to continue. We should start with the question, what is autism? Autism is a developmental disorder of childhood, usually diagnosed between two and three years of age. At that time it becomes apparent these children, who appeared normal physically and mentally from infancy, are not developing. They are not developing socially. They are not even developing the skills--language, eye contact, feelings of attachment and desire--needed for socialization. Such children have been called autistic because they seem content to live in their own (aut=self) world. Medically, the definition of autism has become complex, developing several subcategories. Its divisions may, as is the case with Bipolar Disorder (see Patty Duke and Manic Depression at Home Page) be tainted with non-autistic disorders. Two of autisms main early divisions, called Kanners Syndrome and Aspergers Syndrome, have their characteristics set out in tables in Appendix A and Appendix B, respectively, below. Appendix C compares their differences. For a practical picture of one autistic child, the biographic description below is taken from The Siege (1967) by Mrs. Clara Claiborne Park about her autistic daughter, Elly (book cited below; numbers in parentheses show page quoted). Later authorities on autism found fault with Mrs. Parks work. I liked her book. Mrs. Park was a careful observer. She was passionately interested in her daughters odd isolation, and pragmatic in her efforts to affect it. She was honest about her motivations. She was, at the time, working against the gradient of American psychologists (erroneously, it seems) blaming the cold, uncaring parents, particularly the mother, for her childs autism. Their unsubstantiated targeting of the autistic childs mother made their own behavior censurable and often even bizarre. Considering that climate, Mrs. Parks quiet, persevering work is a monument of sanity erected in a country of fashionable diagnostic reactions. Elly was, I understand, a Kanners Syndrome autistic child. I do not have her birth data, so cannot include her chart. Instead, the charts of five children for whom we have no description--just the label, autistic--are presented. All of them share a common pattern, which, for the time being, is representative of Kanners Syndrome. Whichever subclassification they belong to, their pattern is shared, unique, and noteworthy.

Mrs. Park on Elly: Elly had been something over a year old when her progress began to slow. Nothing had happened to her--no illness, no absence, no change in the environment. (8) One speaks to her, loudly or softly. There is no response. (3) She will sit, contented, in her crib for hours. She rocks and rocks and rocks. (Doctors) said, She seems like a child who has been raised very much alone. Alone? In a house with three older brothers and sisters, neighbors children constantly in and out? She was alone, but she created her aloneness, sought it, guarded it. (4) (At the beach, age two): [Elly is now] walking easily. On she walks, into family groups, by picnic baskets, sand castles, and buckets. She grazes human beings by a quarter of an inch. You would think she does not see them. But she does see them, because no matter how close she comes, her eyes fixed, it seems, on some point beyond them or to one side, she never touches them. (5) Elly did not point. Nor did she try to get objects that were not within her reach; she seemed unconscious they were there. Content in crib or pen, when removed from them she crawled freely from room to room. But it was motion, not exploration. She did not push or poke, open drawers, pull at lamps, or tables. (Yet)...unconscious of so much, she was conscious of the location of every edge or limit; she could be left safely on any bed. (7) Elly didnt try, but the few things she had learned to do she had done neatly and successfully the first time she got around to it. She was never sloppy, never hesitant. (9) As time went on, she began to acknowledge some rudimentary desire. (She usually would not use her own arms to reach for something she wanted.) Instead, she firmly picked up the human arm that happened to be nearest her and threw it toward the object desired. (9) Through sound I could achieve no contact with Elly. Her sense of sight was hardly more promising...except in exceptionally favorable situations, she ignored me too. Unless I came very close. When I touched her, she noticed that. And although she did not seem to hear or see, her small legs and arms and fingers moved. She could inhibit her senses, but she could not entirely deny she had a body. (43) What did Elly want enough to meet any conditions for getting it? Not a cookie, not a toy, not a ride in the car. A baby who like a Zen adept acquires the knack of inhibiting its desires approaches something akin to the Zen satori. Serene, in perfect vegetative equilibrium, it can be content to do nothing at all. When a creature is without desires the outside world has no lever by which to tempt it into motion. (45) As 18-month-old Elly flipped the pages of her colored picture books, what did she see? ...I could only observe that she flipped the pages rapidly, steadily, with never a pause. Once--only once--she had shown she recognized a picture, of a blue teddy bear like her own. That was at seventeen months. Months passed, one year, another, and never did Elly give another sign that she could see a picture. (55) One day--she was two years and eight months old--I was putting on her snowsuit. Ordinarily she was eager to go out, but today she acted oddly. Instead of submitting passively to being dressed, she tried to get away, and as soon as the suit was on, she headed upstairs. (She was involved with a set of colored parquet shapes, composed of diamonds, triangles, and squares). ...as I watched incredulous, (Elly had) selected four

diamonds and combined them into a larger diamond, rejecting in the process a couple of right triangles that came to hand. She did this twice more, then began on the squares, working with a concentration that is difficult to describe. For twenty minutes her whole attention was focused on the task. The abstract, meaningless shapes seemed to have intrinsic importance for her. (57-58) We have the chronicle of her first words: Teddy at 14 months; mama at 15 months, and dada at 16 months. but it takes some time to realize that the new word is being substituted for the old one, that is, at any given time she has a one-word vocabulary. Not only that, she is not using them to communicate nor to label. By the time she was two years old, Elly had spoken six different words. She had no idea of language as a tool to make things happen. (74) (Ellys words) were things-in-themselves that led to nowhere and nobody. (75) Elly did not see, but what she did not see was people. (87) Such is the description of one autistic child. All autistic children are not the same. Some exhibit more fear and anxiety. Some, more objectionable--and difficult to live with-behavior. Some appear to include forms of schizophrenia and psychosis. Indeed, at first some professionals diagnosed autism as childhood schizophrenia. Autism, from our point of view, is not schizophrenia, not even childhood schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a distinct astrological disorder, specifically spelled out in our paper on that disorder (see Paranoid Schizophrenia and John Hinckley, Jr. at the Home Page). I have a relatively large file on schizophrenia, including some, like Hinckley, showing schizophrenic conditions astrologically only during the period his disorder was greatest-when he tried to assassinate the President. The acute phase of a mental disorder is referred to as its timing. Unless an individual is always equally mentally ill, then timing for his illness must vary. When timing varies, when something comes and goes, it likely has astrological indicators. So, timing is very helpful in identifying the astrology of disorders because the planets which foster them are then forefront, i.e., dominant, in the chart.. With schizophrenia, all adults (including young adults) who have experienced it have the same astrological indicators. I assume, tentatively but reasonably, the indicators are the same for childhood schizophrenia (for which I do not have charts). It is not likely indicators would change just because of the difference in age of onset. Difference in age of onset is accounted for in two different ways: (1) by progressions, the typical way astrology finds events, and (2) by house--that is, in this system, chart--location and rulership. The 1st chart has important implications about childhood, or at least the identity formed in childhood. So it is possible that childhood schizophrenia shows the usual schizophrenic excessive mars and neptune emphasis more pronounced in the 1st chart than the 3rd (of mind), which has fewer timing implications. Only one of the five autistic children listed below has any schizophrenic tendency. All of them, on the other hand, shared one common pattern: each has saturn and pluto forefront--that is, predominant (to be defined below)--in their harmonic charts for their

3rd houses (mind). Four of the five of them have saturn and pluto forefront in their harmonic charts for their 1st houses (identity). So does the fifth, but his is weaker. Indeed, he--Noah Jiro Greenfield--is known to have become (how much?) a functioning adult. Present literature on autism also brings mental retardation into some definitions of autism. This site includes a paper on mental retardation (see Mental Retardation and Astrologys Ancient Malefics, Mars and Saturn). An autistic child could be mentally retarded. A mentally retarded child might also be autistic. Astrologically, however, the two conditions are separable and quite distinct. Without astrology, mental health professionals are forced to build up their definition of autism out of the black box of the various symptoms that willy-nilly present themselves attached to autism. This astrology discriminates autism from mental retardation from manic depression from schizophrenia, and also shows when they occur mixed in one individual. To make the astrology, and therefore, ontology, of autism clearer --what, indeed, is the significance of saturns and plutos dominance in autism?--it is necessary first to discuss some of astrologys backdrop. The General Order of Things We are all incarnated. Any one who has looked upon the body of a deceased loved one-unless too shattered from grief to see--has the clear sensation, he/she is no longer in this. We are Life which has assumed material form in order to enter a material world. For a time. For certain purposes. The spiritual is never as limited as the material. To come here, we have to take on limitations. For one, a body is required. It represents one part of our admission ticket. The other is formed by our group as well as individual reasons for coming. As spiritual beings, we come here with a game plan, a set of specifications, a map which sets the parameters of our incarnation. Some maps are very specific. More, probably, are general in some areas and quite specific in others. Some may be poorly detailed. We do not pretend to know all the reasons for coming, but they must be manifold. At this level it is can be difficult to know exactly what was intended. We cannot tell by whether a man is successful, rich, famous, or even happy. Any of these--as well as being a failure, poor, unknown, and miserable--could be means toward a spiritual end we are unaware of. Our astrological chart is just such a map. It shows, in the language of symbols, the parameters of each incarnation. It is a set of complex specifications to build up an individual and then run him. We would--you are correct in the implication you have just drawn--be machines except that ours is a map of consciousness. We always have the

choice to become more consciousness than a machine--so to speak, more than our specifications. We state this verbally and non-verbally all our lives in our wish to grow up, to become responsible, to become parents (creators), to give back. But, the point here is, no specifications, no admission. Our specifications anchor us in time and space. Time and space do not exist in the spiritual realm. Our specifications give us senses, and lay down the qualities we need to understand them. Our specifications give us our personal skew, our angle of inclination to the universal one that creates our idiosyncratic experience. So, yes, we are all incarnated. Some of us, however, are more incarnated than others. Our physical bodies make it appear we are all equally here. We are not. Autistic children are one of the groups of people who are less here. Their physical bodies are here; their identities are considerably somewhere else. Most families of autistic children already know that. They just cannot explain why. Here, using this universal language of creation--astrology--it becomes understandable. To do that, a few concepts besides those of astrology are needed. The first is from the psychological perspective on the early development of the infant. The second, from ruminations on the Tree of Life of the Kabbalah. I borrow from the work of Jungian psychologist, Erich Neuman. It is from his book, The Child: The young of the higher mammals are born in a state of relative maturity; either immediately or shortly after birth they are small adults which not only wholly resemble adult animals but are also capable of living unaided. In order to attain a similar state of maturity the human embryo would require a pregnancy of from twenty to twenty-two months. In other words, the human child, after the nine months it spends in the womb, requires another year [italics ours] to attain the degree of maturity that characterizes the young of most other mammals at birth. (1) With his true birth [i.e., around 21 months from conception] the human individual becomes, quite characteristically, not only an individual of his species but also a part of his group. (18) As the child approaches the end of the post-uterine embryonic phase [i.e., around 21 months] and becomes a human individual, not only has its body-Self, but moreover the ego has developed beyond its germinal stage and achieved a certain continuity with the childs developing consciousness....With the consolidation of its ego, the child gradually enters into the development of consciousness, culminating, finally in the polarization of the adult consciousness. (20) The primal relationship [the mother/infant bond that allows the infants optimum development] is the ontogenetic basis for being-in-ones-own-body, being-with-onesSelf, being-together, and being-in-the-world. (26)

Paraphrasing Neumann, the human infant is not fully incarnated--that is, he has a body, but not a consciousness suitable to orient and use it--until about one year after his birth. A year is actually quite generous. What loving parent, after all, would turn their child out on his own at one year? Never mind, during that first year the infant establishes the foundation for his consciousness here. He establishes the rudiments of sight, hearing, movement, speech, association, belonging, and so on. During, especially, months 10 through 21 from conception, then, his awareness must go through a radical transfer. It is from up there (or, at least, not here) to down here. He still has a long way to go to be fully here, but the major shift has occurred. As he is more and more established here, he learns on all levels at an incredible pace. If our autistic children are like Elly, they appear to develop normally during that first year. Then, something happens: whatever recognition of this world, whatever skills were developed either disappear, or fail to grow. Isnt that strange? What model could explain such a phenomenon? The best model is an astrological one. As already stated, the two planets responsible for this bizarre turn of events are saturn and pluto. They have the effect they do because of where--which in these charts often also imply when--their influence preponderates. To understand that, we need a better understanding of the implication of the order of the planets. The order of the planets along with types of consciousness associated with each were listed in the Styron paper on clinical depression. Here they are again, somewhat modified: The planets from inner (closest to the sun), mercury, to the most outer, pluto, form a loose type of gradient. It is one of types of consciousness, from most familiar to least familiar from the personalitys point of view. To simplify considerably, planets represent the following forms of consciousness as they are ordinarily experienced by us: sun.........................................essence; what exists before all learning moon......................................automatic habits and thoughts mercury..................................communicating, learning, thinking venus......................................liking, attracting, sharing, aesthetics, harmony earth ......................................(the arena for all these qualities to play in) mars.......................................doing, repulsing, asserting jupiter......................................incorporating, expanding, having saturn..................................limiting, contracting, being without uranus.....................................(outer planet consciousness)

neptune...................................(outer planet consciousness) pluto....................................(outer planet consciousness) Lets fill in the range of meaning for the outer planets (knowable only through their influence on inner, planets of personality). At the same time, lets put the list in an order that represents the descent of spirit into matter. We reverse the first group: pluto.................................. fosters the range from investigative to withdrawn neptune................................. fosters the range from creative to psychotic uranus.....................................fosters the range from innovative to rebellious saturn..................................limiting, contracting, being without jupiter......................................incorporating, expanding mars........................................doing, repulsing, asserting earth .......................................(the arena) venus.......................................liking, attracting, sharing mercury....................................communicating, learning, thinking moon........................................automatic habits and thoughts; learned self sun...........................................essence; self preceding all learning At saturn, in the now correctly ordered list, the individual breaks from the spiritual world to incarnate in one particular body, in one particular personality. By taking form and limitation (saturn), he loses the freedom of formless, i.e...., certain aspects of his spiritual life. Saturn is, at first, a completely dark experience. Spiritual perception has been lost; bodily perception is yet to come. The temporary darkness is a good thing. Otherwise conscious life would find itself in a rapidly changing body--the foetus, within a body--the mother, within a material world-Earth. That could be rather unpleasant. After birth, gradual acquisition of the principles of function of the planets jupiter through the sun enable Earth consciousness. They enable orientation in time and space. They enable the attraction/repulsion and their variants necessary for experience at this level. They provide the astrological principles out of which personality is built. Each of these planets is correlated with parts of infant development. Each sponsors physical as well as emotional and psychological components. Here the more psychological ones are mentioned: Jupiter represents incorporating, among other things, sucking. Later, it turns into interest in exploration and expansion. Exploration and expansion lead to self-confidence. Selfconfidence even eventually leads to graciousness. We can all afford to be gracious in areas we are superior in. The EQ factor is likely most correlated with jupiter. People who

tend to rise to the top in social situations have prominent jupiter. Mohandas Gandhi, in our system, has prominent jupiter. Mars represents assertiveness, including the negative outcomes that occur because of premature or too powerful assertiveness. When the infant refuses his food, he is declaring himself an entity independent of his nurturer. Mars consciousness helps him separate himself from other things as well as other people. It sponsors the motor part of skill development. Later yet it sponsors much of our competitive and conquering spirit. Our great generals, like Patton, have prominent mars (mars only sponsors the martial part, not its success.) Venus represents the principle of cohesion and attraction. By smiling, the infant inadvertently creates a more pleasing environment (a pleased mother). Venus principle underlies the adage, you can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar. It sponsors both pleasing and appeasing behavior. Later it develops our sense of harmony and aesthetics. People others--male and female--fall in love with are those who have prominent venus. President John F. Kennedy and Princess Diana are examples. Mercury represents everything about communication--talking, hearing, and thinking, and later, writing. In the infant, it shows as the first efforts at speech, and his eventual mastery of at least one of our many languages. Writers have mercury emphasized in their charts, often in the form of sun or moon in Gemini, ruled by mercury. An example is Jean-Paul Sartre, who has sun in Gemini (conjunct saturn, to give it that serious twist). Moon represents automatic consciousness and behavior. We need automatism, otherwise wed be learning to walk all over again every time we decided to walk. Likewise for other automated behaviors as well as automated thinking. As the infant learns, what he learns becomes subject to automation so he doesnt have to keep re-learning it every time he uses it. Sun represents essence, so it does not so much "do" as evaluate. It appreciates and understands. Whatever sign the sun is in, it appreciates best the qualities represented by that sign. For example, in Gemini, ruled by mercury, it appreciates thinking, writing, and communicating better than those without a strong mercury. We left out Earth. It doesnt usually come in a list of planets of personality. Astronomically it comes between venus and mars, attraction and repulsion, love and hate, respectively, about which we learn a great deal in our sojourn here. Astrologically, since most astrology is geocentric (geo=Earth; centric=centered), Earth is at the center of our world. Astronomically that is not true. The sun is a the center of our solar system. That is the general order of things. All of these rudiments of personality come in one package--the potential for personality. Some may precede others a little in time, but after that they are all active, simultaneously building personality. They never stand alone in any chart, but combine to produce varying qualities. Venus plus jupiter forefront gives us our most charismatic, and usually very fortunate, people, like Paul Newman. Venus plus mercury gives us our poets, as well as persuasive speakers, like Martin Luther King, Jr. Actually, put in this order, the planets now share a similarity with another symbolic diagram--our second important concept--the Kabbalistic Tree of Life of esoteric Judaism.

Not all, and not even usually Jewish, Kabbalistic literature makes a correlation between the Sefirot (Sefirah, singular; in Hebrew sefer means book), that is, the numbered stations shown below, and the planets. It has been done, however, for at least several hundred years. While later is not necessarily more correct, it can be useful. The planets correlated with the Sefirot can increase our understanding of incarnation. The planets are not equal to the Sefirot. The planets were created and operate on the same principle--that of cosmic order of creation--as the Sefirot. The Sefirot, however, are representative of the primary in Creation. The planets are derivative of those same principles. Here is our Tree:

I should add I know little about Kabbalah as a set of practices. Symbol sets like this one, however, invite pondering. They practically demand it. Several differences exist between this placement of planets on the Tree of Life and a simple list of the descending order of the planets. What are they? Notice that the top three--among the Sefirot, the supernal ones--Kether, Chockmah and Binah are represented astrologically by neptune, uranus, and saturn. They represent stages in Creation incomprehensible to us. The Tree, at least, implies saturn is definitely not a planet of personality. What else? An unnumbered position, with no associated planet, exists at Daath. Daath, says the literature, is not a real Sefirah. That is why it is in parentheses. That it is there at all, then, is puzzling. What else? Among the planets, pluto is not represented. Maybe Daath and pluto are correlated? But, Daath, if correlated with pluto, is below neptune. As a matter of fact, sometimes pluto is inside neptunes orbit. So its position is not a problem. The problem is Daaths unofficial status. If the other Sephirot represent principles of creation, then what does Daath represent? And, if pluto correlates with Daath, then is pluto not a planet of this solar system? But, of course it is. But, is it perhaps not, somehow, a functional, that is, creative, part? If, in principle, it is not a part of this system, what is it?

One clue to the possible function of Daath (and pluto) comes from its Hebrew meaning. It means know. In its fullest sense, it implies knowing intimately as implied biblically when a man "knew" a woman. One Kabbalistic book (Gray, cited below) suggests a bridge exists at Daath. He suggests it is the kind of bridge over which, when we are returning to the spiritual world--when we die--we can carry only that which we really know. What do we really know? That which is etched deeply into our consciousness. So at Daath, when we are going up the Tree, that is, dying, there is a kind of critical juncture, a center of gravity, a fulcrum--a switch, perhaps, from horizontal to vertical--to the whole other world of the supernal Sefirah. In our substitutions, the supernal Sephirot are represented by the planets saturn, uranus, and neptune. When incarnating, or coming down, life passes through Daath in order to experience through the seven planets of personality (including Earth) of dimensioned existence. Returning, it can only carry back that which was truly, intimately known. Such knowing is different from book learning. In involves knowledge that is private, exclusive, exceptionally personal. It cannot be given, is not tradable, and, once established, cannot be lost. So, if Daaths correlation with pluto holds true, then pluto implies an intensely personal knowledge. Or maybe, pluto acts as a filter, separating the existential wheat from the chaff. When pluto is regulating--i.e., in a set with--another planet, its presence implies powerful and intimate experiences of that planet. For instance, venus is the planet through which many of us declare our love for another. If pluto is with venus and forefront, we will deeply experience venus love, which is not agape, but the love based on attraction/repulsion and love/hate. So, venus + pluto for the individual who has it forefront in his chart means he experiences the extremes, along with all the pitfalls, of Eros, the personal, subjective love of attraction and repulsion.. Which other planet appeared fundamental in defining autism? Saturn. Now the implication these planets have for autism can be seen. First, saturn is above pluto (Daath). So, together and predominant in a chart, we are not going to see much--if we see any at all--personality because those two planets involve processes in creation that happen before personality is developed. Second, desire, as we understand the word, only starts--going down our Tree--at jupiter. So, we are not going to see much, if any, desire in people characterized by forefront saturn and pluto. Third, we are going to see an intense focus--the instruction of pluto to know intimately whatever it is focused on. Here, with autism, on saturn.

If saturn is the place in the process of incarnating where life takes on limitation in order to assume discrete form, then what qualities can we expect to see associated with saturn? Without planets of personality, saturns principle is nearly invisible. Or rather, it is perceived as an absence rather than a presence. That is why predominant and excessive in the mind chart of an individual he disappears, that is, becomes clinically depressed, as was the case with Styron. Therefore, we can learn a little more about saturns influence only by seeing its influence on planets of personality. Saturn with the moon freezes the usually volatile moon. It creates what we term rigid and dour, or at least fixed and serious personalities. Saturn with mercury usually slows down thinking or focuses it in narrow channels. It may also deepen thought because of the serious twist it puts on it. Saturn with venus may sour love or turn it into duty. Saturn with mars restricts aggression and action, and at its worst, is life-threatening. Saturn with jupiter may restrict expansion (jupiter) too much, but it often leads to well-considered, mature growth. From the perspective of the planets of personality, with their facets consisting of curiosity, intelligence and wit, humor and charm, justice, and graciousness, saturns influence is not desirable. Still, as the list shows, saturn with a planet of personality often deepens--through retarding or frustrating it--that planets influence, giving it the finer burnish resulting from the committed, longer-lasting behavior that comes from experience. Such is saturns influence seen through the helpful lens of its effects on other planets. Saturn by itself, without a planet of personality, has a positive contribution correlated with its original function. As the place in the Tree where the spiritual assumes the limitation of becoming individual, it is the sponsor of form. Form is not crystallized out of Being based on nothing. Form occurs because of pattern. Pattern is how all of what we know is maintained. Saturn sponsors form through pattern. It sponsors a rich world, but one without emotion--a world of archetypes. Therefore, pluto plus saturn dominant (forefront) in a chart, should give us an individual with an intense interest in form and pattern, who has very little personality, and who exhibits very little emotion. Thats a description of Elly. Some of the other differences between the order of planets in the Tree above and the order they show astronomically are: (1) the sun (at 6) is where Earth should be (between mars and venus), and (2) the moon (at 9) is where the sun should be (interior to mercury). Both changes are significant, but not the proper subject of this paper. Returning to saturn and pluto, we do not have to limit ourselves to their theoretical descriptions. We can consult astrological literature. In his book, Astrological Symbols, Robert Hand describes the principles of the planets. Under saturn is the following:

The difficulty with Saturn comes from two sources, only one of which is widely understood. That is the one that has given saturn its reputation as the greater malefic. It is not pleasant when reaching out to grasp something to be told it is not attainable. It is not pleasant to encounter ones limitations the first time... It is not pleasant to encounter rules that thwart one. Nor is it pleasant to encounter the natural but unlovely consequences of ones mistakes. Sometimes ones collisions with the rules of the game are so violent that they can kill, or at least destroy what one has painfully wrought over the years...the well-known difficulties with Saturn energy, result from not understanding either ones own limitations or the rules of the game. (69) The truly serious problem of Saturn lies in the idea of reality itself; namely, the equation of reality with truth. ...reality is structure, and so is Saturn. Reality is limitation, and so is Saturn...(70) From Hand, again, on Pluto: As the outermost known planet, Pluto symbolizes the end of the process that Uranus began: that of breaking down the reality structure of normal consciousness...Pluto symbolizes the radical transformation of consciousness and being that must result...Pluto is hard to handle if one is bound up in the universe of Saturn. Pluto operates with extreme power, and being a force beyond the ego, when it manifests it usually causes one to feel out of control...Pluto [with Saturn] can symbolize a complete breakdown of ordinary reality. (79) But, of course, he is writing of saturn/pluto when they are experienced together after one has achieved an identity . What happens when their influence is strong before identity is achieved? Autism. For an autistic child the instructions to build an identity--a lot of which is located in the 1st chart--are essentially canceled when saturn and pluto predominate. It is possible to do more than quote other people about saturn and pluto. I have my own research. So, what about saturn? Excessive saturn effects on mind in the mind chart (3rd house) is already covered in the Styron paper. Saturn on an Angle, therefore permanently prominent, is a powerful denier of the good things in life. Much, of course, depends on its sign and house rulership (area of life influenced) as well as contrary benefic influences. In general, Angular saturn fosters low self-esteem, failure, inadequacy, and deficiency. In the money chart it makes money scarce. In the health chart it makes energy scarce. In the career chart it fosters low-manon-the-totem pole positions, and so on. It fosters Job-like experiences, including the constant undervaluing of ones worth and integrity by others, as happened to Job. On the positive side, it sponsors people who have thought more deeply about life. As the story of

Job illustrates, however, those are not people we usually value highly, especially in cultures which worship youth and play. What about pluto? Women often become mothers when (at the appropriate age for childbearing) one of their Angles is progressed to, or transited by, pluto. A first-time mother experiences a radical change in her world view. Her focus turns inward to the needs of her unborn, and later infant, child. It is a time for nurturing of the seed of Life. Pluto has a connection to the unconscious. It is forefront, usually as moon aspecting pluto, in the 3rd house (mental interests) in the 7th chart (relationships with others) of psychiatrists and psychologists. They have an interest in getting underneath the planets of personality to look for seed causes. In finding those seeds, and exploring them with the patient, they mother the individual back to mental health. Pluto represents an intensity of focus and a radical change of awareness. The unconscious not only speaks a different language from the conscious mind, it operates under different laws. Pluto transiting our moon--a event which can be drawn out over several years--often signals we will be separated (pluto) from an important female (moon), usually because we feel inadequate or she was perceived as over-bearing. Pluto conjunct an Angle means the toddler was frequently overwhelmed, usually by his mother because she is the major caregiver. Instead of carefully nurturing his individuality through its various stages so he could become an independent adult, she allowed her anxieties and needs to invade his tiny world. As an adult, he--mostly unconsciously--is always expecting the world to overwhelm him. He expects he will be inadequate because that was his prevailing early experience. As an adult he often collapses prematurely or builds exaggerated defenses designed to avoid overwhelming experiences. Some astrologers say pluto predominant makes an individual charismatic. Not me. Charisma comes from venus and jupiter, to which neptune is added for movie-idol adoration. Pluto on an Angle has nothing to do with charisma. Pluto on an Angle produces an essentially defensive individual. Some defenses do appear to be offenses. They are designed to re-direct the viewers attention: here, but not here. It is attentiongrabbing, but it is not charismatic. Pluto is anti-charismatic. Its message is: dont come too close, and Im not interested, and sometimes even, I dont even exist. The message beneath that is: dont interfere with my freedom! because such interference is what the Angle/pluto individual experienced so painfully as a dependent child. Continuing with specific examples in our effort to better understand the influence of pluto, we look at specific individuals who had pluto predominant. Albert Einstein had excessive pluto in his 7th chart (relationships with others). Three of his four suns aspected pluto (and few other planets), and three of his four moons also aspected pluto (and little else), with moons ruling an Ascendant and 3rd house (in this

chart, the way ones mind works with and appears to others). That much pluto influence to lights (suns and moons) is way above the norm, which is 1.5 for each. Einstein was intensely focused. His focus was not on the unconscious of others, but on the mathematics of time and space, the seed thoughts of universal creation. He was an admitted failure in relationships. He considered himself a poor husband. He hardly knew his own children. He didnt intend to be a weak husband and father--in time he just discovered he was. With his suns and moons poor in aspects to planets of personality and strong in relation to outer planets, his attention was on the abstract. (Uranus was his other 3rd house, mental, influence. Uranus sponsors the insights of invention and discovery.) We have seen that pluto sponsors qualities of intensity, withdrawal, protectiveness, and abstractness. What about saturn and pluto together? Together they present somewhat of a problem. If their influence is constant--a condition and not just an event--such individuals, as is the case with autistic children, rarely come to the attention of astrologers. If they do, it is certainly far less often than do popular public figures like movie stars, politicians, singers, and famous athletes, all of whom have prominent venus and/or jupiter. As an example of a condition, one individual has saturn conjunct pluto conjunct his Ascendant in Cancer, with saturn ruling his 7th house of relationships. Both are nonharmonic, so they occur in all charts. They pick up lights--both harmonic suns--in his 7th chart of relationships with others, so are emphasized in that chart. As a child (and even as an adult), he was constantly overloaded by his incessantly, mindlessly verbalizing mother. Since she never responded to his signals of discomfort and distress, he never learned how to diminish her really unpleasant behavior. As an adult he attracted it all over again because he was developmentally so far behind others in defining his own boundaries. Therefore, as an adult, he gravitated continually toward isolation. For him, it is better to exist for himself alone than not exist at all in relationships. Other than this effect on his relationships, he is a fine, intelligent man. Richard Nixon provides an example of an event. He resigned, at age 61, as President of the United States on August 8, 1974. Richard Nixon--7th House Chart On the day of his resignation, his relationships with others (7th chart) reflected: pb north node 9 Pisces 36 (coming from 12 Pisces 41 at birth) pb9 pluto 10 Pisces 18 (coming from 16 Pisces 06) pc9 pluto 10 Pisces 45 (coming from 1 Pisces 32 at conception) c saturn 10 Pisces 02 ruler of C Asc; co-ruler of c 12th house (18 of 27) Rulership of saturn over C Asc, plus its lighting by the NN, makes this a predominant condition for the time of his resignation. All of them are in Pisces in his birth 7th house.

They show a deep feeling of failing, and being failed by, others combined with a sense of powerlessness. Looking at their original positions (in column 2 in parentheses), they constitute a fault. The fault became more exact with time, suggesting he was likely to have such an experience. (The public, political aspect of his resignation is in his 10th chart of career and social image.)

Amelia Earhart had a condition influencing the end of her life which became an event of unknown duration. Amelia Earhart--7th House Chart b saturn 0 Scorpio 48 in c 4th house c7 pluto 2 Scorpio 16 in c 4th house C Asc 1 Leo 30 What does it mean? Her Ascendant acts as a light for saturn/pluto, which will become active at the appropriate time in her life. Since saturn and pluto are in her 4th house, the appropriate time is at the end of her life. Since we are looking at the 7th chart, the area of influence is relationships at the end of her life. Lighted saturn/pluto describing her relationships late in life means she will feel completely alone and emotionally abandoned at the end of her life. This condition implies she was alive after her plane crashed, because it is unlikely she would feel that kind of isolation if she died in the crash. Last, but not least, I have my own experience. Born with saturn on one Angle, and pluto on another, I am not autistic (some people might think so). I prefer more privacy than is considered normal. I need regular respite from others. If I do not get it, I slam shut in much the same way some autistic children do. My saturn and pluto are non-harmonic, therefore in all charts. They, therefore, acquire extra emphasis in harmonic charts which provide them lights. I do not, as is the case so far with autistic children, have preponderance of saturn and pluto in my 3rd house (mind) chart. Only saturn is emphasized in my 1st chart (identity). However, both saturn and pluto are emphasized through lights in the 7th chart of relationships. So it is through relationships that I most experience the extremes of this influence. I also had a powerful saturn/pluto event: harmonic saturn progressed to Angular/moon/pluto/node in my 7th chart (relationships). I then had two Angle/moon/saturn/nodes for this chart--the one I started out with, and a progressed one, which also included pluto. With it, a condition (Angle/moon/pluto) was turned into an event (+ saturn). Moons and nodes increase orb and progressing harmonic saturn moves very slowly. This particular event has lasted several years, with more to go. Under this combined influence I lost--sometimes self-sponsored and sometimes other-sponsored, usually through breach but twice through death--my connection to all my friends, the overwhelming majority of my family, and my community of 28 years. From my point of

view, seen more in retrospect, our connection just ceased to exist. Either that, or it became so painful I did not want it to exist, and closed off from it. I suspect a similar astrological condition (Angle/saturn/pluto of some duration) is forefront when a spouse (male or female) and parent (father or mother) just suddenly ups and abandons his family and disappears. Sometimes, in time, he starts a new identity and even family. Occasionally, on television, we see a story about one such individual finally located by those he has abandoned. In the several I have seen over the years, he had no response to the anger he received from his first family. In emphasizing the righteous anger of the abandoned, the tele-story acquires that tone tele-journals so like to present. It also obscures reality, making it appear the individual, in full possession of his faculties and options, simply decided to destroy his whole identity, obliterating every connection accompanying it. He did not destroy his identity, but it was destroyed. As happened with Styron with his clinical depression, all attempts to explain so extreme a state to individuals--loved ones, possible healers--to whom the experience is alien are worse than fruitless. They actually compound the problem. Being an astrologer, did I anticipate, therefore unconsciously create, those effects (of saturn and pluto)? I did not because I had no understanding of their combined influences. Understanding came only after several years of their predominance. It could be said then, after those several years of that experience, I got daath on saturn/pluto. With that new understanding, their effect in the charts of autistic children became visible. Hand, in a later article, calls the experience of saturn/pluto the shrinking transformation. Occurring to individuals who already have an identity, its effects are severe, but not as severe as they are for autistic children, who start out "shrinking." Saturn and pluto Angular are not, by themselves, life threatening. Relationships are painful, so painful that emotional sharing is either prevented or destroyed. Coming early or later in life, predominance of saturn + pluto creates powerful similarities among individuals experiencing it. When it occurs later, the individual has prior experience to fall back on in maintaining some identity. The autistic individual does not.

All of the above descriptions of the effects of saturn, pluto, and their combination prominent in a chart are based on either conditions (that is, they were permanent in the chart), or events (that is, they have limited duration). With the events, all except pluto Angular occurred in charts of individuals with adult identities. Once personality is established, saturn and pluto do not create autism. They foster changes in focus, breaks in relationship, and together in the same set, extreme social isolation. Once the individual has an established identity, the isolation of saturn/pluto may be unpleasant, but the individual is still functional. He still has access to having developed a personality.

Charts below show that autism is the result of an astrological condition, not an event. The astrological condition is excessive saturn plus pluto. Their area of influence is powerful enough in autistic children to reverse, or nearly totally impede, development of personality. They do so because their influence occurs in two charts fundamental in defining our identity and thought processes. The two charts are those of the 1st house (identity) and the 3rd house (mind). Their areas of influence within those charts are to Angles plus 3rd houses. It is time, now, to look at the examples of our five autistic children. For an explanation of the astrology used on this site, go to About This System listed among other papers on the Home Page. For those who do not want to do that, there is this note: this system uses only conjunctions, applying and separating squares, and oppositions. Orbs with lights is 5; without lights, about 2.5. Birth planets (including their harmonics) rule only birth houses. Conception planets (including their harmonics) rule only conception houses. Returning to our autistic children, below I show first their 1st house chart of identity ; second, their 3rd house chart of mind; last, their 7th charts for identity in relationships. Those interested in each childs total saturn/pluto should print the material, then cut and paste it by child. All planets in each set are not included. Only saturn, pluto, Angles and rulerships are listed. That highlights pattern and its emphasis. Lights are included because they potentize any set. They do so because lights represent consciousness; planets, the type of consciousness illuminated. So, if a non-light planet of personality is included below it is because it is included because it is necessary to establish rulership of Angles and 3rd houses. The significant conditions--saturn, pluto, the Angle, and their rulerships--are in bold to make them easily visible. Planets of personality in the autistic set undoubtedly make some difference, I just do not know how much.

The 1st House Harmonic Chart of Identity 1. DEREK--1st House Chart (a) C MC 1 Capricorn 09 b mercury 2 Aries 04 ruler of B MC in c 3rd house as well as B Asc c1 moon 6 Cancer 22 c pluto 2 Libra 19 c saturn 3 Libra 43

This Angle/mercury/saturn/pluto is a core condition which contains no harmonics. C1 moon--a harmonic moon--develops it so that it applies to this chart, that of the 1st house. Why be interested in the 3rd house within the chart of the 1st? Shouldnt our interest be the 1st house within this chart? Autism, Part II

Returning to Derek, above, the orb--that is, variance from exactly 0, 90, 180, 270 of planets to each other--from C MC to the moon is large ( a little over 5, but the MC also has an orb, one of 2). We do not, however, have to depend on (a). We have (b): (b) b moon 9 Taurus 22 c1 pluto 6 Leo 56 c1 saturn 11 Leo 10 b1 mercury 6 Aquarius 22 which shows another saturn/pluto influence to two Angles and one 3rd house. This set covers a wide range--too wide. However, the moon, in degrees, is between saturn and pluto, so it holds this whole set together. 2. HARVEY--1st House Chart (a) C MC 0 Scorpio 58 b moon 2 Aquarius 51 c1 mars 1 Leo 40 ruler of C MC and c 3rd house b1 pluto 2 Leo 55 shows Angle/pluto influence to Angles and 3rd houses, and (b) b1 pluto 2 Leo 55 B MC 6 Leo 18 b1 moon 8 Leo 33 shows Angle/pluto. Pluto to moon is large, but moon has an orb of 5, and MC has an orb or 2. (c) c south node 7 Capricorn 18 C Asc 8 Capricorn 25 b1 south node 7 Aries 15 b1 saturn 11 Cancer 00R co-ruler of b 3rd house (30 of 37)

shows Angle/saturn. Note below, with pb1 saturn, that it is approaching--during his critical formative years--closer to his Ascendant until he is a little over 10 years of age: Birth Age pb1 saturn 3 10 Capricorn 20R 5 9 Capricorn 54R 10 8 Capricorn 50R 15 7 Capricorn 49R 20 6 Capricorn 53R (a), (b), and (c) above show cumulative influence of pluto and saturn to Angles and 3rd houses. Cumulative is usually not as strong as when the whole condition exists in one set, particularly when the set influences more than one Angle. All of these, however, contain lights, making them decisive. 3. DEVON--1st House Chart (a) B MC 5 Aries 27 b sun 7 Aries 11 b1 saturn 8 Cancer 17 C Asc 8 Libra 14 c1 pluto 8 Libra 57 c1 jupiter 7 Capricorn 35 ruler of c 3rd house c saturn 9 Capricorn 46 co-ruler of c 3rd house This shows two Angles and a 3rd house influenced by saturn/pluto. Another set influences only the 3rd house and not Angles: (b) c mercury 21 Cancer 54 c jupiter 22 Cancer 32 c1 sun 21 Libra 33 b1 pluto 22 Libra 26 ruler of c 3rd house c pluto 22 Libra 59 b saturn 22 Capricorn 46 4. CORKY--1st House Chart (a) c1 venus 9 Aquarius 22 ruler of C MC and c 3rd house b1 moon 11 Aquarius 35 c south node 11 Aquarius 48 c1 saturn 13 Taurus 04 c pluto 11 Leo 48 b1 mercury 9 Scorpio 30 co-ruler of b 3rd house (21 of 24) (b) b pluto 15 Leo 43 b1 neptune 18 Leo 57 ruler of B Asc c moon 20 Leo 47

(a) above is sufficient to show predominance. (b) additional pluto influence. 5. NOAH--1st House Chart Noah has a benevolent 1st house chart. It contains an Angle/sun/venus/jupiter--very positive. It also has no direct affliction (by mars, saturn, or pluto) to Angles. His saturn/pluto influence in this chart is weak: (a) c1 sun 16 Taurus 06 b pluto 21 Leo 52 b uranus 21 Leo 54 ruler of b 3rd house b1 moon 15 Aquarius 53 c saturn 18 Aquarius 21 ruler of C Asc Why weak? The two lights, b1 moon and c1 sun, are both more than 5 away from his pluto, and both below it. Combined, however, they extend orb of influence several degrees beyond 5 to make this set work.

The 3rd House Harmonic Chart of Mind 1. DEREK--3rd House Chart (a) b3 south node 0 Capricorn 31 C MC 1 Capricorn 09 c3 south node 0 Capricorn 32 b mercury 2 Aries 04 ruler of B MC in c 3rd house as well as B Asc c pluto 2 Libra 19 c saturn 3 Libra 43 This is the same core condition as in his 1st house chart, but this time it is modified strongly by two harmonic lights (nodes) in a tight set, where all the planets are not much more than 3 apart. Meaning? This core condition has a particularly strong 3rd chart (mind) influence. (b) B MC 27 Gemini 16 b3 pluto 29 Gemini 27 R b3 north node 0 Cancer 31 c3 north node 0 Libra 32 Only 2 orb is allowed for planets to Angles, but this contains two lights. Moreover, both nodes and pluto are slowly moving toward B MC all the way up to age 15: Birth Age pb3 SN pc3 SN pb3 pluto

3 0 Cancer 46 28 Virgo 22 29 Gemini 02R 5 0 Cancer 57 27 Virgo 47 28 Gemini 46R 10 0 Cancer 27 27 Virgo 55 28 Gemini 07R 15 0 Cancer 19 25 Virgo 35 27 Gemini 29R 2.Harvey--3rd House Chart (a) c3 moon 17 Leo 41 b3 mars 16 Aquarius 11 c3 saturn 17 Aquarius 55 ruler of C Asc in b 3rd house b venus 18 Aquarius 37 ruler of B Asc c pluto 15 Taurus 25 So, this is influencing two Angles and one 3rd house. What makes a set preponderant? A condition is forefront and preponderant, at any time-birth, or thereafter--when a planet (which will rule or co-rule one or two houses or an Angle): (a) is on an Angle, or (b) is in a set with sun, moon, or nodes--the lights, and one of them rules an Angle. The latter is called, the planet is lighted and rules an Angle. (c) one of the planets in the set rules one of the houses associated with that chart: 3rd houses for 3rd charts, 4th houses for 4th charts, 5th houses for 5th charts, etc. There is more, however, Both what is and what is not there--as well as the content of the message--make a difference in preponderance. Using Harvey as an example: if, in this chart, Harvey has only two (of four) Angles and only one of his two 3rd houses influenced by light/saturn/pluto, then why wouldnt his free Angles and his one free 3rd house help him be non-autistic? Maybe they do. If he had powerful benefic influences to the free Angles and 3rd, they might enable his mind to function nonautistically at least part of the time. Or, they might make him an autistic savant. If, however, his free Angles and 3rd are also afflicted--just differently than autistic--they cannot easily compensate for his autistic influences. Noahs 3rd house chart is a good example of this latter. One set is autistic and rules b 3rd house. The other set is more disturbed, choppy, even schizoid, and rules his c 3rd house. Both sets influences Angles. Both are, therefore, preponderant, and neither is benefic, so neither helps reduce the problems of the other. It also makes some difference which planets are actually in 3rd houses. Retardation appears, for instance, less likely if jupiter is in the 3rd house even if light/mars/saturn influences 3rds and Angles in the 3rd chart. (See paper on retardation.) Continuing with Harvey: (b) b sun 4 Aries 11 ruler of B MC b pluto 0 Libra 58 c3 mars 2 Libra 47 ruler of C MC and c 3rd house

(c) c mars 0 Gemini 33 ruler of C MC and c 3rd house c mercury 4 Gemini 14 b3 pluto 4 Gemini 51 c3 venus 5 Gemini 46 b neptune 2 Sagittarius 27 (b) and (c) show Harvey has extra pluto influence (but not saturn) to Angles and 3rds. Mars/neptune to mercury isnt good--it probably creates anxiety and fear. Still, mercury/venus/mars/pluto in Gemini suggests fascination with some kind of learning (Gemini) or multiple-task ability. 3. DEVON--3rd House Chart (a) C MC 15 Cancer 15 B Asc 17 Cancer 21 b3 pluto 17 Libra 23R c3 saturn 18 Libra 52R co-ruler of c 3rd house (15 of 35) The fact that this 3rd chart shows harmonic saturn and harmonic pluto in such close aspect to two Angles already suggests autism even without influences to 3rd houses within the chart. Why? The whole chart is, itself, a magnification of the 3rd house. A similar result occurs in schizophrenia. Such was the case with Nancy Spungen, murdered girl friend of punk rock star Sid Vicious. Nancy had harmonic mars conjunct harmonic neptune (sponsoring paranoid schizophrenia) conjunct her C Ascendant in her 3rd chart. She had neptune, but not mars, influence to 3rd houses. Any one who read her mother, Deborah Spungens, And I Dont Want to Live This Life,, a biography of her daughter, would conclude Nancy was prone to paranoia. Mars and neptune are necessary for paranoid schizophrenia. In the 3rd house chart, their harmonic presence on Angles contribute more toward paranoid schizophrenia than their presence in, or influence to, 3rd houses. The former influence for the mind is global; the latter, local. The same is true in Devons chart. His harmonic saturn and harmonic pluto on Angles-before we look at anything else in this 3rd (or 1st) chart--imply his mind is well on the way to operating autistically. In Devons case, he also has lighted saturn in one 3rd house, and lighted pluto in the other, so he also has saturn and pluto influence to 3rd houses, but not in the same set, nor in the same house. All of these nuances of influence will eventually find their proper evaluation in an order which goes from greatest to least. That is not possible with just these few charts.

C3 saturn, above, is more than 2 degrees from C MC, so, strictly speaking, doesnt aspect it. However, both harmonic saturn and harmonic pluto are progressing retrograde, so moving closer to C MC until Devon is about 13 years old: Birth Age pb3 pluto pb3 saturn 3 16 Libra 59 17 Libra 30 5 16 Libra 43 16 Libra 46 10 16 Libra 03 14 Libra 55 15 15 Libra 21 13 Libra 04 (b) b3 saturn 23 Sagittarius 49 c north node 24 Sagittarius 18 c3 jupiter 22 Gemini 39 ruler of c 3rd house c3 pluto 24 Virgo 55 Shows influence to a 3rd house, but not an Angle. 4. CORKY--3rd House Chart (a) B Asc 27 Pisces 40 b3 moon 27 Pisces 57 c3 south node 29 Pisces 02 c3 pluto 29 Virgo 24 (b) c3 south node 29 Pisces 02 (58 away from 0 Aries 00) b3 north node 0 Cancer 11 c3 pluto 29 Virgo 24 b3 mars 0 Cancer 22 c3 pluto Libra 00 29 Virgo 24 (36 away from 0 Libra 00) b3 saturn 2 Libra 36 c3 mars 2 Capricorn 21 co-ruler of c 3rd house (24 of 31) c venus 3 Aries 07 ruler of C MC and c 3rd house Only by adding c venus--as ruler of both an Angle and a 3rd house--can we get this set to influence both an Angle and a 3rd house. Certainly, with two nodes--that is, two lights-each with an orb of influence of 5, and a combined influence of 7-8 (we hesitate to say 10), venus is a legitimate part of this set. (a), with its two lights plus pluto--all harmonic--is sufficient to turn his mind inward, but it does lack the characteristic saturn/pluto stamp. So, it is inward on what? Here, the answer is inward on moon in Pisces. Its conjunction to south node on his Ascendant pulls him constantly in that direction. It makes him very lost, very spaced out, very without coordinates for thinking. He may have been considered an imbecile. Corky was institutionalized at age 8.

5. NOAH--3rd House Chart (a) c3 moon 20 Leo 38 b pluto 21 Leo 52 b uranus 21 Leo 54 ruler of b 3rd house b3 pluto 19 Scorpio 21 b3 uranus 19 Scorpio 28 ruler of b 3rd house c saturn 18 Aquarius 21 ruler of C Asc The planets are all in close aspect and influencing a 3rd house and an Angle. This is Noahs main, strongest and most influential autistic, that is, saturn/pluto condition.

He has another Angle/3rd house influence which is problematic, perhaps representing one of those taints referred to above, such that something not autistic inadvertently gets included in the definition of autism. Why is it not autistic? By itself, even multiplied, it would never produce the withdrawal and self-referencing of autism. (b) b3 mercury 25 Aries 17 ruler of B MC b3 moon 26 Aries 28 b3 saturn 26 Cancer 24 b neptune 25 Libra 22 c mars 27 Libra 48 ruler of C MC and c 3rd house c3 sun 26 Capricorn 50 Mars/saturn/neptune creates siege conditions. Light/mars/neptune influencing Angles and 3rds in the 3rd chart is one of the indicators of paranoid schizophrenia (see Hinckley paper). Mercurys participation contra-indicates it. Noah is probably less schizophrenic than anxious and fearful. Still, this set is more powerful than his autistic one--it influences two Angles and his other 3rd house.

Saturn/pluto emphases in the charts of these autistic youngsters never ends. Relevant saturn/pluto emphases in their 7th charts are shown below, with little comment. Their 8th charts (fruits of relationship) also show strong saturn/pluto emphasis We started with charts for the 1st and 3rd houses because whatever creates autism clearly starts operating an a very early age and involves the instructions for creating identity. Without an identity, 7th or 8th houses have little chance to make much difference. We look at the 3rd house within this 7th chart because they show how the individual communicates with others (7th chart). So, for instance, when Appendix C declares children with Aspergers Syndrome have developed language but can only broadcast, not communicate, the 7th house is suggested as more autistic than the 3rd

To recapitulate, research so far has indicated 3rd houses in the following charts reveal information as follows: in the 1st chart physical aspects of brain; side dominance, what else? in 3rd chart operational aspects of mind in the 7th chart attitude and ways of relating to others

The 7th House Harmonic Chart of Relationships with Others 1. DEREK--7th House Chart (a) b7 mercury 18 Leo 32 ruler of B MC in c 3rd house b7 north node 18 Leo 55 c7 neptune 22 Leo 02 b uranus 18 Scorpio 12 c7 moon 19 Scorpio 06 c7 pluto 20 Aquarius 48 co-ruler of b 3rd house (27 of 33) (b) C Asc 16 Aries 43 b7 saturn 17 Cancer 18 co-ruler of b 3rd house (27 of 33) 2. HARVEY--7th House Chart (a) B MC 6 Leo 18 b7 pluto 8 Aquarius 44R c7 mars 5 Aquarius 01 ruler of C MC and c 3rd house b moon 2 Aquarius 51 This--because of the distance between planets--is weak. However, it is precisely during childhood that Harvey experiences progressed pluto the strongest: Birth Age pb7 pluto 3 7 Aquarius 58 5 7 Aquarius 28 10 6 Aquarius 14 15 5 Aquarius 01 (b) b7 sun 7 Virgo 36 c7 sun 7 Virgo 36 (this is the only chart in which harmonic suns coincide) b mars 9 Virgo 14 c saturn 9 Virgo 35 ruler of C Asc which is in c 3rd house

Mars presence here is not autistic. It is difficult, introducing turbulence. Since suns are involved, it influences his vitality.

3. DEVON--7th House Chart (a) b7 pluto 7 Libra 17 C Asc 8 Libra 14 b7 north node 9 Libra 54 c saturn 9 Capricorn 46 co-ruler of c 3rd house (15 of 35) 4. CORKY--7th House Chart (a) b venus 20 Sagittarius 50 ruler of b 3rd house B MC 21 Sagittarius 21 b7 pluto 21 Sagittarius 27 In c 3rd house he has NN conjunct pluto. In b 3rd house he has NN conjunct saturn. Corky has four moon pluto sets, only one of which contains one other planet. None rule Angles or 3rds. It is just that in his interactions with others, like Einstein, he doesnt have much to work with. Three of Corkys suns are conjunct in Pisces, two of which rule C Asc in Leo. There is nothing particularly autistic about Pisces suns. (This system uses sidereal, not tropical, astrology. Most Western astrologers use tropical astrology. If some one has tropical sun in Pisces, sidereally it is usually in Aquarius, i.e., nearly a whole sign earlier.) Some one with a Leo Ascendant has great potential for a strong sense of self. Corkys rulers of his Leo Ascendant, c sun and both c7 suns, however, are in Pisces. Of all the sun signs, Pisces is weakest in ego and identity. In an already heavily afflicted chart, three Pisces suns amount to more affliction. 5. NOAH--7th House Chart (a) b7 uranus 17 Aquarius 02 ruler of b 3rd house b7 pluto 16 Aquarius 18 c saturn 21 Sagittarius 27 This shows saturn/pluto influence to C Asc and b 3rd house. It is, however, without any light, so the influence is weak. (b) b7 moon 17 Virgo 33 B MC 17 Virgo 48 b7 neptune 18 Virgo 27 b7 saturn 18 Sagittarius 09 This shows a strong Angle/saturn influence, with a weak 3rd house one, and no pluto. Really, (b) shows strong neptunian influence. What else does?

(c) b7 south node 3 Scorpio 18 b south node 0 Scorpio 22 c mars 27 Libra 48 ruler of C MC and c 3rd house b neptune 25 Libra 23 co-ruler of b 3rd house (18 of 45) Why list this? At most, we have two south nodes conjunct mars, but neptune is too far away to be considered part of it. However, since c mars has both Angle and 3rd influence, it has potential for becoming more forefront: Birth Age pb7 SN pb SN 3 29 Libra 58 0 Scorpio 00 5 27 Libra 28 29 Libra 43 10 25 Libra 21 29 Libra 29 15 17 Libra 57 28 Libra 40 Birth age 5 through 10 show combined orbs of both nodes such that both mars and neptune are part of one set. This is more schizoid--disturbed, difficult--than autistic. Noah has lighted mars/neptune influence to Angles and 3rd house in both his mind and interpersonal charts. He is not schizophrenic, however, because he has a very powerful positive 1st house identity chart. So far schizophrenic must involve neptune, and for paranoid schizophrenic, mars and neptune, influences to 3rd charts, and a highly afflicted 1st chart. Likewise, Noahs saturn/pluto influence to Angles and 3rd houses are only strongly preponderant in his mind chart (3rd). They are weak in his identity chart (1st), and nearly non-existent in his relationships chart (7th). Noahs autism is quite a bit different from that of the other four children.

Discussion What is the difference between autism--something interior to the individual, and the effects of severe rejection, which starts out exterior to the individual? Above I discussed the difference in emphasis of saturn and pluto between charts of non-autistic people and those of autistic children. Those 3rd houses--since we are ultimately mindstuff--within charts, especially in the 1st (identity) and 3rd (mind) charts, may operate as instructions for creating the individual. Other parts of the chart describe what happens to him after he is created. Some one who experiences saturn + pluto emphasis only later in life (not in the 1st and 3rd charts) has already been formed, so impedence occurs for him mainly in his interactions with others.

Are the subjects of this paper examples of Kanners or Aspergers syndrome? I do not know. Their data simply labeled them autistic. Whichever they are, they share something in common--an excessive saturn/pluto condition in certain areas of certain charts. That rare and shared condition is probably the astrological foundation for their autism. I cannot account, astrologically, for the apparent sex-linked nature of autism, which occurs at least twice as much in boys as in girls (see Appendices). I do not have the birth data of Temple Grandin, a very well-known, high-functioning autistic woman. So, I am not sure what makes an autistic individual able to be highfunctioning. Note, however, how well this understanding of autism fits her description of herself in her books. She states she does not understand, nor have, feelings. She is quite good at understanding structure and function, and uses this in her profession. She uses a machine to help stimulate her body. It is as if without enough emphasis of planets of personality and too much emphasis on saturn and pluto, her body has the hardware (structure and function) for being a body, but not the software (feelings and sensations) for experiencing it. So, in order be comfortable, she discovered she needed regular stimulation of her body. Without it, she becomes increasingly anxious.

I started fifteen years ago with two autistic charts--Corkys and Noahs. Devon, Derek, and Harveys data--given to me by a friend--came several years ago. It took returning again and again to their charts to identify their common properties. It also took my second experience of excessive saturn/pluto. When I first started with Corkys and Noahs charts, I was working only with the 7th chart. In those charts, Corky is strongly plutonian; Noah, on the other hand, is strongly neptunian. Were there two types of autism, both sponsored by excess of outer planet influence? The following is theoretical and subject to change: A neptunian" autism would not be characterized by the intense withdrawal and disinterest in socialization that characterize saturn/pluto. A strongly neptunian child would demonstrate a chaotic and impressionable mind. He would be open to being written on again...and again, hence the instability. The neptunian child opens outward to all. His incapacity to discriminate and select cause a chaos of impressions, therefore pain, but he cannot, except occasionally, withdraw. The plutonian child, as we have seen, demonstrates a far more selective mind. He also experiences much of the rest of the world as chaotic, but he can and does withdraw from it. So, neptunian mental diseases tend toward schizophrenia, but communication. Saturnian ones toward depression, with varying degrees of communication. Uranian ones toward

mania, and lots of communication. And, it seems, plutonian (+ saturn) ones toward autism, with no communication. Saturn plus pluto is a double negative in terms of communication. Thus, excessive neptune in the mind chart--even with saturn--would not create autism, although it would create some one who has difficulty building up a permanent sense of identity. But that is not because of too little, but too much impressionability. Actually, in theory, each of the outer planets--that is, the traditional outer planets of astrology: uranus, neptune, and pluto--excessively influencing mind ought to sponsor a major form of mental illness. Each combined with the lesser and greater malefics, mars and saturn, respectively, should further define that mental illness. Why? Here is what we have so far: Uranus Neptune Pluto with mars unknown paranoid schizophrenia unknown with saturn manic depression unknown autism If the unknowns above represent forms of mental illness, we may not know them because individuals so defined demand our attention less. Mars with both uranus or pluto would sponsor discrete, well-defined mentation and behavior. In fact, mars combined with uranus (in the 1st and 7th charts, not the 3rd chart) predominant produces our explorers and very daring, sometimes foolhardy, individuals. No one could say their lives were completely normal, but few would say they were mentally ill, either. Mentation sponsored by mars with neptune (like paranoid schizophrenia), however, is messy. So, that individual comes to our attention. If we looked in Hands astrology book, we would find mars and pluto defined: striving, hard work. To contend against difficult odds, often successfully. Brutality and conflict. Ambition, ruthless drive, the desire to achieve ones objectives at all costs. (p. 175, pb edition). In fact two individuals with mars conjunct pluto (both non-harmonic, and again, not for the 3rd chart of mind but just generally influencing the charts) come to mind: one male, who has his conjunct his Ascendant had a crazy mother. I do not know if he can be brutal or ruthless. He certainly appears mild-mannered and careful, that is, essentially defensive. The other individual has his conjunct his Midheaven. He runs his own business as a very specialized mechanic for foreign cars. He is neither brutal nor ruthless, except perhaps in having his will against broken auto parts. That does not disprove Hand's definition, it just means many of these individual's also never come to our attention. The same principle applies in reverse for combinations with saturn. Saturn with uranus (during the depressive phase of manic depression) and pluto (autism or extreme withdrawal) produces a kind of in-your-face type of passivity. The individual is so passive his dysfunction becomes a social problem.

The individual with autism comes to our attention because his dysfunction happens in childhood. It occurs before he even has a chance to develop autonomy. But saturn/pluto people are not so interested in shared reality as they are interested--if Elly and Temple Grandin are good examples--in being able to share their reality. With that we are back to one of the fundamental definitions of being human. Sharing one's reality, having it found worthy of sharing, gives people a sense of contributing, and therefore, of belonging. Saturn with neptune (a type of schizophrenia? neurasthenia?) people, however, should produce an individual whose passivity eludes us for a longer time. With his saturn he will be attempting to find ultimate, shared, fixed reality. His neptune will slowly but constantly dissolve away his results. The difference, then, between illnesses sponsored by the two is that: Illnesses sponsored by pluto are caused by exclusive focus on the planet pluto contacts. Illnesses sponsored by neptune are caused by neptune dissolving, and eventually eliminating, the planet it contacts. Except for in combination with saturn, we do not label uranus influence to another planet as an illness. We do so in bipolar disorder because of the saturn pole of the disorder. With more play, and more patient data, these speculations would probably yield better understanding of what constitutes, and suggests help for, various mental illnesses.

Conclusion Further examples of the astrology of autism can be found at the following link: More on Autism Why do autistic children appear to be developing normally during their first year? (Appendix C states Kanners syndrome can be diagnosed in infancy; Aspergers only in years two to three.) It may be that they are not developing normally, and we just have no clear way to see that. It may also be that it takes about a year before the instructions in their identity and mind charts start functioning. Or rather, that the failure (to develop personality) in their instructions starts showing only then. When, after all, does Earth mind begin? With autistic children, once the instructions for building an identity and mind start operating, the ongoing message appears to be : focus on (know intimately) saturn. Since the overwhelming majority of what happens between us as individuals is correlated to our expression of planets of personality, the child focused intently on his saturn is doing the opposite of incarnating. Before he even gets to personality--with which he could share his reality--he is short-circuiting back up the Tree.

Further Work If the conditions discussed above are true and exclusive indicators of autism, they can be used to diagnose it at birth. Present psychological diagnostic tools work, at earliest, at 18 months. And those were used on toddler siblings of known autistic children. In other words, knowing autism has more chance of occurring in the same family, psychologists were alerted to looking for further autism in that family. The majority of autistic children are still not diagnosed until between two and three years of age--closer to three. So, no one knows how much it would help if we knew at birth that a child was autistic. (BaronCohen, 1995)

Bibliography The Child: Structure and Dynamics of the Nascent Personality, by Erich Neumann. London, Sydney, Aukland, Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton. Translated by Ralph Manheim. English translation, New York: The C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, 1973. Autism: An Introduction to Psychological Theory, by Francesca Happ. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1994. The Siege: The First Eight Years of an Autistic Child, by Clara Claiborne Park. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1967. Theories of Autism, by Cheryl D. Seifert. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, Inc., 1990. Autistic Children: New Hope for a Cure, by Niko Tinbergen FRS and Elisabeth A. Tinbergen. Boston: George Allen & Unwin, 1983. Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind, by Simon Baron-Cohen. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1995. The Ladder of Lights, by William G. Gray. New York: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1968.

Appendix A (pp. 19-23, Happ)

The diagnosis for autism comprises a set of three major impairments, known as Wings Triad. The impairments are those in socialization, communication, and imagination. In the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition, revised (Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 1987), these became: Note: Consider a criterion to be met only if the behavior is abnormal for the persons developmental level. A. Qualitative impairment in reciprocal social interaction as manifested by the following: (The examples in parenthesis are arranged so that those first mentioned are more likely to apply to younger or more handicapped, and the later ones, to older or less handicapped, persons with this disorder.) 1. marked lack of awareness of the existence or feelings of others (e.g. treats a person as if he were only a piece of furniture; does not notice another persons distress; apparently has no concept of the need of others for privacy) 2. no or abnormal seeking of comfort at times of distress (e.g., does not come for comfort even when ill, hurt, or tired; seeks comfort in stereotyped way, e.g. says cheese, cheese, cheese when hurt) 3. no or impaired imitation (e.g., does not wave bye-bye; does not copy mothers domestic activities; mechanical imitation of others actions out of context) 4. no or abnormal social play (e.g. does not actively participate in simple games; prefers solitary play activities; involves other children in play only as mechanical aids) 5. gross impairment in ability to make peer friendships (e.g. no interest in making peer friendships; despite interest in making friends, demonstrates lack of understanding of conventions of social interaction, for example, reads phone book to uninterested peer) B. Qualitative impairment in verbal and nonverbal communication, and in imaginative activity, as manifested by the following: (The numbered items are arranged so that those listed first are more likely to apply to younger or more handicapped, and the later ones, to older or less handicapped, persons with this disorder.) 1. no mode of communication, such as communicative babbling, facial expression, gesture, mime, or spoken language 2. markedly abnormal nonverbal communication, as in the use of eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, or gestures to initiate or modulate social interaction (e.g. does not anticipate being held, stiffens when held, does not look at the person or smile when making a social approach, does not greet parents or visitors, has a fixed stare in social situations) 3. absence of imaginative activity, such as playacting of adult roles, fantasy characters, or animals; lack of interest in stories about imaginary events

4.marked abnormalities in the production of speech, including volume, pitch, stress, rate, rhythm, and intonation (e.g. monotonous tone, questionlike melody, or high pitch) 5. marked abnormalities in the form or content of speech, including stereotyped and repetitive use of speech (e.g. immediate echolalia or mechanical repetition of television commercial); use of you when I is meant (e.g. using You want cookie? to mean I want cookie); idiosyncratic use of words or phrases (e.g. Go on green riding to mean I want to go on the swing); or frequent irrelevant remarks (e.g. starts talking about train schedules during a conversation about sports) 6. marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others, despite adequate speech (e.g. indulging in lengthy monologues on one subject regardless of interjections from others) C. Markedly restricted repertoire of activities and interests, as manifested by the following: 1. stereotyped body movements, e.g. hand-flicking or -twisting, spinning, head-banging, complex whole-body movements) 2. persistent preoccupation with parts of objects (e.g. sniffing or smelling objects, repetitive feeling of texture of materials, spinning wheels of toy cars) or attachment to unusual objects (e.g. insists on carrying around a piece of string) 3. marked distress over changes in trivial aspects of environment, e.g. when a vase is moved from usual position 4. unreasonable insistence on following routines in precise detail, e.g., insisting that exactly that exactly the same route always be followed when shopping 5. markedly restricted range of interests and a preoccupation with one narrow interest, e.g. interested only in lining up objects, in amassing facts about meteorology, or in pretending to be a fantasy character) D. Onset during infancy or childhood Specify if childhood onset (after 36 months of age) A rather different approach [from one where health visitors used a precisely designed questionnaire to identify autism, which suggested that nothing could be picked up at one year] has been taken by Johnson et al. (1992), who looked back at the infant health screening records of children who were subsequently diagnosed as suffering from autism, and compared them with the records of children who grew up to be normal or to have mild/moderate learning difficulties (but not autism). They found that the group with learning difficulties showed impairments in many of the areas tested (motor, vision, hearing and language) as assessed at the 12 month screening. By contrast, the autistic children had shown very few problems at this age. At their 18 month assessment, however, many of the infants who were later diagnosed autistic showed problems in social development. While a few of the learning difficulties children also showed social problems at 18 months, these were part of a more general delay across all areas of functioning. In the autistic children, by contrast, social deficits were noticed by the health visitors in the absence of other problems. This study suggests that it is not until some time in the second year that autistic children show social impairments - at 12 months the

children in this study were judged to be normally social by health visitors (on items such as smiling and responsiveness to people). (pp. 21-24 Happ) Baron-Cohen et all (1992) has devised a screening test, the Checklist for Autisms in Toddlers (CHAT) which at the time the Happ book was written appeared to identify the autistic child at 18 months. (p 24, Happ) Incidence: 4-10 autistic children for every 10,000 live births (higher for Triad) (25) Male to female: range from 2:1 to 3:1. Most girls with autism are at the lower end of the ability range, while at the more able end boys may outnumber girls 5:1 While once thought a disability that happens to children of upper socioeconomic parents, the evidence to date is there is not such prevalence. (25)

Appendix B Aspergers Syndrome Criteria for Aspergers syndrome in the ICD-10 (draft, World Health Organization,1990) A. A lack of any clinically significant general delay in language or cognitive development. Diagnosis requires that single words should have developed by two years of age or earlier and that communicative phrases be used by three years of age or earlier. Self-help skills, adaptive behavior and curiosity about the environment during the first three years should be at a level consistent with normal intellectual development. However, motor milestones may be somewhat delayed and motor clumsiness is usual (although not a necessary diagnostic feature). Isolated special skills, often related to abnormal preoccupations, are common, but are not required for diagnosis. B. Qualitative impairments in reciprocal social interaction (criteria as for autism). Diagnosis requires demonstrable abnormalities in at least three out the following five areas: 1. failure adequately to sue eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture and gesture to regulate social interaction; 2. failure to develop (in a manner appropriate to mental age, and despite ample opportunities) peer relationships that involve a mutual sharing of interests, activities and emotions; 3. rarely seeking and using other people for comfort and affection at times of stress or distress and/or offering comfort and affection to others when they are showing distress or unhappiness;

4. lack of shared enjoyment in terms of vicarious pleasure in other peoples happiness and/or a spontaneous seeking to share their own enjoyment through joint involvement with others; 5. a lack of socio-emotional reciprocity as shown by an impaired or deviant response to other peoples emotions; and/or lack of modulation of behavior according to social context, and/or a weak integration of social, emotional and communicative behaviors. C. Restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities (criteria as for autism; however, it would be less usual for these to include either motor mannerisms or preoccupations with part-objects or non-functional elements of play materials). Diagnosis requires demonstrable abnormalities in at least two out of the following six areas: 1. an encompassing preoccupation with stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest; 2. specific attachments to unusual objects; 3. apparently compulsive adherence to specific, non-functional, routines or rituals; 4. stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms that involve either hand/finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole body movements; 5. preoccupations with part-objects or non-f8nctional elements of play materials (such as their odor, the feel of their surface, or the noise/vibration that they generate); 6. distress over changes in small, non-functional, details of the environment. D. The disorder is not attributable to the other varieties of pervasive developmental disorders: schizoptypal disorder; simple schizophrenia; reactive and disinhibited attachment disorder of childhood; obsessional personality disorder; obsessive-compulsive disorder (pp. 90-91 Happ) (92) The crucial difference, in Van Krevelens view (1971), is the childs attitude to others; autistic children act as if others did not exist, while children with Aspergers syndrome evade other people, of whom they are aware.

Appendix C Van Krevelens Distinguishing Features for Aspergers vs. Autism Syndrome (p. 93, Happ) Early Infantile Autism Austistic Psychopathy (Aspergers) 1. Manifestation age: 1st month of life Manifestation age: 3rd year or later 2. Child walks earlier than he speaks; speech is retarded or absent Child walks late; speaks earlier 3. Language does not attain the function of communication Language aims at communication but remains one-way traffic 4. Eye contact: other people do not exist Eye contact: other people are evaded 5. The child lives in a world of his own The child lives in our world in his own way 6. Social prognosis is poor Social prognosis is rather good

7. A psychotic process A personality trait

Data Sources Derek Birth: 2/5/1984, 6:20 p.m. CDT(-5)(, 35N28, 97W31. From Joe Stevens, from the mother. Conception: 26/7/1983, 1:07:06 a.m. CDT, 35N28, 97W31 Ian Birth: 9/6/1989, 15:30 p.m. EDT, (UTC4), 41N16, 74W22. From J. Haupt, from the mother. Conception: 31/8/1988,23:27:31 p.m. EDT, 41N16, 74W22. Harvey Birth: 18/4/1982, 20:20 p.m. EST, 40N46, 73W59. From Joe Stevens, from the mother. Conception: 10/7/1981, 20:13:53 p.m. EST, 40N46, 73W59. Devon Birth: 21/4/92, 11:45 a.m. EST, 42N27, 73W15. From Joe Stevens, from the mother. Conception14/ 7/1991, 2:13:51 p.m. EDT, 42N27, 73W15. Corky Birth: 9/1/1962, 12:23 p.m. AHST, Honolulu, Hawaii In The American Book of Charts by Lois Rodden, 11736 3rd Street, Yucaipa, CA 92399. Data to her from the mother, 1976, Conception: 29/3/1961, 17:10:40 AHST, Honolulu, Hawaii Noah-Jiro Greenfield Birth: 7/01/1965, 7:02 p.m. EDT, New York, NY. In The American Book of Charts by Lois Rodden, 11736 3rd Street, Yucaipa, CA 92399. From an article in Life Magazine in an article written by his father. Time given as a few minutes after 7:00 this evening. Conception: 9/22/1965, 16:52:53 p.m. EDT, New York, NY

About This Method Chart Rules

The Astrospect Method

The name in general of this astrological method is the Astrospect. Astrospect is derived from two words, astrology and specifications. The t is added for ease of pronunciation. This astrology uses the sidereal positions of the planets based on the Fagan-Bradley SVP. For my view on the different implications of tropical ("Western") and sidereal ("Eastern") astrology, read: The Sidereal and Tropical Zodiacs: A Discussion Harmonics are taken from the sidereal position of the planets. The Egyptian harmonic, discussed in the paper About This Method, is used. About This Method This method uses only conjunctions, applying and separating squares, and oppositions. Planets so related to each other are referred to as in the same "set and are written planet/planet/planet, e.g., moon/venus/jupiter. A set, then, is two or more planets (or an Angle/planet) connected to each other through conjunction, square, and opposition within the defined orbs (3rd paragraph below). The set is more active if/when it contains a light or Angle, and less active without either. Learning to see in terms of crosses, i.e., 90 angles, is helpful in rapidly finding planets in the same set. Acceptable orbs for sets are 2. When a lightsun, moon, or nodeis involved, orb increases to about 3-1/2 A compound set consists of planets conjunct, square, or opposition each other from the charts of two individuals. Their acceptable orb is also 2. If a light is involved, orb increases to about 3-1/2. Compound sets are most powerful when they also include an Angle or a light and least powerful (to the point of hardly mattering) when they include neither. This astrology uses both birth and conception planets and Angles and maintains their separate houses by placing them concentrically around the same axis. Therefore, any particular birth house will overlap one or two conception houses and vice versa. These are called house overlaps. House overlaps play an important part in this astrology. Throughout all papers I use the convention when writing about house overlaps of putting the birth house first, then the conception house. So, for instance, a 5th/1st overlap refers to an overlap of birth 5th house with conception 1st house in that order. 9th/3rd identifies birth 9th house overlapping conception 3rd house--birth house/conception house in that order. Any overlap must contain at least one-third of the house. As it has turned out, house overlaps have interesting implications. Using the 7th chart of lottery winners as an example, if the individual has a progressed set with light/venus/jupiter/(planet) in which one of those planets rules an Angle, he one of the

major significators for winning, that is, he has a golden benefic (see definition below) influence to an Angle. If the ruled Anglelets say B MC in this case, happens to fall in conception 2nd house, his chart has met a second major criteria for winning, that is, his golden benefic now also influences a 2nd house. A second example uses a dark benefic (see below). In his 9th chart, if an individual has a set involving a close conjunction of mars to saturn which simultaneously falls in 4th/9th or 9th/4th houses and is lighted, then that chart demonstrates two-thirds of the criteria for aviation death (or fatal [4th]falls from high places[9th]). That is, through just that one set he has a mars/saturn influence to 4th and 9th houses. The lacking one-third would come from a progressed Angle/mars/saturn (or Angle/mars plus Angle/saturn). As a standardization, in showing diagrams of partial charts birth planets are always inside the circle whereas conception planets are always outside it. Lights include suns, moons, and moons nodes. When mercury rules an Angle (Gemini or Virgo), it functions both as a light and a planet. For instance, when mercury rules B MC and/or B Asc and is in the same set with mars and saturn, that constitutes a lighted (by mercury) mercury/mars/saturn set with forefront influence (rulership of Angle). The Midheaven (MC) and Ascendant (Asc) are also like lights in the sense they bring forefront the expression of any planet they share a set with. In fact, that is the definition of forefronteither an Angle is involved in the set or a planet in a set rules an Angle. Forefront influences set the tone for our lives. But, although more powerful in terms of facilitating expression of a planet, MC and Asc are not lights. All planets in any set are lighted, then, when the set includes at least one of the following: Angle, sun, moon, or nodes, and mercury when it rules at least one Angle. Orbs for pre-progressed planets in sets with lights is 5; without lights, 2. Orb for MC/planet or Asc/planet is 2. Orb for progressed planet-to-Angle or vice versa is 1. That orb increases - when one light is involved. Two or more lights in the set increase the orb, depending on the place and distribution of the lights within the set, anywhere from 2 to 5. Orbs for progressed planets to a light, or a progressed light to a planet is also 1. In actuality, progressed Angles to planets (and vice versa) have an orb less than 1 (closer to exact, that is) in charts in which time of birth is confirmed correct. I wrote above that orbs for pre-progressed light/planet is 5. A set including light/planet with an orb for 5 is very weak and I rarely use it. I use 5 some times after it has become apparent that the set involved functions in the individuals life as a set. Since progressions of Angles to planets has an orb of less than a 1, progressions to a set involving planets five degrees apart separates them by approximately five years yielding a completely meaningless prediction. So large-orb sets are useless for progressions. When several lights and/or Angles are involved, pre-progressed orb for light/light/planet may increase 1-2. Two lights in a set do not increase orb to 10, nor three lights, to 15 (2x and 3x 5).

The subject of orbs for this form of astrology, which includes forty planets in each chart, is a difficult one. If they are too big, every thing is related, and the astrology becomes meaningless. As stated in the paper on rich men and lottery winners, rules for reading the Astrospect were empirically derived. Their validity becomes apparent over time. My operating principle all along has involved the use of Occams razor: always use less until it cannot do the job, then examine other possibilities. In the paper on gurus I introduce the concept of path when speaking about an astrological set. Planets in a set, the houses they are in, and houses ruled by them describe an astrological path. If, for instance using charts of gurus, planets in a set rule 4th, 5th and 9th houses, then the 4th, 5th, and 9th houses are inextricably connected to each other. Every time, or every duration, that set is forefront those three houses determine how the set will manifest. Success or failure, determined by planets in the set, flows among those three houses. Paths and house overlaps are related. Both involve simultaneous expression through two or more houses. While a house overlap always implies at least part of a path, a path can exist independent of any house overlap. One example of a path involves a mercury/saturn set in the 7th chart. If, through rulership of Angles as well as house locations, it influences 3rd, 4th, 8th, and 9th houses, then it sponsors (I cannot state causes) Alzheimers disease. If it lacks influence to any one of all of those houses, then it is not describing Alzheimers. It is describing something else. Paths also involve houses the planets fall in. In sets where planets fall in a required house but no planet in the set rules that house, then only the planets of that set which are in the house influence that house. To my knowledge, all planets in a set must express. This is especially true of planets in pre-progressed sets, that is, sets which describe lifelong tendencies or conditions of the individual.. They may express simultaneously or closely consecutively, but one does not just eliminate the effects of an unwanted planet from a set. This all-or-none principle of operation still allows great variability in expression. For example, mars/neptune occurring in the charts of drug addicts and runners. Each experiences this set differently. The drug addict approaches neptune (a drug high) in his set first. Over time he is backhanded more and more by mars (anxiety, pain, suffering). A runner, on the other hand, approaches mars (action, disciplined running) first. He is rewarded with neptune (a nondrug high). Also in the paper on gurus I coined terms for sets which contain the greater and lesser benefics as well as those containing the greater and lesser malefics. Respectively, golden benefic identifies any set containing light/venus/jupiter; dark malefic, any set containing light/mars/saturn. Angle in either instance may be substituted for light. Golden benefics and dark malefics define manybut definitely not all--of the extremes of human experience.

In some papers I use the term fault in a geological sense to identify pre-progressed astrological sets which predispose the individual to physical, emotional, or psychic experiences. Faults, by definition, exist only in the pre-progressed charts. So far I have used fault only in describing difficult sets. When the effects on an Angle or house are the effect of several sets, I refer to their total influence as summed. For instance, lighted venus and lighted jupiter influencing a 2nd house are necessary for winning the lottery. That can occur in two ways. It occurs all in one set when it contains light and venus and jupiter, and one of those planets rules a 2nd house. It occurs as the sum of two sets when one set contains light and venus and the other contains light and jupiter, each of which contains a planet which rules a 2nd house. The shell chart is the chart which contains birth and conception planets before harmonics are added. The shell is identical for all 12 charts. The differing harmonics three through fourteencreate the 12 different charts. Each is a harmonic magnification of one of the 12 houses. Some times I use the term basal. A basal chart is the same thing as a complete, preprogressed harmonic chart. It contains birth, conception, birth harmonic, and conception harmonic planets. [I cannot use birth chart for this because a birth chart contains only birth planets. Nonetheless, they are similar in that each is an expression of the complete chart before progressions.] In practice I have often ended up referring to the basal chart as the pre-progressed chart. It is more awkward but less ambiguous. Birth planets (including their harmonics) rule only birth houses. Conception planets (including their harmonics) rule only conception houses. The harmonic used for each chart is always 2 greater than the number of the chart (see Method.) For clarity in reading, in papers I use the convention of writing the harmonic number the same as the chart number. For instance, b12 mars represents the harmonic of birth mars for the 12th chart (but the harmonic used to find b12 mars is the 14th). C1 venus represents the harmonic of conception venus for the 1st chart (but the harmonic used to find it is the 3rd.) In abbreviating, I use b for birth, c for conception, p for progressed, and t for transiting. A number following them, e.g., 3 or 7, shows the harmonic chart we are examining. For instance, b7 pluto represents the harmonic of birth pluto for the 7th chart. Pc3 mars is the harmonic of progressed conception mars for the 3rd chart. I do not use harmonics of Angles. They probably work but, compared to planets, Angles move very fast. Small errors in time of birth yield large errors in harmonic Angles. An error of four minutes in birth time yields an MC error of approximately 1. Its harmonic for the 1st chart would be off by 3. Its harmonic for the 12th chart would be off by 14.

Errors in harmonic Angles starting around 3 render harmonic Angles useless except when working with a rectified chart. Over the years I have used several house systems, but have not studied which is superior. I eventually settled on Placidian, mainly because it is most used in the United States. This method uses a solar return that occurs every 40 degrees (exactly) after birth up to death, with nine returns occurring annually. At any one moment in time, basal, progressed, and return planets and their Angles all interact. The way they interactwhat does and does not workcan best be learned through experience. When I am looking at the return as the center of gravity for an event, acceptable orb for Angles is 2 (unless a light is involved, then it can go up to 3.). For internal lights, especially moons (sidereal and harmonic) orbs are about 2-3. Experience shows the usual orb for return light/planet is 1-3. For reasons not clear to me, return moons are usually more active than return suns. A return has two moonsits regular one and its harmonic. Transits (especially conjunctions) of planets like venus, mars, and saturn to the exact position of either of these moons often symbolize actual events in individuals lives. In fact, transiting planets, but not transiting Angles, interact with all the abovethe basal chart, its progressions, and the return chart. Of course, I am talking about close conjunctions (and some times oppositions and squares) with orbs of 1 or less. In all the time I have been doing this form of astrology, I have not found transiting Angles to be meaningful. Please note two forms of reference used in all my papers:

(1) harmonic chart for the 2nd house refers to a whole chart, that is, the basal chart for the 2nd house. (2) 2nd house within the x chart, for instance, refers to a single Placidiancusped 2nd house within whichever basal chart is under consideration. Each chart contains two sets of houses (of which there are twelve), those for birth, and those for conception.

About This Method A chart is usually cast in the form of a wheel. It is a diagram representing the position of the planets, relative to a location on earth, at the time of birth. It can also be imagined to be the face of a clock--a 24-hour clock, with the sun, moon, and planets distributed around the dial. Viewed as a clock, it has noon on the top and midnight on the bottom. Sunrise, then, is around 6 a.m. and sunset, around 6 p.m. Traditionally a chart contains positions of sun, moon, the eight planets, and the nodes of the moon. In this system, two clocks, i.e., charts, share the same axis. One is based on conception; the other, on birth. But before I go into how the clocks (charts) are related, below I anticipate several frequently asked questions about conception.

Why do I use conception charts? I first heard about conception charts from an astrologer, Charles Jayne. He used various conception charts--different from the ones used here-based on his own hypotheses about conception. The second time I heard, or actually, read about conception was in G.I. Gurdjieffs book, All and Everything, in which he wrote about the moment of his [i.e., any individuals] conception. (The specific reference is to pages 288-289 of both the one-and three-volume editions: the book is cited below under "Bibliography.") Gurdjieff never used the words conception and chart together, and he never gave a formula for conceptions derivation. But, by then I said to myself, if conception has a distinct moment, then a chart can be cast for it. Gurdjieff also wrote that ancient astrologers made frequent and valuable use of information of their knowledge of conception. That implied to me that astrologers then had a reliable way to find conception. Therefore, conception could not have been based on knowing conception had taken place, an experience relatively few mothers have. It could not have been based on when the egg was fertilized because that can happen hours after sexual intercourse. No reliable chart could be based on that. It could not have been based on quickening because its actual occurrence as well as its relation to birth has remained controversial. The formula for conception had to have been based on something very reliable, something observable by an ordinary human being. The only really knowable piece of information between birth and conception is the moment of birth. Although not always later known, at the time it happens birth is very knowable. Therefore, conception had to be related to, and derivable from, birth. How did I find conception? Also in the above-mentioned book, considerable space was devoted to exposition of the law of sevenfoldness, which, for reasons best understood by reading his book, was also called the Law of Ninefoldness. Seven and nine also occur frequently in religion, myth, song, fairy tale, and rhyme, from the most sophisticated to the most "primitive" cultures. That gave me two numbers--7 and 9. The third number, 40, also occurred universally in the cultural productions of mankind. Using those three numbers--7, 9, and 40--in a particular astrological application, I found the formula I use for conception. It turned out there was an even simpler way, with results the same as those produced by use of 7, 9, and 40, to find conception. But that simpler way was not how conception was found, nor would it have seemed probable had I started with it. A number, it appears, is esoteric if its application to a subject reveals previously hidden relationships. In this instance, 7, 9, and 40 yielded the previously unsuspected connection between birth and conception. After working with birth and conception charts for some time I better realized conception fit a familiar pattern. For example, just as parts of the human body and face are related proportionally, so birth and conception are proportionally related. They are functions of each other. If you have one, you can find the other. Returning to the birth and conception charts, a harmonic is derived for each of their planets. Addition of harmonic planets to birth and conception planets produces a harmonic chart--the 3rd harmonic chart, the 4th harmonic chart, and so on for each house. So, every individual has 12 harmonic charts which are magnifications of his traditional twelve houses. Each chart contains two intimately related dials comprised of birth and

conception planets, their harmonics, and their dual set of houses--all around a shared axis. Altogether, there are forty planets--4 times the traditional 10: birth, conception, and their harmonics--per chart. This dual house chart and its fourfold repetition of standard planets comprises the information system of this astrology. Such information systems, based on a repeated use of a limited, standard set of symbols or patterns, are not unusual. They exist all over nature as well as in many human inventions.

The above is the gist of this system. The remainder of this paper is devoted to its specifics, starting with the more general and finishing with responses to other frequently raised questions. Sidereal astrology is used. I understand tropical astrologers might be tempted to substitute tropical. Before doing that, they ought to read The Tropical and Sidereal Zodiacs posted on this site. The two zodiacs are not interchangeable. An Egyptian harmonic is derived from the sidereal position of each planet . The Egyptian harmonic is based on assuming the zodiac starts at zero Taurus rather than the traditional zero Aries. My friend, John De Wilde gave me the formula for deriving Egyptian harmonics from regular harmonics. In addition, he helped me adapt astrology software to my needs. He pushed me toward developing charts other than the 7th, which I was loath to do until the 7th proved insufficient for explaining things. That did not happen until years after I had worked (without computer) with this approach when, finally, one day I could not find the astrology for a major event in my life. Then I started investigating some of the other 11 charts of this method. Now, after twenty-two years work with this approach, I have investigated some charts more than others--the 7th most, perhaps the 8th least. Here is his formula for the Egyptian harmonic: 30 x (13 - the number of the harmonic) Or, if you are using astrology software, first change it to yield the sidereal position of the planets. Then, ask for your harmonic. These are "regular" harmonics. To get the Egyptian from them do the following in each chart: For Chart From Regular Harmonic Below To Get the Egyptian Harmonic 1st 3rd harmonic subtract an exact sextile 2nd 4th harmonic subtract an exact square 3rd 5th harmonic subtract an exact trine 4th 6th harmonic subtract an exact quincunx 5th 7th harmonic go to the exact opposition

6th 8th harmonic an an exact quincunx 7th 9th harmonic add an exact trine 8th 10th harmonic add an exact square 9th 11th harmonic add an exact sextile 10th 12th harmonic add an exact semi-sextile 11th 13th harmonic is identical 12th 14th harmonic subtract an exact semi-sextile Example: You want to cast a 3rd chart for its information on the individual's mind. You already have the "shell chart," the chart comprised of (non-harmonic) birth and conception planets and their houses. To these, you want to add the proper harmonic. The 3rd chart uses the 5th harmonic. Punching in a request for the 5th harmonic for both birth and conception, you will be subtracting a trine (120) from each computer-generated harmonic to obtain the Egyptian harmonic. Only conjunctions, applying and separating squares, and oppositions are used. Here I use the traditional terms for the 90, 180 and 270 relationships between planets, but this method does not use those terms in the traditional way. That is, for instance, a (90) "square" between venus and jupiter does not have the typical traditional astrological connotation of a "difficult" relationship between them. Difficulty is more a function of the planets involved, although an opposition retains its reputation that the two planets involved tend to work against, or in exclusivity to, each other. Acceptable orbs for planets with lights is 5. Five degrees is a very wide orb, rendering the set less potent. Orbs for conditions without lights is 2 for planet-to-Angle, and 2 for planet-to-planet. For progressions of Angles, orbs have been set at 1, but have proven to be less--a lot depends on whether or not a light is also present. Aspects--trines, quincunxes, sesquiquadrates, etc.--used by the traditional astrologer are represented here through harmonics. Indeed, harmonics end up including some aspects not used in traditional astrology. Harmonics expose previously hidden relationships between birth planets. They also display unsuspected relationships between birth and conception planets. In time, looking at aspects only in terms of conjunctions, squares, and oppositions becomes natural. It is actually easier. To find planets in a set just locate any one planet and look for other planets in the cross with it. As a standardization, Placidian houses are used. I have not found conception superior to birth, or vice versa. I have read things like, conception is closer to our souls purpose and birth to the vehicle we have to work through. In practice they are inseparable and work together. Perhaps some individuals could choose to develop the consciousness of one more than the other. Perhaps. Right now such choices are unwarranted and entirely hypothetical. First comes establishing the viability and reliability, itself, of this approach.

Rulership of the signs is traditional, except mars rules both Aries and Scorpio. Pluto does not rule a sign, although I can certainly see its relation to transformations and the 8th house. Perhaps, then, pluto and mars rule Scorpio. Conception planets rule conception houses and birth planets rule birth houses. They cannot be interchanged. Conception Angles and planets start progressing at conception; birth, at birth. The major return for this chart occurs every 40 (exactly) from the birth sun, and there are nine of them per year.

For a traditional astrologer--I was one for 10 years--so many planets, so many charts are overwhelming. Their apparent chaos is easily reduced. Only what is on or ruling Angles is forefront in the chart. At any one time, forefront produces the reading. The lights are important because they represent modes of consciousness. They also act to intensify--that is, bring into consciousness--the planets, which, in turn, modify the mode of the lights. But any of these has to be forefront--or become forefront through progressions--to have maximum effect. Since birth and conception houses rarely coincide--a child can be conceived at 1 a.m. and born at 5 p.m.--their divergence produces what I call house overlap. House overlap has turned out to be more important than I first believed. Because of house overlap, each planet is simultaneously in two houses. For instance, birth 3rd house (thinking) can overlap conception 7th house (relationships). I addressed this condition in the paper on Hinckley. Planets in his 3rd/7th overlap showed a strong desire for relationship. The rest of his chart made actual relationship difficult. His 3rd/7th overlap plus his obstruction to relationship contributed to his obsession with Foster. Another example: a 4th (end conditions) and 12th (hidden matters) house overlap has implications about unforeseen death. One example is the victim of homicide, but this overlap can and does have other surprise ending interpretations. A third example: a double 3rd/9th house overlap which I addressed in the charts of David Koresh and John Nash. Twenty-two years of research have established that harmonics of the planets are important. Indeed, they are the core of this method. This method uses harmonics three through fourteen for the 1st through 12th houses respectively.

How did I know which harmonic to use to magnify each house? It was implied in Hindu astrology, which especially emphasizes the 9th harmonic (7th chart). With this system, which is different from Hindu astrology, the correlation of each harmonic with the house it magnifies has been empirically tested. It still is being tested, partly because I have worked much more on some harmonic charts than on others. An odd geometry is suggested by these charts. Birth and conception planets can be seen to form two concentric circles. Adding a dimension, they look like two concentric tubes. Their harmonic planets form two vortexes or cones around them. The following is more about how to read these papers and less about casting charts: In writing about this system, I use the same number to identify the harmonic as is the house being magnified. I do that to make reading the paper simpler. Unfortunately, it then appears the harmonic used to derive each "house chart" is the same as the number of the house being magnified. Such is not the case. The harmonic being used is always two more than the number identifying it in these papers. When I write, for instance, "c3 pluto" (which translates as "conception pluto's harmonic for the 3rd chart"), it looks like I have used the third harmonic. The 5th was used. Notations used are: b = birth c = conception p = progressed t = transiting NN = north node SN = south node. A number following them identifies the house being magnified. For instance, the 5th house magnified is called the 5th chart. Pc5 venus translates as "the harmonic for 5th chart for progressed conception venus. Pb1 moon identifies progressed birth moon turned into a harmonic moon for the 1st chart. Angles is a common term for Midheavens and Ascendants as well as their opposition points. Their abbreviations are: MC = Midheaven Asc = Ascendant Their opposition points, respectively, are abbreviated: I.C. = 4th house cusp Desc = 7th house cusp

I started out using the word "aspect" when referring to the cross described by planets in 0, 90. 180, and 270 relationships with each other. I now use the term "set." A set is two or more planets connected to each other by conjunction, square, or opposition, all within acceptable orbs. That makes it a set. It becomes a signature set if certain planets within it define a condition and are always present for individuals with that condition. House influence is also part of the signature. Signature sets describe many parts of our existence. I hasten to add, my use of the term "set" has nothing to do with set theory of mathematics, about which I only know its name.

Now to my responses to other frequently raised questions and objections: (1) I am aware of the rule of the Trutine of Hermes for finding conception. I never found conception charts derived from it useful. I also investigated other formulas for conception charts. By investigate, I mean casting and progressing them for a variety of conditions and events. This conception holds by sign, sets, progressions and transits--over 20 years research in a variety of areas. (2) Some people are conceived in a different locality than they are born in. One example is Alan Turing. He was conceived in India and born in England. Until it can be properly investigated, I have worked from the principle that conception locality is the same as birth locality. So, both Turing's birth and conception charts are cast for London, England. (3) Some years ago an astrologer who looked at my charts asked that I change the name of the conception part of it. Conception as a definition, he stated, is already in use by medicine and is used differently than I use it. He was right. We did already have an exact definition of when (physical) conception occurs. Considering changing the name, however, left me with two problems. (1) what was I supposed to call it? and (2), what would that new name imply when, more than any other chart I had worked with, this chart was what we all understand by the term conception chart? We are all conceived. We are not all invented--the implication of any other name. Some individuals' births are not full term. Some are less, some more than full term. Individuals born significantly less than full term (as it is defined physically) may have conception one, or even two, whole intervals fewer than normal. They may, however, be "full term" babies, in spite of their apparent early birth. The majority of individuals are full term. I have always used the general formula for conception for individuals whose birth was approximately minus a month of full term, i.e., for those fully functioning individuals who report that they were "premature." Physical and astrological conception may--or may not--be different. I suspect they are different. With this method my approach is that astrological conception is not accidental.

As a truly significant moment for each human being it has, and ought to have, a harmonic relationship to birth. (4) My use of the Egyptian harmonic started by accident. I first encountered it in an article in American Astrology by Cyril Fagan. Fagan got it from a Hindu astrologer. I did not even know it was an Egyptian harmonic. The editor of Considerations, Ken Gillman, who published my first paper, first told me so. (See footnote 1, below.) I spent several months testing regular versus the Egyptian harmonic. I found the Egyptian superior. Still, that was not a long time. My continued use of the Egyptian harmonic, however, is not arbitrary. The signs as well as degree positions of the Egyptian harmonic have proven dependable. Their dependability adds greatly to research results.

Finally, I have not placed the actual formula for conception anywhere in these papers. It has been published in two journals. As well, experienced astrologers reading this could easily get it. I have two reasons for not putting it in print on the Internet: I would prefer the method itself not be "invalidated" because, in fact, the astrologer who invalidated it was imprecise, inexperienced, or even lazy, and Most astrologers do their own charts as part of the way they investigate a different astrological approach. I am concerned about possible negative impact of this method on inexperienced and young individuals. Having stated that, I am interested in and open to others' inquiries and observations.

Footnotes (1) Considerations is edited by Ken Gillman. The address is Post Office Box 655, Mount Kisco, NY 10549. Go to Considerations Web Page Bibliography All and Everything: Beelzebubs Tales to His Grandson, by G. Gurdjieff. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1950.