Horoscope No. 2 offered a fairly clear example of the harmful effects of adverse aspects involving Saturn, Mercury, Mars, and Neptune. Yet the most remarkable instance I have encountered concerned an entirely rational individual who ended up in an asylum following a period of profoundly erratic behavior. This appeared to stem from a square between Mars and Uranus—with Uranus in the ninth house and also forming a square to Mercury. In my view, these aspects are among the most subtle and perilous in the entire planetary chain. In this particular case, however, they are especially intriguing because they represent the sole blemish in an otherwise robust and indeed admirable character. The indicators of sound judgment and mental stability were so pronounced that one would never have foreseen the damage wrought by these afflicted planets.
Nevertheless, at a critical juncture when the Sun reached the square of the radical Moon—a weak Moon in Pisces—the moral defenses weakened, and tragedy followed. There was no actual insanity in the family, but on the father’s side there was a long heredity of considerable talent that bordered on eccentricity. The mother was entirely normal, though perhaps a trifle imprudent due to an afflicted Mars. Thus this child arrived with Uranus in the ninth, markedly original and, like all Uranian natives, a “law to herself.”
An examination of the horoscope immediately reveals several other salient characteristics.
Horoscope Map 3
First, the fatefulness of the life. Most of the planets are cadent and setting. Under such conditions, mistakes are dangerous. An action once initiated may soon pass beyond the native’s control, and even the most valiant struggle against circumstances may end only in disaster. In this case, the Moon afflicted by Saturn brought inevitable troubles, yet an even temperament and a fine intellect consistently served the native well. Venus, again in the ninth and ruling, with a trine to the Ascendant, gave the mind its prevailing tone of kindness, gaiety, and refinement, while the trine of Uranus to the Pisces Moon inclined toward Science and also toward a contemplative Mysticism. Finally, the favorable aspects of Jupiter to Mercury and Saturn complete the testimony for a sound and balanced judgment.
But there was that square of Uranus from the ninth to an Aries Mars and Mercury in the sixth house.
The square of the progressed Sun to the radical Moon was ushered in by a visible total eclipse of the Sun on the native’s birthday. There were no other important directions, except—and this was curious—a sextile between the progressed Mercury and Uranus, which weakened the force of the birth square.
(Uranus, incidentally, had now progressed to the eighth house. Were it not for this sextile, death might assuredly have resulted from the extraordinary experiences the native now embarked upon. The progressed Sun, moreover, was also squaring the Moon from the death house.)
Well, the trouble began with an estrangement from a beloved friend. The powerful influences of Uranus upon a Libran temperament always brought very intense and passionate attachments, so this trouble struck at the very root of the personality. Money troubles and other losses followed. After this, there seemed to be a disintegration of character. The native began to drift into an extraordinary series of adventures, all more or less dishonourable, including forgery and impersonation, with the one and only motive of restoring the broken friendship by fair means or foul. She sustained it all with a cool daring that deceived everyone and shrank from no hardship and no risk. (The square of Uranus and Mars inclines to the most insane rashness.) Finally, the whole plot was discovered—a thing which had apparently never entered her calculations; and then followed several suicide attempts even stranger than the events that had gone before; but as this touches another subject, I want to deal with it in a separate chapter.
The point I want to emphasize here is, again, the deadly effect of asylum treatment upon such a case. It is difficult to blame the physicians. Certain symptoms baffled and exasperated them. The patient refused to speak the truth and was obviously still playing a game with everybody. They certified her as a last resort. Once in the asylum, she devoted herself—as so many do until hope leaves them—to trying to prove her sanity, while the doctors spent a year most unprofitably trying to understand the case. Meanwhile her keen sympathies ranged her on the side of some unhappy patients whose cause she espoused. In the eyes of the staff, there is no deadlier sin on the part of a patient; and she finally left at war with everyone, grievously battered in mind and body by the whole experience. Because, despite the outrageous conduct, she was never, as the nurses knew well enough, really insane. There had been a temporary invasion of the mental balance, as the horoscope indicated, but with such a birth map it could not have been very prolonged. Meanwhile it occasioned severe suffering both to herself and others, and it was far too subtle a case to gain anything from hospital treatment.
What shall we say, then, in judging a horoscope where Uranus, elevated, squares Mercury and Mars? We may judge that, at some unfortunate period in the life, the native will possibly “run amok” in some way; but if there are counterbalancing tendencies, there need be no fears for their ultimate recovery. There is another characteristic illustration of the Mars □ Uranus influence in the map of Stanley Condor, given in a little book, “1001 Horoscopes.” Here it no doubt contributed to the boy’s notorious rashness, and his wild and daring adventures. Also Saturn was conjunction Mercury in the ninth. If he had lived, these aspects would certainly have brought trouble. But the point is, we have to learn how to counteract these things, and work through them, casting them behind us with all things expiated or outworn as this life brings us fresh opportunities. Instead, we usually wait till the trouble declares itself in other people, and then abandon the person to his fate.
We need more understanding, and more intelligent methods of education whereby the helpful influences of a birth map shall be brought into play. Then, when the purifying test comes, the native might be strengthened to meet it; and the more ready to learn that deep lesson of Life that these bitter times and dangers may be transmuted by the understanding soul into a greater strength and wisdom.
* The above booklet is published by “Modern Astrology.”
