My main paper, Developmental Astrology: The Message in Autism, Five Autistic Children, written in October of 2000, should be read before this one. There is a link to it above. That paper contains descriptions of autism, identifies its astrological significators, and tells why they were chosen. It must be read before this paper will make sense.

Autism, from our point of view, is not schizophrenia, not even childhood schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a distinct astrological disorder, specifically spelled out in my paper on that disorder (see “Paranoid Schizophrenia and John Hinckley, Jr.” at the Home Page) and further elucidated with the four individuals in the Woolf paper. 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.

Schizophrenia involves the astrological indicators neptune (or Pisces) in the harmonic chart for the 3rd house, and needs certain types of afflictions to 1st charts to manifest. Paranoid schizophrenia involves neptune (or Pisces) plus mars.

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 Astrology’s 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.

Retardation involves the astrological indicators mars and saturn in the harmonic chart for the 1st and 3rd houses.

All of the children below (as well as the five in the first paper) share one common pattern. Each has saturn and pluto in the same set (aspect) and predominant in one or both of two charts, their harmonic charts for their 1st and 3rd houses.

Without further ado, below I show pertinent data on the 1st and 3rd charts of these additional seven autistic children. As in my first paper, I start with each child’s 1st house chart. Then I present their 3rd house charts. Here I have not included their 7th house charts, but did add that data when it appeared germane. Their 7th charts were included in my first paper because I wanted to show that autistic children often have 7th charts also afflicted by forefront saturn/pluto. It would appear that when saturn/pluto in the 7th chart is strong at birth, it contributes to a later form of autism—Asperger’s. When occurring forefront in the 7th chart later in life, it appears to foster (usually) temporary, but profound withdrawal from society. The paper titled The Disappearing Priest—One Man’s Odyssey exemplifies what happens when an adult comes under strong saturn/pluto through his 7th chart.

Please note, below, that all of the saturn/pluto sets include harmonics. None consists entirely of non-harmonic planets. To make significators easily visible, I have bolded all lights (sun, moon, nodes)and Angles because they increase the intensity of expression. I have also bolded all saturns and plutos because they are the defined significators for autism. References to 3rd houses are also in bold because they, too, are included in the path described by autism.

Autistic 12321—1st Chart

The planets in Cancer all fall in b 3rd house. This set shows very strong lighted saturn/pluto influence to a 3rd house, and influence to an Angular house.

Autistic 12321—3rd Chart

The separation between C MC and pluto is above acceptable orb because I use an orb of only 2° for planet-to-Angle (without a light), but these are un-rectified charts. A birth time only 4 minutes earlier would put both saturn and pluto in with C MC and put saturn on the IC, at the end of c 3rd house.

He has both non-harmonic plutos and b1 harmonic pluto in b 3rd house in Cancer and lighted by c sun in Capricorn.

Autistic 12321 has a 3rd chart that comes close to fitting the definition of autistic. It has Angle/saturn/pluto, lighted saturn in c 3rd house, and three lighted plutos in b 3rd house.

In his 7th chart he also has birth 3rd house influenced by light/saturn/pluto—b7 moon at 21 Libra 06, b7 saturn at 22 Capricorn 25, and b7 pluto at 22 Cancer 39R. B7 moon rules b 3rd house. B7 mercury, at 26 Aries 50, rules B Asc, therefore acts like a light and has an orb of 5°. So, this 7th chart set actually influences both a 3rd house and an Angle.

Autistic 19716—1st Chart
I have taken another look at this chart. It works a bit differently, but adds up to considerable lighted saturn/pluto influence in the 1st chart.

I count this a negative set even though it contains other planets, including a moon in Cancer, and venus/jupiter/uranus in Capricorn. It is negative because consciousness would first be pulled (SN) into it before finding out that more positive the strong experiences were possible.

Sets (2) and (3) show two South Nodes conjunct pluto, both of which are rather compulsive, and which show a stasis in consciousness, an emphasis in the opposite direction to growth.

Set 4 shows a lot of lighted neptune/pluto (abstract) influence to both 3rd houses. In addition, mercury in Pisces and ruling b 3rd house is a difficult 1st chart placement for mercury. Mercury in Pisces contributes to the ability to write poetry when part of the 7th chart of important others, but in the 1st chart it likely represents problems grasping (neptune/Pisces) the particulars of language (mercury).

Autistic 19716—3rd Chart

Once again, the orb from b pluto to B MC is not quite a degree over acceptable orb. Birth time only 3-4 minutes earlier would put both saturn and pluto in relationship to B MC. He has a second saturn/pluto set:

Set (2) above includes two planets out-of-sign from the light, but nevertheless within orb. Sets (1) and (1) above summed give 19716 lighted saturn/pluto influence to an Angle and 3rd house. He also has a difficult (for the 3rd chart) Pisces set:

With both an Angle and 3rd house set (3) represents frustration in forming words or concepts because Pisces is the least favorable sign for mercury from the point of view of discrete thinking.

Data for this child was given by his grandmother in May, 1997, when he was 9 years old. That may have been the time of diagnosis, or perhaps of commitment.

Progressions in the 3rd chart for that date (5-1-97) showed a progressed B MC at 26 Capricorn 26 in the same set with c1 saturn at 26 Libra 33; progressed C Ascendant at 12 Capricorn 50 in the same set with b pluto at 12 Libra 36, and progressed c3 mars, co-ruler (24 of 29°) of c 3rd house at 29 Libra 29, participating in the set including c saturn at 29 Libra 29 and a little late for b moon, co-ruler (15 of 21°) of b 3rd house, at 29 Capricorn 36. Transiting pluto was in close opposition to his birth Ascendant.

In other words, this child was either diagnosed or committed (or of gravest concern to his grandmother) when his progressed astrology showed additional, non-permanent forefront or 3rd house sets involving saturn, pluto, and light/mars/saturn/3rd. Did that make him appear more autistic than he actually was, or is it only when these markers come additionally forefront through progressions that we can identify the dysfunction? Both, I think.

Autistic 14415—1st House Chart
This child does not have a lighted/saturn/pluto influence in his 1st chart, but a strong one in his 3rd chart. In this, his 1st chart, he has the following difficult set:

Combined with the following set:

Sets (1) and (2) summed show a lighted saturn and lighted pluto influence to c3rd house. Individually, they show lighted saturn to an Angle, and with Sets (3) and (4) lighted pluto to three Angles. Through Set (1), c 3rd house is also influenced by lighted mars/saturn. B 3rd house is influenced by lighted neptune/pluto (which also influences C MC) and lighted mars/pluto.

Autistic 14415—3rd Chart

The lights—sun and moon—in this set (with 5° orb) and the two Angles (with 2° orb and acting like lights) make the following set all fall within orb.

14415 has the full set for autism in his 3rd chart—2Angle/2lights/saturn/pluto with influence to both 3rd houses. It also gives him lighted mars/saturn influence to two Angles and both 3rds. If we dropped out the last two—c3 sun and b mars—we would still have a set with MC/Asc/moon/saturn/pluto with influence to two Angles, c 3rd house, and awfully close to influencing b 3rd house.

Autistic 14542—1st Chart

This child’s 1st chart shows a lighted saturn/pluto influence to an Angle and 3rd house.

Autistic 14542—3rd Chart
14542 also has an out-of-sign autistic set:

Set (a) above shows a lighted saturn/pluto set with influence to a 3rd house. In order for it to gain influence to an Angle, we have to add the following planets which are on the under-side of c3 sun. It is the sun which ties these planets all into one set:

Set (1a) above plus Set (1b) shows lighted saturn/pluto influence to an Angle and a 3rd house.

B 3rd house is afflicted by the following set:

Set (2) above shows influence to a 3rd house and an Angle. This set would be difficult but livable in a 7th chart. In a 3rd chart it is schizophrenic (lighted neptune) with overtones of high anxiety and fear (uranus in Pisces) and difficulty with discrete mentation (mercury in Pisces with moon in Pisces in 3rd chart).

C 3rd house contains both non-harmonic pluto, with one of them lighted.

Autistic 14457—1st Chart (Gender Unknown)
14457 lacks the lighted saturn/pluto in his/her 1st chart, but has it in the 3rd. Like some of the others, s/he shows mars/saturn or neptune/pluto influence to 3rd houses and Angles. Here is one of the mars/saturn sets:

Mercury, venus and jupiter are all in the Leo part of this set, with venus ruling B MC. An individual is pulled 1st toward expression of his South Nodes, so this individual first in life has lighted mars/saturn influence to an Angle and 3rd house.

S/he had another light/mars/saturn set which also includes venus and jupiter, but which shows priority in expression to the lighted saturn in b 3rd house. It adds light/mars/saturn influence to all four Angles, but also light/venus/jupiter :

Note that the venus and jupiter conjunct NN are in c 3rd house. With both benefics attached to both light/mars/saturn sets, it appears this child will overcome his 1st chart difficulties.

Another mars/saturn set is: b1 mercury at 24 Aries 07, b1 saturn at 24 Aries 48, and c mars, ruler of C MC in b 3rd house, at 23 Capricorn 32. This one does not contain benefics and does influence an Angle and a 3rd.

Autistic 14457—3rd Chart

The set above shows an “autistic” Angle. 3rd houses are neptunian, that is, tending to schizophrenia or at least fogginess:

Set (2) is made more difficult by the presence of the SN in Scorpio, pulling the individual toward something like a fugue state, where individual identity is temporarily lost.

Autistic 13740—1st Chart

The set above shows a triply-lighted saturn/pluto set with influence to a 3rd house and an Angle. (If pluto shared rulership of Scorpio with mars, it would also influence b 3rd house.)

Autistic 13740—3rd Chart

The set above influences an Angle and both 3rd houses. Light/saturn/pluto tends toward autism while light/mars/saturn tends toward retardation.

This child was placed in an institution when he was 7 years old. This chart showed progressed B MC at 28 Gemini 29, pB Asc at 28 Virgo 31 (in the same set with his b3 mars, ruler of b 3rd and 8th houses), and pc3 pluto at 28 Virgo 38R—progressed Angle/Angle/mars/pluto. He also had pb3 NN at 29 Gemini 54, tighter in the set with c3 pluto at 29 Virgo 27.

A set in his 1st chart likely also had something to do with the decision he could not be helped:

All the above planets were in c 1st house. On his 7th birthday, pb1 pluto was at 16 Pisces 49R. It had not moved much, but it was continuing to move in the wrong direction relative to his ever gaining a good diagnosis. Usually moon conjunct pluto in Pisces represents an intensity of suffering few of us have to endure.

Autistic 14495—1st Chart

The set above shows a triply-lighted saturn/pluto (and neptune) influence to an Angle and both 3rd houses.

Autistic 14495—3rd Chart
Child 14495 does not have an autistic set in his 3rd chart while having a strong one (above) in his 1st chart. He has Angle/moon/pluto, though:

So far I have avoided giving any interpretation of light/mars/pluto. While light/saturn/pluto is reclusive and withdrawing, light/mars/pluto is probably explosive. This set influences two Angles, with some mitigation of the explosiveness through mercury and venus.

14495 picks up a second Angle/saturn/pluto set in his 7th chart. B7 saturn is at 22 Taurus 43, b7 pluto at 24 Taurus 11, and C Asc at 22 Scorpio 18.

Conclusion
The table below illustrates the findings in this paper. Please note that in making this table I did not require in the 3rd chart that the 3rd house within it be influenced by lighted saturn/pluto. I deemed it sufficient if Angles only were so influenced.

I, myself, could make some argument against the apparent strength of findings as shown in the table above. I took advantage of the full orb allowable when judging whether or not a planets was in a set. I ignored benefics in the set as if they made no difference in the set “turning autistic,” but they probably do. I summed one of them (14415, 1st chart)—summed is probably the weakest form of significator influence. All the planets in one set is stronger and more efficient.

In this set of subjects, the 3rd chart has come out stronger than the 1st in correlating significators with the diagnosis of autistic.

Discussion
In my first paper I hypothesized that both charts needed to be strongly saturn/pluto for an autistic diagnosis. Above there is one case in which they are missing, another in which they are summed, and a third in which they vary from standard (19716). One individual was diagnosed autistic when he had autistic significators in only either the his 3rd chart. Nor did he have strong saturn/pluto in his 7th chart. Instead, they showed up in the astrology of one individual (12321) with strong indicators in both 1st and 3rd charts, and with the other individual (14495) who was missing the 3rd chart significators.

Still, the results are strong enough to encourage more investigation into forefront saturn and pluto sponsoring autism.

The individuals above who do not have preponderant saturn/pluto in 1st and 3rd charts—and even some who do—also have strong sets involving lighted mars/saturn (toward retardation), and/or lighted neptune/pluto (toward schizophrenia, or simply too abstract). No one had light/mars/saturn or light/neptune/pluto influencing Angles and 3rd houses in both their 1st and 3rd charts. Had they, I would have thought their diagnosis would have been for retardation or childhood schizophrenia. I do not have actual examples of childhood schizophrenia. Until I do I feel justified in assuming significators for it are the same as those for adults. They are likely even stronger because they show up so early..

The mixture of other mental dysfunctions—even if they are not enough to yield an actual diagnosis of that dysfunction—with autistic ones likely serves to further develop an autistic diagnosis. The tendency to withdraw would be greater if the child were experiencing the confusion, disharmony and dysfunction of mars/saturn, and also if they were experiencing the lost-ness and anxiety that can go with neptune/pluto.

Too, the mixture of astrological significators points to multiple problems, but almost all of them are not as fully developed as they are in individuals actually and mainly diagnosed with that problem. Therefore, for each possible individual dysfunction—autism with retardation, autism with schizoid tendency, autism with paranoia, and so on—there should be more possibility of positively affecting them.

It is hard to tell, once a diagnosis becomes popular—our present rate of autism is either a sign of that or we are in an epidemic of autism, or perhaps both—it likely overshadows other possible diagnoses. Dependable data for astrological research is further complicated by the fact that some times parents cannot get needed help for their child from schools unless he is diagnosed autistic. So, he is given that diagnosis, but his astrology may not be that strong in showing it.

Wild Geranium (cropped)
From Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide, by Stan Tekiela

Data Acknowledgements
Data are in order of presentation. Letters following each name show Rodden rating for reliability of birth time.

Birth Defect: Autistic 12321 (AA)
Birth: 11/25/1952, 6:20 p.m. EST, Atlantic City, NJ. From Astrodatabank by Lois Rodden and Mark McDonough. Pat Rice quotes birth certificate.
Conception:2/13/1952, 4:50:12 a.m. EST, Atlantic City, NJ.

Birth Defect: Autistic 19716 (A)
Birth: 3/08/1986, 9:30 a.m. EST, Newton, MA. From Astrodatabank by Lois Rodden and Mark McDonough. Pat Rice quotes his grandmother, 5/1997.
Conception:5/28/1985, 11:21:27 a.m. EDT, Newton, MA.

Birth Defect: Autistic 14416 (A)
Birth: 11/24/1969, 4:30 a.m. AHST, Anchorage, AK. From Astrodatabank by Lois Rodden and Mark McDonough. Janet Ingersoll quotes parents in Modern Horoscopes, 1/1980.
Conception:2/10/1969, 3:05:31 p.m. AHST, Anchorage, AK.

Birth Defect: Autistic 14542 (A)
Birth: 3/12/1972, 2:14 p.m. EST, 45N32 and 73W34. From Astrodatabank by Lois Rodden and Mark McDonough. James Elliot quotes case.
Conception:6/03/1971, 8:58:13 a.m. EDT, 45N32 and 73W34.

Birth Defect: Autistic 14457 (A)
Birth: 9/09/1970, 4:20 p.m. PDT, Glendale, CA. From Astrodatabank by Lois Rodden and Mark McDonough. Aline Clemens quotes case.
Conception:11/28/1969, 9:44:17 p.m. PST, Glendale, CA.

Birth Defect: Autistic 13740 (A)
Birth: 1/09/1962, 12:23 p.m. AHST, Honolulu, Hawaii. From Astrodatabank by Lois Rodden and Mark McDonough. Lois Rodden quotes his mother, 1976.
Conception:3/29/1961, 4:45:54 a.m. AHST, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Birth Defect: Autistic 14495 (A)
Birth: 5/24/1971, 7:10 a.m. AHDT, Anchorage, AK. From Astrodatabank by Lois Rodden and Mark McDonough. Janet Ingersoll quotes parents in MH 1/1980.
Conception:8/15/1970, 5:44:31 p.m. AHDT, Anchorage, AK.






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