Your Astrological Profile and Songs
That Define You by Jane Hodges,
Illustrated by Michael Mabry,Chronicle Books
February 2014
Return to Home Page
Introduction
As I have stated in other twin papers, twin births are especially useful to this astrology. Why? Parents of twins usually know before birth they are having twins, so they pay especial attention to birth time. They do so because later those time differences are a conversation piece as well as forming part of the identity of the twins. So, birth time for twins is likely correct to the minute and the charts cast from them are also close to exact. Comparisons made between them are then based on correct astrology. That means twin births are especially good for testing a major principle of this astrological method, that planets on (≤2° orb) Angles are of primary importance in describing all our lives.
When one twin has a different sign on an Angle, their births are also useful for demonstrating the principle that astrological sets (aspects) ruling an Angle are of far more importance than those which do not.
Examples of this are shown in the samples below and in all of the twin papers on this site.
In this paper I use more biographical quotes than usual. These little girls were unusual. So we want as much an impression as possible of their behavior and character. Most of the biography is taken from the book The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace (cited at bottom of page) and shown in green. All other quotes are shown in purple. Even with all these quotes, the complexity of personality and interaction of the twins is best realized by reading Wallace’s fascinating biography.
Here is what Astrodatabank had to say about Jennifer: Yemen black second born twin, born breech. The girls were shy children and by age 11, spoke only to each other. By late 1979 [age 16], they totally withdrew from social contact into a self-imposed emotional isolation.
They were the daughters of parents from the Barbados, their dad a staff technician for the R.A.F. A daughter, Greta, had been born in 1957 and a son, David in 1959 before the twins. A younger sister, Rosie, was born in 1967. The first or only West Indian kids in their schools, they were subjected to unrelieved racism, teased, derided and even physically abused. "Eight or nine we started suffering, [italics mine--see discussion below for age 8-1/2] and we stopped talking," June said. Later, from listening to tapes, their "secret language" was discovered to be a mixture of Barbadian slang and English spoken very rapidly.
In March 1978, psychologists separated the 14-year-old girls, putting them into different schools. Their anguish and despair was so extreme that June became catatonic. They had a love-hate relationships that was so intense that they identified with each, the other, as their friend, their enemy, their self. By the winter of 1978, both girls had left school forever and were on the dole {There were no jobs then in small town Wales for two mute teens--auth.]. They retired to their room, even taking their meals there and leaving cryptic notes for the family they were tearing apart. They began shoplifting on 12/12/1980.
In April 1981 the girls had a five-week period of coming out, of talking, getting dressed up, flirting and having fun, pursuing three young brothers in a white family. They managed to have their first sex with the same boy, Jenny on 6/07/1981 and June, two weeks later. By 1981 they were stealing, drinking, sniffing glue and having indiscriminate sex. They spent their dole money on food, gorging and purging. Rejected by a local gang, they made up their own gang of two, stealing bicycles, ringing doorbells, smashing windows and painting graffiti. On 10/24/1981, they burned down the tractor garage and in November, were caught in the act of setting a fire. They were sent to prison 11/08/1981. They were tried in May 1982 on 16 counts of burglary, theft and arson. No one knew quite what to do with the 19-year-old girls and finally, they were sent to Broadmoor insane asylum on 6/21/1982. Uncooperative and manipulative, they made suicide attempts and were put on sedation.
Remarkably, the girls wrote incredible prose in minute script in their diaries, untrained but powerful imagery. They were kept in Broadmoor for 12 [11] years. Jennifer and June were nearly 30 when they were released on the morning of 3/09/1993 in Bridgend, South Wales. On the bus, Jennifer rested her head on her twin's shoulder and said, "At long last we're out." Less than 12 hours later, she was dead of acute myocarditis.
Amy D. Goffman, Registered Physical Therapist, Charlottesville, Va., has the following editorial review from Library Journal of The Silent Twins on Amazon.com : This true story focuses on the young adult years of identical twin girls. June and Jennifer isolate themselves from family and society, sinking into a world of interdependency, fantasy, and obsessive game-playing, until an arson spree lands them in a hospital for the criminally insane. The fascination of this tale lies in the discrepancy between the twins' silent, emotionless facade and the rich creativity and passion that spills out endlessly in their writing. The author has reconstructed their story from their extensive diaries, in which they compulsively explore their lives and the condition of the world as they perceive it. Again and again, they express both their love and hatred for each other and their desire yet inability to become separate individuals. This book is written by a sympathetic journalist for a general audience.
Jennifer and June were born ten minutes apart, with June being born first. In this paper we are going to (1) identify the astrology that created the difference in perception between them, examining statements like this one made by one of their teacher’s and quoted in Wallace’s biography. Jennifer, she stated, had a “darker nature": The staff were driven to distraction by the twins’ behavior, their lack of speech, their failure to react. When attacked they would stand facing one another, one arm on the other’s shoulder, huddled together to protect and give strength to one another…”They were always apart from everyone else…I’ve had 6000 children go through my hands in thirty years and I’ve encountered only four I felt were evil. One was a boy who raped the daughter of a best friend, another eventually shot a boy, a third was found guilty of rape and assault. The fourth was Jennifer. I felt that June should not be allowed to mix with her or come under her influence. The bad one would not have been so bad had she not been able to draw strength from her twin, and the good one would have been normal.” (p. 17)
Continuing with the list of what can be identified, we will look at their astrology for their :
- (2) keen interest in writing
- (3) above-average minds
- (4) unusually sensitive capacity for sensing what was going on with each other.
- (5) tendency to fuse identities
- (6) difficult relationship with each other, and
The Wikipedia article on them implies that Jennifer’s death at age 29 was somewhat mysterious, as if it were not really natural. It quotes June as saying "Jennifer had finally given up her life so that I could live.”
The finding at autopsy on Jennifer was that she died of myocardial endocarditis. We want to look at:
- (7) Jennifer’s death from a heart condition at the early age of 29 while June remained healthy. In doing so, we also want to address the question, did Jennifer really will her own death? Does her astrology at the time show what could be interpreted as death? How does it compare to June's, who did not die?
Born April 11, 1963, June’s time of birth was 8:10 a.m. Baghdad Time, Aden, Yemen. Some of the websites about them state they were born in Barbados, but Wallace’s biography states Aden (p. 9). Jennifer was born at 8:20 a.m. Ba.T. Here is the quote from the book which confirms these times: The twins’ faith in star signs was severely threatened a week later when June received a letter from home. Dr. Le Couteur had asked her to discover any information about her birth and Gloria [their Mom] had replied. She told her that, contrary to what the twins had always believed, June was born at 8:10 a.m. and Jennifer at 8:20 a.m. For years the twins had worked out their horoscopes, often at considerable expense, on the basis that June was born at eight o’clock and Jennifer at ten minutes past eight. Now all that they had believed made up the difference in their personalities and their fortunes was upturned. Jennifer had inherited June’s rising sign and all those hours spent studying Jennifer’s were irrelevant. (p. 241)
Here is what Jennifer had stated about it: My horoscope has nothing to do with me. My position has been taken by June. My poor beloved sign has been snatched from me. The worst thing about it is that I am not a good strong Aquarius. She is the one who has an Aquarius in her. Oh dear! What a mess…(p. 241)
Astrology shown on this site uses the sidereal zodiac. It is likely that Jennifer was using the traditional “Western,” tropical zodiac. For the times of 8:00 a.m. and 8:10 a.m. (the incorrect ones, but for this particular discussion it makes no difference), tropically June had her birth Midheaven at 16 Aquarius 27. Jennifer’s was at 18 Aquarius 59. The only other thing each had in Aquarius was their saturn at 20 Aquarius 55. Neither are her statements explained by doing their charts for the wrong place, Barbados. So, I don’t really see what Jennifer was referring to having lost.
Sidereally, both their birth Midheavens are in Capricorn, their birth Ascendants in Taurus (all shown below) and both have conception jupiter at 18 Aquarius 29. Indeed, their charts show no difference by sign in anything, including the planets, their harmonics, and house cusps. With this method, the biggest difference between them is by degree for their fastest moving planet, the moon. And it is greatest in the highest harmonic chart, that of the 12th chart. June’s b12 moon is at 11 Sagittarius 20 while Jennifer’s is at 12 Sagittarius 29. June’s c12 moon is at 7 Leo 35 while Jennifer’s is at 8 Leo 49. These small differences--the largest in all their planetary astrology--make no difference in interpretation of their charts.
It is the different planets they have on Angles that most illustrates the difference between their lives. Looking at any chart as if it were the face of a clock, the Midheaven is is found at approximate noon, while the Ascendant shows us approximate sunrise (9:00 a.m.) This form of astrology shows us two Midheavens (birth and conception) and two Ascendants (birth and conception). Midheavens and Ascendants are also more generally termed "Angles." As the world turns, at any one locality on it the average time it takes for a chart's Midheaven (“Angle”) to change one degree is four minutes. With ten minutes separating their births, these girls have their birth and conception Midheavens approximately 2-1/2° apart. Ascendants vary a little more or less than one degree every four minutes, but it just so happens that theirs are also about 2-1/2° apart.
As we shall see, 2-1/2°--especially with this method which allows only a 2° orb for Angle-to-planet, makes a considerable difference regarding which planets each has “on Angles.”
And, for this paper, since we are certain of the girls time of birth, we are going to allow a lesser orb of from 1° to 1-1/2°. Closer is stronger. Stronger is what we want because those sets are going to show us the differences between the girls lives.
Finally, we want to acknowledge that the twins were found to be identical. Here is the quote from the book: The twins had physical examinations [at Broadmoor], and tests revealed they were, indeed, identical. (p. 236)
I have written other papers on twins that separate one twin from another using their astrology. Below are links to each of them :
One Twin Died Ten Hours After Birth, the Other After 24 Hours
One Twin Normal, Other Twin with Myasthenia Gravis
One Twin Normal, Other Twin Retarded
One Twin Normal, Other Twin Retarded, Example II
One Twin Suffocated as Toddler by Car Window, the Other Lived
Boy Twin Homosexual; His Sister Heterosexual
Twin Girls: One Twin Healthy, Employed, Heterosexual, the Other Sickly, Underemployed, and Lesbian
Boy Twin is Autistic While His Sister Is Not
One Twin Dies of SIDS, the Other Lives
A Second Paper on One Twin Dies of SIDS, the Other Lives
One Twin Dies in Driveway Accident, the Other Lives
One Twin Drowned, The Other Did Not
One Twin is Very Different From the Other
One Twin Has the "Explorer Gene," The Other Does not
Before we start looking at their charts, directly below are statements about this astrological method, which is quite different from traditional. They can be referred to at any time.
Astrological Method
This method is not traditional. It uses a birth and conception planets and their harmonics and houses, all of which share the same axis. Conception is based on a formula discussed in the following paper: How to Find Conception
This astrology uses the sidereal positions of the planets based on the Fagan-Bradley’s SVP. My view of the practical differences between the tropical (Western) and the sidereal (Eastern) zodiacs can be found at Tropical vs. Sidereal Zodiac.
Harmonics are taken from the sidereal position of the planets. The Egyptian harmonic, discussed in the paper “About This Method” (link just below), is used.
”Lights” include suns, moons, and moons nodes. When mercury rules an Angle, it also acts like a light and has the same orb as the other lights. The MC or Asc also acts like a light, but one with only a 2° orb, because when a set is on an Angle it does not need a light to be active.
This method uses only conjunctions, applying and separating squares, and oppositions. (There is a table in the paper on Chartrules which shows which traditional aspects--e.g., semi-square, trine, quincunx, etc.--in the sidereal are converted to conjunctions, squares, and oppositions in the harmonics and which charts they occur in.) Orbs for static planets with lights is 5°; without lights, about 2.5°. Orb for MC/planet or Asc/planet is 2°. Planets so related to each other are referred to as in the same “set.” A set, then, is two or more planets (or an Angle) connected to each other through conjunction, square, and opposition within the defined orbs. Sets without Angles are more active when they contain a light, and less active without one. Learning to look in terms of “crosses” can be helpful in rapidly finding planets that are in the same set.
Because this approach uses both a birth and conception chart and they share the same axis, birth houses usually overlap different houses of the conception chart. These are called “house overlaps.” 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.
Birth planets (including their harmonics) rule only birth houses. Conception planets (including their harmonics) rule only conception houses.
For a more thorough explanation of this astrological approach, refer to the following papers:
About This Method
Empirically-Derived Rules for Reading These Charts
In the partial charts shown below, birth planets and their harmonics are inside the circle. Conception planets and their harmonics are outside the circle. Conception sidereal planets are red; conception harmonic ones, black. Birth sidereal planets are blue; birth harmonic ones, green. Occasionally, because of space limitations, I have had to violate this inside/outside arrangement, but the color coding remains constant.
Abbreviations used are b = birth, c = conception, and t = transiting. Even though the harmonic used for each chart is always two more than the chart’s number, in these papers—for ease of reading—I write the harmonic number the same as the chart number. For example, the 5th chart uses the 7th harmonic, but I have established the convention of writing harmonic planets for the 5th chart as, e.g., c5 mars, which reads, “the harmonic for the 5th chart for conception mars.” Pc3 mars stands for the harmonic for the 3rd chart of its progressed conception mars. T5 pluto represents transiting (at the time of the event) pluto for the 5th chart.
Four planets are emphasized in this study.
The Main Significators For Winning and Losing Anything
Somewhat over-simplifying, thirty years research results with this method have clearly demonstrated that for conditions and events there are two planets which primarily sponsor all our ills and bad fortune. And there are two different ones that primarily sponsor our success, joy, and good fortune.
The planetary authors of almost all of our good feelings are venus and jupiter, known to traditional astrology as the lesser and greater benefics, respectively.
- Venus represents the principles of love, connectedness, appreciation, responsiveness, emotional victory. People with moon/venus on or influencing an Angle, like Marilyn Monroe, have immense charm and charisma, be they male or female.
- Jupiter represents the principles of ease, growth, expansion, relaxation, comprehensiveness. It is most likely the planet sponsoring the high “emotional quotient.” written about by Daniel Goleman. Prominent in a chart it, more than any other planet, sponsors success, recognition, good timing, self-confidence. On an Angle it also helps protect against disease and disaster: Paper on Various CNS Diseases.
Venus and jupiter together (square or conjunction, or on differing Angles of the same chart but “summed”) with a light, on or influencing an Angle, create a golden benefic. Golden benefics are in evidence in almost all instances of success, winning, joy, in all areas of human experience. In the 2nd chart of money they represent winning the lottery, inheritances, or other fortunate windfalls. In the 10th house of career they represent very favorable social stature, and by timing, promotions, great new jobs, and other social honors. In the 9th chart they represent success and unusually clear understanding in (usually one of the) areas of law, religion, aviation, skydiving, foreign travel, languages, philosophy.
The planetary authors of almost all of our difficult feelings and experiences are mars and saturn, known to traditional astrology as the lesser and greater malefics, respectively.
- Mars represents friction, fevers, tearing, strife, combativeness, martial. People with mars on an Angle, that is, forefront in their psyche, either use these qualities in their life or get used by them. If their charts are basically benevolent, they may be, for instance, successful athletes. If not, mars predominance turns harsher. By timing, mars is often on an Angle and predominant when an individual commits crimes of violence.
- Saturn represents darkness, dryness, voids, lack of self confidence, isolation, depression, and other such “anti-charismatic” qualities. In descending the planetary "Tree of Life" (Search for "Tree of Life" in paper on autism) of incarnating, each being starts his process of becoming one individual human being at saturn. At that point he still lacks the planets of personality, found further down the Tree, needed in order to perceive and act as a person. So, forefront and predominant in charts saturn sponsors levels of existence primarily devoid of most of the pleasures and meaning of existence, so predominant it sponsors such things as depression, lack of self confidence, failure, poverty, being a loser, and so on.
Mars and saturn together (square, opposition, or conjunction, or on differing Angles of the same chart but “summed”) with a light, on or influencing an Angle, create something I have called a dark malefic. By using that name I do not imply anything evil. The expression is used simply to imply the results most opposite to those of the golden benefic. Dark malefics are usually forefront in instances of all kinds of failure, serious accidents, death, hard lives, poor social image, and so on. How they manifest depends on the chart they are in and the houses they rule within that chart. When they are on Angles in any chart, whether on the same Angle or summed as on differing Angles, they always imply that area of the individual’s life is difficult.
Again, in isolating these four planets so we can see their general influence on Angles in charts of the twins I have had to over-simplify somewhat. We need all the planets in order to exist. Together they symbolize, and somehow promote, the material, emotional, psychological, and intellectual modes of existence we know as "our life."
So, specifically, when not in excess, mars and saturn work well, as they should, to sponsor meaningful and productive lives. Even when forefront, if they are also accompanied by forefront benefics like venus and jupiter, they have their useful place. For instance, mars and saturn are often forefront in the charts of explorers, boxers, extreme sportsmen. Then they show the difficulty of that particular lifestyle--its physical arduousness. Those people are famous and successful explorers or sportsmen if they also have 7th or 10th charts which contain forefront—usually golden--benefics. Otherwise they are “mars/saturn challenged." and remain anonymous.
Saturn forefront by timing sponsors some of our deepest, most individual, most humbling learning in life. It is a question of how much saturn. Too much and the individual gets buried without learning anything. Further, saturn sponsors part of the abstract part of intellect, especially good for comprehending symbols and patterns. So, for instance, it plays a part in being good at mathematics.
Similarly for the planets of good fortune, venus and jupiter. In excess in certain ways they can sponsor difficulties, usually ones of excess. For instance, if the bounty that jupiter sponsors is used to compensate for some lack, people try to fill the hole with that bounty--which isn't usually related to the area in which they feel deficient. An example would be eating too much because one is lonely. Or, especially for men, trying to become a millionaire in order to find love. Money many help increase possibilities, but in the end the two are not connected. People get greedy, dissimulate for their own ends, engage in too much sex, and so on. Their good fortune ends up being "too much of a good thing." It is not balanced by the prudence sponsored by the pitfalls of mars and saturn.
We can now get to looking at the twins’ charts.
Let me re-state this: there is no appreciable difference in position (by degree or sign) of any of the twins' planets. So the position of a planet in one of their charts is the same as in the other's chart. To save space I do not always show them in both charts.
We are not going to look at all twelve charts, just those in which harmonics of the above four planets fall on Angles.
The Twins, Their Charts
For each set of charts below, for the most part only planets pertinent to our discussion are presented. Those planets are the benefics venus and jupiter, and the malefics mars and saturn. We start with examination of the twins' shell charts. If any of those four planets fall on Angles, they do so in all twelve charts. They are "constants." After that, we are interested in when their harmonics for venus, jupiter, mars, and saturn fall on Angles. The accumulation by chart of these conditions, shown in Table form in the Conclusion below, are going to demonstrate the astrology which explains the radical difference in their lives.
In looking at planets on Angles, they can be on the same Angle, or on different Angles. When they are on different Angles—but nonetheless on Angles—they have a little more freedom from each other than when on the same Angle. On the same Angle they must either cooperate or compete. So when I am writing about planets on different Angles within the same chart and want to speak of their influence, I refer to them as “summed.”
A complete shell chart includes all birth and conception planets, which repeat throughout all twelve charts. All are not shown here because all are not needed for the comparison. It is the harmonic planets which change and create the differing harmonic charts.
The Shell Chart
The twins were transferred to Eastgate Center for Special Education, about 8 miles from their regular secondary school, on 19 April, 1977, at age 14, for investigation, among other things, of their muteness. Some time after that June had written staff at Eastgate a note telling them they were wrong and that there was no dominant twin, that they were exactly equal. That there was no troublemaker. But, Wallace writes, that was their problem. During their last months at Eastgate, …Jennifer sought resolution of the conflict by trying to remove any discernible differences so that they would, in effect, become one human being. It was as if she wanted to take June back with her into the womb before their egg had split. She always felt herself to be the inferior twin,. ten minutes younger, less loved by her parents, less favored by teachers and with fewer recognized talents [italics mine]. As long as June was indistinguishable, the twins were in effect equal, and Jennifer felt safe.(page 41)
| Placidus Cusps | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd | ------------------------ | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd |
| Conception: | 0 Pis | 5Ari | 5Gem | 1Can | ------------------------ | 3Pis | 7Ari | 7Gem | 3Can |
| Birth: | 26Aqu | 0Ari | 1Gem | 27Gem | ------------------------ | 29Aqu | 3Ari | 4Gem | 30Gem |
As the above partial charts demonstrate, June starts out in her shell with B MC in the same set with c venus, the lesser benefic, identified as Set (a) above. The difference between B MC and venus is only 7’, therefore this is a close set. It gives her one-half of the Angle/planet sets to make a “summed” golden benefic. Any chart which produces a harmonic jupiter on an Angle will therefore create that other half of a golden benefic. All the matters covered by such charts, then, are favored for success, luck, good timing, self-confidence, and approval from others.
But so far, in the shell, June has just Angle/venus. It is an all-charts benefic that makes her liable to be loving and responsive which usually sponsors lovingness in return. She is also susceptible to being appeasing. Venus wants to be agreeable. Venus likes, joins, identifies—unlike mars, which aggresses and separates.
Jennifer starts out life with B MC in the same set with b saturn, the greater malefic. It rules B MC and co-rules (27 of 28°) b 9th house and is identified above as Set (b). The difference is 38’—a little under 2/3°. That is an effective Angle/saturn, but it gets stronger (therefore worse) because that saturn is progressing toward that B MC. Its influence is increasing.
Moving at about 4-1/2 minutes per year, saturn conjuncts Jennifer’s B MC when she is about 8 years 6 months old. (There is more on this progression, also typed in red, in the astrology of their 1st charts below,) Closer is always stronger. If we say that she was most heavily under its influence when it was about ½° before conjunction and ¼° after, she spent the years from approximately age 2 to approximately age 14 most strongly under saturn’s influence. Those are the years in which she is transforming from toddler to teenager.
Jupiter progressing toward an Angle opens up the individual’s life for the better for the years it is within orbit. Life is good. Things happen as they “should” for optimum growth. Neither twin has this, though June has several harmonic jupiters on Angles which make a difference. Had she had shell jupiter on an Angle or progressing toward it during childhood, we would have to ask the question, then how come she suffered so much at the hands of her twin? It would have contradicted her Angular jupiter. But she did not, and below under the 1st and 7th charts I show the astrology which shows June to be the sister liable to sibling problems.
Saturn works just the opposite. Life is hard, dark. Things don’t fall together correctly.
We pass through our childhood maturational stages unconsciously. (see footnote 1 at bottom of page.) The child does not create them through either mind or desire. Given the right conditions, they happen like a flower opening. Saturn on an Angle at birth states that the maturational process starts out being stressed too much. Like a poorly watered plant in deficient soil, the ego cannot form as it should.
The result of such early malformation caused by Angular saturn is a lifelong sense of loss characterized by failure, low self-esteem, depression, neediness and withdrawal. These are not just arbitrary states of mind. They are objective conditions of being resulting from missed stages of growth. The devastation of Angle/saturn can, of course, be somewhat ameliorated when jupiter is also on an Angle, especially if they are together and jupiter falls after saturn. Then the darkness of saturn is followed by the (personal or impersonal) rescue and optimism of jupiter. But Jennifer does not have that. Angle/saturn sponsors what we socially, if unkindly, identify as life’s losers. The reason traditional astrology is not so certain about this is that, working only with part of the astrological deck--they don't use conception or harmonics--they have never had the correct measure of who has the condition.
So, before Jennifer even formed a personality with which to defend herself, progression of birth saturn to her B MC initiated her childhood descent into darkness.
June’s saturn is on neither Midheaven. In terms of secondary progressions, it has passed her birth Midheaven and is progressing slowly toward her conception. Interestingly, it hits it when Jennifer dies, when both are almost 30 years old, and importantly, already adults. That says that even though June had gained her freedom to live as herself, unhampered by Jennifer's needs and desires, Jennifer’s death still represented a great loss, a feeling that something important is missing. After all, June had spent the first 30 years of her life intricately intertwined with Jennifer. Theirs was a relationship of hate and love. So a period of mourning is reasonably represented by progression of June’s b saturn to her C MC.
If we did not want to develop some of the finer parts of their astrology, we could end this paper right here. With Jennifer’s MC/saturn that June does not have, we have the astrological basis for the main difference in their lives. In fact, any reader can now skip to the Tables shown in the Conclusion to see outlined astrologically by chart their golden benefics and dark malefics which point markedly to the major differences in their lives.
We could also stop here because this shell chart astrology gives us the best possible explanation for why Jennifer was perceived as “evil” and why she was seen as holding June back. It was quite likely true--that she was holding June back. June was the only--closest, absolutely "available"--human being she could make responsible for her desolation. [One needs to be older to take it on for one's self, and that is what Jennifer did toward the end of her life.]
Of course many siblings go through some of the same jealousies based on differences of approval and maturation as these two experienced. But most of them can get away from each other part of the time. Jennifer and June could not. By the time they reached an age when they might have been able to separate for their own good, they were already forged, as the book states, into “twin stars.”
But there is more to their astrology than just the devastating difference shown by the opposite life results of their Angle/saturn and Angle/jupiter. So this paper continues.
Continuing to look at planets on Angles in Jennifer’s shell chart, we see her C MC in Aquarius (shown above) in the same set with c mars at 1 Taurus 26.
Angle/mars can have many meanings. It could, for one, be the astrological explanation for the fact that early teachers, surprised, found that Jennifer, not June, was a leader. Jennifer’s Angle/mars conduces to activity. June’s Angle/venus conduces to following.
Jennifer's shell Angle/mars helps explain why June was the “weaker” of the twins, and in the early months “Jennifer outstripped her at all the milestones of development—sitting, crawling, walking.” (p. 11). The skills described are motor skills. Motor skills are best described by Jennifer’s Angle/mars. (Mars on an Angle is what French psychologist and astrologer Michel Gauquelin found occurring with statistical significance in charts of professional athletes.)
But her initiative is compromised by her Angle/saturn. “Summed,” Jennifer’s shell Angle/planet sets show Angle/mars plus Angle/saturn, a summed dark malefic. So her leadership is going to get her into trouble because she lacks the development to lead properly.
We can now see that June’s shell results in charisma and friendliness (venus), while Jennifer’s suggests anything but charisma, something more like “anti-charisma.”
Also shown above but unnumbered, both twins show Asc/uranus sets, with uranus in the 4th house.. Angle/uranus in charts increases everything from rebellion to enlightened free-thinking. Such individuals are usually innovative. They dislike constraints. Here they also represent the multiple moves (uranus/4th—change/home) the family went through because of Mr. Gibbons’ job with the RAF. These sets explain some of their behavior, but do not explain the differences between them.
Now we can start on their harmonic charts, beginning with the one for the 1st house of early childhood. It is also called the 1st chart. We want to see how the harmonics contribute to or detract from the basic message of June and Jennifer’s shell charts.
The 1st Chart
Just before Christmas 1963, Aubrey [their father] was posted to a base at Linton…in Yorkshire. There the twins grew into toddlers, charming their family, smiling and laughing…{they] were full of life and played happily together, deeply involved with one another, but they were late talking. (p. 12)
[Their next school was] at Braunton, Devon, where they went…in 1971. The twins, then eight and a half years old [this is the exact age when Jennifer’s progressed birth saturn reached an exact conjunction to her birth Midheaven (B MC), the nadir of her life—see above under “Shell Charts”] found themselves in a new environment with no familiar faces, and little sympathy among their peers for children who did not speak properly and had black skin. They were laughed at in class and bullied and baited in the playground, thus forced to cling even more tightly to the safe world of each other…They stopped trying to communicate with outsiders, and even within the family, became more isolated. Gloria [Mom] and Aubrey would hear them chatter endlessly to one another and to their dolls, but could only make out an occasional word. It was as though they had deliberately distorted their speech into a secret code…(p. 13)
At age eight and a half, when Jennifer’s astrology was darkest, June’s telling progression was an all charts one, that of pc mars, ruler of c 7th and 12th houses and coming out of her c 12th house, was at 7 Taurus 59 conjunct her C Asc at 7 Taurus 56. For her 7th chart pb7 SN was at 4 Taurus 28 conjunct her B Asc at 4 Taurus 06, while for this 1st chart pb1 SN was at 1 Scorpio 29 conjunct c mars at 1 Taurus 25 in b 1st/c 12th houses. Mars/7th/12th shows up in unpleasant karmic relationships, including violent ones. We could interpret this as representative of the bullying both were then experiencing--excessive bullying because it lead to their social withdrawal. We could also interpret it as indicative of the timing for when Jennifer was most aggressive toward June in insisting that she maintain their “equality.” Thus it stands for difficult relationships both outside them and between them.
No one knows when it began…but by the time they were eleven the battle lines had been firmly drawn both against the outside world and internally, between twin and twin. (p. 14) Aubrey was by now becoming concerned…They had never spoken to him or their older brother and sister, beyond a few monosyllabic replies…They turned the Gibbons’ chatty family table into a Trappist refectory…The twins took no part in family discussion but bowed their heads, eyes fixed on their plates, their faces without expression, tight and drawn in denial of the world around them…They did talk and play with Rosie, the baby of the family. (pp. 14-15)
At school, the twins’ silence was noticed immediately…They stood one behind the other, as in a queue…They would look at your chest, straight through you and would not answer. It was most unnerving…No teacher or pupil ever heard them talk. They were never known to go to the lavatory, did not eat at school and were always together. (p. 15)
Predictably, without speech, June and Jennifer did not do well at school. Both were put in the remedial band, but in 1976 [when they were 13 years old] June was doing so well that she was transferred to the B band where she came thirteenth in general English, third out of seventy-four in history and fourteenth out of seventy-two in geography. Jennifer was less successful and remained in the remedial form close to the bottom of the class….June emerged as the more balanced and likeable as well as the more intelligent twin, but was found sadly lacking in self-confidence. [italics mine] Jennifer was rated low in co-operation but had one surprising quality, noted by all the teacher—leadership. (pp. 16-17)
We can see recognition of June’s intellectual achievement at the time reflected in the following sets from her 3rd chart of mind. She had:
- progressed B MC at 7 Aquarius 36 in the same set with b3 jupiter at 7 Leo 20
- pC MC at 11 Aquarius 54 in the same set with b3 venus at 11 Taurus 27, and
- pC Asc at 20 Taurus 23 in the same set with b venus at 20 Aquarius 17
Starting out with her shell Angle/venus, at the time of recognition of her intellectual skills in her 3rd chart of mind she had progressed Angle/venus plus progressed Angle/venus plus progressed Angle/jupiter. In other words, her 3rd chart at the time contained a summed Angular golden benefic "plus."
Returning to discussion of their 1st charts:
| Placidus Cusps | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd | ------------------------ | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd |
| Conception: | 0 Pis | 5Ari | 5Gem | 1Can | ------------------------ | 3Pis | 7Ari | 7Gem | 3Can |
| Birth: | 26Aqu | 0Ari | 1Gem | 27Gem | ------------------------ | 29Aqu | 3Ari | 4Gem | 30Gem |
Shown above, the girl’s c1 moon at 25 Libra 28 falls nearly between their two birth Midheavens (B MCs). So it acts like a light-- “lights up”-- and energizes June’s shell B MC/venus and Jennifer’s shell B MC/saturn. By energizing them, it further separates their experience of inequality. A light added to an Angle/saturn in a 1st chart significantly suggests that child’s sense of abandonment. This does not take place through the child thinking, “I am being abandoned.” In the early years no such thinking is possible. It just represents that for Jennifer childhood was darker than it was for June.
The other noteworthy Angular set occurs in June’s chart, shown as Set (1). She has B Asc conjunct c1 mars and b1 South Node in Taurus. South node conjunction an Ascendant suggests something unacceptable in the behavior of the individual because SNs represent consciousness of a past life. It represents a consciousness that is over-developed, thus lacking balance. But here that c1 mars rules c 7th and 12th houses. Mars/7th/12th occurs in charts of people who are murdered. Mars/7th (I am uncertain about the 12th part) also must occur in the chart of the murderer. This Angle/SN/mars/7th/12th, therefore, has a connotation of karmic (12th) strife with significant others (7th). The set has no direct reference to June’s sister, Jennifer, but it likely represents her. They are engaged in a quarrel (mars) over possessions (Taurus). “Possessions” include attributes of the personality. Its position conjunct the Ascendant suggest the timing is "in childhood" (1st house).
Jennifer gets her 1st chart Angle/SN/mars emphasis differently. For her, b1 SN at 3 Taurus 11 progresses retrograde to her C MC/mars, providing it a light and increasing friction. By age 3 it is at 1 Taurus 52, well within the MC/mars and likely giving us the timing for when she started the fight for "possession" of June. At age 10 it is still hanging around that area at 1 Taurus 02. By age 11 it has passed out of aspect and is at 0 Taurus 35, but by then, the "battle lines were set."
So, even though Jennifer did not start out with her shell planets in her 1st chart with any additional Angle/mars, by the time she is three years old she has emerged with an summed Angle/moon/saturn and Angle/node/mars. These added lights--especially harmonic nodes which tend to specifically highlight each specific chart, here the 1st chart--make these sets concerning her childhood harsher.
The twins have two sets--shared--in their 1st chart which further suggest friction between them.
With this astrology, a sibling can be represented several ways, all of them connected to the fact that the 3rd house of ordinary mind and siblings has Gemini as its natural ruler. Historically in astrology Gemini has been identified as the sign of twins. Gemini is ruled by mercury. So Gemini or mercury can refer to siblings. Therefore, mercury in a set can refer the whole set to experience with a sibling. A set not including mercury but containing a planet ruling an 3rd house can also do that. Finally, sets in Gemini may refer the whole set to a sibling relationship. How do we know when they do not? Mostly, we don’t, because mostly all 3rd house influence to sets refers both to mind and to siblings, which, perhaps, function like the 4th=father/home and 10th=mother/social image identities.
Set (2) shown above includes node/mercury/mars/saturn/neptune. The node is the light for the set. B mars rules b 7th and 12th houses. The mercury represents the sibling for each. Light/mars/saturn/neptune represents siege conditions. So the set shows they get into highly stressed situations with each other.
In Jennifer’s chart Set (2) does not have an Angle ruler. June’s Angle ruler is c saturn, ruler of her C MC. So June’s Set (2) is forefront, therefore stronger, than Jennifer’s. It suggests she is more the recipient of the siege conditions than her sister. We will see the same development of this set in the harmonic chart for the 7th house.
Note that sun in Gemini conjunct SN and saturn in Gemini in Set (3), which occurs in both charts. Gemini as a sign is generally light and enthusiastic, moderating the environment through the intellect and communication. But combined with SN and saturn is shows habit (past life/SN) of suppressing same. It makes their connection ponderous, serious, "head heavy." Add in the mars/pluto part of the set and we have node/sun/mars/saturn/pluto, a set that occurs with deaths or simulated deaths.
So Set (3) is likely the set that sponsors the twins “voluntary” separation from others early in life. It contains the light/saturn/pluto set that usually occurs in 1st and 3rd charts of autistic children. Only then it has to influence an Angle and a 3rd house. For the twins, it only influences June’s Angle. She is made by Jennifer to withdraw. Jennifer's withdrawal was already sponsored by her shell chart Angle/saturn, especially progressing across her B MC during childhood.
Sets (1), (2), and (3) all address the hate part, starting in early childhood (1st chart), of the twins’ relationship. They also have a set which demonstrates the love part. (We have to get to the 7th chart before we can see their astrology for blending into each other.)
Here is their “love set”—the same for both.
| (Set (4) | b1 moon | 0 Libra 32 | co-ruler of b 3rd house |
| b1 venus | 0 Libra 54 | ruler of B Asc | |
| b1 neptune | 2 Libra 08R | ||
| b SN | 1 Capricorn 04 |
Set (4) has influence to an Angle and a 3rd house, so it represents the twins’ feelings for each other (3rd--siblings). Light/venus/neptune shows intense feelings of love and appreciation. Light/venus is “love”, but with the addition of neptune feelings become more sensitive, heightened, even grandiose. Set (4) also shows their artistic talent, especially painting (Angle/light/venus/neptune/3rd, usually in the 7th or 10th charts), which showed up particularly in their childhood (1st chart.)
from The Silent Twins
The 3rd Chart
Among the many tests June and Jennifer were given at Eastgate were some for intelligence. Both girls scored well below average on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, with June rather better than Jennifer. Both did well in the comprehension test, poorly in vocabulary, and refused even to try the arithmetic. The personality tests gave confusing results, some showing them to be socially maladjusted, depressed and withdrawn, others rating them as well balanced, 'independent without need for outside sympathy or advice.' The projection tests in which they were required to build a story around a picture, showed 'inadequate perception of the situation, and poorly defined characters.' Any conflict, anger or sexuality explicit in the pictures was ignored by both girls, as well as anything which resembled competition. They wrote 'mild adventures,' concluded Cathy Arthur, 'with no interaction and with light-hearted facile endings.' These were the same girls [writes Wallace] who two years later were writing novels and short stories filled with sex, tortured conflicts and emotional tangles which frequently lead to the death or suicide of one or other of the main characters. (pp. 29-30)
As we shall see below, the twins were not below average in intelligence. And as is readily apparent from Wallace's reading of their diaries, they were also acutely aware of and sensitive to each other and what was going on in their environment (the quote from pp. 132-133, below, which although written when they were adults at Broadmoor, shows traits highly unlikely to have just surfaced then). I have accumulated a number of astrological indications of intelligence, but the topic is so broad (there are different kinds of intelligence), I have not yet written a paper on above average intelligence. There is one, however, on mental retardation. Here is the link: Paper on Mental Retardation, Paper on One Twin Retarded, One Not, and A Different Way, Astrologically, One Twin Can Be Retarded While the Other is Not.
Continuing with some of Wallace's statements about the twins' minds, Juxtaposing June and Jennifer’s descriptions of the same day is an extraordinary experience. They were like two cameras, each focused on the other and recording her every movement or gesture. From time to time, one or the other would swing away and look at the prison world around them, but inevitably they would return to their strategic positions. The battlefield had now been reduced to a 10 by 8 foot cell, and the two enemies would sit only a few feet apart, eyeing each other, preparing their artillery of angry words. June and Jennifer describe the same events and emotions in extraordinary detail, yet the two diaries never quite fit. All the distortion of each twin’s vision of the other make the double perspective as disconcerting as a surrealist painting. Reality lies somewhere, exhausted, between their furious perceptions. (p. 139)
| Placidus Cusps | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd | ------------------------ | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd |
| Conception: | 0 Pis | 5Ari | 5Gem | 1Can | ------------------------ | 3Pis | 7Ari | 7Gem | 3Can |
| Birth: | 26Aqu | 0Ari | 1Gem | 27Gem | ------------------------ | 29Aqu | 3Ari | 4Gem | 30Gem |
The 3rd chart shows our minds, relations with siblings, and some brain pathology. Both twins have Sets (5) and (8).
Set (5) shows a new jupiter to June’s C Asc at the same time that it forms a set with Jennifer’s B Asc.
Jennifer acquires a new Angle/venus through Set (7). When that occurs, it means both twins have an Angle/venus and Angle/jupiter for their mind chart.
Set (8), which both twins have, shows a golden benefic, not on Angles, but with influence to their 3rd house (c3 moon rules c 3rd house) and B Asc through b venus. The conjunction of venus and jupiter in Aquarius shows a potential interest in astrology.
Even a retarded child can have an internal golden benefic in this chart. When she does, however, it occurs simultaneously with the forefront influence of lighted mars/saturn to a 3rd house and an Angle, representing their difficulty (mars/saturn) with mental functions. In their charts such a golden benefic represents pockets of talent seen often enough in such children.
So, these girls are indeed bright. Their 3rd charts show venus and jupiter on Angles and includes a golden benefic (set 8) which influences Angles. Combined with their c suns and moons in Gemini (see June’s chart above), the twins have excellent minds, good memories, and great attention to detail.
By the time they left the Broadmoor institution for the criminally insane, they had been diagnosed by at least one doctor as schizophrenic. But they were not. Here is why.
With this method, schizophrenia shows in the 3rd chart through a set containing light + neptune with influence to an Angle and 3rd house. (Add mars and the result is paranoid schizophrenia.) Usually at least one planet in the set is harmonic--the light, the neptune, or one of the planets referring the set to the 3rd house or an Angle. The girls do have a conjunction of moon to neptune in this chart. B3 moon at 10 Virgo 29 co-rules b 3rd house, and it is conjunct b3 neptune at 13 Virgo 24. But the set has no influence to an Angle. Influence to an Angle makes a set "global" in character. Without that, no global. Something as grossly expressed as schizophrenia requires a global set. The twins did not have it. Moreover, their golden benefics on Angles in this chart mitigate against any tendency to schizophrenia.
We agree with their biographer, Marjorie Wallace, that the twins are not schizophrenic. Here is Ms. Wallace’s statement regarding the matter: The twins by now were given a diagnosis of schizophrenia, the most common serious mental illness. The label seems to fit awkwardly the profound and complex problems of their twinship. Since helping to form the mental-health charity SANE of which I am now Chief Executive, I have met many people with schizophrenia and have read many of their letters and other writings. In the million or more words written by the twins I read in preparing this book, I have not yet found any sign of the fragmentation of thought so typical of this illness. Nor do the twins appear to suffer the more florid symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hearing voices. In any of my conversations with them I did not feel the fundamental disintegration of personality; or those moments of vacancy which can make communication so difficult. The twins are certainly not normal. They do suffer from feelings of paranoia—that people are watching them or reading their minds, one of the symptoms of schizophrenia. But how much was that paranoia an extension of their own experience of reading each other’s mind and their jealous vigilance over each other? [And, I might add, other people were watching them...a lot.]
For many months if not years the twins had been kept on a regime of antipsychotic drugs appropriate to the diagnosis…(p.262)
They didn’t seem schizophrenic because they weren’t. At least they lacked the astrology for schizophrenia shown by every other schizophrenic I have examined. Here is the link to the larger paper on schizophrenia: Paper on Schizophrenia. Their diagnosis was as off as was the diagnosis of “pedophile” by psychologists pushed to explain the behavior of mass child murderer Thomas Watt Hamilton. Here is that link: Paper on Mass Murderers. In the latter case, seeing the man as a monster was reasonable. His mis-diagnosis by professionals, perhaps to cater to prevailing public opinion at the time, was dereliction of duty. His astrology, and late careful examination of his behavior, showed he was not a pedophile. In both cases, actual examination with defining criteria in hand, results in showing those diagnoses for what they are--trite and facile.
June and Jennifer did have considerable capacity for fantasy and flights from reality (as do many creative writers, among others). Their astrology for this is discussed below under the astrology of their 7th charts.
This (3rd) chart also addresses the girls’ amazing self control. To their c SN at 15 Capricorn 51 conjunct their c saturn (already discussed above), ruler of June’s C MC at 15 Capricorn 51, are added the harmonics b3 saturn, ruler of both twins B MC, at 13 Capricorn 27 and b3 mercury at 11 Capricorn 27. B3 mercury rules both twins b 3rd house. This set is forefront in both twins charts. It speaks of considerable mental (3rd) power related to control, structure and function (Capricorn). It says they developed this skill in a past life, or that it was an inherent skill. They were born with it Of course, since SN represents over-development, they also fell victim to it.
Here is an example of their unusual self control. They had just arrived at Broadmoor, and the door to their cell had just been slammed shut. They both just stood there in their striped dressing gowns awaiting their fate.
"It's over an hour and they haven't budged. They don't seem alive," [stated Mrs. Junor]..."I brought them some supper on a tray half an hour ago, but they haven't touched it. They didn't reply to anything I said. Perhaps they can't hear or don't understand. We know so little about them."
The two women returned to finish their hand-over report. As she was going off duty, Mrs. Junor was curious to see what had happened to the black twins. She looked through the spy hole and saw them still standing, one behind the other...She could swear they had not flexed a muscle or shifted their balance since she had first left them in the room. It was uncanny. The girls looked as though they were guests at Sleeping Beauty's party, suddenly caught, still standing, by sleep. (pp. 143-144).
Next we want to look at their relationship to their father.
The 4th Chart
It was different for Aubrey [their father]. Harrison College had taught him the ideals of the English gentleman. Now, as a member of the RAF, he set about showing he was as English as any of them, or more so. He enjoyed a drink and discussion with the boys. He played cricket for the base’s team. He wanted, needed, to be liked and accepted. But already Aubrey’s yearning for social respectability was having its effect on the family, which saw less and less of him. He involved himself very little with the children. Like many Barbadian men, he felt his contribution to family life began and ended with providing shelter. Everything else was up to Gloria [their mother]. (p.11)
Aubrey had tried to teach the girls draughts, a game at which he was champion for the county of Pembroke. They seemed to enjoy it, but though they would laugh when someone made a mistake, still they did not speak. Aubrey was gradually becoming impatient with them; they were an intrusion on the family and a threat to his self-esteem. But rather than allow his anger to lash out, he withdrew from the silent civil war that was tearing his family apart, and spent more time away from home. (p. 15)
| Placidus Cusps | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd | ------------------------ | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd |
| Conception: | 0 Pis | 5Ari | 5Gem | 1Can | ------------------------ | 3Pis | 7Ari | 7Gem | 3Can |
| Birth: | 26Aqu | 0Ari | 1Gem | 27Gem | ------------------------ | 29Aqu | 3Ari | 4Gem | 30Gem |
This chart shows June’s and Jennifer’s relationship to their father.
June’s chart picks up two Angle/mars—Set (10) and just the left arm of Set (9). Jennifer’s Set (11), however, picks up mars to her Angle/saturn, constituting an Angular dark malefic. This is harder and shows a tentative, difficult relationship to the father.
We could argue that this chart shows June developing her first Angle/mars/saturn and that it shows Jennifer developing a new Angle/saturn.
June’s would be whole of set (9) if we decide it is actually a set:
| Set (9) | B Asc | 4 Taurus 06 | |
| b4 NN | 6 Taurus 22 | ||
| C Asc | 7 Taurus 56 | ||
| C4 mars | 8 Taurus 39 | ||
| c4 saturn | 5 Leo 06R | ruler of C MC | |
| b uranus | 7 Leo 16 |
In the above instance, the node plus the two Angles, which fall on either side of that saturn, help bring the saturn into the set. Mars is so far from the saturn it is difficult to say they are in the same set. Nonetheless, it is clearly in a set with C Asc. C Asc is also clearly in the set which includes node/saturn/uranus. Being wide, it is not powerful.
Jennifer’s new Angle/saturn, not numbered in the drawing above, consist of the following:
| Set (11a) | b4 NN | 6 Taurus 22 | |
| B Asc | 6 Taurus 29 | ||
| C Asc | 7 Taurus 56 | ||
| c4 saturn | 5 Leo 06R | ruler of C MC | |
| b uranus | 7 Leo 16 |
The node in the above set helps bring that saturn, which is out of orb with C Asc, into a viable set. This is a reasonably viable set, and establishes Jennifer’s second Angle/saturn with regard to her 4th chart.
Jennifer also has an new Angle/neptune, shown in set (12). Summed she has Angle/mars/saturn/neptune—the planets of siege conditions. Her relationship to her father is more toxic (or excitable--mars/neptune) than is June’s. We do not know why. Wallace makes clear that Aubrey Gibbons is a decent, hard-working man and good provider. His Barbadian culture, however, states that in marriage the woman does everything relating to running the household and raising the children. If he had spare time, he spent it socializing with work mates.
But did he really treat Jennifer that much worse than June? Strictly speaking, since his code of behavior required paying very little attention to any children, I doubt it. We have to remember that the parent part of 4th and 10th charts shows how the individual perceived her relationship to that parent. As such, it is comprised both of how the parent treated that child and how that child interpreted same. Since we are all born with those charts already formed, then we have to believe that they act as "substrates" for our model of our parent, attracting the behavior of the parent and our reactions suggested by the astrology.
Since the whole of our astrology for our whole lives similarly acts thus--like a substrate for constructing our uniquely subjective worlds--we could conclude, for instance, the parent had no part in the matter. But that is no more true than that a murderer had no part in his crime. We do live in a world where that line of personal responsibility for more and more conditions and events--e.g. alcoholism, drug addiction, excessive gambling--are seen as sicknesses for which the individual should be treated, not punished. But the more we investigate, we find that is exactly the case with, for instance, murderers. They are sick. The more one digs into their behavior, the more clear it becomes that they acted under the influence of personal images and feelings that bore no logical connection to the results their behavior brought them.
It is tricky. The issue of personal responsibility lies somewhere in the interface between the astrology and the subjective world it creates. Over the millennia this line is moving, changing, but we could no more completely eliminate the parent's responsibility than we could eliminate the murderer's. They are necessary for growth out of our subjectivity. At any rate, it is certainly an issue that should be looked at from many angles.
These 4th charts show that the twins felt bereft of the love of their father. We could also say they were confused about it. With Jennifer being more needy than June, her more afflicted 4th is a reflection of her unmet need for a father model.
Irrespective of that, Set (13), shown above in June’s chart, shows tender love. It contains a moon/venus/neptune like we saw in the twin’s 1st charts describing the love part of their relationship to each other. Here, in Pisces in particular, it refers to their father and their deep desire for reciprocal affection. B4 venus rules B Asc and b4 moon co-rules both 4th houses, so the set is forefront. It helps explain, for instance, Jennifer's bizarre conclusion that Carl Kennedy, who she threw herself at sexually during her teen attempt (just after her "Happy Family" one below) to rid herself of her virginity, "loved" her and she him. It was a function of the desire for closeness reflected in her father model.
The 5th Chart
Still in the period when they were creating their own Happy Families 9 (age 16), June and Jennifer had no desire or incentive to grow up. They wrapped tight bandages around their developing breasts to keep their chest flat; …it was essential that neither would be the first to break out from their joint chrysalis to become a woman. In any case, they did not desire womanhood: they felt sorry for their mother’s enslavement to Aubrey’s commands…Wrote June:
All through my schooldays I often thought and confessed I was a boy. I got strange feeling I was a boy under all my female assets. It’s as though I’d been a boy first in my life. It wasn’t anything like masturbation, I kept all my clothes on for a start…Sometimes I’d have this rude book to help me with my imagination. I would get my mom’s catalogue, though, and I would turn to the women’s section; see them in underwear. I don’t know what I was filled with. It wasn’t desire or love. It was anger and rage and jealousy that a man would actually get turned on by a woman in the nude. I was filled with an intense hate for those models, those senseless, feminine, defenceless women. I felt they were letting the sex down…I was so made, really, to think I had a savagely sex-mind of a boy, yet I had the body of a girl. The humiliation I would have to suffer as a female.(p. 53)
It is not unusual for some one with heavy emphasis of lights in Gemini (the twins have conception sun and moon), to suffer from the Peter Pan syndrome, to have some reservations about growing up, sometimes even late into life. But June was also suffering from lack of respect for the role her mother was made to play with her father. It was not a model she could use to become a woman. So, they had to innovate from nothing.
When the twins are a year or two older than the "Happy Family" phase they get into drugs, glue sniffing, drinking and carousing. They were looking for boys, with the hope of becoming women. Jennifer was the first to lose her virginity. It is her 5th chart that has two mars on Angles (her shell one with C MC and Set (15) below). She is the aggressor.
Carl was fourteen years old and the twins eighteen. But even at his age his sexual experiences had been widespread…A ‘randy little monkey’ is how they [his brothers] described him. ‘He’d try getting sex anywhere with anyone. …He saw the chance of fun with the girls and he took it. It was Jennifer who attracted him most. June was too sensitive; she didn’t enjoy the rough and tumble of a good fight. He could punch and beat Jennifer, throw her on the bed and roll with her and she would respond—eagerly. (p.100)
| Placidus Cusps | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd | ------------------------ | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd |
| Conception: | 0 Pis | 5Ari | 5Gem | 1Can | ------------------------ | 3Pis | 7Ari | 7Gem | 3Can |
| Birth: | 26Aqu | 0Ari | 1Gem | 27Gem | ------------------------ | 29Aqu | 3Ari | 4Gem | 30Gem |
Set (14a), B MC/venus/mercury, shows that June does have one set favorable to having children. Mercury co-rules b 5th house and combines with venus and jupiter in the successful birth of children. But her 7th chart, discussed below, is not favorable for children. Jennifer does not have this set on an Angle.
Jennifer’s Sets (14) and (15), show that in her 5th chart she has picked up a new Angle/mars and an Angle/neptune. Summed, they show Angle/mars/mars/saturn/neptune—siege conditions. Because of her Angular mars (and later in her 7th chart, her Angular moon/venus/mars) she was sexually aggressive. She threw herself at Carl. Wallace’s extracts from Jennifer’s diary describe wrestling, hitting and sometimes thoughtless rejection as part of their sex. She saw it as love.
June, with only mercury/venus on Angles, was more modest than Jennifer. She lost her virginity two weeks after Jennifer through Carl's magnanimity.
We want to go more into the next chart, the harmonic chart for the 6th house of health and service. The 6th is one of the charts that contains information about our health. It contains Jennifer’s astrology for her heart condition and her death from acute myocarditis at age 29.
The following information on myocarditis is from Wikipedia (1/1/2014):The definition of myocarditis varies, but the central feature is an infection of the heart, with an inflammatory infiltrate, and damage to the heart muscle, without the blockage of coronary arteries that define a heart attack… Myocarditis may or may not include death of heart tissue…
Myocarditis is often an autoimmune reaction…
The signs and symptoms associated with myocarditis are varied, and relate either to the actual inflammation of the myocardium, or the weakness of the heart muscle that is secondary to the inflammation. Signs and symptoms of myocarditis include:
- chest pain, often described as “stabbing”
- congestive heart failure (leading to edema, breathlessness and hepatic congestion)
- palpitations due to arrhythmias
- fever (especially when infectious, e.g., in rheumatic fever)
- symptoms in infants and toddlers tend to be more nonspecific…
[November 2014] There is now a whole paper on heart deaths. Here is the link: 28 Cases, Newborn Serious Heart Defects, Adult Deaths from Heart Attack and Heart Failure.. I will shortly also be publishing a paper on another set of twins--one died of a heart attack and the other of cancer. That link will be Kray Brothers, Ron Died of Heart Attack, His Brother Reginald of Cancer.
Also now available is the astrology of the death from heart attack of Enron CEO Ken Lay. Here is that link: Ken Lay's Death from Heart Attack.
June's death from myocarditis was different from a heart attack or heart failure, but as can be seen, all heart deaths have much in common and their differences are discernible. That is, in the examples one can see the difference between heart attack, heart failure, and our one case, below, of death from myocarditis. That there is more to be learned is discussed in the main paper.
The 6th Chart
From October 1992 when transfer to Wales became a real possibility, they became more and more obsessed with death, and the battle for their birthright more intense. They would meet each day before going to school and stand outside shouting to each other about which twin would die first.
…{June] said to Jennifer, “You’re strong. If I die, you’ll get over it fast. You’re a fighter”…I pleaded with her, “Don’t die before me. Please let me die first.” But Jennifer was determined. “I want to die first. I don’t want the grief and pain of your dying. (p. 264)
Jennifer’s diary entry of 24th January 1993 (she dies on 3/9/1993) reads: I have at long last conquered my fear of death and now I am no longer a baby but a WOMAN. I can see, oh yes Lord, now I can see.
…I [Wallace] looked at June and Jennifer, once deceptively identical. Today they looked startlingly different. June’s face had become rounded and mature; she was wearing an elegant powder-blue and white knitted jacket and matching blue beret. Jennifer had become thinner than I had ever noticed her, with drawn cheeks and too brightly shining eyes…(263)
June explained to me that they were no longer obsessed with the slimming disease…But I was disturbed by the contrast between June’s calmness and Jennifer’s restlessness... Then they interlinked their little fingers in a gesture I had not seen them make for many years: the sign to confirm a secret pact. But what pact had they made?...In the same inconsequential tone she uses to ask for a cigarette, Jennifer said: “I’m going to die.” ‘What makes you think that?’ I asked. ‘I just know. I just know,’ said June [I think this is a typo which should have read ‘said Jennifer.’]
Next morning, Tuesday 9th March [1993], Jennifer…carried her case out to the mini-bus waiting in the courtyard to take them [away from Broadmoor and]…to Bridgend. … ‘Oh June,’ Jennifer whispered, ‘at long last we’re out.’ ...Then she slumped on her sister’s shoulder. ‘I thought she was tired, said June….The bus arrived at the secure unit about 1:00 pm. Jennifer was unable to walk or talk…a doctor examined her and took a blood sample. Two hours after their arrival….the results of the blood test had come through revealing a startling and serious picture. The analysis showed a thrombolytic pressure and a severe reduction of blood platelets… She died [at Princess of Wales Hospital] just after 6 p.m. (p.268)
Reports of June’s behavior during this period are confusing. She did not accompany Jennifer to the hospital and was not there when she died, which seems odd considering Jen’s condition and their long years of being twins. A little after Jennifer's death June sat with her almost half an hour, kissing her forehead and talking to her. At the same time, June appears to have become angry with Jennifer, asking “Why did you have to leave me today?—as if Jen’s death were a total surprise to her.
| Placidus Cusps | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd | ------------------------ | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd |
| Conception: | 0 Pis | 5Ari | 5Gem | 1Can | ------------------------ | 3Pis | 7Ari | 7Gem | 3Can |
| Birth: | 26Aqu | 0Ari | 1Gem | 27Gem | ------------------------ | 29Aqu | 3Ari | 4Gem | 30Gem |
That mercury in Scorpio on the Descendant is there for both girls. It might refer to a thyroid disorder, but both their charts lack the mars/neptune/6th influence necessary for the auto-immune part of thyroid disease. Nor do they get them through progressions. After research and writing papers on thyroid disease and diabetes, I am still happy with the Halevi model for identifying the endocrine gland susceptible to disease. Here is the link to the thyroid paper: Paper on Thyroid Disease . We will return to discussion of the Halevi model below, at the end of discussion of this chart.
June’s 6th chart shows no significant harmonic development.
Jennifer’s harmonics, however, really develop this chart.
Set (16) above shows c6 sun conjunct c6 mars conjunct C Asc—so, she has Asc/sun/mars.
Set (17) adds a sun (and uranus) to her shell MC/mars, giving her another Angle/sun/mars.
Set (18) does not influence an Angle, but adds another triple-lighted sun/mars to both girl’s charts.
Sun and mars are both male planets, so together they tend toward aggression, power, virility, and good health. I suspect they produce Type A personalities. Long-term stress and heart disease are old partners.
More importantly, summed, Jennifer has Angle/sun/mars/saturn. Sun represents vitality. Mars usually does, too. Saturn represents quashing that vitality. It produces the equivalent of driving with the brakes on.
My study on heart disease, started years ago, has never been completed. I saw enough to be able to state that it definitely occurs through Angular sun/mars/saturn. So, however, do other life-threatening diseases, accidents, or death through assault.
November, 2014 That paper on heart conditions has bow been posted on site and is available at Paper on Infant Heart Defects, Adult Heart Attacks, and Adult Heart Failure
Note that, while this summed Angle/sun/mars/saturn occurs in the 6th chart, none of the planets in Sets 16 through 18 rules a 6th house. No matter what chart we are in, if we are looking for a health influence, the set that represents it should include an influence to a 6th house of health (unless it is definitely known the disease operates out of a different house).
On the other hand, certain sets spell out a condition so well through planets alone that the typical house influence doesn’t seem necessary. Angle/sun/mars/saturn seems to be that kind of set, especially because here it occurs in the 6th chart of health.
We want to look at Jennifer’s progressions for death in this chart. We are going to sum them and when we do, the become impressive.
A few of the smaller but significant ones are represented by the following:
- pb6 moon, ruler of b 4th house, is at 26 Libra 44 lighting up her B MC conjunct saturn in Capricorn (not shared by June because of the Angle). The simple contact of this progressed (for the event of death) light to her MC/saturn “refreshes” the harshness of her Angle/saturn and gives her a lighted saturn/4th influence.
- pc moon is at 10 Leo 07 additionally lighting up Set (16) above, giving her an Angle/triple light/mars (not shared by June because of the Angle).
- pc6 mars, at 1 Scorpio 54, entered Set (17) above, adding another mars to her Angle/sun/mars (June does not have this either because her C MC is several degrees earlier).
- pb sun, co-ruler of b 4th house (29 of 32°), at 25 Aries 30 is in the same set with pb mars at 25 Cancer 02. It has no Angular influence, but it shows a sun/mars influence to her 4th house, i.e., a lighted mars/4th influence, (a set shared with June).
With the exception of the return Asc (their return occurred on March 1, 1993 at Bridgend, Wales.) The set below shows Jennifer’s return Asc. June’s was at 13 Cancer 14:
| Set (19) | pc saturn | 13 Capricorn 43 | |
| c SN | 14 Capricorn 51 | ||
| c saturn | 15 Capricorn 51 | ||
| b mars | 14 Cancer 31 | ||
| return Asc | 14 Cancer 55 | ||
| pc sun | 15 Cancer 41 | ruler of c 4th house |
The midpoint between c saturn and its progressed position is 14 Capricorn 47. The progressed sun is late in the set. It likely means the damage has been going on for some time. (If we say it started when the sun was about a degree before the mars/saturn/saturn, the time would amount to about two years.)
With Set (19) we can see that June and Jennifer have a doubly lighted, progressed sun/mars/saturn. Moreover, June’s influences an Angle (her C MC in Capricorn is ruled by those c saturns), while Jennifer’s only does so because her set falls closely on her return Asc. From this one would think that June would be having the heart condition. But June did not live her whole life, as did Jennifer, with sun/mars/saturn already on Angles. So Jennifer’s Set (19) ends up being the more potent because it greatly increases her already potent, Angular sun/mars/saturn influences.
So the above progressions for Jennifer suggest a terminal heart condition. While her 6th chart showed Angle/sun/mars/saturn at birth, it lacked influence to a 4th house, astrology necessary for terminating life. Set (19) supplies the correct influences by timing for her death.
June did have a significant progressed set for Jennifer’s death. Her progressed b saturn, which started out at 26 Capricorn 41 not conjunct any Angle had progressed to 28 Capricorn 27, conjunct her C MC at 28 Capricorn 32. In older people or those already suffering from health problems, it easily represents the stress that brings on the dissolution of death. In a younger, healthy individual, it represents a long period of some kind of darkness. In June’s chart at the time, it represents grief and the fact that she missed her twin. She may have felt liberated by Jennifer’s death, but she was, in a sense, also cut in half. So this progressed saturn to June’s MC reasonably tells us that June’s response to Jennifer’s death was not all one of relief.
In Wallace’s biography we are informed that neither twin knew Jennifer was seriously ill. Neither did the authorities at Broadmoor suspect the seriousness of her condition. Biographies of the girls--I guess to increase the spookiness factor--tend to promote the idea that Jennifer, out of nowhere, willed her death in order to free her sister of the herself, the evil twin. This is belied by the fact that even Wallace noticed that Jennifer did not look well (I presume in early 1993, described above).
And with Jennifer's solid astrology for cardiac death it seems highly unlikely that she had no idea she was dying. Considering her close connection with June, it also seems unlikely that June did not know.
If any “will” was involved in Jennifer’s death, it was represented by the fact that neither pursued medical treatment for Jennifer. They colluded, it seems, to hide the seriousness of Jennifer’s condition. That was likely their pact referred to above by Wallace. It allowed Jennifer to die. In that sense, she willed her own death in the same way any of us could if we refused to get medical attention for an illness we knew could be fatal.
Let’s return to the discussion of Halevi’s model for identifying planets with endocrine glands. I mentioned above that with this method planets on Angles are most powerful. So a Halevi planet on an Angle would identify that endocrine gland as potentially diseased. Potentially because the remaining part of the significator would have to show pathology. Above we discussed both twins mercury on an Angle in this chart.
Halevi’s model is created by putting the planets in nearly astronomical order inside a diagram of the body. It starts with the sun = thymus’ ruler, then moon = pancreas’ ruler, and so on, forming a clockwise spiral in the body which culminates at the pineal body and neptune. When a planet is a "ruler" of some part of the chart, body, or life, it has special sway over that area. Halevi's model looks like this:
Yes, Jennifer had mercury in Scorpio on an Angle in her 6th chart, but she also had mars and saturn on Angles. Not only that, they were on Angles in all twelve charts. One would think they would be strong in suggesting potential glandular illness.
Halevi identifies mars as correlated with the adrenal glands. As far as we know, Jennifer did not suffer any serious adrenal problems. But her Angle/mars probably represented too easily stressed adrenals such that she lived more in her sympathetic (fight-or-flight) nervous system. That would added negatively to the sense of deficiency of her Angle/saturn. Put the other way around, lifelong Angle/saturn likely stresses the adrenals because of the endless insecurity it promotes.
The Halevi model identifies saturn as correlated with the anterior pituitary. Did that gland have anything to do with her heart condition? Searching Internet literature for any correlation between heart disease (particularly inflammatory heart disease) and the anterior pituitary gland, I found the following material on hypopituitarism. It is from Wikipedia (1/1/2014): Hypopituitarism is the decreased (hypo) secretion of one or more of the eight hormones normally produced by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. If there is decreased secretion of most pituitary hormones, the term panhypopituitarism (pan meaning "all") is used.
The signs and symptoms of hypopituitarism vary, depending on which hormones are undersecreted and on the underlying cause of the abnormality…
Several studies have shown that hypopituitarism is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease [italics and bold are mine] and some also an increased risk of death of about 50% to 150% the normal population. It has been difficult to establish which hormone deficiency is responsible for this risk, as almost all patients studied had growth hormone deficiency [italics mine—see paper on the pancreas and pituitary at Paper on Pancreas and Pituitary--Sarah) .
The studies also do not answer the question as to whether the hypopituitarism itself causes the increased mortality, or whether some of the risk is to be attributed to the treatments, some of which (such as sex hormone supplementation) have a recognized adverse effect on cardiovascular risk…
The largest study to date followed over a thousand people for eight years; it showed an 87% increased risk of death compared to the normal population [we are still on hypopituitarism].. Predictors of higher risk were: female sex, absence of treatment for sex hormone deficiency, younger age at the time of diagnosis, and a diagnosis of craniopharyngioma. Apart from cardiovascular disease, [italics mine] this study also showed an increased risk of death from lung disease.
Quality of life may be significantly reduced, even in those people on optimum medical therapy. Many report both physical and psychological problems. [italics mine—these comments also match the known influence of Angular saturn.] It is likely that the commonly used replacement therapies still do not completely mimic the natural hormone levels in the body. Health costs remain about double those of the normal population…
Epidemiology: There is only one study that has measured the prevalence (total number of cases in a population) and incidence (annual number of new cases) of hypopituitarism. This study was conducted in Northern Spain and used hospital records in a well-defined population. The study showed that 45.5 people out of 100,000 had been diagnosed with hypopituitarism, with 4.2 new cases per year. 61% were due to tumors of the pituitary gland, 9% due to other types of lesions, and 19% due to other causes; in 11% no cause could be identified.
Recent studies have shown that people with a previous traumatic brain injury, [italics mine] spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (a type of stroke) or radiation therapy involving the head have a higher risk of hypopituitarism. After traumatic brain injury, as much as a quarter have persistent pituitary hormone deficiencies. Many of these people may have subtle or non-specific symptoms that are not linked to pituitary problems but attributed to their previous condition. It is therefore possible that many cases of hypopituitarism remain undiagnosed, and that the annual incidence would rise to 31 per 100,000 annually if people from these risk groups were to be tested… [italics mine].
The above comments suggest that combined with her general astrology of Angle/sun/mars/saturn, Jennifer’s Angle/saturn may also have resulted in undiagnosed hypopituitarism which ultimately resulted in her early death from cardiac disease as well as her apparently greater psychological problems, one result of which was that she seemed evil to some adults.
The 7th Chart
So at the age of sixteen [1979] the twins, together with Rosie who shared their room and with whom they were still able to talk, created their own Happy Family, giving the dolls all the warmth and fun, the parties, outings and friends they had never known. They were firm parents to their imaginary children, and the ‘ineducable’ twins insisted on the standards of education and discipline which had been so lacking in their own lives…The doll families spanned several generation and all of them except the one or two babies were issued with hymn sheets and prayer books, beautifully written and illustrated, like medieval manuscripts. (p. 48)
Christmas 1979 the girls were given locked red diaries: [The diaries] became the new enthusiasms of their lives: each day they meticulously recorded every mundane detail of their existence. They confessed their secrets, expressed their hopes at gradually increasing length until the diaries with their golden clasps took on the role of friends and confessors…so the importance of the dolls declined. (p. 60)
While they were in Pucklechurch awaiting trial, they continued their intense involvement with their diaries: The diaries written in these months are a fierce and unrelenting testimony to the growing rage they felt against their predicament and against each other….The diaries are extremely personal: nothing is censored, every thought, every soliloquy is confessed to the diary. Events are reported with photographic accuracy. People are described with extraordinary insight and sensitivity. Only in one respect can the be faulted. The girls often say ‘had a good talk with someone.’ But none of the officers with whom they claimed to have ‘talked’ remembers more than a few muttered, barely intelligible syllables, which were mostly misunderstood.(pp-132-133)
The above quotes point out their enormous creativity as well as their extraordinary sensitivity, the astrology for which is discussed below under this, the 7th chart.
| Placidus Cusps | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd | ------------------------ | 11th | 12th | 2nd | 3rd |
| Conception: | 0 Pis | 5Ari | 5Gem | 1Can | ------------------------ | 3Pis | 7Ari | 7Gem | 3Can |
| Birth: | 26Aqu | 0Ari | 1Gem | 27Gem | ------------------------ | 29Aqu | 3Ari | 4Gem | 30Gem |
This chart contains an enormous amount of information. It was the only one I worked with for ten years before investigating the validity of the other harmonic charts. The 7th chart most represents how we perceive ourselves as well as how others perceive us, that is, it is the most effective carrier of our ego identity.
Both girls have Set (20). Note that there are five lights in it—the node, b sun in Pisces, both harmonic suns in Gemini, and c moon in Gemini. Because of all these lights, b7 saturn is also part of the set. B saturn rules each of their birth Midheavens (B MC) and most of their 9th houses, so this set has Angular and 9th influence. Set (20) is an enormously strong set. C moon rules c 3rd house—referring to siblings and to mental function and interests. C7 sun rules Jennifer’s 4th house and co-rules June’s 4th.
The three lights in Gemini, with c moon even actually ruling a 3rd house, show their intense interest in writing and all forms of communication. I know they were mute for years, but they also invented and expressed their own secret language. They wrote books, stories, plays and diaries and illustrated them. Gemini lights--they have four here---also confer excellent, even eidetic, memories. They sponsor the “gift for gab.”
The conjunction of their two harmonic sun and their conception moon to each other and neptune fosters fantasy and story-telling. Combined as they are, they sponsor very creative writers.
The conjunction of their progressed birth North Node to the Gemini part of this set is worth noting because it emphasizes the time period of their creative writing plus diary involvement :
| Age | Year | Progressed Birth North Node |
| Birth | 1963 | 1 Cancer 04 |
| 5 Years | 1968 | 0 Cancer 33 |
| 10 Years | 1973 | 0 Cancer 21 |
| 15 Years | 1978 | 29 Gemini 32 |
| 20 Years | 1983 | 29 Gemini 23 |
| 25 Years | 1988 | 28 Gemini 52 |
| 30 Years (June’s Death) | 1993 | 27 Gemini 57 |
| 35 Years | 1993 | 27 Gemini 51 |
| 35 Years | 1998 | 27 Gemini 42 |
From the ages of around 15 to 30 the twins were actively involved in writing dramas, novels, and their diaries, which became "friends." But even after that, in June's life the progressing NN remains in the lower part of the set, still fostering intense intellectual activity.
Sun in Pisces bestows unusual sensitivity and awareness. Though they often appeared lost in their own world and not at all paying attention to their environment, the sensitivity of this combination of "Gemini/neptune/Pisces" sponsors their capacity for the sensitive (Pisces light) recording of details (Gemini) of everything around them.
Returning to neptune's conjunction to the three lights in Gemini, it has more interpretations. It yields the clue to their often apparently fused identity. Gemini is the sign of twins and of duality. Especially suns (our individuality or essence) in this sign suggest a “doubled identity.” But neptune dissolves boundaries, including the usually well-established boundaries of ego we need for navigating the world. So this part of the set sponsors both a sense of dual existence and one of being fused. Here is the quote from Rob Hand’s book Horoscope Symbols (1981, Gloucester MA, Para Research) on neptune: Neptune is probably the most difficult planetary energy to understand. Its nature eludes definition because it is associated with aspects of the universe that are unclear, illusory, delusory, ill-defined, and even imaginary....If Saturn is reality, Neptune is unreality. If Saturn is an aspect of the ego, Neptune is denial of the ego. If Saturn is our notion of time and space, Neptune is outside of time and space, in either a non-dimensional or an infinitely dimensioned universe....On a low level, Neptune represents experiences that becloud the ego, which, in order to function, needs a sense of a secure ultimate reality.
Set (20) also accounts for the twins late, but incorrect, diagnosis as schizophrenic. The significators for schizophrenia are :
- (1) lighted neptune influencing an Angle and 3rd house in the 3rd chart. One of the planets in the set is usually harmonic. Other planets may be in the set without canceling its schizophrenic affect, but mercury and jupiter appear to ameliorate it. Mercury refers the illusion to more controlled ideation. Jupiter helps almost anything it touches. Mars makes it worse--the inflamed fantasy of paranoia.
- (2) The 1st chart of early identity often shows a “weak” identity. As we saw above, Jennifer’s 1st chart showed that her shell B MC conjunct saturn in Capricorn picked up moon in Libra, showing she felt more isolated and less able to function than June. Her childhood actually was darker than June’s, and she did suffer from a weaker identity than June.
But neither twin has the schizophrenic significators in her 3rd chart. They are in their 7th chart. And there they do not create schizophrenia, though they sponsor something that sometimes looks like it. This is especially true for the twins because they seldom let others know what was going on in their heads.
The saturn in Set (20) has two functions: first, it connects the set to an Angle, and second, it introduces some reality into an otherwise highly neptunian, other-worldly, fantastic set. Even as is, we can see that for many years (until they started getting disappointed in their actual lives accomplished through their fantasies), these girls had nothing short of a fabulous ability to live in worlds of their own creation. They were not, however, schizophrenic.
Moving on, the above partial chart shows that June’s 7th chart does not show any harmonic additions to Angles.
Jennifer’s 7th chart has added moon/venus to her C MC/mars, shown in Set (21). In fact, we could also add in c uranus at 3 Leo 41 which is not normally in her C MC-set (the moon brings it into orb). Even though this set does not influence a 5th house, Set (21) is one of those sets in which the planets themselves spell out certain things irrespective of house influence. Angle/light/venus/mars spells out a readily available (Angle) sexuality (the male and female planets of sexuality, venus and mars, respectively, are lighted, bringing this consciousness forefront.) This is correlated with Jennifer’s greater ease in getting sexually involved with the American boys. And it was Jennifer who kept some connection to boys –through her pen pal, for instance—long after June had given up. Finally, that conjunction of moon to venus on the I.C. (4th house cusp) suggests that Jennifer did find love (moon/venus) at the end of her life (4th)--for June and for herself.
But below is an example of what is was like before a steady flame of love entered their picture. Writing in their diaries while still imprisoned at the remand center, “June looked across at Jennifer, a few feet away, as she wrote:
It is a cool evening. J. is a miserable bitch, how I could kill her. At the moment we are arguing about nothing. My book? Is she jealous I want to escape her. One of us is plotting to kill one of us. A thud on the head…How will it end? At 19 I want to be an individual, independent from that bitch. I’m in enslavement to her. This creature who lounges in this cell, who is with me every hour of my living soul.
We have become fatal enemies in each other’s eyes. We feel the irritating deadly rays come out of our bodies, stinging each other’s skin. We scheme, we plot and who will win? A war which has gone on much too long, when will it reach its climax? Tonight, tomorrow, Sunday? … I say to myself, how can I get rid of my own shadow? Impossible or not impossible? Without my shadow would I die” Without my shadow would I gain life? Increase my situation or decrease it? Be free or left to die, feel weak or sometimes powerful, without my shadow which I identify with the face of misery, deception, murder. (p. 160)
Apropos the above quote, we have one more set in the 7th chart worth discussing. It involves the 7th chart’s development of that shell node/mars/saturn/neptune we have already seen as Set (2) in the 1st chart. Here is what it looks like in their 7th charts:
| Set (22) | c SN | 14 Capricorn 51 | |
| c saturn | 15 Capricorn 51 | ruler of June’s C MC | |
| b mars | 14 Cancer 31 | ||
| c7 jupiter | 16 Cancer 23 | ruler of c 8th house | |
| b7 mercury | 15 Libra 21 | ruler of b 3rd, co-ruler b 5th house (both girls) | |
| c7 moon | 15 Libra 35 | ||
| c neptune | 16 Libra 37 |
With that extra harmonic light (c7 moon in Libra), Set (22) is strong. But it is much stronger in June’s chart because June’s chart has an Angle ruler (c saturn) in the set while Jennifer’s does not because her c saturn does not rule her C MC. Combinations of the set produce varying interpretations:
- With Angle/moon/node/mars/saturn/neptune we get, again, siege conditions, especially for June because her chart has the only Angular influence. Since the set rules a 3rd house and contains mercury, it refers both to function of their minds, but more likely here to their relations with the other sibling—they are difficult, even producing fear and paranoia.
- The moon/jupiter/neptune/3rd part of the set, along with the sun in Pisces, shows psychic abilities--more for June than Jennifer. Here is the link for the paper on psychic abilities: Paper on Psychics . Moon/mercury/neptune also aids in writing fiction.
I want to include a description of one of their "games." The following incident occurred after they were sentenced to Broadmoor, but when they were still in the same cell:
In her diary, June writes: This morning in bed I lay there. I didn't move. I didn't breathe. For I knew it was the beginning of a game. I heard the breakfast trolley go over. My heart beat; I began to sweat. I wondered to myself, should I call her? She was up there snoring, breathing heavily. But was she really? She lay there like a person awaiting execution. Paralyzed. Afraid to move, lest the guillotine slice her throat, lest she did something which would anger her all day. She did not think of moving. One move would be the biggest mistake she made. Fatal. So she lay umoveable, I lay likewise, as though paralysed by her stillness, her refusal to move. For I knew it was a refusal; it was not an inability. She had not lost her power to move. And her perception was sharper than steel. So sharply cut, it sliced through to my own perception. They clashed, cutting into each other. Sinking in. Finding out. And it was this, I read her mind. I knew all about her mood, in that split second I awoke from my unconsciousness to the sound of her perception; her perception which made mine ten times as sharp. My mood. Her mood. Clash. Like spilled blood. My perception. Her perception. Twisting and clashing, knowing, cunning, sly...(pp. 180-181)
Set (22) has more interpretations. Since it influences a 5th house, it shows excited, oddball, “crazy” (light/mars/neptune) interactions with boys. It also suggests that conceiving and bearing children will present problems. Mercury represents children, but with mars, saturn, and neptune influencing an Angle and 5th house it suggests difficulty either conceiving children, bearing them, or bringing them to adulthood. (This set functions the same in 5th or 7th charts.) A check of Wikipedia January, 2014 states that June lives near family and has not had to return to any institutions. It gives no indication she ever married or had children. Both girls wanted children.
The 8th Chart I am not going to discuss this chart other than to point out the difference of planets on their Angles. Note that with Set (23) June has acquired an Angle/jupiter in this chart. With her original Angle/venus, she has a summed Angular golden benefic. Jennifer’s B MC conjunct b saturn in Capricorn has picked up b8 neptune in Capricorn, giving her an Angle/saturn/neptune. My own experience with forefront saturn/neptune is that it creates a feeling of defenselessness. Saturn represents our limitations. Well-aspected means we know how to honor them. But neptune dissolves whatever it comes into contact with, so the individual is not smart about her own (necessary) boundaries. Here’s what Rob Hand says about saturn/neptune Horoscope Symbols, (p. 176): Confusion about what is and is not real. Fear, pessimism. Asceticism, extreme self-denial or denial of the physical for reasons of self-discipline… [italics mine] Does this set, then, reflect the extremes Jennifer went to in fasting and binging? Bulimia is also associated with heart problems. This set shows us that Jennifer, in particular, was inspired by an almost spiritual (b saturn co-rules (26 of 27° b 9th house) need to deny (Angle/saturn/neptune) and/or control the body and to best her sister (in the 8th chart). We don’t really know which twin started the competition of being the thinner twin. This chart suggests that Jennifer started the competition. The 9th Chart For this chart, too, I want only to show the differences between them of planets on Angles. Set (25) shows that June has a new Angle/mercury/uranus. Of course, it represents some one considered quite smart, but it may, in this chart, have other interpretations, like an intuitive (uranus) approach to spirituality (9th chart). It is not an affliction. In Set (26) Jennifer, however, has acquired a new Angle/mars. B9 mars rules b 12th and b 7th houses, suggesting something about her partnership (7th) with June leads them both to jail (9th chart/ 12th house). This set states it is Jennifer’s influence which leads there. The 10th Chart But June and Jennifer did not have that cosy childhood world. The Gibbonses had little in the way of family life. Displaced from their homeland, without their relations, Aubrey and Gloria found themselves isolated and insecure. The missing color of their own culture was never replaced by life in the estates of RAF servicemen’s quarters. Aubrey maintained his position as head of the family, the Victorian patriarch; Gloria had to serve…the Gibbons family grew up in a social and emotional vacuum. None of them can remember their parents taking them on an outing, even when Gloria learned to drive and Aubrey bought a car. (pp. 46-47) It is worth noting that with all that was not there for the children, Aubrey and Gloria provided a milieu benevolent enough to gain the twins deep love. They were not cruel parents. They did not abandon or physically abuse their children. It was enough to give June a 10th chart golden benefic, and resulted in Jennifer acquiring another Angle/saturn… Set (27) shows us that in this chart June has acquired a node/jupiter to her C MC. Harmonic nodes to Angles are potent for good or bad, depending on which planets, if any, they also highlight. This one, involving benefic jupiter, works toward a good social status. Added to her shell MC/venus, it gives June another summed Angular golden benefic. June’s 10th chart does not suggest anything about prison or the loss of social esteem that goes with it. She does, however, have suggestive progressions for a difficult social image on the date both are remanded to Pucklechurch to await trial on November 10, 1981. Here are her main ones: June’s summed 10th chart golden benefic also supports the claim that she had an excellent relationship to her mother. It shows that nurturing and the maternal approval which goes so far later in life to help create a viable social existence. Whether or not Mrs. Gibbons intended it (or even saw it), June was the “preferred twin.” This is the likely earliest and first source of Jennifer’s” sense that June was the superior, more liked twin. Set (28) shows b10 pluto in the same set with C Asc. Combined with her summed golden benefic in this chart, the whole is astrological evidence for the biography of girls was being very successful and was translated into many languages. It doesn’t represent her personal “success” so much as it shows her “international reputation” resulting from the biography. Compared to her sister, Jennifer’s 10th chart is dark. She started in her shell with MC/saturn plus MC/mars—already a summed dark malefic. Set (29) adds a uranus to her Angle/saturn. It represents involuntary change (uranus), not all of it pleasant because it goes against the grain (saturn.) But it also represents some one who innovates (uranus) against tradition (saturn), which can be an excellent source of society’s progress. Its implications go back and forth. It represents some one who rebels (uranus) against authority (saturn), thereby possibly ending up at odds with her community. And since saturn co-rules (27 of 28°) her 9th house (law, among other interpretations), it suggests her rebellion can get into trouble with the law. Set (30) seals Jennifer’s social fate. It adds a second Angle/saturn to her 10th chart. Together with her shell sets, what is symbolized is a very poor social image representing some one seen as a loser or ne’er-do-well. Not only that, it suggests her relationship to her mother was unsatisfactory, that she was left wanting and needy, regardless of whether her mother intended or wanted it. But this does not rule out that her feelings toward Jennifer were much less pleasant than those toward June, or that she found Jennifer much harder to mother than June, and that these resulted in a difference in treatment. Ultimately, at least with our present level of knowledge, we cannot even be sure that the difference was not primarily in Jennifer’s perception. Either way, it is equally real to Jennifer. Given these differences in 10th charts between the girls, assuming one twin “had” to die, it was better that Jennifer, and not June, died. Although none of us is free from sorrows, Jennifer would have had many more than June has had. Jennifer had health, anger, and social problems, the latter two of which disappear from June’s astrology once her “corrupting” twin is deceased. Conclusion PART I: Angle/Planet Sets (1-1/2° Orb): PART II: Angle/Planet Sets (1-1/2° Orb): Below is the same table with the planets removed. In their place every time harmonic planets created a summed golden benefic in that chart, a “++” was written. Each time they created a summed dark malefic, an “xx” was entered. Of course, Jennifer started out with an all-charts summed dark malefic, so the tally here represents each time she additionally acquired a harmonic Angle/mars or Angle/saturn to her already seriously afflicted shell chart. This allows us a quick view of the major astrological difference between the twins. The table above shows that the only chart in which Jennifer had a summed golden benefic was her 3rd chart of mind. That is as it should be. Through their diaries and creative work, both twins were found to be exceptionally bright and remarkably observant. Other than that, counting further affliction through additional Angle/malefic sets, Jennifer had five more charts so afflicted. June, on the other hand, had only one chart which showed a summed, Angular dark malefic--her 4th chart. Through jupiter to Angles, she had three charts which showed summed, golden benefics. Other than seeing the actual astrology which accounted for Jennifer’s early death, we do not have to see any more than the tables above to account, astrologically, for the radical difference between their lives, in particular perceptions of Jennifer by others (she was evil) and by herself (she was inferior.) In my opinion astrology does not measure level of being, so we have no way of knowing whether June and Jennifer were, in fact, equal, or if June really was superior. What we do know is that Jennifer’s astrology was so much more afflicted than June’s that she would be perceived by every one, including herself, as “less.” Very early in life—before the formation of rational mind—Jennifer was convinced that unless she held June back, kept her equal to herself, she (Jennifer) would be lost, probably die. Jennifer did deal with that mis-perception before she died. Indeed, her dealing with it is what allowed her to die. As she wrote about conquering her fear of death: "I can see, oh yes Lord, now I can see."(p. 265) That wasn't just about conquering her fear of death. It was about conquering her fear of life. From then on, when she was willing to die and thereby release June from her control, she would be able to incarnate as "just herself." She would not have to ride on any one else's coattails. Footnotes Bibliography Data Acknowledgments
Placidus Cusps 11th 12th 2nd 3rd ------------------------ 11th 12th 2nd 3rd Conception: 0 Pis 5Ari 5Gem 1Can ------------------------ 3Pis 7Ari 7Gem 3Can Birth: 26Aqu 0Ari 1Gem 27Gem ------------------------ 29Aqu 3Ari 4Gem 30Gem
Placidus Cusps 11th 12th 2nd 3rd ------------------------ 11th 12th 2nd 3rd Conception: 0 Pis 5Ari 5Gem 1Can ------------------------ 3Pis 7Ari 7Gem 3Can Birth: 26Aqu 0Ari 1Gem 27Gem ------------------------ 29Aqu 3Ari 4Gem 30Gem
It was not malice which made June and Jennifer reject their family. The tragedy of the twins is that they, more than any of the Gibbons’ other children, loved their mother and brother and sisters and clung to the ideal of a happy family life. They never communicated those feelings, however, as it would have been against the rules of the game….Jennifer, in particular, wanted to tell her family how much they meant to her:I lack something, but it’s not love. I love Rosie, Greta, David, Phil, Mom and Dad. I worry about my mother. I see grief for all those years in her eyes. She is not young, but she is romantic, a child at heart. I cannot bear to die before my parents. I cannot bear to walk on the graves of my parents, put down flowers, and feel lost…(p. 46)
Placidus Cusps 11th 12th 2nd 3rd ------------------------ 11th 12th 2nd 3rd Conception: 0 Pis 5Ari 5Gem 1Can ------------------------ 3Pis 7Ari 7Gem 3Can Birth: 26Aqu 0Ari 1Gem 27Gem ------------------------ 29Aqu 3Ari 4Gem 30Gem
Here is the promised table which shows the charts in which each twin acquired a harmonic venus, jupiter, mars, or saturn. In their 1st chart we are also interested in an acquired light which re-emphasizes an Angle/venus (June) and an Angle/saturn (Jennifer.) The acquired light accents the original set, making it much stronger. And we are also interested in an acquired light when it occurs with one of those four planets, particularly in Jennifer’s 6th chart, where she acquires a sun to her Angle/mars (along with a new Asc/sun/mars). The table has to be broken into two parts.
Chart: Shell 1st Chart 3rd Chart 4th Chart Chart Meaning: Lifetime Childhood Mind Father Model/Home June: venus moon to venus mars & jupiter saturn & mars Jennifer: saturn & mars moon to saturn jupiter & jupiter & venus mars & node/saturn
Chart: 5th Chart 6th Chart 7th Chart 8th Chart 9th Chart 10th Chart Chart Meaning: Sex Health Others Shared Law Mother Model/Career June: 0 0 jupiter 0 node/jupiter 0 Jennifer: mars sun/moon/mars & sun/mars 0 0 mars saturn
Chart: Shell 1st 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Meaning: Lifetime Childhood Mind Father Sex Health Others Shared Law Career June: 0 0 ++ xx 0 0 0 ++ 0 ++ Jennifer: xx 0 ++ xx xx xx 0 0 xx xx
Twinflower, a member of the honeysuckle family
From Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide, by Stan Tekiela
Here we refer to the Erickson model, but every pediatrician has a host of criteria that form the benchmarks of a child’s growing up. They are both physical and psychological
The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace. London: Vintage Books, 1998, 295 pp. Copyrights Marjorie Wallace 1986 and 1993.
Letters following each name show the Rodden rating for data reliability.
June Gibbons
Birth: 4/11/1963, 8:10 a.m. BA.T, Aden, Yemen. Victoria Shaw quotes Marjorie Wallace, "The Silent Twins," 1987 [see p. 218 for clarity on times].
Conception:7/03/1962, 2:57:46 a.m. Ba.T, Aden, Yemen.
Jennifer Gibbons
Birth: 4/11/1963, 8:20 a.m. BA.T, Aden, Yemen. Victoria Shaw quotes Marjorie Wallace, "The Silent Twins," 1987 [see p. 218 for clarity on times].
Conception:7/03/1962, 3:07:45 a.m. Ba.T, Aden, Yemen.
About This Method
Empirically-Derived Rules for Reading These Charts
Return to Home Page
About the Author