A reader recently sent me a thesis he wrote about correlations between astrology and autism.  As many of you know, this is an area of interest to me and I have written on this before (the archive of autism posts can be found here). My reader quoted a few different sources which seem to correlate the synastry (comparison) between the chart of mothers and autistic subjects, such as the discussion in Elsa’s forum here. I responded to this idea with these thoughts:

I’m not so sure that you can draw a connection to autism via a lack of connection to the mother. It’s the old nature vs nurture argument. My personal belief (I am not a scientist in the field but since it doesn’t seem as though anyone knows I guess I can express an opinion based on years of astrological analysis) is that since we are born with certain charts, and our experiences echo that chart, that we pretty much come into this life fully formed and then magnetize the experiences that reflect the chart.

I’ve done a lot of work with families and the synastry between parents and children, and even siblings, is always revelatory. Those connections explain so much about the relationships between family members and are very valuable in understanding family dynamics. However, I’m not convinced that the synastry between mother and child is significant or that there are repeating patterns that can be relied upon. Also, in comparing the charts of the subject with the mother, you’re suggesting that it’s the relationship with the mother that causes the autism in the subject. And in arguing this point I’m not arguing the synastry, which is quite valid. But just as in my profiles of criminals, someone could have the same chart and NOT be a criminal, someone could have the same chart as your subjects and not possess the autism superpower. In your premise, autism has to do with emotional damage rather than, as I believe, a mutation of the human species.

I did find an old article I wrote quoting Sandra Weidner (I was unable to find her original article).  Ms. Weidner states “Our physical bodies make it appear we are all equally here. We are not. Autistic children are one of the groups of people who are less here. Their physical bodies are here; their identities are considerably somewhere else. Most families of autistic children already know that. They just cannot explain why. Here, using this universal language of creation–astrology–it becomes understandable.” She goes on to say “The primal relationship [the mother/infant bond that allows the infant’s optimum development] is the ontogenetic basis for being-in-one’s-own-body, being-with-one’s-Self, being-together, and being-in-the-world.” (26) Paraphrasing [Erich] Neumann, the human infant is not fully incarnated–that is, he has a body, but not a consciousness suitable to orient and use it–until about one year after his birth.”

This hypothesis does suggest the possibility that a lack of connection between a mother and child could somehow interfere with this process of incarnation that is described by Ms. Weidner. And perhaps there are environmental factors that create that interference.

Still, any attempt to correlate certain astrological factors to autism will inevitably fail, just as we can’t accurate predict the moment of death, or whether two people will stay together.  The charts of autistic individuals are as different as snowflakes.  Some examples (complete with geeky astrological details):

  • Temple Grandin: Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Leo opposite Aquarius Moon showing emotional stress and a tendency toward fearfulness; Pallas (divine intelligence unconnected to human mind) opposite Mercury/Sun/Venus conjunction. Some might say the Sun/Mercury conjunction (Cazimi) would debilitate Mercury (mind) but in my experience, clients with this placement are generally exceptionally intelligent rather than debilitated.
  • Daryl Hannah: Moon in Gemini opposite Sagittarius Sun (Full Moon) with a tremendous curiosity to learn but both are squared by intense Pluto demanding transformation and letting go; highly sensitive Mars in Cancer opposed by Capricorn Saturn (repression) and by Capricorn Venus (difficulty forming strong connections); Chiron opposite Uranus (extremely sensitive energetic system leading to energy imbalances before achieving a healed state).
  • Satoshi Tajiri (creator of Pokemon): born under the stressful combination of Uranus/Pluto in Virgo opposite Saturn/Chiron in Pisces which includes a wide conjunction of his Moon in Virgo to Pluto.  This was a very difficult time (summer of 1965) in which to be born, and individuals with this alignment tend to have tremendous emotional chaos before hopefully finding an internal balance that helps them to become transformative influences in any realm. Mercury in Leo squared by Neptune suggesting a high degree of creativity. Again, Chiron opposite Uranus with that delicate energy system needing to come into balance.

Most of the famous people diagnosed publicly as autistic are on the mild end of the spectrum.  If more data was available of more severely autistic individuals we might find more consistent correlations.  However, if my hypothesis is correct and autism is more of a mutation than a disability, I doubt that any such correlation can be found.

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