Revised August 23, 2000

I do not have much information about her.

A former nurse, she was married to Dr. Franklin D. Curren, her former psychiatrist. Their intimate relationship, he later testified, started after their professional one ended. They had two daughters, ages 10 and 8. She was 5 feet one inch tall, and weighed 260 pounds. Her picture showed she was pretty. Her picture also showed she felt worn out.

Depressed and defeated, on August 15, 1996, with the assistance of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, in the presence of her husband, Judith Curren committed suicide. Kevorkian had already built an international reputation as “Dr. Death.” The assisted suicide physician, who provided means for terminally ill patients to end their lives.

Judith Curren was an exception. She was not terminally ill. She suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia? I have no idea what it looks like astrologically. Or even what to look for. Chronic fatigue syndrome, however, sounds like excessive saturn.

In this paper her chronic fatigue is examined. It should be remembered, however, she also had fibromyalgia. She had excessive fatigue and bodily aches and pains.

Self-evident in its name, some one suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome is an individual who continuously cannot, for long periods of time, summon energy enough to live an even somewhat normal life. If ordinary living requires of all of us that we be well-inflated balloons--that is, with energy enough to fill out our life forms--then some one with chronic fatigue syndrome is working with an under-inflated, or even deflated, balloon.

People with abundant, or even sufficient, energy have trouble understanding the misery of chronic under-inflation.

Imagine trying to run any of your favorite appliances on one-quarter, one-eighth, even one-sixteenth, the electricity it requires.

Imagine, then, having a physical body given one-quarter to one-eighth to one-sixteenth of the energy it needs to function. Imagine being as tired all the time, without any effort whatsoever, as if you had already stayed up for several days chopping wood or vigorously cleaning the house.

That’s chronic fatigue syndrome. Only it is not the good tired of having worked hard.

To qualify as physical, chronic fatigue syndrome cannot be the result of depression. If it is a physically-based illness, it is not neurotically-based. Depression, however, could result from chronic fatigue. After all, if one has insufficient energy day in and day out to even get out of bed, that would be depressing.

I do not know of any standard treatment--traditional or non-traditional--for this disease, or even if it is one disease, or several which resemble each other. I do not know how many different types of treatment Judith Curren tried. I have to assume many. She was, after all, married to a physician. She was not indigent. I do not know if her husband begrudged her money spent on health. I have to assume he did not because I do not know. Being a nurse, she was also not ignorant. She was, after all, a mother, so she would have wanted to live to see her children grown. She would have wanted to see them graduate, marry, have their own children. Committing suicide is, after all, a drastic solution to a life problem. So, whoever she consulted--acupuncturists, allergists, chiropractors, dietitians, endocrinologists, internists, massage therapists, etc., they apparently did not help.

The psychological toll of this condition is enormous. Just trying to find a cure--not even counting deterioration in spouse, family, and social relations--demands the heart of a lion and the perseverance of a bull. And lots of money.

Imagine: You have been to every kind of specialist. Each time you did everything they said, returned when you should, talked it up, believed, prayed. You spent a lot of time at it, the years rolling by. Each time you hoped. Each time you lost hope. But, you got back up and tried again. All together you spent a small fortune. (Nor did any of your failed healers offer you a refund.) Nothing made any difference. In fact, you were getting worse.

In your case, in addition to your original illness, and besides its familial and social consequences, you failed to be a good patient. Doctors do not like failing any more than anyone else. In theory they should not, but, in fact, they have been known to blame the patient for failing to get well. So, you were a bad patient. Not only that, you spent a lot of money being one.

Let us hope you came from a family where you were well-loved as a child. You consequently had a strong, positive sense of self worth. If not, how were you going to pursue health when you agreed (subconsciously) with every one else by now, that good health was more than you deserved.?

This paper sets forth the astrological indicators of chronic fatigue syndrome as they are indicated in the health chart--that of the 6th house--of Judith Curren. It examines her indicators for health. Does she, or does she not, have an astrology which indicates long-term poor health that could truly represent chronic fatigue syndrome?

It could be an interesting area, but whatever part her husband, and Kevorkian, had in her death is not examined. It is a complex issue outside the aim of this paper.

If Curren’s 6th house--that is, her health--chart, demonstrates reasonable and entirely satisfactory indicators for chronic fatigue, we are on the way to showing it physically-based. That could be important for its treatment because many people consider it a neurotic illness.

For an explanation of the astrology used on this site, go to “About This System” listed among other papers on the Home Page. For those who do not want to do that, there is this note: this system uses only conjunctions, applying and separating squares, and oppositions. Orbs with lights is 5°; without lights, about 2.5°. Birth planets (including their harmonics) rule only birth houses. Conception planets (including their harmonics) rule only conception houses.

Returning to chronic fatigue syndrome and Curren’s chart, we want to examine the condition, specifically, of her 6th house chart. It is the one, established through research, which has revealed the most information on physical health.

In terms of our clock, the 6th house covers from approximately 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the chart. Why there? That was established centuries ago. (See footnote 1 below.) One plausible explanation is that is the time each day when each individual’s “sun” sets. In terms of energy and attention, it represents his withdrawal from the outer world. It implies, a little bit, a position of weakness, the time for recuperation of forces. Is it the weakest point for life? No, in terms of outer life, the weakest point is at midnight. 10 p.m. to midnight, the 4th house, therefore, represent end of cycle (or life) conditions.

In this astrology, each individual has two 6th houses, birth and conception. Does one prevail over the other? Not according to this system. Instead, again, it is the overlap of birth houses with conception houses the helps make the rich, varied meaning of our existence possible. Curren’s 6th house overlaps are discussed below.

In looking at Curren’s 6th charts, I want first to establish whether it has any faults, that is, astrological indications her health--from birth--is liable to weakness or deficiency. Some of the most serious, most dysfunctional, faults are comprised of mars and saturn. Other planets may describe faults, but mars and saturn most often describe what people commonly experience as something really undesirable.

Here, with chronic fatigue syndrome, saturn, and not mars, is the most likely planet involved.

This time, to get around the word “fault”--for Mrs. Curren’s sake--and its connotation of personal failure, such conditions are called “core conditions.” Core conditions are vulnerabilities one is born with. They are potential problems. Whether or not they will turn into actual problems depends a lot on chart timing.

Core condition A involves so few positions, it is easy to miss its significance. We nearly did. It shows a forefront emphasis (see footnote 3 below) of saturn--planet of deficiency, constriction, rigidity--on Curren’s health. Harmonic saturn on an Angle in any chart is livable. This saturn, however, rules her birth Midheaven--which is in her conception 6th house. It means she has two Angles influenced by saturn, both of which are influencing one of her two 6th houses within her 6th house chart. It comprises the first astrological statement she will experience some kind of health limitation.

Its position in c 4th house means she already--from birth--has a lighted (by B Ascendant) 4th house saturn, one of the necessary, but not necessarily sufficient, conditions for dying.

The "SR" following Scorpio above means “stationary retrograde.” When a planet is stationary retrograde or stationary direct, it means it is changing direction relative to the motion of the Earth. When it stations, it slows down, comes to an apparent stop, then starts off in the opposite direction. If it is one of the outer planets, its change in direction is slow, indeed. It can take weeks, even months to move a degree or two. If some one is born during the time an outer planet is stationing, its station is a condition of his chart.

What difference does that make for him? If it is moving very slowly, even its harmonic, which is always moving faster, may take considerable time to change position. (See footnote 2 below.) The significance of this for Curren is that even this b6 harmonic saturn, above, does not move away from opposition her birth Ascendant until she is: age 28 for a 1° separation from exact opposition, and age 32 for a 2° separation. It means for the first 28 years of her life, both her harmonic saturn and her progressed harmonic saturn were opposition her Ascendant. That is two saturns, not one.

With Core Condition A, Curren now has both mars and saturn on Angles in this, her 6th house--health--chart. She also has lighted mars and saturn in 4th houses. Core Condition B, however, contains no specifically 6th house harmonics. Therefore, it is not preponderantly a 6th house matter. Its primary influence is on her 1st (Ascendant), 4th, and 9th houses. It is not that it does not influence her health, but that it does so in an indirect manner.

Looking through the harmonics in each chart, this mars/Asc picks up harmonic south node at 6 Leo 10 in her harmonic chart for her 7th house. So, relationships brought out the worst (South Node) of her aggressive (mars) traits. Ascendant/South Node/mars in Leo suggest she tended to fly off the handle (mars/Ascendant), take too much attention (SN in Leo prominent), and in general take a high-handed stance, like royalty, when something more humble would have worked better. All of it bringing her disapproval as well as undesirable results. She would, therefore, “waste” a lot of energy in relationships.

We do not know if she was a sickly child. Since children usually have abundant energy, Curren’s childhood may have been normal. Only research, with excellent case histories, can establish how long it takes for various grades of core conditions to be experienced.

Added to Core Condition A’s influence, she now has both 6th houses influenced by lighted saturn. (Both her non-harmonic saturns, are, as a matter of fact, in her birth 6th house. Only this birth one starts out lighted. Her conception saturn becomes important in Core Condition D.)

What difference does this jupiter make? It does not rule either a 6th house or an Angle, so is not multiplying 6th house influences. It rules the 9th house. It may turn her thoughts to religion. It probably helps against fatigue. She may swing from feeling good to energy depletion, especially if, each time, she has used up her energy being too expansive (jupiter), possibly reading and talking (jupiter in Gemini). She loved to communicate. It occurs again in another of her core conditions ahead.

Note core condition D is all non-harmonic, so it is not a specifically 6th chart influence. It does not influence an Angle, therefore is not forefront. But it does influence her health because it shows lighted saturns in b 6th house (in all charts). The conception saturn became important by timing. It became much stronger--negatively affecting her health--when progressing c6 North Node, a specifically 6th harmonic light, specifically connected to her 6th chart of health, reached:

As with the earlier papers, progressions--that is, movement of Angles and planets to date of event or condition--are shown italicized.

What does this moon’s node--also a light--do? It activates the saturn (it never makes it to her Pisces moon), making its influence--whatever house it is in and whatever house it rules--felt. Here, it is in b 6th house while ruling c 6th house. It does not involve an Angle. It adds, however, cumulatively, to her now growing, excessive saturn/6th house influences.

C6 North Node started, at conception, at 1 Scorpio 59. In 1992, it was just beginning to highlight her c saturn. Curren was then 38 years old. Nodes progress--always backwards through the zodiac--at varying rates of speed. Sometimes they move rather quickly through a position. Sometimes they stay in relatively the same position for years. Whether or not the individual experiences that as pleasant or painful depends on the planet(s) involved. Curren’s progressing node was moving relatively slowly. It lighted her c saturn from age 38 until her death at age 42.

All of the above astrological sets sketch out Curren’s excessive saturn influence. They show its repeated influence to Angles, or 6th houses, or both, in her health chart. Consider. Some people start out with no appreciable influence of saturn on their health. Some have a little. Some have a moderate amount. Some pick it up by progression only long enough to be ill, recover, and move on with their lives. The whole range of possible combinations--which will still support life--is, in fact, what actually happens. Some one, like Judith Curren, who starts with both saturns in one 6th house, with one of them ruling an Angle within another 6th, starts out with her head not too high above the water in terms of health.

What makes it go under?

Core Condition E looks innocuous enough. Since its saturn rules c 6th house, but no Angles, it adds a little more saturn influence. Sun/saturn has a reputation, specifically, for being hard on vitality. (See footnote 4 below). As discussed in Condition C, jupiter’s presence probably helps...part of the time. So, this condition does not represent her cup of woe running over. A peculiarity of timing does that.

Her timing peculiarity is comprised of the movement of several Angles through her Core Condition E.

The sets below show the timing for those moving Angles. Note her c6 saturn stays the same in all of them, as does her sun and jupiter. Sun and jupiter are there, but not included. Her b6 NN, however, is progressing even closer to all of them, including the saturn. In astrology, closer is stronger. Progressed positions below are in italics.

On November 1, 1990 (her suicide occurred August 15, 1996) she had:

	c6 saturn	13 Virgo 19		ruler of c 6th house
	pb6 North Node	14 Gemini 19
	pB Asc	12 Gemini 50

July 1, 1991 she had:

	c6 saturn	13 Virgo 19		ruler of c 6th house
	pb6 North Node	14 Gemini 00
	pB Asc	13 Gemini 20

February 20, 1992 she had:

	c6 saturn	13 Virgo 19		ruler of c 6th house
	pb6 North Node	13 Gemini 41
	pB Asc	13 Gemini 50

On April 1, 1995 she had:

	c6 saturn	13 Virgo 19		ruler of c 6th house
	pb6 North Node	12 Gemini 17
	pC MC	12 Gemini 49

April 1, 1996 she had:

	c6 saturn	13 Virgo 19		ruler of c 6th house
	pb6 North Node	12 Gemini 04
	pC MC	13 Gemini 49

At this time--April 1, 1996--progressed conception Ascendant, that is, her third Angle in a row to hit this saturn, was at 12 Virgo 38, just starting its influence. It would continue to maintain this once relatively innocuous lighted saturn, ruler of c 6th house, as a forefront condition.

To Judith Curren’s misfortune three progressing Angles, one after another, moved through Condition E during the time her pb6 North Node was moving closer. Angle/sun/node/(jupiter)/saturn, with saturn ruling c 6th house, is a potent forefront condition for her health.

Even allowing only one-half a degree influence--conservative considering this saturn has a node with it--on either side of her progressing Angles, Curren’s 6th house was under excessive saturn influence from November, 1990 through February, 1992. Then again, starting in April,1995 until her death.

Her excessive saturn is to her health what Styron’s excessive saturn was to his mind. His was even stronger, but less drawn out through time; hers, longer, but with a little help from jupiter.

For all I know, jupiter, ruler of her birth 9th house of religion, progressively turned her thoughts to the spiritual possibilities of death. Not all individuals who commit suicide believe they are going to hell. That is why some suicides are later reported as having appeared at peace with themselves even weeks before their deaths.

Not all natural deaths are natural. Even our small study of deaths due to heart attacks makes that clear.

What did Curren’s chart look like on the date of her death?

(b) shows she continues to be under excessive saturn.

As well, (a) shows she has picked up a new mars/Angle. It probably represents pain. Mars is usually present for pain. It could represent her fibromyalgia acting up Perhaps not. Perhaps excessive saturn influencing her health, signaling low vitality and energy, is enough to bring about pain. Why? Not enough vitality to properly run the machinery of the body.

Why not claim her original Core Conditions A and B represent fibromyalgia? First, mars and saturn--whatever their variation as harmonic or non-harmonic--on Angles, can mean many things, depending on what they rule. Second, as explained above in B, her mars was not specifically influencing her 6th chart or house. Even angular, I do not see it as forefront for health. I could be wrong. Her birth 6th harmonic mars, however, was at 6 Pisces 29 at birth, and was retrograde. During her 42 years, it passed over at least three of her Angles. Those may have been times she was experiencing fibromyalgia. But again, why fibromyalgia? Only research with patients, or, at least excellent case histories, can establish that.

(c) above consists of transits only. It shows the position of some planets--in the sky that day--on the day of her death. Saturn had been transiting her already over-burdened Angle/saturn shown in (b). For how long? On June18, 1996 it was at 11 Pisces 58, just approaching it. On July 18, 1996, it was at 12 Pisces 43, turning retrograde. In other words, transiting saturn was stationing on her troubled Angle. Stationing means it stayed there for a long time. For her, over two months.

Whatever is weakest, or closest to breakdown in our charts--be it relationships, feelings, health, identity, mind, career, etc.--tends to break down when transiting saturn passes slowly over our Angles--core or progressed. Sometimes saturn’s transit has good effects: it helps destroy things that needed to be fixed or replaced anyway. By stopping our automatic momentum, it can also help us pay more attention to the flowers. So, it can initiate movement toward improvement or appreciation. For Judith Curren it was simply more, following too much, saturn. It probably helped convince her she was fighting a losing battle.

However, she probably did not make her decision during that time. Her thinking was centered on death about a year earlier, when her progressed birth Midheaven formed a relationship with her c3 (mind) moon in Scorpio (death, transformations), ruler of her 3rd house (mind), and in her conception 4th house (end of cycle).

Venus and jupiter were also transiting her Angles. Jupiter would do so for a matter of days. Venus for only one day. Transiting benefics on Angles, as well as benefic conditions in her 1st and 7th charts, indicate she experienced some positivity, even joy, on the day of her death.

Discussion
Judith Curren and her husband separated several times. In court during one of those separations, she called herself an abused wife, stating he hit her and broke one of her ribs when she was pregnant. As stated above, she had problems with marriage (7th chart). Her illness would not have helped her marriage. Her marriage problems could not have helped her illness.

However, it was her 6th, not her 7th, chart that was seriously afflicted preceding and including her death. In fact, her 7th had unusual benefic support--progressed Angles to venus and jupiter on the date of her death. Whatever part her husband played in her suicide, Curren did not believe she was being forced to die.

Her 3rd house was also checked for mental aberrations. It, too, was not seriously afflicted. She had three node/saturn sets (out of possible four)--a lot, but they did not rule, nor were they in, 3rd houses, so they were less than preponderant. She had one Angle/saturn. She had a tendency--oddly combined with her youthful enthusiasm for ideas, learning, and books--to be serious.

Her two non-harmonic saturns had the chance to play themselves out in other ways. They were in birth 6th house (health) and simultaneously in conception 3rd house (mind). Her thinking (3rd) is focused around service (6th) and/or illness (6th). Until she herself became chronically ill, this combination fostered her becoming, and enjoying the essential activity (saturn) of being, a nurse. Unable to work when sick, her saturns would have taken a turn toward depression. We all need to have some way to express our lives. When we cannot, it creates problems. Mental depression, however, did not create her problems, it followed them.

She had another interesting house overlap. Birth 10th house (career) overlapped conception 6th house. It was another indication she would combine career and health.

Had Curren lived through, or been cured of, her illness, she would have been an excellent nurse. First, because she had genuine interests in nursing. Second, because she, herself, would have known how bad it can get. It would have given her appropriate, and effective, empathy with her patients. It also would have made her feel herself a winner.

Conclusion
I have only this one chart for chronic fatigue syndrome.

Could Curren’s 6th chart be describing some other medical ailment? Possibly, because there are many unexplored parts to this complex, but entirely consistent, astrology. Learning, and refinement of significators for conditions, often comes out of failed hypotheses. With only one chart in this category, failed hypotheses are not possible.

It is also possible indicators found here need to be confirmed in some other chart before chronic fatigue syndrome is truly indicated. In that case, they would be necessary but not sufficient.

We established, however, that Curren’s 6th house chart shows an astrology that makes chronic fatigue syndrome an entirely sensible diagnosis. Her astrology fits her diagnosis.

The weight of her condition was toward the physical basis of her illness. Once again: excessive saturn depresses conditions in whichever chart it is excessive. In Curren’s 6th house chart, it depressed her health, or, perhaps we should say, her vitality. We do not know the exact mechanism--hormonal, structural, allergic, etc.--by which it was achieved.

Other questions need addressing.

Was Judith Curren’s problem really neurotic, and not physical, after all? Did she really have chronic fatigue syndrome? As mentioned above, Curren had some real problems in the area of relationships and marriage. Neurosis, however, does not preclude serious physical illness. It remains to be seen how much it creates it.

How long would it have taken for the really excessive part of Judith Curren’s saturn/6th chart to have ended? After her progressing conception Ascendant finished contacting her c6 saturn, she would have completed a long series of excessive saturn influences. That would have been approximately six months after her death. At nearly the same time, her progressing c6 NN would have passed away from her c saturn in b 6th house. Together, their cessation as influences represent considerable lessening of her excessive saturn. Her vitality should have improved.

I cannot say whether it would have improved enough.

Nor do I care to second-guess acts committed following long-term desperation. If this astrology taught me anything, it taught me we rarely walk that mile in the other individual’s moccasins.

As stated in the Styron paper, when some one is in the consciousness of excessive saturn--in this case, affecting health--they believe they will never get better. If their condition has recurred several times, and gotten worse, they would likely be convinced of its utter hopelessness.

Still, Judith Curren might have been helped had she known the astrology of her problem. It offered some hope of her getting better--even without a medical cure.

The best case scenario, of course, would be for medicine to recognize and find proper treatment for this excessive condition--either its cure, or its amelioration until the individual can recover naturally.

Footnotes
(1) Conditions of the 6th house are not the only ones traditional astrologers weigh to judge health. They also consider the 8th house important in death. I have not explored the 8th house chart. Further, some conditions, such as allergies and asthma, express mainly through the 1st chart. My serious back problems found their home in my 12th chart.

(2) The harmonic goes up as the number of the house goes up. The higher the harmonic used, the bigger any multiplication of it will be. 12x1 is greater than 3x1. This being the case, harmonics of progressing planets move faster the higher the harmonic.

The harmonic and house correlation has other implications. Our identity (1st house), which uses the lowest harmonic, changes very slowly--usually a good thing because we need stability in order to function. Our relationship to our children (5th house when they are still growing up) changes faster, but not as fast as our relationship to our spouse (7th house). Social identity (10th house) can change even faster, which gives us one of the reasons we should not base our life on our social identity. Hidden conditions (12th), using the highest harmonic, change very fast. Long-term hidden conditions--keeping an individual guessing a long time--would tend to paralyze him. So, it is a good thing the 12th chart uses the highest harmonic.

(3) A condition is forefront, prominent, or preponderant, at any time--birth, or thereafter--when a planet (which will rule or co-rule one or two houses or an Angle):
(a) is on an Angle, or
(b) is in a set with sun, moon, or nodes--the “lights,” and one of them rules an Angle. The latter is called, “the planet is lighted and influences an Angle.”

At any one time, each individual experiences primarily that which is forefront in his chart--birth/conception plus progressed. They tend to set the parameters of his view of his personal, financial, mental, relationship, etc. worlds. Birth/conception is core; progressions and transits work on the core.

(4) So, for instance, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born with conception sun at 8 Aries 02 conjunct conception saturn at 8 Aries 51. The 6th house implications here are not from any harmonic--these are both non-harmonic. Rather it comes from the planets themselves. Sun is a symbol of our vitality. Saturn is one of the two main planets sponsoring death. It also constricts and shrinks whatever it touches.

When Roosevelt’s birth Midheaven progressed to 8 Cancer 49--that is, contacted this sun/saturn through a square relationship--he got polio. It was not his only 6th chart difficulty at the time (it couldn’t be, it is comprised of only non-harmonic planets), but did show his depressed forefront vitality. He could not fight off infection as easily as if robust.

Such situation help explain why some people get a disease while others do not. Saturn on the sun dampens vitality. On it long enough, especially in an older individual, it will shut down vital life systems.

Roosevelt’s sun conjunct saturn was in his conception 5th (sex and children), and his birth 8th house (radical transformations, certain aspects of death). It spelled the “death” of his usual sex life. (I do not know if he still had one.) That is one of the reasons he got polio, and not, for example, bad flu. Influenza does not usually cause paralysis. His astrological condition called for a radical transformation. This is after-the-fact reasoning, one of the ways the significance of house overlap can be learned.

Ultimately, what happens depends on the soul’s purpose--something not a subject for this kind of research. FDR came from wealth and privilege. His polio likely gave him more empathy for others. His feeling for others also made a difference in the way he handled the Great Depression. Still, who wouldn't prefer to live free from such "aids?"

Data Sources
Judith Curren
Birth: 6/25/1954, 3:16 a.m. EDT, Chelsea, MA. In Data News, a newsletter put out by Lois Rodden, 11736 3rd Street, Yucaipa, CA 92399. Submitted by Frances McEvoy, from the birth certificate.

Conception: 9/16/1953, 4:38:33 a.m. EDT, Chelsea, MA



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