The Inspiration for This Paper
My data source contained little information about her. She is a member of Mensa, the organization for people with high I.Q.’s. She is also a compulsive talker.

I wanted to see what her compulsion looked like. So far, extreme verbalizing has been represented by excessive and prominent Gemini. Mercury rules Gemini. Mercury sponsors speech, communication, writing, and words. It is involved in hearing--the passive/receptive part of speech. So, if mercury’s influence is prominent and excessive in a chart, it sensibly sponsors at least the verbal part of compulsive talking.

A friend is--if not compulsive--an excessive talker. In his chart he has two moons conjunct each other and uranus, all in Gemini square his Midheaven. So his Gemini planets are “Angular,” therefore, forefront. He is usually clever and witty. He has also been called “motor mouth.”

Actor Robin Williams has a condition similar to my friend’s condition. Maybe Williams is not “compulsive” (I don’t know). He is known for his repartee, his unusual wit, his capacity for sustained speech. He can be a motor mouth.

Before showing the charts, I must make a few comments about this system:

(1) In the partial charts shown below, birth planets and their harmonics are inside the circle. Conception planets and their harmonics are outside the circle. Perhaps an easier way to see them is: if they are inside the circle and blue, they are birth planets; if they are not blue, they are birth harmonic planets. If they are outside the circle and red, they are conception planets; if they are not red; then they are conception harmonic planets.

(2) 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.

We are interested in Williams’ harmonic chart for his 7th house. It contains information about his interaction with others. Here it is:

I included Williams’ b jupiter in Pisces, and c venuses in Virgo, also part of this set. They suggest benefic outcomes. He will be known for his verbal gymnastics and he will be successful because of them. Neptune’s addition to the set adds more creativity. Likely neptune provides images; uranus turns them on their head and sidewise, making them appear funny.

Notice that he, like John Forbes Nash, Jr., has double 3rd/9th house overlaps. The 3rd house contains information about our ordonary mind; the 9th, our higher mind, travel, and other subjects. The double overlap tends to the usurpation of lower mind by the interests of higher mind because they are identities. Isn't it interesting Williams was so good as Mork, the alien from another planet on the Mork and Mindy show?

Williams’ two mercuries in Cancer conjunct his B MC also show an individual known (B MC) for his mind (mercury). They account for a certain softness, a kind of “motherly” (Cancer) quality he has.

Looked at tropically, Williams chart has birth mercury in Leo conjunct a Leo MC. Doubtless astrologers consider that the source of his mercurial humor. I acknowledge the creative component in Leo, but it tends more to dignity (and pride)--hardly the daft antics displayed by Williams. His birth moon is tropically in Pisces. That is good for imagery, but it is in his 4th, and rules his 9th, not his 10th house, so it has no connection to his career. Nonetheless, these could be made to do the job of explaining Williams’ humor. They do not do the job nearly as well as does the Gemini set.

The above provides reasons Gemini is prominent in verbosity. Is there another, non-Gemini, way? To answer that, let's take a look at Mensan’s chart:

Mensan has four conditions which contribute to her endless verbalizing. They are numbered and discussed in order of influence, from greater to lesser.

(1) Asc/mercury/mars conjunct in Aries lighted by moon in Capricorn. (Lights make sets more powerful as well as provide their own sign influence). Since sets on Angles are forefront, with this set Mensan has an impulsive (Aries and mars) “need” (mars and Angular) to talk (mercury). Actually, c saturn at 16 Cancer 44 is also part of this set. It is In c 3rd house. By staying at the Ascendant part of this set--that is, by talking compulsively--Mensan is (unconsciously) avoiding depression. (In the long run it doesn’t work: eventually she has to “face” her 3rd house saturn since we cannot voluntarily drop a planet out of a lighted set. We can influence its expression. The better way to deal with it is to regularly set aside time for quiet and serious reflection. Also noteworthy: mercury co-rules (30 of 41°) c 5th house. Is mis-placed sexual energy a component in her compulsion to talk?

(2) Moon, mercury, and saturn are conjunct in Aries and Angular (to B MC). This set does not include mars, but Aries supplies an impelling force (mars rules Aries). Saturn’s presence could slow it all down. It might also make her speech simpler, or more serious. Mercury rules b 3rd house, so this set has both Angular and 3rd house influence.

(3) Jupiter conjunct pluto in Gemini in b 3rd house provides a definite intellectual thrust to Mensan’s condition. But is it verbal? The Gemini planets are lighted by c moon in Virgo--another sign ruled by mercury. Conception moon rules c 3rd house, so both 3rd houses are influenced by this jupiter in Gemini, but no Angles are. Likely this set tends more to study (jupiter in Gemini: taking in information), and practices of intellectual precision (moon in Virgo) than verbalizations. In Mensan’s tropical chart jupiter and pluto are in Cancer, still, of course, in birth 3rd house. Cancer does not sponsor wordiness.

(4) Mercury, mars, and uranus are conjunct in Pisces. As planets they imply a force (mars) toward verbalization (mercury). In the sign of Pisces that force is curtailed. Pisces is a shy sign, not so much verbal as intuitive and insightful. Nonetheless, mercury rules b 3rd house, and mars rules B Ascendant: this set represents intense mentation if not verbalization, and is a forefront influence. It was put 4th because of the Pisces.

Set (4) is the only set that occurs in the traditional tropical chart. Tropically it occurs in Aries--the right sign to symbolize pressure to verbalize. But tropically none of the planets rules Angles or 3rd houses, so the set’s influence is limited. Moreover, it is in a 12th house, further curtailing expression. [So are (1) and (2) in this system, but they contain Angles, guaranteeing them expression regardless of their house position. It is “what is on, or rules Angles" that counts.”]

The Gemini one (especially with uranus or neptune) tends toward verbalization because of the rapidity of flow of images and ideas. The individual is excited about sharing his unusual images.

The mercury plus mars individual must express herself because of an unconscious internal pressure which can come from various sources. She is not excited about her ideas. She may not even be paying attention to what she is saying because her speech has little to do with communication. Regardless of how conscious or unconscious her verbiage is, she is not just choosing--out of an undifferentiated field of choices--to be so verbal. Her chart places speech forefront. Likely she could channel it, and even dam it at times. Only she and individuals sharing her emphasis could know how much effort, with how much success, would be necessary to go against such a grain.

Data Acknowledgments

Mensan 5215
Birth: 3/15/1919, 8:35 a.m. CST., Kansas City, MO. From Astrodatabank by Lois Rodden and Mark McDonough. Lois Rodden quotes her.
Conception:6/15/1918, 4:56:09 a.m. CST, Kansas City, MO.