Many readers of these papers on mental conditions read only about that condition, or perhaps one other. Thus they have no idea how well this astrological method works. To get some sense of it, they can read some of the many papers on this sites about twins. In traditional astrology, it is hard to account for differences that can occur in the lives of twins. This astrology accounts for them. Here is a link to one of the twin papers:The Silent Twins. Links to the other twin papers are found in each paper.
Later I will discuss a few of the other aspects of Nash’s life--conditions for his Nobel Prize, the release of “A Beautiful Mind,” and his supportive wife (even when she was no longer married to him). First I want to demonstrate the basis for his schizophrenia, followed by the reason his worst period was from 1959 to the early 70’s. After establishing Nash’s schizophrenic conditions, I will discuss the charts of two other people who shared one of Nash’s precipitating conditions. They are Nicole Brown Simpson's chart at the time of her death, and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg for the death of her brother, John Jr. Neither were schizophrenic, so the contrast in highlighting the precipitating condition could prove helpful.
The astrological conditions this system identifies as promoting schizophrenia have already been written about in the article about John Hinckley, Jr. (on this site). Some of the following paragraphs, taken from it, are repeated here.
"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.”
From the above, it is easy to see the strong correlation between schizophrenia and neptune. That is, neptune’s influence should be prominent and decisive in the illness we call schizophrenia because schizophrenics have trouble defining reality and their own identity.
Investigation, using this system, of the harmonic charts of people diagnosed schizophrenic has established the primacy of two of them. They are the harmonic charts for the 1st and 3rd houses. The former defines the individual’s identity, his “I am this,” his “by himself” identity. Its information appears a direct outcome of what he learned about himself in the first five years of his life before he had a mind with which to define himself. It also contains certain physical indicators. The latter, the chart of his 3rd house, tells us certain things about the way his mind functions.
In the 1st chart (of identity), whatever weakens individual existence contributes to mental instability. Specifically, mars and saturn influencing Angles and 3rd houses within this chart create an identity under siege. Why? Because mars and saturn are planets of dissonance. Biologically and together, they sponsor catabolism, enabling the destruction of old, diseased, or outdated biological matter. Prominent, they sponsor too much of it. In terms of brain function--say, right or left- or whole-brained, or synapse speed, I don’t know which--mars and saturn together represent a stop-and-go, choppy, sometimes mired, sometimes wired brain function. Psychologically, they represent the same dissonance, except it includes painful self-doubts and self-recriminations. Psychologically, the individual is trying to exist using coded astrological material that says he shouldn’t, or isn’t good enough to (saturn), or, he can, but only with great pain (mars/saturn) or unusual assertiveness (mars).
Neptune predominant in this chart creates problems, especially if it is linked with mars and saturn. Even without them, because neptune has a tendency to dissolve whatever it is in contact with, its preponderance in the chart of ego formation--this chart of the 1st house of self-identity--is ego-defeating. It promotes a fantastic sense of self which does not bear up in interpersonal encounters.
My research showed predominance of mars and saturn influence to Angles and 3rd houses within the chart in the charts of schizophrenics. Sometimes neptune was involved, sometimes it was not.
Investigation of the 3rd chart (of mind) has shown that the same influence always predominates in schizophrenia: neptune plus a light (sun, moon, node or Angle) is influencing both an Angle (Midheaven or Ascendant) and one of the 3rd houses within the chart. The first condition indicates the whole mind chart is under the influence of neptune. It could be considered a global influence. The second influence--to 3rd houses within it--indicates a specific mind house within the mind chart is influenced by lighted neptune. It is more a local condition. Together they describe a preponderance of neptune for this chart. When neptune preponderates, it promotes states of non-ordinary--tricky, shifting, deceptive, fantastic--reality.
What about the paranoid part of paranoid schizophrenia? Mars becomes part of the Angle/light/neptune influence. Mars' contributes aggression, war, fight-or-flight, and inflammation or “conflagration.” When it is combined with the potentially multiple and non-ordinary realities of neptune, it can create states of extreme fear we identify as paranoid schizophrenia.
The light involved in schizophrenia is usually, but not always, the moon. Our moons represent, among other things, our automatic consciousness. Neptune represents (creative) fantasy. Together--without the influence of other planets--they promote automatic fantasy, that is, ideation without reference to commonly accepted reality.
If one of the non-malefic planets of personality--mercury, venus, or jupiter--is part of the set of light/(mars)/neptune, it reduces the tendency toward schizophrenia. This happens because these planets enable the individual to peg his mental creations on one of the commonly recognized and shared realities of those planets. We tend to share our positive traits because they partake of the quality of charismatic. We suffer our negative ones alone. Anti-charismatic as they are, if we cannot hide them, they will drive others away from us. So, especially when venus or jupiter--the two benefics--share the light/neptune condition, its energy can be turned to something that is attractive. Therefore,
| light/mercury/neptune | enables | creative writing, thinking, fantasy |
| light/venus/neptune | enables | artistic and aesthetic capacities |
| light/jupiter/neptune | enables | religiousness; mysticism |
Before going further, I should say something about my approach to astrology.
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. :
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 one or two Angles, 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. 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.” As it turned out in this paper, house overlaps were not significant. They can be for some other conditions. Throughout this paper 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 Chart Reading Rules
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.
We can now take a look at Nash’s two harmonic charts. The first one is his harmonic chart for the 1st house, also called the 1st chart. (Data and acknowledgments for all charts are at the bottom of this page.)
Notice that Nash’s conception 3rd house contains moon/neptune/neptune which is square mars and also square saturn. All but saturn are harmonic, so this set has strong 1st chart implications. We want to establish how much influence the set has on Angles and 3rd houses in this chart.
The top two show that this set influences two Angles, making it a major influence. Notice no 3rd house rulers are involved. He does have moon/neptune in a 3rd house. The whole set, however, does not influence 3rd houses, but Angles, a 4th house, and c 8th (twice). The fact that his 3rd houses rulers--b sun and c uranus--are not part of this set leaves them free to bring in other 3rd house influences. I have not shown them, but in Nash’s chart one ruler set includes sun/2 venus/jupiter/uranus/saturn where uranus rules c 3rd and sun b 3rd. This means his 3rd houses within this chart have powerful benefic support. His other 3rd house ruler, c uranus in Pisces, is conjunct jupiter (see chart above).
So, globally (influencing the whole chart) Nash’s 1st house chart has conditions which support schizophrenia. Locally (3rd houses within the chart), however, he has only moon and neptune as strong influences, not mars and saturn. Importantly, these also have strong benefic support.
Let’s see what his 3rd house looks like.
Look at the aspects to C Asc (at 2 o’clock). There is a significant change in this chart. Harmonics have produced moon(b3)/saturn(b3)/neptune(c3) to C Asc. None rules Angles or 3rd houses within the chart. Before harmonics were added, he had (in both charts) sun(c)/mercury(c)/saturn(b) influencing C Asc. C mercury rules C MC, but not a 3rd house, so this combined set influences two Angles. B saturn, at two degrees away from his Ascendant, is just within the two degree orb for planets to Angles (without lights). B3 mars (not shown) at 14 Scorpio 32 conjunct his b south node at 15 Scorpio 45. It is weakly influencing the set. I allow a five degree orb for planets/lights to Angles, but 5 degrees is very weak. This set has its orb increased, it is true, by two lights--b3 moon and b South Node, but once again, the further the planet is away from the Angle, the weaker its influence. Three things about this chart are noteworthy:
These constitute 3rd chart conditions for schizophrenia, but only weak paranoid schizophrenia. Mercury, as stated above, mitigates against schizophrenia. In fact, his sun/mercury/neptune in b 3rd house of ordinary mind and simultaneously c 9th of higher mind are part of what inspired Nash to say about himself that “he lived on an ultra-logical plane...breathing air too rare for most mortals.(2)”
Each of Nash's 3rd houses coincides with 9th houses. When that happens, the individual’s ordinary mind is, so-to-speak, co-opted by his higher mind. The same co-option occurs when the ruler of the 3rd--especially a benefic--is in the 9th house, but it is not nearly so comprehensive because planets in the 3rd still behave like 3rd house planets.
So, John Nash has influence enough to promote schizophrenia, but not mandate it. What mandated it? What gave it its timing? Nash’s worst time with his illness was from early 1959 to the early 1970’s. What happened then?
Nash’s birth saturn, which is retrograde, moved to a conjunction of his C Ascendant at 19 Scorpio 37. Below are some of its positions:
| Date | Position of Progressed Saturn |
| at birth | 21 Scorpio 37 R |
| early 1959 (4-1-59) | 19 Scorpio 38 R |
| early 70’s(1-1-72) | 19 Scorpio 07 R |
| 12/10/94 | 18 Scorpio 46 (turned SD the previous year) |
| 12/10/2001 | 18 Scorpio 50 |
| 12/10/2013 | 19 Scorpio 07 |
This table shows in early 1959--when Nash’s progressed birth saturn was in close conjunction of his C Asc and b3 moon, he was no longer able to control his schizophrenic tendencies. He regained some control in the early 1970’s, when progressed b saturn had passed about 1/2° below it. He has stayed in control. His progressed saturn will not return to the place it occupied in early 1959 until 2013. I do not know if then it will precipitate schizophrenia. This illness first manifests during adolescence, so biological or maturational factors are involved. Nash, I understand, did not experience schizophrenia during adolescence. He also did not have pb saturn on his C Asc during adolescence.
At the same time progressed saturn was conjunct this Angle/moon/neptune in his 3rd chart, it was conjunct Angle/jupiter in his 1st chart, spoiling his benefic Angle/jupiter conjunction. It was on the Ascendant in all his charts, but these two are defining for schizophrenia. And at the same time saturn left the Ascendant in his 3rd chart, it left it in his 1st chart, restoring his Ascendant conjunction jupiter. So, Nash's identity was being sieged by saturn at the same time his mind was. It tipped the scales for Nash. He had been borderline schizophrenic with a special creative flair. With this "sinker" he went from being a creative individual to schizophrenic one.
In the Hand quote about neptune and saturn, above, Hand writes of saturn that it sponsors reality. It sponsors reality better when it is safely within a chart. When it is on an Angle, the longer it is there the harsher reality gets. Saturn is, after all, Job's planet. Saturn to an Angle is one of two major conditions we all have when we die.
Nash didn't die. With saturn impeding him, he lost his forward thrust. In that isolation chamber of non-movement, he was susceptible to the eddies and drop-offs we know as schizophrenia.
Progressed secondary saturn conjoining an Angle moves very slowly. It often takes years to move away from the Angle. While it is there it depresses many parts of the individual’s life. It specifically precipitated Nash's borderline condition--schizophrenia.
Nash's progressed secondary saturn was potent in its effect on his life. I thought it worthwhile, therefore, to include progressed secondary saturn as it influenced two other lives. For them, its impact was not primarily mental. First, we go to:
| Date | Position of Progressed Conception Saturn |
| at birth | 25 Scorpio 04 R |
| 1972 (1-1-72) | 24 Scorpio 56 SD |
| 6/12/94 | 25 Scorpio 20 |
Born with c saturn retrograde, when it again approached conjunction her birth MC, she was murdered.
Mrs. Simpson was born in Europe, where birth times are (were?) rounded off to the nearest 15 minutes. I think her birth was three to four minutes earlier because on the date of her death she had pb mars at 19 Cancer 01, conjunct C MC, which is also, like progressed saturn, a little below the Angle. Together she had Angle/mars and Angle/saturn. When we have mars and saturn on Angles, "nothing works." Everything is one step forward, two back, and is usually very painful. Mars and saturn are also on Angles when we die, but their influence plays itself out in different houses than when we do not die.
C7 mars, which is in a set with mars/node/neptune, was the "timer" for her death. When some one is murdered, she will have a lighted mars influence to a 12th house. Mrs. Simpson's pb7 moon (which moves approximately 9 degrees per month) was at 11 Cancer 44 on the day of her death (with c7 mars at 11 Capricorn 35 in b 12th house, ruling c 7th house).
Famous deaths have certain indicators. Nicole had pc7 venus (also ruler of C Asc) at 26 Scorpio 57 on the day she died. It forms a conjunction to her B MC with jupiter, also in Scorpio. They show her fame (venus/jupiter) in death (Scorpio).
In the other example showing the enormous impact of progressed secondary saturn to an Angle, I include the chart of some one who was not, herself, physically or mentally harmed (at least not in terms of a mental illness).
C9 mars rules Mrs. Schlossberg’s c 9th and c 4th houses. Her afflicted B Asc is in c 4th house. Normally--once saturn joins them--these together in a set indicate aviation danger to the individual, the subject of the chart. In Mrs. Schlossberg's case, mercury and 3rd house influences also forefront turned the implications of this chart away from her death and toward her brother’s.
Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg's birth was a famous one. Her reported time is likely accurate. Unlike with Nash and Simpson, her progressing saturn is direct only. On July 16, 1999, the day her brother died, it had moved to 26 Scorpio 05, three minutes from an exact conjunction to her B Asc.
C mercury (around 11:50 o’clock) is included in this partial chart. Her progressed C Asc on July 16 was at 7 Capricorn 27 conjunct it. It gave her another mercury/Angle influence.
Yet another influence was important on July 16. Her pb sun was at 23 Sagittarius 14 opposition her mars/saturn conjunction in Gemini (around 6:15). Mars rules B Asc, giving B Asc another light/mars/saturn influence. Gemini itself, if it isn’t pushing things too far, suggests siblings (mercury ruler) or bad news (mercury ruler).
Was this tragedy avoidable? It is hard to believe John Kennedy, Jr. would have flown had he known the significance of his own, his wife’s, and his sister’s 9th charts. Would some other “height” disaster have happened? Perhaps, if he had been climbing a mountain, or standing too close to the roof of a building. "Fated" is often used as a rationalization--a kind of negative glamour word--after, not before, the fact. "Fated" is difficult, if not impossible, to prove.
Returning to Dr. Nash
Comments below about Dr. Nash relate to Angles and sidereal planets in charts already shown:
I did not even look to confirm homosexual proclivities--located in 7th house charts--in Dr. Nash. I was interested in his public exposure--twice--about his alleged homosexuality. Note his sidereal conjunction of birth moon and mars in Pisces in his b 10th and c 4th houses. By itself elevated moon in Pisces represents an at least partially unfortunate (Pisces) reputation (10th house). [Or an unfortunate (Pisces) woman (moon) in his life. O.J. Simpson had an elevated (9th house side) moon in Pisces.] Also in the 4th house, it will re-surface late in his life. B mars co-rules b 5th house (20 of 48°)--so sex is likely to be part of the scandal. B moon rules b 2nd house: his misfortune will also cause financial loss. He was fired from Rand Corporation following the first accusation.
Lighted mars in Pisces is a painful condition. It also represents some of the public pain he endured as a campus schizophrenic.
These two planets in Pisces have other connotations. Mars and its aspects represent part of our model for men; moon and its aspects represent part of our model for women. Together they imply something unfortunate--suffering, undependable, vague, (possibly alcoholic or drug-addicted), in both his male and female models. Such planets-as-models are mostly unconscious, and formed by the way our caretakers acted more than by what they preached. As models, they later provide us with our main forms of behavior. They define not only what we allow, but also what we seek in significant others. These allowed Nash to be victimized. When he was “in” this type of consciousness--likely a lot when he was schizophrenic, but one does not have to be schizoid to be there--it paralyzed his response to bad behavior from others, thereby encouraging more. Arthur M. Young (cited below) assigned “moment of inertia,” ML², as the measure formula for Pisces. It describes Pisces perfectly, and explains why it demands "faith" of us. It is bad place for mars--the planet of action, reaction, defense and aggression--to be. Some one who cannot act appropriate to the situation had better have faith.
Dr. Nash’s shyness as a child (and later) is shown--there may be other contributing factors--by his B Ascendant conjunction pluto. I covered this Ascendant/pluto extensively in the paper on autism. Briefly, pluto conjunct an Angle means a parent or caretaker--usually the mother--overwhelmed the growing tot so often and so frequently that she interfered with and sometimes even collapsed his normal stages of maturation. It also implies the father--either because of his own vested interests or from simple inattentiveness--allowed it. Since the toddler experienced the world--then, when it was so important--as overwhelming, he learned to be wary of the world. Shyness is often just another word for some one who has not been allowed to develop self-confidence.
Also contributing to Nash's shyness is his b saturn in Scorpio in c 1st house. C Asc first progressed conjunction progressed b saturn at 21 Scorpio 29 in March, 1930. It conjuncted b saturn in May, 1930. Nash was almost two years old. Psychologically, Angle to 1st house saturn in Scorpio represents a profound loss (saturn) of emotional (Scorpio) support. It does not always come from the parents. It can, for instance, occur when a family moves and the child finds the new environement alien. Since his saturns in scorpio are also in Nash's b 6th house (the same condition Dr. Dooley had), he could have been ill or hospitalized. Whatever he actually experienced so young, he likely experienced overtones (undertones?) of it when progressing secondary saturn hit his C Asc. That was when he succumbed to schizophrenia.
When Dr. Nash was informed he had won the Nobel Prize--October 11, 1994--he had pb B MC at 10 Taurus 01, pc10 venus at 10 Leo 40, and c10 NN at 10 Taurus 06, giving him Angle/light/venus. Progressed b jupiter was at 16 Aries 28 conjunct c10 mercury at 16 Capricorn 52. Both jupiter and mercury rule Angles. The combination of the two sets gives him Angle/light/mercury/venus/jupiter forefront--the same thing we all have when we receive honors (venus/jupiter) for our mental (mercury) creations. (In this case, 3rd charts should also be checked for agreement.)
On December 21, 2001, “A Beautiful Mind” was released to eleven theaters and judged worthy of wider viewing. Nash had pb7 venus at 6 Pisces 11 conjunct c jupiter/B MC and opposition C MC, giving him double Angle/venus/jupiter. (His 10th chart should also be checked for agreement.)
Jupiter rules Nash's birth 7th house. The supportive and long-term devotion Nash received from his second wife, Alicia, is consistent with that fact. Within his harmonic chart for his 7th house--the major one, for relationships and life in general--both b jupiter and b7 jupiter receive lights from moons. They are, so to speak, "on" all the time. Jupiter, the greater benefic, influencing marriage yields the long rope of tolerance, kindness, and duration. Venus sponsors love, but jupiter underwrites that which is sensible, supportive, and long-lasting.
Discussion
Nash’s two primary charts indicating schizophrenia established he was borderline schizophrenic. He had all the necessary conditions for the illness, but he also had some mitigating factors. Until progressed secondary saturn came along, he was using his
energy creatively. The long-term influence of progressed saturn precipitated his schizophrenia. Saturn is not primary in defining schizophrenia. Nonetheless, its movement forefront in a chart for a
long period of time fractures what was up until then only a fault line in the personality.
Nash himself stated he came out of his schizophrenia by learning to control it. I think mercury in his light/neptune set helped him do this. But mercury had to in the set in the first place for him to be able to exert such control. Not every schizophrenic has that condition. Even so, it appears progressed saturn, and not mercury's presence in the set, leaving its conjunction to his Ascendant was paramount in his cure.
Personal effort undoubtedly makes some difference. Surely some aspects of personality also contribute or detract from schizophrenia. I recently saw a web site which declared--apparently because of Nash's assertion of his personal triumph over his illness, “schizophrenia can be controlled!” Great, if it is true.
Footnotes
(1) Horoscope Symbols by Robert Hand. Gloucester, MA, Para Research, Inc., 1981,
pp. 75-76. He states the higher sense of neptune is connected to mysticism, creativity, and
positive self-sacrifice for an ideal. I agree with that. I add that charts of all spiritual
teachers examined show their renown and success come not from neptune, but from
light/venus/jupiter influencing the right houses. That is, their success is the same as every one
else’s, it just occurs in the religious area. Without strong benefic support, the outer
planets--including neptune, undoubtedly spiritualizing because it confounds our egotistical
schedules--give humanity their most bizarre mental, physical, and behavioral forms.
(2) From the Biographical Material in Astrodatabank.com.
Bibliography
Young, Arthur M., The Geometry of Meaning. A Merloyd Lawrence Book, with Robert Briggs Associates. Delacorte Press, 1976, p.49 (pb edition).
Data Acknowledgments
John Forbes Nash, Jr.
Birth: 6/13/1928, 7:00 a.m. EST, Bluefield, WVA. AA: from “Astrodatabank.com” Lois Rodden and Mark McDonough. Data
from Barbara C. Taylor who spoke with Nash’s sister, Martha Legg, who gave her the information
from John’s baby book.
Conception:9/5/1927, 1L30:19 p.m. EST, Bow, NY.
Contact the author at: sleeweidner@yahoo.com