posted October 10, 2005 10:03 PM              

There's alot of talk about orb and what that means in terms of how strong an aspect is, or even if it is an aspect. I'm pretty liberal on this - planets are in aspect one way or the other, it's just determining what aspect and how "tight" it is.

However in reviewing chart of some pretty severly ill people, I noticed *several* tightly orbed ( >2 degrees) major aspects (maninly conjucntion, squares and oppositions). Often times the aspects were connected by a shared planet. More importantly, there was at least two or more of this tightly orbed aspects were considered (in my opinion) pertaining to the native's mental illness.

Example: person A has Bipolar disorder, with psychotic episodes and aggressive behavior towards others, with frequent high acuity (severity). Person A has been ill since childhood and hospitalized several times since a teen.

A's chart has two problematic conjunctions, both 1 degree apart, that square one another. A's Cap Moon and Neptune (fall and detriment) are conjunct and intercepted in the 3rd (mental processes). Ok, that conjunction is bad enough on it's one. But A also has it tightly squaring an Aries Mars and Venus conjunction one degree apart in the 6th (the other Mercurial house, so this effects mental processes too). This could explain a lot of A's illness, and why it manifests with psychosis and outward aggression (Bipolar disorder does not necessarily present with psychosis or aggression in all cases).

Now, as part of my little research project here, I did a follow up on A, and was told by A's mother that around the time transiting Mars in Taurus went retro, A suffered yet another acute episode and had to be hospitalized again. (Side note of interest: when Mars went retro, it was conjunct A's natal Chiron.)

While tr Mars wasn't tightly aspecting that above-mention Moon/Nep-Mars/Venus squaring, it *was* tightly squaring (by 1 degree) A's Sun, which is tightly squared Saturn (by 1 degree) forming a very tight t-sqaure with tr Mars *at the time it went retro*. This t-square's apex would have been A's Sun, and A's Sun is *sextiled* the moon-neptune conjunction, which is squared Mars-Venus...you get the picture.

So, it would seem, that went Mars went retro, it triggered a domino effect of tightly orbed aspects in A's chart. The tighter orbs may mean more intense reaction to this transit, and A's case, it triggered an acute episode of A's chronic and recurrent illness.

Now this is just one case. Three other charts that I was able to follow up on and get updates on the natives, all three I found were undergoing a very difficult time with their illnesses, although none as severely as person A's situation (A is a particularly severe case to begin with).

My theory: in charts of someone severely ill, tightly orbed aspects may indicate:

1- higher acuity of the illness, the possibly a chronic condition or a condiiton non-responsive to treatment
2- potential of raised acuity by transits tightly orbed with natal planets
3- when transits go retro, there may also be potential of raised acuity if transit tightly orbs natal planets
4- overall tightly orb aspects, especially if afflicted to begin with, are more sensitive to triggers that start off crises for the native. In teh case of a mentally ill antive, this could be an excerbation of their present illness

posted October 10, 2005 10:53 PM            

Your informal study -- and your conclusions -- are fascinating!! My first close-up encounter with bipolar was my ex -- you've given me some excellent food for thought and astro-explorations back into our time together.....

Thank you for sharing this with us