An Unfortunate Pair of Twins (Millard example)

[Jim Eshelman]

Molly, Apr 22, 1970, 5:18 PM EST, Portland, ME
Patricia, Apr 22, 1970, 5:22 PM EST, Portland, ME

They were approximately two months premature. Patricia died at the age of two days of hyaline membrane disease, and Molly survived, but will never be able to walk properly. She has cerebral palsy due to lack of oxygen either at birth or, more likely, in the newborn nursery. She has spastic diplegia [a type of CP]. Her right leg has been operated on, and she has physical therapy twice a week and gets around on crutches.

As the charts of the twins are almost exactly the same, how do we explain why one died and one lived?

...Both infants sustained brain damage... but only Patricia died...

I'm not sure why Millard posed a question of why Molly lived and Patricia died. This would have been a reasonable medical expectation. Both twins were born two months premature, both had brain damage that brought cerebral palsy, and the second one delivered is always at greater risk - especially, as in this case, due to respiratory complications (the delivery process at the time placed the second baby at greater risk of hyaline membrane disease aka infant respiratory distress syndrome.

Nonetheless, it's always fun to play "what are the slight differences here?" with twins charts. In the four minutes separating their births, meaningful differences are hard to see. Here are some of my thoughts, though:

ANGLES: No differences that mean anything.

VERTEX: Here we find some interesting details. Unlike return charts and ingresses, nativities do seem to have Vertex sensitivity, especially (as in this case) where there are no close angularities. Patricia had these azimuths:

270°31' Saturn
271°00' Mercury

Thus, a 0°29' Mercury-Saturn azimuth conjunction within a degree of Vertex with no Mercury-Saturn aspect in longitude or PVL. The problem is, the surviving twin, Molly, has it in a stronger way:

269°50' Saturn
270°19' Mercury

The aspect is 2' closer, Saturn is 10' from the angle instead of 31' off, and their midpoint is within 5' of the angle - all of which are exactly the opposite we would expect. As Mercury-Saturn symbolism is consistent with both brain damage and breathing impact, I would have thought it would show stronger for the one who died. - The one way it seems to express in the surviving twin is restricted mobility, the fact that she will live a life of never walking well.

HOUSE CUSPS: Are exact contacts with house cusps meaningful? These would be taken in PVL, of course - the way that actual Campanus house placements are shown. Looking only at partile contacts for such a narrow birth time difference, Patricia (who died) had Mercury 0°06' past the 8th cusp. Molly, who lived, had Mercury 0°38' before the 8th cusp. I don't think we can draw a distinction from these, even though the one who died (arguably from Mercury causes) had the slightly closer contact.

FIXED STARS ON ANGLES: Patricia (who died) had Pollux 0°05' from MC (using the Star Paran report, i.e., its difference in RA). In PVL, Pollux is 0°04' from MC and Alphecca 0°55' past Ascendant. - Molly, who lived, using the Star Paran report, has Alphecca 0°16' from Asc, Procyon 0°22' from MC, and Deneb 0°59' from Dsc. In PVL, Deneb is 0°44' past Dsc, Procyon 0°27' past MC, and Alphecca 0°11' past Asc. This is a different fix star pattern, with the biggest difference being that Patricia had Pollux (a Mars star) 0°04' from MC and died. This is worth remembering as an interesting example for future star research.

[Jim Eshelman]

Another area we should explore is the Novien. Even the Novien, in the four minutes of time between their births, does not undergo significant changes usually unless Novien angles are valid. I think they are not - and this is a good opportunity to gather a scrap or two of data, perhaps.

In the Novien, both girls have Mercury conj Jupiter (1°01') and square Saturn (1°51'), with Jupiter square Saturn 0°50'. The orbs of these remain identical.

There is, however, one outstanding difference in their Noviens: Moon changed sign! I'm expressed skepticism about the validity of sign placements in Noviens, but this one deserves attention to possibly suggest I'm wrong. Molly (lived) had Novien Moon 29°57' Leo. Patricia (died) had it 0°17' Virgo.

Now, this sign change doesn't outright describe details of their case. Leo feels more vibrant, stronger, etc., while Virgo feels frailer, so in that sense they very broadly fit the case. For Hindu astrologers, of course, this would be a gigantic difference, affecting house rulerships and planet placements in whole-sign (from Moon) houses, etc. but I have no sense any of those distinctions are right.

Nonetheless, Moon changed sign!

Here is what seems a bigger deal, though: Both girls were born with Pluto at 0°49' Virgo. The one who lived had Novien Moon 0°52' from conjunct Pluto (Leo-to-Virgo). The one who died had Novien Moon 0°32' from conjunct Pluto (both in Virgo, same degree of the zodiac). This is very fine-grained, but it is an interesting micro-distinction. (Would we interpret them differently in practice? Probably not. But fine, narrow differences in orbs continue to emerge as extremely important.)


And how about those angles? Their Novien angles are 7-10° different. I don't think angles in a Novien matter, but what do we see here? (I'll use a 3° orb just to concentrate on very close.)

Molly (lived) has MC sq Mars (1°10') in the Novien. Novien MC opposed natal Saturn 1°16' (Novien Mars sq r Saturn 0°06'). These contacts are extremely severe if valid. I would have expected something like this for the twin who died.

Patricia (died) had MC opposite Venus 0°35' in the Novien. That MC is also along the natal Moon-Mercury opposition line (N9 MC to r Mercury 27'). This is quite positive. I would have expected this for the one who lived. It certainly does not show a two-day life struggling for breath as the whole course of one's existence.

My conclusion: The mystery of why one lived and one died is primarily a medical matter: It's what was expected at that time and under those circumstances. Astrology need not provide an answer. Nonetheless, there are differences in which fixed stars were angular and in the Novien Moon's sign that might be descriptive.

[Jim Eshelman]

My analysis of the medical condition overall:

Dr. Millard repeatedly showed great interest in the question of infant survival. As recently as the 1970s when these cases occurred, this was a much bigger issue than today, and it's something astrologers wrote about at least back to Ptolemy. I'm not particularly interested in that - my own interests are in taking the horoscopes of people who are born and live, to see what their life is like. Nonetheless, I've had an eye on the questions of infant survival and prenatal (congenital) conditions, and I'm not all that sure these are identifiable in a chart that begins at the moment of first breath.

In this case, even the question of quality of life brings surprising answers: Jupiter is Molly's strongest planet, due to the close middleground (nearly foreground) Sun-Jupiter opposition. Saturn, in contrast, is middleground, in her Fall, with no aspects at all except wide aspects to both luminaries. Therefore, we do have indication of struggle but with a much stronger signal of an easy life.

This might be the actual case, of course. We have no information on where Molly's life went from there. We don't know her parents' economic conditions, what unusual advantages she maty have had for her condition, how caretaken she was, or what she went on to do with her life.

What we do know is that she was born two months premature with cerebral palsy - a damaged brain. She was expected never to walk normally and was ambulating on crutches. The medical astrology profile, therefore, is quite clear: She has a Libra Moon. Her greatest area of vulnerability was the head.

That Mercury-Saturn azimuth conjunction on Vertex may actually be part of the picture, showing restricted ambulation. It's more important, though, IMHO that Moon's sign shows the actual location of the injury - the head. (Mercury-Saturn might support that.)

[*]Moon-Mercury op 2°21'M (middleground). Brain fluid. Brain activity and its rhythms. Nervous sensitivity or disorder. Fits the CP.
[*]Mars-Neptune op 2°36'M (middleground, nearly background). Illness in general. Toxic or infectious agents; increased sensitivity to chemicals, allergens, foods, or infection. Muscular atrophy, weakness, tires easily (paralysis). The general sense of disability and especially the muscular weakness. (I'd have expected a different body region for the Taurus-Scorpio placement.)

Wider orbs and less background do not seem to fit. Class 1 aspects, not foreground (and preferably background), especially involving Moon, are the obvious fits. The nearly-foreground Sun-Jupiter, middleground Mercury-Venus, and wider (Class 2) middleground Moon-Venus don't seem relevant - at least, to anything we know about.