Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Astrology of Temple Grandin


HBO offered a biography of Temple Grandin. I will have to wait to for Netflix, but I've already heard it was terrific. The movie is based on her autobiography, Thinking In Picture: and other reports from my life with autism. I read that book when it came out a few years ago, and was mesmerized. She is considered to have "high functioning autistism" or Asperger's Syndrome. She says she sees in pictures, and her memory is like a film she can run at any time to find details she missed. Asked to describe a fence, she says she is unable to conceptualize a generic fence, and instead pulls up every fence she has ever seen into her memory and chooses one to describe! She single handedly changed the way livestock animals are housed and treated, designing the most amazing systems which significantly reduced costs because the animals are secure and unafraid. Turns out fear and stress is not only inhumane, it affects the bottom line because spooked animals injure themselves. She says she thinks more like an animal than like other people. She has since written several other books, and is much sought after for her lectures.
So, what do we see in her chart?
Sun conjunct Venus and Mercury in Virgo. So attention to detail. Healer. Technician. All 3 make exact sextile (the helpful aspect) to Chiron. Chiron as wounded healer works well here. Ostracized and humiliated as a girl, she none the less has been able to use her extraordinary mind to help ease the pain of other creatures. Chiron as maverick also applies: she sure isn't interested in belonging to any group, and had to win approval for her ideas based solely on them working, not her social skills, or group connections. The Moon is always problematic when you don't know the time because it travels 12 degrees in a day. But in this case the Moon is in Aquarius and opposition Pluto Saturn no matter what time she was born. Ain't nobody gonna push this woman around, no siree bob. Obstinate, opinionated, determined. And I noticed that her progressed Sun is at 6 Scorpio, conjunct her Chiron and aspecting her ruling planet Mercury this year. Progressed Mercury and progressed Venus are both conjunct her Jupiter this year, too! You think that has anything to do with a movie of her life with her name in the title?

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