The Challenge Corner

Zip Dobyns

We had five responses to the Sagittarius Challenge and all five guessed correctly that the first born twin was the neat one. So congratulations to Nancy, Francia, Margaret, Debbie, and Bob. I think having a series of events makes it easier, offering the progressed angles and not just the natal chart. After we finish the Geoffrey Dean research project matching charts to results on the Eysenck psychological questionnaire, I would like to try another series of pairs of charts with a list of events from one person in each pair. I think astrologers could do well with that format. Statistically significant results were achieved by both Vernon Clark’s project, and the later one where we provided the data and it was published by Astrology Now. Most of our respondents noted several of the primary clues. There were dwad changes on MC and Ascendant, and there was an exact conjunction by the south node to the Ascendant and Pluto was closer to the MC for twin two. Twin one has mutable dwads on the two primary angles; twin two has fire dwads on the angles. The mutables tend to be intelligent and flexible, while fire tends to say “I want what I want now.” Of course, we could not assume that the fire would be purely selfish, though that is a possibility. It can simply mean more energy to do things, so the dwads alone could have gone in either direction.

The south node on the Ascendant and square the MC, both aspects exact within one degree, is the strongest indication in the charts of a lesson in personal action and in learning to live within the limits of the law. In contrast to the exact stress aspects for twin two, twin one had Mercury, ruler of the Ascendant, as well as Neptune in close sextile to the Ascendant. There are additional clues in some of the “less-used” factors of astrology. One correspondent mentioned aspects between the planetary nodes and the planets, but both twins had the same aspects, so they are not helpful for discrimination. If we look only at the node aspects to the angles, we can see differences between the two charts. For example, south Vesta is trine the Ascendant for twin one and the Antivertex for twin two. Of the two angles, the Ascendant is more important, showing more likelihood of willingness to work. South Saturn is also trine the Ascendant for twin one and not within the one degree orb to an angle for twin two. Again, the willingness and ability to work is supported for twin one.

Another interesting aspect is the north node of Ceres on the MC of twin one and square her Ascendant. This might suggest ability to work but problems in childbirth (with the square). Often, an unconscious need to work can interfere with ease in producing children. Also, the sense of responsibility (MC) for a child may result in anxiety and tension, and a difficult delivery. The nodes of Neptune are also interesting. Twin one has north Neptune octile her MC and Ascendant. Twin two has south Neptune trioctile the same two angles. The south nodes do seem a bit more of a challenge. Arabic Parts are also intriguing. Twin one has Part of Mars and Part of Uranus late in cardinal signs; twin two has them early in fixed signs, implying possibly more fixed will. Going even farther afield, heliocentric Mars is at 27 Pisces for both twins, but it falls on the Descendant for twin two. For twin one, its position in the sixth house says “I can do the work.” In the seventh house, Mars in any form may say others have the power; they should do it. Mars on the Descendant can also indicate power struggles with the world, or a general defensiveness. Sometimes, parallels to the angles can discriminate, but in this case the only difference was that twin one had Juno parallel the East Point while twin two had Juno parallel the Antivertex. I have not found a clear difference between these two auxiliary Ascendants, so consider these aspects equivalent.

The clearest way to distinguish the two charts involved the use of current patterns for the events in the lives, even though some were closely related in time (babies a month apart, for instance). Some of our correspondents sent in a list of progressed angles that discriminated between the twins. Since our readers know how to calculate angles, it is probably not necessary to list a page of such aspects, but there were fitting patterns. For example, when both had a child, twin one had progressed MC trine natal Moon while twin two had progressed MC opposite natal Jupiter. Both show a possible change involving home and family with Jupiter in the fourth house and the Moon the natural ruler. But one married before having the baby, and the other did not marry until 1943-4. Even if we only looked at Juno, we would be able to discriminate with that much data. Juno progressed to the seventh cusp for twin one when she was mid-teens. It did not reach the seventh cusp for twin two until she was in her early thirties, when she actually did marry. I think the value of Juno is supported by this set of twins.

Bob even did kinetic solar returns for the year when the twins experienced events. I did not have exact dates for the events, which made judgment more difficult, but in spite of this, our guessers can pat themselves on the back on this challenge.

Our challenge for the Pisces issue again is female twins. They are identical, born on Sept. 30, 1951 in Chester, PA. One was born at 12:30 A.M. and one at 12:34 A.M., just four minutes later; both EDT, so the standard time would put the births just before midnight on Sept. 29.

One twin left home at an early age, joined a religious order, and married the group leader. She had a pre-marital miscarriage April 1970; another miscarriage August 1980, after she and her husband left the commune in 1979. She has since tried to conceive a child but has been unsuccessful.

The other twin stayed home to take care of her mother. She was in a bad auto accident in May 1970, and incapacitated for six months. She had an abortion in May 1980. The male involved was in a seminary and decided to remain with his commitment to the priesthood. This twin is now having an affair with a priest.

Interesting family attraction to religious leaders with Capricorn on the seventh cusp. Have fun.

Copyright © 1982 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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