Scheat: A Beautiful Mind or as fragile as glass?
Written on October 14, 2007 by Pete
last night, after watching again that superb movie, “A Beautiful Mind”, about the troubled genius Prof John Nash, I felt inspired to check out his parans to see if visual astrology could throw some light on either his schizophrenia, his mental genius, or both.
(Click to enlarge chart)
John Nash was born on 13th June 1928 in Bluefield, West Virginia, at 7.00 am EDT. I haven’t yet got the hang of uploading a chart, so forgive me for not including it. (Edit note from Bernadette - I have added the chart for you)
A brief bio:
In September 1948 Nash entered Princeton where he showed an interest in a broad range of pure mathematics: topology, algebraic geometry, game theory and logic were among his interests but he seems to have avoided attending lectures. Usually those who decide not to learn through lectures turn to books but this appears not to be so for Nash who decided not to learn mathematics ’second-hand’ but rather to develop topics himself. In many ways this approach was successful for it did contribute to him developing into one of the most original of mathematicians who would attack a problem in a totally novel way. In 1949, while studying for his doctorate, he wrote a paper which 45 years later was to win a Nobel prize for economics. During this period Nash established the mathematical principles of game theory.
From 1952 Nash taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but his teaching was unusual (and unpopular with students) and his examining methods were highly unorthodox. During his time at MIT Nash began to have personal problems with his life which were in addition to the social difficulties he had always suffered. In the summer of 1954, while working for RAND, Nash was arrested in a police operation to trap homosexuals. He was dismissed from RAND. A long sad episode followed which included periods of hospital treatment, temporary recovery, then further treatment. His wife eventually divorced Nash, although she continued to try to help him, and after a period of extreme mental torture he appeared to become lost to the world, removed from ordinary society, although he spent much of his time in the Mathematics Department at Princeton. Slowly over many years Nash recovered. Despite spending periods in hospital because of his mental condition, his mathematical work continued to have success after success. He said:-
I would not dare to say that there is a direct relation between mathematics and madness, but there is no doubt that great mathematicians suffer from maniacal characteristics, delirium and symptoms of schizophrenia.
In the 1990s Nash made a recovery from the schizophrenia from which he had suffered since 1959. His ability to produce mathematics of the highest quality did not totally leave him. Nash was awarded (jointly with Harsanyi and Selten) the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economic Science for his work on game theory.
I was particularly interested in checking the stellar parans to his Mercury, which in his chart is rising in Cancer conjunct Pluto and trine to his Pisces M.C. Traditionally, Mercury is the significator of science and mathematics. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Mercury doesn’t receive any parans whatsoever! Nor, interestingly does his Sun!
What I did discover was that at the moment of his birth, Nash had the star Scheat - beta Pegasi - culminating at his Midheaven. Scheat embodies all the principles of the geometric square: a love of and a talent with logic and intellectual thought. It turns out that Nash isn’t the only intellectual genius born with this placement: Einstein also had it, and they also shared the presence of Markab - alpha Pegasi - at culmination, a star noted for it’s gifts of endurance and steadiness. One cosmic difference between the two men is that Einstein possessed two stellar parans to his Mercury. Hamal rose with it ( “a quick sharp mind that is willing to take risks with ideas”; “the detective’s mind that probes and explores options.”) and Alkes rose as his Mercury set, ( “a careful thinker who undertakes detailed and precise work.” ) This is a man whose theory of Relativity has become a sacred vessel that physics has venerated for many decades. Could it be that one reason Nash’s mind became such a deep, dark well of tortured delusion that has haunted him for over 50 years is because his Mercury is so prominently placed natally (Sun-ruler, rising and conjunct Pluto) yet recieves no stellar parans to modulate the powerful blast of intellectual energy coming from Scheat? Is it possible that Scheat carries with it not just the potential for mental brilliance and real intellectual acuity but also the threat of shattering one’s mental balance? It’s worth noting in this regard that Judy Garland also had Scheat culminating at birth yet with no Mercury parans and the same goes for serial killer Fred West.
Perhaps Scheat offers such a powerful blast of sharp, intensely focused mental energy that one’s natal Mercury needs other stellar ingredients to modify it, otherwise there is the danger of mental collapse. It’s possible, and certainly worth thinking about, but not too intently - just in case…
Any comments?
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Hi Pete
Yes I agree
I think there is much to be considered when a planet has no parans - it is like they are “on their own”, as you suggest. I simply collect cases like this until a picture forms for me. So thank you for this example.
Re Scheat
When I first started working with Scheat it had a really bad press from Robinson but, like you have spotted it is most strong in charts of people that are reknown for their minds. But also with Nash what I like about his chart is the stars on his angles (as you mentioned with his MC)
STARS ON ANGLES AT MOMENT
Scheat - Culminating at the Mid-heaven orb 00 mins 52 secs -
A physically talented, or gifted, person
Markab - Culminating at the Mid-heaven orb 00 mins 02 secs -
Physical and mental endurance and reliability
Bellatrix - Rising at the Ascendant orb 00 mins 52 secs -
A life full of struggle but also success, a battler
Alphecca - Setting at the Descendant orb 01 mins 33 secs -
Opportunities in life that are followed by hardship or loss
Also I think his Moon and Mars are a strong part of his story and the parans to his Mars are:
Mars - Motivation, energy, libido
Culminating when Procyon is Rising orb 00 mins 19 secs -
Stops and starts, many changes to one’s career, or life path
Setting when Pollux is Culminating orb 00 mins 57 secs -
Expressing unpopular or even dangerous opinions
On Nadir when Altair is Rising orb 00 mins 35 secs -
Bold and at times rash action
On Nadir when Spica is Culminating orb 01 mins 22 secs -
A designer, or a person who plans, plots, draws or performs
Which shows not so much his genius but his difficult social positon. Also in going for the more visual side. His Sun and Venus are right in the horns of the Bull - have a look at the sky map for his time of birth. So his is not going to be a quiet life.
Finally, and I have no idea what it means, but his Mercury is right on the point on the ecliptic where Pluto cross from south to north. This happens once a Pluto cycle and is un effected by precession. Pluto splits the twins of Gemini every 248 years and Nash was born with his Mercury not only conjunt Pluto but right on this crossing point.
All food for thought!
Thanks for the post Pete
cheers
Bernadette Brady
>Finally, and I have no idea what it means, but his Mercury is right on the point on the ecliptic >where Pluto cross from south to north. This happens once a Pluto cycle and is un effected by >precession. Pluto splits the twins of Gemini every 248 years and Nash was born with his >Mercury not only conjunt Pluto but right on this crossing point.
Now that IS interesting isn’t it? But I haven’t a clue what it means either!
I’m intrigued by the fact that Nash has the circumpolar Thuban culminating in paran to Jupiter. His mind truly was a treasure trove of knowledge and information, as was that of Paul Julius Reuter, who founded the news agency that bears his name.
Cheers,
Pete
One of the features of parans is that we can have someone like John Nash with his Jupiter a 1 degree Taurus with a paran to Thuban but also we can have Culpeper with his Jupiter at 26 Sag, also with a paran to Thuban. For most latitudes a person can get a planet in paran with almost any star so that for each individual the entire spectrum is available (within latitude limits). Where as if one simply projects the stars to the ecliptic then a star is a reflection of a zodiacal degree and thus they are “generalised” across all people with Jupiter or Saturn, etc, at a particular degree. But parans provide a much boarder palette so we do not need to use hundreds of stars, just the one’s which are loaded with myth.
But what would be interesting would be to look at some other charts with Mercury around 12 Cancer, which in this era is the Pluto crossover point - there is another one of course in the constellation Sagittarius.
Right must rush
Bernadette
I recentley have watched the film and like pete immediately was intrigued to look at the stars at work For John Nash and was immediately dissapointed to see nothing contacting contacting the mercury.
On a purely horoscope level it seems important looking at the midpoints. Using 90 degrees. The Moon/Uranus is exact to the minute to Mercury/Pluto. But i fondmore intriguing was the Asc being on the Mid point between the 12th house Gemini sun and the 1st house Pluto. The abstact mind meeting the unconscious realms in the real world. I don’t have access to Elbertin’s synopsis of these unfortunately.
On the fixed stars. i was drawn to the culminating parans. Looking at the skymap the fluid (Moon) mental energy of the Mars in aries is contained in the fish of constellation of Pisces. Taken a bit from Liz Greenes ‘Astrology for Lovers’ on the myths, this is the meeting of the mortal world of facts and figures with the divine realm of dreams and magic. Each world must be aknowledged. To contact the divine a sacrifice must be made. Having Spica there seems to exagerate this. A great gift is bestowed but at a great price. Jupiter only has one contact in the parans and it is circumpolar so a little out of control maybe. Jupiter expands the seeker of secret treasures Thuban. In the film he collected vast realms of data from clippings. Pollux with Mars again seems to want to find a dark side to the magical beauty in his mind. The immortal dark fish was tugging hard.
Perhaps Spica can have its little nemesis also. It is a star of the constellation Virgo and perhaps does not sit happy with any planet resting in Pisces?