William Bates

William Bates was a 19th Century M.D. who invented eye exercises that are said to cure some eye conditions. But, as is common amongst the conservative Medical crowd, one can never be accepted if one can treat a condition that is known to be untreatable. Bates managed to "fix" some of the other Doctor's myopia problems in the school where he taught and this led to his firing. After reading about his life I can only say God help the poor fool who finds a cure for Cancer and Heart Disease. And also, somebody please write a bio on this guy, he's fascinating.

In addition to his apparent successes in improving vision problems through relaxation and focusing exercises, Bates did experimental research in Memory and discovered Adrenaline.

William Bates' book of eye exercises, "Perfect Sight without Glasses" is available online at www.iblindness.org/books/bates.

William Bates
b. Dec. 23, 1860 Newark, NJ

Sun 3 Capricorn, Moon probably Taurus, maybe Aries; NN 23 Capricorn

The eyes, in general, according to Rex Bills are ruled by Aries, the Sun and H1. Eye diseases are generally ruled by the Moon. I don't have time of birth for Bates so don't know his 1st house aspects. His Capricorn Sun, however, is strongly aspected by all the outer planets except Uranus. It's in a Grand Trine with Saturn in Virgo and Pluto in Taurus, and maybe also trining his Moon. Bates' Sun also trines Jupiter in Leo and squares Neptune in Pisces. Except for maybe the trine to his Moon, his Sun does not aspect any of his personal planets. I wonder if strong aspects to outer planets gives good distance vision and strong aspects to inner planets gives better close up vision. Given the rulerships of the Sun and the Moon on the Eyes it would certainly make sense if Bates had a trine between the two, especially involved in a Grand Trine with Moon conjunct Pluto, the planet of change and transformation, also of the glands and of deep relaxation.

Bates had two t-squares:

Apex Saturn 10 Virgo squaring Mercury 12 Sagittarius opposite Uranus 10 Gemini (Great for innovation and experimental research)
Apex Venus 29 Scorpio squaring Chiron 25 Aquarius opposite Jupiter 27 Leo.

Since his eye exercises involve both relaxing (Relaxation ruled by Venus) and focusing (ruled by Pluto no doubt, maybe also Saturn) I suspect that Venus in Scorpio is key to his innovations, although I haven't figured out how this figures in. Bates graduated from Cornell in 1881 and had developed his exercises by 1891 when he was fired. So, I looked up his progressions for 1889 and Venus does figure prominently. Prog. Venus was conjunct his natal Sun and trining his Pluto, Moon?, Jupiter, and Saturn. There was also a conjunction of Neptune and Pluto at end of Taurus, early Gemini during these years which would have opposed his n. Venus. Also, his chart might be another example of a Taurus Moon with great healing abilities, Taurus Moon disposits to Venus. The Taurus Moon people are very calm and unassuming, that alone bestows great healing abilities.

The discovery of the substance that would later be isolated into Epineprine occurred in May, 1886. Prog. Venus had just changed signs from Sagittarius into Capricorn. Neptune and Pluto were within opposition of natal Venus. And Jupiter, Uranus and Saturn were lined up into squares with Bates' Sun which I guess produces discoveries that are easier to accept on a social level.

I have to admit, I got sidetracked by Bates' life story and I don't have any insight on where his abilities to work with vision are from. He experienced a sudden amnesia in midlife and disappeared. His wife searched and searched for him but died before he was found. Supposedly this had happened once before, his wife found him, and then he disappeared again. In one account, a fellow eye doctor found Bates practicing out of an office in South Dakota and brought him back to New York. I found the date for his disappearance to be August 30, 1902, New York City. At this time, he was going through both his Uranus opposition and his Neptune Square. These are the disorienting mid-life crisis aspects. Natally, he had a Sun-Neptune square so this was a strong transit for him; he was probably a little lost all the time anyway. Natally, Neptune is in its own sign of Pisces and conjunct Mars.

His Nodes were also under fire. Transiting Saturn and prog. Venus were both conjunct his natal NN and squared by the transiting NN in Libra. Prog. Mars was in Aries revving up on the transiting South Node on the other side. There was an opposition of t.Uranus in Sagittarius to Pluto in Gemini that squared his natal Mars, great for travel, so to speak. He did end up out in the Wild Wild West, just couldn't remember how he got there. All these guys driving around in their red porsches have a similar story no doubt. The Day he left, the T. Sun hit his natal Grand Trine and he was off and running.

Bills list rulerships for both amnesia and aphasia as Mercury-Pluto. T. Pluto was opposing t.Uranus (aspecting t-square) and was squared by t. Mercury in Virgo that day. There are a few more hits between Mercury and Pluto through progressions, the big one being that prog.Sun and Mercury were in conjunction and widely squaring n. Pluto. The t. Sun hit Bates' natal Saturn and set off the Grand Trine. Blammo! Next thing you know you've set up a new practice in South Dakota. This led Bates to study Memory and Memory's effects on Vision.

Rex Bills lists rulerships

For eyes, in general: Aries, Sun, H1 (Uranus, Aquarius, Neptune, Moon, Mercury)
Eyesight: Mercury

For eyesight, defective (Moon):

Myopia, Near-Sightedness: Moon
Astigmatism: not listed
Hyperopia: Moon (Far-Sightedness: Moon, Neptune)
Cataracts: Sun
Presbyopia (difficulty reading in old age): (Moon)