Dr. Alzheimer

Saturn has been on my Mercury for almost a year and that means that Neptune has been opposing. And it will continue to oppose my progressed Mercury for years to come. This made me want to look up the history of the great disease that no doubt is going to curdle my brain with what're they callin it? I can literally feel the plaque building up on my brain, sheets of aluminum are wrinkling out my ears. Who was the guy who first studied this condition?

Dr. Alois Alzheimer
b. June 14, 1864 4:00 am Markbreit, Bavaria, Germany

Sun 24 Gemini; ASC 24 Gemini; Moon 12 Libra; MC 21 Aquarius; NN 17 Scorpio
(chart is available at astrotheme.)

Dr. Alzheimer has a conjunction of Sun-Ascendant-Uranus in Gemini. All are trining his Aquarius Midheaven. Big Time Curiosity and Innovation. His Mercury is in Gemini as well and unaspected (H12). Venus is also in Gemini (H12). The Major Indicators in his chart are all Air except for his Scorpio North Node. That combination gives a lot of detached mental abilities to probe into the deepest problems of human nature through healing and research.

As I'm mostly curious to know if there's a way to discover significators for Alzheimer's, I thought I could just look at his 7th House to find out what signifies Alzheimers since that's the types of patients he preferred. No planets there, Sagg on the Descendant. I've been told that the Sagg ladies hold up quite well into Old Age so I don't know if this is an indicator. Perhaps the Liver (ruled by Sagittarius) is somehow responsible for the disease (just my crazy thought, don't take it seriously).

Pluto and Jupiter are opposed in Alzheimer's chart and layered over his Nodal Axis: Jupiter with North Node, Pluto with South Node. He had another significant opposition of Mars-Neptune in Aries opposite Moon-Saturn in Libra. How appropriate that I look at his chart just as the Saturn-Neptune opposition recedes off of my own Mercury! That's a pretty interesting combination for a psychiatrist. The Saturn-Neptune opposition can give a great feeling for empathy but Mars in Aries opposite the Moon, whew, that could be a pretty emotional combination.

Dr. Alzheimer worked as a psychiatrist and neuropathologist in a Women's Sanitarium. In 1901 he became fascinated by a 51-year old woman with dementia and became obsessed with her symptoms. In his Chart, Venus (women) is in Gemini in the 12th house (institutions, hospitals). Transiting Pluto (obsession) was passing over it at this time. This conjunction was trining his natal MC and squaring his 10th house Chiron. Transiting Neptune (fascination) was also conjunct his natal Uranus and just past exact conjunct with his Sun and Ascendant. Most people become drug addicts under that aspect. It's very interesting that he developed a fascination for someone with dementia during such strong Neptune & Pluto transits.

At this point, Alzheimer was also going through his Nodal Return (North Node in Scorpio with Pluto c. SN-obsession, focus, research). Pluto rules his North Node and this is said to be a most difficult combination of nodes to deal with. No wonder he took on the most difficult disease for study.

The patient, Mrs. Auguste D., died in April 1906. Dr. Alzheimer was able to study her brain through biopsy (Pluto?) which he lectured about on Nov. 3, 1906. Pluto was now passing over his Sun-ASC-Uranus and the Sun was opposing his Pluto and 8 degrees from conjunction with his Scorpio NN. That year, t. Saturn c. n. Chiron. T. Nodes conjunct IC-MC axis. Progressed Moon and Mars c. n.Pluto-South Node (able to get in there surgically). This was the peak of his career.

Perhaps Saturn(age disease)-Chiron combinations can indicate? There's been so much research on this disease during the Saturn-Chiron opposition transit. Since Uranus rules the nervous system it must be involved. It also is conjunct both his Sun and Ascendant and rules his Midheaven (what you're known for).

Dr. Alzheimer died at Age 51 in Breslau, Germany on Dec. 19, 1915. He had caught a bug while traveling on a train which passed quickly into rheumatic fever and kidney failure. This was his Chiron Return, of course, which was also being transited by Jupiter. Transiting Uranus was widely conjunct the South Node and squaring his Natal Node Axis/Jupiter-Pluto opposition, which accounts for the suddenness of his illness.

The significance of the Age 51 which is the time of the Chiron Return, in both Dr. Alzheimer's death and as the age of the woman who attracted him to study this disease makes me wonder if Chiron is not somehow connected with Alzheimer's in some way. It certainly is a disease that defies a cure. What's that other myth? the one about the guy who can't cure his own illness? Oh, forget it.

I haven't figured anything out here as usual. It's interesting to study a doctor's chart with regards to his specialty, especially when he's inspired and truly concerned.