Genie

Watched a NOVA DVD called Secret of the Wild Child about a 13-year old girl who was discovered in 1970 in Los Angeles, California. She had been imprisoned in her home her whole life; tied to a toilet during the day and caged in a huge crib at night. She was beaten by her father if she tried to talk so subsequently she never learned how to talk. Her story is available on Wikipedia here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child). This girl, Genie, was discovered on Nov. 4, 1970 when her Mother ran away from the home and was applying for aid from a social agency. Both of the girl's parents were taken into custody. The Father killed himself and the mother was let go.

Genie was taken on by a bunch of Doctors and Psychologists who spent the next 4 years testing her, training her and trying to understand language development through her. The video mentions that she triggered all kinds of "Rescue Fantasies" in them. In the pictures shown she is an extremely charming young girl. Unfortunately, her development was impaired by the extreme isolation and abuse of her early years. Her walk was odd, like a rabbit, and she had almost no language skills. The few words she knew were mostly negative, a sign that she had only really heard abusive.

The psychologists who were taking care of her lost their funding when Genie turned 18 and the work with her stopped. She was turned over to her Mother who tried to care for her for a few months. When the Mother couldn't manage, Genie was put into multiple Foster Homes which also couldn't care for her, even abused her. She was put into a group home where she has been living ever since.

What initially caught my attention from an astrological point of view were the Neptunian aspects of this "Wild Child" story, especially as compared with another "Wild Child" story presented on the DVD from 170 years earlier. On Jan. 8, 1800 a boy, later called Victor, around 12 years old, appeared in a town in Germany. He apparently had been living in the forest and was mostly wild and couldn't speak. A Scientist took him in, studied him, and after finding that he couldn't improve his development further sort of cast him off. The DVD discusses how both children were perhaps exploited by the researchers. Wikipedia has a list of other examples of kids who are abandoned and then survive in the wilderness, or are imprisoned in isolation and don't develop social skills. What sets Genie and Victor apart from those stories are their celebrity appeal. The DVD talks about how the timing for research into their problems seems to have been just right for the Scientific community's interest. And amazingly, there's a really astonishing connection between these two because they were both discovered while Neptune was in Scorpio, 170 years apart (a Neptune Return is 172 years).

Scorpio is the sign of Research and Neptune rules Imprisonment, institutionalization, isolation, fantasies, compassion, "hopeless cases." Another Neptunian coincidence is that Genie's case was made even more spectacular and appealing to Scientists because a movie (Neptune) by Francois Truffaut about Victor's life and this movie just happened to have been released the week after The timing is really uncanny.

The two dates for these kids' "emergence" also show other remarkable connections. The Sun of Victor's emergence is at 20 Capricorn. The day that Genie was found the Moon at noontime was at 18 Capricorn. Uranus in Virgo of Victor's chart is conjunct Pluto in Virgo in Genie's chart. (This is conjunct Genie's natal Jupiter.) Virgo is the sign of health and clinics.

Genie's birth date is listed on Wikipedia:

"Genie"
b. April 18, 1957 Los Angeles, CA (not sure about Place?)

Sun 29 Aries; Moon Sagittarius; NN 20 Scorpio
"Genie" was born with a Sun-Venus conjunction in Aries opposite Neptune at 1 Scorpio Rx. This explains both her magnetic appeal and also victimization. Her chart is almost all Fire with out-of-bounds Mars (abuse?). Neptune is a singleton in Water further emphasizing its presence in her chart. Additionally the Sun-Venus to Neptune opposition is in a t-square squared by apex Uranus at 3 Leo. Sun-Venus conjunctions happen every 18 months so this would have maybe hooked into the fatal visit with the Doctor. Genie's Sun progressed into Taurus around Age 2 as well. Taurus is a slower sign so she may have exhibited some sort of change of behavior which alarmed her parents. It was also exactly opposite Neptune for this year which explains the victimization, confusion and misunderstanding and overall bad parenting. I think that Age 2 is around potty training time.

Her Saturn is Retrograde in Sagittarius possibly conjunct her Moon which explains problems through parents; of course nobody would expect to this degree. Both of her parents were older, her Father 20 years her Mother's senior so it would make sense to see a Moon-Saturn conjunction in this chart.

Genie's Mercury tells her story very well. Natally it is at 19 Taurus conjunct her South Node at 20 Taurus. Because of Retrograde it has been in conjunction with her South Node for her entire life. This all squares her natal Chiron in Aquarius. Prog.Mercury is just now moving away from the South Node as she is having her Chiron Return. Perhaps her life will be greatly improved by the attention that the Nova show and websites will bring. The ability to heal others while suffering an incurable wound is certainly strong in her life. The Scorpio North Node in aspect to Mercury and Chiron in Aquarius (experimentation) certainly matches the interest she sparked in the field of Psycholinguistics which studies the effects of psychology on language development.

When she was found in 1970, Genie's progressed Sun, p.Venus and t. Saturn were conjunct her Taurus South Node and Natal Mercury. And a huge stellium of transiting planets, Sun, Jupiter, Mercury and Venus were conjunct her Scorpio North Node (research, psychology).