Child diagnosed with epilepsy

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My 7 year old grandson has had several seizures which come upon him in his sleep.
The doctors have diagnosed this as Complex Partial Seizure disorder, a form of epilepsy.
It is partial because the seizures are not grand mal and complex because the seizure begins in one area of his brain but affects other areas as well. Today he goes in for a scan to see if there is any abnormal structure in his brain which would warrant surgery.

He is at the top of his 2nd grade class. He reads well above his grade level and can do most of the multiplication table. He is an extremely smart, precocious and charming child. Very sensitive, caring and helpful to others. Has a social consciousness already at 7. Very interested in learning new things. Possible near genius and will probably skip a class soon if it doesn?t cause social disruption. Not competitive in sports. Double and triple jointed and can bend himself into nearly-impossible postures. A middle child in a very loving family. Funny. Can keep a straight face while pulling your leg. Understands deep soulful things you would not expect of such a young child.

I?ll post his chart -
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Chart without aspect lines, natal, progressed and transits
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Re: Child diagnosed with epilepsy

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~Kent~ wrote:My 7 year old grandson has had several seizures which come upon him in his sleep.
The doctors have diagnosed this as Complex Partial Seizure disorder, a form of epilepsy.
I'm sorry to hear this of a so small child.

I have little to say, but considering nobody would jump in this thread, I gave a quick look to the chart.

This is the birth chart less crowded:
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I'm cautious to enter because I cannot see anything of what I would search: Mercury and Moon are in trine (better the Moon is applying to Mercury as first aspect).

Anyway Saturn is angular in the first house and Moon is separating from Mars (anyway according Ptolemy it should be Saturn to attack the Moon in a day chart.)

Benefics don't offer any help, they are in aspect with Mercury/Moon or malefics.

Another thing is the opposition between Moon and Mars is in practice an irreceptio, Moon is in Mars fall and Mars is in Moon detriment.

This is the New Moon preceding the birth
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with the opposition of the malefics along the meridian.

Anyway is it a severe form of disease? Significators are not so negative, and Moon and Mercury are in aspect let me think for the best,

margherita
Traditional astrology at
http://heavenastrolabe.wordpress.com

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Since I promised myself to take an astrology break for a while, I'll keep it short.

Note that extremely exact Venus Neptune conjunction in the natal chart.
That would fit with the symbolism of sleep and the not being 'grand mal' seizure. I don't know much about the terminology but had a short look on the internet to see what was meant.

Speaking about transits (in the other thread), note how close the semisquares of Uranus to the Venus-Neptune conjunction and the semisquare of Pluto to the MC. Both close to exact. Pluto will approach natal Mars and opposite natal Moon soon.

Apart from the astrology stuff and my mention of semisquares which aren't accepted by all astrologers, I hope the child will be allright and that a surgery won't be necessary.

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Thank you both.
I am just off to watch his school's Halloween parade and carnival.


Margherita you said: Another thing is the opposition between Moon and Mars is in practice an irreceptio, Moon is in Mars fall and Mars is in Moon detriment.

I have not read about "irreceptio" but noticed that his Moon is in domicile and his Mars is exhalted. I thought this would bring forth some of the better qualities of both planets even though they are in difficult opposition. I figured early conflict and having to deal with the difficulty may give way to a productive cooperation of Moon and Mars.

But current transits of Pluto conjunct natal Mars and oppose Moon, trans. Uranus square natal Mars and Moon, and trans. Saturn square natal Mars and Moon brings the natal Moon opposition Mars into crisis and tension.

I can't answer whether or not his condition is severe as we are in the early stages of diagnosis.

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~Kent~ wrote: I have not read about "irreceptio" but noticed that his Moon is in domicile and his Mars is exhalted. I thought this would bring forth some of the better qualities of both planets even though they are in difficult opposition. I figured early conflict and having to deal with the difficulty may give way to a productive cooperation of Moon and Mars..
Inreceptio is the opposite of reception: when a planet is received in its debility.
I see that here both planets are in their signs but the Moon just left Mars, where she found her detriment and viceversa.

Best example of inreceptio is when planets are peregrine, but even in this case the planets exchange their debility.

Anyway as I told you the fact that Moon is going to Mercury is a very good sign for me.

margherita
Traditional astrology at
http://heavenastrolabe.wordpress.com

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Kent, how great to have such an intelligent and talented grandson.

I don't claim expertise in medical astrology, but I pulled some books off my shelf and looked up convulsions (I don't know if he has these, however), seizures, and epilepsy. Most were not much help, at least in relation to your grandson's chart. Diane L. Cramer's Dictionary of Medical Astrology had the fullest treatment. She doesn't cite her specific sources, but gives a bibliography of about 3 dozen modern astrology and medical books.

For epilepsy she lists:
Uranus prominent (? elevated, well aspected)
Mercury cadent and afflicted by Mars, Saturn, or Uranus (possibly could count the wide square to Saturn)
Mercury stresses Uranus (no)
Uranus in the 3rd house (no)
sun=Uranus/Neptune (no)
Uranus=Moon/Venus (no)
Uranus=Sun/Neptune (not exact, but pretty close)

For seizures she lists:
Uranus (??)
Saturn Uranus (if anything, there's a wide trine)Ascendant=Jupiter/Uranus (no)

For convulsions:
Uranus
Prominent Mercury/Mars
Moon Mars Uranus (moon opp. Mars, both favourable to Uranus)

This doesn't look like a heap of explanation to me! We do see more Uranus-Mercury-Mars activity if we look at house cusp rulers, however.

But your grandson's chart seems to show a very sensitive child, with his Pisces/Cancer placements, as well as a lively and perhaps excitable Gemini rising. I note that he also has Pluto and Saturn square sun/Mercury, which suggests a lot of developmental pressures. Although this isn't a medically correct diagnosis, I wonder if his nervous system just gets overloaded.

Also, traditional and many modern astrologers discount the asteroids and planetoids, but I note that Daniel has Pallas up there, right between his sun and Mercury. I don't think the function of Pallas is well understood, but it seems to relate to our mental faculties and may be worth watching.

I was curious to note that these seizures occur at night, so I wondered whether he has nightmares during these episodes. The moon, Pluto, and sometimes Neptune seem especially related to the subconscious. Also, has your grandson always had these seizures, or can their onset be timed to particular transits or solar arcs?

Just one last note, that given the prevalence of autism in young children today, some people think that it is more appropriate to look at neural "differences" rather than "disorders." This is the individual's own determination to make. But it strikes me sometimes when a poster asks about an illness and nothing too negative really pops out of the chart, whether the native incarnated with a mission, for which the disability is actually a constructive part of the process. With Daniel's NN in the 12th house, this might be so.

Daniel is lucky to have such a caring grandfather and family.

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Waybread ?

Thank you for looking into those medical books. In my library I have nothing on medical astrology. It is possible that Daniel had seizures before anyone noticed since the pattern they follow is to occur during sleep. He has a disruptive sleep pattern and is sometimes awake while everyone else in the house is asleep. All I can say for sure is this issue has come to our attention now and he?s had 3 seizures that we know of.

Yesterday he showed me the picture they took of his brain. They gave him a copy when his grandma asked. He is very interested so I explained what little I know about the different areas.
He pointed to a small area and said this is where fear is. And he made me notice how little it was. Not big enough to contain much fear. He identifies very much with super heroes like most of his peers. His perceptions are so dear to me. I told him about the amygdala being the seat of fear and where we experience flight-flight and how it?s one of the oldest reptilian brain structures.

In a few days the scan will be read by a specialist to tell us if there is an abnormality.

I have read Moon in Aries is supposed to have some connection with epilepsy which led me to look at his Moon opposed Mars. Those 3 oppositions in his chart are all within 3 degrees! But as a child I would expect him to feel the lunar aspect more powerfully. And that is the aspect activated by current transits of Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter and Pluto. And by Whole Signs, Mars rules his 6th house of health and sickness, among other things. I have also read that the Moon represents the physical brain. If this is true the opposition from Mars may be some kind of over stimulation or an overdrive condition of some sort. I am really grasping at straws.

A primary consideration is to prevent him from having a seizure at school. You know how kids are. They would mock him and isolate him. Most kids do not automatically feel sympathy for the disadvantaged like Daniel does. The treatment I fear he would receive would not be as kind as the treatment he would give. The social impact of this condition can be very serious for children.

He came into this world with the Saturn opposition Pluto aspect that was a signature of 9/11 and because his Sun is square both ends I think it?s personal to Daniel the issues around 9/11 and these greatly polarized times of empowered terrorists and the subsequent empowerment of a potentially reactionary force to fight terrorism. And he is born a week before America invaded Iraq. The children born during these historic times have a important destiny before them I think. At each of the 7 year periods after their birth (2010, 2017, 2024, 2031) Saturn will come into difficult aspect with their natal Saturn and natal Pluto.

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From what I see, Saturn in the first in this particular chart is an affliction to the health of the native as their are no good planets to intervene; add to that, Mercury is in square aspect to Saturn (quite a wide orb). Gemini can signify mental related illnesses.

Another concerning thing is the negative Moon/Mars opposition as Mars rules the native's illnesses in this case; Moon aspecting Mercury as she opposes Mars in my opinion is an indicator of epilepsy.. and Moon/Mercury are natural rulers of the mind, and stability of it. So Mars threatens that.

I hope that everything works out well for him. I've heard of people with epilepsy who have very productive lives (I had a teacher with epilepsy who spoke about his experiences).

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Thank you R.A.
With regard to a productive life with epilepsy I say yes. This is a small list.

Alexander the Great,
Apostle St Paul,
Socrates,
Aristotle,
Joan of Arc,
Mohammad,
Charles Dickens,
James Madison,
Lewis Carrol,
Lord Byron,
Handel,
Flaubert,
Michelangelo,
Napolean Bonaparte,
Van Gogh,
Lenin,
Agatha Christy,
Alfred Nobel,
Neil Young.

And today a normal life is even more likely than in the past because we have better medicines and understand the condition more thoroughly.

When at his school I asked his 2nd grade treacher how he was doing. She said fine. Then she volunteered that Daniel is very responsible. I immediately thought of his First house Saturn.

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To update you the doctors have modified their diagnosis from
Complex partial seizure disorder to
Simple partial seizure disorder.
It means the electrical disturbance occurs in only one specific part of his brain and does not affect other parts of the brain. It's localized.
This is a less serious form of epilepsy than the complex form. It is easier to treat and more likely to be short-term. There is a very good chance Daniel will grow out of it during adolescence. They recommend medicating him.
His mom and dad are considering the pros and cons.
Again thank you all for your understanding and warm wishes.

Remarkable that on Daniel's maternal side epilepsy has occured.
His maternal great-grandma's father and sister had it.

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~Kent~ wrote: This is a less serious form of epilepsy than the complex form. It is easier to treat and more likely to be short-term.

I'm very happy to hear this, thanks for the update.

Moreover, in the case of more complex form we should doubt of Ptolemy, your grandson has no configurations between the ones mentioned by the Greek astrologer :)

margherita
Traditional astrology at
http://heavenastrolabe.wordpress.com