Book Review: “The Boy Who Knew Too Much”

by Cathy Byrd published by Hay House, 2017

It’s a commonly accepted phenomenon in India, that children remember their past lives when very young, but still astonishing in the Western world.  In one of the best documented and validated cases, mother Cathy Byrd tells a gripping tale of how she came to believe that her very young son Christian was a reincarnation of famous baseball player Lou Gehrig.

Christian Haupt was only a year old when he saw children playing baseball in the street, and was instantly hooked, and by the age of two he was showing remarkable prowess in the sport.  A video of him playing went viral on You Tube, and he was invited to play in a film by Adam Sandler at the age of three.  When he had just turned four, he became the youngest player to ever throw the ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium.

Christian’s Birth Chart

In the book, Cathy Byrd states only that Christian was born at the end of August 2008, which is good enough to work with and get a sense of his character and connection with his past life.  Christian’s chart has the interesting karmic triple conjunction of 2008 in Aquarius of the North Node/Chiron/Neptune, which is conducive to accessing past lives as it is a concentration of focus of spiritual, karmic and healing energies.  The conjunction between his North Node and Chiron is particularly tight, and indicates that he has come into incarnation with a karmic mission of healing.

With Mercury conjunct Mars, Christian has excellent hand-eye co-ordination, and Mars square Jupiter gives him over-the-top enthusiasm and energy (he is absolutely obsessed with baseball).  Jupiter closely trine Saturn gives him balanced judgement and poise.

Revealing his past life

His mother took Christian to a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.  While there, he saw a large portrait of a 1920s baseball star.  He told his mother “I don’t like that man there.  He was mean to me”.

His mother was slow to acknowledge that he was talking about a past life, partly in denial because she was a staunch Christian.  As his messages became insistent, she confided in others in her circle, but was rebuffed and discouraged from talking about it because the subject of reincarnation was frowned upon.

From photographs, he identified his rival as “Babe Ruth”, a prominent baseball player of the 1920s, and he identified himself as Lou Gehrig, another very successful player.  He told her she was his mother (Christine) in that lifetime.

Lou Gehrig

There are a few similarities in the charts of Lou Gehrig and Christian.  I am always thrilled, as a Karmic Astrologer, to get any kind of birth date between lifetimes, though in this case I have only birthdates, and one of them approximate.  Physically they are alike, having markedly similar dimples and both being left-handed, with a similar style of play.  Astrologically, they both have 5 Mutable planets, are Mercury-ruled, have Mars in Libra, and have Sun-Jupiter aspects and Mercury-Mars aspects in their charts.  Lou’s Mercury was closely trine his Mars (excellent hand-eye co-ordination), and he was an outstanding baseball player.  Lou also had Mercury trine exactly Saturn, giving him good concentration, and forming a talented Grand Trine in Air with Mars.

His Moon was conjunct the South Node, indicating a strong karmic connection with the mother: both Cathy in this life, and Christine in Lou’s life were totally involved in the world of baseball and their son’s progress in the field.  His Mars was conjunct with the North Node, showing a karmic mission as a sportsman.  Venus was opposite his Saturn, and he did have a disappointing love life: his wife was a factor in the falling out with Babe Ruth.  Lou Gehrig died of a neurological condition, which became named after him, and his Mars square Neptune may have been an astrological factor in that.

Babe Ruth

Arguably, the most accomplished baseball player of all time, we do actually have a birth time for Babe Ruth!  Though successful, he was not popular in personal terms, and a contrast with the gentlemanly Lou Gehrig.  He was very emotional (5 planets in Water signs), with an early Cancerian Ascendant and the Moon rising.  He was said to have lived a life of excess, and his Mars in Taurus opposite Uranus may point to that, as well as the Sun squaring exactly on to Mars, creating an aggressive T-square.  There was no doubt that he was a difficult character.  He did have a more charitable side which entailed him visiting orphanages and hospitals, and this is shown by Neptune, Pluto and Jupiter in 12th House (of Hospitals and Charities), while the interest in children comes from his Moon rising in Cancer.  The two men did not speak for 7 years, and only broke the silence on 7th July 1939 when Lou Gehrig announced his retirement due to ill health.  Lou Gehrig’s speech that day has been described as “baseball’s Gettysburg address”.

Dr. Jim B. Tucker

One of the things that fascinated me about this book was about the various people who came into the life of Cathy and Christian to facilitate healing, after quite a long period where no one would believe Cathy and during which time Cathy was suffering guilt in relation to her religion.  It also interested me to see her choices of who to work with and when.  For example, quite early on she contacted Carol Bowman, author of “Children’s Past Lives” (another book I would highly recommend) for reassurance.  Although Carol was a practitioner of past life regression for children, she did not choose to have Christian regressed until much later, and that was with another lady.  Cathy also, at a later stage, undertook three regressions on her own behalf, to verify her life as Christine, Lou Gehrig’s mother.  She found anomalies in the accepted history, which after further research she found to be true facts.  I had the strong feeling from her account that the people she chose to work with were meant to be involved karmically, and the timing of Cathy’s choices were also meant to occur in the sequence they happened.  One of those people involved in their story was Dr. Tucker, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, who took over Ian Stevenson’s prominent research work in the field of investigation of children’s past lives.

In an extraordinarily precise statement of time, Cathy writes “Dr. Tucker knocked on our door at 9 am on Wednesday 2 April 2014”.  Pluto (deep psychology) was transiting Christian’s Jupiter (philosophical expansion), and his story was about to be examined by an expert.  Jim Tucker himself has a triple conjunction of Jupiter/Mars/Mercury in Sagittarius, the mark of an exploratory truth seeker.  This meeting was one step towards healing for Christian and his mother, and the synastry between Christian and Jim included Jim’s Jupiter sextile exactly Christian’s Chiron (Inner Healer).

On Cathy’s website cathy-byrd.com, you can hear excerpts from Dr. Tucker’s conversations with Christian, including the extraordinary account of how he chose his mother pre-birth.  Christian’s story is literally a film in the making, too.

Lou Gehrig’s Disease

also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

from: Louise L. Hay:

Cause

“Unwillingness to accept self-worth. Denial of success.”

Affirmation

“I know I am worthwhile.  It is safe for me to succeed. Life loves me.”

Lou Gehrig began to exhibit tiredness and symptoms of this degenerative illness (which included respiratory symptoms) by early 1939, and died in 1941.  As mentioned, Lou’s Mars square Neptune may have been an astrological factor in that, as well as Sun, Pluto and Mercury in Gemini relating to neurological and respiratory health conditions.

Christian suffered from asthma in this lifetime. Mars conjunct his Mercury and Pluto square his Mercury, may have put a strain on his nervous system. Of his death as Lou Gehrig, he told his Dr. Tucker: “My body stopped working, and I didn’t feel anything”.  Towards the end of this spiritual journey, the asthma was laid to rest by a past life regression Christian undertook with therapist Mira Kelley in January 2015.  Since that time, when Saturn by transit was trine his Mercury (respiratory system), Christian has let go of the need to recall his past life, resolved his breathing problems, and got on with leading this life as talented baseball player Christian Haupt.

Lou died at 10.10 p.m. on 2nd June 1941, Bronx, N.Y.  At that time, the rebirth as Christian may be seen astrologically through Christian’s Pluto (re-birth) being exactly square Lou’s Nodal Axis (karmic path).

There is much more in this book, if you have found this account interesting – it is full of detail.  If you would like to convince the most hardened of sceptics of the truth of reincarnation, buy the book!

Last word from Lou Gehrig: “There is no room in baseball for discrimination. It is our national pastime and a game for all”.

“The Boy Who Knew Too Much”, by Cathy Byrd published by Hay House, 2017

Aspects

Happy Easter!  Today may be dynamic for healing, with Mars sextile Chiron.  You may get to grips with a healing mission, with heart and gusto.

Tomorrow Venus sextiles Mars, so there is another helping of heart and gusto, delivered with passion and love.

Later tomorrow, around lunchtime, Saturn trines the Sun, and planning and deliberation can pay off constructively.  You can lay foundations for the rest of the week, which may be an asset in the office.

On Tuesday (18th) Mercury trines the North Node, which benefits karmic steps you may take in relation to documentation or information.  Communication matters may make progress (though nothing the planets do seems to benefit the hapless Southern Rail, these days).

The Sun enters Taurus on Wednesday (19th) in the evening.  Impulsiveness may give way to a more placid mindset, more willing to take measured steps towards your goal.  You may take more time, literally, to smelling the roses during the next month, although other flowers are more in season.  Relax, and breathe, anyway…

On Thursday (20th) morning the Sun conjuncts Mercury at 0 degrees Taurus.  Your perceptions of smelling the roses (or other flowers), relaxing and breathing, will be heightened, so it is a good day to enjoy the senses and savour the Now.

By lunchtime, however, you may start to sense that Pluto is stationary, prior to turning retrograde, a long term psychological investigation and condition which lasts until the end of September.  So note that more work will be required along those lines, while still enjoying the moment.  Allow any insights to arise, and do what you can to honour them, but look upon their teachings as a positive contribution to your growth.  Maybe you are comparing yourself unfavourably to another: whatever it is, acknowledge it, try to determine the source of the feeling, then let it go.

At teatime (cue cakestand and cucumber sandwiches) Mercury enters Aries, retrograding from Taurus.  There may be a feeling of something not completed, or even a sense of impatience or panic.  There is just a need to account for the more rational, simple and direct solutions for the time being.  Go for the obvious, if you are presented with a hasty dilemma or decision.   You don’t need to deliberate too much.  As you can see, this is a week of minor twists and turns.

Friday (21st) brings another switch, this time Mars entering Gemini (so Mars in Gemini is in mutual reception with Mercury in Aries, in each other’s sign).  This is quite a high energy placing, with a great deal of mental and physical energy.  You might feel that you can get a lot done, in everyday terms, nothing too heavy.

Next, the Sun trines the North Node.  You may be able to link this with karmic developments from Tuesday, when Mercury trined the North Node.  Whereas the karmic developments then were about information and communication, the karmic developments on Friday are likely to be about power and creativity, but may build on events from Tuesday.

Late morning, however, brings a recurrence of Venus square Saturn (because Venus has just turned direct).  You don’t need to go back far to remember the last square, which occurred on Saturday 8th April.  You may need to face reality in connection with a relationship issue, but it would be something you have been working on recently.  This time, Venus being direct, will enable some progress in the matter.

The week in bullet points:

  • Today – healing activity, active healing
  • Tomorrow – sense and sensibility
  • Tuesday – karmic information
  • Wednesday – a gentler pace
  • Thursday – concentration, psychological throwbacks, brisk thought
  • Friday – dynamic, power karma, and letting go in relationships

 

Date: Apr 16th, 2017 · Comments RSS · Tags: Book Review · Karmic · Medical astrology · Sport