Augusten Burroughs American writer Running with Scissors - Burroughs' highly-stressed Mars in Sagittarius (in the Third House) speaks for itself astrology chart, profile, links Libra Ascendant, Libra Sun, Libra Moon, Triple Libran! Born Christopher Robison, 23 October 1965, 06:00 (6AM) EDT, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Sy Scholfield [copyright] quotes date, year, place and time of birth for chart from Burroughs' assistant Stewart Lewis via email (January 2007). RR: A. FEATURES: PERSONALIZED PLANETS: MOON in Libra (conjunct Ascendant), VENUS in Sagittarius (sextile Libra Moon, semi-square Libra Sun, and dispositing both), MARS in Sagittarius (sextile Moon, semi-square Sun, conjunct South Node), JUPITER in Cancer (conjunct Zenith), PLUTO in Virgo (semi-sextile Moon, semi-square Sun). PATTERNS: MUTABLE T-SQUARE (Saturn & Chiron opposite Pluto & Uranus, all square Mars & Venus), GRAND WATER TRINE (Mercury & Neptune, Saturn & Chiron, Zenith). SHAPE: HORSESHOE (Mercury & Neptune are pivotal). CHINESE SIGN: WOOD SNAKE. NUMEROLOGY: MAGICAL "99" LIFEPATH.

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With the Moon rising in Libra we'd expect Burroughs to be a guy for whom memories of maternal and family relationships hold great significance. And indeed Burroughs is probably best known for his 2002 memoir Running with Scissors which tells the story of his unconventional childhood and adolescence (after his mother sent him to live with her psychiatrist no less).

Burroughs' Moon is sextile his Venus-Mars conjunction so the book details his love-hate relationships with his mother, her psychiatrist, the psychiatrist's son and the psychiatrist's daughter. His Venus and Mars are in Sagittarius (the Sign of the jovial & straightforward Archer) so the book is written in a matter-of-fact and wryly funny style.

Yet Burroughs also has the Sun in Libra (at 29 degrees - the 'culminating' or final degree) so his relationship with his father and relations with fatherly authorative figures are also paramount to his personal development. In Running with Scissors the psychiatrist plays such a paternal role while in his 2008 book A Wolf at the Table Burroughs explores his sometimes turbulent relationship with his biological father. (Burrough's Sun is also aspected by his Venus-Mars conjunction but by semi-sextile).

Burroughs has a pivotal conjunction between Mercury (the scribe) and Neptune (the fantacist and filmmaker) in Scorpio (the Sign associated with sex, power and psychiatry). Thus to a certain extent his life and work revolve around such themes. His book Running with Scissors was developed into a 2006 film with the same name. In 2007 the Turcotte family filed a lawsuit alleging that its portrayal in Running with Scissors was largely fictional and written in a sensational manner. The case was settled in Burroughs' favour.