Astrology for Open Minds by Bruce Scofield
Overview
Scientific Research on Astrology
The Two Zodiacs
History of Zodiacs
Twins, Fate and Free Will

Overview
Astrologers read character and destiny from a map of the sky computed for the time and place of birth, a map called the horoscope. The positions of the planets in the horoscope symbolize a person's basic character, prominent personality traits, and also the timing of major life events. A good astrologer is even able to deduce something about a person's spouse, parents, children, and even pets from their horoscope. Click here to book a live one-on-one reading with one of Astro-To-Go's world-class astrologers.

To understand astrology, it is important to keep in mind that it is very different from the "hard" sciences like physics or chemistry. Astrology can be a study in itself, like mathematics, but it is more often a practice like psychology and medicine, where scientific methodologies are applied to the human condition. Like psychology and medicine, astrology should be understood as a diagnostic art that uses scientific data.

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Scientific Research on Astrology
Astrology hypothesizes that there is some form of correlation between the positions of celestial objects and the biological and meteorological processes on earth. In support of this hypothesis, there exists today a modest body of scientific research, most of it statistical. a few studies clearly demonstrate that at least some parts of astrology are real and measurable. The most famous of these studies are those done by the French statisticians Michel Gauquelin and Francoise Schneider-Gauquelin.

Beginning in the mid-1950s and continuing through the 1980s, the Gauquelins published a number of books and reports on their statistical studies of astrology. Their research centered on the effects of planets on profession, personality traits, and heredity. The Gauquelins began their study by first accumulating birth data on thousands of people and then determining where each planet was located relative to the horizon at the time and place of birth. For example, for a person born at noon, the Sun would be in the middle of the sky overhead; at dusk, on the western horizon. The same kind of analysis was done for the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

In one study, done in 1955, Michel Gauquelin plotted the position of Mars relative to the horizon for a sample of 2,000 sports champions. (According to astrology, Mars is associated symbolically with sports.) If there were no planetary effect, one would expect Mars to be randomly distributed in the sample. Instead, the study showed that Mars was situated more often in the sectors located just after rising, setting, upper culmination, and lower culmination. A control group of people who were not sports champions showed an even distribution of Mars through the sky. The Gauquelins found similar correlations for Saturn in the birthcharts of scientists, Jupiter with famous actors, Venus with writers, and the Moon with writers and politicians. Which are you? Order your Inner Child report to see what the planets have to say.

The Gauquelin findings were successfully replicated many times, both by themselves and by independent statisticians and upheld . Nevertheless, their work has so far made little impact on the scientific community. These findings were upheld in the Skeptical Inquirer (Spring 1983).

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The Two Zodiacs
The best-known part of astrology today is the zodiac, a 12-fold division of the path that the Sun and planets follow in their movements through the sky. The zodiacal sign in which the Sun was positioned at a person's birth has come to be known as his or her "sign." For many people, this is all the astrology they are ever exposed to.

The tropical zodiac which is tied to the cycle of the seasons is most used by Western astrologers. The beginning of this zodiac is the point where the Sun is on the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The tropical zodiac divides the year into twelfths, with key points at the beginning of the seasons. Each twelfth occupies 30 degrees of the Sun's path through the sky as seen from the earth. These 12 divisions are the familiar zodiac signs which are said to modify the influence of the Sun, Moon, and any planet located within them. The tropical zodiac has nothing to do with the constellations made up of stars, though it does have something to do with the seasons and the fact that we have 12 months in our year.

The sidereal zodiac is used primarily by Astronomers and astrologers in India and some Western astrologers. This zodiac is tied to the relatively unchanging positions of the stars and constellations. The sidereal zodiac used by astronomers is a division of the year based on the location of the Sun in the groups of stars called the constellations. Since the constellations are not all of equal size, the time that the Sun spends in a sign varies. The names of these zones on the Sun's path are taken from the constellations located there. Technically, there are actually 13 constellations that intercept the Sun's path; the familiar 12 constellations of the zodiac plus the constellation Ophiuchus, located between Scorpio and Sagittarius.

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History of Zodiacs
About 2,000 years ago, the sidereal and tropical zodiacs coincided. Since that time, a slow movement of the earth's axis has caused the two types of zodiacs to separate by about 26 degrees. This westward movement of the point where the Sun is on the first day of spring (vernal point) through the constellations is known as the precession of the equinoxes. It is this movement which gives rise to the notion of the astrological "ages." According to many astrologers, we are presently near the end of the age of Pisces and approaching the age of Aquarius, due to begin in a century or so.

Several studies done by astrologer Jeff Mayo and psychologist Hans J. Eysenck have shown that the zodiacal position of the Sun appear to correlate with introversion and extroversion in personality. Their work seems to confirm the traditional astrological notion that the fire and air signs tend to be extroverted while the water and earth signs are introverted. While these studies are certainly important, many principles of astrology stand independent of any zodiac. Certain schools of astrology, notably Cosmobiology and the Hamburg School founded by Alfred Witte, are able to give complete readings of horoscopes without any reference to zodiacal signs.

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Twins, Fate, and Free Will
A common argument brought against astrology concerns twins. Critics ask, how can twins be different if they were born at the same place and at nearly the same time? Interestingly, the astrologer's answer to this question gives insight into the fate versus free will problem, a stumbling block for many trying to evaluate astrology and a common point of attack by clergymen.

There is much evidence that twins separated at birth very often follow a strikingly similar path. There are many dramatic reports, past and present, of separated twins leading almost exactly parallel lives. The University of Minnesota has long researched twins and has noted this strange phenomenon. Of course, scientists attribute these similarities to genetics; ignoring astrological configurations in the birth chart While twins raised apart show similarities, twins who are raised together are often quite dissimilar in personality and life progress. These differences may be evidence of free will. Astrologers suggest that separated twins follow similar life patterns, ones imprinted at birth and symbolized in the birth chart, and that they do this quite naturally because their individual identities are not threatened by being in constant contact and competition with each other. Astrologers note that twins will typically choose different parts of their birth charts around which to build an identity.

Twins raised together often exhibit synchronicity in their life patterns on a very basic level. For example, an astrologer might forecast that both twins would have a relationship crisis at a certain time. At the designated time, one twin marries and the other separates from a relationship. Is this a case of astrological failure? The astrologer would argue it wasn't by pointing out that both twins had to confront relationship issues at the designated time. The fact that each chose a different path is further proof of free will. While astrology suggests that we follow a precise timetable symbolized by the distribution of the planets at the time and place of our birth, it also shows that we can make our own decisions and exert our own will if we choose. For astrologers, twins illustrate the fact that we have freedom of choice, if we want it.

One of the assumptions usually made in regard to twin births is that they both have the same horoscope. From a broad astrological perspective, that is true, and that is what accounts for the similarities between twins. However, technical experts in astrology would argue that a separation of even one minute of time between the births can account for some significant differences. For example, one twin could be born with the last degree of Aries rising, and the other, born only one minute later, could have the first degree of Taurus rising. While the arc separating the births is small, the sign difference is great, and this would signify very different identities.

Astrologers would also point out that a difference of four minutes between births can account for a year's difference in the timing of a major life event. One twin might experience a certain kind of stress at a developmentally vulnerable time. The other could experience the stress a year later and consequently have a very different experience. There are other techniques in astrology, including midpoint analysis and harmonic charts, that reveal significant differences between horoscopes separated by very small amounts of time.

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