THE ASTROLOGY EXPERIMENT conducted for the scientific & medical network 1995
Abstract:
To answer the question, Is Astrology a real and consistent phenomenon characteristic of life within the Solar System? a study was set up using named asteroids. These, because of their limited astrological meanings, and the fractal, multi-level system of analysis developed by the author, make possible with accurate data a detailed and exact test of astrology's claims. Five subjects supplied their dates, places and correct times of birth and chose a small group of asteroids bearing their own names and those of their wives and principal interests; on computer, charts using these data were drawn and the positions of the chosen asteroids found by orbital simulation. The prediction was that in any given chart the asteroids with personally significant names would share degree-axes with the Sun, Horizon, Meridian, and Moon, in astrological terms correctly describing and identifying the person concerned (and his wife.) At the same time, axial alignments with the nine remaining planets or untenanted degrees would be relatively few. This was found to be so.
Astrology may broadly be defined as the study of the relative positions (most commonly geocentric) at any given significant moment, of the Sun and any of its planets, moons, asteroids, comets and intersections of orbital and rotational planes, in order to comprehend the meaning of that moment according to established and dynamically evolving rules of interpretation. Its fundamental principles are compatible with C.G.Jung's theory of Synchronicity - Everything that is born or done at a moment of time has the qualities of that moment of time - and also with Chaos Theory, in its sensitive dependence on initial conditions and the importance of its fractal structures.
More concisely: Astrology is the study and therapeutic use of Macrocosmic Dynamics, the resonant system of objective physical movements in space-time which embody and manifest associated subjective ideas; it is the dynamic interface and union of matter and meaning.
Zodiac:
A Zodiac is an apparently sensitive or resonant band of sky coincident with the great circle of the Ecliptic (the Sun's apparent path around the Earth, in reality the Earth's orbit around the Sun) and several degrees of North and South Declination in width, having as its starting point a significant intersection of celestial planes (a node), a major star, or any other chosen significant body within the Solar System. Any Zodiac is divided into 360̊; these are subdivided into twelve discrete 30̊ sections known as the Signs. Each of these Radix zodiacs divides again into twelve Dwads - astrology's natural fractal - so that each macro-Sign becomes a micro-zodiac with its own 360̊ and twelve Signs. If the initial data and calculations are known to be accurate to the second of arc, a further such fractal division is possible, into the Superdwad.
Sign:
From the fiducial point, the Signs are symbolically named in the following sequence:
Each Sign is expressive of a set of specific characteristics distinguishing it from every other Sign. The nature of these may be found in any astrological text.
Horoscope:
The Horoscope is a conventional term for the usually circular diagram displaying zodiac positions of given bodies and spatial points at a chosen moment - commonly the time of a human birth or a significant event. It is normally oriented with the rational horizon drawn East-West left to right across the circle, and the Meridian drawn South-to-North from the upper to the lower segment. Like the fiducial of a Zodiac, the Ascendant point on the eastern horizon generates a sequence of twelve sections within this circle, six below and six above the horizon. These are known as the Houses, and carry meanings related to, but not identical with those of the twelve Signs. The Horoscope may also be referred to as the Birthchart, the map, the wheel, the Event chart, or the Nativity.
Birth:
The time of an event is less ambiguous than the time of a human birth. Traditionally this has been taken to be the moment of the baby's first breath, signalling life-support independent of the mother, but there are arguments for the cutting of the umbilicus (physical separation from the mother), or the emergence of the crown of the head, exposing the thinly-covered fontanelle to a new environment of light and many other fields that may play a part in stimulating the infant's hormonal systems. Further theories are either too complex or too esoteric to discuss here. Where the birth-time is uncertain, reliable astrological techniques may be employed to establish it, but such a time must always be acknowledged as Rectified and/or Speculative.
Aspects:
Aspects are the geometric interrelationships between bodies and/or significant spatial points within the horoscope. Those closely adjacent are conjunct; those polarised across a 180̊ axis are in opposition; a 90̊ angle of separation is a square ,45̊ semi-square or octile, and 135̊ tri-octile; 120̊ forms a trine, and 60̊ a sextile. Other aspects are semi-sextile (30̊), quincunx or inconjunct (150̊), quintile (72̊), bi-quintile (144̊), decile and tredecile (36̊ and 108̊), plus the divisions by seven, eleven, and many finer harmonics of the circle. If exact, the combined effect of the related bodies is very strong and remains so within ±1̊; the further the aspect deviates from an exact angle, the weaker the effect.
Data for such a test comprise the Day, Month, Year, Place and Time of the person's birth. The location must be exact at least to the nearest large town and certainly within 0̊10' of geographic longitude; the time of birth should be accurate to ±1 minute for the minimum margin of error in Dwad work, maximum ±2 minutes, and within ±12 minutes for useful research in the Radix chart alone.
For the purposes of the current experiment, you have been asked to supply your full date, time and place of birth, upon which the astrological diagrams depend. In addition, you have been invited to choose twenty asteroids from the total of approximately 5000 now named by astronomers and able to be mapped by the astrologer. The chosen asteroids should bear either the subject's own name(s), the name(s) of his or her partner, and/or a name descriptive of the career or interest with which he or she most deeply identifies. It is important for the purposes of the experiment that the chosen asteroid names, however many, must highly significantly describe or relate to the identity of the person or event under study. Alternatively, descriptions of key concerns, people, and activities may be submitted, so that the appropriate asteroids for testing may be selected by the astrologer.
Method of calculation:
Radix positions of Sun, Moon, planets, Moon's True North and South Nodes, rational horizon (Ascendant) and meridian (MC - Medium Coeli, Midheaven - and IC - Imum Coeli ) in three zodiacs, (the Tropical, the Sidereal, the Draconic, with their fiducial points respectively at the Spring Equinox, an agreed spatial point against the star background, and the Moon's True North Node) are calculated and plotted using a new astrological computer program, Solar Fire. A triple or quadruple wheel is printed for each subject, concentrically displaying related radix positions of Sun, Moon, ASC/DESC and MC/IC only in all three zodiacs (or four, where the Heliocentric, Sun-centred Tropical perspective is also computed. In this case, the opposing Earth/Moon position replaces that of the Sun.)
The convention adopted in the tri-wheel is to place the Tropical at the centre, the Sidereal at the outside and the Draconic between them. In the quadri-wheel, the Helio chart takes the centre, with the others following concentrically in sequence. (This may deliberately be varied.)
Radix positions in Right Ascension and Declination are found for the chosen asteroids at the precise given birth time, not by calculation - which is often inaccurate for epochs more than a few years from the present, as the perturbations within the asteroid belt are so complex - but by orbital simulation on computer, using the astronomy program Dance Of The Planets, at its slowest practicable speed of 5K to ensure maximum accuracy. The resulting asteroid positions are then converted to Celestial Longitude (the Tropical Zodiac) and plotted on their "owners'" Tropical radix wheels. Heliocentric positions in celestial longitude are immediately available from the simulation to plot in the Helio wheel if required.
The next stage of calculation, not requiring the computer, uses the difference in degrees and minutes between the Tropical and Draconic and the Tropical and Sidereal positions at the given birth epoch, to reposition the chosen asteroids in the Draconic and Sidereal zodiacs. These are added to the appropriate rings in the triple or quad. wheel.
Finally, all asteroid positions, and those of the Sun, Ascendant-Descendant, MC-IC, and Moon (where a woman's name was included) in each zodiac in each chart may be transposed into the Dwad, the natural 12-fold fractal. Most of this work has currently to be done by hand, as no commercially-available astrological software handles more than a few of the largest asteroids, and only one to the author's knowledge offers a tabular listing of Dwad positions for the Sun, Moon, planets, Ascendant and MC. These Dwad positions can then be entered in the multiple wheel in a distinguishing colour. In a fully completed radix/dwad chart there are six Suns, six horizons, six meridians, and six Moons (plus two Helio Earths) to collect asteroids, each of which potentially has six positions (although under certain conditions two or more of these may coincide.)
The resulting mutual alignments are examined.
Prediction:
(a)The expectation is that in any given multiple wheel, each of the selected asteroids in its three/four radix and three/four dwad positions should align by conjunction or opposition ±2̊ with either the Ascendant-Descendant axis, the MC-IC axis, Sun, Moon or Earth in any of their own three/four zodiacs, radix or dwad. As these are central to the understanding of character, such alignments with personally-significant asteroids would succeed in correctly describing and identifying the particular individual.
It is important to add that in a man's chart, the Sun will refer to himself primarily, as well as his father, son, superior or other male partner, and the Moon to the women important in his life (and/or the general public.) In the chart of a woman, although the Sun is still the centre of her self, it may be subordinated to the Moon, and represent mainly the men who are most important to her.
(b)Also anticipated is the phenomenon where close axial alignments between pairs or groups of the chosen asteroids cohere into "phrases" which add their own significant and correct description of the identity, nature, or experience of the person or event in question. "Phrases" and major alignments have often been observed to cluster around less than half a dozen axes in a chart. These will very frequently include other important, non-"axial" planets in the chart, as the author has found in the test cases below, even though they have been excluded as agreed from the current results.
(c) An asteroid aligned in coelo with Sun, horizon, meridian or Moon is normally allowed ±4̊ of conjunction or opposition, and automatically makes three major "hits", one in each of the three radix geocentric zodiacs. In each chart studied, descriptively-correct "hits" should significantly outnumber the "misses", ie non-alignments of selected asteroids or alignments with chart factors neither connected to horizon, meridian, Sun or Moon nor part of a "phrase". This requirement provides the study with a built-in control (otherwise difficult to supply in a non-random, dynamic and uncontrollable system.)
(d) ACCURACY: It is important to point out that because the meridian position moves by a whole degree every four minutes of time, the dwad MC, moving no less than 12̊or nearly half a sign in that short period, will shift in or out of the optimum orb of alignment over the course of 10 or 20 seconds. This makes accuracy of initial data all the more crucial, and because absolutely exact times and locations are rarely available even for the best-documented births, it is not unreasonable to take this into account when mapping alignments with dwad Angles (as the Ascendant and Midheaven are called.) Also the operator must take as much care as is feasible with the asteroid simulations - including the accuracy of the computer's clock!
(a) As the Sun, Ascendant, MC and Moon are the cornerstones of the individual birth chart, the predicted multiple alignments with personally-significant asteroids would serve as a clear, focussed and unambiguous description in the heavens of the soul and destiny incarnating at that moment on the Earth. Astrology would thereby be validated as a macro-cosmic language of the intimate human condition; the concept of a meaningless, mindless universe must be reviewed and rejected; our ideas of humankind and of Mind must be immensely expanded; the concept of randomness must at least be redefined; the possibility that the new physics and a refined, extended astrology are approaching deep spiritual truths, must be considered.
(b) Additionally, thousands of asteroids have been named many years after the births or the events to which they may be applied. Wherever they are as eloquent in a chart as we anticipate here, they throw into question the whole concept of linear, uni-directional time as normally experienced by living men and women, or else imply Purpose in a conscious universe - a Divine Mind thinking and implementing insensibly through us its own intricate, sublime, inscrutable and infinitely majestic thoughts.
Following a promising trial at this year's AGM, Network members are now invited to take part in an on-going test of astrological principles, either as guinea-pigs or assistants. Those interested may send an SAE to the address below for a copy of the draft protocol, submitting full name and birth-data (Date, place, and accurate time - maximum margin of error +/- 10 minutes; 24-hour clock please, stating GMT, DST or Zone ... multiple births, Scots and non-British should have the time recorded on their birth certificate) together with as full a list as possible of peoples' first names and surnames, professional activities and other interests, objects, habits, ideas, places and issues that are absolutely central to their lives. Guided by this list, 20 appropriately-named asteroids will be chosen for each person from the 5000+ already available. According to astrological rules, these 20 should be found to dominate the birth chart, providing an apt and correct description of relationships, work, aspirations and lifestyle. Members with experience and/or interest in astrology and a little free time would be most welcome to assist in processing the data.
The Astrology Experiment was never published in the SMN journal, despite all the hard and rewarding work I had put into it, and the excellent initial results (not included here, to protect privacy.).
Nobody from the SMN ever offered data to continue this study.
Dr. Susan Blackmore, one of the participants, never acknowledged the detailed analysis I sent to her (not included here - too personal) and continues to deny the spiritual in human life despite experiences she has had in the past.
An attempt to create an Astrology research group within the SMN resulted in a few recruits, none of whom were interested in the ambitious and detailed work I needed these supposedly intelligent people to do.
The inability of even the Scientific and Medical Network to take astrology seriously and investigate it with the open mind and diligence offered to other psychic and spiritual phenomena led to my resignation after only a few years' membership.