Astrologers fail to predict Proof they are wrong

News Telegraph ^ | 8/17/2003 | Robert Matthews

[RockDoc]

Good news for rational, level-headed Virgoans everywhere: just as you might have predicted, scientists have found astrology to be rubbish, writes Science Correspondent Robert Matthews.

Good news for rational, level-headed Virgoans everywhere: just as you might have predicted, scientists have found astrology to be rubbish.

Its central claim - that our human characteristics are moulded by the influence of the Sun, Moon and planets at the time of our birth - appears to have been debunked once and for all and beyond doubt by the most thorough scientific study ever made into it.

For several decades, researchers tracked more than 2,000 people - most of them born within minutes of each other. According to astrology, the subject should have had very similar traits.

The babies were originally recruited as part of a medical study begun in London in 1958 into how the circumstances of birth can affect future health. More than 2,000 babies born in early March that year were registered and their development monitored at regular intervals.

Researchers looked at more than 100 different characteristics, including occupation, anxiety levels, marital status, aggressiveness, sociability, IQ levels and ability in art, sport, mathematics and reading - all of which astrologers claim can be gauged from birth charts.

The scientists failed to find any evidence of similarities between the "time twins", however. They reported in the current issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies: "The test conditions could hardly have been more conducive to success . . . but the results are uniformly negative."

Analysis of the research was carried out by Geoffrey Dean, a scientist and former astrologer based in Perth, Australia, and Ivan Kelly, a psychologist at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Dr Dean said the results undermined the claims of astrologers, who typically work with birth data far less precise than that used in the study. "They sometimes argue that times of birth just a minute apart can make all the difference by altering what they call the 'house cusps'," he said. "But in their work, they are happy to take whatever time they can get from a client."

The findings caused alarm and anger in astrological circles yesterday. Roy Gillett, the president of the Astrological Association of Great Britain, said the study's findings should be treated "with extreme caution" and accused Dr Dean of seeking to "discredit astrology".

Frank McGillion, a consultant to the Southampton-based Research Group for the Critical Study of Astrology, said of the newly published work: "It is simplistic and highly selective and does not cover all of the research." He added that he would lodge a complaint with the editors of the journal.

Astrologers have for centuries claimed to be able to extract deep insights into the personality and destiny of people using nothing more than the details of the time and place of birth.

Astrology has been growing in popularity. Surveys suggest that a majority of people in Britain believe in it, compared with only 13 per cent 50 years ago. The Association of Professional Astrologers claims that 80 per cent of Britons read star columns, and psychological studies have found that 60 per cent regularly read their horoscopes.

Despite the scepticism of scientists, astrology has grown to be a huge worldwide business, spawning thousands of telephone lines, internet sites and horoscope columns in newspapers and magazines.

It seems that no sector of society is immune to its attraction. A recent survey found that a third of science students subscribed to some aspects of astrology, while some supposedly hard-headed businessmen now support a thriving market in "financial astrology" - paying for predictions of trends such as the rise and fall of the stock market. Astrology supplements have been known to increase newspaper circulation figures and papers are prepared to pay huge sums to the most popular stargazers.

Some of the most popular figures in the field, such as Russell Grant, Mystic Meg and Shelley von Strunckel, can earn £600,000 or more a year.

A single profitable astrology website can be worth as much as £50 million.

When the Daily Mail discovered that its expert on the zodiac, Jonathan Cainer, was about to leave the newspaper in 1999, it reportedly offered him a £1 million salary and a £1 million bonus to stay. He still preferred the offer at the Daily Express: no salary but all the money from his telephone lines.

The time-twins study is only the start of the bad news for astrologers, however. Dr Dean and Prof Kelly also sought to determine whether stargazers could match a birth chart to the personality profile of a person among a random selection.

They reviewed the evidence from more than 40 studies involving over 700 astrologers, but found the results turned out no better than guesswork.

The success rate did not improve even when astrologers were given all the information they asked for and were confident they had made the right choice.

Dr Dean said the consistency of the findings weighed heavily against astrology.

"It has no acceptable mechanism, its principles are invalid and it has failed hundreds of tests," he said. "But no hint of these problems will be found in astrology books which, in effect, are exercises in deception."

Dr Dean is ready for a torrent of criticism. He said: "I'm probably the most hated person in astrology because I'm regarded as a turncoat."

[Sabertooth]

That we have to have a detailed scientific study in order to refute astrology in the 21st century is one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen.

That there are still people who will ignore this powerful refutation leaves me speechless.

Funny thing about astrology.

The signs of the Zodiac were set more than 2000 years ago, early in the Age of Pisces. Due to the Precession of the Equinoxes, we are now in the Age of Aquarius. The practical upshot of this is that everyone's astrological sign is really the one after whatever they think it might be. If you think you're a Cancer, you're really a Leo, etc.

Yep. Everyone following their uncannily accurate horoscopes in the daily papers is reading the wrong sign.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Hey, I got a fortune (out of a cookie) recently that said: "You have an unusual equipment for success, use it properly."

I'm sure it was telling me to become a porn star.

[chinche]

An example here... interesting aspects this coming Aug 27th ....I relate it to the present conjunction forming between Mars and Uranus.

As in, blowing it out Uranus. LOL.

Also, watch this fall, around October 9th... Might be some setbacks, restrictions, losses, etc for the US and George W. Bush around that time.

Might be some successes, gains, etc for the US and George W. Bush around that time.

The time period between late Sept thru November, centered around Oct. 9th, is going to be interesting because of a Saturn transit to the US chart... I dunno, though. i am not psychic, and do not believe in using astrology to make money from people. The Bible says it is wrong to do so.

BS, crap and horse piss. But you're a Virgo, Mars in ascension, with Uranus up the Asteroid conjunction, so you're given to hot air. Give us some testable hypotheses.

But, i find it interesting to study and then see how it works out. I think it is a like a peek into God's plan for our world, but we can only "see through a glass darkly"

Looking at your star chart, I can see God's plan for is either con artistry or complete gullibility.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Figured someone would come up with a remark like yours....****

It was too good to pass up. I'm sure you have some sort of revenge planned.

[F.J. Mitchell]

I can't believe what I have read through forty some resaponses here. Either these folks have been infected with a very aggressive strain of the dumbass virus, or their computers have a worm that disallows the posting of the word,'SARCASM'.

[Nachum]

There is a teaching that the spoken word can have power. One can have an affect on others merely by stating it will be so to another who believes. In addition, once something is stated as fact, it can have an influence on events. It might be infanitessimal but an effect.

As for your "prediction" for your summer school teacher, that could have been a number of things. It might have been just a really good guess, or you might have some natural gifts in ESP, or you could have actually used a chart effectively. I have known many astrologers through the years my mother charted and taught, however the subject of faith was not a componant part of their process.

There are a number of interpretive schools in astrology. I have seen things that were similar to your esperience.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Galileo believed that gravity was astrology. Tides came from the earth's spin.

[RadioAstronomer]

That there are still people who will ignore this powerful refutation leaves me speechless.

Welcome to the 21st century.

[Hunble]

I will not get into an Astrology debate.

I know that it works as a tool to help people focus their own metal abilities. The Bible is full of Astrology, and if you consider the Bible as the true word of God, then pay attention.

Because of Astrology, I had some outstanding scientists accept me as their own personal challenge around 1973. Their mission was to train me how stupid Astrology was and to teach me the science of Astronomy.

I became a scientist and they totally changed my life. Lessons I learned from them, altered my adult life in so many ways, it would be impossible to explain.

However, if it had not been for Astrology, I never would have become a scientist.

Go figure!

[The Brush]

THIS IS BUNK!!!!
An Astrologer once correctly predicted that, had my brother been born a woman he'd be my sister!
I'd love to see someone here refute THAT!!!

[RadioAstronomer]

As for your "prediction" for your summer school teacher, that could have been a number of things.

Ever hear of 3 sigma?

[Hunble]

I have the natural gift of ESP. Astrology was just a method that worked and helped me tap into my own abilities.

It took me years to learn that lesson and understand why I was able to "see" things.

Today, I fully realize that the Stars do not control our life in any way. They never did, and never will.

I offered a single example about a summer school teacher almost 30 years ago. Actually, she was important for a rather simple reason. She was the last person I performed a detailed horoscope for. After that date, I was properly educated in the rules of science.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

everyone would is wrong about what sign they are because for various reasons there has been a shift and what was once Aries is now Taurus, etc...

I believe what he was referring to was the "precession of the equinox." Ptolemy knew about it (~175 AD) and probably Hipparchus (~150 BC) as well. Like a spinning top, the orientation of the North Pole "precesses" or rotates around a line perpendicular to the plane of the Earth's orbit, completing one cycle in 26,000 years.

Because we care more about the variations in the seasons than in the position of the sun against the background constellations, we reckon seasons from the position of the sun in the sky - high in summer, low in winter. This leads to a solar year of about 365.2422 days. The Gregorian calender approximates the length of the year as 365.2425 days (365 + 1/4 -1/100+1/400). The "sidereal" year or the time it takes the sun to return to the same place against the fixed stars is closer to 356.2564 days. The difference is due to that precession jive.

Although this doesn't seem like a big difference,the Gregorian calendar (or any solar calendar) loses about 1.4 days / century compared to a solar calendar. The Gregorian calendar reform accounted for days lost since the Council of Nicea set fixed holy days in about CCCXXIII - made the date what it would have been had we been using the Gregorian Calendar all those years.

In the intervening 17 centuries, the position of the constellations relative to the "vernal equinox" - the intersection of the ecliptic plane and the equitorial plane in the direction of the ascending node (sun crossing the equator from South to North) has moved about a month. If you go back to the times of the Babylonians even more, compared to a solar calendar.

Astrology has its roots deep in antiquity and the association of star signs with solar calendar dates goes back far before the Council of Nicea. So to the extent that dates are associated with position of the "Sun" - the notion is profoundly geocentric - against the background stars, dates slip 1.4 days per century, but will return to original positions in 26,000 years (~1.4 deg/cen x 260 cent ~ 360 degrees). In about 22,000 years, the stars will be close to where they were in Babylonian times.

[VadeRetro]

If you think you're a Cancer, you're really a Leo, etc.

All my life I've been doing it wrong! All six or seven times!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Are you hinting that I should send Michael Anthony to drop off a check?

You ignored my last request. Remember?

[Doctor Stochastic]

One must assume that Nevada has a state law nullifying astrology within its jurisdiction.

[DLfromthedesert]

My son is a Pisces; he was a hyper-sensitive child. He toughened up playing football, and then in the Army, but still has this soft side. Especially when it comes to animals.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***I have the natural gift of ESP.***

So did CRISWELL of CRISWELL PERDICTS! Who can forget his remarks at the first of the movie PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE(aka VAMPIRES FROM SPACE).
I used to have his book Criswell Predicts in which he gave prophecies from 1969 to the end of the world. As of today his correct average has been "0". And the world has outlasted his end time prdiction.

For the fun of it you should read A GIFT OF PROPHECY by Ruth Montgomery. It is the story of Jean Dixon and gives several of her future prophecies, all now failed, in the last few pages. What a hoot!

[John Beresford Tipton]

"You ignored my last request. Remember?"

Alas, yes, and though I am grateful to be remembered for my past generosity, I am now unfortunately in no position to respond favorably to your requests for million dollar cashier checks.

Mr. Anthony is no longer in my service. He said he was bored giving all those millions to worthy people such as you, and has instead hooked up with that young scamp, Dick Clark, and joined his Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol.

So though you might keep looking down you driveway for Mr. Anthony, he will no longer be coming here to Silverstone on his way to find his "next millionaire".

On many occasions I was able to summon Michael Anthony to come to my palatial estate, Silverstone, to receive his next assignment. Unfortunately, his scoundrel of a cousin, Mordred "Tex" Anthony had me mortgage Silverstone and invest in Enron. I am now trying to get handouts from all those very same millionaires that I created, but because I did it anonymously, they think I'm a con man and slam the door in my face.

Now if you would like to send me a small remittance, it might enable me to prime my finacial pump, by flying over to Nigeria to move ahead with a project that I am told, in absolute confidence, should fatten my secret bank account that their Central Bank is holding in my name to the sweet tune of $50 million rolling. Can I count on you?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***I believe what he was referring to was the "precession of the equinox."****

I believe Bible Archaeology Review had an article on the religion of MITHRA in which the author stated that the killing of the bull symbolized this precession. Under the bull being slain by MITHRA are several zodiac signs, namely the crab and scorpion with stars over head.