The results of national opinion polls and Mayo/Eysenck replication suggest that roughly 1 person in 3 not only believes in astrology but believes in it sufficiently to measurably shift their self-image in the corresponding direction. Observations made during a repeat of the News of the World’s test of sun sign guessing showed that the subjects had an above-average knowledge of sun signs. The level of self-attribution (determined by interview under less than ideal conditions) successfully predicted the test’s outcome for 6 out of 8 hits and 3 out of 4 misses. Successful sun sign guessing can be explained by subject selection, self attribution and cold reading.

This study greatly extends that by Nias on the same topic (Correlation 1, 2. Pp 37-40) It examines Nelson’s claims that planetary positions correlate with short-wave radio quality and that they can be used to improve the accuracy of forecasts. Exhaustive computer analysis of 2006 1/2 day or 1/4 day quality forecasts (based on planetary positions) made by Nelson for RCA during 1964-5, and 4960 daily forecasts made for “73 Magazine” during 1966-82, failed to find support for his claims. There was no significant correlation between forecast and outcome (mean r = 0.01), and the outcome on days forecast as poor was not significantly different from that on days forecast as good. Nelson’s forecasts performed considerably worse than US Government forecasts and a control forecast based on the quality one solar rotation before. The accuracy of 105 forecasts of solar flares was not significantly better than chance. To increase the sensitivity of the analysis of a daily planetary index based on Nelson’s rules was compared with observed radio qualities and geomagnetic indices. No planetary effect was detectable, nor was the alleged effect of nodes and perihelia. In disagreement with Nelson’s claims, hard aspects and associated harmonic aspects were not consistently more numerous on the most disturbed 3% of days during 1969-80 than on the lest disturbed 3% of days. In particular, the 12 days with the most adverse planetary configurations during 25 years were not significantly different from those with the least adverse. Nelson’s claims are incompatible with the physical processes involved and are shown to rest upon three things, namely a statistical artefact that led to his original ideas, a calculation artefact that gives spuriously high accuracy, and selection of data to fit the case. The results do not deny that the planets could affect the Sun in other ways.

An experimental approach to the age-old belief that specific metals are linked to corresponding planets is described. The former was developed in the 1920s by Frau Kolisko, following suggestions from Dr. Rudolf Steiner that planetary forces ought to be detectable in metal salt solutions precipitated on filter paper. The main reaction investigated – the slow reaction of ferrous sulphate with silver mitratet solution, precipitating colloidal silver – is described. Kolisko’s method was modified by Fyfe, and several, including this author, have confirmed the effects observable over planetary conjunctions

A sample of 175 mixed adults completed a 36-item questionnaire addressed to likely Pluto meanings, namely intensification, exaggeration, social power, transformation, and suppression. A comparison with Pluto aspects in the natal charts found no evidence to support any of these meanings.

Each of the authors addressed a subset of the issues raised by Dean and Loptson in Discourse for Key Topic 2: some philosophical problems of astrology (Correlation 14(2) pp32- 44). Among the points: (1) The metaphysical principle “as above, so below” can only be understood within a classical cosmology (Pierce). (2) We must be clear about our definitions of “astrology” when formulating criticisms of it. Is the critic addressing the “study of the relationships between the stars and human affairs” or the activities of astrologers? Use of the dichotomy of satisfaction versus accuracy as a way of differentiating astrology from established sciences results from blurring this distinction (Iriving). (3) As positivism became a dominant philosophy, the misapplication of the methods of natural science to other domains was a category error (Urban-Lurain) (4) The evaluation of a discipline on the basis of scientific evidence requires an understanding of the nature of such evidence and its proper interpretation. A lack of physical mechanism for phenomena in any given domain of inquiry does not preclude scientific status for the inquiry. Fate, as understood in the context of astrology, limits freedom to a lesser degree than determinism. Prediction in the context of science must not be confused with prognostication; the latter is irrelevant to evaluating the validity of scientific theories (McPherson).

Further analyses of Dwyer’s data, using aggregation to improve reliability, confirmed the conclusions of Part 1. No evidence was found that Pluto by aspect or angularity means power, suppression or transformation. The sensitivity was more than adequate to detect a worthwhile effect.

The authors tested the astrological claim that positions of planets in astrological signs at birth are related to a choice for a specific professional career. The frequencies for the position of the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars in sign were assessed for 5174 psychology students and 3232 engineering students. The frequencies were compared with expected frequencies but no significant relation between sun sign and profession was found. Special attention was given to the calculation of the expected frequencies. This calculation is the cause of problems in research into astrology because one has to correct for astrological factors (the time when a planet remains in a sign is not equal for all signs) and for demographic variables (births are not distributed evenly over a year). When such a correction is made figures that are striking at face value do not prove to be statistically significant. These necessary, but rather complex, corrections often are overlooked and may explain the discrepancy between lay-people who believe in astrology and researchers who cannot find any empirical evidence for astrology.

This is the second study of a series dealing with the so-called eminence hypothesis first put forward by Michel Gauquelin. Planetary effects, it was hypothesised, co-vary in extent with fame/success within samples of professions. A previous study relating degrees of sporting eminence, determined by citation frequencies, to percentages of births with Mars in key sectors had revealed a steady increase of deviation from chance for critical birth percentages with increasing eminence of sportsmen. In the present study the eminence slope hypothesis is tested with Gauquelin musicians (n=866), painters (n=1381) and writers (n=813). Increases in deviations from chance level with eminence were expected for those planet/profession combinations which had show, as a whole, in previous Gauquelin studies, significant key sector deviation. The results supported the hypotheses for Mars as well as for Saturn, in general. Overall consistent trends were also found for the Moon and for Venus. Surprisingly, however, the directions of the Venus trends were reversed for the three professions tested. This exceptional observation notwithstanding, the results remove final tenacious suspicion that planetary effects, as reported by the Gauquelins, could perhaps be due to data selection bias and/or fraud.

An analysis of Gauquelin’s professional data revealed significant gender effects: female professionals (actors, athletes, writers) outdo their male colleagues regarding birth frequencies in sensitive sectors for Mars ( p = .01) and, marginally, for the Moon (p = .09). The significance level for the two planets combined is p = .006. In addition, G-sector births of women were generally more frequent than those of men when summed across all five Gauquelin planets ( p = .01). Eleven issues pertinent to these results are discussed. It is concluded that any theory that might be suggested to explain Gauquelin’s planetary effect for professions will also have to account for planetary effects associated with gender.

Harmonic analysis of the Gauquelin planetary distributions for professional groups is used to show that the phase angles of individual harmonics for each planet are closely clustered. This is used to demonstrate that any planetary “influence” is travel ling at the velocity of light. Other supporting evidence is offered and the supposition advance that the observed associations occur because of awareness by the developing embryo or fetus