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

This paper concerns astrology, research and philosophy of science. It argues that, in the final analysis, they are inseparable: astrology is in urgent need of good research, and that in turn requires some grounding in philosophy of science. Different variants of the latter are discussed, and one – the “methodology of scientific research programs” – is used to assess the current state of astrology. On the basis of this assessment, advice is offered concerning some present and future research.

Much astrological research can be faulted because of its neglect of proper methodological safeguards. This article illustrates a need to ascertain in a very precise manner the amount of knowledge of astrology possessed by subjects, as this may inadvertently influence their filling in of questionnaires, personality descriptions, etc. It is shown that apparently very successful studies can be reduced to non-significance by controlling of this variable.

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

The authors look, in some depth, at both the development and the publishing history of Jung’s concept of synchronicity in general and Jung’s astrological experiment in particular. This paper addresses possible serious misunderstandings which appear to have arisen regarding the concept of synchronicity and Jung’s astrological experiment and how this might account for the apparent relationship between planetary movements and mundane events.

The validity of E (extraversion) and N (emotionality) for testing astrology is reviewed in detail (60 references) and is found to be adequate in every respect. The conclusions of Parts 1 and 2 are confirmed after the most critical scrutiny, comparison with other studies, and investigation of issues raised by readers. Much previously unpublished work is presented including a survey of the perceived discernibility of human characteristics in birth charts, Pierce’s factor analysis of astrological symbolism, a meta-analysis of 14 studies of astrologer agreement, the distribution of variance between astrologers and charts, a meta-analysis of 31 Vernon Clark results, a new Vernon Clark test of everyday topics, a comparison of the reliability and validity of astrology with that of other diagnostic tests, and an extension of Startup’s power analysis of astrological effects. The picture that emerges consistently from all of this work is that astrology as applied by astrologers using the whole chart has negligible reliability and validity. Aggregating astrologers improved the reliability as expected but had no effect on the hit rate, which remained close to chance level. The upper bound to the variance accounted for by astrological effects is orders of magnitude smaller than that required to meet the claims of astrologers.

The Gauquelin effect (G%) should increase with increased birth time precision. The data, however, do not bear this out, on the contrary, G% even tends to diminish with better birth time recordings, at least from AD 1880 onwards. The expected positive effect might have been overridden by psychological/sociological variables depressing G% and enhancing birth record precision at the same time. Until now, however, such intervening variables remain enigmatic.