A literature review is presented which gives a brief overview of the use of astrology in medicine and psychology. Report of a study carried out at an NHS UK Hospital involving the use of astrological counselling with chronic pain patients (n = 6 patients) is also given and includes the presentation of two case studies. Astrological profiles of the patients and the history of their chronic pain were presented to the clinical psychologist in charge of the programme, who then compared them with the psychological profiles. The psychologist concluded that astrological information was provided which enhanced understanding obtained by traditional psychological methods and that the analyses, themselves, were comparable with the results of psychological analyses.

An attempt was made to find evidence for relations between traditional aspects and human birth. Gauquelin data on 20,528 eminent individuals representing 11 proofessions were subjected to time series analysis, segmenting a critical A-period of hypothetical influence (A = aspect condition) together with three preceding (P) and three succeeding (S) time periods of equal duration. The requencies of births within sequencs of 3P + 1A = 3S time segments were superimposed for each profession and for each of 15 aspects (conjunction, squares and oppositions between Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn). Mean time series obtained for empirical aspect occurences were compared with mean time series for equivalent random segments as controls. No indication of an aspect influence was found.

Suggestive evidence for a diurnal effect of the Moon was recently published by Francoise Gauquelin using a non-verbal test filled out by 500 ordinary people. The present study is an attempt to replicate the results using a fresh sample of 600 answers rated by three judges who had rated the answers of the previous experiment. The judges’ ratings showed good agreement but no lunar effect was found. For the five Gauquelin planets (MO, VE, MA, JU and SA) the frequency in sectors 1 + 4 + 7 = 10 was not significantly different from chance for answers judge to beeither “extraverted” or “imaginative”. The results were no different for the Moon in sectors 1 + 4 only, for those answers for which all judges were in agreement, or for sub-sets of the answers. The failure to replicate may be due to a lack of validity in the test. Recommendations are made for a better methodology.

To test whether astrologers using the whole chart can predict E (extraversion) and N (emotionality) in ordinary people, the charts of 160 subjects with extreme scores on the EPI were judged by 45 astrologers from beginners to recognised experts. The atrologers judged the direction (+ or -) of E and N, and indicated how confident they were in each judgement. As a control another 45 astrologers made the same judgements by simply guessing. The result was 5400 judgements each of E and N, the same number of controle judgemenrts, anda further 1500 judgements from a sub-test of 39 astrologers and 14 palmists. For both E and N the agreement among astrologers was very poor (mean kappa .10 for direction and .01 for confidence), and the hit rate was at chance level (mean 50.3% vs 51.0% for controls vs 50% expected by chance), showing if anything that judgements were made worse by looking at charts. Judgements made with high confidence were no better than those made with low confidence. Supposedly crucial factors such as technique, experience, use of intuition, and birth data accuracy made no difference.

The influence of significant strands of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century esoteric thought on the surrealist movement has often been noted, though has been little studied. Part 1 of this paper summarises current opinions on the esoteric interests of the surrealists in general and André Breton in particular. Part 2 includes an interview with Breton on astrology conducted by Jean Carteret and Roger Knare in 1954 and published in the French astrology journal L’Astrologue in 1968, reproduced by permission of André Barbault.

This paper analyzes the role of Israel Hiebner’s Mysterium Sigillorum (1651) in the astrological reform program of late seventeenth-century English astrologers. Hiebner was a professor of astronomy and mathematics at Erfurt, and the translation of his tract into English in 1698 was considered to be a landmark event among reforming and scientific astrologers such as Henry Coley and John Gadbury. In the face of astrology’s declining reputation among learned elites, Coley and Gadbury wished to cleanse their discipline of superstitious dross and illustrate it was ‘experimentally true’ via Baconian induction as well as by incorporation of discoveries in astronomy and natural philosophy. Hiebner’s insistence on accurate planetary observations in making astrological sigils, his use of maps in Hevelius’ Selenographia as guides in stamping his medical amulets, as well as his detailed and precise lists of ascendant planetary aspects thus was appealing to these astrological reformers. This paper also analyzes the role of the Mysterium Sigillorum in the ‘English Sigil War,’ a larger debate that existed among astrological physicians and natural philosophy about the role of these medals in medical healing.

Georg Joachim Rheticus (1514-1574) was central to the development and popularization of Copernicus’ heliocentric theory. He is most well known for the first published account of the theory, the Narratio Prima in 1539, and his persuasion in obtaining Copernicus’ manuscript for publication, De Revolutionibus (1543). Rheticus’ poem ‘Concerning the Beer of Breslau and the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac’, written circa 1542, sheds light on two aspects of Rheticus’ early involvement with the heliocentric theory. The poem helps us understand the approach to astrology which would prove decisive in Rheticus’ acceptance of the heliocentric theory and offers a glimpse into Rheticus’ association with Wittenberg’s controversial group of young poets. This relationship significantly injured Rheticus’ career and the heliocentric theory in turn.

From the 2nd century AD the coincidence of Passover and Easter was recognized as a problem for the Christian church by the church authorities, and in the 4th century, after Christianity became the Roman state religion, Roman authorities took steps to prevent Passover and Easter coinciding. This effort was complicated by the growing separation between the churches in Rome and Constantinople. Though from the 2nd century the majority of Jews lived in the diaspora, at least up to the 10th century the calendar was governed by a rabbinical court in Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel). Here we discuss the changes in the Jewish calendar in the 5-8th centuries AD, the middle (c. 636 AD) of which period witnessed an abrupt transition from Byzantine rule over Eretz Israel to Arab rule. In this period no serious changes were made in the basic mathematics of the Jewish calendar; the only changes had a political context. Here we discuss a single but singular feature of the Jewish calendar, the ‘Deĥiyot’ [postponements] of Rosh Hashana. Our major claim is that Deĥiyah D [postponement from Wednesday to Thursday] and Deĥiyah U [postponement from Friday to Saturday] entered the calendar c. 532 AD as an ingenious Jewish response to Emperor Justinian’s ban against the Passover feast (Nisan 14) falling on a Saturday, instituted to mend a famous calendar rift between the Roman and Alexandrian churches. Next we claim that Deĥiyah A [postponement from Sunday to Monday] became part of the calendar no earlier than when the 2nd day of the festivals Rosh Hashana [New Year] and Sukkot [Tabernacles] acquired the status of sacred day and we raise the lower historical boundary of Deĥiyah A’s introduction in the calendar up to the time of the first Gaonim [heads of talmudic academies in the Arab caliphate] (c. 658 AD). We also suggest the reasons for the timing of three other deĥiyot.

Michael Glykas is generally known as a learned conservative theologian who wrote a refutation of Byzantine Emperor Manuel Komnenos’ defence of astrology in the latter half of the twelfth century. However there exists substantial evidence that Michael Glykas had a dual identity as the shadowy Michael Sikidites who in his youth was known for his occult interests, suspected of political sedition against Manuel, and imprisoned and blinded as punishment for sorcery. With skill and critical astuteness, Glykas directs his refutation not so much against Manuel’s philosophical arguments as against the claims of his evidence, and thus seeks to cast doubt upon the moral and literary integrity of his Emperor in an attempt to redeem his own reputation. Within half a century of the reintroduction of astrology to the West, Glykas was the first person in many centuries to stir up all the old Christian objections against the fatalism of the stars.

This article discusses trait-word extraction methodology as used in extensive analyses of US-Presidential biographies. It is made clear that there is an objectively verifiable methodoly for trait extraction which suggests that Ertel’s claims that the flawed methodology used by the Gauquelins invalidates the whole Character Traits Hypothesis (CTH) are not justified. The study continues by using the analyses of Simonton for each president, which includes a score on 4 scales (Interpersonal, Charismatic, Deliberative and Creative) to examine the correlations with Plus-Zone planets. Significant correlations are found on a small sample because the methodology of Ordinal data can be applied, in contrast to the Chi-Squared and other testing which is all that can be done on the Nominal data found in the Gauquelin source. The implication of this so-far neglected study (since 1997) is that CTH must be re-examined, and that the work of Simonton who has studied eminence over many years needs to be considered before ill-informed decisions are made to reject CTH. In addition the use of a methodology such as this would allow the study of small samples of the Gauquelin database with a view to re-examining CTH.