The medical astrologers of Ancient Greece: the iatromathematici, and the later European physician-astrologers, assumed a correlation between events in the heavens and those on earth that was relevant to both health and disease. Some of the early practitioners of modern scientific medicine did the same under the aegis of what we might term proto-cosmobiology, though none of them could provide an adequate mechanism to explain the nature of the link they believed existed between the skies and ourselves. With the discovery and elucidation of the pineal gland’s functions in the mid-twentieth century, which are discussed in detail, we were in a position to provide such a link, and to a great extent, we can now explain in conventional scientific terms how those influences of the Sun, Moon, planets and other celestial phenomena studied by the early iatromathematici and early cosmobiologists could, can, and do, affect us.

This paper addresses a question that is concerned with the distribution of harmonic points around the circle, ecliptic or diurnal, which result when each degree is multipled by a certain number of harmonics. The method of how to do this is presented and discussed together with the merits of examining the resultant relationshipos when harmonics considered as pure numbers are manipulated.

See also Erratum for this article pp 62-63 Correltion 21(2) 2003

Birth counts of Gauquelin professionals across time of the day show large dips at midnight. Geoffrey Dean posits that parents avoid reporting that hour at registry offices because of fear of spooky effects (Fears). In Francoise Gauquelin’s view, however, parents merely avoid date ambiguity. In the present study, count of minute-by-minute frequencies of hospital births (1987-1994, N = 320,817) were analysed. Hypothesis: midnight avoidance, if due to Fears, should not occur in records of recent hospital births where parents are excluded from the reporting process. Result: the hospital data did show a considerable lack of births at 0:00 h sharp. For hospital births, only Avoidance makes sense while Dean’s Fears claim cannot apply here. Conclusion: it is inconceivable that Avoidance being traceable in recent hospital birth data, did not also guide 19th Century parents’ birth reports. Dean argued that Fears went along with adjusting their children’s birth hours to auspicious planetary positions so that Gauquelin planetary effects were deemed explainable, largely or even entirely, by occult beliefs. But since midnight avoidance is more plausibly explained by Avoidance rather than Fears, Dean’s seemingly strongest argument for bringing Gauquelin planetary effects down to earth is shattered.

The methodologies of social science, particularly those advanced by Eysenck and Nias in their review of critiques of astrological studies, are commended. Since there will be multiple factors influencing behavioural outcomes over the lifefspan, very large subject pools are necessary in order to estimate the contribution of various non-astrological factors. An aproach to human action derived from the work of Parsons is advocated, considering simultaneously cultural, social system, personality and cosmobiological (including astrological) influences. Despite numerous interacting forces influencing human action, it is choices that are determined, not the action itself. Ultimately, we are free agents and our actions are not “written in he stars”.

The notions of symbolism, archetype and synchronicity in astrology are reviewed in a critical and rational way. It is demonstrated that they can in no way be defended scientifically but are purely literary and “fashionable” notions that undermine the reputation of astrology and fuel the arguments of its critics

The notions of symbolism, archetype and synchronicity in astrology are reviewed in a critical and rational way. It is demonstrated that they can in no way be defended scientifically but are purely literary and “fashionable” notions that undermine the reputation of astrology and fuel the arguments of its critics

Many published definitions of the “Placidus” house system are either misleadingly incomplete or simply incorrect. This paper, which avoids astronomical or geometric jargon where possible, provides a clear yet comprehensive description of the system. Global application of the methods is then introduced.

Once daily and for an instant, there can be no single ecliptic degree rising at the Arctic or Antarctic circles. It is therefore possible that a horoscope cast for one of these latitudes might have no Ascendant. At other places within the Polar Circles, horoscopes might have Ascendant and MC in conjunction or opposition. This paper explains why such phenomena cause the collapse of some methods of house division while leaving others virtually unaffected.

The discovery and development of the cyclical index is presented. The paper discusses how to use this model and its possible value in predicting events and, in particular, wars. It is argued that the index is seen to provide a valuable guide to major eras of world stability, the peaks, and world discord, the troughs. The importance of the planets Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto within this model is also presented.

This article is based on a talk given to the Research Conference of the astrological Association in November 2002. The author argues for a non-causal explanantion of the working of astrology and bases his argument on the evidence of “entanglement”, the simultaneity effect of transits, the lack of evidence for any physical connection and the lives of Gaquelin’s professionals. He goes further in proposing that a real “secondary world” exists allowing not only the selection of birth times by the “star-born” but also the successes of Alexander technique and the “Inner Game”. Finally, he suggests that this concept of the secondary world has been anticipated by the ancient Tao beliefs, and that the scientific and Tao views are complementary.