A Dummy Test of Astrology
Article by Francis [originally published 2021]
In this article I example a simple test of astrology. This is along the lines that have been tried and tested a number of times before…
I’m going to assume an astrologer is working with a researcher to test zodiac signs…
The researcher wants to test a theory regarding the kind of occupation that people with certain star signs (Sun-signs) are likely to embark upon. As you may know, there is nothing unusual in that area of interest; people do seek to know what line of work they are likely best suited to, through astrology – if unfortunately, too often being restricted to using just their Sun-sign as the means for finding out.
There is also nothing unusual in tests of astrology being devised in a similar fashion.
Let me say for this trial test the research will explore the predicted vocations of people born with their Sun in one of the four cardinal signs (that is Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn) and make a match between the work they actually do and the work predicted by the astrologer.
To begin with the astrologer is expected to provide a description for each of these four signs. They say that a person with:
Sun in in Aries is likely to be drawn towards adventure and enterprise, going their own way, up for a challenge, taking the lead on an issue they are fond of, and can help them to make a living.
Sun in Cancer is likely to be drawn towards avenues of work linking to tradition, caring for others, or say a family business, somewhere where they feel at home, such as running a bed & breakfast.
Likewise, the Sun in Libra person is likely to be drawn to matters of relating to people. They’ll seek a harmonious work environment, likely involving the visual arts and music, being a diplomat, being a counsellor, a beauty consultant or judge in some way.
And fourthly; the Sun in Capricorn is likely to be drawn towards a conventional career involving serious disciplined work, a position that offers status, such as being an architect, being in management, being in business, being an authority.
The researcher next requires the astrologer to provide predicted job outcomes against their descriptions for the test. He or she wants the astrologer to pinpoint what work it is these people are likely to do – and limit these to ten possible vocations in each category.
With so many possibilities of work the astrologer is forced frankly to make a stab and they conclude the following: –
Sun in Aries is likely to be drawn towards:
• PR Specialist
• Communications Manager
• Store Manager
• Magazine Editor
• Real Estate Agent
• Hair Stylist
• Sales Representative
• Holistic Health Practitioner
• Registered Nurse
• Insurance Defence Attorney
Sun in Cancer is likely to be drawn towards:
• Chief Executive Officer
• Childcare Worker
• Content Editor
• Attorney
• Physical Therapist
• Regional Planner
• Interior Designer
• Computer Systems Analyst
• Tech Writer
• Gallery Attendant
Sun in Libra is likely to be drawn towards:
• Municipal Court Judge
• Multimedia Journalist
• Interior Decorator
• Publicist
• Ombudsman/Mediator
• Marketing Promotions Specialist
• Customer Service Representative
• Graphic Artist
• Web Designer
• Brand Marketing Consultant
Sun in Capricorn is likely to be drawn towards:
• Chief Executive Officer
• Human Resources Manager
• Business Analyst
• Financial Planner
• Architect
• Copywriter
• Creative Director
• Foreign Affairs Specialist
• Intelligence Analyst
• Commissioner
The researcher then acquires a reasonable sample of 600 or so candidates, all born within the parameters of the four periods (Aries: Mar 21 – Apr 19; Cancer: Jun 21 – Jul 22; Libra: Sep 23 – Oct 22; Capricorn: Dec 21 – Jan 19) in the twenty to forty age bracket.
The candidates answer a questionnaire to find out what work or vocation they do and the researcher compiles the findings. An additional 100 candidates were contacted to fill out the questionnaire as a control sample – where their birthdates could occur any time in the year.
Cutting to the chase
I won’t go into further (pretend) detail but cutting to the chase, the outcome is that some people indeed did fit in with the predicted outcomes, but overall the sample provided evidence no better than chance for the theory that cardinal Sun-signs can predict the line of work a person will do.
Indeed, let’s say the control sample did just as well too.
The test doesn’t provide support for astrology in other words – certainly not on this occasion. It is suggested to maybe try with a larger list of jobs and a larger sample of candidates…
Meanwhile, I would have been somewhat surprised if the test had proved otherwise. If it had been successful, I would have been the first to request it be run again, to show it was no fluke.
The simple fact is that each predicted vocation the astrologer listed could only ever be a possible prediction, certainly not a reliable objective prediction.
Back in earlier times when people didn’t move around so much, and opportunities to explore other avenues of work were less in abundance (let’s say), it might have been easier to predict what career a person may be attracted to – sons often followed their fathers, and daughters followed their mothers into the kind of work they would do – but not so now.
Besides, there are certainly more than forty possible career options open to these four groups.
So great, I suppose, if it had worked, but…
Look I have my Sun in one of those cardinal signs; Libra. The test wouldn’t have worked for me either. Admittedly I have skills that are on the fringes of one or two of the posts listed (such as graphics, Web design and publicist) but I’ve never sought or taken any up as a job title. So, these wouldn’t have appeared in my questionnaire responses.
I have also had quite a number of different jobs through my life. For the sake of the record here: Besides being an astrologer, a writer, archaeologist and college lecturer (in IT), in my earlier working years I was a cabinet maker and later a sheet metal worker. Right now I also support my partner with developing and distribution of her music. As for general insight into the jobs I’ve had, my Moon sign and house (Gemini 3rd House), and my stellium in Scorpio would have provided better clues to my work direction than my Sun by itself.
These days it is not so easy to hold down a job for life and arguably this piece of pretend research may have provided different results if, for example, the same 600 people were being asked to participate in the research five years later.
Given what I’ve discussed here is it any surprise that the following piece of research (quoted in the Correlation Journal – and just happens to involve Libra again) arrived at a similar unsuccessful outcome for astrology?
In his book, A Scheme of Heaven (2020), Alexander Boxer tested a traditional claim that people gravitate towards certain professions based on their Sun-Sign of the Zodiac. He posed that Libra, a sign associated with the law should be disproportionately high among 114 justices of the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) appointed since 1789 [to] the time of publication of his book. However, Boxer’s calculations showed no correlation with any Sun-Signs and the frequency of Libra was below the average.[1]
No surprise whatsoever! Indeed, how predictable the outcome – more predictable than the supposed astrology behind it.
It is a more specific test than the dummy one above but it still falls into the same trap of measuring Sun-signs only.[2] This is not the way to test astrology. Actually the quote above was taken from an article commenting on part of a re-run of this test that drew on the components of Jupiter in Libra, Venus in Sagittarius and Jupiter/Venus aspects. All to provide a more promising outcome, if not statistically (n=114) significant.
We must remind ourselves that astrology is holistic. In other words each component in a birth-chart interacts with other components. The sign the Sun is in will give a strong indication of a person’s direction of interest, but it won’t give you an indication of how the other planets, signs and houses are likely to interact with the Sun – certainly not from such a generalised measure of astrology.
Shocking news:
The jobs list used above was actually drawn from the Web
By the bye, any astrologer worth their salt wouldn’t participate in such a dummy test as I have outlined. It is over-simplistic. It is doomed to provide a poor result. It does, as said at the outset, serve as an example of the kind of testing that has actually gone on with astrology – and is still going on today, as in Boxer’s work.
But then, let me add a rider to this, and that is that no astrologer would need to be involved in such a test as I outlined. This is because such information on Sun-signs and possible careers is readily available on the Web for any would-be researcher to acquire and test it out. The ten jobs listed in each of the four Sun-sign categories above were not my inventions but actually drawn verbatim from a well-known career’s advice website.[3]
In context…
What I hope to have also shown here is that trying to predict (or match) what occupation a person will do is very hit or miss using astrology. With so many variables involved predictions are likely to be inaccurate. The better way is via flagging up the energy pattern and potential an individual has while speaking to them. That is drawing out their likely needs, skills and talents.
Opening them up to the possibilities in other words (with examples), is a different matter. This puts the person back in the driving seat of deciding for themselves what work, or vocation, will best suit them. They are then in a better position to choose what career direction to follow.
Anecdotal is actually valid
From my perspective one of the best forms of testimony or outcome for endorsing astrology is an anecdotal one. A person gets a reading done, or better, learns about their astrological makeup, applies it to their life and decides (rates) whether it provides a valuable tool of insight for them or not. As subjective as it is (a no-no to science) in my opinion this is a reliable test for the art of astrology. And let me assure you that profound insights can, and will be made once the components are understood.
Astrology is never quite as black and white as science requires – or as some astrologers may think it is.
It is not a building block situation where you can say for certain that x+y=z or that Mercury square Mars must equal forceful exchanges, rudeness and quarrels in the behaviour of a person. The individual may have something else in their birth-chart to help redirect or ameliorate such an outcome. Or else they may have learnt to channel this energy differently, even though the propensity for such exchanges will be there. One has always to consider the other players, or planets, in the arrangement.
Think of it this way (as I have mentioned elsewhere), the birth-chart of a person is like an orchestra. Listening to one instrument playing and guessing what the whole orchestra are likely to play, from the sound of that one instrument, may be possible for one Sun Aries person but not at all in evaluating another Sun Aries person. And either person would surely be capable of playing more than one tune.
This is about evaluating the potential and uniqueness, of individuality – less so, hard and fast objective outcomes.
But, that said, indeed there have been a number of tests that have provided evidence for the endorsement of astrology. Get a large enough sample and even a single component may show surprising results – as you’ll see in The Mars Effect.
Where to find Research on Astrology
Should you wish to seek out research on astrology you could begin with John West and Jan Toonder’s book, The Case for Astrology[4], also Mark Pottenger’s Astrological Research Methods[5] and organisations, such as the Astrological Association[6] or Urania Trust[7], that carry or focus on research into astrology.
ENDs
References
[1] Correlation Journal of Research in Astrology, The Astrological Association, Vol. 33 (2) 2021, P77.
[2] I saw a similar methodology, of testing single factors, being applied in tests on the validity of handwriting analysis (graphology), another holistic discipline (when I researched it back in the 1980s). This level of single factor (such as measuring slant or pen pressure) testing was carried out repeatedly from the early 20th century. I’d suggest that such tests were popular as they required little knowledge of handwriting analysis on the part of those doing the research, and often, but by no means always, failed to validate the discipline.
[3] For example: https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/aries-career-horoscope. [Accessed 15/10/2020]. Click on the appropriate signs and you’ll find the suggested vocations.
[4] West, J. A. and Toonder, J. G. (1970) The Case for Astrology. Guest Books.
[5] Pottenger, M., ed. (1995) Astrological Research Methods. An ISAR Anthology.
[6] The Astrological Association of Great Britain https://www.astrologicalassociation.com/
[7] Organisations dealing with astrological research include: International Society for Astrological Research – http://www.isarastrology.com/ | Urania Trust – https://www.uraniatrust.org/ | Research Grants for the Critical Study of Astrology http://www.astrology-research.net/ | Correlation Journal of Research in Astrology https://correlationjournal.com/ [All accessed 11/05/2020]
Links you might also like:
Erecting Birth-charts
What is a birth-chart and how can it help me understand myself better?
What is Astrology?