A glance at any elementary astrology textbook will show us a list of many things that each of the planets are said to rule. These lists may even include certain careers.

It goes without saying that a sporting career would come under the rulership of Mars whereas that of an artist would be the province of Venus.

Others might be a combination of planets like scientists having a joint influence of Mercury and Saturn.

Is there any truth in these assertions however and do they stand up to the light of research. Capricorn Research has looked at this question from a number of different angles and has shown significant strong connections for an astrological link to career or lifestyle choice on a number of occasions.

These studies are too numerous to mention them all here but they are all collected on this site under the heading ” Does This Prove Astrology “

But if there is a connection between the planets and career or lifestyle choices, is it possible to say exactly what that is ?

How does it manifest. If we say that Mars is an important factor in Motor Racing, does that mean the red planet will be found more frequently than usual in major aspect with the Sun or Moon or does the martial influence manifest through its ruler ship over the sign Aries ?

Well in this case it’s definitely the latter as Aries is by far the strongest Sun sign. There is virtually no emphasis on the Mars aspects to the Sun or the Ascendant.

The aspects of Mars to the Moon however do look interesting as the conjunction scores extremely low at a mere 16% of the expected figure whereas the more challenging opposition scores highly at 152%. This does make sense as the Moon by it’s very nature looks for an easy time of it, so we would expect that if it was going to feature with Mars it would be the difficult aspects that are more prominent.

But this finding and others in general prompts the question – is there a difference if a planets aspects the Sun, Moon or Ascendant ?

Are there any planets that score highly in certain groups for all three ?

A good simple starting place would be to look at the sample groups that score highest in a particular planet’s conjunction with the Ascendant.

So if we look at the Sun’s conjunction with the Ascendant the group that has this aspect more than any other is the group of Explorers with a score of 319 % of the expected number of times !

In 2nd place for the Sun conjunct Ascendant is the group of those involved in Finance Crime with 200 %.

3rd is the group of Classical Conductors with 190 %.

Interestingly when we look at Mercury’s conjunction with the Ascendant we see exactly the same groupings

1. Explorers 281 %

2. Finance Crime 203 %

3. Classical Conductors 201 %.

Of course Mercury is always fairly close to the Sun so this coincidence is not as surprising as it might otherwise be, but even so, its interesting.

When we think about the Ascendant as a pioneering, starting point its to be expected that having the Sun there would give strong assertive, leadership qualities together with an powerful drive to get movement started. So Explorers and Classical Conductors would clearly make sense in this placing, although I’m not sure about Finance Crime.

As you will see from the percentage scores, some planets have a much stronger, clearer impact when they are rising than others. The Sun’s scores are by far the highest. The Moon’s scores are amongst the lowest.

What this probably means is that the Sun rising is much more likely to have an impact on the activity and the career and lifestyle choices of the person than the Moon in the same position. The Moon is more likely to impact on how they feel about their chosen activity.

The Moon’s conjunction with the Ascendant top scores in the following groups

1. Teachers 154 %

2. Suicide 151 %

3. Tennis Players and Explorers both on 150 %.

This is interesting in that the top scoring group chooses a career where they are responsible for educating and caring for children, a very lunar choice. Strong lunar qualities of nourishing and empathising would be needed here.

The suicide group could be explained as people who have a strong emotional reaction to life which would fit with the Moon.

The Tennis players and Explorers could be explained by just having planets rising, putting more focus on the physicality and the assertive qualities of the Ascendant. Its particularly interesting that Explorers score highly with both the Sun and Moon rising.

One question that arises is would there be any similarity between the kind of groups that score highly with the Moon on the Ascendant and those that do so with The Moon conjunct the Sun ? The answer is unclear but there doesn’t really seem to be a crossover.

The Sun conjunct Moon scores are

1. Adopted children 184 %

2. Aviators 169 %

3. Air Crash Victims 158 %

One point with the Sun / Moon conjunction is that lunar and family type issues would obviously play a much bigger role in the person’s life. This would certainly make sense in the case of the leading group of Adopted children.

Capricorn Research can find no obvious explanation of the Aviators and Air Crash Victims however.

There is little point in looking at the Sun’s conjunctions with either Mercury or Venus because they happen so frequently and no particular groups score highly relative to other ones.

The Moon’s conjunction with Mercury scores are

1. Aviators at 185 %

2. Philosophers 170 %

3. Classical Conductors 161 %

All of these make sense. Philosophers would be expected to have Mercury connected to a major point in the chart and since the Sun / Mercury conjunction is so widespread, the Moon does nicely.

The same goes for the Classical Conductors who express a nice combination of feel for the music ( Moon ) with the ability to communicate via moving their arms around ( Mercury ).

Aviators score highly through Mercury’s association with travel and this might explain why this group also has the Sun / Moon conjunction frequently – its in order to pick up the Moon / Mercury conjunction.

Venus we all know is associated with material comfort, possessions, finances and creativity.

So its no surprise that the highest scoring group is

1. Royal Families 191 %

2. Finance Crime 188 %

3. Jazz Musicians 174 %

With Venus there is some considerable crossover as by far the highest scoring group for the Moon conjunct Venus is

1. Royal Families 220 %

This group is so far ahead that the only other one with any significance at all is

2. Basketball players 155 %.

Mars is a planet that doesn’t seem to have such high scores for its conjunctions to the big three.

For Mars conjunct the Ascendant the highest scoring groups are

1. Classical Conductors 165 %

2. Scientists 162 %

3. Rulers 153 %

While these groups are not obviously martial, it is also not that surprising that they have a strong Mars, particularly conjunct the Ascendant as each of them has a tendency to project a strong image of leadership.

Mars conjunction with the Sun or Moon does not show any significant patterns.

For Jupiter, the findings are fascinating.

The Sun’s conjunction with Jupiter produces these results

1. Royal Families 204 %

2. Basketball players 202 %

3. Aviators 185 %

Obviously all of these groups perfectly demonstrate Jupiter’s expansive influence, the basketball players perhaps do so through their sheer physical size and aviators through their pioneering form of travel.

The Moon’s Conjunction with Jupiter

1. Cyclists 171 %

2. Psychologists 157 %

3. Royal Families 149 %

I’m mot quite sure why Cyclists are the top scorers here, but the Psychologists makes perfect sense because they are dealing with the feeling and instinctive realm of the Moon.

Jupiter conjunct the Ascendant

1. Drug Takers 190 %

2. Alcoholics 180 %

3. Royal Families 177 %

This finding is fascinating. It seems that Jupiter’s conjunction with the Ascendant is more likely to bring to the fore the negative, indulgent and excessive traits of Jupiter.

Its also interesting to note that the collection of Royal Family members scores highly on each of the Sun, Moon and Ascendant’s conjunctions with Jupiter together with the Moon and Ascendant’s conjunctions with Venus. And lets face it, if ever there was a group of people that come into the world with all the material benefits, its this one.

Saturn’s placing conjunct the Ascendant has two distinct groups scoring highly

1. Classical Singers 185 %

2. Serial Murderers 163 %

Of course Saturn has connections with tradition and structure which makes sense for opera singers. It also has connotations with the expression of the darker side of human nature, so the symbol can easily cover serial murderers as well.

Saturn’s conjunction with the Sun scores highest with

1. Adopted children 184 %

2. Pop Musicians 183 %

3. Alcoholics 165 %

Saturn with the Sun is often connected with a weakness or loss of the father principle. It also suggests difficulties in young life which can get easier as one grows older and becomes more used to the obstructing conditions. For all these reasons it makes perfect sense that it scores highly for Adopted children.

It also works for Alcoholics although Capricorn Research has yet to come up with a convincing reason for this aspect scoring so highly for Pop Musicians, unless it is to do with them feeling obstructed by authority figures.

The Moon conjunct Saturn produces these results

1. Motor Racing 187 %

2. Classical Singers 180 %

3. Air Crash Victims 178 %

The classical singers group would be expected to feature for the same reasons explained with Saturn conjunct the Ascendant.

Victims of any sort could be put down to Saturn particularly in relation to the Moon.

The Motor Racing finding is an odd one but perhaps it is more of a reflection of the strong need for emotional ( Moon ) self control ( Saturn ) than any other side of these two planets.

Interestingly enough many of the findings for the Uranus, Neptune and Pluto’s conjunctions with the Sun, Moon and Ascendant reinforce these outer planets connections with deviant or unusual behaviour and changing conditions.

Uranus conjunct the Ascendant

1. Adopted 222 %

2. Sex Crime 178 %

3. Aids Victims 158 %

The findings for the Adopted group are particularly interesting as it is reinforced by the Moon

Uranus conjunct the Moon

1. Tennis 210 %

2. Adopted 204 %

These two are miles ahead of any other groups with this aspect.

Uranus conjunct the Sun brings in a different type altogether

1. Political Rebels 161 %

2 = Serial Murderers 149 %

2 = Psychologists 149 %

The political rebels group is easily the most Uranian in the whole database so its very gratifying that they have scored highest for the planet’s conjunction with the Sun.

Neptune conjunct the Ascendant

1. Sex Crime 231 %

2. Athletics 177 %

Neptune conjunct the Moon

1. Sex Crime 176 %

2. Engineers 157 %

3. Drug takers 152 %

Neptune conjunct the Sun

1. Baseball 172 %

2. Tennis 165 %

3. Finances 159 %

It is a bit of a mystery why most of these score highly for Neptune, the only classic Neptune result is for the Drug takers. But the planet does have a major role to play in Sex Crime, as does Pluto.

Pluto conjunct the Sun

1. Sex Crime 190 %

2. Athletics 179 %

3. Basketball 171 %

Pluto conjunct the Moon

1. Basketball 186 %

2. Alcoholics 154 %

3 = Drugs 152 %

3 = Rulers 152 %

Pluto conjunct the Ascendant

1. Political Rebels 136 %

2. Parapsychology 134 %

3. Basketball 134 %

Again some interesting results with Pluto, most of them are the kinds of groups we might expect to have the planet strong, although Basketball players scoring so consistently highly might raise some eyebrows. Perhaps it explains the explosive speed that they have and the slam dunk effect of hitting the basket from such a Sun conjunct Jupiter height.

A study of the above results will show that there are differences between planets conjunctions with the Sun, Moon and Ascendant.

There are also some strong themes that run across these aspects where there is a certain consistency of some groups appearing.

The strongest ones are

1. Royal Families with Jupiter and Venus

2. Adopted children with the Moon and Uranus

3. Explorers with the Ascendant

4. Classical Conductors with Mercury and the Ascendant

5. Classical Singers with Saturn

6. Sex Criminals with Neptune

7. Basketball players with Pluto

8. Unconventional or Deviant Behaviour with Uranus, Neptune and Pluto

Of course with any research on this scale there’s bound to be one or two surprises, but looking at these results there aren’t many that really fall into that category.

As with the Motor Racers it may be that the planet’s effect works more through the sign that it rules, but the above research shows that by and large the elementary astrology textbooks have got a lot of things right.