Capricorn Research exists purely to prove that Astrology works and that it does so clearly and simply.

Unfortunately most of the writing around the subject falls into two categories, over simplification and over complexity.

It must be true that at least 80 % of the discussion around astrology is limited to signs only, and most of that to Sun signs. It does go without saying that the Sun is one of 5 planets whose sign positions are relevant. Each of the 10 generally recognised planets also have house positions and the angular relationship between each of them must be considered as well.

So we have at least 200 factors to consider of which the Sun’s sign is one. It is the most significant single one, but to ignore all the others is not real astrology at all.

And yet despite this research into the careers chosen by over 23000 people does show that Sun signs alone do have a considerable impact.

On the other hand, many serious astrologers bring all kinds of extras into the equation. The use of fixed stars and asteroids, nodes and points, midpoints between planets and a vast number of minor aspects may well have relevance but we are never going to persuade any scientists that astrology works with this evidence because we are giving ourselves too many options to back up our views.

Every pair of planets has a midpoint. This gives us 45 possible midpoints for each of the major 10 planets. If we restrict ourselves to even an orb of 1 degree and allow only conjunctions, oppositions and squares to these midpoints we have used the whole 360 degrees of the zodiac.

So the chances of midpoints coming up by chance alone is 100%.

If we are looking at the chart of a murderer for example, we can simply look through the list of possible midpoints until we find one that we feel reflects this act.

On the same basis, minor aspects, asteroids and fixed stars are heading in much the same direction depending on how many you want to use.

Now of course astrologers are perfectly entitled to use whatever they wish in their palette to explain things but it is statistically meaningless.

There are many arguments put forward to say that astrology cannot be judged statistically because it does not work in a way that can be assessed on mass.

It is a symbolic science that attends to the individual, and that the decision by the astrologer to connect the position of the planets to the moment of birth of a client is part of the equation. Therefore whatever method the individual astrologer likes to use is appropriate because he or she is particularly employed by the client to do so.

Each individual is unique and the method of coming to understand one person’s place in the scheme of things should not tie us when we try to comprehend the next person. We have to sit with the symbols for a while and see what comes up.

Capricorn Research understands this and has considerable sympathy with this way of seeing things, it often works very well to give insights that could not be arrived at any other way.

However it can result in a dismissal of scientific method because astrology simply doesn’t work like that. The impression given is that there is no reason why there should be similarities between the charts of two different murderers because each of them have a completely individual make up and their psychological reasons for committing such an abhorrent act are likely to be different.

But if we take this argument to its logical conclusion, we cannot work with astrology at all. We are all at the mercy of the unknown, but are attempting to look into previous cycles that may appear similar to the ones we are currently experiencing to try and give ourselves some aid to understanding how they will affect us.

So all the time astrologers are looking for similarities with previous experience, otherwise they would not be able to say anything. So we might be dismissive of it, but every time we make an astrological connection, we are attempting to use scientific method.

Capricorn Research believes that astrologers’ dismissal of a statistical approach to analysing the subject, largely and understandably comes from a view that this means of investigation has failed astrology in the past and an assumption that it will always continue to do so.

The experience of this writer over 35 years of research is that this is not true. It is simply that the right kind of research has not been done perhaps by the right people best qualified to understand how the subject works.

My role is to do the right kind of research and to offer the results to any astrologer who is interested. But further than that it is to come up with an approach to astrological research that could persuade others to treat the subject more seriously. This is my raison d’être.

It is also why I have to limit the choices that I allow myself in my astrological palette. Astrology is an enormous field, it is impossible to research a large amount of it. But as a pragmatic triple Capricorn I promise to only focus on those things that are most likely to produce results that are verifiable.

So consequently midpoints, fixed stars, asteroids, arabic and other points and minor aspects all have to go, not because I don’t believe that they work, simply because it would be impossible to persuade anyone else that they might.

Capricorn Research sticks to the major aspects, the conjunction, opposition, square, trine and sextile. The orbs used are conjunctions and oppositions – 10 degrees for the Sun and Moon, 8 for the other planets, squares and trines – 8 for Sun and Moon, 6 for the rest, sextiles 6 and 4 respectively.

In this way we are talking about any relationship between a pair of planets covering 128 degrees if its the Sun or Moon and 96 degrees for the rest.

So the chances of these aspects simply coming up by chance is approximately 36 % and 27 % respectively. If in a sample of reasonable size, we find that these aspects come up 50 or 40 % of the time, we know that we are onto something of significance.

Obviously the larger the sample size, the less chance of a high score.

When dealing with sign and to a lesser extent house positions it is relatively simple task to come up with a ” p ” figure that shows us how statistically significant a particular placing is in a sample.

When dealing with aspects, this becomes a lot more complicated and is beyond the mathematical skills of the writer.

However, my way of demonstrating a link is to show how frequently an aspect appears in a sample relative to the expected number of times by a simple percentage figure.

Of course any astrologer worth their salt will say that any human expression will not be defined or indicated by one solitary aspect of a person’s chart, it would be a combination of all the of the signs, houses and aspects that the planets make.

In which case, this article will surprise a great many astrologers and hopefully have the same impact on other people.

Whilst doing the sun sign career research, I looked at other ways of searching for a connection between charts and career choices.

Planets conjunct the Ascendant have produced some interesting findings.

The Moon scores high for Teachers and Painters,

Mercury for Writers, particularly Journalists and Poets.

Venus for Novelists and Musicians

Jupiter and Uranus for World Leaders

and Pluto for Prostitutes.

However there have been others that don’t particularly seem to fit like

Neptune for Sport

Saturn for Artists

Mars for Scientists – although this is a maybe

and Venus for Engineers.

So a simple assessment of the effect of planets conjunct the Ascendant would be about 6 out of 10, not to be sniffed at but probably not as reliable an indicator as the Sun sign.

When taken together however, Sun signs and planets rising do seem to produce something worth having.

But whilst performing all these tests I believe that I have stumbled on something truly staggering.

I have taken all the aspects between all the planets and given them a percentage relative to the expected frequency of occurrence. This as much as possible takes into account the different lengths of time that an aspect is in operation.

An example of this beyond the obvious ones of the Sun with Mercury and Venus, is the great difference in frequency between the conjunction and the opposition of the Sun to Mars.

So each sample group has a league table of single aspects with the frequency that they occur.

And it is astonishing how relevant the table topping aspect that comes up most frequently is.

For this research every single chart that appeared on the astrodatabank website between the spring of 2010 and 2013 was used providing they all had accurate birth data and a reference to the individual’s chosen career.

For the purpose of this research aspects to the Ascendant, Midheaven or other points were not considered.

Every career group is recorded providing the size of the sample was over 140. Anything below this was considered too small a sample to provide clear statistical results.

By way of a guide if the sample size is over 2000, a score of 125 % would be deemed statistically very significant.

If the size is around 1000, 135 %

If 500, 150 %

If around 150, 200 %

The results are published in alphabetical order.

 

Actors   –  sample size  2566

Most frequent aspect  –  Venus  c0njunct  Jupiter    131 %

 

American Football  –    250

Mercury  sextile  Pluto    216  %

 

Armed Forces  –    459

Moon opposite  Mars     150  %

 

Artists   –  783

Venus c0njunct  Jupiter    152  %

 

Astrologers  –  953

Jupiter conjunct Uranus    144  %

 

Athletics  –  171

Venus  sextile  Uranus    223  %

 

Baseball  –  397

Sun conjunct  Neptune    172  %

 

Boxers  –  239

Mars opposite  Saturn    217  %

 

Business  –  491

Moon square Venus    149  %

Mercury  sextile  Mars   149  %

 

Classical Composers  –   262

Moon opposite Mercury   185  %

 

Classical Musicians –  404

Mercury conjunct Jupiter   156  %

 

Classical Singers  –  170

Venus opposite Mars    220  %

 

Comedians  –  328

Sun conjunct  Saturn    159  %

 

Dancers  –   369

Venus  conjunct  Jupiter    164  %

 

Engineers  –  149

Venus conjunct Uranus    226  %

 

Film Directors  –  543

Mars sextile Jupiter    149  %

 

Finance  –  159

Mars conjunct Neptune    170 %

Venus conjunct Saturn    170  %

Moon opposite Mars    170 %

 

Jazz Musicians  –  155

Venus opposite Pluto    218  %

 

Journalists  –  448

Sun conjunct Jupiter    157  %

 

Lawyers  –  359

Sun opposite Mars     211  %

 

Medicine  –   387

Sun opposite Mars   182  %

 

Musicians  –  1220

Mercury opposite Mars    142  %

 

Novelists  –  581

Venus conjunct Uranus   143  %

Mars opposite Jupiter    143  %

 

Painters  –  393

Venus conjunct  Jupiter    160  %

 

Poets  –  411

Mercury conjunct Jupiter    170  %

 

Politicians  –  1473

Mars conjunct Saturn   136  %

 

Pop Musicians  –  473

Mercury opposite Mars    197  %

 

Pop Singers  –   680

Mars conjunct Saturn   146  %

 

Prostitutes  –  166

Mars conjunct Saturn   176  %

 

Psychologists  –  206

Mars conjunct Neptune   186  %

 

Religion  –  562

Sun conjunct Saturn   154  %

 

Scientists  –  737

Mars opposite Jupiter    147  %

 

Sex Symbols  –  288

Venus conjunct Neptune    172  %

 

Singers   –  1120

Sun conjunct Jupiter    140  %

 

Sport   –  2680

Venus conjunct Saturn   128  %

 

Teachers  –   245

Venus conjunct Neptune    211  %

 

TV Personalities  –  350

Mercury trine Mars    174  %

 

World Leaders  –  299

Mars conjunct Jupiter    166 %

 

Writers  –   2048

Mercury conjunct Jupiter    130 %

 

Many of the largest sample sizes have produced findings that are absolutely staggering. The results for Actors, Artists, Classical Musicians, Dancers , Novelists, Painters, Poets, Prostitutes, Religion, Sex Symbols, Singers, World Leaders and Writers are scarcely credible.

Out of 39 different sample groups, my view is that most astrologers would be impressed by at least 34 of them.

It should be noted that the vast majority of the people in the lawyers group are barristers rather than solicitors.

Also the medicine group contains a very significant number who are surgeons.

There is only one group that it is difficult to make a case for the most frequent aspect and that is sport. It may be useful to bear in mind that a number of these people could have had other careers as well.

It is worth pointing out that a list of the top 3 aspects in most cases would have been similarly impressive, but I have chosen just to show the single most frequent aspect for simplicity’ s sake.

By any measure this research has shown a hit rate of between 80 and 90 % which is staggering.

Astrology is very simple, there’s no need to make it complicated.

 

 

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