Rebuttal to Astrology Skeptic (1982)

Mari6n March of Encino, CA sent us the
following article that appeared on the front page of the Los
Angeles Times on April 8, 1982. Her "Letter to the Editor"
foHo*s the article.
Charkiter Link to Zodiac Sign
STUDY CONTRADICTS ONE OF
BASIC CLAIMS OF ASTROLOGY
B'v Lee Dembart, Times Science Writer
A French study of the biographies of 2,000 successful
people has found that no correlation exists between their
character traits and the signs of the zodiac under which they
were born.
The study which was conducted over several years,
contradicts one of the basic claims of astrology - namely that
your character is influenced by your sign.
"The results were completely negative," Michel Gauquelin,
the study's director, said Wednesday in a telephone interview
from his home in Paris.
Gauquelin, who is director of the Laboratory for the Study
of the Relations Between Cosmic Psychophysiological
Rhythms, assembled 52,188 character traits from published
biographies of 2,000 people and tried to correlate them with the
personalities attributed by 8 astrology textbooks to the 12 signs
of the zodiac. No traits were omitted, he said.
The subjects, all 20th-Century Europeans, included "sports
champions, military men, actors, artists, politicians, scientists
and writers," Gauquelin said.
Gauquelin said the astrology textbooks used agreed very
closely about which personality traits went with which signs.
For example, he quoted one book's description of an Aries
personality: "He is very much of a firebrand or battering-ram.
He will forge his way through life with courage, daring, energy
and initiative and enterprise. He is the true pioneer. His
one-pointedness of aim makes him direct and unable to use
subtlety. He is incisive and often satirical in speech, cutting in
invective."
Gauqualin also took into account such complicating factors
as the Moon sign and Rising sign, in addition to the Sun sign.
But for all 12 signs, a statistical analysis found that the
correlations between personality traits and signs of the zodiac
were no better than would have been predicted by chance.
"It's an ideal proof," Gauquelin said. "What can I do more?"
His paper appears in the current issue of the Skeptical Inquirer,
a journal dedicated to debunking claims of the paranormal.
But Carroll Righter, rhoee astrological forecasts appear in
more than 300 newsppers, including The Times, disputed
Gauquelin's findings.
"My investigations show otherwise," Righter said
Wednesday. "We have an astrological foundation, and we have
looked at a great many charts, and we've found that they do
have certain bearings."
Righter's work, which he said involves, "hundreds of
people," began in 1963 but has not been published. "We're
working on it, though," he said.
Although Gauquelin's present work appears to deflate
traditional astrology, he has published several books arguing an
equally controversial theory - to wit, that there is a link
between thc positions of the planets at the time of a person's
birth and his future professional career.
For ecample, he said, successful athletes are more likely to
have Mara either rising or setting at the time of birth than are
other peoe.

These claims were attacked two years ago in the Skeptical
Inquirer, which is now publishing Gauquelin's work on the
zodiac. Kendrick Frazier, the journal's editior, said he did not
think that Gauquelin's espousal of the Mars effect should
disqualify him from serious research on astrology.
It is not unknown for a scientist to do very good work in
one area and very poor work in another, Frazier said.
Gauquelin. incidentally, is a Scorpio. He said that
traditional astrology would probably find a close link between
his personality and that attributed to Scorpios. "I am skeptical
and inquisitive in my research," he said.
S.....
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
BASIC CLAIMS OF ASTROLOGY
I was not sure if I should be surprised or amused at your
front page coverage of your science writer's recent article
regarding a study contradicting Astrology's "Basic Claims" (his
description).
Michel and Francoise Gauquelin are known and respected
in the astrological and scientific community. They have written
many books and done much research. The study in question was
done a few years ago and elicited much interest but little
excitement, since no serious astrologer would ever claim that
one sign of the zodiac could describe a person. For this reason
professional astrologers smile at the thought that the world is
divided into just 12 types, as Sun Sign Astrology practiced by
most newspapers, would have you believe. But it does serve as
a charming way to get the layman interested in real Astrology!
Astrology does not claim to be an exact science, at best it
falls into the category of inexact sciences as does medicine or
psychology, or it could be called a technique or art. The art or
technique of synthesizing many factors in order to describe the
"whole person". ,Just as a doctor would not diagnose
tuberculosis based on one cough and a psychologist would not
anayze a person suicidal based on one statement, so a
professional astrologer would not judge a person's character
based on one planet in one sign of the zodiac.
Most astrologers are willing to accept the result of serious
research as done by the Gauquelins, even if it contradicts some
previously held concepts. That does not seem to be the case
with Kendrick Frazier, editor of the "Skeptical Inquirer", who
thought Michel Gauquelin's research "excellent and scientific"
when the results agreed with his (Frazier's) beliefs, but "poor
work" when they did not. And that approach is "scientific"?
Forgive me for remaining "skeptical".

Once again MARC PENFIELD Is
offering to rectify charts using his NADI
SYSTEM of rectification. He Is charging
$2.50 for one and 5 charts for $10.00.
Send full birth information along with
the cheek to:
MARC PENFIELD
1950 Tamarind ff116
Hollywood, CA 90068