A summary is given of each of the 29 entries to the Truth of Astrology Competition. Roughly half the entries conclude in effect that the truth delivered by astrology is actually satisfaction (it provides meaning, it enriches life, it does good) rather than accuracy (freedom from error), which due to the fallibility of astrologers is held to be undeliverable despite the underlying Greater Truth. By contrast the other half focused on accuracy, either by implication, observation (I.e., experience), statistical tests, or chart interpretations, to show how astrology delivers accuracy and therefore truth. This division of truth into satisfaction vs. accuracy matches the division obtained and discussed four years earlier in KT1. Although the entries collectively provide stimulating reading for the uncritical reader, for the critical reader they contain a disturbing level of error and faulty inference even among the big names, indicating an urgent need for a better general education among astrologers right across the board. Some possible requirements for a better education are discussed.

The French skeptics (CFEPP) attempt to replicate the Gauquelin Mars effect used a sample of 1,966 sports champions taken from two biographical sources. They reported an insignificant surplus of births in Mars key sectors upon which they concluded that a Mars effect was non-existent. The surplus became larger but remained insignificant when the CFEPP’s own critic, Dr, Nienhuys, mathematician at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands, at my suggestion corrected the CFEPP’s wrong expectancy. However, Nienhuys missed an opportunity to correct another flaw, namely the CFEPP’s inclusion of cases that were not eminent enough to meet the requirements of “supreme eminence”. A Mars effect becomes manifest only with eminent professionals. On the one hand, the CFEPP rightly argued that champions listed in both biographical sources were more eminent on average than those listed in only one course. But they did not use this criterion for all 36 sports disciplines except for two that lacked appropriate records of successes. When all double sources (= more eminent) champions out of the CFEPP’s total were picked, a significant Mars effect (p = .02) resulted. In addition, the Mars effect for double-source champions was significantly (p = .04) larger than that of single-source champions, whose proportion of births with Mars in key sections did not deviate significantly from chance. In order to remove doubts of critics, a number of competent and independent researchers were invited to scrutinise the counts of the CFEPP’s published data as well as to analyse them using their own procedures. Six of them replied and all confirmed the counts. Four confirmed the significance of the Mars key sector deviations. Three confirmed the conclusions without reservation and one with some reservation. Two considered the CFEPP data and methodology as inappropriate which view is shown to be untenable.

This article gives a brief outline of pyrrhonism, the “skeptical way of life”, as it was described by the Greek physician Sextus Empericus. More extensively, it discusses his book Against the Astrologers, which describes and crticises astrology as it was practised in the 2nd or 3rd century AD. From Sextus’s description it is evident that the basic concepts of astrology have not changed much over the past 18 centuries. Surprisingly, much of his criticism seems fairly modern.

It is possible that one of the attributes of good astrology’ is in being able to deduce meaning from pattern. But before we expend time and energies in wrestling over astrological meaning, should we .first ask “what is pattern ? ” A corollary would be, if pattern apparently exists, is “how probable is it for this structure or geometry to arise? “To use the well-tried and tested yardstick of p = 0.05, pattern is assumed to be present in the geometric arrangement of data points if it occurs 5% of the time or less. Then begins the wedding of celestial geometry with astrological meaning. sometimes beautifully so. Coherent astrological symbolism crossed with statistical significance offers another kind of marriage and is redolent with beauty. Two tests are described which may help in the hunt for astrological meaning. The function of these tests is to quantify the amount of structure in a given data set. It may be possible to answer the time-honoured question “are there really faces in the fire?”

The number of cars stolen in the Avon and Somerset Constabula1)’ area from owners of each of the twelve birth signs exhibits an approximately sinusoidal variation of one year period and amplitude approximately 10% of the monthly mean. The distribution of owners’ births throughout the year, the potential victim sample, also varies approximately sinusoidally by the same period albeit of amplitude approximately only 5% of the monthly mean and transposed a month or so earlier. Allowing for the variation in numbers of potential victims leaves a residual cycle of owners, birth signs that corresponds closely to that of young thieves. This may suggest that thieves and owners share the same preferences, which differ according to zodiacal sign.

A recent article in Correlation is criticised for applying an inappropriate methodology in attempting to verify astrological accounts of human motivation. It is argued that astrology can offer only partial explanations of human motivation and behaviour, just as no single variable identified by social and psychological science can explain such behaviour with any more than partial success. Two case histories from a longitudinal study illustrate the complexity of making predictions, and explaining human behaviour. The potential role for astrology and astrological counseling in this process is discussed.

The moods and behaviour of prison wardens and inmates were observed over a three month period where subjects were required to keep a mood diary. Levels of mood ranging from very happy to sad were recorded daily and the times and changes of mood compared with phase changes in the lunar cycle. The study showed that there was more use of control and restraint during the first quarter and last quarter moon than there was during a full moon. However, it was concluded that the results were inconclusive because the study was conducted only for three months and a study conducted over a greater length of time was needed.

Although a family history of schizophrenia is the best-established risk factor for schizophrenia. environmental factors such as the place and season of birth may also be important. Using data from the Civil Registration System in Denmark, we established a population-based cohort of 1.75 million persons whose mothers were Danish women born between 1935 and 1978. We linked this cohort to the Danish Psychiatric Central Register and identified 2669 cases of schizophrenia among cohort members and additional cases among their parents. Results: the respective relative risks of schizophrenia for persons with a mother, father, or sibling who had schizophrenia were 9.31 {95 percent confidence interval, 7.24 to 11.96), 7.20 {95 percent confidence interval, 5.10 to 10.16), and 6.99 {95 percent confidence interval, 5.38 to 9.09), as compared with persons with no affected parents or siblings. The risk of schizophrenia was associated with the degree of urbanisation of the place of birth {relative risk for the capital vs. rural areas, 2.40; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.13 to 2.70). The risk was also significantly associated with the season of birth; it was highest for births in February and March and lowest for births in August and September. The population- attributable risk was 5.5 percent for a history of schizophrenia in a parent or sibling, 34.6 percent for urban place of birth, and 10.5 percent for the season of birth. Conclusions: Although a history of schizophrenia in a parent or sibling is associated with the highest relative risk of having the disease, the place and season of birth account for many more cases on a population basis. {N Engl J Med 1999;340:603-8.) {Copyright 1999, Massachusetts Medical Society.)

A re-assessment of Jung’s astrological test of synchronicity provides no convincing reason to believe in either. Nevertheless, precisely because of this, Jung’s results still provide food for thought.

J. F. Ruis compared birth frequencies between males and females of ordinary people (Gauquelin data) across planetary sectors and claimed that certain frequencies differed significantly. Since the dates of birth in his male and female sub samples had not been matched, the result might be due to an astronomical-demographical artefact. The present study tries to replicate Ruis’ result using the same data with male and female sub samples matched for date of birth (n+ 7,593) each. Each sub sample was divided using the median birth day as the dividing point, into two successive cohorts. For each cohort the male proportion of births, indicating the gender difference, was determined across 36 sectors of 5 planets. If gender differences exist they should be stable across successive cohorts, but gender differences in the first cohort did not reoccur in the subsequent cohort. This was revealed by correlations. The observed lack of stable differences cannot be attributed to the method since the same method successfully demonstrated stability in identifying Mars-prone professionals and ordinary people. The finding of Ruis is thus most probably due to an astronomical-demographical artefact.