Taking the proposal that all astrology is divination as a basic hypothesis, this pilot study explored the phenomenology and experience of divination during the consultation between the astrologer and the client. The study collected qualitative data in ninety-minute taped interviews with six experienced astrologers. The in-terview schedule was semi-structured so as to allow the subjects to explore their experiences at length. The results showed a very rich and varied experience of divinatory features with altered states of consciousness in the consultation being common. All the subjects acknowledged that divinatory processes play a part in astrological practice. The high level of use of intuitive processes reported in the interviews led to a sample of astrologer delegates at an Astrological Association conference being given a short questionnaire asking them about the use of intuition in their practice. 80% of a 26% sample of 246 delegates often used intuitive processes in their astrological work and 20% did not. The results of this pilot study are discussed in terms of the current literature and the possibility of further work to test the hypothesis.

This paper documents my research into the working practices of astrologers and to discuss the methodology I have employed. For the purposes of this research, I have conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with practising astrologers based in Glastonbury in Somerset, all of whom work face-to-face with individual clients. I am attempting to ascertain how they approach their work, the steps taken in preparing for a consultation, the nature and extent of any ritualised activities undertaken in the process and the importance that they attach to these. Through this, I hope to discover something of the motivations behind the astrologers’ approach, what it is that astrologers consider they are doing and why, and the role they believe themselves to be playing in the client’s life.

The objective of this study was to determine whether there are significant circadian, weekly or lunar variations in self-poisoning presentations and whether patients’ names or dates of birth have an influence on the likelihood of self-poisoning by analysing biorythms, numerology and star sign. Setting: Hunter Valley, Australia. Subjects Consecutive adult patients admitted with self-poisoning between January 1987 and June 1993. Results: there were 2215 patients admitted. There was a marked circadian variation. Over 6% of all admissions occurred in each of the hours between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m. compared with less than 2% per hour between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. This pattern was not different for patients with a diagnosis of depression. Numerology, biorhythms and star signs had no significant correlations with self-poisoning, nor was there a significant weekly or yearly variation in presentations. There was a small but statistically significant sex difference in presentations analysed by lunar phases. At the new moon 60% of self-poisonings were in women, compared with 45% when the mooon was full. The odds ratios (OR) for women to be admitted at full moon and at new moon were 1.27 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92-1.66: p value not significant) and 0.73 (95% CI, 0.57-0.92: p = 0.009) respecively. The mean illumination of the moon at the time of overdoes was 50.63% =/- 0.91% for men, compared with 47.45% =/- 0.85% for women (p = 0.014). Conclusion: the circadian cycle (but not weekly, yearly or mystical cycles) should be taken into account when determining staffing levels for poison information and casualty service. The full moon is protetctive for women.

The lunar hypothesis, that is, the notion that lunar phases can directly afffect human beharior, was tested by time-series analysis of 4,575 crisis center telelphone calls (all calls recorded for a 6-month interval). As expected, the lunar hypothesis was not supported. The 28-day lunr cycle accounted for less than 1% of the variance of the frequency of crisis center calls. Also, as hypothesized from an attribution theory framework, crisis center workers reported significantly greater beleif in lunar effects than a non-crisis-center-worker comparison group.

Since antiquity, people in several East Asian countries, such as China, Japan, and South Korea, have believed that a person is destined to possess specific characteristics according to the sign of the zodiac under which he or she was born. South Koreans, in particular, have traditionally considered that the year of the Horse bears inauspicious implications for the birth of daughters. Using monthly longitudinal data at the region level in South Korea between 1970 and 2003, we found that, in the year of the Horse, the sex ratio at birth significantly increased while fertility decreased.

The tendency for the same planet to be near an angle in the horoscope of parents and their children is stronger when the earth’s magnetic filed is most greatly disturbed. The author discusses other work in this area and presents a detailed review of: “The geomagnetic activity around conjunctions and oppositions of planets by J. Houtgast and A. van Sluiters, and “Planetary Modulation of geo-magnetic activity” by J. A. Jacobs and G, Atjubsib, It is concluded that Venus and Jupiter are associated with the strongest geo-magnetic effects.

The annual total of births in Hong Kong SAR fell substantially in the past 20 years: hence the total fertility rate (TFR) followed the downward trend and dropped to a low of 0.9 below replacement level in 2000. Despite the long-term downward trend, short-run increases in the annual total of births and the TFR were exhibited. Such temporary fertility increases are identified in the Dragon Years of 1988 and 2000. The phenomenon of fertility changes associated with zodiacal animal years is examined in this paper with a view to gaining some insight into whether Chinese cultural preferences and folklore beliefs might have influenced prospective parents’ reproductive behaviour. The paper explains the underlying philosophy of the Chinese astrological tradition and discusses how zodiacal preferences affect fertility between 1976 and 2000. The paper also explores why zodiacal influences on Chinese fertility before 1976 did not exist. It is unquestionable that the Dragon Year preference exerts an influence on fertility of modern Chinese populations through zodiacal birth-timing motivations. Birth rate rise in the Dragon Year is due to changes in timing of births that will have little effect on cumulative fertility.

This is a sumamry of the factual substance of an article published in full in American Astrology, August 1968. The paper discusses various phenomoena such as: the Moon and hurricanes, and planets and ocean tides, including eather patterns (e.g. rainfall) and various planetary associations.

An experiment in astrology conducted by Shawn Carlson and published in Nature in 1985 is reviewed using the original materials given to the astrologers, interviewing four surviving astrologers that were found, and comparing the claims of the experimenter made before, during, and after the experiment. Numerous errors were found with experimental hypothesis, design, use of psychological tests by non-psychologists, data collection, data reporting, significant bias, misuse of statistical procedures, unsubstantiated claims, and presentation of a predetermined conclusion disconnected from results.

This is a comment on the moon and rainfall and how harmonic analysis correspons to rainfall patterns. (See also “The Moon and rainfall by D.A. Bradley, M.A. Woodbury and Glen W. Brier, Correaltion 1, Autumn 1968 pp5-6)