Left Brain Astrology, the Gauquelins and Richard Dawkins

During the 1950s Michel Gauquelin and his wife Françoise Schneider-Gauquelin published various statistical studies of astrology. Perhaps their most well-known result is the Mars Effect, whereby a statistically significant number of professional sportspeople were found to have Mars on one of the Angles of their birthcharts.

Below is the chart of their results for Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn on the Angles for a list of professions. + means a positive result, - means a significant lack. The ones in brackets were less conclusive.

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Of course, to achieve statistical significance you only need a swing of a few percent over a large number. So most sportspeople, for example, will NOT have Mars on an Angle. On average, however, more will have Mars on an Angle than would be expected if the process were random.

Still, it is very nice to see a cross-over, a meeting between the intuitive, symbolic truth of astrology, and the truth to be found through rational, empirical study. They are very different types of truth, and for me the significance of this study is not that it ‘proves’ astrology, but that intuition and reason, ‘left and right brains’ can speak to each other. Of course, we know this on a personal level, where each informs and hones the other. But culturally, there is a huge divide, a pathology, due to the stunning success of the scientific method over the last few centuries. It is quite a simple pathology, really, which you find wherever there is hubris.

In a way, what is needed culturally is not another breakthrough into the nature of dark matter, or the creation of a unified field theory. What is needed is for science to be baffled for a long period on the big questions, to the extent that it starts to doubt that its own method can provide all the answers.

A figure who seems to embody this hubris is Richard Dawkins, the Oxford Professor who has for some time been conducting a one-man atheist inquisition. With Sun in Aries trine to Pluto, he has on the one hand the intellectual brilliance and achievement that you can find in Aries; but also the naïve inflation that an Aries is prone to, and the righteousness and desire to dominate of this martial sign. Like hubristic Achilles and his victim Hector, Dawkins and many other rationalists will not be content until they have dragged the through the streets the naked corpses of all types of knowledge that are not ‘scientific’.

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It is surprising to find that Dawkins has Moon and Venus in Pisces, with one or both opposite Neptune, and an unaspected Mercury in Pisces.You could hardly find a more right-brained, mystical, intuitive set of signs and planets. But you find this sometimes with Pisces-Neptune people: it is as though they are so afraid of their own creative, imaginative nature, and the loss of control that comes with it, that they become the opposite extreme in a misguided attempt to keep it all at bay. And you see it with Dawkins: the man is on a mission, like any good fundamentalist, to destroy that which he does not agree with. I have a theory that Dawkins will undergo enantiodroma as he gets older, a process described by Jung in which people embodying a psychological extreme eventually swing to the opposite pole.

It’s astrologically fascinating to see the way Dawkins is living in opposition to his own chart and therefore in opposition to himself. He is currently undergoing a square from Pluto to his Sun, and under these sort of transits, people sometimes get worse before they get better – sometimes the getting worse is a sign that things are about to change. His Aries Sun remains quite childish in the way that he wants to convert everyone to what is ‘right’. We may see a less strident Richard Dawkins a year or two down the line, followed by a tabloid exposure of his secret visits to a doomsday cult!

Back to Gauquelin and the professions.

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Sportspeople: Mars on its own suggests the simple physicality and competitiveness of this profession. It is not about, for example, the adrenaline high, which would need Venus or Jupiter.

Scientists: Mars shows the drive and investigative quality needed, and Saturn the discipline as well as the institutions and adherence to convention surrounding it. The significant lack of Jupiter along with the presence of Saturn suggests that scientists are on the whole a plodding, unimaginative bunch. Doctors have exactly the same planet emphases as scientists, which shows how far they have strayed from their ruling archetype of the healer, where we might expect Moon, Venus or Jupiter.

Scientists contrast with politicians, who would seem to be ruled by the Moon and Jupiter: the ability to connect emotionally with people (Moon) and the ability to tell tall stories! (Jupiter). Saturn, the training in one’s craft, is not present here, because as we know, it is not necessary for success in politics: successful politicians can come seemingly out of nowhere.

Writers and painters, with their positive lack of Mars and Saturn, would seem to be gentle, unconventional souls.

Military people and CEOs have exactly the same emphasis, which is very interesting. Mars and Jupiter are pronounced here, suggesting an expanded (Jupiter) propensity to fight/compete (Mars).

Journalists tell stories (Jupiter), and the positive lack of Saturn suggests that on average a good story is more important than the mundane reality behind it.

Playwrights and those they write for, the actors, both have strong Jupiters. What we have here is story telling and, if the play is any good, large characters, both of which are Jupiter. The positive lack of Saturn in actors seems odd, because learning their lines and getting a feel for the character are fundamental. But I suppose that at the end of the day it is the Jupiter that the public sees, not the Saturn.