An updated version of Astrology, claiming to put the subject on a scientific basis. Traditional astrology has been under attack for a long time. In recent years the main attacks have come from science.
In the face of these attacks, those who firmly believed in astrology turned to science and used the critics’ own weapons to counterattack. Frangois and Michel Gauquelin were the leading exponents of the scientific approach. They carried out a massive analysis, running into many tens of thousands of samples, of the recorded characteristics of individuals and their birth times and dates. They then compared these to the positions of the planets at these times and carried out a statistical analysis of the correlation. Conventional astrological readings of the subjects were also made. The statistical analyses showed a significant correlation between the position of Mars, for example, and the conventional martian characteristics, but no correlation between the planets position and traditional astrological characteristics, in some cases, there was a significant negative correlation. On this basis, Gauquelin and the neoastrologists claimed there is a scientific case for a new style of astrology but no scientific validation of traditional astrology. Astrological symbolism appears to be statistically demonstrated, at least for planets previously observed as having some influence on personality such as the Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. But this claim needs careful qualification. Birth has to be natural for the association of planet position and personal characteristics to hold. The fetus, so it is said, knows when it is the right time to emerge into the world, and if it has its way, the neoastrological association holds good to a statistically significant extent. If there is any interference with the natural process induced birth, artificial rupture of the membranes (amniotomy), forceps delivery, Caesarian section, or anything else that alters the time of birth from the natural then the astrological bond is broken or substantially diminished.