correlations of the four basic astrological elements …

CORRELATIONS OF THE FOUR BASIC ASTROLOGICAL ELEMENTS WITH SCORES ON A STANDARD

PERSONALITY TEST

Dr. William Whisenant

Abstract: Two independent samples of 12 and 14 subjects were given the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Personality Test. Horoscopes of the subjects were calculated and it was found as hypothesized that water sign emphasis was correlated with the Sensing-Intuition scale. However, no significant relationships were found in the other categories.

IntroductionOne of the words that is frequently used by astrologers is the

term “research." The astrology journals are glutted with articles that espouse a new or renovated technique in which the author firmly believes. The bulk of the article may be the explanation of the technique and possibly how it applies to each sign of the zodiac. The clincher is the final couple of paragraphs in which the author emphatically states that he has thoroughly researched the technique and found it to be valid.

There is no indication of whether the “research” involved two subjects or two thousand. There is also no estimate of the magnitude of the effect either. For instance, if progressed planet “A” squaring natal planet “B” indicates disease “X”, then does it occur in 95% of the instances or 25%, and does it always occur in the same intensity?

Of course, there is a place for theoretical reasoning but astrology has become top heavy with theoretical literature, and often it is not clear if the theory came from a well organized logical process, came in a vision, or was pulled out of the air.

The gaping hole that needs to be filled results from a want of controlled empirical research. Perhaps there are good quality studies being conducted but they are not being reported in a way that can be critically reviewed.

In 1971 the author began a moderately intensive study of the literature of astrology with the intent of marshalling enough support to refute the astrological principles once and for all. My interest in the subject was stimulated by its popularity among my college student peers. However, about two years later, I discovered that the original goal had changed to that of finding validational support because although I had not yet done a

258 Astrology and Personality

controlled study there were too many coincidences occurring that suggested that astrological factors had some significance.

Doane (6) in a volume entitled Astrology: Thirty Years' Research cites many studies that show how certain events are indicated by progressed aspects of the horoscope. An aspect is the angle (in zodiacal longitude) formed between two planets (always using the earth as the vertex). In progression the motion of the planets is observed during the days after the day of birth and the aspects that are formed indicate certain events. The horoscopic houses indicate what departments of life will be affected. For example, children would be indicated by the fifth house, the spouse by the seventh house, personal finances by the second house, and shared or corporate finances by the eighth house. The houses are 12 sectors of the celestial sphere measured from the point at the eastern horizon at the moment of birth and continue in order in a counter-clockwise fashion.

These studies look impressive to the astrologer who has a feel for how often progressed aspects (as Doane calculates them) occur. However, no controls are used in any of Doane’s studies, hence, the data means little to the non-astrology minded individual. This work illustrates an unfortunate generalization: astrologers know little about research design and statistics. Also, as indicated by the paucity of controlled research on the subject it appears that those knowledgeable in research design are not interested in astrology.

There are many confounding variables in assessing the validity of astrological principles. Snyder (23) demonstrated that the acceptance of a personality description that was supposedly derived astrologically is enhanced when the subject believes that it was determined from more specific birth time data. This finding might explain part of the popularity of astrology. The daily newspaper “horoscopes are based upon sun signs derived from birthdates and professional astrologers require month, day, year, time, and place of birth before erecting a complete horoscope.

Delaney and Woodyard (3) have shown that permitting subjects to read a personality description based on the “birth sign” significantly altered their scores on the Dominance and Change scales of the Jackson Personality Research Form. Their scores were in the direction described by the material they had read. This result indicates how a bias can creep into a study that is based only on sun signs. Attributes for the 12 signs are

Journal of Occult Studies 259

prolifically published in popular magazines and books.Farnsworth' (8) looked at the sun signs of 1,498 names from

Pierre Key’s Musical Who’s Who, 3,257 from Grove’s Dictionary, and 2,478 from the Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, to see if the sign Libra, “regarded most generally as the aesthetic sign,” (8) occurred more often than chance would predict. In the Pierre Key list" and the Grove list it did not. In the art list Libra ranked third, but was topped by Taurus and Pisces, which Farnsworth says are mentioned as artistic in only two of his six “standard” references (his quotes). However, Farnsworth may have stumbled onto a verification of an astrological principle even though he did not realize it. If Libra is the aesthetic sign, then Venus is the aesthetic planet and Venus is designated as the ruler of Libra and Taurus and exalted in Pisces by many astrological writers: Sakoian and Acker (20), Zain (27, 28, 29, 30) Tyl (25), Hone (11), Meyer (15), Sephariel (21), and Whitman (26).

Some positive results have been found even with the loose procedure of observing only the sun sign. In 1,386 heroin users, Newmeyer (17) found the signs Aquarius, Virgo, and Gemini to be significantly over represented and the signs Scorpio and Capricorn, Sagittarius, Libra, Leo, Scorpio, and Virgo scored distinctly higher on the Feminity scale of the California Personality Inventory than did the six other groupings, Gemini, Taurus, Pisces, Aquarius, Aries, and Cancer. These results were discussed (18, 24) as possibly reflecting different kinds of weather, or of diet, during gestation, or during the first months of infancy because the high- Feminity signs occur during the latter half of the year and vice versa. Such seasonal differences conceivably could result in constitutional changes that are later reflected in personality differences.

The only study listed in the Psychological Abstracts to date that uses more than the sun sign was by Silverman and Whitmer (22). They looked at sun, moon, and ascending signs and found no relation to either self or friend’s descriptions of the subjects’ personalities using five rating scales and the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Having access to the subjects’ birth times it is not clear why the authors did not also consider the positions of the other eight planets and the midheaven; but this is one of the more conscientious efforts in the field.

The best work to date is probably that of Michael Gauquelin (9, 10). He found correlations between certain personality types


and the presence of the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn either on the eastern horizon or culminating directly overhead, the mid-heaven (or M.C. for medium coeli). Mars occurred at these positions at the birth times of famous athletes and military men, Jupiter was conspicuous in the birth charts of military leaders, politicians, and actors, Saturn occurred in the charts of scientists and physicians, and the Moon showed up in the charts of noted writers. His levels of statistical significance for these results range from .025 to .0000002. He discovered later that these planets correlated with a specific personality pattern more so than vocation. However, Gauquelin found no personality or vocational correlations with the other planets and found no data that demonstrated that the zodiacal signs influenced behavior

ELEMENTS

Mode Fire Earth Air WaterCardinal Aries Capricorn Libra CancerFixed Leo Taurus Aquarius ScorpioMu table Sagittarius Virgo Gemini Pisces

ProcedureThe present study proposed to determine if there is any

influence of the zodiacal signs. The zodiac is defined in terms of solsticial and equinoctial points. The vernal equinox is 0 Gemini, and thirty more degrees defines the summer solstice or 0° Cancer. This pattern continues around the zodiacal circle through the signs of Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. The 12 signs are grouped into four elements and three modes. See Table 1 for groupings.

In the present study, it was decided that to determine the influence of the signs initially, assessment would be made of the grosser attributes of the elemental or modal groupings. A personality test was needed to obtain objective data that couldbe correlated with zodiacal data.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was selected principally because it is based on the theory of Carl Jung, who was influenced by his studies in many occult areas including astrology. .This test yields four bipolar dimensions: Extraversion-Introversion; Sensing-Intuition; Thinking-Feeling, and

Journal of Occult Studies 26!

Judgmental-Perceptive.Upon examination of the descriptions of the personality

characteristics that are attributed to these different dimensions it was discovered that the Intuitive personality type was very similar to the personality description of the zodiacal water signs, Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.

Sakoian and Acker (20) describe the water sign influence as dealing “with sensitivity, intuition, and the deeper psychic aspects of life." Although they use the word “sensitivity" in their definition, they seem to be implying a sensitivity that is more general, unconscious, and impressionable. The Sensing function of the MBTI is primarily through the conscious sensory modes, whereas, the Intuitive function is an “indirect perception by way of the unconscious, with the emphasis on ideas or associations which the unconscious tacks on the outside things perceived.” (16, p. 2)

Hone (11) writes that the water sign people “are naturally sensitive and are the carriers of intuition and inspiration." (p. 39). Again sensitivity and intuition are stressed, but inspiration is also mentioned. The MBTI states that Intuitives “follow their inspirations, good or bad” and they can “look far ahead,” “furnish new ideas,” and “see the possibilities” of a given situation.

Meyer (15) describes those with a preponderance in the water signs as “deeply involved with creativity, sensuality, and emotionality,” (p. 156). Here we have another parallel (with creativity) for Intuitives are described as having “insight and penetration, originality, and a grasp pf the complicated,” (16, p. 67).

The attribute of emotionality keeps recurring in the descriptions of the water signs. Although a similar description is not i -ade of the Intuitives, this scale was shown to be correlated (.24) with the Impulsiveness scale on the Personality Research Inventory (16, p. B-5).

Hypothesis: The MBTI intuition scores should correlate to horoscopes that emphasize the water signal of Pisces, Scorpio and Cancer.

MethodIn the first study horoscopic data was gathered from 12

subjects who had been given the MBTI. The various elements were weighted according to the system of Tyl (25, p. 53-55). The eight planets (excluding the earth), the Ascendent, and the


M.C. are each given a weight of one, and the Sun and Moon are each given double weight. This scheme produces a scale ranging from 0 to 14 for any given element. The following illustration shows the weighting scheme in a tabular form:8 PLANETS (Mercury, Venus, Mars,Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) = 1 Point eachAscendent and Midheaven — 1 Point eachSun and Moon = 2 Points each

Total possible 14 points

If, for example, the Sun and two planets were in Cancer (a water sign), the Ascendent was in Scorpio (the second water sign), and no planets were in Pisces (the last water sign), then the water signs would be assigned a score of 5 points 2 points for the Sun, 2 points for the two planets, and 1 point for the Ascendent.

The data for the first study are shown in Table 1. The water sign emphasis was correlated with the MBTI Sensing-Intuition (S-N) scores. S-N scores above 100 indicate individuals that are more intuition oriented and scores below 100 indicate the sensing oriented.

A second study was done to replicate the first. Fourteen more subjects were given the MBTI and their horoscopes were drawn up. The data for this sample are given in Table 2. The water sign scores correlated .670 with the S-N scores.

ResultsBoth correlations yield t-values that are statistically

significant at p less than .01. A t- statistic is a test that indicates how often a result of this magnitude could have resulted due to chance factors alone. In this case p less than .01 means that a result of this size could have happened by chance only one time in a hundred. The probability that both of these independent studies showed the magnitude of result that they did is less than one time in ten thousand.

DiscussionIt is recognized that astrology suffers from a poor reputation,

therefore all astrological studies should be scrutinized with extreme caution. It could be argued that the subjects in these studies were a biased sample since some, but not all, were friends and associates of the experimenter. Five subjects had


Tables 1 & 2 compare the Sensing-Intuition (S-N) scores of the Myers- Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) with the emphasis of the water signs in each person’s horoscope after a weighting system by Tyl (25).

TABLE 1 TABLE 2Subject MBTI Water Subject MBTI WaterNumber S-N Score Points Number S-N Score Points1 145 5 1 87 42 125 4 2 141 63 139 6 3 137 54 121 5 4 115 25 123 3 5 113 26 134 4 6 113 27 61 0 7 119 58 151 5 8 117 49 107 5 9 109 310 79 2 10 101 211 137 6 11 125 512 125 3 12 145 5

13 135 514 137 5

r— .822 [correlation coefficient] r= .670t-statistic = 4.577 t-statistic = 3.122p is less than . 01 p is less than .01August 13, 1975 October 26, 1975

more than a layman’s knowledge of astrology but all were unfamiliar with the MBTI.

However, even keeping these limitations in mind, the data indicates that the zodiacal signs do have some predictive significance. At least with respect to the water signs, the presence of horoscopic factors in these signs at birth is an indication of how a person will score on a specific personality test as an adult. None of the scores for the other three astrological elements, fire, earth, and air, nor the astrological modes, cardinal, fixed, and mutable, were correlated to a degree that was statistically significant in both studies. However, in the first study the air signs were found to be significantly correlated with the Thinking dimension of the MBTI Thinking-Feeling scale. This finding was not correlated to a statistically significant level in the second study. Therefore, one should consider this relationship between the air signs and the Thinking scale as only tentative at best.

There were also correlations between the earth signs and


Introversion scale and between the mutable signs and the Feeling scale. These were statistically significant in only one study but the result was not replicated in the other study. Again, extreme caution should be exercised in accepting these results. These last three findings should be regarded as only working hypotheses at best.

Noel Tyl (25, vol. 5) has stated that the four Jungian functions are indicated by the four quadrants of the horoscope such that the southeast quadrant equals the thinking function, the southwest indicates the sensation function, the northeast quadrant is the intuition function, and the northwest quadrant shows the feeling function.

In a post hoc analysis these quadrants were compared with the scores of the various scales on the MBTI. None of the quadrants were found to be significantly correlated with any of the scales in both studies. Only one correlation was statistically significant in either study and that was the southeast quadrant with the Intuition dimension of the Sensing-Intuition scale. This finding is not in accord with Tyl’s schema.

ConclusionIn summary the only finding that should be considered

reasonably solid is the link between the water sign emphasis in a person’s natal horoscope and that person’s score on the Sensing- Intuition scale of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The person who has many water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces) represented in his chart would tend to score more in the Intuitive direction on this scale. Conversely, one who has few or no water signs represented in his chart would tend to score more toward the Sensing end of this scale.

BibliographyDelaney, James G., and Howard D. Woodyard; Effects of

reading an Astrological description on responding to a personality inventory,” Psych. Reports, 1974 (34) p. 1214. 3

Die Deutsche Ephemeride, Weliheim/Obb., Germany, Otto Wilhelm Barth-Verlag, 1972.

Doane, Doris Chase; Astrology: Thirty> Years' Research, Downey, Calif., Graphic Arts Press, 1956. 6

Farnsworth, Paul R.; “Aesthetic behavior and Astrology,” Character and Personality, 1938 (6) p. 335. 8

Gauquelin, Michael; The Cosmic Clocks, New York, Henry Regnery Co., 1967. 9

Gauquelin, Michael; Cosmic Influences on Human Behavior, New York, Stein and Day, 1973. 10


Hone, Margaret E.; The Modem Textbook of Astrology, London, Lowe and Brydone, Ltd., 1951. 11

Jones, Marc Edmund; Essentials of Astrological Analysis, Stanwood, Wash., Sabiah Publishing Co., 1974.

Jones. Marc Edmund; Astrology, How and Why It Works, Stanwood, Wash., Sabian Publishing Co., 1951.

Jung, Carl G.; Psychological Types, from The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Vol. 6., Princeton, Princeton Univ. Press, 1971.

Meyer, Michael R.; A Handbook for the Humanistic Astrologer, New York, Doubleday, 1974. 15

Mvers, Isabel Briggs; The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Manual, Princeton, Educational Testing Service, 1963. 16

Newmeyer,; “Astrology and Addiction,” Drug Forum 1973 Vol. 2(3) p. 271.

Pellegrini, Robert J.; “Birthdate Psychology: A new look at some old data,” The Journal of Psych., 1975, 89, p. 261. 18

Pellegrini, Robert J.; The astrological‘theory’of personality: An unbiased test by a biased observer,” The Journal ofPsvch 1973, 85, p. 21. J y

Sakoian, Frances, and Louis S. Acker; The Astrologer's Handbook, New York, Harper and Row, 1973. 20

Sepharial, New Dictionary of Astrology, New York, Arco Publishing Co., Inc., 1964. 21

Silverman, Bernie I., and Marvin Whitmer; “Astrological Indicators of Personality,” The Journal of Psychology, 1974, 87 p. 89. 22

Snyder, C.R.; “Why horoscopes are true: The effects of specificity on acceptance of astrological interpretations ” Journal of Clinical Psych., 1974, 30, p. 577. 23

Standen, Anthony; “Is there an astrological effect on personality,” The Journal of Psychology, 1975, 89, p. 259. 24

Tyl, Noel; The Principles and Practice of Astrology, (twelve volumes) St. Paul, Llewellyn Publications, 1974. 25

Whitman, Edward W.; Astro-Kinetics, (Vols. I, II, & HI) London, L.N. Fowler & Co., Ltd., 1974. 26

Zam, C.C.; Delineating The Horoscope, Los Angeles, The Church of Light, 1973. 27

Dr. William F. Whisenant (Psychology) is a member of the American Federation of Astrologers as well as the American Psychological Association.

correlations of the four basic astrological elements …

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