Astrology's Avant-Garde Researchers: The Gauquelins
Michel Gauquelin, a French psychologist and statistician and his wife Francoise Gauquelin a swiss-born french-speaking statistician began compiling large groups of birth data in 1979 to see if there was a statistically significant relationship between a person’s profession and their natal chart. The Gauquelin’s amassed six immense volumes of data from birth records in France, Belgium and Italy over twenty-three years (1949-1973)
The Gauquelins’ work statistically demonstrated correlations between the placements of planets in critical zones of a person’s natal chart and the career path they followed. The specific correlations that were shown were Mars for athletes and military leaders, Saturn for scientists, the Moon for writers and Jupiter for actors and politicians. These zones (just after the ascendant or rising sign in the 12th house and just after the midheaven in the ninth house) have been dubbed the ‘Gauquelin Zones’.
The Gauquelins conducted another large study on heredity in the 1960’s. The study, performed on a sample of thirty thousand ordinary French citizens, showed that when parents had certain planets in sectors 1 and 4 in their natal charts their children were likely to have the same planets in those same sectors. (Correlations were strongest in this order- Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn. The significance level was one million to one. Induced or caesarean births did not show this pattern.)
The Gauquelins’ work was life-long, large-scale and thoroughly executed. The subject matter was controversial to many in the sense that it addressed the subject of astrology, a topic that many still consider a ‘pseudoscience.’ The results were somewhat problematic for the Gauquelins as they showed a definite correlation between the macrocosm and the microcosm, but the correlation was not what most astrologers would have predicted at the time. This left the Gauquelins in the difficult position of not belonging to either ‘camp’ (that of the astrologers’ nor that of the skeptics’) Being of objective and scientific inclination however the Gauquelins persevered with their work and published the data as it presented itself.
Regarding his studies in ‘cosmopsychology,’ Michel Gauquelin wrote:
“Until the beginning of this century, science believed that man was in isolation on earth, separated from the rest of the universe. Now we know that the biological clocks of our brain and our body are attuned to the movement of the cosmic forces…. This new conception should have not only scientific but also philosophical and even poetical implications for modern thought.”
Throughout their journey the Gauquelins faced much opposition, criticism and even ridicule. In the 1980’s their marriage ended and therefore so did their collaboration although they each continued to work with the data independently. In the end the lack of respect and persistent frenzied opposition became too much for Michel Gauquelin who took his own life in May of 1991.
It is sad Michel Gauquelin could not see where his work is today. Dr. Kyosti Tarvainen (Ph.D) is a Finnish mathematician who has revealed that with powerful new computer technology the Gauquelins’ original set of data does in fact show extraordinary statistically significant support for traditional astrology. The main reason he says, that the Gauquelins’ original research only showed weak correlations in their initial assessment was their inability (lack of technology) to consider the complex rules and variables that an astrologer uses when analyzing a chart. With better technology available today, multiple complex factors can be considered such as the rulers of the planets, the houses planets rule as well as the house placement and strengths of signs (factors normally considered by a professional astrologer).
The field of Astrology owes a great deal of gratitude to the Gauquelins for opening the floodgates for what will hopefully be the beginning of a much needed procession of comprehensive studies on large pools of birth data in astrology. The work that they did not only proved a correlation between the microcosm and macrocosm, but it has given astrologers a large database of information to work with as well.
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