New Program Measures Effectiveness of Astrology - Emailwire

Astrological Researcher Says Software Product Produces Statistically Significant Results in Promising Pilot Studies

Chicago, IL - March 17, 2010 -- An innovative new software program that "tunes into" the harmonic patterns resonating in individual birth charts gives researchers a tool they can use to demonstrate the validity of astrology.

So says research astrologer David Cochrane, who describes a "quiet revolution" that is making it possible to scientifically explore celestial concepts that date to antiquity.

"The new technology integrates some concepts from astrology and some from physics to create a new discipline that is rigorous enough to meet exacting scientific standards while negating obvious bias and distortions," he claims.

Cochrane is a past president of the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR). He also is founder of Cosmic Patterns Software Inc. and the Avalon School of Astrology in Gainesville, Fla., and is a doctoral student at the University of Florida.

He says the new software has been utilized in a series of pilot tests that have successfully linked specific planetary alignments with observable events in a statistically significant way. For example, the technology has identified astrological "signatures" influencing pricing trends in the gold market, the career choices people make, job relocations and more.

According to Cochrane, current research builds upon the pioneering work of the late British astrologer John Addey. Effectively, the software program mathematically rearranges the horoscope to enable researchers to more easily locate the subtle "harmonic" relationships Addey described.

Harmony of the Spheres Revisited

Cochrane points out that the ancient Greeks built an entire cosmology based on the idea that planetary energies cosmically resonate with each other when certain angles or "aspects" are formed between planetary pairs. These angular relationships are continuously changing as the planets orbit the sun at different distances in wildly elliptical orbits.

In the heavens, the faster moving planets, including the sun and moon, appear to continually form applying and separating aspects with the more distant, slower moving planets as they travel along the ecliptic (the path the sun appears to follow across the sky over the course of a year). Since antiquity astrologers have believed that some of the angular relationships formed in this manner are more significant or meaningful than others.

The major or traditional astrological aspects are based on the division of a 360-degree circle by whole numbers. For example, the 180-degree opposition aspect is one-half of the 360-degee circle and is arrived at by dividing the circle by the number two. The 120-degree trine aspect is one-third of a 360- degree circle (the circle divided by three).

The other classical aspects are the 360-degree conjunction (the circle divided by the number one), the 90-degree square (the circle divided by four), and the 60-degree sextile (the circle divided by six). Stated as fractions, the opposition is one-half, the trine one-third, the square one-fourth and the sextile one-sixth of a circle.

When planets are aligned in trine or sextile aspects it is believed that the flow of energy between them is positive or harmonious. The square and opposition aspects are presumed to be discordant or stressful and the conjunction can go either way depending upon the planetary energies involved in the aspect. Aspects are said to be within orb when they are a few degrees from exact applying and separating.

Other so-called minor aspects have been added since the 17th century based on divisions of the circle by whole numbers of 12 or less. However, in the 1970s, John Addey's harmonics approach gave astrologers an entirely new way to think about the angular distances between transiting planets, Cochrane said.

It was Addey's idea that every planet is in aspect or harmonically aligned with every other planet at any given time. The circle can be divided by any whole number, and any whole number can create its own family of harmonic aspects when it becomes the denominator for an inclusive set of simple fractions that slice and dice the 360-degree circle into harmonically compatible numerical themes.

For example, the 14th harmonic is created when the number 14 becomes the denominator. The aspect group created includes numerical values that are 1/14th, 2/14th, 3/14th, 4/14th , 5/14th , 6/14th and 7/14th of a 360-degree circle.

In harmonic astrology, these numerical aspect values have similar but not identical meanings, effectively resonating together like the ringing chords harmoniously produced by a barbershop quartet or a finely tuned pipe organ. All fractions with denominators up to at least 180 are considered important.

From a practical standpoint, its impossible for humans to visualize all of the numerical interconnectedness that apparently exists in the universe. But this sort of challenge is child's play for a high-speed computer running software that can instantly identify the multiple harmonic relationships that exist between planetary pairs at any given time, Cochrane says.

Promising Study Results Described

"The challenge for researchers involves demonstrating that harmonic aspects forming in the heavens measurably impact events on the planet below. A lot more work needs to be done but results to date are promising," he believes.

For example, a pilot study examined the birth charts of mathematicians and found that subjects had Mercury-Saturn, Mercury-Uranus and Mercury-Pluto aspects in harmonics 7, 14, 21, 42 and 84 much more often than would be expected by chance. In another study, artists were statistically linked to 5th harmonic aspects, scientists to 7th harmonic aspects, musicians to 11th harmonic aspects and actors to 17th harmonic aspects.

A study that analyzed 36 years of pricing trends showed that Venus and Jupiter were in either 7th or 14th harmonic aspects when gold prices trended higher. But the "signature" also includes other harmonic aspects that occur with extremely high statistical significance.

In a study dealing with relocation, ninth harmonic aspects between either Venus or Jupiter and sensitive angles in the relocation charts of study participants showed up a statistically significant percentage of the time among those who said they were contented living in a new location more than 100 miles from their place of birth. A relocation chart is a birth chart that is cast for an individual for the same date and time but a different geographical location.

Cochrane thinks the term "cosmic cybernetics" best describes the new type of research now underway in the astrological community. The term originated with the late German physicist and climatologist Theodor Landscheidt, who was branded a maverick by academic peers because he theorized that information could be communicated through celestial configurations and events.

"Today a growing body of evidence supports Landscheidt's insights as well as some of the claims astrologers have been making for centuries," he said.

Additional information on the new research software can be found at www.astrosoftware.com. Other stories describing current astrological research activities can be found at: www.astroresearchnewsservice.com.

For more information contact:
Edward Snow
Phone: 847/506-0045
E-mail: info@astroresearchnewsservice.com
Website: www.astroresearchnewsservice.com

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