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Is there any scientific evidence for Astrology?
(www.drdavidhamilton.com)

Does astrology really work? Is there any real scientific basis for it? As a scientist, to be really honest I used to poo poo it. But this wasn't because I had arrived at a scientific conclusion about it. Actually, it's because I'd heard other people poo pooing it and I just copied them. And you'll find that most people who have a negative opinion of astrology have it for that same reason. Now, after plenty of research, I am completely convinced that the sun, moon, and planets affect us.

In really basic terms, the sun is essential for survival because we rely on its heat and light. Extinguish it and all life would disappear.

But I've heard some people question whether it could have any bearing on career choice. Well, it affects whether you go to sleep or stay awake by influencing the sleep-wake hormone melatonin, or whether you need to put on a jacket or wear a short sleeved top, so why shouldn't it influence us in other ways.

I think one of the difficulties people have is that they hear specific predictions about, say, coming into money next week and doubt that the sun, or moon, or planets could have any bearing upon it. But astrology isn't so much about that type of thing. It is mostly concerned with cycles in the cosmos and how these cycles might affect us in broad terms. Like a gentle wind blowing your canoe, for instance. It won't make you come into more money, but it might blow you into an area of the river where the opportunities are greater.

Whether you are actually likely to come into money or not is an astrologer's interpretation of the influences, or winds, that will blow upon you at a particular time.

The Moon and Hormones

The moon has an important effect upon us. Some of our hormonal rhythms are synchronised with it; fertility cycles, for instance. One Australian study of 826 women found that 28% menstruate around the new moon (two days either side of it).

And the French psychologist and statistician Michael Gauquelin even found a correlation between positions of the moon and career choice. By analysing the careers of outstanding politicians and writers, and plotting the position of the moon at the exact time of their birth, he discovered that they tended to be born when the moon was either on the horizon or at the highest point in the sky. No statistical peaks were found for any other lunar position.

The moon's effects have actually been known since ancient times, and in more modern times have even made it into law. The 'Lunacy Act' of 1842 was passed after observations of behaviour during a full moon. It described people as being 'rational during the first two phases of the moon and afflicted with a period of fatuity in the period following the full moon ' .

Magnetic Storms

The planets affect us in more subtle ways, through their effect upon the sun and also though the myths they represent in our psyches.

There are constant explosions of the surface of the sun and these send out radiation that flies through space and strikes our atmosphere. Sometimes there are very large explosions (called Coronal Mass Ejections) and much larger amounts of radiation hurtle through space towards us. When these ejections strike the magnetic part of our atmosphere they cause a magnetic storm, which you can actually see if you travel far enough north - the northern lights, or aurora borealis, is an example of a visible magnetic storm.

They can be so powerful that they can knock out satellites and sensitive electrical equipment. In 1989, a coronal mass ejection sent radiation to earth at nearly 5 million miles per hour and caused such a fierce magnetic storm that it knocked out the entire Hydro-Quebec power grid, and on September 7 th 2005, a ferocious magnetic storm disabled short-wave radio transmissions over most of the western hemisphere.

In the 1960's, while trying to protect their satellites from the damaging effects of magnetic storms, NASA set out to understand their cause and predict when they would occur. They discovered that when some planets were in alignment then there was a likelihood of magnetic storms on earth. For instance, when Jupiter, Saturn, Earth, Venus and the Sun were in a straight line there was likely to be a magnetic storm.

And this is because as the planets rotate around the sun they tug it off balance so that the Sun moves around in a small circle. It's called rotation around the 'centre of mass of the solar system'. When planets are aligned, the tugging is greatest and it is believed that is a factor in some magnetic storms.

Do magnetic storms affect us?

Where is gets most interesting is that magnetic storms affect our biology. There is now so much interest that the International Union of Radio Science has created a new commission called 'Commision K - Electromagnetics in Biology and Medicine'.

In some research, scientists have found a link between magnetic storms and depression.

Dr Ronald Kay, consultant psychiatrist at the West Bank clinic in Falkirk, Scotland, examined admissions to the clinic for depression over a 10-year period and discovered that in the week after a magnetic storm there was a 9% increase in hospital admissions for depressed phase manic depression, a 36% increase in the second week and an 8% increase in the third.

And recent research has pinpointed it to the hormone melatonin, which is released from the pineal gland in the brain. It regulates sleep cycles and is also a natural antidepressant. Scientists have recently discovered that during magnetic storms, the normal release of melatonin is disrupted. For some people, depression results.

But, of course, this doesn't mean that you are automatically going to get depressed during a magnetic storm. They only affect some people that way, just as a gloomy day might make one person feel sad and have no effect upon another.

For some people, the effects can be really positive. Research by neuroscientist Michael Persinger found that when he stimulated the temporal lobes of the brain with frequencies similar to those during magnetic storms, some people had mystical or enlightening experiences.

Magnetic storms also affect animals. Many of them use the earth's magnetic field to navigate over long distances. When birds fly south for the winter, for instance, they follow the contours of the earth's magnetic field using magnetically sensitive 'photoreceptors' in their retinas, which some scientists believe allows them to see the field as changing colours and lines.

During magnetic storms the earth's field shudders and the birds can become disoriented. It would be like you were following a road and then it just suddenly moved and pointed in another direction, then shook a few times. Wouldn't you be confused? This is why homing pigeons often get lost during magnetic storms and is also believed to be the cause of some mass beachings of whales. It's amazing that planetary alignments can have such an effect.

The bottom line is clear. The Sun affects us. The Moon affects us. And magnetic storms, which are influenced by planetary movements, affect us.

So much so that Percy Seymour, former principal lecturer in astronomy at the University of Plymouth, believes that the planets are playing a symphony on the earth's magnetic field and that the biology of life hears the symphony and reacts to it.

These magnetic effects upon aren't classical astrology but lend real support to it.

Symbols in the sky

In astrology, the planets and constellations of the zodiac have myths or stories associated with them. Each new generation has accepted the same myths and thus they have become indelibly etched in our psyche. For instance, Mars is the Roman god of war, Venus is the goddess of love, and Scorpio has a sting in its tail. These are accepted myths.

In the night sky, a planet's myth is coloured by its position. In other words, it's 'personality' is influenced by whichever zodiac sign it is in at the time. For instance, in a story of Mars in Taurus, steady and dependable Taurus the bull might temper Mars's fighting 'personality'. So during the time when Mars is in Taurus, it's fighting personality might not be quite so confrontational. When Mars moves from Taurus into another sign, its personality changes and is instead coloured by the new sign.

The real question then is; could these changing stories affect us?

Of course they can.

Our unconscious mind picks up all the movements in the heavens, just as it picks up every other minute detail in our environment. It is far more aware than the daily conscious mind. All that is necessary for astrology to have a real basis is for these stories to influence us once the unconscious mind has registered them.

And the unconscious influences us all the time. In fact the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), which regulates a whole host of bodily functions, including heart rate, blood pressure, pupil dilation, metabolic rate, liver function, digestion, bladder function, as well as our reproductive organs, is under unconscious control. Through it, subtle chemical changes in the body always accompany 'thoughts' (or stories) in the unconscious mind.

This is why, in a study of many different brands of aspirin tablets, the one found to be most powerful was the one with a red cross on it, from the Swiss company Bayer. People make an unconscious association between the red cross on the tablet and the International Red Cross, representing rescue and relief. The unconscious thought triggers the release of chemicals in the brain, which bring an improvement in symptoms. Here, an unconscious thought has triggered a biological change.

In my scientific opinion, this is why a person might be inclined to behave in a particular way when the heavens is in one position and to behave in a different way when in another. To a degree, in body and mind, we act out part of the changing myths in the sky.

Evidence

There's been lots of research into astrology. For instance, as well as the moon study mentioned earlier, Michael Gauquelin, examined the careers of 576 members of the French Academy of Medicine and discovered statistical peaks when Mars or Saturn were on the horizon or at the highest point in the sky. In other words, a significant portion of them tended to be born when Mars or Saturn were in these positions.

He also discovered that children tended to be born under the same planetary conditions as their parents. Birthing is a process that's affected by the autonomic nervous system and thus should be affected by the 'stories in the heavens'. When a mother's biology recognises a planetary position it could release hormones that stimulate birth.

And in a study of 2,324 people, former London University professor of psychology, Hans Eysenck, found an exact correlation between personality and astrological prediction. He discovered that people born under Aries or Sagittarius - positive / masculine signs - were extroverted, while those born under the negative / feminine signs of Cancer or Pisces tended to be introverted - exactly in synch with astrology.

Even though evidence like this exists, science hasn't (yet) embraced astrology, but there have been many prominent scientists who have supported it. Among these include such notable figures as Isaac Newton, Carl Jung, and 1993 chemistry Nobel Prizewinner, Kary Mullis, who discovered the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which enabled cloning and genetic fingerprinting.

So what do we say to people at parties who poo poo our beliefs? I often kindly say, "Is this because you've investigated the scientific evidence and made a conclusion based upon it?" Almost always, it is not.

I have found that sceptical people become much less sceptical when they learn that there are now peer-reviewed published scientific papers showing the biological effects of magnetic storms - this is always a good place to start. Then I get onto how the unconscious mind influences the autonomic nervous system.

That usually just about finishes off the scepticism people who are really only sceptical because they have heard other people's opinions or who just don't believe astrology could be possible. It then introduces their mind to the 'possibility' that there just might be something in astrology after all.

I used to be a sceptical scientist. Now I'm convinced.

For more info, read my book, Destiny vs Free Will: Why things happen the way they do