Astrology Resources Research
 
Advancing the AstroSignature for Alcohol Abuse
(C) 2004, Terri McCartney
all rights reserved
Introduction        Methodology         Gibson's Study       McDonough's Study      New AstroSignature      Score Results      Summary

ABSTRACT
 

The presupposition that guided this investigation is one that guides every horoscope analysis: the horoscope contains patterns that explain human behavior. The specific behavior in focus for this research endeavor was alcohol abuse.  Three goals guided this project: to retest the astrological factors that previous researchers found to be associated with alcohol abuse; to identify additional astrological factors that also contributed to the behavioral trait of alcohol abuse using the AstroDatabank factor analysis feature; and to develop an AstroSignature for alcohol abuse that, when tested, would award the highest scores to sixty percent of the alcohol abusers and only forty percent of the control group. The signature that was developed proposes twenty astrological rules or markers to identify alcohol abuse and was tested on two distinct data sets (the Anonymous group and the Performers group). Both data sets were composed of an experimental group with a history of alcohol abuse and a control group ten times larger than the size of the experimental group. After testing the signature, the study achieved its aim of ranking one of the groups, (the Anonymous experimental group), in the top sixty percent while only 25.8 percent of the Anonymous control group scored that high. The 60/40 split was nearly achieved with the Performers data set. The scores that ranked the Performers experimental group in the top 60 percent also ranked 45.1 percent of that control group in the top 60 percent. 


INTRODUCTION
 Healing behaviors that prevent us from living at our fullest potential or which interfere with a healthy relationship with ourselves or our environment, begins with identifying the dynamics that motivate the behavior. As astrology teaches, the key to discovering these motivations is found in a repetition of the factors that contribute to the particular behavior in question. One astrological factor alone does not account for a dominant behavior.  However, it's difficult to answer questions of who, what and how with the plethora of interacting variables and the abundance of possibilities for their expression.  Where are the guidelines to help the practitioner answer these important questions? Questions such as, who is most at risk for developing a particular dysfunctional behavior? What are the combinations of independent factors which account for the appearance of that behavior? How many of the factors that contribute to the behavior are necessary to elicit the behavior?  

AstroSignatures are designed to help us answer these questions. With the abundance of interacting factors found in every horoscope, the range of behavioral possibilities can be difficult to ascertain, especially if the factors have not been tested to prove they are valid indicators for the behavior. Too often, astrological practitioners base their judgments on erroneous generalizations that have been simply passed along from one generation of astrologers to another. One of the most discouraging facets I've confronted in my astrological practice is hearing a client repeat a discouraging interpretation of their chart dynamics. For example, I've had clients tell me they were told by other astrologers that they will never find happiness in marriage, or that health problems or financial struggles will plague them all the days of their life. While I could identify the chart dynamics that led to such statements, I absolutely didn't agree with the strictly deterministic interpretation of those dynamics.  Having clients share these discouraging and disempowering experiences convinced me of the necessity to research astrology. We need to know what works and what doesn't. We can't afford to make faulty judgments. Our clients grant much credence to what we say. I envision AstroSignatures becoming the standard of astrological diagnostic criteria, serving a purpose similar to the one DSM-IV serves for psychotherapist.

The AstroSignature provides criteria by which to judge the various factors found in the horoscope. It advises us of those astrological factors that appear in the charts of the people most likely to develop a particular behavior trait as defined by the signature.  In this specific research endeavor, one of my goals was to identify those factors that account most profoundly and with greatest frequency to the tendency for alcohol abuse.  While that might sound like a formidable task of testing one variable after another to find out which factors actually show up more frequently in the charts of alcoholics than they do in the charts of  non-alcoholics, we now have the technology that does this computing for us.  In this research project, I used the factor analysis reporting feature of the AstroDatabank 4.0 software to identify those factors that do occur more frequently in the charts of alcohol abusers.

 

I was surprised by some of the factors that both did and did not show up more frequently in the charts of the alcohol abusers.  Subtle interactive factors were at play that I would not have considered if the factor analysis report had not brought them to my attention. For one example, a sesquisquare or quincunx between the Ascendant and the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Uranus, or the dispositor of the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Pluto, North Node or MC was found to be a combination of factors which proved significant, while a square, opposition or semisquare between any of these planets or dispositors did not. Nor did a quincunx or sesquisquare from Venus, Mars, Neptune, or Pluto to the Ascendant occur more frequently in the charts of the experimental groups, although such an aspect from Venus or Pluto's dispositors did have significance. Neither the signs nor the major hard aspects contributed as strongly as I reasoned they might and which the literature suggests they do. Moreover, rulers of houses and dispositors played a more dynamic role than I assumed.  Over and over again I found myself asking, "Why this and why not that?" It reminded me of something I'd read in one of Rob Hand's books many years ago, about how a person could spend a lifetime studying astrology and still not learn all there is to learn about it.

 

This research endeavor convinced me that AstroSignatures will contribute greatly to advancing our understanding of the nature of the interaction between the various astrological symbols. Quoting Mark McDonough, We won't just prove astrology, we'll improve astrology. Indeed! Research is the direction and AstroDatabank software provides the means that makes it possible for every astrologer to test what works and what doesn't.

METHODOLOGY
Two distinct data sets were tested. AstroDatabank 4.0 contains 383 alcohol abusers with a Rodden rating of B or above. Of these 383 records, I used 185 for this research project.  One data group was created by filtering alcoholic abusers categorized as Public People. This resulted in a group of 255 records.  I randomly selected 100 famous performers from this larger group to compose one experimental group. The other data group was created by filtering alcohol abusers labeled as anonymous. This resulted in an experimental group of 85 records. A control group ten times the size of each of these experimental groups was created for each experimental group using AstroDatabank's inherent capabilities to design a control group. Therefore, the data set of Performers consisted of an experimental group of 100 and a control group of 1000.   The Anonymous data set was composed of an experimental group of 85 alcohol abusers and a control group of 850.  The Koch house system was used with both data sets. 

I opted to test two distinct groups of alcoholics because I felt that the two might not only vary in the astrological markers that set them apart from the control group, but also in the distribution, frequency and/or strength of  the patterns found to contribute to alcohol abuse. I used AstroDatabank's factor analysis report to identify those factors that occurred with the greatest frequency and highest percentages in the charts of the Anonymous group. I did not run a factor analysis report for the Performers group because I wanted to determine if there were variances between the two experimental groups. In all I considered over 200 astrological patterns that were discovered to occur with greater frequency in the charts of alcoholics than in the charts of the control group.  From this large group of factors, I built an AstroSignature for alcohol abuse by selecting 20 factors that showed up with the greatest frequency and the highest non-zero percentages in the charts of the Anonymous group.  The AstroSignature was then tested on both the Anonymous and the Performers data sets.

I experimented with adding weights to the orbs of influence for aspects because experience teaches that aspects with orbs of one degree or less tend to be powerful influences. However, upon testing several criteria with and without orbs, I decided upon an equal weighting system for all aspects and all facets of the AstroSignature. Furthermore, in testing modern and ancient rulers individually as well as jointly, the modern rulers worked best and were used in composing the rules of the AstroSignature.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
There were three things I hoped to accomplish by conducting this research:
1)      To retest and replicate the results achieved by previous researchers who explored the astrological patterns seen in the charts of alcoholics and then proposed specific markers or signatures for alcoholism.
2)      To use the factor analysis feature in the AstroDatabank program to identify additional astrological patterns that also contributed to alcohol abuse.
3)      To develop an astrological signature for alcoholism whereby both experimental groups would predominantly score in the top sixty percent while the control group would predominantly score in the lower forty percent.


RESULTS OF RETESTING GIBSON'S ASTROLOGICAL  MARKERS FOR ADDICTIVE DISORDERS
 

The first study of alcoholic patterns I attempted to replicate was designed by Mitchell E. Gibson, M.D. and published in his book, Signs of Mental Illness. While it is beyond the scope of this particular project to review the composite of his techniques and methodology for measuring and postulating astrological markers for mental illnesses, he has designed an intriguing model to evaluate the horoscope for significators of psychological imbalance. It is Gibson’s astrological markers for addictive disorders that were retested in this project. While there are 26 markers,  only 25 of his markers were retested. One proposed marker, Uranus trine Neptune, was not included in the retesting because it is a generational marker.

Gibson's study consisted of an experimental group of thirteen patients who had been in treatment for addictive disorders, (including alcohol, cocaine and/or amphetamine abuse). His control group consisted of 24 people with no history of mental illness or psychiatric treatment. The data set I used to retest his markers consisted of the 85 anonymous alcohol abusers with a control group of 850. The results of the retest are shown in Table 1.  The markers that showed up with greater frequency in the experimental group of alcoholics have their percentages presented in bold type.

Table 1: Retest Findings for Gibson's Addiction Markers


Astrological Markers
 % Non-Zero Alcoholics
 % Non-Zero
Control
Jupiter conjunct Pluto
 9.46
 7.1
Jupiter conjunct Uranus
 2.4
 4.2
Moon trine Pluto
 6.1
 8.3
Sun trine Uranus
 10.6
 7.6
Saturn Trine Pluto
7.0
 6.2
Sun sextile Jupiter
 3.9
 4.0
Mars sextile Uranus
 1.2
 3.9
Jupiter sextile Neptune
 5.9
 3.6
Venus square Saturn
 3.5
 4.9
Sun square Neptune
 5.9
 7.1
Sun square Mars
 9.4
 7.3
Jupiter opposition Mars
 5.8
 4.6
Moon opposition Venus
 5.8
 3.0
Moon opposition Uranus
 1.2
 4.3
Moon opposition Neptune
 8.2
 4.0
Jupiter parallel Uranus
 3.5
 5.8
Saturn parallel Mercury
 1.7
 5.4
Moon contraparallel Mercury
 3.5
 4.1
Saturn contraparallel Mars
 1.7
 4.4
Pluto at 21-23.30  N/S declination 54.1
 54.6
Mercury at 21-23.30 N/S declination
 8.2
 13.3
Moon at declination > 23 deg 30'
 14.1
 15.5
Mars at declination > 23 deg 30'
 17.6
 18.8
Jupiter conjunct AND parallel another planet
 11.8
 22.8

Table 1 demonstrates that of the 25 markers, only nine showed up more frequently for alcoholics than in the control group. Unfortunately, the number of times with which they showed up accounted for only a handful of the factors that contribute to chemical abuse. Additionally, the variance between the experimental and control group in the frequency they were found was statistically insignificant. Nonetheless, I learned some valuable things from the retesting of Gibson's addiction markers, even if the retesting failed to replicate the majority of his findings. First, I was driven to find those markers that appear with a frequency variance above four percent with at least 20 percent frequency of distribution in the charts of alcoholics. Otherwise, an AstroSignature for alcohol abuse will contain an overwhelming number of rules or markers.

In retesting, the highest percentage difference achieved for any of Gibson's factors was 4.2 percent found in the Moon opposition to Neptune. The other eight demonstrated frequency variances ranging from one to three percent--not high enough to establish statistical significance. Further, none of these markers showed up in at least 20 percent of the experimental group. I realized the key was to find individual factors that could be combined with similar factors into one rule or marker. For example, two of Gibson's markers that did demonstrate greater frequency in the experimental group--Moon opposite Venus and Moon opposite Neptune--could be combined as one rule which would read Moon opposite Venus or Neptune. Combined in this way, the result is a 14.1 percent frequency in the charts of the anonymous alcoholics and 6.9 percent in the control group.  Additionally, 12 individuals in the experimental group have the Moon in opposition to either Neptune or Venus. When calculated as independent rules, only seven charts had the Moon opposition Neptune and only five had the Moon opposition Venus. The effectiveness in terms of both frequency and distribution of these two independent rules is greatly increased by combining them into one rule.
 

Therefore, one of the first goals set for this project, was to discover other planets or points that could be grouped with the retested factors that showed the most statistically significant promise. It became apparent while retesting Gibson's markers that different aspects couldn't be grouped together before first analyzing which aspects actually contributed positively as a marker.  Frequently, the aspects I felt would contribute with the greatest variance did not. For example, I learned from retesting Gibson's markers that Moon opposite Venus or Neptune was found more frequently in the charts of the alcoholics, but what about the square, quincunx or other aspect possibilities?  I felt that the more stressful aspects would be suspect. However, I was wrong. The square, quincunx, and conjunction either occurred equally in both groups or more often in the control group. In order to identify which aspects occurred with greater frequency in the charts of the alcoholics, they would need to be evaluated individually. This would have been a formidable task if it had not been for the AstroDatabank 4.0 factor analysis feature. I was able to use the factor analysis report to identify which aspects had positive effect with greater frequency in the experimental group as well as the potential for combinable factors. For example, it was already known that Moon opposite Venus or Neptune occurred with greater frequency in the charts of alcoholics. The next task was to determine if there were other Moon oppositions or other aspects from the Moon to either Venus or Neptune of significance that could be combined into one signature rule.

The factor analysis feature in AstroDatabank enabled me to sort the results by aspect type (i.e. all oppositions) or by planet or point (i.e. the Moon, or a ruler of a particular house, or the dispositor of a particular planet or point). I was also able to determine the way the data was viewed (for example, I could select to view the top 200 factors demonstrating an absolute non-zero two percent positive differential). Numerous factors were discovered that could be combined and included in a new AstroSignature. Before the results of testing the new signature are presented, allow me to review the results achieved from retesting Mark McDonough's AstroSignature for Alcoholism.



RETESTING MCDONOUGH'S ASTROSIGNATURE FOR ALCOHOLISM 
Mark McDonough inspired Internet readers of the AstroDatabank Newsletter to join him in his quest to discover an AstroSignature for Alcoholism by initiating a study which tested for Pisces and Neptune themes in the charts of alcoholics. This first attempt wielded a few factors that appeared to have a significant influence toward contributing to alcohol abuse. A testing of C.E.O. Carter's formula for alcoholism followed the first investigation and five new markers were found with at least a six point differential between the alcoholic group and the control group. Following that, McDonough requested readers to give their input about what they believed to be contributing factors. In response, readers offered another fifty suggested factors to test. The final result was an AstroSignature with eleven markers or rules that demonstrated the potential to be contributing factors to alcohol abuse.

In contrast to Gibson's markers for addiction, which involved 26 single factors, McDonough's signature for alcoholism combined multiple factors (both planets and aspects) into one rule. In fact, so many independent factors were built into one signature rule that I had to question if each of the factors had been tested independently to determine if all of them did contribute with positive frequency. If only some did, then it meant that some did not, and those that did not would decrease the effectiveness of the rule. Only those factors which contributed with positive variance should be included to ensure that each rule of combined factors was effective.  It was apparent to me after reviewing the factor analysis report that it was rare for all the planets or all the major aspects or all the "difficult" aspects (or all the harmonious aspects for that matter), to contribute consistently and equally in either frequency or direction.  


Moreover, I wondered if the scores received by the experimental group used in the study would reflect the fact that a great number of those people were famous personalities. While I doubt any astrologer would debate the logic of expecting to find a strong Neptune, Jupiter or Pisces influence in the charts of alcoholics, I also felt that such influences might also be found with greater frequency in the charts of people employed in any of the arts but most specifically those employed in the performing arts or film industry.  With this thought in mind, I chose to use two distinct data sets to test the signature I developed: one composed of performers with alcohol abuse and the other composed of a group of anonymous alcoholics.

Table 2 outlines the results of retesting the McDonough AstroSignature for Alcoholism on the anonymous group of alcoholics. The average signature score achieved for the experimental group was 7.51 and 7.52 for the control group. Overall, the two groups scored equally. The percentages for the rules which showed up with greater frequency in the alcoholic group are presented in bold type. 



TABLE 2. Retest Findings for McDonough's Study


AstroSignature Rules
 % Non-Zero
Alcoholics
 % Non-Zero
Control
1. Sun or Moon sq, opp, semisquare, quincunx, sesqui Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune or Pluto
84.71
91.29
2. Sun or Moon in water sq., opp, semisq, quincunx, sesqui Mars, Saturn Uranus, Neptune or Pluto AND Sun, Moon, Mars, Saturn, uranus, Neptune or Pluto in water

24.71

28.35
3. Jupiter conjunct, sextile, square, trine, quincunx or opposed house ruler 9 or house ruler 12 (both rulers)
34.12
44.00
4. Neptune conjunct, square, opposed or quincunx Sun, Moon, Asc, or Asc ruler
56.29
52.94
5. Mars square, opp, semisq, quincunx, sesqui by any planet in Pisces
15.29
15.88
6. Jupiter conjunct, sextile, square, trine, quincunx or opposed Sun, Moon, Asc, or Asc ruler (both rulers)

75.10
71.51
7. Jupiter conjunct, sextile, square, trine, quincunx, or opposed ruler of house 12 (both rulers)
38.82
42.82
8. The ruler of the fifth house or the fifth house cusp square, opp, semisq, quincunx or sesqui Sun through Pluto AND Sun through Pluto in water

57.65

56.94
9. The ruler of the 5th or the 5th house cusp square, opp, semisquare, quincunx, or sesqui Neptune
31.76
34.35
10. Mars square, opposed, semisquare, quincunx or sesqui Neptune
14.12
13.88
11. Any planet, angle or Moon's nodes at 11 deg. of a Cardinal sign
19.10
16.10

As Table 2 demonstrates, five of the eleven markers were found more frequently in the experimental group than in the control group. For example, rule six was found in the experimental group with nearly four times the frequency with which it was found in the control group. Rule eleven showed a three percent positive differential. These results were interpreted as promising because it was felt that the rules just needed to be refined to include only those factors that were found to independently contribute to alcohol abuse before combining them with other factors to compose a signature rule. The factor analysis report would help identify those factors.

 

Additionally, one of the strengths of McDonough's signature was that he was achieving the distribution frequencies I sought in this project. Eight of his eleven rules occurred greater than 20 percent of the time for the experimental group. Granted, such a distribution also meant that the percentage of the time it occurred in the control group rose as well, but it would be difficult if not impossible to find an astrological pattern that would be found only in the charts of people sharing a particular behavior trait. Astrologers know that the more a particular theme is repeated in the chart, the greater the likelihood the behavior associated with that theme will exist as well. This is why it was felt that a signature for alcohol abuse that fit 60 percent of the experimental group and only 40 percent of the control group would be a workable signature.


ADOPTING  A NEW ASTROSIGNATURE FOR ALCOHOL ABUSE:  THE PROCESS
Using the filter feature in AstroDatabank, I considered nearly 200 possible combinations of factors that were independently identified in the factor analysis report as occurring with greater frequency in the charts of alcoholics than in the control group.  The key was to find combinable factors, because it was rare for an independent factor to occur more frequently than three percent of the time in the experimental group. Furthermore, it was even more difficult to discover a single factor that occurred with a high positive frequency variance AND in the charts of at least 20 percent of the alcoholics.

Inevitably, I had to select those markers or rules I felt could be replicated.  My goal was to select 20 rules or markers to compose an AstroSignature. I began this selection process by seeking other factors which could be combined with those used by Gibson and McDonough that would make their rules more effective.  For example, I already knew that two of Gibson's independent factors, Moon in opposition to Venus and Moon in opposition to Neptune could be combined into one rule. The question was, were there other Moon oppositions that also contributed with greater frequency and distribution that could be included to make the rule even more effective? In order to attain the higher percentages in both frequency and distribution, other Moon oppositions to other planets or points or other aspects from the Moon to Neptune and Venus would need to be identified. The factor analysis report indicated no other aspects of greater frequency in the alcoholics to both Neptune and Venus but it did report that the Moon in opposition to Neptune's dispositor, the Moon's dispositor, Ceres and Vesta also occurred with greater frequency in the experimental group. Therefore, I combined these factors into one rule for the signature.

Three of McDonough's rules were refined to include in the signature. The factor analysis report indicated that his rule six, (Jupiter conjunct, sextile, square, trine, quincunx, or opposing Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Ascendant ruler) would be effective if only the conjunction and quincunx were used and made more effective (higher frequency and distribution) if the semisquare was included as well. The opposition, square, sextile and trine occurred either with equal or greater frequency in the control group, so they were dropped from the rule. The refinement of this rule resulted in a frequency of 38.83 percent for the alcoholics and 31.11 percent for the control group (anonymous data set). This is in contrast to its form in the McDonough signature, with results of higher occurrence (56.29 percent for the alcoholics and 52.94 percent for the control group) but less variance between the experimental and control group.

Similar results were achieved by refining McDonough's signature rules four and eleven. Rule four (Neptune conjunct, square, opposite, or quincunx Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Ascendant ruler), was made more effective written as Neptune sextile, quincunx or parallel Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Ascendant ruler, because these were the aspects that occurred in the charts of the alcoholics with higher positive frequency than they occurred in the control group. Rule 11, (any planet, angle or Moon's node at 11 degrees of the cardinal signs) was made more effective by removing Libra from the equation. Planets at 11 degrees Libra occurred with higher frequency in the control group. In general, planets in balance-seeking Libra appear to enhance sobriety.

It was tricky to choose from all the possible contributing factors to compose an AstroSignature of 20 rules. Often, I was surprised at what the factor analysis indicated to be contributing factors in alcohol abuse. For example, when I evaluated the report on sign analysis, I found a surprising number of indicators in Capricorn, yet none of them were a planet! Instead, the dispositors of specific planets or the rulers of specific houses were the contributing factors.  Additionally, the asteroids, Ceres and Vesta, often showed up as contributors to alcohol abuse when involved in particular aspects or placed in particular houses or signs. It made sense when their symbolism was considered: Ceres, the Earth Goddess, associated with the principles of nurturance and unconditional love (most importantly of the self), and Vesta, seen to preside over support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and the principles of personal integration and spiritual devotion. Furthermore, both Ceres and Vesta are felt to be linked to the Virgo archetype. Nonetheless, it would never have occurred to me to consider their potential influence if the factor analysis report hadn't suggested that I do so.

There were other conundrums to address when combining factors into a single workable rule. Following is an example of the process I followed to determine combinable factors using the factor analysis report. In one instance, the report indicated that Venus' dispositor sesquisquare to Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn occurred five percent more frequently in the charts of the alcoholics than it did in the control group. However, only eight of the alcoholics (9.4 percent) had this particular aspect in their charts. Therefore, I needed to find some other factors to combine with it before it could be included as a signature rule.  The factor analysis report offered no other aspects from Venus' dispositor to this group but it did offer two receivers of the sesquisquare aspect from Venus' dispositor that occurred with higher frequency in the charts of the alcoholics. One was Neptune's dispositor and the other was the ruler of the MC.  The conundrum was this: what was the likelihood that either Neptune's or the MC's dispositor was one of the original four planets involved in the sesquisquare to Venus' dispositor? In other words, what the factor analysis report doesn’t show is whether Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn are also the dispositors of Neptune or the MC in the 9.4 percent of charts in question. If they were, it would skew the results for this particular group and likely not be significant. Here is where both logic and astrological common sense come into play.  Logically, if we assume the factor analysis report shows that the Venus sesquisquare is occurring to both Saturn and the dispositor of Neptune at identical percentages, then there's a good chance that Saturn is also the dispositor of Neptune and including both in a signature rule might achieve good results with one experimental group but not be replicated with another.  At the same time, astrological common sense dictates that Venus' dispositor sesquisquare to either Neptune's or the MC's dispositor could very well contribute to alcohol abuse.  This particular issue came up frequently as I worked to combine factors and in several instances, I adopted some very interesting combinations into one rule despite the fact that I risked not having my results replicated with a different experimental group.


THE ASTROSIGNATURE
In the end, I adopted 20 rules to compose an AstroSignature for Alcohol Abuse and tested the signature with both the Anonymous group and the Performers group of data sets. Table 3. shows the results for both groups.  The average signature score achieved for the Anonymous experimental group was 12.59 and 8.28 for the control group. The average signature score achieved for the Performers experimental group was 10.88 and 8.00 for the control group. Overall, the signature works with greater effectiveness with the Anonymous group than it does the Performers. All of the rules worked with greater frequency in terms of both distribution and variance for the experimental groups.  The Anonymous group consisted of 85 experimental/850 control and the Performers group consisted of 100 experimental/1000 control.

Table 3. New AstroSignature for Alcoholism (Only modern rulers were used)  *Disp = Dispositor; NN=North Node; SN=South Node

AstroSignature Rules
  ANONYMOUS EXPERIMENT
%  Non Zero
 ANONYMOUS CONTROL
% Non Zero
 FAMOUS EXPERIMENT
% Non Zero
 FAMOUS CONTROL
% Non Zero
1) Asc Sesquisq or quincunx Moon, Sun, Merc, Uranus, Sun Disp*, Merc Disp, Venus Disp,  NN Disp, MC Disp
34.1
22.9
29.0
24.7
2) Sun Disp, Merc Disp, Venus Disp, Jup Disp, Nept Disp, ruler of house 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, or 12 in Capricorn
17.7
9.3
34.0
31.2
3) Venus, Jup, Nept, NN, SN, Merc Disp, Jup Disp, Nept Disp, NN Disp, SN Disp, Vesta, ruler of house 1, 2, 4, 8, 11,12 in the 6th house

64.7
54.1
57.0
51.4
4) Moon, Nept, Sun Disp, Venus Disp, Mars Disp, Pluto Disp, NN Disp, ruler of house 5, 8, or 12 in 5th house
45.9
36.7
47.0
38.5
5) Ascendant in Aries, Taurus, Gemini or Virgo
 48.2
 29.6
 32.0
 27.7
6) Moon in Virgo, Gemini, Scorpio, Capricorn or Pisces
 51.8
 42.5
 45.0
 40.2
7) Sun, SN, MC, Sun Disp, SN Disp, MC Disp, ruler of house 1, 2, 3, 5, or 6 in Aquarius
54.1
39.3
50.0
46.1
8) Ceres square Moon, Neptune, Ascendant, Chiron, Nept Disp
 45.9
 29.2
 37.0
 26.3
9) Jup Disp contraparallel Sun, Uran Disp, Pluto Disp, Chiron, or ruler of 6th house
28.2
10.4
14.0
12.3
10) Moon or Moon's Disp sextile Uranus or Uranus Disp.
 29.4
 12.0
 16.0
 10.9
11) Saturn conjunct Neptune, MC Disp, or Ruler of house 6, 8, 9,   or  11
35.3
24.8
34.0
26.8
12) Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, MC, Ceres, Ruler of house 5 or 12 at 28 degrees of any sign
29.4
20.4
19.0
16.3
13) Jupiter conjunct, semisq,  or quincunx Moon, Sun, Asc, or Asc Disp.
38.8
33.2
41.0
31.1
14) Neptune sextile, quincunx, or parallel Moon, Sun, Asc, or Asc. Disp.
42.4
29.2
39.0
28.4
15) Sun, Merc, Sat, SN, Moon Disp, Mars Disp, Pluto Disp, NN Disp, Asc Disp, Ceres, Ruler of house 3 or 11 in 4th house
49.4
44.9
50.0
46.9
16) Moon opposition Venus, Neptune, Moon Disp, Nept Disp, Vesta or Ceres
27.1
18.8
25.0
18.8
17) Merc, Uranus, MC, Sun Disp, Merc Disp, SN Disp, Vesta, or Ruler of 4th house at 1 degree any sign
29.4
22.9
26.0
19.0
18) Any planet, NN, SN, Asc, MC, Ruler of 4th or 7th at 11 degrees Aries, Cancer, or Capricorn
18.8
12.8
13.0
11.7
19) Mars trine, semisextile, sextile or parallel Neptune
 21.2
 14.7
 19.0
 13.1
20) Moon angular AND semisq, sesquisq, square or quincunx Merc, Sat, NN or SN
17.7
15.8
19.0
14.5

SIGNATURE SCORE RESULTS
The average signature score for the Anonymous group (12.59) appears to vary more greatly from the average score for the Performer group (10.88) than it actually does, because the highest score achieved in the Anonymous group was 33 in contrast to the highest score of 22 in the Performers group.  A perusal of the Anonymous chart that scored 33 quickly revealed the reason it scored as high as it did--it held an Aquarian stellium containing Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and the North Node in the sixth house. This also explains at least some of the variance in percentages achieved between the Anonymous experimental group and the Performer group for rules three and seven (which address Aquarius and sixth house placements).

The 60/40 distribution that I sought was achieved with the Anonymous group.  Fifty-one of the 85 charts (60 percent) in the Anonymous experimental group scored at or above the median experimental group score of 11, while only 219 of the 850 records (25.8 percent) in the control group scored that high. Therefore, 74.2 percent of the control group scored 11 or below. The 60/40 dividing score in the Performers group was achieved by those in the experimental group with a score of nine or greater, whereas sixty two out of 100 (62 percent) of the Performer experimental group scored similarly. The 60/40 split was nearly achieved but  451 out of 1000 (45.1 percent) of the control group scored nine or greater as well.

The Performers control group had four records which received a signature score of zero and the Anonymous group had one such record. There were a total of 19 records in the Performers control group and 15 in the Anonymous control group with a signature score of one.  A signature score of three was the lowest score earned in both experimental groups. Each had two records which received a signature score of three.  An examination of the lowest scoring charts in both experimental groups revealed similar types of focalizers.  For example, all four of them contained a stellium, and two contained singletons. (I was unable to figure out a way to account for singletons and/or stelliums with the AstroDatabank software). Here is a list of some of the dynamics found in the four lowest scoring charts:

1)  A singleton stationary Mars in Gemini in the tenth house (the only planet in  the southern  hemisphere) square Moon conjunct Pluto in the first house.  There was a stellium involving Sun, Mercury, Venus, North Node, and Neptune in Libra in the second house.
2)   Eleventh house Virgo stellium (involving Sun, Moon, Neptune with Moon conjunct Neptune), Saturn stationary Rx in the fourth house in Aquarius at the handle of a bucket pattern, in exact quincunx to Moon/Neptune.
3) A tenth house stellium (predominantly Taurus) as well as an eleventh house Gemini stellium, Mars in Cancer conjunct North Node in the first house in mutual reception with Moon in Aries in the tenth house.
4) A singleton stationary Rx Saturn in the tenth as the only planet in the southern hemisphere, a second house Pisces stellium involving  Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Chiron with Sun also in the second house in Aries and an exact Pluto conjunct Venus in Taurus in the fourth house.

Additionally, while three out of four of these charts contained a focal stationary planet, no particular planet, dispositor or house ruler demonstrated stationary status with greater frequency in the experimental groups as compared to the control group. In fact, Saturn was found to be stationary or retrograde more often in the control group than in the experimental group.

 SUMMARY
 

A workable AstroSignature was developed with practical application for identifying a tendency toward alcohol abuse in the horoscope. That is, if upon evaluation a horoscope receives a score of 11 or above using the criteria outlined in the AstroSignature, there is a risk of alcohol abuse. While this AstroSignature has set forth guidelines for identifying the tendency for alcohol abuse, it fails to answer some other very important questions. For example, if the behavior does surface, what factors in the chart represent strengths to draw upon to offset the behavior? How could those strengths best be tapped and cultivated? I feel this information is as equally important to identify, for it enables astrologers to empower their clients with options and choices.  The great blessing of astrology is that it not only provides us with a means for understanding the dynamics underlying unhealthful behaviors, it also offers guidance about the means for healing such behaviors.


 

References

 [1] Gibson, Mitchell E. MD, Signs of Mental Illness, St. Paul, MN, Llewellyn Publications, 1998.

[1] George, Demetra, Asteroid Goddesses, San Diego, CA, ACS Publications, Inc., 1986.

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