Sunday 23 January 2011

Bunk and twaddle

With my scientific background and logical mind I'm practically duty bound to denounce horoscopes as so much bunk and twaddle. Indeed, I have no problem doing so. Horoscopes epitomise the Barnum Effect. Here a few Scorpio horoscopes I’ve pulled together from the internet, covering the week and month ahead:

http://www.cainer.com/weekly/scorpiot.html
Think about how hard you have worked. How much effort you have invested. Has it all paid off? Of course not. Nothing we ever do is 100 per cent successful. It's the same with the money we spend. Not every penny can be parted with wisely, no matter how frugal we try to be. We either accept this or we drive ourselves insane in an effort to achieve unattainable perfection. Now, think of an aspiration that you are all but ready to give up on; a campaign that you have lost faith in. Put more energy into your great dream this week, it won't all work out... but some of it will.

http://www.homepagers.com/daily/scorpio.html
You are inclined to be aggressive and hot-tempered now, particularly when your will is blocked. Your pushiness or competitive attitude is likely to create antagonism, hostility, and further resistance to your efforts. It is best to work alone rather than try to cooperate or coordinate your efforts with anyone at this time. Also, you are impatient and tend to behave in an impulsive, irritable way which makes you more prone to accidents during this period.

http://www.astrology.com/horoscopes/scorpio/daily-horoscope/today
You find it harder to get a handle on that idea -- or that one person -- you need to understand. It's a sign that you need to back off for now, as deeper wisdom takes lots more time.

It all sounds pretty specific, but the themes are very generic really. Anyone reading these horoscopes will see some element that resonates with an aspect of their current situation.

What I struggle to dismiss is the personality profiling associated with my own star sign, Scorpio, as it seems to fit me perfectly. My inner scientist writhes in shame to admit this. What hard science could give credible reason why personality traits are determined by the position of the sun in relation to the stars at the moment of birth?

Perhaps it could be more easily argued that the temperature, season, light levels during the last few months of gestation and the first few months after birth might have an effect on personality. The cycle of the seasons seem, on human timescales, as regular and predictable as the motion of the solar system. I've used this seasonal rationalisation as the crutch that supports my vague affinity for Scorpio traits.

There was a headline last week that the wobble in the earth’s rotation (precession) means that the dates when the sun processes in front of the various constellations has changed from when the zodiac was first defined thousands of years ago. Here I am thinking I’m a Scorpio, but apparently I am in fact a Virgo.

Astrologers say this “revelation” is hardly news, and see it as a dig by astronomers at the art of astrology. Our western tradition, called tropical astrology, ignores the shift in the earth’s axis of rotation, since it is based on the configuration of the solar system relative to the Sun, not the remote constellations. The Hindu astrology tradition, sidereal astrology, bases its ideas on the configuration of the earth relative to the sun, the solar system and the constellations, and therefore does incorporate the effects of precession.

In any event, it seems a perfect opportunity to test the Barnum Effect. If I assume that I am a Virgo, will I find things in the personality ascribed to Virgoans that resonate with me? To test this I pulled the following together from http://www.astrology-online.com:


Scorpio
Virgo
Tropical Zodiac Dates
October 24 to November 22
August 23 to September 23
Sidereal Zodiac Dates
November 23 to November 29
September 16 to October 30
Traditional Traits
Determined and forceful
Modest and shy

Emotional and intuitive
Meticulous and reliable

Powerful and passionate
Practical and diligent

Exciting and magnetic
Intelligent and analytical
On the dark side....
Jealous and resentful
Fussy and a worrier

Compulsive and obsessive
Overcritical and harsh

Secretive and obstinate
Perfectionist and conservative
Likes
Truth
Health foods

Hidden causes
Lists

Being involved
Hygiene

Work that is meaningful
Order

Being persuasive
Wholesomeness
Dislikes
Being given only surface data
Hazards to health

Taken advantage of
Anything sordid

Demeaning jobs
Sloppy workers

Shallow relationships
Squalor

Flattery and flattering
Being uncertain
Colours
Dark Red to Maroon
Green and Dark Brown

The bits highlighted in orange are the pieces that seem to fit. I would say this is a pretty inconclusive result, which only goes to prove the Barnum Effect is indeed in operation.

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