Disappointingly diverse Rats
Daniel Caute
THE ASTROLOGY OF TIME TWINS by Peter Roberts and Helen Greengrass Pentland Press, £6.95, pp. 120 An astrology book that can be taken seriously by sceptics and believers alike is rare. Building on the foundations laid by French statistician, Michel Gauquelin, the writers, Professor Peter Roberts and Helen Greengrass have produced such a book. They show how one can devise strict meth- ods for testing astrologers' varying claims, without losing the sense of mystery and wonderment which accounts for the sub- ject's popular appeal.
The Time Twins Project analysed the lives of 17 people, all born on the 14 November 1948 to see if there were any evidence of similarities. Sceptics of astrolo- gy often argue that so-called 'time twins', that is, people born so close in time that the position of the sun, moon, planets etc, drawn up in a birthchart, is virtually identi- cal, ought to show striking resemblances, when, in fact, they differ greatly. Believers claim, with equal frequency and greater enthusiasm, that such correspondences do OMIT.
Absurd as they may seem, there are some compelling examples of time twin resemblances in this book. Consider the well-documented case of Revd Charles Meyers and his time twin, Revd Francis Ashmall. Both were born on 17 December 1856 and died within two months of each other, both aged 92. They were assistant curates from 1881-1885, then vicars between 1886-1889 and both were rectors between 1896-1915. Their contemporane- ous progression continued as rural deans and canons — all at different parishes and dioceses in southern England. Clearly, God couldn't get enough of a good thing. Next we'll discover that there are two Popes.
When it comes to the resemblances between the 17 time twins in the current experiment, the gods seem to have desert- ed Roberts and Greengrass. Looking at their wide variety of professions, prefer- ences, lifestyles and hobbies you would have thought they had taken a random sample from a cross-section of the rural population. Estate agents and musicians, chemists and child-minders, some of whom loved cycling and photography, others who played guitar and collected antiques. Some loved pop, others loved folk, but mostly various classical composers. The only strik- ing feature was a preponderance of people in the 'caring' professions and a few engi- neers, either computing or mechanical.
It is a shame that the authors didn't know that they had taken their sample group from people born in the Chinese year of the Rat. Supremely successful in all areas, Rat-born people are busy gaining influence far and wide — they are the most versatile. If the writers had taken their time twin sample from a different year, the more predictable Rooster or Cat years for example, they might have found some stun- ning instances of identical tastes, jobs and lifestyles.
1948 was the year of the Earth Rat. The element Earth lends stability and encour- ages the individual to be supportive — someone you can lean on. This, coupled with Rat's gentle compassion, accounts for the midwife, the nursery teacher, the care assistant and child-minder in the sample. In addition, the electrical charge of Rat's Captain Leplage returned to find only Corporal Lebeque holding the fort twin-turbine mind makes him eminently suited to engineering, on physical as well as psychological levels.
Apart from the Time Twins Project, the book covers some familiar ground on the discoveries of Michel Gauquelin. I can understand why science-oriented astrologers are desperate to find a way to turn Gauquelin's prize jewel into a huge treasure chest, brimming with validity, but I'm afraid astrology is too vast a subject to be dissected in the laboratory. Even if the experimenters had tried electrocuting their subjects, they would still have gone their separate ways.
Gauquelin studied the lives of an elite group — those whom this book refers to, somewhat dubiously, as the `star-born'. When he looked at the birth-charts of per- sons supremely eminent within their field, such as top Olympian athletes, Nobel-Prize winning scientists, award-winning writers, distinguished actors and politicians, he found certain planets appearing marked in relation to specific careers. For athletes the planet is Mars, for actors and politicians, Jupiter, scientists are favoured by Saturn, and for writers it's the Moon.
When someone is outstanding in a par- ticular field, it is more than likely that he, or she, will have the appropriate planet in one of the 'key sectors' of the birth chart. Furthermore, Gauquelin discovered that the placement of the planet in the key sec- tors was even more likely if the personality of his subject bore traits traditionally asso- ciated with his planet (Mars, for example, being 'active, brave, dynamic, reckless'). Herein lies the connection between person- ality and career-paths which Roberts and Greengrass explore in their Time Twins Project.
Sadly, there are no revelations. Not even the 'star-born' hypothesis, that only a few individuals are likely to mirror, exactly, their birth-charts and show striking similar- ities with time twins, is that plausible. I have met people who are remarkably simi- lar but whose ages are quite different. If astrological effects can be discerned at all, then they are surely universal.
Nothing comes easily. This book is com- mendable for its modest tone and open- mindedness in the face of very complex subject matter. 'The successful practice of scientific discovery,' it states, 'requires a curious mixture of humility and arrogance.' As I understand this, we must neither ignore difficult problems nor assume that they can be easily solved. In a spirit of per- severance the scientist seeks to shed light on a problem by constructing endless experiments, some of which are fruitless dead-ends. If, in all humility, he dedicates himself to finding a solution, one day it will strike him suddenly, like a flash of light- ning. Then, arrogance is required. For there is nothing more distressing to mankind than the pain of a new idea.
David Caute is former editor of Cogito.
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