COSMOS, CHRISTOS, & CONSCIOUSNESS

Research in Real Time

Results

by Courtney Roberts, M.A.

Back in 1994, I took on the challenge of sports astrology; not because I was particularly interested in sports, but because I was interested in the claims of astrology and whether they were true or not. At the time, I saw sports as a potential proving ground for astrology, for better or worse. The more subjective aspects of astrology have been difficult to test, and the claims of practicing astrologers too easy to refute. They just don't seem to fare well under the kind of scrutiny that every other field of human endeavor must withstand. Psychological astrology, spiritual astrology, even horary and mundane astrology; all leave lots of room for subjective interpretation. If this were not so, we would be inundated with promising research results. In fact, the opposite is true.

Sports, on the other hand, is comparatively objective. An athlete either wins or he doesn't. You can't hide behind the scoreboard. When I first began this work, I reckoned that if there was any truth to any of the claims of astrology, then I should be able to use it to predict the outcome of sporting competitions with some accuracy. While this has proven largely to be true, there were other, unanticipated benefits in this line of inquiry that could prove more valuable in the long run.

For instance, I gained a whole new perspective on how planetary possibilities unfold. After spending many long hours observing athletic competitions, carefully noting and analyzing the ever-changing astrological conditions, I observed thousands of different planetary combinations competing in real time, bringing victory to some and defeat to others. Those long years of systematic observations eventually yielded my 'Real-Time' methods, along with a mountain of data. The data has proven more valuable in my research than any of my predictions. After all, it's one thing to test an astrologer's ability to predict. It's quite another to test the reality of planetary influence.

Diurnal Motion - Real Time

As I began my quest in sports astrology, there wasn't much published of a serious nature to guide me - certainly nothing based upon any kind of systematic observation. I bought into some of the claims of horary astrology, so I used to try to read the charts for the beginning of the game, comparing the first house (home team) against the seventh house (away team). That's the typical astrologer's response, isn't it? To use a chart to stand as a simplified symbol for something else: i.e. magical thinking. I had some success with these methods. Many astrologers have had some success with this, just not consistently. As sports allows you neither the latitude nor the luxury to delude yourself about your accuracy, I soon realized that I had to improve my methods.

It occurred to me at some point that I didn't need a chart to tell me the score at the beginning of the game. I already knew that: 0-0! What I really wanted to know was the score at the end of the game. I know that sounds dead obvious now, but astrologers have an ancient habit of only considering inception charts. Plus, it's much easier to predict when a game will start than when it will end. I found that with some observation and

practice, it is possible to gauge at least the approximate end of a match. It's harder in certain sports than in others; e.g. in tennis than in NFL football, but sometimes, the planetary movements themselves will give you some indication of the end of the matter. Of course, the broadcast networks have been doing this kind of prediction for years, presumably without the benefit of astrology.

I've always been fascinated with event charts of any kind, and I found some value in these end-of-game charts. For instance, they often reveal something about the overall mood in the stadium. However, I don't believe that one symbolic chart is enough. To really grasp the whole picture, you need to consider how the players' and coaches' natal planetary positions fit into that end-of-game framework.

My real breakthrough in this came sometime during the 1995 NBA playoffs. I was watching a Houston Rockets game and tracking the action with the current game chart on my computer (which is how I spent the better part of the '90's). The Rockets sent in Robert Horry from the bench. He was a relative nobody at the time, but he started dominating as soon as he entered the game. He was scoring, blocking, rebounding and nobody could keep up with him.

I became momentarily curious about the man, and about what made him tick. I wanted to see his chart, but I didn't want to take the current game chart off of my screen. To solve my dilemma, I entered his birth date and put his planets in a wheel around the outside of the game chart; in other words, in the outer wheel of a bi-wheel. The current game chart remained in the inner wheel and on the angles.

I was amazed at the configuration that appeared on my screen! The current midheaven at the game was in the sign Libra. Horry had two natal planets in Libra, including Venus, the planetary ruler, perched up there at the real-time midheaven. Further, the Sun and Mercury in the game chart (the Transiting planets) were in Gemini, forming helpful, supportive trine aspects (120 degree angles) to Horry's natal Libra planets, as he was out there dominating, running the court.

We've all been taught that the four angles, or pivot points (The Ascendant, the Descendant, the Midheaven & and IC), are the most sensitive or active areas of any natal chart - regardless of what the Gauquelins' research appears to indicate.

However, my experience in sports astrology has impressed upon me the importance of the angles in any chart, including the angles surrounding you right now! For in the course of any day, at any location, the different transiting planets will appear to circulate through all four "pivot points," culminating at the midheaven, rising at the ascendant, setting at the descendant, and so on. That's when things tend 'to happen,' for better or worse, according to the nature of the planets and their aspects. Simple observations within your own daily environment will quickly confirm this for you. However, while the current, or 'transiting' planets exhibit this increased freedom of expression when approaching the angles, the natal positions of key personalities within any situation will do the same.

Any individual's natal, or birth planets will also circulate through the angles during the course of any day. When those natal positions arrive at a particular angle, they are capable of a fuller expression of their potential, again according to the aspects, etc. Consequently, the time of a match can have a direct effect on its outcome, depending upon who's more 'angular.' If an athlete is fortunate enough to be in the midst of a game while his well-aspected natal planetary positions move towards an angle, he is generally able to utilize more of his abilities to achieve dominance within that framework; depending, of course, upon the relative condition of his opponents.

Consider for a moment the mental and emotional state of an athlete or a coach who has just won a major competition or championship, something perhaps that he has dreamed of and trained for his entire life. It may be the crowning moment of that individual's life. You will find, with remarkable regularity, that athlete or coach has important natal planets that are very angular at that exact moment, as he is living his natal potential to its fullest. Now let's suppose our athlete is in the midst of a game and a powerful transiting planet is coming to the midheaven. If that planet is making helpful aspects to his natal positions, or is friendly to him in some other obvious way, then all other things being equal, it will also favor him in the match. Rather than confuse you by trying to relate all of this in the abstract, let's go to some real examples.

Research Results

Initial Testing

1) Preliminary test on NBA playoff and championship games from the 1994-1997 seasons. I used the charts for the end of each match to compare the angular planetary positions of the winning and losing head coaches, and the top three players from each team.

Winners' Angular Sun: 18 Losers' Angular Sun: 4

Winners' Angular Mercury: 10 Losers' Angular Mercury: 4

Winners' Angular Venus: 18 Losers' Angular Venus: 9

Winners' Angular Mars: 17 Losers' Angular Mars: 5

Winners' Angular Jupiter: 22 Losers' Angular Jupiter: 12

Winners' Angular Saturn: 10 Losers' Angular Saturn: 7

Total: 95 Total: 41

Note: The Moon has not been used because these are mostly untimed birth charts, and therefore, the exact degree of the natal Moon isn't known.

This preliminary study shows that in the winning moment of major NBA games, the winning players and coaches seem to be more likely to have either their natal Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, or Jupiter conjunct one of the current angles than the losing coaches and players. These results led to further testing.

2) A test of 42 different championship events, including: NFL, MLB, PGA, WTA, NBA, NASCAR, USFSA, and Olympic competitions, comparing the angular planetary positions of 58 pairs of winning and losing athletes and head coaches. An orb of 5 degrees applying and 4 degrees separating was used: i.e. a coach's or athlete's natal planet was counted as angular if it was within 5 degrees of approaching an angle at the winning moment, or within 4 degrees of separating from an angle.

Winners' Angular Sun: 13 Losers' Angular Sun: 2

Winners' Angular Mercury: 9 Losers' Angular Mercury: 2

Winners' Angular Venus: 11 Losers' Angular Venus: 1

Winners' Angular Mars: 9 Losers' Angular Mars: 3

Winners' Angular Jupiter: 17 Losers Angular Jupiter: 4

Winners' Angular Saturn: 9 Losers' Angular Saturn: 4

Total: 68 Total: 16

Again, the natal planets of the winning coaches and players were angular more often than the natal planets of the losing coaches and players. These results led to further testing.

3) The Baseball Test: In the contest between the pitcher and the batter, either the pitcher wins and gets an out, or the batter wins and gets a hit. I wanted to test something I thought I had observed in major league baseball games over the years. It seemed as if the batter had a better chance of getting a hit when any of his natal planets were conjunct the current angles. Obviously, that's not the only factor in getting on base. Nevertheless, it seemed worth testing.

I collected my baseball data for several years, from 1997 through 1999, focusing upon hitting and scoring events in championship games; both the AL and NL pennant games and the World Series. My preliminary results were encouraging enough to keep me going, for instance:

From the 7 games of the 1997 World Series, I collected the exact times for 173 separate hitting and scoring events. Within that batch, using both a 6-degree orb (applying and separating) and, for comparison's sake, a tighter 2-degree orb, I counted the number of times the Players' Natal Suns and Mars were conjunct a current, real-time angle versus the Sun and Mars of two separate control groups. Both control groups were generated randomly using the Jigsaw research program. The results were as follows:

Players' Sun (6 degrees orb) 38 (2 degrees orb) 17

Control 1 Sun (6 degrees orb) 27 (2 degrees orb) 7

Control 2 Sun (6 degrees orb) 23 (2 degrees orb) 10

Players' Mars (6 degrees orb) 34 (2 degrees orb) 14

Control 1 Mars (6 degrees orb) 19 (2 degrees orb) 3

Control 2 Mars (6 degrees orb) 21 (2 degrees) orb 11

The results showed that the Players' natal Suns and Mars were conjunct a current, real-time angle when they scored or got a hit more frequently than the same planets in the controls' charts. This result encouraged me to try a larger sample, and to further refine my methods.

My next sample consisted of 233 separate hitting events, collected from the aforementioned set of championship games (1997-1999). By 'hitting events' I mean the exact moments when the batter 'beat' the pitcher and got either a base hit, a double, a triple, a home run, or an RBI.

I still used two separate control groups, but I generated them differently this time. For Control Group 1, I used an assigned chart. In other words, many of the players in my sample had more than one hitting event. Because I could only use one birth chart for each player, it seemed appropriate to assign one randomly generated control chart to each player and to use it for each separate hitting event, rather than using a different control chart for each hitting event as I had in the previous trial. However, for Control Group 2, I continued to use a different control chart for each separate hitting event. The results are as follows:

Players' Suns (6 degrees) 45 (2 degrees) 20

Assigned Control (6 degrees) 34 (2 degrees) 12

Separate Control (6 degrees) 28 (2 degrees) 14

Players' Mars (6 degrees) 41 (2 degrees) 16

Assigned Control (6 degrees) 29 (2 degrees) 10

Separate Control (6 degrees) 36 (2 degrees) 11

In this sample of 233 hitting events, the Batters' Suns were within 6 degrees of a current angle 45 times, and within 2 degrees of a current angle 20 times. For the assigned control charts (using the same control chart every time for the same batter) the Sun was within 6 degrees of a current angle 34 times and within 2 degrees 12 times. For the separate control charts, the Sun was within 6 degrees of a current angle 28 times and within 2 degrees 14 times.

Similarly, the Batters' natal Mars were within 6 degrees of a current, real-time angle 41 times, and within 2 degrees 16 times. The assigned control charts had their Mars within 6 degrees of a current angle 29 times and within 2 degrees 10 times. The separate control charts had their Mars within 6 degrees of a current angle 36 times, and within 2 degrees 11 times.

In all of these preliminary tests, the Batters' natal Sun and Mars were more frequently conjunct a current angle at the exact moment when they got a hit than the controls. This encouraged me to try an even bigger sample, consisting of a total of 508 separate hitting events. The results were as follows:

Players' Suns (6 degrees) 100 (2 degrees) 42

Separate Controls (6 degrees) 70 (2 degrees) 28

Players' Mars (6 degrees) 102 (2 degrees) 44

Separate Controls (6 degrees) 76 (2 degrees) 24

Again, at the exact moment of getting a hit, the batters' natal Suns and Mars were conjunct a current angle more frequently than the control groups, even though the controls had the advantage of using more charts (a separate chart for each hitting event). So there is every indication here of some degree of planetary influence in a batter's ability to get a hit. That is not to say that all the talent, training, hard work, persistence and good coaching don't matter. Far from it, but there are planetary factors at play, independent of an astrologer's ability to predict them, in determining whether an individual will experience dominance within a given time frame. This is very useful information, in the right hands, and at the very least, deserving of further investigation.