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Author Topic:   Study Connects Divorce Rate with Planetary Patterns
Venusian Moon
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posted June 08, 2013 11:53 PM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Research inspired by star-crossed lovers Burton & Taylor finds astrological pattern that appears to strengthen marriage bond

As star-crossed lovers go, Romeo and Juliet had nothing on Burton and Taylor, the charismatic motion picture stars who sizzled on the silver screen in Joseph Mankiewicz’s Cleopatra, Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? before flaming out in a real-life romance as spectacularly incendiary as any Tinseltown has seen.

The attraction between them was so strong that two of Elizabeth Taylor’s eight marriages were to Richard Burton. And the actors each believed the other to be the love of their lives.

Research astrologer and couples expert Alexandra Mark says a study she conducted years ago with the late Harvard University statistician John P. Gilbert, PhD, linked Burton and Taylor to a celestial pattern that turns up more frequently than expected by chance in married couples with staying power. Couples with this particular planetary combination are in marriages that end in divorce less frequently than couples that don’t have it in their compared birth charts (horoscopes).

“Professor Gilbert was more than skeptical of astrology; he was downright hostile. But he agreed to design the test and handle the statistical analysis because he apparently believed that astrology would fail and be discredited.”

“It was difficult for him to hide his disappointment when the testing twice produced statistically significant positive results for astrology. Replicating the original finding in a more tightly controlled “double-blind” follow-up test was important because it added strength to the argument that the result is not an aberration,” she noted.

Mark is a graduate of Boston University and has a PhD in comparative literature from Boston College. She has been a consulting astrologer since the 1970s and is the author of two books on the subject, Astrology for the Aquarian Age and Marriage: Made in Heaven.

Her article, “Sun-Moon and Venus-Mars Ties as a Prognosticator in Divorce: A Statistical Study,” published in The Mountain Astrologer magazine earlier this year.
Mark says the study of what brings couples together or causes them to fly or drift apart has been the major focus of her astrological practice. Modern statistical techniques make it possible to test some vary old theories, she suggests.

To predict compatibility and attraction, astrologers compare the natal birth charts of couples using a technique known as synastry, which establishes and evaluates the way the Sun, Moon and planets in the respective birth charts align with each other. Although a plausible physical explanation for why the technique works has yet to surface, rigorously analyzed statistical data supports its viability, she maintains.

Evaluating The Aspects

Traditionally, in synastry comparisons, some angular relationships or “aspects” are presumed to be more powerful than others. This especially applies to the conjunction, which in a synastry comparison occurs when the Sun, Moon or a planet from one chart is in roughly the same degree of a zodiacal sign as the Sun, Moon or a planet in the chart it is being compared with. The opposition aspect, which spaces the compared planets roughly 180 celestial degrees apart in opposite zodiacal signs, is considered to be a powerful aspect as well.

When describing synastry, most astrological textbooks stress the importance of strong Sun-Moon ties between couples. In her practice, Mark says she has found that strong Sun-Moon aspects correlate with friendship on a deeply emotional level — the couples who think of themselves as being “best friends.” It doesn’t matter if it is his Sun and her Moon or the other way around. It works either way.

The other part of the marriage equation is the physical attraction or sexual “chemistry” everyone hopes to find. The possibility for personal “fireworks” of this sort is indicated by the way Mars and Venus are aligned in the synastry chart, she explained.

Mark points out that Taylor and Burton can be counted among a relatively small group of couples who not only have a strong Sun-Moon connection in their synastry charts but a dynamic Mars -Venus alignment as well. In the couples population, this double whammy occurs randomly about 10 percent of the time, or roughly once in every 10 marriages.

For Burton and Liz, the combination was more powerful than for most because both his and her Sun and Moon were involved in close aspects with each other, and his Mars and her Venus were aligned by opposition. They were friends on a deeply emotional level but there also was a strong physical attraction that kept things stirred up.

Although the famous couple was twice married and divorced, their will to be together was exceptional. And they defied every convention to follow their hearts, she observes.

In the modern era, marriages don’t last as long as they used to. However, Mark theorized that couples with both Sun-Moon and Mars-Venus ties in their synastry charts would spend less time in divorce court than couples whose synastry charts weren’t aligned in this way.

Gilbert agreed that this was a testable hypothesis. Over a period three years, two tests involving hundreds of couples were completed.

For the “double-blind” second test, Gilbert obtained birth data for 446 divorced couples from public records and had this information shipped directly to him at Harvard, where it was organized by assistants. For comparison purposes, the statistician created an equal number of computer-generated imaginary couples, who were electronically “born” in the same years as the real divorced couples.

Mark prepared synastry charts for both the real and imaginary couples without knowing which was which. When the comparison charts were completed, the information was sent to Gilbert for analysis.

Simply, if her theory about Sun-Moon and Mars-Venus ties was wrong, the number of real divorced couples with this combination would be statistically indistinguishable from the random, computer-generated imaginary pairs. But that’s not what the statistician found when analyzing the data.

Although relatively small for both groups, the combination turned up less frequently among couples whose marriages ended in divorce. The percentage of couples with the Sun-Moon and Mars-Venus ties was almost twice as high for the control group, which represents the population as a whole.

“The odds were two in 100 that this outcome occurred by chance, which placed the result well within parameters defined by statisticians as being statistically significance,” Mark said.


http://astrologynewsservice.com/news/study-connects-divorce-rate-with-planetary-patte rns/

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RunAroundScreaming
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posted June 09, 2013 02:26 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for RunAroundScreaming     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I checked and my parents have been married over 30 years and have a sun sextile moon aspect in synastry and a venus trine mars aspect in synastry

composite-wise they have moon conjunct venus square pluto

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Doux Ręve
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posted June 09, 2013 06:19 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Doux Ręve     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I think the aspect matters..?

My parents have Sun/Moon opposed and Venus/Mars square DW and they're divorced (and their relationship was anything but peaceful). I think they were definitely each other's "love of their life" though.

Anyway, sounds a bit simplistic, to me.
There are so many factors to take into account, you can't just single out Sun/Moon and Venus/Mars aspects, in my opinion. If your synastry is filled with difficult aspects, especially involving the outer planets, I doubt that these aspects will save the relationship.

But then again, it's quite rare to find both Sun/Moon -and- Venus/Mars connections between couples.. maybe it is indeed significant.

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Venusian Moon
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posted June 09, 2013 08:52 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In synastry i have:

Sun square moon
Venus square mars
Venus sextile mars

Arent't squares bad :/


Sun conjunct venus
Sun conjunct sun


Hopefully thst helps lol

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Ceridwen
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posted June 09, 2013 08:53 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My parents have a Sun-Moon-opposition and a Venus-Mars-quinkunx. Both aspects are exact or tight (1,5 degrees at most).

Though I suspect that there was also some staying power in the fact that my Mum`s Venus-Mars-conjunction falls flat onto my Dad`s ASC-Saturn-conjunction. And her Saturn is also conjunct his Mars.

They also have Sun squrae Sun.

And no, squares are not always bad. Depends on the individual charts. In my parent`s cases they have a bit of "red charts" and strong Pluto-Uranus-Saturn-nuances, so they definitely couldn´t make anything with an all trine and sextile synastry.


My Mum is a Scorpio with Uranus in 1st house and a venus-Mars-conjunction;
my Dad is an Aquarius with Saturn on the ASC plus Venus in Aqua opposite pluto, and Moon in Taurus in 8th house.

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sillyme
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posted June 09, 2013 11:11 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sillyme     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Oh wow!

The pregnant woman and her hubby I was talking about in the other thread, have Sun sextile moon (2deg) and venus conjunct mars (6deg) in synastry.

Hope it helps!!

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Geeky
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posted June 09, 2013 03:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Geeky     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I've been divorced 2x and had my share of relationships.

Finally!! At 34 & 47 - we finally found each other. In relation to the study, we have...

Venus Conjunct Mars (fireworks)
Sun Trine Moon (best friends)

We also have...

Mercury Sextile Venus (good communication)
Sun Trine Jupiter (positive energy)
Moon Trine Jupiter (positive feelings)
Mercury Opposition Ascendant (we often think alike)
Moon Sextile Ascendant (we get each other)

However, those outer planets will try to create havoc...

Saturn Opposition Neptune (this one has made waves a time or two)
Mars Opposition Saturn (we haven't been affected yet)
Moon Square Saturn (this one effects us sometimes)
Venus Square Pluto (this can be positive, when done right)
Saturn Trine Pluto (not sure how "bad" this is)

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"Most people would rather be sheep and have company than stand out on their own with antlers on."
— Tori Amos

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capricorncheriscty
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posted June 01, 2018 03:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for capricorncheriscty     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This is cute and seems very true. And yes I do think the aspect matters. I think my mother and father have the Sun-Moon and Venus-Mars combination but they are all harsh aspects. They are divorced or rather separated for over a decade. They hate each other. Couples with the positive aspects of these combinations seem better off in the long run. I noticed this looking at family charts and also some random charts I've seen through different astro sites.

One of the longest married couples in Hollywood, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, had this Sun-Moon and Venus-Mars combo in gracious aspect. They were married for 50 years before he died in 2008. He, apparently, said this about his wife and I think it is very cute. "Paul Newman said of his marriage, “I don't like to discuss my marriage, but I will tell you something which may sound corny but which happens to be true. I have steak at home. Why should I go out for hamburger?”"

Her sun is conjunct his moon. Her Venus is sextile His Venus and her Mars is sextile his Mars. Her moon conjunct his moon. Not exact, but his Venus was VERY close to being semi-sextile her Mars. less than 2 degrees I think.

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Kannon McAfee
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posted June 01, 2018 04:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kannon McAfee     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nice to discover this post for the first time and to see it bumped up, but I must move it to Interpersonal Astrology.

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capricorncheriscty
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posted June 01, 2018 09:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for capricorncheriscty     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you for moving it Kannon! I didn't realize it was in Astrology 2.0, I would've asked earlier for it to be moved if I had realized it lol I'm sorry

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llewsacm
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posted June 01, 2018 10:47 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for llewsacm     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This is a good read. I have sun quintile my ex husband's moon and his sun is trine my moon. He has his Venus semisextile my Mars. Not strong enough I think to have kept us together obviously.

My current relationship of 4 yrs...my sun conjunct his moon. We have double whammy Venus sextile Mars.

Perhaps major aspects are the key? Only time will tell with my relationship, but we keep sticking together...even when it gets tough. I do think the sun/moon Venus/Mars aspects play a strong role. It's great to have a friendship and romantic/sexual vibe all in one.

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Lerena
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posted June 02, 2018 12:55 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Lerena     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This is interesting information. I took a look at the synastry between my parents, but unfortunately, it is impossible for me to obtain accurate birth times for them.

My mom's Moon sign is most likely in Capricorn.

With my dad, his Moon sign is less predictable. He seems like a Gemini Moon to me, which is what I have for his chart even in the absence of an accurate Ascendant, and there is a chance I'm wrong on this. I see traits of both Taurus Moon and Gemini Moon in his personality, which makes it harder to tell for sure which Moon sign he has. On the day he was born, the Moon sign changed to Gemini at some point that night. The chances of him having a Taurus Moon are higher, but not necessarily accurate.

My mom is a Gemini Sun and my dad is a Capricorn Sun. On my dad's side, his Sun could potentially be conjunct my mother's Moon, but my mother's Sun is not conjunct his Moon - provided my dad's Moon is indeed in Gemini. They have a double whammy Venus-Mars trine. My parents are divorced. However, they still get along and they still talk to each other. In fact, my parents live together. Yes, even though they are divorced. I think they get along better as friends than as a couple. On the other hand, I don't hear about a lot of divorced couples being able to maintain contact with each other after their marriage has ended. It seems they are unique in this regard.

Overall, this research isn't perfect. It does seem to reflect couples that naturally last even if they do get a divorce and remain permanently as friends afterward. Additionally, my parents have some interesting declinations too, but those aren't relevant to the research.

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hypatia238
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posted June 02, 2018 02:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for hypatia238     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Cool

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