Natal Angularity & Murder - a new study

[Jim Eshelman]

In the early 1950s, Garth Allen (Donald A. Bradley) published a statistical study of the nativities of 42 murderers. Though the sample size was small, this study unlocked many important general principles and has been a basis of considerable interpretive practice in the intervening 70 years.

I recently noticed that my compilation of murderer horoscopes numbered 71 - two-thirds more than Allen's study. This is still a modest number, but seemed worth breaking down for a comparison. It has the weakness (perhaps shared with Allen's original study) that the examples aren't from a consistent source - they're literally what I had on hand and was able to grab over the years.

For angularity, I used the same definitions he used in the original, even though it's not quite the model we use today. Foreground is 15° either side of the angular cusps along the prime vertical, middleground the same for the succedent cusps, and background the same for the cadent cusps. The regions are of equal size and, by the overlapping of quadrants, the odds of a planet randomly being in one or another of these three zones is equally one-third.

Allen's study produced very consistent results of the three malefics plus Pluto being foreground most often, with the benefics avoiding the foreground and, more often than not, favoring the background.

The current study replicates some of these results but not all of them (and not the broad pattern just mentioned). In particular, the sharp polarity of Mars foreground and Venus background isn't present: These two "passion planets" have a stronger tendency in the present sample to follow each other around the wheel.

[Jim Eshelman]

The strongest confirmation of the original study was the frequency of Neptune in the foreground. This is so strong (and joined by a weaker but similar pattern in Saturn) that, even though Mars is pretty evenly distributed through the grounds, the three malefics still scale as most common in the foreground, least common in the background, and in the middleground a middling number between these.

The strongest NEW factor is that - even a little more than the extremely common foreground Neptune - is foreground Moon. More than half of the 71 charts had Moon foreground, while nearly half had Neptune foreground. I suspect this is a combination of psychological disturbance (we'll need to check the aspects) and a general surrender to the passions.

Not only is Moon the most often foreground planet, Sun is the least often foreground planet, inviting examination of how this obvious polarity operates. Another difference from the Allen study is that Uranus is also strongly represented (though not as often as Moon or Neptune): The trio of Moon, Neptune, and Uranus suggests unusual psychological states (again prompting me to examine the aspects involved).

Here is a straight count of how often each planet was foreground (within 15° of horizon or meridian along the prime vertical):

37 - Moon
32 - Neptune
30 - Uranus
29 - Mercury, Sedna
28 - Jupiter
27 - Pluto
25 - Venus
24 - Saturn
23 - Mars
23 - Sun, Eris

The background scaling doesn't verbatim flip the foreground list, but does have significant information on its own. While Moon (which is most often foreground) is also least often background, the most important thing in the list below is that Venus and Jupiter are most often background.

26 - Venus
25 - Jupiter
24 - Mars
23 - Uranus
22 - Sun, Sedna'
21 - Saturn, Neptune, Eris
19 - Mercury
17 - Pluto
14 - Moon

[Jim Eshelman]

Here are some planet-by-planet observations:

Moon Most often FFG, least often BG, making it arguably the most descriptive planet for the group.

Neptune is a close second to Moon, FG 32 times compared to MB 18 and BG 21: It strongly favors the regions around the angles and shies away from regions that are not.

Mercury is most often FG and least often BG (29 vs, 19). While it is not one of the standout planets when all 12 are ranked together, this does show Mercury tending strongly toward the angles in this set. Adding Mercury to the Moon-Neptune-Uranus trio increases the sense of neurosis in the set.

Saturn tends to avoid the BG, though not so obviously to favor the FG. (It's slightly more common MG than FG.)

Uranus seems to avoid the MG, with a stronger presence FG (where it ranks third) than BG.

Pluto avoids the BG without favoring FG over MG (they're about equal). This resembles but doesn't directly replicate Pluto's favoring of the FG in the Allen study.

Jupiter seems to avoid the middleground, tending to one extreme of the other. It isn't clear what this might mean.

Other planets were more evenly distributed across the grounds.