If you are right handed and you have ever tried to use scissors to cut a paper with your left hand, you can get a taste of what it means to be left-handed. Yes, there are scissors that are made for lefties, but they are not in plentitude in any public school. English writing slants toward the right – any lefty knows how almost impossible it is to maintain that slant with the left hand. Most manual tasks are more difficult for the left-handed person. Are there any planetary indicators that a person is left-handed in an astrological chart? Can parents cast a chart for their newborn child and expect that he or she will be left-handed? Is there a difference between female lefties and male lefties astrologically? This study was conceived and carried out with those questions in mind. The hypothesis was that indicators of left-handedness would be found in statistically significant percentages and that those indicators would vary for males and females.The Investigators (http://www.astroinvestigators.com/) collected birth data of left-handed individuals, and using AIR Software’s Astro Investigator Software ( http://www.alphee.com/) examined these charts using as many techniques as possible to determine if lefties showed significantly higher percentages of any astrological indicators. The indicators tested included:
Planets in Signs
Location in Quadrant
Aspects
Interceptions
Rising and setting planets
Speed
Phase
Planetary Rulers
In specific degreesCollection of Birth Data
We started with source materials, such as lists of left-handed people. Beginning with lists of famous left-handers (movie stars, baseball pitchers, etc.), we looked up their birth data in collections like AstroDataBank and Steinbrecher. We also exchanged data with a Turkish astrologer/researcher who had collected nearly 400 names of lefties in Turkey from his web site. Through our data form on the Gators' website, requesting data through emails, passing out flyers and forms at astrology conventions and communicating with specialty groups for lefties, we now have a total of 1,239 timed charts for left-handed people.
Research
AIR Software’s Astro Investigator was used as a testing tool. Astro Investigator is a comprehensive software tool that takes in chart data files, calculate the charts, calculates the astrological indicators, generates control groups, and then performs calculations to establish the statistical significance of the occurrence of selected astrological criteria.
The control groups were generated via AIR Investigator. A group of random charts is generated for the same date range as the test group, and the indicators of the test group are compared against the indicators in the control group to determine if the test group shows significantly higher or lower occurrences of certain astrological indicators.
The following astrological indicators showed statistical significance. For the purposes of this study, a chi square over 2.0 is considered significant.
CHI SQUARE
Often unless indicatedINDICATOR
COMBINED
MALES
(596)FEMALES
(563)Mercury in Angles
3.7
4.2
Moon in Angles
2.9
Sun in 10, 11, 12
3.3
Jupiter in Pisces
5.6
Moon in Scorpio
3.9 Seldom
Mercury Scorpio
2.9
Mercury Sagittarius
3.4 Seldom
Venus Water
4.6
Jupiter in Water
5.3
Mars conjunct Pluto
9.0
Mars square Saturn
3.3
Mars opposition Saturn
4.0
Mercury conjunct Midheaven
6.7 Seldom
Mercury conjunct North Node
3.8
Mercury trine Uranus
6.7 seldom
Moon opposition Jupiter
6.8 Seldom
Moon opposition Pluto
6.0
Neptune conjunct Midheaven
5.1
Pluto conjunct Midheaven
11.2 seldom
Sun conjunct Midheaven
4.9
Sun square Jupiter
5.6 often
Venus conjunct Descendent
6.6 seldom
Venus conjunct Midheaven
5.1
Jupiter intercepted
2.5
3.1
Pluto intercepted
4.5
Venus before Moon
3.8
Venus before Sun
4.2
Jupiter before Moon
3.9
Neptune before Sun
3.1
Uranus before Moon
2.5
Pluto rise before Moon
3.2
Venus 0-3 degrees
2.3
Venus 27-30 deg
2.7
Mars 27-30
3.4
Pluto 27-30
2.8
Slow Venus
4.0
Mars slowing
4.1
Venus 2nd phase
4.7
Ruler of Descendent Rx
6.3
3.7
3.6
6th harmonic, i.e., sextiles, was the most prevalent aspect
Some common astrological notions are that retrograde Mercury, Mercury conjunct the Descendent, or Gemini rising can all be indicators of left-handedness. This study did not find any of those to be true, at least not in the sample we used. The only consistently significant indicator we found across all three groups (the combined gender sample, the group of males, and the group of females) was that the ruler of the Descendent was retrograde. This suggests issues relating, but certainly cannot be taken alone and cannot be extrapolated to mean that lefties do not get along with others!
The intention of this study is not to draw conclusions about why certain astrological indicators are prominent in the charts of lefties. The intention of this study is to present raw data and allow each reader to draw their own conclusions regarding what we have found. We hope to provide evidence that will both reaffirm certain astrological tenets and dispel others. Certainly we have thoughts about how these indicators might manifest in a person's life, but we would prefer to do more studies before drawing conclusions.
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