Last month we explored the personal planet Mars, the planet which expresses our drive and will. This month, I offer an excerpt from an Astrology News Service article, where author Edward Snow discusses the research linking Mars to feisty behavioral traits on earth. He writes:
“Fiery Archetypal Energy
Professional astrologers have long believed they know where this fiery archetypal energy is coming from. That would be the red planet Mars, a fiercely competitive and combative source of combustible celestial energy. Where Martian energy is working in the birth map is where astrologers invariably look for fireworks of one kind or another.
According to some explanations, the stereotypical redhead is supposed to be hot-headed, tempestuous, dramatic, high-strung and sensitive. In support of these claims the medical community has identified a genetic sensitivity to pain among redheads. This sensitivity to physical pain can affect temperament and could possibly tip over into volatility, they suggest.
This, no doubt, is true. But astrologers make an impressive case linking redheads with the fourth planet from the Sun. If the traits described for Mars are accurate, the planet must necessarily occupy a prominent position in the redhead’s birth chart.
In 1988, research astrologers Judith A. Hill and Jacalyn Thompson published the results of a statistical study simply titled Mars and Redheads. The authors noted that hair color is a feature of personal appearance, which astrologers traditionally link to the ascendant or rising sign….
The ascendant is constantly changing with the rotation of the earth, traveling 360 degrees through the 12 astrological signs in 24 hours….. If Mars is indeed the energetic life force astrologers describe, and the rising sign influences personal appearance, as astrologers say, it’s reasonable to assume the red planet might be found at or near the ascendant in the birth charts of redheads more frequently than expected by chance…….Hill and Thompson hypothesized that people with red hair should be born with Mars within 30 degrees of their rising sign or ascendant more frequently than others….
In their original study of 500 redheads, the astrologers found 136 redheads (or 27.2 percent) had Mars within 30 degrees of the ascendant, which was significantly higher than the percentage found for the randomized control groups…..The researchers calculated the odds at a million to one against the likelihood this result occurred by chance.”
Read Edward Snow’s full article at www.AstrologyNewsService.com