Downgrading of Pluto At a meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague, around 23 August 2006, the big debate was over how to define a planet -- more particularly, how to define Pluto, which was the ninth planet.  Recent discoveries have found other objects that seem to have every bit as much of a claim to the name "planet" status as Pluto. A proposal was on the table at the IAU meeting which would define "planet" in a way that includes Pluto as well as three others, expanding the number of planets in our solar system to 12. The astronomers aren't the only ones who care about Pluto's planetary status.  When your view of the future depends on how you read the skies, it becomes all important to know what's what up there. This is the www.birthsigns.co.uk viewpoint upon what happened at the IAU dabate after the Astronomers voted to alter the definition of a planet which demoted Pluto from planetary status. Q. Do you say that Pluto is a planet. A. Yes, by the first definition which is a body that can be seen to move with respect to the fixed stars.  Astrologers have a similar problem as Astronomers have which is that with new discovery, what or how do we classify these new bodies, where do we draw the line.  I believe the Astrologer doesn’t have a standard answer to that question. Q. There are people who have consulted Astrologers and they have been told that their future has something to do with Pluto, can Pluto figure in someone’s Astrological chart? A. I think the overwhelming judgment from people who do astrology is yes.  Q.  The Astronomer’s union voted to down grade Pluto what can you say about that. A. Nothing at all really, the definitions given by an Astrologer are independent from that of an Astronomer.  It should be recognised that some Astrologers experiment with different orbiting bodies.  Some Astrologers use comets, there is also a minor planet called Chiron which orbits between Uranus and Saturn that is in wide spread use.  It’s really a matter of whether Astrologers feel they can get meaningful symbolism out of what orbits out there.  In other words with Pluto, irrespective of what the Astronomers want to name it, it is still out there and Astrologers say it still affects us all in the same way it always has.    Astrology Works  Transcript taken from the Documentary Series, ‘Witness’ shown by Channel Four, Monday 19th June 2000 It is said that more than half the adult population, regularly reads a horoscope.  One Astrologer has recently turned down £1M. to stay at the Daily Mail and decided instead to write for the Daily Express.  Immediately sales of the Mail dropped, and the Express improved.  Recently the Supermarket chain Tesco commissioned a report looking for the links between customer shopping habits and their star signs, they found definite correlations.  Leo’s apparently spend more time than anyone else at the daily delicatessen counter.  Arians are noted for their masterful trolley command and Capricorns are happy rummaging around looking for the perfect ingredients.  Scorpio’s have a refined taste for food, Virgo’s excel at supermarket shopping and are always writing lists and so on... Tesco has sent the report to all its branches and used alongside loyalty card information has helped them build up a detailed profile of their customer base.  Marketing and mail shots can be targeted accordingly.  Business Astrologer Christine Skinner, has been working with clothing manufacturer ‘High and Mighty’ International for over six years.   Judith Levy from the company had this to say:-  "Most people when they first come in to contact with astrology they think, ladies in head scarves, crystal balls, black cats and voodoo and stuff like that.  It isn't like that at all".  "It's almost scientific in its method, when you use it you use it as if it were a science". "Loads of people are using it, loads of people in the business world are using it, Christine will not tell me who her clients are but whenever I call her she is busy and seeing people all the time". "Why they don't want to say they use it, well I suppose it just comes down to people don't understand astrology and people don't want to look silly". Judith Levy High and Mighty International  Christine Skinner explains:-  “I think the potential for business astrology is huge, what business astrology does is it essentially takes the same information you would do for a child but this time you are reading things slightly differently.  You take the chart for the moment a company is incorporated and from their look to see how the company is likely to develop”.  The Stock Market Nowhere in business is the use of astrology more controversial or potentially more profitable than in the finance markets.  A number of big banks and investment companies are known to have astrologers on the payroll, though they wont talk about it publicly.  Sean Lovard  Financial Astrologer, predicting the stock market movements had this to say on the program:- “A lot of astrology is used in markets and a lot of the astrologers that use it, wouldn’t even mention the word astrology.  I mean, I have heard all sorts of terms such as ‘cosmo biology’ and some people talk about sun spots cycles’’ solar activity’s, they mean astrology in fact.   Everybody wants to know the future day to day traders want to know what is happening in 10 t0 15 minutes, people trading futures want to know what's happening in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, people running pension funds will want to know what is happening in 5, 15 and even 20 years the holy grail is to know exactly what’s going to happen on a given date”.   “I noticed the turning points in the market, specially tops in fact more than bottoms were associated with significant planetary conjunctions.  This is particularly true in the UK particularly the conjunctions between Mars and the outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.  It works about 70% of the time but gives a much better average than most theories can produce.  In 1987 I made the forecast in August that the market would top in the autumn and then fall quite dramatically down to about 1,600.  As we got closer to the Autumn the market just kept rising in fact it reached 2,455, 3 days before I had forecast it would be 1,600 and everybody suggested that I had got everything completely wrong nobody though that it was going to go down.  I remember the afternoon, watching it on television, I think I went to make a cup of tea and when I came back it had fallen a couple of hundred point and I just kept watching it falling and falling and it came in spot on my forecast and I knew that the planetary patterns and cycles were correlated perfectly with the market”.  “I don’t think since 1929 there has ever been a period when the markets have fallen in a three-day period quite so dramatically.  I had said that the price will reach this on a certain date, and it did”.  Sean Lovard   (Financial Astrologer predicting the stock market) ‘Witness’ approached Anita Roddick, The Body Shop’  At their suggestion they agreed to have their chart done and receive an astrological business appraisal.  After a meeting with Christine Skinner the Business Astrologer ,  Anita had this to say:- “I don’t think there is a hope in hell that this company the Body Shop will except or be interested in taking her on but I personally would and I know other companies that would.  I mean she’s right you know, it is hard for me to say this but she has hit on half a dozen things that are pivotal in conversations at this company at the moment and very tense.  I mean she is either a marketing genius and she doesn’t know it, or it’s coming out of her processing, it’s a bit scary actually.” Anita Roddick, The Body Shop Astronomy and Astrology A senior Astrophysicist, Dr. Percy Seymour, broke ranks with his with fellow Astronomers by producing a theory in support of Astrology.  The planets tug away on their electromagnetic field around the sun, causing violent sun spot activity.  Which in turn, has a disruptive effect on the earth’s own magnetic field.  Seen as it’s most spectacular the northern lights.  But Seymour thinks the disruption is felt by each of us internally.  From our time in the womb our central nervous system acts as an antenna, resonating to different frequencies of planetary interference.  Dr , Percy Seymour had this to say on the program:- “The whole point of resonance is that you can have a small force having a large effect if the frequency of the force matches the natural frequency of the system to which it is applied and it is something that you find throughout science.  A radio set can tune in to the signals of a given transmitter and ignore all the other signals, and it is not to do with strength I mean they can be transmitters closer by that are pouring out more energy than one further away the concept is resonance, if we can tune, take the natural frequency of our radio set and tune it to the natural frequency of a transmitter then we get a big response”. “ Scientist have for so long said that astrology can’t work and they can’t back track on that.  Most of the comments have come second hand, you know people have said Percy your theory is nonsense you know it can’t work but they haven’t looked at the calculations” “A lot of scientist’s would like to see present, current day physics accepted as fundamental ultimate truth.  And I don’t believe that is so.” Percy Seymour (astrophysicist) Author of The Evidence of Science. Dennis Elwell a Guru of modern astrology Mr. Elwell added his expertise to the documentary, this way:- “Scientists say no the planets cannot influence human beings and I agree, and I have been doing this and I have never believed in any direct influence from the planets.  All that one can say for sure, is that things are interconnected and probably interconnected in ways that are only quantum physics would understand.  Subtle ways, interior ways on dimensions that are outside the senses.   For example a chess game, every square is interconnected with every other if you move one piece every other square on the board is automatically affected.  Everything is interrelated, this is what astrology is saying, it is also what modern physics is saying”. “If you understand the laws of the game the possibility arises of making interventions.;  My interest in astrology is not so much in predicting but were this is possible it is changing* what happens”. “Back in 1987, I wrote to P&O and said could we try and prevent a disaster of titanic like proportions because the positions of the planets in the skies were strongly reminisant of the times which sank the titanic and they wrote back and said well thank you but, no thank you we can cope with whatever comes from any quarter.  Well ten days after that reply, their ship The Herald of Free Enterprise rolled over and it was a national trauma. “The disaster coincided with an eclipse which was contacting the planets Jupiter and Neptune and under those kind of coming together of those planets, there will be trouble on the ocean waves.  Why, because the experience has taught one that this is how it is and will be the case in the future.  But, who do you tell?”. (200 people died that night in the waters off Zeebrugge) Dennis Elwell a Guru of modern astrology