Waybread,
Steven Forrest's claim is very prone to being challenged, and I'll definitely be the one to do that.
OK, so he's off your "big name astrologers" list. Why don't you correspond with the others now, and see what they say?
I realize that I will have to use a nice statistical sample of charts in my research. Like anyone who calls him/herself a scientist knows, that's one of the main tenets of conducting ANY experiment. Placidus is the house system I prefer (since that's where I see my results correlating the best).
Have you got a background in social science research or statistics? Please note, if not, that there are a lot of problems in making a case from a so-called "convenience" sample. Are you getting a Master's degree in a field that will give you a suitable research background?
"You would have to ensure that the percentage of people with your "gay" chart placements roughly matched the percentage of gay people in the population, based upon social science or poll data." I strongly disagree with that. My results do NOT have to match with whatever social science or poll data says. Let's say my research proves that the population of non-heterosexual people is GREATER than that "magic 10%", so be it. My gut feeling is that it's much higher than that figure anyway, given societal pressures and such.
Well, your results at least have to match up with common sense arithmetic, if not with conclusions reached by leading social scientists and widely respected polls, like the Gallup poll.
Step #1. Again, let's think this through. Based on numbers alone, we can assume that 1/12 of a population will have Uranus in the 8th house. 1/12 will have Neptune in the 8th house. Right away, that is 1/6 of the population, though it probably would be somewhat lower, as some people will have both planets in the 8th. And you can actually estimate this probability from an ephemeris, looking at years when these two planets were close enough, realistically to appear in the same house.
Then do the same thing for the 12th house, except that if we add up these probabilities, we could get something like 1/12 (roughly 8.33%) x 4 = 33.32, or roughly one third of the population. Again, back out duplicate possibilities for both Uranus and Neptune in the same house, or one each in the 8th and 12th (as estimated from an ephemeris.)
But what do you end up with? About 25%? If we add in the 5th house, are we back to one third of the population? Or more?
Secondly, you forget how the 5th/8th/12th houses need to be intertwined specifically via the planetary rulers of the cusps. THIS is the fact that will NOT make a "huge swath of the population" be subject to this. You, like the other dissidents in the other thread, are still going solely by that Uranus or Neptune in the 8th/12th thing. Are you just as stubborn as them? It certainly seems like you're grouped onto their side, and you decided to pop up on this thread too.
Let me know if this is a personal attack. If so, I will report it to the moderators. Please note that threads are open to anyone who chooses to participate.
But to continue, now, based on your step # 2..... "Intertwined" in what way? By aspect? Mutual reception? Depositors? Do you use modern rulers, traditional rulers, or both? If by aspect (as you state above) you need to narrow down not only which aspects you allow, but also what orbs. While aspects between house lords would seem to narrow down your potential study group considerably, if you allow both major and minor aspects with wide orbs, you are back to covering a big chunk of real estate on the chart.
Let's work this out airthmetically. For a conjunction between house rulers, do we allow 10 degrees on either side of exact? That's 20 degrees total. 5 degrees or orb? That's 10 degrees. Do you allow wider orbs for luminaries? (10 degrees on either side of exact for the sun and moon?) 3 degrees on either side for a semi-sextile? You can see how the chart would fill up pretty quickly at this rate. In fact, at this rate, it might be unusual for someone not to have the house rulers in orb.
And it might work out the other way. Your step #2 might be sufficiently strict that you will exclude people, ending up with an extremely low estimate, and so on.
I have tried looking for astrological signatures for other purposes in the past, so I am aware of potential pitfalls. Then you have to have another big representative sample of heterosexual people, and to show that there is a significant difference between the two populations. You might not find it. Statisticians have tried for other variables. I am not clear why your research should give more consistently significant results.
Anyway...
Also keep in mind that I'm basing this research on HETEROSEXUAL vs. NON-HETEROSEXUAL. That's the spectrum I'm working with, and it will still prove that sexual orientation can be seen in the birth chart. I'm not speaking about sexuality here because sexuality and sexual orientation are two different things. Homo/bi/transgendered is all being lumped under non-heterosexual. This is the best delineation regarding sexual orientation that gives me the least bit of any possible controversy, and it works out.
I never thought you were discussing anything other than sexual orientation. Speaking of which, labelling bisexual, &c. people as "non-heterosexual" introduces a major bias into your research. As many have pointed out, sexual orientation is by no means clear cut.
It's really time to start doing my research, getting my results, and then PUBLISH PUBLISH PUBLISH. Regardless of what you or anyone else says, I'm putting forth this book before I die in 65 years. It will be definitive, and it will be revelatory. Be ready.
I analysed my non-heterosexual friend's chart & your diagnostic procedure worked. I followed the same procedure with my chart & the result is the same as hers : non-heterosexual chart. I believed I was heterosexual all this while but I'm more than doubtful right now! I've never in my entire life felt attracted to women. Lolz! How did this happen?
