In 1997 Percy Seymour, Director of the William Day Planetarium and principal lecturer in astronomy at the University of Plymouth in the U.K., published The Scientific Basis of Astrology. He is holding doctorates in astronomy and astrophysics, and his expertise
in magnetic fields had won him academic acclaim. Percy Seymour outlined
his “Magnetic Theory of Astrology” as follows:
» A practica concerning the major and extensive interaction of the planets
which will appear in the year 1524 and without a doubt will bring many wonderful things. «
Woodcut from Nürnberg, Germany, showing a Seven-Planet-Conjunction in Pisces in 1524.
It is now accepted by almost all scientists that the sunspot cycle effects the magnetic field of Earth, and the agency responsible for this effect, the solar wind, has been detected. It is also beyond doubt that the Moon causes tides in the upper atmosphere which give rise to electric currents, and these generate the lunar daily magnetic variation. There is also plenty of evidence that both the steady state as well as the fluctuating behavior of the geomagnetic field can be used by organisms, including man, for purposes of finding direction and keeping internal body time. This much is all well documented, and widely accepted. There is evidence, largely ignored, that positions and movements of planets as seen from the Sun, play a major role in the solar cycle.
Furthermore, there is some evidence - highly controversial but difficult to dismiss - that some positions of the planets as seen from Earth at time of birth and linked to personality characteristics of individuals. This evidence exists. What my theory does is to prepare an interpretation, based on this evidence, which can be scientifically tested. Very briefly the steps are:
- Planets effect the solar cycle in specific ways.
- The solar cycle effects the geomagnetic field.
- The geomagnetic field affects life on Earth in certain observed ways.
- Specifically, many species, including man, can be influenced by particular states of the geomagnetic field.
- The particular influences appear to correlate with the planetary positions.
- I propose that the behavior of the fetus at the time of birth is linked to the cycles within the geomagnetic field, which in turn are influenced by the solar cycle and positions of the planets. Resonance is the phenomenon by which the fetus is phase locked to specific cycles.
To put this in more specific terms, my theory proposes that the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune control the direction of the convective motions within the Sun, which generate the solar magnetic field. They do so because they play the major role in moving the sun about the common center of mass of the solar system. As the solar cycle builds up to a maximum, so certain configurations of all the planets, at different stages, play a part in the disrupting the magnetic field of the sun, by means of the tidal tug (due to gravitation) of the planets on the hot gases in the Sun. Thus the planets play a role in the modulation of Earth's magnetic field by the solar wind. I am also proposing that the tidal tug of the planets on the hot gases trapped within our magnetosphere will, because of resonance, lock some of the vibrations of the Earth's field in step with the planetary movements. The resulting fluctuations of Earth's field are picked up by the nervous system of the fetus, which acts like an antenna, and these synchronize the internal biological clocks of the fetus which control the moment of birth. The tuning of the fetal magnetic antenna is carried on by the genes which it inherits, and these to some extent will determine its basic genetically inherited personality characteristics. Thus the positions of the planets at birth are not altering what we have inherited genetically but are labeling our basic inherited personality characteristics.