CONCLUSION

For some people the results in this book will come as no great surprise. These are the people that have always believed that Zodiac signs were not just an arbitrary way to divide a year into 12 divisions. And let me be quite clear about this. I have tried dividing the calendar year up differently: I have tried the Chinese Zodiac and I have tried our calendar months. In general, the significances that I have noted in this book either disappeared or markedly diminished.

I am also aware that some other people will dismiss these results as some clever scam or will come out with a remark like “Well, you can prove anything with statistics”. I can assure you that this is in no way a scam.

What I believe I have shown in this book is that there is a science behind Zodiac signs. This is because the criteria that most scientists have previously held against Zodiac astrology, namely the ability to be measured, repeated and tested, now work for it.

For example, I have taken a very simple criterion as my measurement unit. Only athletes who have won at least one medal at an Olympic Games are considered. It is that simple.

Regarding repetition, I did not stop when I found the Pisces effect. I continued looking at Zodiac signs with other sports and found, with the exception of Cancer, sports or related groups of competitions for all of the other signs.

For testing, I have taken the knowledge gained through my analysis of the Olympic Games and tested it against Ashes cricketers which are a completely different set of sportsmen.

I first tested bowlers to see if there were significantly more Librans who were spinners than expected by chance. This was my hypothesis from analysing the Olympic medals awarded in Table Tennis singles, Football and Curling.

I also tested top batsmen to see if they had significantly more Sagittarians than expected. This was my hypothesis from analysing the Olympic medals awarded in Basketball, Biathlon and Track Relay competitions, in which quick and accurate aiming were key factors.

Finally, I tested top wicket-taking bowlers to see if they had significantly more Arians than expected. This was my hypothesis from analysing the Olympic medals awarded in a variety of competitions in which arm power was important, e.g., Rowing, Handball, Nordic Skiing, Shot Put, Hockey and Sailing.

In each of the three tests, I obtained statistically significant positive results.

One further criticism that could be levelled against Zodiac astrology is that, even though it has been shown to work, we have no idea how it works. This criticism is a red herring, however. It has been known ever since science began that water had many anomalous properties such as that its solid form can float on its liquid form. Until recently, nobody knew why this happened to water. But that did not stop anyone doing experiments on water.

I believe we can take the same attitude to Zodiac signs. One day we may know the mechanism that causes these associations to occur but that should not stop us finding out as much as possible about these associations in the meantime by doing further research.