Gauquelin, Françoise
Gauquelin, Françoise
(religion, spiritualism, and occult)Françoise Schneider Gauquelin, psychologist and statistician, was born in Switzerland in 1929. She first studied psychology in Geneva, then in Paris, where she met Michel Gauquelin, also a psychology student, who introduced her to the scientific investigation of astrology.
Their 30-year collaboration in this field yielded important discoveries, now often summarized as “the Gauquelin Mars effect with Sports Champions.” But actually their significant findings were not confined to Mars only but involve the four most visible planets: Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Moon. These bodies are not correlated with athletes only, but with all kinds of famous professionals, such as actors, politicians, scientists, writers, painters, and musicians. After investigating the data of some 15,000 professionals, the Gauquelins also explored some 16,000 parent-children pairs, which showed that similar planetary constellations preside at the birth of parents and their children in a statistically significant pattern. These outcomes appear to stem from a correlation of the planets with inborn character traits of each individual.
Although such statements are based on a sound scientific methodology, they were received with much skepticism and scorn by the scientific establishment in general. In Europe and in the United States, scientific committees joined forces to prove them fallacious. But the Gauquelins’ results successfully withstood even the most severe tests. According to the famous British astrologer John Addey, “The specific importance of the Gauquelins is not in their direct contribution to the knowledge of astrological principles as such, though this has been valuable in some instances, but in the fact that, confronted by a mountain of prejudice against astrology in an age which demands secure empirical evidence, they have by dint of immense courage, tenacity, and intelligence, provided this on a massive scale and in a form which has never been refuted, despite repeated attempts by hostile critics in the scientific world.”
Michel and Françoise Gauquelin’s collaboration lasted until 1980. At that point each of them continued their research work separately. Françoise has written numerous technical books and articles dealing with the Gauquelin methodology. She also wrote Psychology of the Planets (1982), which shows how strikingly similar are the traditional psychological traits associated with the planets and the modern outcomes of the Gauquelins’ statistical studies. Her research journal Astro-Psychological Problems(1982–88) convincingly shows that not only are famous professionals born under typical planetary constellations, but unknown individuals as well. The Horoscope Revisited explains how to use the Gauquelin findings in current practice.