Astronomers have banished Pluto to second-class status. Not so astrologers: They’re sticking up for the celestial body that was the smallest planet in our solar system for 76 years.
“I’m going to continue using it,” said Wall Street’s best-
known astrologer, Arch Crawford, who has studied the effect of the planets on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. “They can stick it where the sun don’t shine,” Crawford, 65, added.
The International Astronomical Union’s decision last week to relegate Pluto to the status of “dwarf” planet makes no difference to astrologers, who use planetary positions to predict earthly and human events. About 31 percent of Americans believe in astrology, according to a 2003 Harris Poll of 2,201 adults.
Americans spend about $200 million a year on astrology, said Stephanie Jean Clement, a director at the American Federation of Astrologers in Tempe, Ariz., who intends to keep using Pluto. Former first lady Nancy Reagan relied on astrologers, including the late Jeane Dixon, during the 1980s to help set the daily schedule for President Ronald Reagan.
Discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, Pluto is 3.67 billion miles (5.91 billion kilometers) from the sun and is smaller than the moon. It’s named for the Greek god of the underworld, or Hades, and often associated with intense energy, transformation and the astrological sign of Scorpio. Until this week, it was counted as one of nine planets in the solar system.
“Pluto works for me, so you can call it whatever you want,” said San Francisco-based lawyer and part-time astrologer Eamonn Markham, who charges $125 to $600 an hour to read personal charts. “It doesn’t matter to me whether Pluto is classified as a moon or an asteroid.” Markham, 40, says he uses Pluto to help determine when a major transformation will come into a person’s life. “The information it gives me about someone is very powerful,” he said.
Astrologers charge for compiling personal charts, which use the position of the planets at the time of a client’s birth to make conclusions about personality, abilities and the future. Newspapers pay for daily horoscopes, and Amazon.com carries more than 48,000 titles that touch on astrology.
Using a number of variables that include the position of the planets, the sun and the moon, Crawford says he predicts the outbreak of World War III will take place some time between Monday and Sept. 22 of this year, most likely on Monday, Thursday, Friday or Sept. 22.
“Pluto’s station is the underworld, underworld-type figures and activities: drugs, prostitution, terrorism and that which is hidden from corporate view,” Crawford said. “What scientists are saying is not going to exclude its effect.” Astrology dates back to the Babylonians, who used charts to predict the recurrence of seasons. “Everyone wants to speak to an astrologer after a shrink and their friends,” Markham said. “We’re the last resort.”
