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Alan Leo's tests of astrology
Proof of its truth?

Geoffrey Dean

Abstract -- During 1906-1914 a series of twenty prize competitions were published in Alan Leo's Modern Astrology. Readers had to delineate an anonymous chart for rating by the subject. In each competition a selection of delineations (usually a dozen), chosen by the sub-editor Alfred Barley, were rated. The subject's comments, and the top two or three delineations, were then published. The competitions were the first of their kind and unlike such competitions today they quickly became popular and stayed popular. Readers were keen to participate, subjects were impressed by the apparent accuracy of the delineations, and Leo saw the results as proving the truth of astrology. Today we know that perceived accuracy and truth are actually useless as a measure of genuine accuracy and truth. Nevertheless the results are of interest as examples of chart readings involving now-outmoded classical concerns such as appearance, short journeys, and legacies, and the subjects' reactions to them. They also illustrate why chart delineations are so persuasive to the unwary. Article includes a full description of the competitions, a complete delineation with the subject's comments, many excerpts from other subjects' comments, and many examples of errors, disagreements, opinions and testimonials.