Abstract
Planetary dominance in astrology refers to the significant influence of a particular planet in an individual’s natal chart. Many astrologers think that planetary dominance is the most important factor in a birth chart. So, determining dominance plays a crucial role in chart analysis. Various authors have discussed several methods of calculating dominance. However, none of them has been tested in large-scale experiments. In our previous research, we found a way to establish dominance factors by using chart-to-biography matching tests. As a result, the Adjusted Planetary Dominance model (APD) we developed identifies the combination of weighted astrological factors that predict biographical dominants solely from the astrological chart. In this article, by using the same methodology, I also analyse the performance of twelve recognised dominance methods. Within this study, the APD model performs better in matching tests than each of these twelve methods.
In the second part of this article, I propose some hypotheses to try to explain the poor performance of the majority of these models. Among other things, I discuss the Confirmation Bias, the Ockham’s Razor Principle and the “Too Perfect” Trap.