World Health Organization Gains Surprising Ally

Astrologer sides with WHO as rising tide of Caesarean deliveries grows globally

The World Health Organization (WHO) has gained a surprising ally in its battle to coax obstetricians around the globe to plan fewer, unnecessary Caesarian (c-section) deliveries.

The prestigious international group now has astrologers on its side.

WHO continues to press its claim that health care quality does not continue to improve once a country’s rate for performing the c-section procedure exceeds more than 15 percent of all births.  But the global rate for c-section births in developed countries is currently twice that high and climbing.

“The medical establishment fully understands the health risks identified with this procedure. Poorly understood is the potential sociological damage looming on the horizon,” says UK astrologer Wendy Stacey, MA.

Stacey is principal of the international Mayo School of Astrology and tutor at the London School of Astrology.  She is the chairperson for the Astrological Association of Great Britain and lectures globally on psychological, mundane, research and financial astrology.

Stacey’s Masters Degree is in sociology and she plans to continue work towards her PhD in the fall.  Her doctoral thesis explores the medicalization of childbirth and changing birth time patterns.

The escalating trend being pushed by some obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) doctors is “out of balance with the natural rhythms of the Universe,” she says.

Despite warnings from various global and national health organizations, Stacey says c-section birth rates in England have increased from 2.7 percent of all births in 1953 to 25.4 percent in 2013.  Almost half of these were recorded as elected Caesarean deliveries.

In the U.S. the total is closer to one in three and rates are on the rise elsewhere as well. “This is not just a western phenomenon but one that extends to many parts of the world where Caesarean births are highly valued and considered elitist and therefore more fashionable,” Stacey says.

Dubious Distinction

Although method of delivery is not recorded in parts of India, Madras has now reached Caesarean rates of 45 percent.  And in Brazil the last recorded total was 76 percent of all births.

“There is concern that these increases will give rise to a 100 percent Caesarean society,” Stacey says.

Obstetrician Phillip Steer of the Imperial College School of Medicine in London is one proponent of this view.  He sees the Caesarean method of childbirths as an unavoidable part of human evolution and is eager for the Caesarean methods to become normalized to the extent that opting for a Caesarean will no longer be a choice but a matter of course.  Spontaneous births would be treated as something to fall back on.

”Steer is not alone in this viewpoint,” she noted.

Stacey says medically necessary c-section deliveries can help save the life of mother and child during complications, like a breech birth or a prolapsed umbilical cord.  Or the baby may be too big to pass safely through the birth canal or could be in distress for some other reason.

Like any other major surgery, c-sections can have complications, like damage to other organs, internal bleeding, blood clots or infection.  Typically, recovery after a c-section takes longer and is more painful than a vaginal birth.  Because elected Caesareans are premature births there is a high risk of respiratory problems for the baby.

Beyond the medical pros and cons astrologers worry about timing issues.  Stacey quotes a study by Chamberlain, et al. that tracked British births from the year 1970 forward. The study included all births that involved intervention.

Never on Sunday

Chamberlain found that although spontaneous deliveries of babies occurred more randomly around the 24-hour time period, Caesarian births had a significantly higher number of daytime deliveries with most occurring in the morning.

“If the number of elected Caesarean births continues to rise so will the rate of weekday births.  There will continue to be a decrease for weekend births and an even greater decline for births on public holidays,” Stacey said.

Industry experts report that about 60 percent of Caesarean births in Britain occur between 8 am and 4 pm, with the numbers trailing off in the afternoon following a significant drop during the lunchtime period between noon and 2 pm.  The remaining 40 percent of births occur randomly in the remaining 16 hours of the day.

“It is this trend that most worries astrologers,” she added.

When delineating birth charts astrologers consider more than the astrological sign the Sun resides in at the time of birth.  Also considered is where the Moon and planets are posited in the 12 astrological signs and houses around the horoscope wheel – and how they align with each other.

Stacey says with all or most births occurring between nine and five the specific effect on the innermost planets – the Sun, Mercury and Venus -will be significant as these planets and are never far apart in the heavens and will either be rising or culminating.  The concern is that the extreme amount of planetary characteristics focused in a Caesarian-born society “will dominate, perpetuate, and govern a very different and imbalanced collective psychology.”

“The ascendant is the astrological sign rising on the chart’s eastern horizon.  As astrologers we place a great emphasis on the chart ruler, which is the ruler of the sign on the ascendant,” she noted.

Due to the increase of daytime births, some Sun and ascendant combinations are in rapid decline.   And some Sun/ascendant combinations cannot exist for those born between 9 am and 5 pm.

“It is disconcerting to realize that the probability of being born with, for example, a Pisces Sun and Scorpio rising, or Capricorn  Sun and Libra rising are on the decline.  And the chance of being born with an Aquarian Sun and Gemini rising could be up to three times more probable.

“The astrological signature is not so much of a problem from an individual perspective.  But what this could mean for astrology and how we evaluate a society astrologically with such limited and focused astrological signatures is problematic,” Stacey said.

What Would Gauquelin Say

She says the late French statistician Michael Gauquelin conducted the largest amount of research to date on astrology, using data from more than 30,000 people.  He found that certain planets rising over the horizon, or culminating at the zenith of the sky at the time of birth, were linked to certain psychological temperaments.

“This in turn provided enough information to be linked to specific occupations, personality character traits and hereditary factors for the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn although Venus was not found to be significant with regard to occupation.