Irving, Kenneth

Irving, Kenneth

Kenneth Irving’s primary interest has been the recognition and understanding of the part of astrology that can be treated as a natural science. He has been instrumental in explaining the work of the late Michel Gauquelin to the astrological public. At the same time, he has been an active participant in defending Gauquelin’s work (primarily the Mars effect for sports champions) in the scientific world, and to that end has written or co-written papers in scientific journals as well as making a substantial contribution to the groundbreaking book The Tenacious Mars Effect (co-written with Suitbert Ertel), which shows a convergence of opinion (if not agreement) about the Mars Effect from three separate worlds: science, astrology, and skepticism.

Aside from this work, in his lectures and writing he has explored how Gauquelin’s findings might be applied in astrological practice. Perhaps the most widely known example of his efforts in this direction is the “angry Venus,” a name applied to a pattern of traits that appear to define Venus when it appears in one of the Gauquelin “power zones” in a birth chart. Irving contends that the sweet, flirtatious, harmonious interpretation of Venus seen in astrology is at best one-dimensional, and that though the dominant themes of the Venus personality can include a pleasant and harmonious exterior, the core of the Venus type centers on personal value systems, loyalty, antiauthoritarianism, and freethinking. The “anger” referred to in the name is directed at those who violate the Venusian’s closely held values or principles, often without knowing it.

As an editor and column writer (1974 to the present) for American Astrology, a general-interest magazine, Irving has been the author of several columns, including “Eye on the Nation” (mundane astrology) and “The New Astrology.” He served as the board president of the United Astrology Conference from 1999 to 2001, and as a member of the AFAN Steering Committee from 1992 to 1994. He has been on the AFAN advisory board since that organization’s inception, and currently serves on the Correlation Editorial Board. Irving has lectured for numerous local and regional astrology groups, and has been on the faculty of conferences sponsored by the National Astrological Society, the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR), the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR), the Astrological Association of Great Britain (AAGB), and the United Astrology Conference. He is also coauthor of The Psychology of Astro*Carto*Graphy with Jim Lewis.