Are astrology enthusiasts usually women, or is that hearsay?

I don't know that there are any actual studies, but I will relate my personal experience which covers more than 25 years. I'm not claiming my experience is universal. I only think it might be of interest. Of all the astrology organizations I've belonged to, classes I've taken, both in person and correspondence, workshops I've attended, and of the conferences I've attended, I would estimate that the gender breakdown was about 80% women 20% men. Also even though the astrology organizations are numerically dominated by women, most of the organization's officers tend to be men.

If you go to the bookstore or go online to hunt for astrology books, you'll see that the number of books authored by men outnumber the number those authored by women significantly. I wouldn't think it was 80/20, but 65/35 might be conservative. Some women complain that this is the result of sexism in publishing. I don't know. It may be a case of men simply being more aggressive or the complainers may be right.

Finally, in the mid 80s a movement began within astrology to translate study and publish the works of astrologers from the ancient Greeks to about 1700 - the so-called "traditional astrology" movement. This relates to your question because the ratio of men to women reverse when you limit your observations to traditional astrology. The men outnumber the women perhaps by 80/20 in this area. These ratios are my guesses based solely on personal experience. They are not scientific. One astrologer (female) who was involved in this and in fact pointed it out to me observed that traditional astrology is more representative of linear thinking that men gravitate to than non-linear or imaginative thinking that many women gravitate to. Again that is a hypotheses, not a scientific fact, but the woman that told me that is really sharp and I trust her instincts.

As for practicing astrologers, I just don't know. I've never noticed that one gender greatly outnumbers the other, but astrologers aren't like McDonald's - seemingly everywhere. You would have to really hunt for that information. I'd wager a small amount that women dominate the practice in number.

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Astrology isn't occult. Only people with little or no understanding of astrology and the occult associate the two.

The word "occult"means hidden and it refers to studies/subjects where the outside world was deliberately prevented from learning seeing the practices. This was done to prevent religious and political persecution - the kind James Randi prefers. Astrology has never been part of the occult as it has been taught for a few thousand years and after the advent of printing, astrology books were always available. While political persecution existed from time to time and place to place, it really never accomplished much. In fact persecution of the occult and astrology was used to remove people for political reasons. THe occult was used as a handy ratinalization.

Astrology's association with the "occult" began in the mid 19th century largely through what today would be called "marketing" of one English astrologer who called himself "Raphael." It started a silly trend in the Victorian era that was also known for crystal gazing and hokey spiritualism. Astrology, sadly got lumped in with that, but not all and in fact few practitioners took Raphael's approach. Sadder still, contemporary new-age bookstores and some practitioners still use this gimmick.

Astrology can no more be proven or disproved scientifically (lately a code word for "dishonesty") than one can prove or disprove "astronomy." The so-called applied sciences go through cycles of believing this and not believing that and have throughout their history. If you think the "big bang is proven and you're young, you'll probably live long enough to see it replaced with something else as astronomers flail around with their interesting but ultimately pointless efforts. But hey they're scientists - the equivalent of medieval priests. They can do no wrong.

Here is some basic information on Gauquelin's work. A work he continued until his death in 1991. The second one is a refutation of the most recent attempt at refuting his results - something that has never been done. So they attack him personally with out of context quotes, dishonest studies and outright lies all too typical of scientists - see the recent climategate scandal for similar behavior

FAQs regarding Gauquelin's work

http://www.planetos.info/mmf.html

Failure of the most recent attempt to disprove it:

http://www.astrozero.co.uk/astroscience/koll1ge.ht...

Some articles and discussions of astrology and science can be found here:

http://www.astrozero.co.uk/astroscience/astroscien...

Chain's ad hominum attacks on Gauquelin to follow

And one you shouldn't miss, James Randi's pathetic attempts to defend his $1 million hoax offer

http://www.astrozero.co.uk/astroscience/randel.htm

I only have anecdotal evidence of this, but yes, the majority of astronomy enthusiasts appear to be women. Sometimes even the male enthusiasts appear to be women.

Professional astrologers appear to be split evenly between men and women. This is just from observing some of the higher level professional organizations and websites. I would guess that the best way to get a better estimate is to email several of the professional astrological associations and request that information. They may be able to provide hard numbers from their membership rolls.

Found one thing.

According to a 2003 Harris poll, when it comes to religious and occult belief, females across the board believe more than men.

If it can be found that astrology clearly does anything better than random chance, I'd like to see that evidence too.