Hi Rosemary

This is not a silly question at all. I am often asked about this and astrologers are not all in agreement on the answer.

Increasing Medical Interference at Birth
In many first world hospitals, a majority of children are artificially induced. The medical argument is that it is safer for mother and child. Often this is the case, though it is also undeniably much more convenient for births to occur during the working day when hospital staff can schedule their shifts and specialist doctors don't have to be on call at awkward times of the day or night.

Does induction have any effect?
Regardless of astrology, many mothers instinctively feel that induction when there is no clear medical case for it, is an unwelcome interference with a natural process. Like many modern medical practices, the subtle or psychological effects on such children who like McDuff in MacBeth "was from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd", may not be apparent until they are on the therapist's couch decades later. But then McDuff's premature birth gave him additional powers and a date with destiny.

No effect noticed by consultant astrologers.
In any event, astrologer's clients are naturally increasingly made up of those whose times are determined not by nature but as a snap decision to fill a gap in a hospital staff rota. I don't know of any practicing astrological consultants who have noticed any difference in their results between clients who were induced and those whose births were determined naturally. Certainly I have not seen a difference as these individuals respond to the points in the chart that change most rapidly like the ascendant as well as anyone else. However some astro researchers like Michel Gauquelin claim that induced births negated his effects.

So is the moment of birth a link in a chain of evolution or a totally new beginning?
Perhaps for astrology the moment of birth is not the crystallisation of a process that began 9 months before, but the significant start of a process which responds to the planetary grid at the time of birth. Suddenly the child is separate from the mother and the child's body must create it's own protective field and aura. Current scientific theory from Professor Percy Seymour of Plymouth University suggests that this personal energy network is connected with the earth's magnetic field which also responds to the magnetic field of other planets.

The Doctor, unwitting player in the grand design?
However, I am happy to accept that I have no certainties as to how astrology works. Despite apparent advances in astro-physics, cosmology, genetics and psychology and our understanding of the world, I don't think we will begin to get our heads around the mystical mechanics behind astrology in my lifetime. However, all we can safely say is that it does work over and over again. Perhaps the doctor that reschedules the appointment is unwittingly playing a part in the grand scheme of the cosmos! Is the tail wagging the dock or even the clock controlling sunrise?

Even an astrologer can't control the timing of birth
I tried to control the timing of my daughter's birth when it was clear that she would have to be induced on medical grounds. Her mother and I selected a new moon in Pisces as a seemingl best date for the choice but fate intervened ... the hospital had an emergency intake that morning. So she was born much later in the day when the moon had moved into Aries. Somehow it felt that she was destined to be different. Her nature is reflected in her chart and I couldn't imagine her without a fiery Moon.

I hope this helps.

with best wishes

Robert

Robert Currey DF Astrol.S.