Michel Gauquelin, a French statistician, published “The Influence of the Stars” in 1955. This book demonstrated that successful athletes have Mars either in their rising sign or fourth house.
I tend not to live in the world of “If I had…”, but when I do visit this world, I find myself playing high school football. However, I must digress to fully explain why football and not violin lessons. I was in Boy Scouts for several years and while I enjoyed it, for most of my involvement, I was unaware that there was a purpose to it. The purpose was to “collect” various badges by showing proficiency in that subject. I understood this collecting of merit badges since I collected stamps, coins, lepidotera (I saw a Zebra Swallowtail, once) and Rich Rich comic books (I was fortunate to read the first issue, courtesy of Ryan Shepherd) . When I understood what was expected, I pursued it to the end. (Is the “Arrow of Light” the end of Scouting or the subliminal beginning of a Great Occultist?)
Likewise, sports, notably the low scoring game of football, were not explained to my understanding. If someone had said, “You stand there and prevent the other team from coming onto your side”, I would have found this more appealing than the hand/eye coordination that bowling required. (As an accident prone Sagittarius, I have no reason to be flinging heavy objects on a slippery surface.)
Of course, holding one’s position and preventing the opposition from advancing, in and of itself, has limited appeal to this Mars rising regardless if chess, war or sports are involved. However, if our imaginary mentor continued “And by the way, the other team will rely on your physical weakness to win the game, so if I were you, I’d hit the weights” and the final tumbler would click into place: The only way to achieve the goal is to be larger and stronger than the opponent; as Pythagoras said: ”All is number” and “I don’t know why I’m here, but I know it is not to loose.”
For the next several months, I will be tackling perhaps the greatest challenge known to the uninitiated: physical fitness. It is not an exaggeration to say that more has been written about fitness in the last 50 years than all writings of the Church Fathers and Occultists combined. (To paraphrase Saint Paul “There is no end to the writing of health and fitness books”.) One wonders if the average person, who is only attempting to understand what is required of physical fitness, is not overwhelmed by the mass of literature, contradictory opinions not withstanding.
As always, Gentle Reader, everything will be documented and discussed in the fullness of time.