Books

Natural Birth Control, By Shelia Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder. Published by Bantam Books, $1.25 in paperback, pp. 238

Since ancient times there have been people who understood that the phases of the moon have a direct relationship to people's own bio rhythms here on earth. The female fertility cycle is one particular bio rhythm traditionally understood through the phases of the moon. For a long time most people were interested in fertility and having more children developing families, tribes and races. Now people are concerned with limiting population growth, so it happens that more and more people are turning back to ancient knowledge and want to know again the relation between the moon and female fertility.

There are many birth control methods on the market now; most are dangerous and all are unsatisfactory, ranging from synthetically chemical pills to IUD's, rubbers, diaphragms and foam. In the meantime, massive studies have been going on in eastern European so-called Communist countries since the 1950's that are reporting amazing success using an astrogically calculated method discovered by Dr. Eugene Jonas and further developed by Dr. Kurt Rechnitz.

Dr. Jonas was a Roman Catholic doctor who had become Chief of the Psychiatric Out-Patient Clinic of the Nove Zamky District Institute of Public Health in Czechoslovakia. He had been working with mentally disturbed, handicapped, deformed and underdeveloped children and adults when he noticed what seemed to be cyclic emotional problems in some of his female patients that did not correspond with menstrual cycles. He remembered an ancient text from Assyria-Babylonia which stated. "the woman is fertile during a certain phase of the moon." From this beginning, along with an inbred abhorance for abortions, he expanded his practice to the opening of a Center for Planned Parenthood which conducted research in "cosmobiology" (a term used in some Communist countries to describe investigations of the relationships of bodies within our solar system. It legitimizes astrology and makes it easier for astronomers and other accepted scientists who continue to discover the reality of astrology but don't want to cali themselves "astrologer." Cosmobiology reduces the massive mythical and traditional information within the study of astrology to the bare facts, like the locations of the planets and the angles between them-it is already an accepted science in many countries.)

Dr. Jonas' work and studies led him to interests in birth control, sex predetermination, helping seemingly barren women to conceive, and in bearing healthy fully formed children. His astrological calculations amazed even himself. By 1956, after weeks of study and calculating he had determined 3 fundamental rules:

1. The time of fertility occurs during the same phase of the moon as that in which the woman was born.

2. The sex of a future child can be determined by the position of the moon during the time of the woman's fertility.

3. Unfavorable distribution of gravitational forces of the nearer celestial bodies at the time of conception produces complications during prcgnancy, particularly for the fetus.

Fantastic as it may seem, his results were statistically significant enough to shake up the scientific community. The story of Dr. Jonas and Dr. Rechnitz's work is chronicled by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, who learned of him while researching their best-selling book, Psychic Phenomena Behind the Iron Curtain. In their book Natural Birth Control they detail how in 1966 sixty women used Jonas' method for a year with 96 percent reliability. Then 257 women used it for six months with 98 percent success. At the end of 1969 Dr. Jonas' Center reported a test in which 1600 women had used birth control charts for four months with 98.5 percent effectiveness. In 1970 the scientists involved reported 1252 women over a year had 97.7 percent success!

Surely statistics like that merit at least immediate investigation. The most common objection from women deciding whether to use the method or not would be that it involved abstinence. The rhythm method commonly used now is based on the ovulation cycle and has proved to be fairly ineffective and disappointing. What Dr.'s Jonas and Rechnitz found is that there are two fertility cycles and calculations of the ovulation cycle with the astrological calculations they produced the statistical effectiveness cited above. With that amount of precision the days of abstinence are normally maybe one or two a month, twelve to fifteen a year, with about eleven days a month where there's a 15-30% chance of pregnancy and a supplementary method would be suggested. Like foam or a diaphragm.

Of course the reality has been personal persecution of Dr. Jonas and only minimal attention to his work. As Ostrander and Schroedei put it, The unavoidable fact that Jonas' system is based on the positions of cosmic bodies (most particularly the sun and moon) generated automatic opposition from the start." Despite a long list of very noteworthy supporters, after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 his center lasted a year and then was closed with Dr. Jonas being "unavailable" since. His work is being carried on in Hungary, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and Germany; and research centers have opened in Vienna, Switzerland, Malaysia and Washington D.C., but the information and help available is still only minimal.

The implications of such work are tremendously important for everyone. The results obtained not only in birth control, but concerning helping seemingly barren women conceive and in women bearing healthy children after a history of malformation is exciting, progressive and heart-warming. But this is not to say we should all immediately remove our lUD's and throw away the foam, etc. Ostrander and Schroeder make it very clear, "...we are not recommending Dr. Jonas' theories as a medical system. We don't know if they are right or wrong. They are presented as information. not advice...If he's right it's good news-and more. If he's wrong, as we had something to do with making him known here, we'd like to see the fallacy laid to rest." If you've had a history of particular problems and are truly interested in an astrological approach be sure you consult a competent known astrologer. There certainly is no danger involved, but the variables and precision involved in astrological calculations cannot be underestimated. The variations in our own lives, the stress we can't get away from no doubt affects each of us in significant physical manners that should be taken into account with anything we decide to do to ourselves.

Here in Michigan there are various resources where you can get completely cooperative and expert advice. In Ann Arbor you can contact Michael Erlewine, a well-known astrologer of long standing merit, at 663-6677. Mayflower Books is always a source for information and aid at 769-1583. Or you can contact Tom Parsons in Detroit who teaches courses in medical astrology at Schoolcraft College; call him at 326-0779. From these sources you'll be able to get a year's planned chart and advice for a minimal fee well worth it.

This is only one example of the practical application of astrology-the rest of it is equally amazing and lovingly useful in all walks of life.