Market Watch, a website in the Wall Street Journal network, reports that astrologer Arch Crawford’s investment letter was the top performer for 2008:

Over the year to date through October, Crawford Perspectives is up a breathtaking 36% by Hulbert Financial Digest count, vs. negative 32.94% for the dividend-reinvested Dow Jones Wilshire 5000.

Over the past 12 months, Crawford is up 6% vs. negative 36.3% for the total return DJ-Wilshire 5000.

This is not a flash in the pan … well, not completely. Over the past five years, the Crawford letter has achieved an annualized gain of 3.1%, vs. 0.8% annualized for the total return DJ-W.

But over the entire period that the HFD has monitored Crawford, the letter has achieved only a 4.7% annualized gain, vs. 8.8% annualized for the total return DJ-W 5000.

This is because, every once in a while, Crawford’s hot hand turns into a cold claw.

For example, Crawford was one the 10 worst-performing letters of 2006. See Dec. 29, 2006 column.

2006 was the year that all of us astrological prognosticators were wrong about the market, because we were looking at the challenging aspect between Jupiter (optimism) /Saturn (restriction) as a time when the overinflated market would correct itself.  None of us accurately predicted the relentless optimism of Pluto’s completed journey through Sagittarius which would keep the markets going up, up, up until Capricorn finally burst that bubble.