This is my opinion. When you go for a reading it is important to be realistic in what you are expecting. You need to know the questions that you want to ask. Since this is a service, both the astrologer and the client need to define the scope of the service so both parties are aware of what they are expect to provide/receive. Since many astrologers charged based on topics and hourly, as a client you may want to use the time wisely to get the information that you want to obtain. A good astrologer should ask for the list of questions from the clients to determine if they are able to cover all of them. If not this should be communicated to the client up front. If you need a shoulder to cry on it is probably better to go to a friend and cheaper too...
The reading should be about the client and only about the client. I think it is important to be honest with the clients and tell them what you see. It is easy to deliver good news, but to deliver bad news is harder and might require some sensitivity. Some astrologers do not sugar coat what they need to say to the clients which I think is perfectly fine. When you come to see an astrologer if you are not ready to hear the answers then why are you there for? When delivery bad news i think it is good to offer alternatives to clients. There are always alternatives to every problem. However, you might not like the alternatives...
If what you say to the client and the client could make the change/shift in how they do things for better results, then you have helped them. But to make that change it will be up to the client entirely. It is difficult for us to recognize our faults and we have to consciously want to make the change. For me as a client if what the astrologer tells me does not really reconcile to the reality of my life, then perhaps this is not the right astrologer for me. It is also a judgement call on the client to determine if the diagnosis is correct.
tuyet
I agree with some points and disagree with others. I think there is a time and a place to be more empathetic with ones choice of words.
Healers take the Hippocratic oath, do no harm unless necessary. A doctor who tells their patient they have cancer also shouldn't be like "guess what, you $&#, you smoked for 20 years, now you have cancer, that's what you get!". There's a difference between being honest and cruel. Venus and Mars. You can tell the truth and do the right thing, but also practice kindness. Kindness isn't sugar coating. It's just keeping in mind that you're dealing with a human being and that your words and actions do have an impact.
I have run into such spiritual teachers and even just people living normal lives who are in the unconscious habit of doing this, imposing their personality and using the person they're speaking with as a proxy for "venting on themselves". It is both frustrating and liberating to realize that the potential for that interaction has been fully realized.
I think it's really important to keep in mind as an astrologer to always be progressing spiritually and to be creating much deeper clarity in my perspective on a regular basis. That way I can just be me in my life and at the right time be the "astrologer", instead of making every interaction about any unconscious issues I may have.
From my own experience while interacting with astrologers and psychologists, there seems to be a common thread in what I have found from the querent’s side of things -
1. Listen
2. Listen
Yes, listen.
3. Listen
Listening is the most important thing that a counsellor can do. If a person is specifically bringing up birth time, even though it is a general reading, there is a reason for it. If an astrologer cannot do birth time rectification or has no time to do it, it needs to be conveyed and the decision left to the querent on whether to proceed with that astrologer and get an approximate reading or go with someone else who might be able to give them a specific reading.
4. Experiences
There have been astrologers and psychologists who have judged me from their own understanding and experience of the country where I was born, and tried to advice me based on that. That is completely wrong as the experience of the counsellor will be according to their own placements, and might not be true in terms of the querent.
5. Bragging
There is no need to brag to the querent, either about yourself or about your techniques. None of it is of help to the querent, and eats into valuable time that they are paying for. All they want is answers. The right help will be good promotion by itself.
6. Be aware
Listen to yourself. Are you using the querent as a sounding board about your own problems? Once the psychologist started talking more than listening and unloading onto me about their own life and charging me for it (!!!), I knew it was time to look for another one. There is a fine line between using one’s life as an example and using someone as a mirror.
7. Be aware
Listen to the words used. Does the word mean the same to the querent as it does to you? Not everyone studies language in depth. Most of us have a general understanding of the meaning of a word, which in itself can have multiple meanings. Are you on the same wavelength? Or does it need clarification?
8. Be aware
Listen to yourself. It is very natural for astrologers and psychologists to slip into academia while talking to the querent. It makes them sound very knowledgeable, but the querent does not need to know what planet is aspecting what and creating what problems, unless they specifically ask for it. They already know the problems. What they need to know is solutions to those problems. Your job is to see the problems and figure out the solutions for them.
9. Being Jupiter and Venus
The ones who have studied astrology or psychology have a detached and a higher perspective on things compared to that of the querent, who is in the midst of their story and their struggles. Be kind to their struggles, be understanding, be benevolent towards them, help them see their self-worth, guide them with your light. They will get to where you are leading them - in their own time.
10. Expectation
Do not expect the querent to take your words at face value. Would you listen to something if it goes against your belief and your normal way of doing things and throws you into chaos just thinking of it? It takes time. Help them see what they are trying to overcome. Guide them as to what things to try. Ask them to take baby steps and judge for themselves.
A psychologist had once told me to leave my husband if it causes me so much pain. With Jupiter-Rahu, the solution was the correct one, but the timing was wrong. I had recently given birth and was going through postpartum. I had left my country and everyone I knew and was on my own in a new country with no one to lean on to except my husband. A bit of empathy and recommendations of different ways on how to approach this time of life would have been much appreciated.
Counselling and seeing the same things over and over deadens one to the experience of the other. It becomes a job that gets done on autopilot. This is the problem, this is the solution, and the human experience gets lost in the repetitive humdrum of the job.
11. Expectation
Do not bad mouth the querent if they do not accept your suggestions. There is a momentum that they need to exhaust before they can stand still and take stock of their surroundings. Give them that time.
12. Ripple effect
The querent has asked about themselves, but any change they undergo creates a ripple effect that causes a backlash on to them. The astrologer and psychologist need to take that into consideration. Most probably the querent knows what they need to do and what they need from those around them, but its the backlash that they are not prepared for. Please, please, know your subject well and understand how to help.
13. It works both ways.
Not only does a querent help the astrologers or psychologist gain confidence in their skills, but there will also come a time when the querent will help them break through to the next level. Please do not neglect your part in the relationship.
14. Know yourself
Know yourself and know your limits. Are you a general practitioner or a specialist? If you are a general practitioner, who knows a little about everything, and takes care of run-of-the-mill ailments like cold and cough, then you cannot treat someone who needs a heart surgery. Period. You do not have the experience or the in-depth understanding to do cardiac surgery. Understand the symptoms, and recommend the querent to look for a specialist who specialises in the type of help they need. You will be thanked later.
15. Can you heal?
That, I think, is the main question. What type of healing can you do or are doing? Are you only telling them what you see in the chart leaving them to figure their way out (in which case they have just wasted their money), or are you healing them from whatever ails them?
Whew! That is quite a list, and I am sure I have missed a few other important points.
I heard it or read it somewhere that there used to be a time when a healer would not accept payment until and unless he had healed the patient. I think it is a good example to follow. If one is not good enough to heal, it means either they get better at what they do or they find another occupation, otherwise they will starve to death. Nowadays, with payment expected in advance before you even see the healer, it doesn’t matter if one manages to heal or not, the counsellor will not starve and they can put the blame on the querent and/or allow the querent to extend their healing period.
We have a long way to go!
@manisha Sorry. No worries.
I just like to perplex people sometimes with random absurdities. There are some YT tropical vedic astrologers that occasionally give such minimulistic responses like me and have been a bad influence on me.
Anyway, I really agree with nearly all of the points you've listed. However I don't see "doctors not getting paid unless the patients get better" working out very well for people in this day and age, even though I've heard this proposal mentioned a few times over the years.
I've had a bit too much wine to articulate the reasons right now, after seeing some YT tech nerd rant about the "promises" of AI and the multiverse.
I'll come back to it later.
Hope the Mars return is manageable.
S.
I agree with almost everything you said except for the part about only paying healers once they've healed because unfortunately we live in a society that is based on trade. Also, some conditions can't be healed or the time for a person has come and we still need someone to accompany us on that path.
Other than that I would agree.
It is not about ‘only paying healers once they’ve healed’, but it is about healers ‘not accepting payment until they have managed to heal’. There is a big difference.
I think the theory behind a concept such as that is because it is easy to get lost in the enjoyment that money brings and forget to add to the wisdom and joy, which eventually means the loss of that concrete form (money and eventually joy). It also gives one reason to point fingers at someone else and lay the blame on them, and forget about their own growth. But then, if it was someone’s bad karma to not get a proper reading from that astrologer, doesn’t that also mean that the astrologer was not able to do their job as Venus or Jupiter?
If an astrologer keeps failing in his predictions, but keeps getting paid, it brings bad reputation to the field. Similarly a doctor who can’t help, but gets paid, brings bad reputation to the medical field.
Jupiter is higher knowledge, it is wisdom, it is joy. Because wisdom and joy is an intangible asset, it appears in a tangible concrete form as money or wealth. Isn’t it also about faith? If a healer has faith in themselves and their skills, would that not automatically translate to prosperity? I am choosing to use the word ‘prosperity’ here, not ‘wealth’.
Trade does not have to be in exchange of money. It can be energetically, word of mouth, a basket of eggs, a meal voucher, anything that will sustain someone while they are focused on doing what they love doing the most. It is a barter and one can only get in terms of what one has given. One can charge a big amount, but would that not diminish energetically if the client does not think of them in good terms because of their failure to give them a good reading?
After the 9th house of higher understanding, comes the 10th sign of responsibility which lies opposite the 4th sign of foundation.
I am not saying that is how it should be, because that then causes a structure and a cult to form, and a separation to occur. I am saying it is up to each person on how to handle it, but a concept such as that is really a good one to keep in mind. I am sure that there are many who are already doing it worldwide.
I used to wonder why there used to be strict rules for entering and progressing in the Occult and Masonic lodges - not the new convoluted ones, but the old ones. I am beginning to understand the reasons. It is a shame that apprenticeship is dead and anyone can become a master overnight.
But these are only my views and I am ruled by Saturn and learning to have faith. While the world moves forward by leaps and bounds, perhaps towards a precipice, I find myself moving backwards and finding solace in the old world traditions, and perhaps heading towards my own precipice.