Having an astrology reading/consultation can be a wonderful experience, and your astrology reading can be used as a tool to help you get more control over yourself, your life, your future. But odds are, you’re probably not all that familiar with astrology readings before you have your first. Without really knowing how to prepare or what you should prepare for, you’re not going to get the most out of your astrology reading. And that should absolutely be a goal! So, let’s go through the process of what you should be doing to maximize the reading you get. 1. Figure out what you want your astrology reading to cover first.
hat you want your reading to cover decides pretty much everything else, including the astrologer you'll consult. You need to drill down on a topic or question for your reading. Whenever I’m asked, I almost always recommend having no more than 2 focuses in a reading.
I know that doesn’t seem like very much (especially if Mercury is retrograde :p), but a lot of work goes into an astrology reading, and the more you want covered, the more diluted your reading will be. If an astrologer is able to focus on just one or two topics or questions, they’ll *really* be able to focus on it, and this should get you a better answer and better reading. If you have lots of stuff you want to know about, meditate on what is most pressing to you at the moment (maybe literally meditate!), and make a choice. 2. Choose how you want to have your astrology reading.
You can have your astrology reading a variety of ways these days - by phone, via Skype, via video, via audio, in person, via email. I’m sure there are some who even do them via social media! So you need to choose which medium you want to have your astrology reading delivered. If you want it done live, you’ll need to have your reading done in person (if you want personal interaction), via Skype (if you want to see the astrologer), or over the phone (if you’re prefer to listen).
Only go for a live reading if you’ll be able to make the time for it. If you can’t, then opt for a reading via video (usually posted in Youtube as private with a link sent to you, or as MP4 video files emailed to you to download and watch), via audio (usually recorded MP3 files you can download and listen to), or via email (written out and emailed to you or sent as a PDF or other text file to download and read). It’s all about personal preference and what method of communication you feel most comfortable using and is most compatible with your life. 3. Book an astrology reading with an astrologer who specializes in what you want your astrology reading to cover.
Every astrologer has a specialty or two. Once you’ve determined what you want to focus on with your reading, find an astrologer who specializes in that. It can be as simple as typing in astrology and whatever your focus is in a search engine.
If you prefer a list, the American Federation of Astrologers has lists for astrologers around the world certified with them. Social media can also be a good way to find astrologers nowadays, and you can read through their postings to see if they’re a proper fit for you. Tip: I also recommend you go to an astrologer who speaks the language or one of the languages you’re most fluent in. Your native language is best. This avoids anything getting lost in translation, and allows the astrologer to fully understand what you want to best help you. Another Tip: Don’t get one reading expecting a different reading. This only serves to confuse and annoy everyone involved! 4. Before contacting an astrologer, make sure you have your correct birth data.
Birth data is your date of birth, your place of birth (town & state or country), and your time of birth. Time of birth is usually the tricky part of the equation if your mother doesn’t remember (since they’re usually the ones who would) and you don’t have a birth certificate. You’ll want to try to get a copy of your birth certificate so you can get the time of birth.
But there are some instances where you can’t get a full copy of the birth certificate (for example, the hospital my mother was born in closed decades ago, and the original records apparently were lost in a fire, so even though she got a copy of her birth certificate, it doesn’t have all of her birth information, including time of birth; I also know there are many countries around the world that didn’t keep birth records until more recent times, and some who still don’t!). If you can’t find your time of birth, you can try to find an astrologer who will work with a partial natal chart (which only uses your date of birth and place of birth), try to find an astrologer who does chart rectification (with chart rectification, the astrologer will take dates from major events in your life and work to determine your chart from transits; I only recommend this is you have no more than a few hour window for your birth time), or you can get an horary astrology reading (which doesn’t require your birth data at all, instead a chart is created for a specific question by the astrologer and the reading is done based off of that chart). Extra: When you do give the astrologer your birth data, make absolutely sure that you’ve provided the correct data. Often excitement can get the better of us, but if you provide the wrong data by accident, your reading won’t be accurate, and while some astrologers may do it over again free (but you’ll burn that bridge with them), many will not (and you’ll have to pay all over again). Try this tip: write your birth data somewhere (word file, email draft) before you actually book the reading so you can just copy and paste it and not have to worry about your excitement messing up your fingers :) 5. Once you’ve chosen astrologers you’re interested in, check out their policies for astrology readings.
Many times, astrologers will have policies listed somewhere (usually on their website or blog) of how to proceed with your astrology reading, what to expect, what rules they may have, their cancellation and refund policy, like an FAQ. This can answer a lot of questions you may have. If they don’t have policies/rules/FAQ’s available, you can ask them what they are.
6. Ask them what their policy is on followup questions, if it’s not outlined in their policies.
This is probably one of the most important parts of their astrology reading policy. There’s a very good chance you’ll have questions after the astrology reading about something in it, so you should find out what their followup questions rules are.
If you have a live astrology reading, you may not be able to ask followup questions. The advantage of the live reading is you can interact and ask your questions throughout the reading, but the downside is, if you forget to ask something or something comes to you later, you usually can’t ask them without booking another reading. Astrology readings, via email, audio, or video will often allow for followup questions, but you always need to be mindful of how much you’re asking. Sometimes your followup questions can take more time than the original reading! If they allow for followup questions, make sure you ask about what you need clarification with. Tip: Make sure you ask your followup questions quickly after your reading. I usually recommended no more than one week for myself. I’m super forgetful and won’t remember anything from a reading after about a week (plus I’d usually done several more readings in that span). Others may have a better memory than I, but it’s still polite to not wait too long (I'd say a max of 2 weeks). 7. If the astrologer you want is not available to book an astrology reading, don’t badger them into giving you one.
A lot of people do this one, but trying to guilt someone into giving you an astrology reading, or contacting someone constantly, or trying to trick them into it isn’t going to do you any favors. There are thousands of astrologers out there, so if the person you want isn’t available, don’t badger in desperation. Pick one of two options:
8. Be clear and concise with what you want to focus on, but don’t leave out important details.
I find people tend to fall in one of two camps when it comes to sharing details - they totally clamp down, not wanting to share anything, or they gush their entire life story, single-spaced. (LOL!) To get the best astrology reading possible, avoid either.
Clampers: You need to provide relevant information, so if you’re not comfortable with that, don’t get an astrology reading until you’re ready to reveal. If you get an astrology reading and tell the astrologer, don’t tell anyone xyz, guess what? You’re gonna insult them! No astrologer worth their salt breaks confidentiality (unless something in the reading prompts them to go to the authorities, like you threaten them). Gushers: On the flip side, if the details you provide are the length of a novella, you’re saying too much. If you provide too much information that isn’t really pertinent, the astrologer will have a more difficult time parsing through it to figure out what’s real and what’s word vomit. Like with your birth data, this may be one where you’re better off writing it down before you get the reading so you’re not consumed with excitement and start regurgitating every word in the human language. 9. Let the astrologer know how much astrology you’re familiar with.
This one can be a little dicey though, because I find people often have a hard time gauging their level of learning astrology, but you can give a little info about what you know so the astrologer doesn’t have to explain it (saving time and not pissing you off by telling you something you already know).
If someone doesn’t say how much they know, the approach is that they don’t know any astrology and the basics need to be clarified. 10. Once the astrology reading is booked, don’t push before the date/period the astrology reading is scheduled.
Impatience can get the better of all of us sometimes, but that won’t get your astrology reading done faster. This is usually only an issue with readings via video/audio/email and not in person. Wait for when your reading is scheduled to be done, and if the time passes and there’s nothing, then you can get impatient because that’s not very professional. But if it’s like 3 weeks beforehand, keep your yap shut.
If you need the reading sooner, you may not be able to push it up with the astrologer you’ve booked your astrology reading with unless you’re willing to pay extra (and sometimes a lot extra). Your other option is to try to cancel and book with someone else who can get you in right away. The astrologer might be able to refer you to someone who can get you in quicker. 11. If it’s going to be a live astrology reading, write down what you want to ask beforehand, and keep notes during the reading.
This is important, because during the live astrology reading, you can often get really excited and distracted by whatever the astrologer first presents, and then you end up forgetting what you wanted to ask.
Write down your questions before the astrology reading takes place, and write down what the astrologer tells you. You’ll often get a recording of the reading later on for you to come back to, but in the meantime, take note of the things you want to make sure you remember. 12. Keep an open mind with your astrology reading.
You’re most likely not going to hear what you want to hear, so get that idea out of your head before you have the astrology reading. Try to keep an open mind for whatever the astrologer finds. It might surprise you, shock you, even anger you, but astrologers don’t control the planets any more than you do.
13. Don’t drunk/high contact the astrologer.
Ha, this should be common sense, but it’s happened to me multiple times (yep), so I had to throw it in there!
So there ya go! Some tips on making the most of your astrology readings. Hope you enjoy the experience! Suggested Reading: Which House System Should I Use? Comments are closed.
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