Seeing vs. saying

As someone who has read for a lot of people at this point, let me confess something: it's easy to look at a chart and see basically what's going on and have it make intuitive sense, especially if you have someone coming to you with something specific, like a lot of career complaints (and you look and see a traffic jam in the 10th or 6th either natally or by transit or both). It's quite another thing to explain it to that person, because you have to be really careful which words you use. You don't want someone walking away feeling dejected and like they can never be successful because you saw Saturn transiting their 10th house (temporary!) and they misunderstood and thought the issue was permanent.

Your birth chart is set. There's nothing you can do about the energy you came in on except learn to use it better, which is basically astrology’s highest and best use. If you have a harsh Venus-Saturn thing in your birth chart, you're always going to have issues with relationships as a category, and probably also self-esteem, but as you mature, those issues are going to change. So, maybe you're a late-bloomer romantically, but no matter, with Saturn involved, you'll take romance seriously when it happens. Maybe you learn over time how to let your guard down around people who love you. But then somehow  in mid-life, no matter where you go or what you do, you have issues with getting along with your bosses. Hey, guess what? That's a relationship issue and bosses are a Saturn thing. My point: you change, so the way energy gets expressed changes, so the categories of concern change, too.

Good astrologers listen to the problem, look at the possible source(s), and then help you work backwards to untangle the issue.

Good readings consist of the person being read for stating the problem so that good astrologers can zero in on it and give productive advice. Bad readings are when the person gives a birth time and then goes silent and expects you to guess what their issue is. Or expects you to immediately psychically download all of their problems. All I can see in that chart are chunks of energy interacting with one another and I can think of 100 probable outcomes, but trust me when I say Pluto in your 3rd house is going to be really different in expression if you have siblings than it will be if you don't. There are a ton of variables for how energy can express.

Personally, I prefer doing spirit guide readings at this point both because I can offer them and because your spirit guides (yes, you have them, and no, you don't have to believe me) can offer you better and more innovative advice than I, the human astrologer with human limitations. Spirit guides will show you things you can't see or may not be considering yet, and I find that the advice that comes out of spirit guide readings usually compliments your chart and your transits without having to do a full chart reading (meaning: they are usually more efficient, especially if you’re ready to tackle your problems). But I still read charts and have fun doing it, so it mostly depends on your comfort level with where the insight and advice you're getting is coming from and how you feel about the deep end of the woo pool.

Anyway, for those of you learning to read charts for other people, properly articulating what you see is TRICKY. You want to make sure you're on the right track without accidentally assigning someone a false fate. When I'm reading charts even today, I ask people to tell me if something I'm saying doesn't sound right or feel right, because if it's not resonating, it's probably not correct. There's no need to project onto someone that they have problems with romantic relationships when they actually just have problems getting along with their bosses, but if you say "relationship problems with authority,” and they DON’T have those, they may start doubting themselves in an area where things are fine and you really don't want that. So you have to look AND listen AND combine archetypes that the chart holds WITH the math of what the current sky is doing AND for what duration. It’s like doing a puzzle, but the stakes can be really high if you get it wrong.

When I was learning astrology, I sought the opinions of other astrologers I respected to make sure I was on the right track. Guess what: several of them were wrong…and one of them invited me to a wedding as his guest, but that’s another story for another day. They missed transits and mis-read natal aspects, and did manage to give me good advice, but it was not the answer to the question I had. The outcome of bad information led to an additional 5 years of searching for correct answers and some butthurt, so I’m a better astrologer for it, but in hindsight I wish I’d been told that I was going through a shitty, destabilizing time and that this was to be expected. Now that I know what I’m looking at, I have no idea how they missed it. The complaint “everything is awful, nothing works well, and I don’t understand why” is a common refrain of those of us having Neptunian times. Having lived through that, I know what it sounds like when I hear it from other people.

Anyway, it’s not the easiest thing to do, and I say that from both sides of the table.

XO,J