How can you tell if your professional astrologer really is a professional and not some clown? There is no regulation, of course. It’s hard to know.
There are some recently developed schools and correspondence programs and there are ways to get credentialed as a professional astrologer. Experience is probably the most relevant factor–in my opinion; you’ve got to look at lots of charts over time to see enough patterns to see how astrology works.
I started studying astrology in 1998 with professional astrologer Jaiann Machell: I’ve written about her here: https://jaguarcoaching.com/my-astrology-teachers/
For 20 years Jaiann was a great friend and mentor; she died suddenly of a heart attack in 2017. I was very spoiled to have had a local friend who could speak the language of astrology. I miss those conversations to this day.
Jaiann was a skeptical of a lot of astrologers, and rightly so. There’s a lot of astrological mediocrity out there, and it’s easy to get taken for a ride; and then there’s still some old fashioned and uninspiring patriarchal astrology floating around.
When I was new to the field and full of evangelical zeal for the subject, I had a few chances to study with other astrologers. I knew Jaiann was right; and still I was curious, and after spending time and money on learning astrology the conventional way I have to say I agree with her.
In 2000, I took a correspondence course for certification in astrology through the Canopus School of Astrology in Australia. In the end I never finished the course because to graduate I had to manually erect a natal chart without a computer, and I didn’t see the sense in that given that we have computers for that now. Seriously. Doing the actual math of building the chart is very difficult. If some global disaster happens and all computers are wiped out, I’ll probably be too busy trying to survive–not worried about how to erect a birth chart with a sextant and compass. That was my rationale for not complying (Aquarius) with the rules. I was inspired to take the course from Canopus because the school’s founder is Linda Reid, and her book Crossing the Threshold: The Astrology of Dreaming, has greatly influenced my practice–with it, I’ve helped clients decode and decipher powerful dreams.
In 2002, I took a month long intensive astrology course on the Astrology of the 4 Elements with Debra Silverman at the Esalen Institute at Big Sur, California. It was a powerful, transformative month exploring the elements underpinning the signs of the zodiac: air, water, fire and earth. I use what I learned in this course to this day.
In 2003, I went to NORWAC (The Northwestern Astrology Conference) in Seattle. I took workshops with Lynn Bell, Rick Levine, Robert Hand and Maurice Fernandez and the information I got really helped my practice. From Lynn I learned about Mars from her fantastic lecture series (still available on her website) “Between Conflict and Desire: Wrestling with Astrological Mars”. From Rick Levine I developed more sensitivity to harmonics and to be consistent with my orbs; he also really had good insights on the Yod, one of the more complex astrological aspect configurations. From Maurice Fernandez I got some priceless insight into the 12th house. NORWAC is where I bought my very first copy of SolarFire software.
In 2003 I graduated with a Master’s in Social Work and started working full time as a social worker and that put the kibosh on my traveling to learn astrology. I continued to mentor with Jaiann and I continued to read charts for friends and family. I always knew that my work experience in social work would somehow be relevant to my love of astrology! Social workers make great astrologers (think Donna Cunningham). It’s said that being a social worker is like having 1800 browser windows open at once; astrologers work that way, too, as they view multiple snapshots of planetary movement over time and space at the same time, and with that view, make predictions and help clients solve problems and have more compassion for themselves and others.
Six years ago, when my teacher Jaiann died, I tried different ways to continue to communicate about astrology; I started to do professional readings. I started a YouTube channel with Jaiann’s daughter, briefly. I crossed paths with a very powerful, gifted healer and a bit of a guru-type who briefly referred her clients to me. And then when Pluto started seriously squaring my Mars 3 years ago, I found myself at a loss about how to reach out and communicate about astrology–that transit was just very painful, and saw me sell my beloved home of 17 years to move across country to try something new. Economic survival during the COVID era has made things so difficult for so many, including me. In the end, perhaps, much of my desire to communicate about astrology is because I miss my friend–it’s fun to talk astrology.
It is my hope that this site inspires people to learn more about astrology.
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