Astrology and being an astrologer are distant outliers from the cultural norm. Making a living as an astrologer is not a prosperous path. In the late 1800s, Alan Leo generated a rebirth in the interest of astrology when he produced mass horoscopes and employed astrologers as a group. Today, Astrology reports are a computerized commodity and I think there is not much collaboration among astrologers regarding new work.

While I agree with the adage that it takes 30 years to become a good astrologer, I think the interest in astrology by a psychedelicized generation in the 60s came at a time when there were no computers and people had to do the math in their head to cast a chart, which required the use and development of their higher mind. These days, the use of a computer allows access to astrology without mental development above the emotional body.

There is much about astrology that is based on principles and natural law, and there is much that is based on make-believe. Development in the occult arts, including astrology, means a study of the different occult practices. These activities are about developing our psychic abilities and our spiritual bodies. Astrology is the master key, because it gives structure and context from the higher mind to all that emotional content, all that occult stuff on the astral plane. Spiritual and psychic development is not part of technical materialistic astrology, but it helps to see the true nature of reality and right human relations.

Some say that Truth is the first victim of war. The early 1600s in England was a time when a gentleman knew his horoscope and astrology was used by both sides in the English Civil War, but its use was seen as failure and it fell out of favor. Similarly, truth has been victimized in the USA which has been in forever wars. People have been living in make-believe for years, if not lifetimes. The structure and truth of astrology is hard to see in a coarse society with its martial and ideological anti-science equivocations.

If I remember history from the 1960s 70s and 80s, we astrologers were fighting for the legal rights to practice without getting arrested for fraud. Fifty years ago most forms of fortunetelling were illegal because they were seen as fraud. Nowadays free-speech is re-defined to include nude dancing and piles of money as well as unqualified psychic consultation, and Astrology is entertainment.

I think perceptions of astrology in society will change with Uranus in Taurus, and Saturn conjunct Neptune in Pisces. I suggest a trend that manifests the practical value of astrology on the one hand and the definition of its belief system on the other. If we don’t do it, somebody else will.