Read This Before Going for an Astrological Reading!

Having heard stories about how many people have been disappointed from their consultations with astrologers, we think it's worth taking the time to educate people on how to prepare for such a meeting.  While there are astrologers who are all talk and very little substance, it's also important that you do your homework before the meeting. So here are some basic pointers to hopefully help you get the most from your consultation.

1: Do you have your correct birth details?

a. Your date of birth; the day, month, and year. Here's an example to clarify a common confusion - if you were born on a Monday night, but after midnight - let's say at 1:10 am - the date of your birth would not be Monday - it would be the date of the Tuesday. So, although according to the vedic rules, it's still Monday until sunrise the next day, you would give the date of Tuesday as your date of birth.

b. Your place of birth, if it's not a big city, get the longitude and latitude of the place so the astrologer can use that in case the place is not in his/her software.

c. Your exact time of birth. Not many people will know this detail unless they were born in a hospital where the nurse noted down the time of your arrival on Earth.

In all other cases, at least get the estimated time of birth. Also in such cases, you will need the astrologer to do something what is commonly referred to as "birth-time rectification". For this, make a list of all significant life changing events in your life - when you graduated from school, when you completed your bachelor's or master's degree, dates of any major illness/operation, first romantic relationship/marriage, basically, the more of these you have the higher the chance for the astrologer to derive your correct time of birth.

2: What are you going to ask?

Once you have all of these ready, think about the most important questions you would like to ask the astrologer.

a) You can have specific questions: example: when will you get married, when will you have a house, how many children will you have, and so on...

b) or you can ask about particular areas about your life - focus on your health, money matters, property, spiritual progress, your possibility of moving abroad, children, etc.

Narrow these questions down based on how much time you will have with the astrologer.

3: Will you get anything that you can refer to in the future?

Check if the astrologer will provide a written document or a recording of your session. If not, consider recording your session via the record feature on your phone/audio recorder. You will want to listen to the astrologer's advice with your full attention and not waste time taking notes during the meeting.

4: How much will you be charged?

Make sure you know exactly how much you will be charged before going for the consultation - no one likes surprises. If the astrologer insists on you giving what you think is right, then give what you can. What you do not want to do is to take free advice, this will have a negative affect on you astrologically since it amounts to getting something without doing any hard work or paying a price for it.

Some General Points:

Note that a learned astrologer's first question would or should be about your birth time - especially in India as most people do not correctly know these details. The astrologer should verify this detail before proceeding with any reading as it's very crucial that there's not even a 5 minute difference from the actual time of birth and the time that you/others think that you were born at.

Many astrologers are able to predict things based on their intuition rather than using the astrological tools, in which case you may want to rely upon referrals from friends/family to gauge how the astrologer approached their reading and whether he was "shooting in darkness" or actually referring to the different charts in front of him/her before answering the questions. This is not trying to undermine astrologers who really DO have great intuitive/forecasting powers, but in today's age such people are rare who can accurately predict your future in this manner. You do not want to waste your time and money on somebody who may not be able to answer your questions satisfactorily. 

Many people have a tendency to treat the astrologer like a doctor. While it's ok to do so and it is only human nature to get emotional when talking about one's problems, remember that you don't have all day with the astrologer - the clock is ticking. Try to have someone with you who will be able to help you gain your composure or at least get the discussion back on track when you happen to digress. Many astrologers like to take advantage of such situations by changing the topic to something that they are comfortable talking about rather than answering the questions that were asked of them.

A good astrologer will be humble, will welcome your questions, and not afraid or feel disrespected of your enquiring mind, so don't be hesitant when asking your questions. However, try not to interrupt the astrologer when he/she is talking. Let them finish before you start saying anything, unless they are going completely off-topic or misunderstand your question.

That's all folks!

These were some of our personal views on how to prepare for your astro session with an astrologer. We do not claim that this list covers everything and welcome your suggestions. Your own discretion always takes precedence over what we or others may advise you. Perhaps you have any other tips that you'd like to add to this. Please mention them via your comments below. We'd also love to hear about your own experiences with astrologers and how you dealt with any awkward situations if any.