I am very direct in my communications. I am the kind of astrologer who will tell you exactly, very precisely what the situation is and overwhelmingly, the women I consult with take my advice.

They take it because they can see or sense it will lead them where they want to go. They take it because I am older and they respect that.

In some cases I am not older but I have experience in a specialized area (like court or mediation) that they lack, or just the ability to suss out motives of people both theirs or others. In whatever case, the women do take my advice and many of them take it to the letter but the men are a whole different story.

I work with men the same way I work with women but it is not effective at all. It just plain doesn’t work and I think the reason is because men don’t want advice from a woman. I mean they just do not want to be told what they could or should do, no matter what and I don’t think this is conscious! I think it is just a fact.

That said, I know of one astrologer who does work successfully with men. She claims 40% of her clients are men and I am sure this is the case. She has a very yang chart and that could be the difference?

I have a very yin chart. I am undeniably “womanly” I just don’t think men want to see me as some kind of authority and so they don’t.

I don’t really want to have authority over men so it’s just as well. I will be happy to work with 100% women and watch the men from afar.

Your thoughts on this?

It is dirty because there are times you have to tell someone something they don’t want to hear but I like doing this and I’ll tell you why. It’s because it helps them but just as importantly it spares their friends!

A lot of people have some very nice friends who just don’t want to tell them anything too sticky so they send them to me and have me do it and I think this is brilliant.

It’s brilliant like sending your friend to a surgeon rather than doing the surgery yourself. Your friend is fixed and hey! No blood on you. You aren’t the one who inflicted the pain.

This benefits me as well of course. There is nothing worse than having skills with no way to apply them. I am really born for this, I’d say.

I am very aware that the client is relying on me to make something happen in the time allotted. They want some value for their money and I almost always do but not without some hi jinks! I do have some things I do to insure the client gets the best I can offer.

First, I never work distracted. I postpone the work if I cannot be completely focused. I figure this is what I am paid for and if I don’t deliver I’ll not be in business for long.

Second, I print the chart. I just can’t get the same feel for a person, their chart and their circumstance without holding the chart in my hand.  If you ask me to glance at something, I will glance at it but if I am actually going to work with a chart, I have got to have a hard copy and would again, postpone the consultation if my printer was broken!

The last thing I do is make sure I am comfortable, particularly on the phone. I write all the time so that’s a different matter but when I do phone consultations I make sure I have the chart(s) in my hand and I am completely, totally comfortable. No clothes binding, not to cold or hot and no shoes!

I do this so I my attention is focused. I just don’t think you can counsel someone, you can’t get these planets to talk to your or through you when you’re busy swatting flies, putting out fires or whatever else you’re doing. I turn ALL my attention to the task, it almost always works out and I thank the universe for that and I never, ever get cocky.

I think to be any good at this work, you must always be humble.  You’ve got to be confident, you;ve got to be brave but also humble because that person on the other end of the phone or email… the person who is going to receive your energy is expecting your best effort and rightly so.  You can’t get to thinking you’re some kind of big deal, touched in some way, or you’re going to begin to deliver trash.  I don’t like trash by my nature so I work very hard to do good work and this is how.

If you are a consulting astrologer, do you have rituals like this?

I have worked with thousands of clients over the years. Last week I was forced to end a consultation right in the middle of it, offering the client a refund which is something I have never done before in my career. I have refunded a person’s money because they weren’t satisfied with my work once or twice but never, even encountered anything like this before. I just couldn’t get through the consult because the client and I were at cross purposes.

I ended the consultation because I realize the client wanted me to pander. Essentially, I was being paid to agree with and validate her self view AND her opinion of me which was quite low! She’d decided I was a lousy astrologer and basically was now paying me to agree with her.

Now I could have done it. There are all kinds of astrologers who pander, that’s for sure. I could have manipulated and placated her, took the beating she wished to give me (along with her money). I could have set her up to pay me and beat me on a regular basis but it’s just not in my character and so this meltdown occured. But it got me thinking.

Although I have a number of clients I have worked with for years, I do not see what I do as “therapy”. If I was working as a therapist, I think other action would have been appropriate but as it is, forming a therapeutic relationships and allowing people their projections and various other sundries falls outside the paradigm of what I do.

I think it’s important to note this as a boundary or as a limitation or however it may be viewed even though I have only had this problem once and may never have it again. I am definitely not going to pander to clients and I don’t care if I could get rich doing so.

I believe in carving out a niche. My reputation is for candor and keen insight so if you are calling looking for lies and lack of insight, I am definitely not going to be your gal. But I can’t say that another astrologer might not be able to help this gal, or that they might just agree with her read on things. But for me this is a point of integrity. My opinion is not for sale and if I behaved otherwise I am pretty sure I’d put myself right out of business.

I think there is probably an arc most counselors follow. At first they’re too green to do you much good. They go on to gain experience and then hit their peak and remain at the top of their game for sometime before burn out sets it. They become jaded or just plain lose interest.

There are exceptions to the rule like the doctor my son and I are working with and I want to be one of  I take great pains to stay focused.  I clear my mind completely before I start work with someone. I keep in mind the person has paid me, they want results and they are expecting my best work.

Keeping the standard high like this is a benefit to me.  I am pretty sure that as long as I maintain this I will avoid becoming ineffectual which is an idea that makes me cringe.

Astrologers have so much to offer but I have consulted several and been completly dissapointed.  Reading a chart and working with people are two different things and I think that working with the person comes in front of reading the chart.  I take the astrology for granted and concern myself with the person and this seems to work.

I am not sure if this has to do with me and how I present myself or if it reflects the overall mood in the collective. People do seem to have less time and money to waste and they want results.

I am definitely more comfortable working in these conditions as astrology as a parlor game has never held appeal.

One of the benefits of working as an astrologer it it helps me on track. It is well known by counselors of all types that you invariably attract clients with experiences or challenges that mirror you’re own.  In my case that means I am going to work with a lot of commitment-phobic freedom loving types.

I am old enough to appreciate this lifestyle has a distinct downside and have worked very hard to devise a way where I could enjoy the immense benefits of committed partnership while not relinquishing my person hood. I’ve  managed this now and I feel good about helping others who want to move in this direction but every time I do I am reminded to keep my own self on track.  It’s like the AA model, I suppose.  You stay sober by helping others get sober.

I am seeing a counselor with my son to deal with a trauma. I outlined my very defined and developed knowledge about a certain thing and he responded by telling me a story from his life with the same hallmarks as the story I’d just told him. Eureka, I thought!  He knows what I am talking about.  I felt like I hit the lottery.

If someone comes to me and I can’t relate to their problem,  I refer them.

Having just reported no problems consulting with an international clientele,  I realized this was an error.  I have not had problem regarding different cultural norms however communication is another story.

While most of my international clients speak English fluently this does not mean they can understand my speech which is rapid by nature.  As far as Americans go I would be considered  to have no accent but dealing internationally is a whole other scenario.

I wonder in hindsight if some clients I spoke with before I caught onto this were unable to understand some or most of what I said because I do talk very fast.  On top of that  my phrasing is often unusual when I really get cooking and I wonder if along the line I have not had clients who understood little of what I said but were too polite to say so.

I’ve learned to be very mindful of this. If I am talking to someone who  I feel has a heavy accent, I keep in mind they are likely thinking the same thing and I work hard to slow my speech.  I take pains to make sure I am actually communicating at the beginning of the consultation and this seems to work well.

It’s pretty easy to figure out where the lines and limits are once you know what you’re looking for and people are very open to this. They are calling because they want to talk to you and taking steps to make sure this gets accomplished is always very appreciated by the client and a lot easier on me as well.

“Are you tracking?” I ask.

“Tracking? Yes, I understand you, go ahead…”

I really love reading charts and consulting with clients.  I love to help people but besides that I am constantly amazed and entertained.  You think you’ve seen it all but you never have.  It is always a challenge especially online.

If  you are able to work in your neighborhood and make a living that’s fine.  But most people who survive as astrologers are going to be working with an international clientele these days which brings up some interesting questions.   Should you consider a person’s culture?

That answer may seem obvious but in practice it’s not.  For example if someone contacts me and they are dealing with a machismo type man, well I know a lot about them.  I understand that culture and can readily align with a woman. But what if the woman is Indian as many clients are? I know much less about this  culture and there was a time I thought I should turn these clients away until a pal set me straight.

“They know who they are hiring, Elsa,” my friend said. “If they wanted an Indian astrologer, they’d hire one.   They are contacting you because your perspective is unique. It’s singular. They want to know what Elsa P has to say…”

That was about 5 years ago. Today  I understand this completely and  would never consider turning away a client based on my perceived lack of knowledge.  Instead I reach across the space and do you know I’ve not had one problem?

What are your experiences dealing with an international clientele?