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October 19, 2007 – 3:23 am | 62 Comments

So you want to learn about astrology? Not the generalized Sun-sign stuff that you find in newspapers and magazines, but serious astrology. The advanced type where you can actually determine specific information about a person’s life through the observation of the planets and other celestial phenomena. Here are some tips to help you get started.

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Home » astrology news

CNN Confuses Astrologers With Psychics

Posted by on December 27, 2008 at 2:17 pm13 Comments

psychich with crystal ballCNN has been running a story today about how the difficult economic times have seen a rise in business for “psychics” and “fortune tellers”.   The majority of the segment focuses on an interview with an astrologer named Randy Goldberg, although for some reason they later transition into talking about the ‘American Association for Psychics’ and how there is currently a “psychic business boom”.

CNN has done lame astrology related stories in the past, but what is annoying about this one is that they are conflating astrologers with psychics, almost assuming that the terms are mutually interchangeable in order to label a broad spectrum of different types of ‘fortune tellers’.

The problem with this is that the vast majority of astrologers don’t claim to be psychics, and most psychics aren’t trained as practicing astrologers.   Even though there may be individuals from both camps who say that they can do both, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there is any direct relation between the two fields.

Astrology is a highly complex technical construct that is designed to determine information about the future, whereas psychics claim to have a sort of innate intuitive ability to do the same thing.  Even though both astrologers and psychics are ultimately attempting to predict the future, that doesn’t mean that their roles or techniques for doing so are interchangeable.

Tarot readerIt is somewhat ridiculous for CNN to feature an interview with an astrologer, and then to launch into a statement from from the American Association for Psychics about how business is booming.   The analogy would be like interviewing a public university professor and then trying to tie that into a statement from a homeschooling union.

Now, obviously the astrologer who was being interviewed didn’t help matters much when he whipped out a pair of divining rods towards the end of the segment, and he also lists a number of different types of unrelated New Agey services on his website such as ‘healing sessions’, ‘chakra balancing’, and ‘past life regression’.   Still, I don’t see where he calls himself a ‘psychic’ or an ‘intuitive’ anywhere on his website.

It’s not really even clear to me that business is necessarily booming at the moment for astrologers as a result of the current economic crisis.  Sure, maybe the focus of individual consultations have become directed more towards financial matters, but most astrologers that I talk to seem to be struggling just as much as everyone else.

If you are a professional astrologer, then let me know if your own private practice has been “booming” lately as a result of the difficult economic times.

Thanks to Leisa and Patrick for the tip on the story, which surely they both found by using their innate psychic powers.

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About Chris Brennan

Chris is a practicing astrologer from Denver, Colorado, USA. He is the former President of the Association for Young Astrologers, as well as the former Research Director of the National Council for Geocosmic Research. He offers personal consultations and teaches online classes through his website at www.ChrisBrennanAstrologer.com.




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13 Comments »

  • The problem as explained is only a small portion of the actual issue. The issue is that Randy Goldberg was able to predict accurately two major events – as an astrologer, that appeared in the Washing Post (See the article on http://www.randygoldberg.org). This was not mentioned in the CNN piece and therefore the blog person and the most of rest of the Universe does not know.

  • Chris Brennan says:

    What does that have to do with anything?

  • Breanna Gomberg says:

    To begin with Randy Goldberg predicted accurately that 1) US home sales would see a huge drop. 2) He predicted an event similar to: Gunman Kills 32 at Virginia Tech In Deadliest Shooting in U.S. History. Because of his accuracy he was written up in the Washington Post: By Megan Greenwell, Washington Post Staff Writer,Sunday, March 4, 2007; Page C11. Because Mr. Goldberg’s name was written up in the Washington Post, CNN interviewed him as an astrologer with the supposed intent of asking him about astrology, making his predictions, his office procedures, etc, with nothing to do with psychics. It had to do with the validity of his predictions as an astrologer – nothing else, he thought. The interview did not mention the validity of his predictions, in fact, not even that he made predictions or helped clients. The entire interview became “twisted”. – I feel.

  • Chris Brennan says:

    Ah, the plot thickens. So Randy feels like he was interviewed under false pretenses?

  • I’m with you one this one Chris.

    Breanna- predicting the house value plummet was no biggy, many knew it would happen from economists to astrologers and anyone who has old fashioned values in regards to money. The problem was no-one wanted to believe the bubble would burst.

    As for the shootings- I guess a country who has as liberal gun laws as America becomes a numbers game. We had a massacre in Tasmania back in ’96 where 35 people were killed (more than the Virginia shooting), 21 wounded- the worst ever to happen in Australia, the government placed new laws which heavily restricted gun ownership. Thousands of guns were handed in to the government.

    As for television interviews- I too have been interviewed for television news (the topic was the financial outlook for 2008). Media will take its spin and edit it how they choose but any self respecting astrologer would keep any other modalities that may cause discredit well away from the cameras!

    Cassandra

  • whall says:

    You say “It is somewhat ridiculous for CNN…” about their portrayal and linking of astrologers to psychics. I say “no, it’s not.”

    It’s not just somewhat ridiculous. It’s absolutely ludicrous. And should be reported and complained about.

    Even the Discovery or History channel’s show on Nostradamus and 2012 had some interesting facts about astrology, but continued to color his job as an astronomer, not an astrologer. Same with Newton. At least they “disclosed” more than I’ve ever heard on a mainstream channel about the role of astrology, and therefore was a little thrilling to even have 10% validity thrown in on the show.

    As to business booming or not, my wife’s the professional astrologer and could tell you more, maybe if we get to meet at the Texas Retreat. However, we just found out that our rescheduled coast trip conflicts with the retreat, and that’s a hard set of juggling there.

    But I will say that we personally moved my 401(K) into a guaranteed return portfolio in Q4 2007 based on a tarot reading and solar return 🙂 Was an excellent move in hindsight…

  • […] used as a transition into a question about how business is for astrologers lately, presumably with CNN’s recent story in mind about how the ‘psychic business is booming’.  The interviewer bookended comments from […]

  • I own a Hair Salon, Pink Hair Salon and Gallery on SoCo, a trendy shopping strip in Austin, Texas. I am also a member of the American Federation of Astrologers, and I’ve been giving readings since I fell in love with Mars in fourth grade science class. I have never however, officially and in an organized fashion, given readings in my salon until this year.

    Maybe it is because of the economic times we’re living in, or the spiritual times we’re living in, but I’ve come out of the closet. I take appointments. I have a desk. I do my readings in the front of my salon (and Pink is a very busy salon) and my schedule is now about 50/50 readings, with readings nudging out my other work more and more. People seem to really appreciate the easy availability of advice. At first,I began by trying to limit my readings to one day a week, but that only lasted a few months. Now I have readings every day.
    Am I busy with readings because people are stressed? Or do I feel moved to put myself out there because I want to help, so I am naturally busier?

  • Celeste says:

    Astrologers may have theories but ultimately none can explain how astrology works.

    Astrologers predict the future and use horary to find things and answer questions: it all boils down to people wanting to know the future and how to answer their questions about life. Basically, psychics, fortune tellers and astrologers are all offering the same service.

  • Celeste says:

    People go to psychics, fortune tellers, and astrologers for the same reason: to predict the future and/or find things. Because of this, it makes sense for them to be categorized in the same manner.

  • […] across as entirely sold on the whole astrology thing, this is still a lot better than the usual hatchet jobs that we’ve seen over the past few years from CNN, or even NPR for that […]

  • […] across as entirely sold on the whole astrology thing, this is still a lot better than the usual hatchet jobs that we’ve seen over the past few years from CNN, or even NPR for that […]

  • Angela Moore says:

    It seems like he predicted 2 easily predictable events. How accurate was he on the dates and times? I do know Psychics that “boomed” during the recession because of the confusion, but like you said most are struggling just like everyone else. Good write up!