If you have recently subscribed hoping to get more info on the important birthdays, wondering what I would have to say about your birthday this month or even last month, then let me know that you would like me to continue with this feature every month, as I am reevaluating if and how I want to proceed with it. It is quite a feat to produce that material, so instead of unsubscribing, just send me a quick note expressing your interest in this. Now, I will certainly be covering the important birthdays for the upcoming eclipse, so don’t worry about that…but as far as a regular important birthdays feature goes, let’s see what the audience has to say about continuing that every month.]
Greetings to all,
One of the primary tools that the astrologer has today is access to a computer and some way, working with said device, to cast an astrology chart. Now a computer can be your smartphone, a barely capable laptop logged into astro.com, an ipod (yes one can run astrology apps on the newer ipods that look like iphones), an old android phone, etc. Heck, you can even purchase a C64 Mini (a recent mini console remake of the Commodore 64) and download the Micro Astrologer from the net and run that on your TV! In fact, there are so many options to cast a chart that one may forget just how many options that they have available. Personally, I have at least four astrology calculation apps on my phone and a half dozen or so on each computer, not to mention access to any number of free sites offering chart calculation options. One may say there are too many options.
But let’s be honest with ourselves–it’s much more than chart calculation, especially when working with clients. We need bi-wheels and tri-wheels, transit information, graphic ephemerides, point calculations for ancient methods, progressed and directed charts, Hellenistic lots, midpoint trees, aspect grids, harmonics calculation, return charts, advanced search features, astro mapping, etc. And the list goes on and on.
And as we want and even demand access to the exotic and “advanced” techniques in astrology, often times we can literally spend weeks just learning how to use the more professional level software that is available today. Knowing this one still will certainly not master every feature as there are many learning curves to know what you are calculating in the first place. With that said, it is an understatement to say that knowing what a technique is and how it works does not translate directly and easily to an astrology software result that you can see in your selected program of choice. You have to learn the software as well, which is many times a job in and of itself, but a job that is very much worth it nonetheless.
Having had simple astrology software for the PC as early as 1995, (Astrolabe shareware purchased at Electronics Boutique) I can attest that the astrology software of today is light-years ahead of where it once was. Many aspects of working with astrology software of today are intuitive but unfortunately many more aspects are not–that just goes with the territory but it is worth the effort to learn as stated above. And for many amateur astrologers, the free options may be the best for now. However, for the astrology explorers, the astrology junkies, astrology nuts, astrology experimenters, serious astrology students and for those astrologers who work with clients, having professional level, paid for software for the PC or Mac is a must these days. It is not an option. Now, I know that this is a powerful statement and some of you may say that I’m wrong, so allow me to explain a bit why I’m writing this.
Let’s say that you visited a doctor, lawyer, psychologist, or even a plumber, electrician or hair dresser–any licensed and vetted professional who has tools to do their job. And then you learned that they charged you money for professional level services utilizing tools that anyone could have obtained for free. Here’s another: because an astrologer refused to spend money on software that they needed to explore the techniques that were calling to them, they were limited in the exploration of those techniques on the free platforms and thus severely limited themselves in their understanding of where they could have gone with the study and pursuit of the techniques with suitable software. One more: an astrologer is using a free or paid for astrology app that does not adjust for daylight savings time or the daylight savings time database is incorrect or not updated and the client receives a wrong chart and consequently a wrong reading from the astrologer.
Astrologers have enough of a struggle as it is with working with client issues. The last thing that they need is more complications and problems from chart calculations or their astrology software.
The answer? Invest in yourself and your clients if you are taking the subject of astrology seriously by purchasing professional level astrology software from any number of publishers out there today. Why? Because you care about yourself and your reputation and know that your ability to explore new astrological techniques is critical to your growth as an astrologer. You may also know that organizing charts and client/research data, recording of client notes and other information is critical to your success. The fact is, is that many of the professional level astrology software programs offer a number of features that you may have never thought of as useful or needed, until you run into an issue later on down the road and are panicking. Here’s an example of this: Needing to import client data onto a newer laptop computer to go out of town with. This can be done with a snap IF you understand what you are doing and why you are doing it.
I know. You or someone that you know is very happy with free online astrology services or free/low cost astrology apps on the iphone or android. I totally understand this as I was a holdout for around 10 years or so with the free stuff online. It took a bit of arm twisting and heavy convincing for a few months, but a few astrologers managed to show me, through demonstration, that pro astrology software is a must for the serious astrologer/astrology student. The time adjust/animation feature is one of the things that blew me away and I saw the immediate use for that, as with the astro mapping, astro search features, etc. These features barely describe the entirety of what’s available today with pro astrology software.
I want to stress that if you are intrigued by what I’ve written here and are in the market for astrology software or are on the fence about software in general, then please do your due diligence and study what is available today online. Make a true, line by line comparison with the free platforms and apps that you are using. Many astrology software publishers, if not all of them, have an online presence, so you can research what their software is capable of on those websites and read some independent reviews out there as well. For Mac users, there are less options, although you can now run PC programs on a Mac through emulation and without partitioning the drive as was the norm for many years, so that is a huge bonus if you are just stuck on Mac (and that’s okay if you are.)
If you are new to PC’s altogether, then you can purchase micro desktop PC’s that are extremely small, with minimal fuss and setup, connect them online and download the software that you want with minimal fuss–no CD’s or optical drive needed to load the software. Like I wrote before, there are many options now, so don’t be frustrated if you are confused on price, options, reports, etc., as that just goes with the territory as well and will take time to sort out. As a rule of thumb, you do tend to get what you pay for in general, although that is not always true with astrology software.
To wrap up, professional level astrology software is an investment not only in yourself but in your craft, your reputation and your ability to perform as an astrologer. Pro software is a critical tool that you must know how to use if you are in the field of astrology, working as an astrologer, accepting payment for astrology readings. What astrology software do you use and why? Do you own astrology software or use apps on your smartphone or do you use free or paid online astrology calculation services? If you don’t use professional astrology software, has this article got the wheels turning? Have you changed your mind, even just a little, on the possibility of obtaining professional astrology software?
Thank you for reading!
Thaddeus