As we enter the new year of 2021 there is a lot of changes ahead, including with me and my astrology work. Below i'm going to answer the most frequently asked questions i get about me personally and my work, along with an update on what you can expect from me for 2021 and beyond.
Q: Are you still working as a professional astrologer?
A: Yes. I do astrology reports as my main source of income full time. I'm consistently booked up two weeks in advance. I've done thousands of personal reports for people over the years that i stay busy with returning clients in a cycle.
Q: Are you taking new clients?
A: Yes
Q: Do you do readings, phone or skype consultations?
A: No, i don't give readings on the phone or through any video chat, i offer reports via video that i email you the link to watch at your convenience. This works best for me as i live in a remote area that has sketchy phone and internet service. Also this allows me to report on what i see, rather than a back and forth where the astrologer is feeding off of what the client is saying, acting as a counselor more than an astrologer. Reporting on a chart in the blind is much more challenging for the astrologer, but i've been doing it for years and i believe it offers certain insights that you can't get from a normal astrology reading. My style isn't for everybody. If you prefer phone readings, i'm not the astrologer for you.
Q: Where can i find you on social media?
A: I'm not on any social media sites besides YouTube and even that is limited right now. I have enough established clients that i don't need to promote myself on social media. I don't think social media is healthy, so i don't engage in the collective chaos.
Q: I loved your weekly astrology reports on YouTube, do you plan on making astrology videos again?
A: Yes. I've taken a few months off from YouTube collective/mundane reports but i am planning on returning and making more astrology videos for 2021 and beyond. Right now it's looking like i'll start back up around the Aquarius new moon in Feb of 2021 (That date subject to change though). I'm still trying to decide if i'll do the same format as before with weekly reports covering everyday of the week, or something different. Also i have no interest in becoming a famous youtube astrologer. I don't care how many subscribers or "likes" i have. I'm not trying to build the channel into more than what it already is. I'm not trying to make money from YT. I don't care about getting attention, praise or fame, or making tons of videos everyday, as i get plenty of work without YT. In fact, the thousands of views i was getting on YT was bringing me more work than i could keep up with. Not doing YT videos has brought me back down to a more manageable workload. I don't mind new clients, but I can't be working seven days a week anymore, and i don't want people to have to wait a month to get their report after they buy it. Two weeks is long enough. There's more to life than just work. I'm figuring out a better system from behind the scenes for 2021 and beyond. Stay tuned.
Q: Why did you turn off comments on your YouTube videos?
A: It goes back to my thoughts that social media is unhealthy. 95% of the comments i get are positive, so it's not about negative comments. I don't need validation, or praise. I don't really care to hear about other people's take on the astrology. I'm there to report on what i know. There's just too much noise on social media. I don't mind one on one conversations in real life, just not opinions on every topic from every which direction from random people on the internet. A lot of Youtubers are desperate to make money and get attention and validation. That's just not me. In order for me to keep offering free astrology videos i had to take the social media aspect out of YT. Believe it or not life is pretty darn great without social media.
Q: How long have you been into astrology?
A: I first got into astrology back in 2006, learning it on the down low. Then in 2011 astrology started to become an obsession where i spent all day everyday studying and researching to the next level, for the next couple years. I took it to extremes, but that fits me since i have Mercury conjunct Pluto on the midheaven (highest point in the sky). By 2013 i started offering reading for money where i've been doing astrology fulltime ever since.
Q: Where and how did you learn astrology?
A: In the very beginning, like everyone i started by reading books and looking up stuff online just to understand the basics. My chart ruler is Jupiter in Aries so i'm not much of a follower, and i'm here to pioneer my path in everything i do. The idea of learning something like astrology from a teacher didn't sit well with me. For some people, that's the best way, it all depends on your chart and style of learning. I'm my own teacher; life and experience is my classroom. Learning astrology from a teacher is just learning one person's perspective and way of doing it, and their way might not be the best way. Getting a certificate from some random astrologer doesn't mean much to me. Some skills in life, like say, becoming a mechanic, can be best learned by a teacher because there is a direct set way of doing it, but astrology doesn't have a concrete way of working with it. Again though, some people love learning from others, getting certificates and degrees, but those types of people are usually lifetime students and never meant to be a teacher because they feel the wisdom has to come from outside of self. Some people can only learn something from a teacher, Again it all depends on your chart and who you are. In the beginning of astrology education we all have to learn some stuff from others, but only the very basics.
There is a lot of misconceptions and popular ideas in astrology that don't always pan out in reality. Books and teachers can only take you so far, but if you are content by taking someone's else's word on what is true, then maybe that approach is best for you. Getting certified by someone just means you are a clone of them. Hey, this is just my perspective and we are not the same so do what's right for you.
I think the best and true astrologers are the pioneers, the ones researching discovering new correlations that haven't been recorded by people of the past. There is still many truths and techniques that can be discovered through researching astrology in the real world.
That's how i've been learning. I got professional software and started researching charts, people, events, history, etc, which i've been doing for years. It truly takes years to learn astrology, and i'm still learning and will be for years until i'm an old man and even after that. In that process through years there is changing and evolving of ideas and techniques as knowledge and experience grows. Experience is key. These 20 something year old kids that think they are astrologers, or the people with a few years of experience that claim they are "master Astrologers" are living in a ego delusional fantasyland. Now once you hit 30, 40, 50 years of experience and beyond, that's respectable
The short answer is i've learned from research and experience, doing astrology for real people for years and i'm not perfect, i get things wrong sometimes. Like i said i'll be learning forever. There is different types of astrology, i have my own style.
Q: Has it been hard making a living from astrology?
A: Being able to make a good living from astrology all depends on your birth chart, but for me, yes it's been extremely hard in the beginning, and i would say hard for most people. Most people won't be able to live good from astrology. Since i have a lot of Pluto influence in my chart, at the highest point of the sky aspecting almost every one of my personal planets, i'm extreme and capable of living in ways the average person isn't. Like i said, i've been obsessed with astrology and went all in since 2011; astrology or bust.
I wasn't going to get a "real job" as my ex suggested. My main source of money was going to be from astrology, but starting from scratch as an unknown astrologer? Not easy. By 2013 i was homeless. I started this blog and was also posting on Google+ and Twitter trying to put myself out there and get clients. I was doing written reports back then. I was homeless living in my car doing astrology 2013 - 2019 with one or two short term breaks here and there, with very little income. I had little to no support from anyone and i'm not the type to take government assistance. Like i said it was astrology or bust, although i would make some side money sometimes from the medical mj industry of northern California. I was also going through an epic once in lifetime Pluto transit those years. But yes, i didn't have a home for 7 years!
Some of those years in the beginning were really hard. There were times i didn't have a penny to my name, out of food and out of gas for my car, parked on some random road, just sitting there starving, waiting for an email notification to come in that someone bought a report. Part of me wanted to go out and camp in the wilderness but public land in the mountains of northern Calif doesn't have much cell service that i needed for online work, so i had to stay close to town, living in my car. I had a lot of pride so it didn't make it obvious. Sometimes i would go three to four days without food (i'm not the food bank type of guy) or gas money. Just when i thought i was at a breaking point, someone would buy a report and i was saved. Back then i was charging 60 bucks a report. That would give me just enough money to put some fuel in my car and some unhealthy food in my belly, keeping me alive several more days until i ran out again, and the cycle would repeat. My faith was tested to the extreme and i was skin and bones. As the years went on i was slowly building up more and more astrology work and by 2016 i was living in my car on someone's raw land i knew, half of the year. It was still a rough life though, between the hot summers and cold winters and very little money. I tried making astrology videos on Youtube back in 2015/16 but would get very little views so i stopped doing it. Then i started making video again, i think in 2018 slowly building up views with very little subscribers.
Finally by 2019 my long Pluto transit started to move on and life started to get way better when i got into a place in Arizona. I started getting a lot more views on Youtube and getting a lot more clients from that exposure. I have a strong birth chart, with Uranus the sun, Mercury, Pluto in the 10th house of career, so once transit Pluto moved on (my fall from grace years) my chart naturally boosts me back up (relative to where i was) and the money has been rolling in with more clients than i can handle. At this point i'm making a very good living, but i also live a very simple life with zero debt and only a few basic bills to pay.
The truth is though, i went through a major death and rebirth transit those 7 years, living extreme and with no support. I had to face all my fears, lack of material security, lack of respect from the world, family and friends and it taught me that i don't need much in this life. I don't care about being " successful". I don't need to accomplish anything, i don't care what people think of me anymore, i don't need a lot of "materialistic things", i don't need to prove myself to anyone. I've already been to the bottom of the social spectrum. Astrology has been my life through this process, having more time to research and do astrology than a normal person could have with their real life.
I find it kind of funny that i have finally made it to the point of making a good living from astrology and i don't really care, doesn't mean much to me and i limit the growth that is trying to happen. There is so many people that would love to be a professional astrologer, working from home, making your own hours, being your own boss, etc but don't have the opportunity. I don't think the average person could have made it through the life i lived those years to get to this point. Like i said, i'm extreme.
Dealing with so many people and doing so many reports can be very draining but this is the way i make a living and i do feel like i'm helping people sometimes which feels good. I need to advance my astro business. I'm working on a new website that i'll launch in 2021 and i'm going to try and put some effort into this even though i'm making a good living without all the business effort side of it besides doing the email work and report work. So YES it's been hard to get to this point but now it's easy! My chart allows me to make money from astrology and online stuff, but not everyone can.
Q: Do you have more than just a few recommendations from clients than what you have listed on your blog?
A: Yes! I haven't updated the recommendations section of my blog in years. I have many many recommendations that i have to sort through and list. I'm going to add those to my new website. I have had so many people give me positive feedback about my reports. If you are one of my clients and like my work and want to recommend me to other people, email me it and i'll add it to my blog. Thank you!
Q: What did you do for a living before astrology?
A: Right out of high school i got a job as a seasonal wildland firefighter for state government which was the beginning of my firefighter career. I also became an emergency medical technician and worked for local government fire depts as an all risk firefighter ,but my passion was wildland fires. I worked off and on in the fire service for local, state and federal agencies from 1994 thru the end of 2008. In between all that i've also done labor work, construction, ranch work, woodworking and internet marketing coding websites from scratch, and after 2008 some mmj work. Big change to astrology huh. Ha.
Q: Are you part of the astrology community?
A: Not really. I know a few other astrologers but i don't really interact with the "astrology community". Maybe this makes me sound like a snob but i don't really fit into that group and i don't really want to. I have gotten several requests for interviews and collaborations from other astrologers but i always turn them down. I'm just not really interested. I do my own thing and i like it that way. I don't watch or read what other astrologers say. I see headlines sometimes but i don't want to be influenced by them and i usually don't agree with their interpretations. Every once in a great while i'll get a reading from someone i've never heard of, but that's rare. I've only gotten 3 readings from other people in my life, and i'm not that impressed.
Q: Are you a Trump supporter or republican?
A: I have no political party affiliation. I have NEVER voted on anything in my life, and i doubt i ever will. Voting might work on the local level, but i don't believe it does on the bigger scale. With that said, i'm a mountain man/country guy, i don't fit into city folk mindset. I've owned many guns in my lifetime, i'm okay with hunting and eating wild game. I think gov't has too much power and control. I don't need the gov't to take care of me. I love freedom and independence. I would say i'm right of center since modern day liberalism and "woke cancel culture" makes me cringe. There's a lot of unhealthy victimhood mentality being amplified since 2011, correlating to Neptune's transit through Pisces. Once you step out of that and take responsibility for yourself and stop blaming everyone else, life gets a lot better, depending on the personal phases you're in. I don't base my political opinions on right or left groupthink. If i voted i would be independent or libertarian. Some issues i lean right and some i lean left, but i'm definitely not the modern liberal.
Q: Do you teach astrology?
A: No, although my natural style of doing astrology reports has a teacher vibe to it. I am ruled by Jupiter.
Q: Are you married or single?
A: I'm divorced and currently single.
Well folks, there's some answers and an update.
Welcome to 2021.
Rik
