From a casual observation I noticed that the astrological services that are offered online are predominantly, whether it’s Vedic or western, in the field of astrology that can be characterized as “self help” – the kind that deals only with issues relating to personal development, empowerment, self-reflection and accessing subconscious knowledge, resolving emotional issues in a purely personal context or in a relational one. In general, how to approach emotionally, mentally and practically the changing circumstances of daily life. That’s the kind of astrology that resembles very much psychology, coaching, and other forms of mental and emotional support and maintenance.

This is what seems to me is considered as “legitimate” astrology, in the eyes of the majority of practitioners themselves. Hence it puts something else outside of this legitimacy, and that appears to be the purely divinatory practice, in which astrology (and also tarot for that matter, I-ching and other practices) serves to make concrete predictions about the future. What is in a somewhat derogatory manner called “fortune telling”.

Alas the predominant majority of questions that are coming from people who seek the advice from astrology, tarot et al., at least from my experience so far, are exactly those kind of divinatory questions. People want to know about the unknown. Some may seek the kind of psychological support that usually comes with a conventional psychological therapy session, but it seems to me that it’s only as an afterthought, a follow up to the desired answer to a very concrete question about “what is going to happen with me/with x/with both of us”, etc.  It’s not “how I’m going to feel” or “what I’m going to think” or what my shadow self has to say about this, but what is actually going to happen in the concrete, tangible world, IRL.

It’s not necessarily separate in a cut and clear manner, and in a self-help session the querent may probably ask about a concrete prediction. But it’s about the emphasis, what is actually being talked about. 

And then there’s the issue of how the client comes out feeling from the session, which seems to me to be connected to the distinction mentioned above. If it’s about “self-help” than it’s quite obvious that everything should be done to make the querent feel good about himself and the future, empowered, self-confident, etc. But if it’s about purely diviation, than emotional satisfaction from the session is not at all guaranteed, the prediction may obviously not be to their liking.

As in many cases it’s a matter of personal choice on the part of the reader, what style they prefer and how comfortable they are with telling the client something that they might not like to hear. The same with the client – what are they actually looking for in the session. The actual problem, seems to me, is with the “legitimacy casters”, those who are legitimate in their own eyes and who are quick to dismiss a manner of practice that for whatever reason seems improper, despite it being the heart of practices like astrology, tarot , etc. for centuries, if not millennia, and across most cultures.