Delivering bad news to clients as an astrologer is not a pleasant experience. When a person is trying to clutch onto the last hopes about something they dearly want, and the horary chart denies it, what more can an astrologer do? Instead of hiding behind the ‘considerations before judgement’ or ‘softening the blow’ by sugarcoating the verdict with sweet nothings, it always makes sense, to tell the truth to the client. However, empathy goes a long way in restoring their faith in themselves. I feel no astrologer should take up professional consultations if they cannot empathize. More often, a harsh judgement adds a big blow to the already sad client. As professionals, I feel it is our moral duty to show how they can turn around an unfortunate circumstance because the chart usually shows what the problem is about the situation. Instead of blaming their fate or worse, themselves, the client should know what is creating the problem in their situation. This gives them confidence in how to fix it or at least to learn what to improve. Let me tell you a story.

In my initial years of horary astrology practice, I have made several mistakes. Not knowing how to deliver bad news is one of them. I remember my flatmate asking me if she will get a job. She was jobless for almost 1 year after graduating from college. None of her friends was helpful. And she had kind of given up hopes of getting one. I cast the chart and saw she has no job prospects in near future either. I tell her exactly that. She gets hurt, like really hurt, because we had a good relationship. She insults horary astrology, and in the following months we kind of fallout. After a few months, I left the flat and later got to know that she eventually did get a job but in a different city. I immediately went back to the chart to scrutinize what did I miss and why did I get the answer wrong. I don’t remember much of what I had learnt, but regretted the fact that I could not claim my fallibility when I was telling her the verdict. Because the horary chart always has the answer. It is often our fault that we fail to find it. I wish I predicted the verdict correctly and gave her some hope. Moreso, if I could at least deliver the bad news to her in some constructive way which would have helped her in mending the situation. That could have also saved our relationship.

But even then, I didn’t believe in giving false hopes to people if things didn’t mean to be. Until I experienced something similar in my own life. In 2019, I had a fallout with my boss and he asked me to leave. I had 2 months notice period..just 2 months to find another job. I was anxious, desperate and frustrated. For experienced professionals, it is not easy to get another job, especially in India because interview processes take at least a month to close (unlike the USA). Despite having a decent experience, I decided to brush up on the basics of my profession again and bought a few books. I had a huge education loan. On top of that, I also had to support my parents who were dependent on me financially. I blew up all my savings in paying off the principal of my student debt because I hate being in debt. The interest payable becomes so high that it eventually becomes greater than the principal borrowed. I’d rather get rid of debts than invest my earnings elsewhere where the interests and returns were lower than my loan interest. And I didn’t trust stock market investments then. All these thoughts would be bubbling in my head all throughout the night and I couldn’t sleep. I was so desperate to get a job, that I applied to roles that were much junior to my current position. I applied at Amazon too and other companies. I didn’t expect to hear back from them, but I did.

But the hard part was cracking the interview. Most of the interviews I gave at that time ended up in rejection. The dejection was adding more to my stress daily. But I didn’t give up. I desperately cast horary charts asking if I’d get a job. I got the results wrong. When my interview from Amazon was scheduled, I prepared my ass off and finally gave 5-6 rounds of interview and one written test. Then I waited for the results. I cast another chart asking if I will be able to get this job. The chart attached below is the one I got. It said no. But one week later I did get the job. I was so angry at horary astrology for adding to my frustration that I even got that chart verified by John Frawley himself. Even he confirmed the chart said no. He also said that horaries tend to become gibberish if I repeatedly keep asking the same question again and again. I didn’t believe him at that point. I decided to stop believing in horary and simply start believing in myself.

For almost one year I refrained from practising horary astrology just because I had lost faith in it. I felt like an empty, hollow shell last year, with no purpose or direction, despite having a well-paying job. I was so unhappy. I felt I was missing a big chunk of me. I left Amazon, having worked for only 10 months, though the reason was different. I suddenly found myself in the same situation as the year before, out hunting desperately for jobs. Like a deja vu. With the additional misery that covid-19 added. But this time I had saved up some money so that I could be picky about what I want to do with my life. I wanted to have meaning in my life. So I resumed horary practice because I felt maybe I was to rash about abandoning it. I started reading everything I could on horary and actively consulting John Frawley to correct me where I couldn’t figure out a chart.

Given my situation, I realized how my flatmate must have felt when I delivered her the bad news in the past. Telling the truth in the middle of difficult circumstances is very hard. What’s harder is to be truthful and show empathy and trying to show a way out of difficult circumstances. I personally believe that on looking back, we may be glad now that some of the things were denied to us back then. It was hurtful then, but it opened up newer and better possibilities in the future. We are too hung up on past failures to see what’s ahead of us.

With this thought, I always hope that my clients believe that every desire that they are denied, has led them to something they wouldn’t have faced then. Sometimes it is worse instead of being good. But there is that one thing that can help us in making the right choices even when things go wrong – our free will. Just like I managed to land the Amazon job despite the chart saying no. I didn’t let it deter me, I persisted in my efforts to land the job. Similarly, if we believe that whatever we are pursuing would lead us to something better, we must continue to persist. Because who knows, we might be right. Or at least, we would learn a new lesson. That’s how real life works. As far as horary is concerned, it shows us how things could pan out normally if we went with the flow. But the free will can always change the outcome that we desire.