One day when haunting my favorite metaphysical bookstore and surfing books on numerology, a woman browsing the astrology section asked me … do you do numerology professionally? No I answered, but having a go at it for someone would be fun … why do you ask? Saying I’m a professional astrologer, she asked could we barter readings? We agreed on this and after deciding with a coin flip that she would go first, we set respective appointments.

Thinking this is going to be a fun experience, I arrived on the appointed day looking forward to my session. Somewhere I’d heard in order to have a horoscope read a person needed an accurate birth time but as she had not asked me, pointed out that I did not know mine. Tossing her long blond hair behind her back she laughed and said ‘I don’t need it, I’ve cast one for your birth date’. Psychic shivers ran up and down my spine and although my warning bells began to ring, I let this spider lead me to her parlor, arm around my shoulder. Still, I was not prepared for the horror that unfolded over the ensuing hour.

To my questions, she ad libbed answers in astro-jargon that made my head spin. I’m not easily impressed and taking note of that fact, the woman lurched my drifting attention back with …Your husband will die shortly after his 55th. birthday. In shock, but mesmerized I continued to listen as a string of predictions that could make a  person want to jump off the nearest bridge, spewed forth from her callous mouth.

You phony bitch … I screamed on my way out ! … You don’t believe me eh! … she yelled back. Well just you wait and see … I’m psychic and I’m always right … Tell your friends about me - I can use the business!!

Although I am quite psychic as well, I’m also a die hard skeptic and yet I couldn’t shake her prediction. After a month or so had passed I decided I had to find out if she was right and thus began my journey into the field of astrology.

She was dead wrong on every count … but … Sadly, over my years of counseling I discovered she wasn’t the exception to the rule in this profession. There are many men and women, without so much as a quickie course in basic astrology, who hang out their shingles and profess to be experts in this field.