The Determining of Fees – My Philosophy:
The Determining of Fees – My Philosophy:
When it comes to astrology almost everyone is interested in it but there seems to be some confusion regarding what it should cost. The following information is my perspective on this and the fee schedule I have created, based on 40 plus years of experience.
For starters, it has not escaped my awareness that people often feel the need to consult an astrologer when they are in a crises. Astrological guidance has eased the way for many of us, to be sure. Sometimes a crises means that there is less money. I, personally like to be available to people when they are in need. Moments of crises offer the greatest possibility for real change.
And then there is my reality of being self-employed in a business that is not supported by unions or pensions or any such thing. As one of my early astrology teachers pointed out to me, I could be an astrologer or I could be someone with a day job who does astrology on the side. The latter choice would mean I could not give my full heart and mind to the task. I imagine that my clients want me to give the fullness of my attention to their situations because that is what I want when I consult an expert. I want them to have expertise; to know whereof they speak.
All of which is to say that I must earn a living and support myself in a reasonable way to sustain my availability as an astrologer and do the best job for you that I can. (Which also includes not over-doing it. Nothing worse than a reading from someone suffering from burn-out!)
To this end I have created various options for payment.
Each type of reading costs a decided amount which is in keeping with my years of experience and the time required to prepare and interpret a chart.
There is a reading available (Specialized Focus) which is shorter and therefore costs less.
I am open to being paid over time with post-dated checks if necessary.
And last, but not least, I am willing to slide my scale to accommodate the unique needs of a client. This seems a reasonable and necessary thing to offer especially in the climate of the day. I am happy to do it. To achieve this there is some discussion and effort that must go into the process so we can agree upon an amount. Over many years I have had the experience (way more than once) of a person negotiating for a sliding scale and then not showing up or bothering to cancel their appointment. I assume this arises out of two possibilities: One is that they are somehow ashamed to have asked in the first place. The other is that they think they should pay less because they simply don’t understand the value of astrology and have some kind of resentment toward my fees. When this happens you can imagine I don’t like it much! To this end it seems reasonable that if a person asks to slide the scale and we agree to the cost then I require payment in advance. This fee is non refundable but, of course if something comes up the appointment can be changed to another day.
Please feel free to dialogue with me on this if you have questions or comments.