E009 Construct of Astrological Rules – Part 4 of 4
This article on astrological rules is the final part of 4 Parts series. Regardless of the method of astrology one follow, this article will be very useful to the reader. The observations made in this article are very generic in nature. I am just touching upon some bare bone essentials in this article. Please note that my views here are not meant to undermine any astrologer or belittle any astrological methods.
The ultimate purpose of astrology is to ensure that the native (i.e. one, whose horoscope is analyzed) is provided with useful advice in time, for whom consultation is provided. There can be no self-motivated interests (what-so-ever) for the astrologer, while performing a horoscope reading. Just like a Physician who makes his best efforts to treat an ailing patient, it is the fundamental and moral duty of an astrologer to analyze, understand and provide astrological solution to his client’s genuine problems. It is better to have a failed surgery that conserved a patient’s life than having a successful surgery that ended up killing a patient. The welfare of the native for whom a horoscope reading is done is important than anything else. An astrologer’s personal preferences, beliefs, ego should not take priority over the genuine interests of a native.
In this post, we will see when astrology will be useful for an astrologer, his clients, the common problems that are analyzed through astrology and how one can become a successful astrologer by properly applying astrological rules. The need to create a strong astrological database is also discussed.
1. Astrologer:
Although astrology is a noble art that has relevance in all times, the lifetime of an astrologer and the number of horoscopes that can be read by him have limits. Let us assume that someone begins learning astrology or start practicing as a professional astrologer at average age of 24-25 years. Let us also assume that such a person shines as a successful astrologer in his profession for 45 years (which is an exaggerated assumption). During this 45-years of practice, such a person is likely to analyze horoscopes of people born 40 years ahead of him and 60 years after him. His analysis time period is limited to a gap of one hundred years only. Therefore, if as astrologer is able to make accurate prediction for this 100 years, he can shine as a successful astrologer in his life time itself.
2. Native of Horoscope (i.e. Customers):
People who seek astrological guidance often fall in the age group of 15 to 70 years. Among them, majority of them would fall under 22-55 years of age. Astrological consultations are sought as a tool to find out the cause and remedy of some bitter or tragic events that might have preceded the visit to an astrologer or for seeking guidance on important life events such as employment, marriage, childbirth and acquisition of property and making investments in fixed and moving assets. Beyond these reasons, the need and general interest levels in astrology for an average person is likely to be very low.
Most people who are generally well-off in life don’t care much for horoscope reading, unless they run into some issues. Similarly, most of the marginalized people also don’t access astrologers frequently. The percent of general population that seek services of an astrologer will be less than 5% of the universe. Astrological consultations also do not offer instant repeat business opportunity (except in some cases of matching horoscopes for marriage). People who seek astrological guidance will forget the astrologer after their needs are fulfilled. As astrologer should not rely on the number of people seeking free horoscope reading on social media such as Facebook to estimate his market size. Such interest shown in social media are misleading and exaggerated. The true customers are actually more in number and can be found off the social media in a country like India. There is a huge demand for sensible and professional astrologers everywhere!
In the current times of social media when there are numerous astrologers in town, the trust people place on an astrologer is the key differentiating factor for someone to be successful in this business. This degree of trust people attach on an astrologer is built over a period of time based on how he treats his clients honestly, his level of selfishness, extent to which he can diagnose the problems correctly and the practical advice and remedies he offers to overcome the obstacles faced by native. As with all businesses, a repeat clientele is very essential to survive as a successful astrologer. Most people do not change their astrologer frequently. Therefore, it is imperative for an astrologer to retain his client base. For an astrologer to be successful, it is important that he read horoscopes and predict events and timing correctly. To achieve this, the structure and reliability of the astrological rules followed by him to draw his conclusions are very important.
3. Major areas for astrological consultations:
Most of the life events and problems for which people seek astrological consultations can be confined to a maximum of 15-20 categories. Children’s health, Education, Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage, Employment, Childbirth, Family Life, Investments, Buying a Home, Land, Vehicle, Career Progression, Business Problems, Perfect Moments to Start New Businesses, Husband-Spouse Problems, Sibling Problems, Relationship problems, Paternal-Maternal Problems, Litigation, Property disputes, short-term and long-term health Problems, premature or untimely demise of a family member etc. are the major life events for which astrological consultations are sought. Though primary goal of astrology is to help one understand more about himself, the life events and material needs seem to take precedence over the primary goal, while seeking astrological consultation. Hence, when someone learn astrology, instead of studying and remembering hundreds of general rules that pertains to so many different aspects, it will be more prudent for the learner to focus on the rules pertaining to these 15 or 20 life problems (bare minimum).
4. Astrological rules:
It is advisable to use only a few sets of tested rules that apply to everyone, rather than occasionally using hundreds of untested or unverified rules. As we have seen in previous essays, every rule need not be applicable to all horoscopes. However, some rules will find application in majority of horoscopes. It is important for an astrologer to classify the rules that he follows and examine them periodically for their relevance.
Rather than trying to analyze and address each of your customers’ problems with only one astrological method, using more than one method that offer reliable reading and solutions for these fifteen or twenty types of problems is recommended. Choice of an astrological system is the domain problem of the astrologer, not that of a native! An average, astrologically illiterate native doesn’t care the method of choice! How the astrologer arrives at a reading and conclusion are secondary to the customer. For a native, how closely the astrologer is able to diagnose the problem and offer practical solutions are of primary importance.
Rules – Scope vs Out-of-Scope:
It is important for the astrologer to remember that people seek his service in the hope of finding some guidance or solution. Even if an astrologer fails to find the reason or solution to a problem with his astrological knowledge, it’s still okay. However, he should not confuse his clients to cover-up his lack of knowledge. In such situations, it is better to be compassionate and use some soothing positive words to console a person than providing confusing directions, which could lead to more depression. The primary goal of your consultation should be focused on providing a reading of the problem and offering a solution astrologically, if one is available. The native’s primary need should always be addressed. The astrologer should not open cane of new worms through his astrological ‘prowess’, which are unnecessary in the first place. The native should not leave the astrologer with new-found problem(s), for which he was not offered any solution!
Astrologers should demeanor themselves like a Physician. They should not portray themselves like actors on stage (no offense meant to actors or acting profession here), seeking attention of audience. Their purpose is not to keep their customers just entertained. Their focus should be on reading a horoscope correctly, understanding the impending problems, providing solutions based on timing of events and suggesting remedies, if requested. All successful astrologers will be great masters of delivery on all these aspects.
Application of Data Science to harness the impact of astrological rules:
We have come to the final section of this article. Let us now relate what we have seen in the construct of astrology rules articles to data science and machine learning.
If you are approaching the use of astrological rules from data science perspective, you will easily understand and appreciate how we can tap the maximum impact of astrological rules. The following suggestions are made to the practicing astrologer for them to be successful in their business.
1. Understand your customer base:
Make a unique ID number for each horoscope that you analyze. Capture and categorize details of your customers as a data set. Make a record of birth details, dates and times for key life events, main reason for their visit, date of consultation, and advice provided by you. If you have access to a computer and MS Excel software or any spreadsheet package, you could easily create such an electronic database yourself. By scientifically analyzing this database at regular intervals, you will be able to draw conclusions about the general age, sex, and problems of your customers. This will help you understand the kind of problems in which you need to improve your astrological knowledge.
2. Create a catalog of rules:
As a next activity, list and categorize all rules you are familiar with for the 15 or 20 common problems we discussed earlier in this article (Cataloging of rules). Include other areas of consultations as well, if time permits. Create a unique ID for these rules as well. Classify all rules you know under the heading of each problem. In these set of rules, create an order of importance/application for each rule. Group the rules into Most often used, Frequently used, Occasionally used, Rarely used etc. Specify the astrological method for each rule (like Parasara, Jaimini, KP, Nadi etc). Whenever you come across a new rule that can address one of these specific problem, add them to your set of rules and update your catalog. You can also create such a catalog of rules in Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet package.
3. Creation and Update of Consultation log:
After providing your consultation on a horoscope, take some time immediately after that to record the set of rules you have used in your analysis and their order against the unique ID of the customer (Customer ID to Rule ID mapping). If you find other set of rules that are applicable in a horoscope (but not used by you), make a note of them as well against a unique ID of the customer. It is necessary to do this immediately after the consultation to minimize errors or omissions in recording. Over a period, if you analyse this set of rules in your database, you will be able to identify rules that stand out in most of the horoscopes. If could apply these strong rules to make predictions for new cases. It is also important to apply a newly learnt rule against old customer records to validate the usefulness of that rule.
Even if you haven’t created any data assets so far about your customers and rules base so far, it is still not late! This is the right time to think through about it and create one. Please remember that you are creating this database only to harness your professional skills and improve your credibility by refining and refreshing your astrological knowledge.
Role of Astrology Teaching Centers:
Schools that teach astrology should educate their students on the need to create such data sets. Help your students to create templates that can be used to record and test your own system of rules on the horoscopes used as part of their learning. This will be an asset you can built for your students and the school of astrology you belong to or teach to your students. It takes immense effort to create such a database and not possible without collective contribution from everyone.
There are number of considerations from a data science perspective, when such a massive database is created. If not structured well, the whole effort could generate something that’s not amenable for analysis at a later stage and could lead to wasted efforts! When Astrology Teaching Schools create such templates instead of individuals, the chances of committing errors can be reduced and consistency can be improved. They can make use of people well versed with data science and databases for the creation of such databases.
Astrological rules – Need of the hour:
In the Western world, may individuals and groups have led such successful initiatives aimed at creating massive astrological data sets of individuals which are widely leveraged by larger astrologer communities. It is very unfortunate that in India, which is considered as the birthplace of astrology, we don’t have such a massive astrological data set that can be accessed by many. People who have such data sets are not willing to share with others. The profession of Astrology is larger than individuals and I request them to come forward to share and create a master database collectively. We can restore many glories of astrology by creating a database and making it publicly available for the astrologer community to test various rules followed by different schools of astrology. Such a database can also serve as a base for conducting research and testing of astrological hypotheses. The domain of data science will be an essential companion to achieve this objective. As a practicing astrologer, how to are you going to help this cause?
— End of 4 Part series.