Why Ethics? Ethics As an Astrologer and Why They Matter

November 18, 2024 – Eli Gomez

Ethics is a word that gets thrown around a lot in day-to-day conversations. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself how you would define ethics? What even are they and why do they matter? Maybe ethics is one of those words that you intuitively know what it means but when it comes to practical application or if anyone asked you, you probably wouldn’t even be able to give a definition (that is unless you have sat through any sort of ethics training for a job or work closely with them daily).

I am a person who prides myself on having good ethics. My teacher, Laurie Rivers, immerses her practice in ethics. I have seen the benefits of ethics through her and realize how important they are to clients and readers of any modality. I have also seen quite the majority of readers online, especially on Facebook and TikTok, who may not value morality to the same extent as Laurie, myself, and many other ethical readers I communicate with. I will discuss all of this in this article.

Before we get started, I would like to give you a definition that I will work off of. This is my personal definition of ethics:

Ethics are the moral principles that guide a person’s behavior with the intention of serving others in a positive way.

I know that my definition is a little bit more complex and specific than the ones you may find on the internet or in dictionaries. I personally believe that ethics encompasses the “intention of serving others in a positive way” a lot more than what a lot of the common definitions lead on. The reason I tack on this gem to the end of my definition is because if the universe just consisted of you and yourself only, there would be no need for ethics. Ethics specifically deals with personal behavior in relations with others.

What are some examples of ethical behavior?

• Asking your client how to properly address them (e.g. pronouns, nicknames, etc.)
• Being trauma informed (e.g. not mentioning the worst possible scenarios when reading a person’s natal chart unless the client brings up the situation)
• Knowing and following through with scope of practice boundaries (e.g. referring clients to specialists on topics that are not of the practitioner’s expertise)
• Being honest about experience in a particular field of study (e.g. not publicly making false statements about who you took classes with and for how long)

As you may already know, ethics is not just incorporated into metaphysical fields of study. They are incorporated into business, medical sciences, and many other fields as well. Each of the examples I mentioned above about good ethical behavior can be applied to any field of study that entails working with other people. The same can be said for any ethical behavior that is incorporated in another field of study into a metaphysical field of study.

Before I conclude, I would like to give an example of an ethical dilemma that is common amongst many astrologers’ experiences. This dilemma involves someone wanting to book a reading to find out ways to get their ex back. For those of you who have never met me before, I make it very crystal clear that I will not do love/relationship readings for just anybody. I can do them—and I am quite successful at them—however the reason why I will not open them to the general public is because of situations exactly like the one I just mentioned. About half of the time, people will not come to me as an astrologer in good faith; good faith being increasing self-awareness, broadening horizons, or well-intentionally seeking guidance. As an ethical astrologer, I do often turn down requests for readings for people who I know are coming to me to manipulate other people. This is exactly what happens when it comes to love readings: people come to me trying to make somebody love them or turn someone into someone they are not to avoid working on their personal trauma. I absolutely do NOT and will NOT tolerate this and want absolutely nothing to do with someone’s manipulative activities, even if that means taking a pay cut. However, there are times when I am willing to do relationship readings for people and that is usually reserved for people I am close to or repeating clients who I have a sure understanding of what consciousness they are bringing to the table. This one example of ethics in action as it concerns my astrological practice.

If you take nothing away from this article, I hope you take away this: ethics concerns your intentions in relations with other people. Are you going to strive to be a person who holds themselves to the standard of ethical behavior or are you going to bypass the welfare and rights of others to raise yourself up? It is up to you to decide.