A Statement on Pricing

A Statement on Pricing

Many of you have been with me for several years now, and have watched me experiment with pricing my astrological services – sometimes to great extremes. Over the last few years I have tried everything from normal, to low, to donation pricing. After all this experimentation I’ve reached a conclusion. I’d like to take a few moments to explain it to you.

There is the noble idea that “Knowledge should be given freely.” But this necessitates another noble principle, “Those who give knowledge should never be charged for anything.” These two interdependent noble ideas actually worked in many ancient and classical cultures, especially in India’s history; but in today’s culture of global capitalism, it’s a pipe-dream.

If I couldn’t give it for free, I tried giving it cheaply. But the result was exhausting. I had to overwork to keep up with my expenses (I support a family with three children, living in Japan). I felt that the quality of my work declined somewhat, which I dislike, and I lost the precious time an astrologer requires to continuously study and contemplate.

I tried another angle: donations. I thought that this may allow people with less economic facility to get knowledge, while people with more economic facility could be more generous and make up the difference. It did work somewhat, but “making up the difference” still amounted to working at very inexpensive rates, and thus the same exhaustion, overwork and loss of quality. People in general cannot be blamed for not understanding the hours of study that must go into every hour of giving a reading, so it’s not really feasible to ask them to donate as much or as often as I need.

And so, to my decision: Fixed prices that I know to be fair to myself and my clients.

To determine exactly what that is I did a survey of seven astrologers with similar credentials and situations as I and found their average fee for a birth chart reading was $300, for a transit or progression was $265, and for a compatibility reading was $280. I used these figures as the guidepost for establishing my fee structure.

From here on, I don’t intend to experiment anymore with pricing. My fees will not change except as fluctuating currency values necessitate from time to time. Here are the readings I will offer.

Thank you,

Vic DiCara

New Birth Chart Overview is now Available!!!

I just made available a fantastic, brand new Birth Chart Overview. It features:

• Beautiful, original artwork renditions of your birth chart!
• Deep, yet clear and simple explanations of every important symbol in your horoscope. Your rising sign, and every planet in its sign, house and lordship!
• Fantastic graphs of the “positivity” and “potency” of every planet in your chart; giving you easy and intuitive understanding of sophisticated mathematical calculations, like Ṣaḍ-Bāla and Varga-Viṁśopaka.
• A clear outline of the rhythms in your life-cycles, according to the major and minor periods of India’s famous viṁśottarī daśā system, calculated by accurate “fixed-star years” – along with guidance on how to use it!

I am happy and proud to offer the clearest, deepest and most comprehensive birth chart overview you can find anywhere - the result of thousands of hours spent in deep meditation upon Sanskrit texts, and years of practical application on thousands of horoscopes – for the most affordable fee of just $29!

Here are a few images from a sample reading…

Please check it out and order yours here: http://vicdicara.com/readings.php

Thanks,
Vic

“Natal”?

“Natal” is a strange word used a lot in astrology.

“Na” as a root in English refers to “original” or “point of origin.”

So we have words like nature (the original character of a person or place), or nativity – “the place or situation of birth.” In fact the term is used a lot relating to childbirth: post-natal, peri-natal, pre-natal, etc. “Natal” is the point/time of origin: birth. A “native” is a person who originally inhabits a place, a person “born there.”

In astrology, a horoscope can be called a “nativity” because it describes the situation of the heavens at the point of origin, the time of birth. The person being born at that time is called the “native.” Anything in the chart is referred to as “natal.”

So when as astrologer says “Natal Mars” for example – he or she is talking about Mars at the time of your birth, in other words, Mars in your horoscope. In contrast to Natal Mars, there might also be “Progressed Mars” or “Transiting Mars” or “Regressed Mars” etc. These terms are talking about Mars at times OTHER THAN your time of birth.

A solar return, for example, is when “transiting sun” comes into perfect conjunction with your “natal sun.” That means, when the current position of the Sun exactly matches the position the Sun was in when you were born.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

Much Simpler and More Reliable Than “Cancellation of Debilitation”

I calculate a planet’s dignity not by sign alone, but by six or more subdivisions of the sign (varga-vimshopaka). This is how the sages instruct us to evaluate dignity. The sign a planet occupies in the main birth chart is one of several signs it occupies when you take subdivisions into account. Therefore often a planet that looks “debilitated” can have pretty good dignity, and visa versa.

Considering this is infinitely simpler and more useful and reliable than going off on the wild-goose tangent of “Cancellation of Debilitation” (neech-bhanga)

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com