Casey Wilson was feeling anxious about the birth of her daughter. “Her due date was January 22, and I felt passionately that she should be a Capricorn, the sign of hard work,” says the actress and podcaster, a self-described “(mostly) proud Scorpio.” She called the only person who understood: her astrologer, Heidi Rose Robbins, who “opened my eyes to the possibility that perhaps a little air, specifically Aquarius air, would make for a breezy, buoyant little girl.”
Frankie was born on January 20, the very first day of Aquarius. “Her first act of rebellion against me!” Wilson joked.
Somewhere Nancy Reagan must be delivering an epic I-told-you-so eye roll, because 40 years after she was ridiculed for bringing the zodiac to the White House, astrologers are no longer seen as part of the incense-and-dreamcatcher crew. Today astrology is about far more than figuring out if your crush is compatible or which soup to eat based on your sign. Personal star watchers are must-have advisers for scheduling art openings, Hollywood premieres, book launches, and board meetings.
“Because of the pandemic, a lot of people who hadn’t found astrology are looking for answers, both personally and professionally,” says Robbins. The global astrology economy was valued at $12.8 billion in 2021 and could reach $22.8 billion by 2031, according to a new report by Allied Market Research. “I used to read for artists and healers. Now it’s CEOs and stockbrokers.” Not to mention her client Shannon Watts, the gun violence–prevention activist and founder of Moms Demand Action, who hit the campaign trail alongside Joe Biden in 2020. “Sometimes it’s about choosing the right time for a big negotiation, and other times it’s about seeking fulfillment and purpose.” (Or it could even be about nailing a convenient excuse. As Wilson jokes, “I now blame my shortcomings on the stars, not myself!”)
“There is no more stigma that is keeping people away from astrology,” says Jennifer Freed, who has a yearlong wait list because she’s busy reading charts for Gwyneth Paltrow, Tig Notaro, executive turned best-selling author Tara Schuster, and three CEOs of publicly traded companies. “It’s just cumulative math. You can test anything in the marketplace, and if it’s not effective it will go away. Astrology has survived for thousands of years.”
Unlike the many apps, like Co-Star, Astrology Zone, and Astro Gold, that can create a person’s chart for less than $50, a personal astrologer who can accurately interpret a chart is sort of like eating a burger from a Michelin-starred bistro instead of a drive-through. Most astrologers to the A-list charge $300 to $400, and they meet with their clients only once a year for an hour, unless a specific situation arises that needs immediate attention. “
You don’t need to reach out for a consult every time you want a haircut or every time you get into the car to buy groceries, but if something is important it’s good to check in,” New York City–based astrologer Micki Pellerano says. Pellerano, who works with everyone from Oscar winners to fashion designers to blue chip artists (no, he won’t name names), recently got a panicked call from TV producers with a conundrum.
“Someone on the team was feeling superstitious about when the series should launch, and another person said, ‘Let’s reach out to my astrologer.’ So they did,” he says. After studying the alignment of planets on the possible dates, he advised them to move the premiere back by two days. “A last-minute legal issue came up, and had they gone with the original date, it wouldn’t have been resolved in time. The new date turned out to be better for everyone involved and for the show. You just don’t want to white-knuckle these decisions.”
Not that astrologers have a crystal ball.
“I always tell my clients, ‘I’m going to give you information, but this is where your free will comes in,’ ” Robbins says. “I can say, ‘I suspect you’ll be experiencing something in this domain,’ but it’s up to my client how they use that map. I’m not psychic.”
Which may be part of the reason astrology appeals to a broad spectrum of the woo-woo-wary. “There is a long history in the world of charlatans trying to milk you emotionally and financially,” says actor Paul Scheer. “Back when I was younger my mom saw a medium who said, ‘Your son won’t be an actor, but he will be a writer,’ and I’ve always had that in the back of my head and hated that. I used to think astrologers and mediums were all the same thing.”
Scheer’s wife, actress June Diane Raphael, brought him to meet Robbins to figure out the celestial reasonings behind their communication. “Things were ringing true about who we are and who we are together. It was this incredibly spot-on thing to navigate my relationship,” he says. “Even seeing the math in the chart made it register differently. It felt, for lack of a better word, very clean.”
So much so that when it came time for Scheer and Raphael to schedule a C-section for their child, they consulted Robbins for the best day. “Why not ask?” he says. When they informed their obstetrician that their astrologer had chosen the date, “He didn’t even bat an eye.”
This story appears in the May 2023 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
