I passed a friend’s place the other day, her dog was laying on the porch. I whistled at the dog, the torpid late summer heat had him prostrate on the porch, and frankly, he couldn’t be bothered. He thumped his tail once, and went back to doggy nap land.
The lady who owns that dog is a Pisces. The other night, another Pisces asked why she should pay for an astrology reading when she had a friend who was willing to do it for free. I didn’t have a snappy, quick comeback for that. I should, but I didn’t.
The question burned at the back of my brain for a while, and I mulled over possible ways to address it.
Possible answers? “You get what you pay for.” That’s always been a favorite of mine. Or, “If your friend’s so good, why don’t they charge for their services?” Or any one of a number of similar responses now come to mind.
The real catch, I’ve found, is that stuff that goes out for free is treated lightly, strictly as fluff. The important material, the meat of the message, it gets missed. In sheer numbers, I’ve weighed this before, my “Planet Profile,” the usual prize for a contest around here, weighs in at 2500+ words. The other free stuff that I’ve found on the web, from various sources, barely tips the scales of the word processor at 500 words. I was preparing a set of reports the other night, to ship on down the virtual vacuum tube, and just one planet profile, the “El-Cheapo,” was close to 3500 words. I think it was for a Virgo – they always demand more.
Problems are with perceptions. Free stuff never gets the full and proper treatment it should. I still have a number of professional psychics, this is their stock and trade, who rely on my services for understanding the planetary mix. I’ve always found that curious. Nothing’s better than hearing my own words parroted back, well, except I’d like a footnote. Not like that’s going to happen, either.
That dog, the other day. It was hot, and I didn’t have a stick in my hand. Or a bone, or a chew toy. Or food. Nothing interesting. He just thumped his tail once. He was doing exactly what I would do, too. Nothing really motivates me, I mean, he didn’t have to do anything but guard the porch, and since I wasn’t going over the fence, I didn’t rate a lot of attention. If I have no investment in a process, then I’m not worried about whether I do a good job or not.
Bubba, bless his Gemini soul, reminded me about this, that same evening. We met on a radio show he was producing. I was “amazingly accurate” for any number of listeners, but I never could hit him. I predicted good stuff, based on the chart I was looking at, and he went through hell. I suggested he was about to get a raise, and he got fired. So, we stayed friends, but he didn’t really trust this astrology stuff too much. He liked the scopes, but he didn’t really trust my readings.
A few years back, and the story involves a leggy blonde, a stripper or two, his “sister” Kathi [Virgo>, and a lot of cigar smoke, there’s an Aquarius and West Texas part of that thread, but as he often intones, “never mind that part now,” he was over, and I had just finished printing up something like 50 pages worth of astrology report for him – on a printer that was slow as molasses – he took one look at the material, and asked why I had his year wrong on the chart. So for the first couple of years, I had his data off by one whole year. I took that painfully produced report and dramatically threw it in the trash. I didn’t want him making any more mistakes.
That report? The earlier prognostications that were done for free? No investment, other than wanting to see him do well. It’s an honest mistake, and one that I make sure is right before I ever sit down with a paying client.
The dog was frisky today, but I had a stick in hand, something for him to chase. Bubba blames me these days for what Saturn is doing to his Gemini self. At least I know where it falls in his chart exactly. You get what you pay for, or, in the case of the dog, what you play for.
