Horoscope Review: Hooked on Jonathan Cainer

Unlike other astrologers, Jonathan Cainer is most worth reading on the weekends. A nice long general forecast for your coming week appears on Saturday, and on Sunday, a weekly "Love Focus" forecast. Have you never heard of him?
Jonathan Cainer writes daily, weekly, monthly, and annual Sun-sign horoscopes for London's Daily Mail newspaper and it appears in print almost everywhere but in the U.S. Although a few critics whine that Cainer never got a diploma in astrology, he has earned his international popularity by evolving and improving his website and approach. Clearly a totally commercial enterprise, www.cainer.com is still, after fifteen years, one of the most complete and consistent astrology sites. Daily and weekly 'scopes are free; monthly 'scopes are available free on the first Saturday of the month.
Fans almost unanimously declare Cainer's written forecasts "spot on," probably because of this clever gimmick: They first tap the reader's imagination with metaphors or chatty openers such as, "Let's say you've gone into a pub and ordered a drink --." The reader's mind opens -- priceless -- and then the forecast's above-average length raises the chances that you can apply what he says to your personal situation. One online interview said Cainer writes 25,000 words per week. There's no question he writes quickly and airily, and sometimes the daily 'scopes are just hot air, I grant you. But I wouldn't call his work sloppy or wholly irresponsible. Writing at that speed and volume the best an astrologer might do is describe the drift of things. At this he succeeds.
Cainer is a talented writer and businessman, always staking out fresh territory. His site was among the first to have phone-in horoscopes (no longer available) and an Android app. He might not please everyone. But his online horoscopes are custom-written and not fake, and have pleased readers since 1994 (they're multi-lingual, too; click on the little national flags). When someone is that successful, it is usually because he's delivered the goods.

Sylvia Sky, experienced astrologer, monitors 70-plus online horoscopes for quality and accuracy. To read more horoscope reviews, click here. Copyright 2012 by Sylvia Sky.