Best Magazine Horoscopes

I read and rated magazine horoscopes for quality, authenticity, and entertainment value, found out about their astrologer-authors, and the reasons the best are the best -- and why others aren't. Surprise: horoscopes in Town & Country magazine! Surprise: no horoscopes in the glossies Vogue,  Glamour and Vanity Fair (they used to have them!), and O. Click to see the article.

Claire Astrologer at Astrology-Revealed.com

I tried Claire the astrologer at Astrology-Revealed, and she sent with my free reading the first actual birth chart I've seen in 10 years of investigating offers like hers. Read the full, all-new review.

Maria Medium: Can She Contact the Other Side?

Several readers asked whether they could trust Maria Medium, or "Maria the Medium," at the-medium-maria.com, so I requested her free three-card Tarot readings and am sharing the results, and outing her outrageous price of $79 for a seven-card Tarot reading. I don't know any real Tarot reader who charges that much. Click here for my findings about Maria Medium, who delivers a blend of astrology, lucky numbers, and very limited Tarot.

Jenna Astrologer Changes Her URL from AboutAstro.com to The-Astrology.com

After thousands of customer complaints about her shabby "readings" and shabby customer service, Jenna the psychic astrologer at AboutAstro.com has changed her Web address to The-Astrology.com. There is no change in the services offered, nor the fees: Just the site's owner trying to hide a well-earned negative reputation and hundreds of bitter customer reviews. Read the updated Jenna review here, and the comments from her former clients.

Review: USA-Astrology.com

You'll never guess who's selling her old services for $20 less than the usual through the new URLs USA-Astrology.com and IN-Astrology.com (the latter, hoping to tempt customers from India). These two new fortunetelling websites are now being heavily advertised on Google. Hint about "her": "Her" regular website sank beneath the weight of bad reviews. I got my free reading, too. Check out my review of USA-Astrology here.

Diana-Numerologist and Julia-Clairvoyance: As Psychic as Aunt Jemima: Review

After 10 months on the Net with very little business, the owners of Diana-Numerologist.com bought an email list with your name and birthdate so they could send your "Grand Study" to your mailbox free of charge. Diana's clone Julia-Clairvoyance.com shares word-for-word the same biography, the same server in the Netherlands and the same fee scale. Are they really British aristocrats slumming on the Net? Sylvia checked out both Diana and Julia for quality, price, and refund policies.

Tupak, Visionary Shaman: A Review

He's young, handsome, and says he will tell you the truth whether you like it or not. He's also the newest online-psychic bot on the block and more sophisticated. Tupak claims Native American descent and predicts you'll win millions in lotteries and find true love if you stick with his costly services. What will you get from Tupak? See a review of Tupak, Visionary Shaman. (By the way, he's recently got a new name and new look; compare the "old" and "new" Tupaks here.)

The Meaning of the Rare Transit of Venus, June 5-6, 2012

For the first time since 1882 and the final time until 2117, the planet Venus will cross between the earth and sun, allowing us to watch (using eye protection, as with a solar eclipse) the planet travel across the sun's face. Astronomers will be watching and astrologers will be pondering the meaning as the transit occurs at 15 degrees of Gemini. Find out how and whether you'll be able to witness this once-in-a-lifetime sky event, where to watch it via webcam, what events the Transit of Venus has brought in past epochs, and what it might bring us for the rest of this century. The article on the Transit of Venus is well-researched by Sylvia Sky, who's also been following the forty-day Venus retrograde that occurs every 18 months and continues until June 25.

Fun Predictions for the 2012 Venus Transit Aftermath

• Some astrologers say that the transit of Venus can bring your soulmate, but Venus is always in retrograde during its solar transit, so it is more likely that soon after the transit, individuals will see a current or former relationship in a different light.
  
• Understanding foreign languages and "accents" will soon be solved by instant-translation technologies.
• Cars in 2011 can already park themselves; they will soon drive themselves (while we are texting or putting on makeup).
• Lotteries will offer as their prize not millions of dollars but health care for life.
• Colleges will replace basic English and math classes with online self-paced learning.
• Instead of measuring intelligence or skills, public schools will measure loyalty. They will teach not in classrooms but by requiring students to check in at different locations and workplaces.
• Child labor laws will be amended for children who want to work. Adults will retire from working much earlier than they do now; perhaps will be required to do so.
• School applicants will describe not what they want to do after graduation but the scientific or social problem they intend to use their school years to solve. If they don't solve this problem, they must pay tuition. Schools will own the patents or copyrights on students' school-related work.
• Human body parts for transplants will be globally traded and shipped until "intelligent" implantable body parts such as artificial kidneys are invented.
• Corporations will pay college expenses for students who agree to be groomed as their future employees.
• Electronic books will contain commercials. Large publishers will issue mainly books with computer-written content fully approved by their mega-corporation. All other books will be sold in specialized shops, or by authors selling them door-to-door to buyers who want books written by human beings, not computers.
• In the U.S., artistic creativity will be a rare skill and outsourced to other countries.
• Poetry will become a popular entertainment form and a global political force.
• Personal health will be continually monitored and we will be penalized or fined for not exercising or for eating unapproved foods.
• Wireless communications and media devices will be implantable in ears and brains and "telepathic" communication will become possible.
• Powerful new female leaders will empower marginalized and poor women.
• A global communications or technological disaster will open up entirely new business, educational, and technology fields and lead to higher consciousness and a different set of values.

True Horoscopes and Finding Psychics: Your Questions Answered

How much will a real horoscope cost? Can I find a real psychic on the Internet? Sylvia Sky of Horoscope Review answers 20 of the most commonly asked questions about astrologers, horoscopes, clairvoyants, psychics, and tarot card readers. Click here.

Horoscope Review: Facebook and Twitter Horoscope Mobile Version

Dailyhoroscopes.net is the source for Facebook's and Twitter's most popular daily horoscopes -- those with the colorful bar graphs showing "percentages" of astrological good luck for the day. Now you can read those free horoscopes using a mobile phone. The question is, do you want to? Read the review.

Horoscope Review: "My Horoscope" Smartphone App from ID Mobile SA

"My Horoscope," a mobile daily-horoscope app from ID Mobile SA, has been downloaded more than a million times from iTunes and Android Market. Is it real astrology? Read my review of the app's accuracy and usability.

Horoscope Review: Pasqualina, Bargain-Basement Clairvoyance Fake

"Pasqualina" offers a free clairvoyant horoscope. She doesn't seem to know there is no such thing. Anyway, when you buy readings from her you will get what you pay for. http://hubpages.com/t/29d558

Horoscope Review: SpiritNow.com Phone Psychics

SpiritNow.com advertises a free and honest 5-minute psychic reading. Unfortunately the SpiritNow.com site belongs to discredited media psychic Sylvia Browne. But I was curious and called. Here's what happened.

Horoscope Review: Daniel "Whelland" Dowd, Salt of the Earth & Real

Unique, earthy weekly forecasts and more by an old rock 'n' roller: http://sylviasky.hubpages.com/t/28d720

Gabriella the Psychic's Copycat, "Ms. Singh"

Psychic Gabriella, now well known as a bogus astrologer and psychic, and "Ms. Singh" at the website bestpsychicinternational.com are very much alike. There's no picture of "Ms.Singh," but she shares Gabriella's biography -- including this: "To this day, Ms. Singh is the only initiated westerner who knows the secrets of Indian celestial magic." Gabriella too is the "only initiated westerner" with that credential -- so something is wrong! Like Gabriella, "Ms. Singh" was also taught by the nonexistent "Shri Maliki," and studied astrology with a "33rd Degree Grand Master," which is an honorary (meaningless) Freemason title that has nothing to do with astrology.

It was a sharp reader who noticed the likeness and clued me in. I've seen no ads for Ms. Singh, so went to her site. Unlike Gabriella's site it is spare and mousy. No rates for Ms.Singh's services were given -- it says, "Call me and we will find an affordable rate for you: 1-866-930-95555" [sic], so I called.

The woman who answered said she was Ms. Singh. She had an East Indian accent. This doesn't mean she isn't a westerner, but I wondered. She asked how I had heard of her and I said, "the Internet." She asked my birthdate and then what my question was, and I said, "First I want to ask about your rates." She charges $75 for a full life reading and $110 for a reading involving a couple. I then asked about her education. She said, "What do you mean?" and I said, where had she trained as a psychic? And suddenly she had "another client in front of her" and asked if she could call me back.

According to Wikipedia, one million people living in Western countries have the surname "Singh," so without a first name "Ms. Singh" -- if she's a real person and that's her real name -- cannot be traced and investigated. But looking into both their website URL registrations I think that "Ms. Singh," who is based in Canada, is probably a company recently set up to compete with the huge European-based company that sells itself as "Gabriella," and "Ms. Singh" borrowed "Gabriella's" biography, hoping that copycat credentials would create the same kind of success.

Games, games! Don't contact either of them.

Sylvia Sky, experienced astrologer, reviews online horoscope sites for quality and accuracy. See more of her reviews here. Copyright 2010 by Sylvia Sky.

Which Psychics Aren't Real?

I have been asked how I can tell which online psychics are fake.

I write horoscope reviews. If an online ad offers a free horoscope, I request one. I'm an astrologer, so if the 'scope makes no sense, I try again, giving a different name, email, and birthday. If I get the same reading, I got my "free horoscope" -- it's just fake, that's all.

Maybe along with or instead of a fake horoscope, they promise or send a card reading, or long emails selling "clairvoyant" or "psychic" services, or a "second reading." By now I sense that I'm being misled. So far I've found misleading ads by:

1. Norah
2. Jenna
3. Gabriella
4. Tara
   

These are misleading ones. When I investigated their individual claims of being "a fourth-generation clairvoyant" or "winning a Psychic of the Year Award," finding no proofs of these claims I checked for Internet complaints. (So should you.) If there are many bitter complaints, all the evidence, starting with the fake horoscope, points to fakery overall.

"Tara" told me I'd won the lottery -- that's amazing, considering I didn't even play!

The names and faces of these "psychics" are fronts for businesses that rake in millions by misleading people. They do not give customized, individualized psychic readings. Their products are "canned." This is tragic for desperate people who want online psychics to tell them winning lottery numbers or explain a child's death.

About Real Psychics

Real psychics are extremely rare and do not need to advertise. They build a regular local or regional clientele through word of mouth.Maybe they could advertise through Yahoo and invite the entire Internet to come get a reading from them, but that would be a terrible overload for one person, don't you think?

Real psychics do not need to "do" astrology or Tarot readings, and so are unlikely to offer those. Astrology and Tarot are two totally different arts and require extensive education and training. By contrast, real psychics have a gift. They do not need to be trained or mentored. They probably have unlisted phone numbers. They may very well be miserable with their gift and wish they did not have it.

It works the other way, too: Real, trustworthy astrologers do not claim to be psychics. Astrologers and psychics have nothing in common. Misleading ads for "free horoscopes" bet that most people don't know this.

Still think you need a psychic reading?

First, Google the name of the psychic or company and see what other clients have said. Do NOT pay money or call a number if you find complaints. Fake psychics are big business. Needy, suffering people are their bread and butter.

My opinion about psychic readings done "remotely" by phone or email is that electronic energy fields and the pressure on both the reader and the caller greatly interfere with the clarity of a psychic transaction.

Local psychics have websites so people can find them or book a reading, so you can try that, but I have been to two local psychics and was disappointed. One struggled along, getting everything wrong, and then declared me "hard to read." So it was my fault!

The other did a move that is classic fake! Very often, a fake psychic will tell you that someone important in your life has the initial "R." Every one of us has that, whether it's Robert our boss or Rover our dog, or a neighbor or lawyer with that initial.

A friend I'll call Sarah went to a psychic, although it was 70 miles outside of the city and its price was very high. The psychic was a plain-faced, working-class woman who lived with her parents in a small house and met clients in the living room. When Sarah came in, the psychic said she saw an orange aura and said, "You're anticipating something," and asked, "Who's George?" Sarah had just had a first date with a man named George. That was probably much like the experience you will have if you find a real psychic.

But if you don't find one, in my opinion your best bet for quick customized information and guidance is a local Tarot card reader with a good reputation, one you meet in person. Ask around at salons, coffeehouses, spas, and hotels. A real Tarot reader is a combination counselor and diviner, and an ethical one will be glad to give you references. The price will be reasonable.

Sylvia Sky, experienced astrologer, monitors 70-plus online horoscope sites for quality and accuracy. Copyright 2010 by Sylvia Sky. See other horoscope reviews.

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.

Horoscope Review: Gabriella, as Psychic as a Toilet Seat

After you click on a line ad saying “Free Horoscope Reading” and send your information, Gabriella Psychic and Spiritual Medium sends an email with a confirmation link. It says, in part, “our meeting is no accident. . . .The proof of this is that I’ve just now had a vision: United States, that’s where happened [sic]. That’s why I’ve decided to let you benefit from a special priority Reading. Please, note that I can only do that for people for which I feel a deep and special connection.”

Then in an hour or two Gabriella emails: “Yes, Sylvia, in you I have discovered someone of high morals and ethics who is also extremely sensitive.” This email links to my “reading,” not of a horoscope, but of three Tarot cards. Later, using a different name and email address, I requested another “reading" and got one that was identical. Both times Gabriella recommended a “Grand Indepth Astral Reading.” But her "inner voice" told her I couldn’t pay $200, her usual fee, so she will charge me only $49. She furnished a convenient link for my credit card or PayPal payment. A bit later I get an email saying slyly, “I know you have read my email.” She knows because I gave her that confirmation link that let her track me. The next email begins, “Sylvia, I don’t want to panic you, but…” and further emails pestered me every few hours until I unsubscribed.

Gabriella’s testimonials include nameless people photographed with supersized checks from Vegas and lotteries. Her bio says she studied astrology alongside a 33rd degree Grand Master and is the only Westerner taught "the secrets of" celestial magic by “the great Indian Master Shri Maliki.” Then there’s a quote from Clairvoyance Mag : “Several foreign magazines have already voted Gabriella ‘Best Psychic of the Year’…”

Needless to say, there is no Clairvoyance magazine or “Best Psychic of the Year” award. Her Indian Master is not referenced anywhere else on the Net; “Maliki” is in fact a form of Sunni Islam canon law; nothing celestial about it. The title “Grand Master” is given to every top officer in local freemason chapters, and their “33rd degree” designation, although it sounds dramatic, is meaningless, like the honorary degrees that colleges give their wealthy donors. Even if Masons were astrologers, which they aren’t, their men-only club wouldn’t be training women. Maybe Gabriella did study astrology “alongside” her freemason grandpa, but she gave no indication that she knows or practices astrology at all. I foresee that it’s best if you avoid Gabriella. She's about as psychic as a toilet seat. Rating: zero stars out of five.

Sylvia Sky, experienced astrologer, monitors 70-plus online horoscope sites for quality and accuracy. Read more horoscope reviews clicking here. Copyright 2010 by Sylvia Sky.

Beware of "Jenna" at AboutAstro.com

Beware of free horoscopes offered by online astrologers who go by their first names only. True astrologers use their full names so you can google them or buy their books. The sole reason to use only a first name is to thwart research and investigation. In the case of aboutastro.com, the provider is "Jenna." Strike one.

But if the first-name basis and freebie offer have you convinced that Jenna wouldn't let you down, enter contact information and after 48 hours receive by email a link back to her website, where your free horoscope waits, secure. There, "a long personal text," 3600 words of rambling double talk and blither, not a horoscope and not personalized except with your name and birthdate, begins by wishing you (on September 16) a Happy New Year 2010. Strike two.

Naturally it’s a year of opportunity and true love. Yet “Only a professional astrologer can read your Skies correctly. . . . Sylvia, I warn you in this way because the stakes concerning this period are far too high. You need a professional to help you through this vitally important time in your life. This Transit is too significant and too important not to try and get all the chances over on your side." Jenna says Mars has been opposing my fifth house for SEVERAL YEARS NOW. In fact, transiting Mars doesn't stay anywhere in the sky for “several years.” Strike three.

But golly, I don't have any common sense, so clicked to her ordering page (with testimonials from people with first names only) where I plan to put $60 on my VISA for a "second" astrological reading plus Jenna's two e-books: one on clairvoyance, including secrets for developing my own, and the other on "radiestheisia" [sic] so I may try guiding my spiritual self and changing my life by playing with a pendulum.

Before trusting a one-name wonder, I should have googled “Jenna Astrologer.” And found that “Jenna” and aboutastro.com have collected over the years many bitter complaints.

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Sylvia Sky, experienced astrologer, monitors 70-plus online horoscope sites for quality and accuracy. See more horoscope reviews at hubpages.com or email horoscopereview@gmail.com. Copyright 2010 by Sylvia Sky.

SexualAstrology.com, How to Seduce a Man by Sun Sign

Sexual astrology? What an irresistible idea! Find it on SexualAstrology.com and the related StarAstrologer.com. Bookmark the latter site if the word "sexual" on your computer unnerves you; both sites share the same monthly forecasts.

Scroll down the SexualAstrology.com home page to find your monthly Sun Sign forecast. Then you will probably want to peek at your sweetheart's. Maybe like me you will prefer the weekly scopes, because they offer four chances a month to hope that this coming week you will truly "mature in your sensuous relationship with your mate" or that "an Aries, Libra, or Sagittarius might rock your world." That's as racy as the language gets. Do not expect X-rated detail about what you will do in bed this week, month, or year, or with whom. SexualAstrology.com's advice is about emotions, romance and relationships: the "weather in the bedroom" that has to be right before great sex can happen.

Have fun with this site, and don't make my mistake of taking it too seriously. The weekly Sun-Sign horoscopes have almost never reflected what actually occurs in my world, and regarding my sweetheart they have steered me dead wrong. Although it is just as computerized as the weekly scope, the monthly scope seems more accurate, and earns two and a half stars out of five.

The site's menus are lengthy and crowded, so use the search box at the top of the homepage, or the Sitemap in its footer to quickly find what you want, whether that's a very short and basic Sun-Sign compatibility reading, "How to Seduce a Man by Sun Sign" (there's no "How to Seduce a Woman"; I guess we're all easy, LOL), or to order extended computerized reports, such as the "Torn Between Two Lovers" report ($49.95) I haven't seen offered elsewhere on the Net.