| Astrology aligns business plans with planets |
by Greg Barr.
HOUSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL, December 22, 2006
"Millionaires don't use astrologers. Billionaires do." -- J.P. Morgan
When the planets start lining up, Andrea Foster's business universe expands.
An astrologer in Houston for nearly 16 years, Foster is an astral advisor to a growing galaxy of corporate clients -- from fledgling entrepreneurs to senior executives. They seek heavenly guidance to complement down-to-earth numbers-crunching in making decisions about business, careers, or even their love life.
"One thing that people seem to always want to know about is whether they will be moving if they get a new job, or if a company is in trouble they want to know if they will still have a job," says Foster. "One guy had applied for a new job, and he got the cell phone call (offering the job) when I was doing his reading. I told him that by next year, they'll ask him to relocate somewhere else in the U.S."
She bases her prognosis on the birth date of a client and, in the case of a small business owner, the date of the company's incorporation.
Foster offers suggestions, ideas and even some predictions based on computations of celestial charts that designate the position of key planets at specific times. Several impressed clients say she has an uncanny knack of being accurate.
Foster has had three consultations with Allison Shapiro, an Aquarian who sells Swiss health and wellness products through a home-based business with a Sagittarius incorporation date.
At the first, the astrologer told Shapiro that she or someone close to her was getting ready to travel. Shapiro's husband had just been told he was being transferred to Indonesia by his employer, oilfield services company Schlumberger Ltd.
Says Shapiro: "She seems to be pretty spot on, and very matter of fact. She also said I'd be going away at the end of the year when my husband and I had been talking about meeting in France at Christmas."
Denise Peery, owner of executive coaching and management consulting firm The Peery Group, says using an astrologer's advice helps her sort out her own thoughts.
"As an entrepreneur you have to wear all the hats and think about your company 24/7," Peery says. "Andrea helped to merge all the different thoughts so you can process it all. I consider it science and psychology blended together. It all begins with trusting yourself and making more calmer decisions."
Lynda Johnson, a Houston commercial Realtor, first spoke to Foster while going through a divorce in 2002.
The astrologer's predictions that Foster would have a very successful year financially in 2006 followed by an even better one in 2007 made work part of the celestial picture.
Says Johnson: "I wasn't really thinking about using (her advice) for business. I just kind of play at astrology and don't run my life by it. A lot of times I just use what she says as a guide, because even if her timing is off a few months, she seems to be on target. I try to use what she says to put pieces of the puzzle together." ...
Mars attacks!
Andrea Foster didn't put much stock into astrology prior to 1991 when she had a car accident during a Mars cycle. After checking back through insurance records to a previous car accident nearly three years earlier, Mars popped up again.
"It totally freaked me out," recalls Foster. "So the next time (of the Mars cycle) I tried an experiment, figuring I wouldn't leave the house. A drunk guy ran into a tree across the street and was gunning his engine trying to get free, so I went out and moved my car down the street. When he got loose, he backed all the way up near my bedroom window and would have banged into my car for sure."
She is aware of the mixed perceptions people have of astrology.
Foster says it is easy for the uninitiated to lump astrology, which is based on very detailed, geometrically and mathematically oriented decisions, into the same realm populated by late-night psychic hot-line infomercials where paid actors are hired to hand out advice over the phone.
Some of Foster's clients, including a manager at a large Houston retail company, agreed to be interviewed but did not want to have their names published due to concerns that their co-workers or boss might get the wrong impression.
In contrast, some high-profile Americans over the years such as Ronald Reagan and business tycoon J.P. Morgan made little effort to hide the fact that they used astrologers to help them make key decisions.
Men are definitely a harder sell on the notion of seeking astrological guidance than women. Says Foster: "Overall, 75 percent of the people I speak to are women, and it's just about the difference in genders, you know, how men don't like to ask for directions or think they need help or any kind of counseling. The men who do come to me are more communications-oriented people looking for confirmation regarding a decision they may want to make. But they don't want anyone knowing that they do.
Greg Barr, Reporter,
Houston Business Journal PH. 713-960-5932 C. 713-968-8025 Email:
gbarr@bizjournals.com
