Astrology apps

Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements · Banu Guler, Lisa Donovan

What it is

These are consumer smartphone apps. Each takes a user's birth date, time and place, builds a natal chart, and sends personalised daily text. Neither app is a therapy, and neither describes itself as one.

Format

• This is a framework for the psychotherapist's work with a client who uses astrology apps. It is not a protocol published by the app makers. No source gives session counts. The phases are and can fit inside any ongoing therapy.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• How Co–Star's text is made, as reported. The chart data feed an algorithm that produces a "day at a glance" notification and a list of current "problem areas". Freelance writers and astrologers wrote the wording to sound like a friend talking. The co-founder and CEO, Banu Guler, told Mashable that the app uses AI to generate predictions. A 2025 scholarly reading describes the daily horoscopes as largely…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status (one line). In a double-blind test, astrologers matched natal charts to personality-inventory profiles at no better than chance. See 189 for fuller treatment.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Referral felt as dismissal. Keep continuity. It is working when the client engages with the referral.
• Openings that rise with anxiety, or relief that fades within minutes. That pattern suggests a reassurance loop (4.8).
• Hidden spending, debt, or spending linked to anxiety spikes (4.8). It is working when spending is planned and within budget.
• Collapsing all use into "bad". Keep the valued functions. It is working when the client can name the problem function themselves.
• The client feeling rejected. Validate the request. It is working when the client brings readings without expecting you to judge them.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.