The Professional Ethics of Astrologers
May 3, 2008
Over at Elsa,Elsa.com, a little bit a controversy erupted when putting up a post by her friend astrologer Claire-France Perez. Ms. Perez had done an astrological consultation for Deborah Jean Palfrey, known as the D. C. Madam and wrote about it the same day of her death. This lead one commenter to say:
Suppose I were to consult an astrologer who has a well-known popular blog. At present I’m not a celebrity. But what if the circumstances surrounding my death were to propel me, however briefly, into some sort of post-mortem 15 minutes of fame? The ruler of my 8th is conjunct my Midheaven, so that’s not out of the question. Can I expect that said astrologer would write a blog post revealing that I had been his/her client, divulge my data, discuss the particulars of our consultation(s), and to further discuss the astrological indicators of my death? All without my prior consent just because I was now deceased?
This is a good question. What rights does a client have in regards to a consultation?
If you are a client, regardless of whether or not you are a public figure:
a) if you are paying for a consultation
b) if you have no other arrangement in place, such as the client gives you permission to use the material discussed in future works,
c) if the material you are discussing does not make the astrologer an accessory to any crime
then absolutely you have a right to privacy. Your information should not be divulged. A British astrologer who revealed the details of her consultations with Princess Diana was ultimately stripped of her education credentials.
If you are a personal friend of an astrologer who give you free consultations, then your information should not be revealed because that is a violation of your friendship, not necessarily of professional ethics.
If you write to a blog author and ask for free advice, then like for other advice columnists, the information given to the columnist and given by the the columnist is the intellectual property of that writer. A sensitive astrology blogger will not reveal embarrassing details that would lead to identifying a particular person, but that is at the discretion of the writer.
If you are public figure, even for fifteen minutes, and not a paying client, an astrology writer, just as any other writer, can write whatever they want about you as long as it isn’t libelous.
The thread here is the quid pro quo. If you are not paying for the service, and unless you have an agreement with the astrologer otherwise, then you limit your rights to the astrologer’s work.
According to Claire-France Perez, she and Ms. Palfrey had a previous agreement that Ms. Perez could write about her without restrictions in exchange for the consultation.
If you have a question you would like this astrologer answer on these pages, send it to starrynightastro@aol.com along with your birthday, birth place and birth time. No names will be published.
astrology, horoscopes, zodiac, professional ethics of astrologers
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
I am sorry. I still smell a rat.
According to Perez’s reported notes, she was under a great deal of duress and not thinking clearly. To get such an “agreement” out of somebody in such a state, would in many professions, constitute a violation of ethics and be reason to be de-certified (sort of akin to a lawyer getting a client to make adding a clause to a will containing a personal bequest to the lawyer in exchange for services).
There is no way to spin it–such an agreement could only benefit Perez.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I think its great that we discuss this subject and I appreciate your comment. I am all for setting professional standards of conduct and holding astrologers accountable to them. (And by the way, I wish you would post more on your own blog).
After spending a day with Ms. Palfrey’s chart, I am convinced that she wasn’t aware of the consequences of any of her actions when she spoke with Ms. Perez or at any point in her life.
With a moon in Gemini and a Sun and Mercury in Pisces, I can imagine her saying, sure, go ahead, write what you want. With the inconjuncts as Palfrey had in her chart, she was in a continual state of stress nearly all the time.
I am also iffy on calling Palfrey a client in the traditional sense of the word. She went over for dinner and a chart reading. Does that sound social or professional? Perez was sharing information with her partner, who appears to be the main counselor in the pairing. Was there any expectation of privacy? It doesn’t seem so.
Perez did honor the agreement not to post anything during the trial.
I’m not sure I would be putting out a blog post myself under those conditions, and I admit to a certain amount of consternation when I first saw the post. It does look like this is one of those gray areas we should discuss as a community and perhaps come to a consensus.
Should we protect clients from themselves? How much responsibility does an astrologer have in this area?
Readers, what do you think?
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:16 pm
For the record, Claire-France spoke with me about working with this gal many months ago (more than once) and the story is exactly as she tells it today whether it seems plausible or otherwise.
She was absolutely working in this gals best interest (and her own). They were co-conspirators - I could and would testify.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Elsa,
I appreciate your comment and your position.
I’ve given this a lot of thought the past couple days, and I posted my thoughts here.
I believe she was working in Palfrey’s best interest.
I still think we have more work to do to define what an astrologer’s responsibilities are to client.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:59 am
[...] Professional Ethics of Astrologers, part 2 by Beth Turnage May 4, 2008 Yesterday we looked at one astrologer’s release of the personal information of the D. C. Madam, Deborah [...]