So I'm often asked why people would get tarot readings, have their astrological chart done, or have need of any of the other divinatory sorts of things that me and those like me offer the world. 

While there isn't a single answer to this question, one answer is the desire to change—in astrology terminology "remediate"—a situation or personality trait. 

I came across a post from astrologer Alice Sparkily Kat, a phenomenal voice in the astrology space, called "The Only Way To Remediate Your Chart Is To Be Yourself". In this post, they make some really great points about how the concept of remediation is often little more than telling someone to turn down the volume on who they are. To take up less space. To live less openly. They rightly encourage the reader to ignore that advice and to live out all of themselves and, in so doing, a person can fulfill their unique destiny. I agree...full stop! 

Until I don't.

Look, if your desire to remediate problematic placements in your chart or a challenging energetic situation is coming from a place of wanting to be more palatable to a world that is just too narrow-minded to know what to do with you, then maybe the best advice is to screw those people and live out loud. I'm a bisexual guy who grew up a preacher's kid in the Southern Baptist churches of small town NC. I understand a little about living in boxes that don't fit right. Sometimes you just have to burst out of the box, opinions be damned. 

But there are times where remediation is necessary to address something that is keeping us from achieving what we know we are capable of. If I have this drive to write the "great American novel" but can't seem to get started or am too easily distracted, it makes sense to look at a chart or a reading and try to identify how to improve my focus so I can achieve that goal.

It isn't about watering myself down. It is about sharpening the tools I've given to do the work I'm here to do. 

We find this energy all over divination: Death in the Tarot, Pluto and Scorpio in astrology, the Scythe in the Lenormand system. While I don't think anyone has the right to tell us what we need to cut away in order to reach our potential, it is important for us to be able to recognize what isn't helping us in any given moment and address that where it needs addressing.