Jo Spotswood

About Me

I’m an astrologer based in NYC. I’m also a career services provider and creative consultant.

I believe in using astrology to identify individual and ancestral patterns that affect you in this lifetime. I provide birth chart readings in which I walk you through the energetic blueprint of your life. That includes your blessings, blocks, inherited patterns, and clues to working with them.

I’m a Western astrologer and use the Placidus house system, which is most common in the West and what most popular astrology apps use. However, I also incorporate insights from whole house systems and the Vedic nakshatras to add another layer of nuance.

I used to be a corporate girlie for 8 years... That is, before my Saturn return came back for its final act/coda that catapulted me into self-employment. (Thank you, Saturn.)

Despite having a music degree, I ended up working in recruitment and financial services industries. It was fascinating. I landed on Wall Street for part of it. I was a student of life and of the people I met throughout. I learned a new person’s career history and how they felt about it every day. I was constantly reflecting on the concept of career while helping people navigate theirs.

The skills I learned during those times are the skills of a career services and communications professional. LinkedIn tells more of the story, and I can fill you in on the rest if you reach out and ask.

Sessions

• Your Top 3 Career Strengths According to your chart

  Your Top 3 Career Strengths According to your chart (30-minute)

  $40

• Mini Birth Chart Reading

  Mini Birth Chart Reading 45-minute - $60

  $60

• Regular Birth Chart Reading

  Regular Birth Chart Reading 75 minutes - $95

  $95

• Cosmic Career Consulting

  Cosmic Career Consulting 90 minutes - $150

  $150

Q&A with Jo Spotswood

1. 1. Tell us a bit about you and your practice.

   I'm an ex-corporate girlie turned astrologer, career services provider, composer, and professional ADHDer, thank you very much. I have a music degree, and yet I worked on Wall Street and later at a hedge fund because why not? Within those companies, I worked in talent acquisition and talent development. Now, as a career services provider, I rewrite peoples resumes, LinkedIns, and help them prepare for interviews.

   I also offer a service that joins astrology and career services called Cosmic Career Consulting. As an astrologer, I found myself putting on my recruiter hat during readings when career quandaries came up. Many of my resume writing clients have turned into astrology clients. Therefore, I was giving readings to people for whom I was already very aware of their career pivot goals, and weaving career consulting and job search strategy into the reading was natural.

   As for my astrology practice, I believe in using astrology to identify individual and ancestral patterns that affect you in this lifetime. I provide birth chart readings in which I walk you through the energetic blueprint of your life. That includes your blessings, blocks, inherited patterns, and clues to working with them.

   Finally, I'm based in NYC. I'm gay. A lot of my clients are gay or trans, and I love looking at birth charts through a queer lens.

2. 2. What moment or realization made astrology and/or tarot “click” for you in a real, lived way?

   I got my first birth chart reading when I was 18 from the astrologer who later became my teacher, Sarah Barab. During that reading, Sarah asked me what happened around a specific date because it looked very accident-prone and dangerous. I told her that I crashed my car on the specific date she mentioned, and she looked unsurprised! How did she know that?! 8 years later, I started taking astrology classes with her to eventually figure out what she saw.

   Then, last spring (2025), Sarah gave me a forecast reading. (Yes, astrologers still get readings from other astrologers!) During that forecast reading, she told me dates to be extra careful of my physical body. She told me it would be a great time to go on a retreat and basically not go anywhere. I didn't like hearing this, even though I saw what she saw in my transit chart.

   I marked my calendar for when to be extra careful and I spent most of that period in a forced creative retreat at home... because I– wait for it– BROKE MY FOOT at an event 2 days into the time period for which she told me to be extra careful and basically not go anywhere.

   I know these aren’t fun examples but they’re viscerally accurate and why I wanted to study with my teacher in the first place.

3. 3. What’s something most people misunderstand about astrology and/or tarot that you’re always gently correcting?

   That sun sign astrology is what professional astrologers do. I understand where these ideas come from. Generalized sun sign astrology forecasts are what's accessible to the everyday person and what performs well on social media and websites, and newspapers and magazines before that.

   There's a great quote I recently came across when researching the history of this misconception. This is from 40 years ago and still rings true:

   "Professional astrologers say the [newspaper astrology horoscope] columns publicize astrology but give an inaccurate impression of what it really is. Robert Hand... author of several astrology books... said the columns thus both 'help and hurt. They keep people aware of the existence of astrology, but astrology’s strength is that it deals with the uniqueness of individuals. Sun sign astrology makes it look like we treat all people as one of 12 types.'"

   Source: "40 Million Readers: Horoscopes: Fans Bask in Sun Signs" - Penelope McMillan for the Los Angeles Times, published July 5, 1985.

4. 4. Tell us your thoughts on the astrology of 2026 and how it’s likely showing up in people’s everyday lives right now.

   Dissolving of boundaries, structures, in some ways constraints. Everyone getting gayer (woohoo!) with Uranus entering Gemini (I say that tongue in cheek). Revolution toward personal authenticity with Pluto in Aquarius. Struggles with pacing yourself -- too fast or too slow -- with Saturn in Aires. Delusions, illusions, romanticization, and disillusionment about war and masculinity with Neptune in Aires.

5. 5. What’s a recurring life theme you see in your readings right now (love, career pivots, endings, rebirth, boundaries), and how do you help people work with it instead of resisting it?

   Saturn transits. Accepting that something is going to suck for a little bit and that's just part of the process. I provide the space for them to process their discontent and to feel validated about the struggle that they're currently going through, reflecting back to them that both the stars and I agree that their struggle is very real. And that it's going to amount to that person becoming very good at the things they're struggling with, in time. And eventually, that'll be one of their superpowers, and it'll all make sense in retrospect. You're just too close to the threads now to see how it fits into the tapestry of your life.

   Oh, and career pivots. More on that later!

6. 6. When someone comes to you feeling stuck, what part of the chart do you look at first and why? If you do tarot or another practice, tell us about your process for this.

   I look to see what transiting Saturn and Neptune are up to and how they aspect the person's birth chart. Why: Saturn governs feeling stuck and Neptune governs feeling lost. And they’ve been moving in lockstep, together for the past year+.

7. 7. When someone is trying to understand their love life more deeply, where do you guide them to look first? What parts of the chart, energy, or inner patterns tend to reveal the most?

   Descendant and its ruler, 7th house, Venus, and Mercury/3rd house because communication is key in any love life.

8. 8. When someone is trying to understand their career life or work/ purpose more deeply, where do you guide them to look first? What parts of the chart, energy, or inner patterns tend to reveal the most?

   Instead of the midheaven, I first look to the 2nd house and its ruler because we live in capitalism, and that part of the birth chart has to do with the resources, including skills, that help you ‘put food on the table.’ It’s also the personal finance house. I also look to the 6th house of your daily work/routines and the 10th house of your vocational calling and what you want to be known for, and the planetary rulers of these houses. This helps me get a sense of what will feel natural versus grating to you. I incorporate insights from all 3 of those houses (2nd, 6th, and 10th) to help you put into words what works best for your bills, brain/body, and aspirations.

9. 9. What’s one small but meaningful practice or reflection you’d recommend people try based on their natal chart or reading?

   Journal about it right when you're done with the natal chart reading. Write down what resonated and please please please don't carry with you the things that did not feel helpful. If you feel like an interpretation of a certain aspect of your chart didn't serve you, please disregard it instead of having it sit in the back of your mind.

10. 10. What are your favorite decks + resources that you think people should know about?

    Magic of I astro planner. The Complete Book of Astrology by Caitlin Johnstone.

Offerings

• ASTROLOGY