Susan Herskowitz is adamant: “There’s nothing 'woo-woo' about what I do as an astrologer,” she says firmly. The 16-year resident of Great Barrington, Mass. is an architect by training — and also an astrologer. Astrology and architecture go hand in hand. Both require latitude and longitude lines, plotting points, dimensions, angles, and precision. Herskowitz specializes in Uranian astrology, which is a precise and mathematical form of calculating an astrology chart. The technique involves the use of a 90-degree movable dial, which was established in the 1920s by astronomer Alfred Witte, the founder of the Hamburg School of Astrology in Germany.

A personal chart represents a map of the sky at the time of one’s birth. The chart shows the essence of a person. It can illuminate potentials and pitfalls and serve as a tool for personal growth. If you look at certain aspects of someone’s life, they show up in the chart. Uranian astrology, which is what I do, is an advanced, niche form of the practice that allows you to see the depth of a person in greater detail. It focuses on the midpoints in a person’s chart, which is a point between two planets. The midpoints are the first places I look for information; they reveal the specifics of a person’s chart and have to do with the minute someone was born — it’s essentially quantum theory.

Astrology has been so dumbed down. It’s not about newspaper columns or fortune telling. The heart of the practice is about patterns and possibilities. It’s a complex system, nothing is just cut-and-dry. Astrology isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about self-development, helping people… how someone can evolve and work through things.

I strive to shine a light on habitual ways of relating and behaving. I want a client to gain something practical, useful, which can be applied to everyday life. If you have a speck of awareness, then you can say, “Okay, maybe that’s not working for me.”

I never planned to become an astrologer. I come from a traditional Jewish family. I graduated from Tulane University with a master’s in architecture and I started working at an architectural firm in New York City in 1989. Then, during a rocky period in 1993, at the suggestion of a friend, I visited an Upper West Side astrologer, Maria Napoli. Her clients at the time included Isaac Mizrahi and Donna Karan. And my visit with her was very helpful. I really felt “seen” for the first time in my life — no judgment, just an objective point of view. The fact that there was this blueprint that described my intrinsic nature was very compelling.

I became fascinated with the technique. I was so impressed with Maria’s revelations and insights that I started studying with her and honed my skills. In 2000, lured by nature and quiet, I started to spend more time at my country house in Columbia County, and in 2003 I moved to Great Barrington full time. I live and breathe astrology charts, and continue to be fascinated with it more than ever. I have clients who’ve been with me for 20 years.

We’re in the middle of a very intense time right now; the country is in the midst of a nervous breakdown. Change is happening at every level. Everything is shifting and transforming — the old systems are collapsing. People are looking for perspective and direction. And astrology can provide a larger context for understanding events, as well as facilitate a better understanding of yourself and others.

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The Rural We