Joni Patry talks about doing astrology readings at parties and public events, from psychic fairs to high school graduations. She learned that live, fast readings under pressure sharpened her skills, and that connecting with people made interpretations stronger. The emotional work was draining, but the chance to give graduates empowering readings made it worth it.
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Hi, I'm Joni Petrie, and welcome to my YouTube channel. Well, today I have another episode with my world of astrology, and I thought this would be a fun one. I could talk about. What? Well, you know, all that you have to go through to get out there, get your name out there and become a practicing astrologer. One of the things that you kind of have to do is work with the public. And a lot of people might be afraid to do that, but one of the things that comes up is working parties. And this isn't something that was my favorite thing to do by any means, because you are bombarded by so many people, and you have to do reading after reading. Just, you know, one person leaves, another person comes and sits down. But it is great practice at really getting good at astrology because you got to be able to just read a chart off the cuff instead of doing all this preparation and studies. And I found that most of the time, when I did study a chart ahead of time, they'd sit down in front of me and say, whoops, is it okay if I was born at p.m. instead of a.m. i'm like, oh, my God, the whole chart's wrong. That I just spent 30 minutes to an hour studying. So you gotta learn how to really read a chart without all the prep work.
And besides, when you're able to do this, you connect with the people, and through this connection, really the things come flowing out when you get over the fear that you don't know what you're doing. And that's what's really happening initially before you really get used to and familiar with reading charts. So going back, you know, years and years ago, the first thing you start with is, like, the psychic fairs. And I remember the first psychic fairs I worked at, we didn't have computers yet, so we sat there with our ephemeris and looked up their birth date and just tied in the transiting planets that might be hitting their natal planets from the ephemeris where looked up their year and day of birth. That was how we did it. And then.
I started with parties, and gosh, I had some amazing parties. Well, first, I remember a big corporate party at a big convention center, and they had, like, psychic astrologer, palm reader, all lined up there. And this was part of the big party. Now, those were particularly not so fun because a lot of the people were drinking and they did not take it seriously. And they'd sit down and it was kind of like, prove it to me. You know, I don't believe in astrology. But, hey, they weren't. They didn't have to pay anything for it because they're just there at the convention hall, and here's some psychics that they can go laugh at and make fun of. And, you know, it's just part of their game that they were playing there. So, you know, that was interesting. And people didn't take it seriously. Even if you did nail something, they'd look kind of surprised, and then they get scared. You know, that's about how that worked. So that was the big conventions, then.
Private parties. I remember because I didn't like to do parties very much. I put a big price tag on it, thinking that that would, you know, nobody will hire me for this price, but if they do, I'll do it because it's worth it. I had.
Someone invite me to, no exaggeration, the most beautiful, expensive street in Dallas, in Highland Park. It's actually called Lakeside Drive. If anybody's ever been to Dallas, that's where the party was. This was years ago. It was around. I think it was around Halloween. So, you know, they had me as their entertainment, and, oh, my God, everyone was lined up. Some people would come up to me and, you know, hand me 100 or a $50 bill, will you? Squeeze me in line here? I don't want to wait in line. Like, that's not right. Anyway, people were doing that number with me, and I ended up reading everyone's chart there. I had my computer. This was the time of computers. And I remember some of the most personal things that they would blurt out at this party. I was, like, embarrassed. The questions they were asking me, such as my husband screwing around on all this kind of stuff. And I was like. And their partners were at the party, and I'm like, okay. So, you know, this was the kind of things that. That this particular party I was dealing with. Very, very interesting. The house was magnificent. It was a blast just to go to these parties and see the insides of these houses. So that was some of the parties. Then I had groups of women that I got to be friends with actually, throughout the years have me to their parties. And they would just have these women's parties where, you know, I would do all those readings for all the women, and that was. That was okay. But remember, doing that many readings in an evening is exhausting. And I got. I got to tell you that when you do these type of readings, they drain you.
One right after another. All the emotions you absorb. So that was part of those parties. But I got to Tell you the most fun ones that I did. Well, one, this one wasn't necessarily all that fun, but Cosmopolitan magazine hired me when they came to Dallas and it was in a big, beautiful hotel. And I sat there to read People's charts. And I am not kidding you, at this party, I think I read two people. People just walked all around me and I had a sign saying astrologer readings. Nobody took the author. I just sat there the whole time watching everyone at the party. It was a pretty amazing party to people watch, let me tell you, because it was actually sponsoring a certain mascara and, and I was the entertainment. And nobody but two people got readings from me there. That was kind of weird. Hey. But they paid me well, so that was, that was okay with me. But probably here is the most fun one. And I did this a few times. I did graduation parties and I loved this. This was like girls that graduated from high school, their whole class came to this party.
And I would do readings for them. And of course, the only thing I would tell them would be the uplifting, positive, happy, exciting things about who they are, what they're about to embark on, and, and what their life was going to be about in terms of empowering them, helping them see their best attributes, their best talents, their best gifts, and setting them on their way and saying, this is when this is going to happen. You'll probably meet a boyfriend at this time, but you should look into a career with maybe. Maybe I saw acting, maybe I saw the arts, maybe I saw the sciences, maybe I saw medicine. But I would give them what their chart indicated would be the best, best thing for them to follow down the path. I felt like this was such a positive time for these young ladies to get a reading. And I worked quite a few of the high school graduation parties there, and it was fun because they were excited. They had fun getting a reading. And I empowered them to their highest good. So that leaves with probably my best experiences. Working parties, doing the work to get your name out there, to get recognized.
Yeah, we all had to go through these kind of ordeals in our astrological journey to improve and perfect our gift with astrology. How can you get better at doing astrology? Practice, practice, practice. No matter how or where you do it, practice all you can because that just every chart you do, you learn something new. And that was what I valued the most by doing these parties. Because you're always learning something new, and you click with that person, you give them the information right away, they are at a great advantage to receive, and you feel like you've done something meaningful. Especially at those high school parties. Not the convention parties or the Cosmopolitan.
Or the big house parties. Yeah, those people were really kind of into it, but, yeah, it's not easy doing parties, let me say. I don't even put it out there that I do parties anymore. I don't even know that I would. It's.
It's just not my thing anymore. But I just wanted you to know what it's like climbing the ladder, trying to improve and hone in your skill with astrology through going out publicly and practice, practice, practice. That's the little message I have today. Working parties. So thank you for listening.
