In episode 340 astrologers Chris Brennan and Leisa Schaim discuss whether the preferred designation for a practitioner of astrology is “astrologer” or “astrologist”, and why it is important.
The motivation for this discussion is that there seems to be some confusion among non-astrologers about what the preferred word is to use.
In general, the preferred designation is “astrologer”, and this is the word that is used and often strongly preferred by the vast majority of practitioners today.
During the course of the episode we review three informal polls that were done on social media that indicate that between 90–99% of astrologers prefer the term “astrologer” over “astrologist”.
Despite the overwhelming preference for the term astrologer, some social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and more recently Twitter have made it so that practitioners can only select the term “astrologist” when listing their profession.
Thus, part of the purpose of this discussion is to raise awareness about this issue among the general public.
While there are occasionally some astrologers who do use the term astrologist, and that is ok, the purpose of this discussion is to clarify that since the vast majority of practitioners prefer the term astrologer, that is the word that should probably be used by non-astrologers when referring to the profession.
This discussion is partially based on an article Chris wrote in 2014 titled Is it Astrologer or Astrologist?
This episode is available in both audio and video versions below.
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A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 340 transcript
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