We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Laura Cowan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Laura below.

Laura, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

For both of my businesses, I took to astrology for inspiration. I chose the name 6th House Astro for my astrology business because I have what is called a stellium, which is a collection of 3 or more planets in a sign or a house, in my 6th house in my birth chart. In western astrology, the 6th house is associated with work, daily routines, habits, and being of service to others, which are all things I enjoy doing in my astrology practice! I have a specialized reading called Daily Habits and Routines, where I take a look at your 6th house and help you come up with a better daily routine and/or more mindful habits that are tailored to your personality, your lifestyle, and your birth chart. I chose the name Venus on the Midheaven for my esthetics business since my midheaven, the topmost point of your birth chart that can signify your purpose in life and gifts to society, is Venus-ruled. Since Venus is associated with all things beauty, I consider helping people look and feel beautiful to be a gift of mine, as well!

Laura, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up in the greater Houston area and moved to Austin, Texas in 2008 – been living here off and on ever since but I’ve also lived in Seattle and east central Illinois in-between. I first discovered astrology at 9 years-old when I read my horoscope in the back of one of my cousin’s magazines and was instantly intrigued. Growing up, I was really into Greek and Roman mythology since my dad would read us those stories before bed, so finding something that involved my love of mythology was right up my alley. I wrote down all 12 signs on a piece of paper and had my classmates write their names next to their sign so I could observe them and learn about the signs in real time. I used to sneak onto AOL after school and read about astrology on tarot.com and gURL.com. I would read anything and everything about astrology that I could get my hands on. However, despite this lifelong love of astrology and looking at friends’ charts, I didn’t feel comfortable offering readings professionally until after my Saturn return at age 29. So, in 2021, about a year into the pandemic and after working out the logistics, I decided to launch 6th House Astro on Instagram and Etsy. I actually got started with the bulk of my chart reading professionally on Etsy, which I no longer do, and was then the resident astrologer at Yarrow & Sage in Austin for about a year until the intuitive trailer closed, so now I offer readings virtually via Zoom and in-person during my office hours at Calyx Wellness, which is where I rent my treatment room for Venus on the Midheaven, on Thursdays 5-8:30 PM and Saturdays 11 AM – 3 PM. You can also catch me at various markets and events around central Texas providing mini birth chart readings and astrology-themed oracle card pulls. As an astrologer, I’ve found that I enjoy modern Western astrology the most, focusing on the more psychological aspects of chart reading. My mentor, Annabel Gat, encourages inquisitiveness in the chart reading process, so I enjoy asking lots of questions! I love using astrology to help further self-understanding and awareness while also using it as a tool for self-help and improvement. I enjoy using my oracle deck as well to intuitively help others and see what messages come through. I also specialize in a type of astrology called astrocartography, which is where I plug a birth chart into a map and help determine both beneficial and challenging places globally for you to travel to, work at, or potentially move to further down the road. It’s honestly such a fun reading to do for others and is a unique way of viewing your relationship with the world around you by using your birth chart.

Regarding esthetics, I decided to make a professional change for myself in 2019, also influenced by my Saturn return, and went back to school…beauty school, this time (I already received my Bachelor’s in English from Texas State University in 2013). I’ve always been passionate about skincare over makeup, so I decided to take that passion to the next level professionally. I graduated from my esthetics program at Avenue Five in December 2019, got licensed in February 2020, and immediately started waxing. Needless to say, starting a new career during a global pandemic, especially in an industry like this one that is so focused on cleanliness and sanitization, was tough. But I learned so many helpful tips and tricks during my time working for others that I knew I needed to go out on my own and do this for myself. The opportunity to rent a room at Calyx Wellness kind of fell into my lap at the end of last year, and I decided to start my own esthetics services under the name Venus on the Midheaven. Even though it has been slow-moving and not a lot of action is happening with my books here yet, I’m proud of myself for taking the initiative to start something new, even though it still feels scary and my books are still slow. I hope to eventually file for an LLC, and I’m still brainstorming more ways I can combine both astrology and esthetics, especially in regards to content for social media. With both of my businesses, I want my clients to feel that they can trust me with anything from astrological life advice to their eyebrows!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I’m not going to lie, it took me until the end of 2022 to even hit the 900s range of followers on Instagram with 6th House Astro. Building an audience on social media takes a lot of patience and dedication. Not necessarily hard work haha, but definitely the two aforementioned qualities. I used to be more consistent about posting, but I’ve fallen out of a content creation routine myself that I need to get back into ASAP. Building my following honestly involved following accounts that were following some of my favorite astrologers, or from my friends and mentors sharing my content and getting followers from that. It’s really rare that anyone gets an overnight massive amount of followers unless they’re paying for them, the followers are a bunch of bots, or other random and ridiculous things some creators will do to boost their follower count. It’s better to build your audience organically – you’ll feel more proud of yourself and you know that your followers are there for you and what you have to say.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think where I’m currently at in my journey with my esthetics business as Venus on the Midheaven is functioning as a true test of resiliency. Starting your own business, no matter what it is, is difficult, and right now I’m in those really tough beginning stages of trying to get my bearings straight. Trying to put yourself out there on your own as a service provider is hard because you can post on social media all you want, but there’s no guarantee that people will see it. And more often than not, wherever you were working beforehand didn’t let you have access to client contact information on your books (a lot of booking systems in the industry are set up this way), so it’s difficult to leave a lot of spas and be able to take your clients with you, unless you were able to let them know what’s going on before going up front and exchanged info that way. But I’m hanging in there and trying to make a couple of different things work.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.6thhouseastro.com
• Instagram: @6th.house.astro
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/6th-house-astro-austin-2?osq=6th+house+astro

Image Credits
Promo photo by Michelle Waggoner