We were lucky to catch up with Wynter Taylor recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Wynter, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
So I’m certainly not the first person to combine astrology and psychology, but I am the only person I know who has combined them in the way I do!
In 2016, after graduating college, I happened to follow a popular astrologer on Twitter who had been making predictions around the 2016 election. She seemed to be combining politics and activism with astrology, but using the Sidereal zodiac, all things I’d never seen someone do before. I already had some interest in astrology, but the way she used it really piqued my interest, as it was more practical, and aligned pretty closely with the beliefs I’d developed in school studying psychology and sociology. This astrologer would eventually become a close friend and mentor who taught me everything she knew, and really helped me refine my skills and pattern-recognition capabilities. Together, we combined politics, psychology, human behavior, relationship psychology and more with Sidereal astrology in our discussions.
I started doing professional readings in 2021, and the deeper I got into the work, the more feedback I received about how my clients felt they covered way more ground in one astrology reading with me, than they’d done with years of therapy. I was intimidated by the suggestion at first, but my clients genuinely felt like I was helping them, so I was inspired to figure out how to effectively, and responsibly use astrology as a therapeutic tool. I grappled with whether or not I should go back to school for a Master’s to become a licensed therapist or something similar, but I couldn’t afford to go to grad school. I also didn’t want to deal with skeptical professors like I did in undergrad, and the idea of writing a thesis… no thank you, I was already burnt out from all of the finals week essays! Either way, I could feel there was still more for me to learn when it came to doing client work, regardless. In May 2023, I decided to enroll in a Relationship Mastery and Relationship Coach Training through the Relationship School for the next year, and that was everything I needed to fill in the final missing pieces.
There is a lot of natural overlap between astrology, psychology and sociology anyway, but relationship coaching illuminated just how intuitive it was for me to combine these modalities. I didn’t need a chart or birth date in coach training to still hear the astrology of people’s lives as we worked through their relational issues. It was less about what specific placements they had, and more about realizing that, as my former mentor would say, “there is a time and season for all things,” and the astrological archetypes are universal experiences. Once I got my certification, I officially rebranded my services as “Astrotherapy.”
Astrotherapy analyzes and anticipates the cycles of social and relational psychology in individuals. The astrology aspect provides a timing and organizational container for the themes and archetypes that humans experience, and my academic background provides the psycho-social context to help interpret the uniqueness of those themes and cycles for every client. This combination helps to clearly identify and articulate the root of people’s challenges, and their role in those issues, without the need to excavate every single detail of their past and history like one would do in traditional therapy. With this new perspective, we can work to build up the skills someone might need to do things like excel at their job, repair conflict with their partner, or confront the self-limiting beliefs that keep them feeling stuck, or powerless to change their own lives. Astrotherapy saves the client a lot of time and money, while providing a ton of perspective to help see themselves more clearly. Astrotherapy isn’t necessarily meant to replace therapy, but it does provide a unique, engaging and empowering process for personal development and self-awareness.
Wynter, 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?
Well first, I was inspired to study psychology because I’ve been in and out of therapy for most of my life. As a child, I struggled with severe anxiety and OCD to the point that it affected my overall health and wellbeing, and I still deal with these issues as an adult. The hardest part about dealing with mental health issues as a child for me was not understanding what I was dealing with, not knowing how to talk about it with other people, and frequently feeling misunderstood when I did try to share. Mental health is a really complex topic, even taboo to discuss in certain context, and I find a lot of people to be really dismissive of mental health issues. So many times I was told it was “all in my head” or that I just needed to “worry less,” like my concerns were irrational and had no basis in reality. I internalized a narrative that if I just changed my mindset, then I would feel better. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried to ignore my anxiety or trick my brain into seeing things differently, I couldn’t overcome how I was feeling. A lot of times I felt like my symptoms would either begin in my body, or linger in my body, and the ruminations would soon follow. Feeling out of control of my body and emotions led to being afraid of my body and emotions, which really interfered with my ability to just live life and maintain healthy relationships. During the second semester of my senior year of high school, I got on medication and finally started to feel a little bit less anxious. It didn’t resolve everything, but it gave me enough agency to manage my symptoms with the coping strategies my therapists tried to teach me.
Once I graduated high school and enrolled in university, it only took one Intro to Psychology class for me to get hooked. I remember learning about the different disorders and how the medication I was taking worked on the brain. For the first time in my life, I felt like I understood what I was experiencing. And that wasn’t all. I chose to minor in Sociology because I figured I needed the “nurture” to go with the “nature” in order to get a full picture of human behavior. As much as I loved the neuro-cognitive sciences of psychology, the social and cultural influences really made so many other aspects of my life and personal experiences as a Black and queer person from a small conservative town in Texas make way more sense. You could say my college education opened me up to the world of human behavior, and my thirst for knowledge in this realm would never be quenched.
I graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology, and Sociology minor from Midwestern State University in December 2016, and wasted no time pursuing my next subject of interest: astrology. I’d been dabbling in astrology here and there while I was in school, but I was still skeptical of the practice, as were many of my professors. But I figured hey, nobody could tell me I was wasting my time studying astrology, and I didn’t have other homework to do for once, so why not get into it! And boy did I.
I studied Astrology as kind of a side hobby while trying to sort out a career path after graduating. I was an athlete throughout school, and worked part time jobs in fitness from 2017 to 2018 until I serendipitously got invited to work at a yoga studio by one of my yoga teacher friends, and got convinced to do a 200-hour yoga teacher training, which kind of changed my life. My yoga practice actually helped me start healing the relationship I had with my body and my emotions, to the point that I was actually able to stop taking the anxiety medication I’d been on for 5 years. And teaching yoga classes helped strengthen my voice and build my confidence. I learned so much about the mind-body connection and somatic experiencing that directly intersected with what I’d learned in school, while adding the physical element that I couldn’t understand previously. This discovery inspired me to learn more about somatic therapy and find a somatic therapist, which totally changed my life with just a few sessions.
I would eventually quit teaching yoga by the end of 2020 to pursue astrology full time, partially due to the ongoing pandemic and falling out of alignment with my yoga studio. With two 200-hour teacher trainings, a somatic experiencing class, and a yin yoga training under my belt, I started to see how these elements added additional layers to my relationship with astrology. Come February 2021, I was officially doing professional readings for clients, and applying all of the knowledge I’d accrued up to that point.
Like I noted in the previous section, I eventually decided to enroll in a Relationship Mastery and Relationship Coach Training through the Relationship School. I opted for a relationship coaching certification because relationships are the most fundamental part of both human behavior and astrology. I appreciated that the program required us to go through the course material for ourselves first, before learning to coach others, and the skills and techniques I learned helped me become more emotionally present and open, totally transforming the way I work with my clients, and the way I navigate relationships in my personal life.
It seems like every experience and intuitive decision I’ve made in my life led me to create Astrotherapy. I’ve found it to be an excellent personal development process, and I’m so proud of the way universal themes, principles, methods and archetypes across multiple disciplines can be used with such specificity, while still honoring the uniqueness of each individual client. That’s the magic of it for me. Astrology is so much more nuanced than most people understand, and I really feel like using it in this way showcases just how practical of a tool it can really be.
My hope is that people leave their sessions with me feeling seen, heard, and understood, with more compassion for their selves and others, and clarity around their circumstances. I want my clients to feel inspired and empowered to handle whatever life throws their way.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Oh man, let me tell you about 2023! I’m no stranger to the struggle, but that year was the thick of my Saturn return, and it seems like every single month something major went down. My mother was dealing with cancer, I started transitioning just before relationship school started, we had to put one of my dogs down, I went through a breakup and cut ties with my former mentor.. but one of the most difficult things was when I completely ruptured my Achilles tendon.
It happened just before Father’s day. I was out for a walk around the neighborhood by myself and decided to walk some streets I hadn’t ventured before. Next thing I knew a neighbors large, overprotective dog made it’s way out of nowhere and across the street barking at me. I tried to just keep walking but the dog cut me off and started lunging at me. When I turned to run away, somehow my leg just totally gave out and I fell into the yard. I got pretty scraped up but I was more concerned about the dog than my leg in that moment. I laid yelling for help hoping someone from inside the house would come get the dog before it attacked me, but nobody came out. Fortunately, the dog seemed to be more bark than bite, so I eventually stood up, quickly realizing that I couldn’t walk. I continued yelling for help until a little boy came out to grab the dog as I hobbled away. I just wanted to get out there, so I didn’t tell the boy what happened and there were no witnesses. I limped to the end of the street and called my parents, who fortunately lived down the street, to come pick me up.
Fast forward and I would find out by MRI that my Achilles was torn and I’d have to have surgery to get it repaired. The problem with tearing this tendon is that it’s the main one connecting your calf muscle to your foot, so without it, you can’t point your toes, or put any weight on them without collapsing. I had the surgery early July, and wouldn’t be able to walk at all for two months. As someone who loves to be physically active, it was brutal on my mental health. I couldn’t access my second floor apartment because it was stair access only, so I stayed with my parents, and I struggled to work properly in the meantime. Business got slow, money got tight, and I eventually had to pick up a part time job to make up for the losses and medical expenses.
Thankfully I had a great physical therapist, who I started seeing as soon as I could. My surgeon told me it would take a least a year before I’d make a full recovery, and to expect a long healing journey, so I didn’t want to slack on my recovery since there was a possibility I wouldn’t heal correctly. During this time I was managing my business, a part time job, a coaching training, and recovering from this injury all while living alone and handling most things myself once I moved back into my apartment. I could tell it would be a long road ahead. I had no choice but to grit my teeth and bear it.
Come May 2024, I managed to complete the coaching course on time and receive my, build my business back up with the help of my network, and find a sense of routine at my part time job, where I am still employed. I contemplated quitting my business many times, and to be honest, sometimes I still do. But then I have moments where I’m reminded that commitment and discipline really does pay off, like when I go to the gym and realize I’m squatting some of the heaviest weight I’ve ever squatted, even when I was in my best shape, despite not being able to put any weight on my left ankle just months before. My ankle definitely isn’t the same, and it never will be, but this experience gave me a new appreciation for mine and my body’s resilience, and more trust in myself and those who cared for me through such an unpredictable time.
Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?
Yes! So right now my main stream of income comes from doing one-to-one sessions or readings. In addition to doing readings, I have a Patreon account where I post all kinds of astrotherapy and coaching content in written, video and podcast forms. There are two tiers priced fairly low so it’s accessible, and there is also a free subscriber option where you can get free content and announcements about my work. All subscribers get lifelong 30% discounts on my readings and workshops.
I also have a new product called The Astrotherapy Journal, which is a bullet journal bundle designed to help astrologers of all skill levels learn how to becomes observers of their own lives using astrology in real time. It’s a bullet journal format, which means you receive a blank dotted journal, or you can use an existing journal, and use our astrology-themed stickers to design the journal the way you want to use it. We supply sticker packs that contain a list of every single major astrological event for the year with the dates they occur, and you can use those stickers to date your journal entries and notice the patterns unfold over time. There’s also a custom guidebook with all of the Astrotherapy terminology, and keywords to help you interpret some of the transits (astro events) yourself, or you can get 30% off of a Personal Year Ahead reading with me where I help you learn which are most relevant for you to pay attention to. There are also digital versions of the journal too, for those who prefer to use digital planners. This is a custom product, hand-cut and designed by my business partner Emilia who lives in Hawaii, and this is the first year we’ve launched it! We’re very excited to see how it evolves over time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mxmercuriastro.com
- Instagram: mxmercuri
- Twitter: mxmercuri
- Youtube: mxmercuri
- Other: https://patreon.com/mxmercuri
