Astrologer Susan Miller on Career Longevity

Illustration by Meg Pinsonneault

By Marquita K. Harris

Astrologer Susan Miller is on the mend. In late 2023, she suffered an eye infection that temporarily left her partially blind. “Macular degeneration. You're supposed to get it when you're 80. I got it at 35,” she says. 

Before I can follow up with the inevitable question of her current age, she swiftly interjects, “I never share my age. And anything you’ve seen on Wikipedia is wrong.”  

A proud New Yorker, Miller says she’s been beset with chronic illnesses since she was a child. Occasionally, she’ll suffer a health scare and her free horoscopes will run (just a smidge) late. 

“Could you straighten one thing out, please?” she asks. “I write daily. The daily manuscripts for the app are around 1,000 words each. I'm writing 365 days a year. Then I'm adding 38 to 40,000 words on the monthly horoscopes. And they complain in print about me being a day late.” 

Miller founded Astrology Zone in December 1995. In the decades since, she’s published nearly a dozen books, has written columns for various publications, and traveled the world making public appearances. Her pen is prolific. So much so that AstrologyZone.com receives more than 13 million unique visitors annually. 

But for the iconic astrologer, managing chronic illness and the responsibilities of being one of the most sought-after astrologists in the world, has been the ebb and flow of her life. 

Susan, I saw on Twitter that you suffered from an eye infection. How are you recovering? 

It’s a curse. Mostly women get macular degeneration. They don't know exactly why, but many of my relatives got it as well — it's entrenched in my Italian side. Though I love my family and I would never change them. It’s a real problem when you’re a writer. But I’m struggling a lot these days. I can see my [computer] screen, but almost nothing else. I guess God really wants me to be a writer.

I read somewhere that illness was the catalyst behind your foray into astrology. Is that true?

At 14 years old, I was in the hospital for 11 months straight getting multiple surgeries, and experiencing extremely painful physical therapy. I wanted to know if I'd ever walk again. I had a brace on my leg. I wanted to look like everybody else. No crutches, no braces. People would stare at me. My mother was also a scholar. She knew astrology and studied with the Rosicrucians for eight years through a correspondence class. 

My mother always said, ‘You must be very accurate with astrology.’ But she refused to teach me. I kept saying, ‘Teach me astrology!’ For a whole year, it was ‘No, no, no, no!’ I wanted to learn it myself.

So I wrote to Horoscope magazine. They had a section where they would take four questions, do your chart, and answer it accordingly. One day my mother walked into the living room and said, ‘Did you write to her Horoscope magazine?’ I had written to them seven months ago and they never answered me. She pulled out the magazine and said, ‘You're in this issue.’ So we went through it together and of course, I still wanted to learn the practice to make sure the feedback was accurate. [laughs.]

In your early days as an astrologer, was it difficult to be taken seriously? 

I didn't want anybody to know that I knew astrology. It just wasn’t something that people accepted. You know how when you attend a convention, like an astrological convention in my case, they give you a little tag to put on your sweater. It says your name and the convention name. Well anytime I get on an elevator or something, I’d hold folders to cover it. 

You launched Astrologyzone.com at the dawn of the consumer-based Internet. What was that like?

It was so exciting! When I launched in 1995, we would go to cybersuds meetings. 

If you’re thinking, What the hell is that? In New York, we had them once a month. You would meet in a big hotel like the Hilton in a great big ballroom, but we couldn't afford anything. Nobody could. We had water in plastic cups along the edges of the room. There were no chairs. You showed up and brought your URL written on Xerox paper —  blue papers, pink papers, something that people would see. And you'd say, ‘I have a website. What do you have?’ We would then chat, trade URLs, and learn about the industry by talking to each other. It was delicious.

What should we be looking out for in 2024?

There's a big eclipse on April 8th that will be visible all over the United States. The last visible one that we had was August 21st, 2017. ​​And the path of totality starts down in El Paso, Texas, and goes diagonally up, to Niagara Falls and beyond. So there’s a new moon and a solar eclipse. It's a really nice one, a real beauty. And it's friendly. Not like last year, which was so hard. Every eclipse was just terrible.

Speaking of Niagara Falls, do you ever take a vacation?

Va-what? I have no idea what that word even means. 

But Susan, you write so much. 

I know. I know. But I’m a night owl and I don't need a lot of sleep. I sleep about five hours. That's my secret to getting everything done. I’ve always had so much energy. I wasn't born with family connections or family money, but boy do I have energy and that is a precious resource.

Some astrology platforms have begun using A.I. to write horoscopes. What do you think about that? 

A.I. may say something inaccurate and the person getting that answer will walk around with it for the rest of their life. They may never meet another astrologer to straighten it out. I'm accredited by the International Society of Astrological Research. [A.I.] might be fun and light and on brand for some. But it's not a Susan Miller brand. I grew up in hospitals, so maybe I'm more serious? I feel my job is to make your life better. So that’s not quite for me.

Some astrologers believe that we all pass through all 12 signs, like reincarnation before we die. What do you think? 

I've never believed in reincarnation here. I think it's something completely different that we can't even imagine with our senses. Just look at one thing tomorrow for me, take a head of garlic, and then just peel a clover two out and marvel at the tissue paper. God really had fun with garlic. It's so beautiful. The packaging. The creativity.

When my time comes, I imagine sitting at a conference table with God, and he’s like: 

‘Susan, let's go over your life.’ And I say, ‘Okay. Well, I had an awful lot of pain.’ Then he says, ‘Yeah but I put you in New York City. Hello!’

Recently, I began thinking this whole thing — everything I've built — could unravel. Because if I can't write [due to my eyes] and I'm not good at dictating, then what? A different part of your brain is dictating versus another part of your brain, which is writing, and another part of your brain, which is typing. I learned this recently.

You have this remarkable career in a niche industry that’s evolved so much in such a short time. What does it take to endure so much change as you age?

I truly do love what I do and I stick with what I know. I’m a writer, I'm supposed to do this.  I have no idea how I know this, but I know I'm supposed to write and there's just no question about it.

Are you afraid of the future? 

No. Not afraid. Despite everything, I really do marvel at it all, like I do with garlic.