Joni Patry of Galactic Center: The Relentless Discipline of Consistency That Powers a Lifelong Mastery of Vedic Astrology

At times it feels like wellness or elevating one’s well being, is diametrically opposed to high achievement and high performance in one’s career. The stress, mental energy, long hours, lack of restful sleep and preoccupation that result from a high-achievement life seem to directly inhibit wellness. And yet, in order to sustain the creativity, flexibility, mental acuity and resilience that are necessary for high performance, wellness and wellbeing of the mind, body and soul are also mandatory. So how do we achieve both? This is the question I’m hoping to answer through conversations with high-achieving leaders and influencers who are practicing their own philosophies about how to maintain their wellbeing.

As a part of our series about “Social Media Influencers Share Their Top Self Care, Wellness, and Beauty Tips, I had the pleasure of interviewing Joni Patry.

Joni Patry is an esteemed Vedic astrologer with 45+ years of experience.

She first got into Astrology as a kid when she watched the notorious astrologer, Jeane Dixon, go on National TV to warn President John F. Kennedy about his trip to Dallas because he will be assassinated. After the JFK assassination happened in Joni’s hometown of Dallas, she wanted to learn how Jeane Dixon predicted this and dedicated her life to the science of Astrology. The rest is history.

Throughout her extensive career, Joni Patry has given astrological readings to influential political leaders and A-list celebrities. She has published numerous books, appeared on national and international TV shows, and amassed over 30 million views on YouTube. Joni also created the virtual magazine Astrology Insights, founded the University of Vedic Astrology — her biggest accomplishment aside from her three sons — and hosted many international astrology conferences.

Most recently, Joni launched her Galactic Planner, which was inspired by the idea of making astrology more accessible, and takes a revolutionary approach to integrating the ancient wisdom of astrology directly into users’ digital calendars through Joni’s own readings — no astrology experience required. The Galactic Planner is available at galacticplanner.com and easily integrates with Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and more.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory of how you came upon this career path to where you are today?

I was always interested in the stars and the heavens, even as a little girl. As soon as I could use my rational mind I used to wonder “Why are we here?’ I remember November 21, 1963, watching our black and white TV, when a lady named Jeane Dixon came on the news and begged President Kennedy not to go to Dallas the next day. Living in Dallas, my mother took both of my sisters out of school to meet President Kennedy at the airport (I was too young). Then, the unthinkable occurred and I never forgot the woman on TV asking Kennedy not to go, as she had pretty much said he would be assassinated. I always wondered how that woman knew. Jeane Dixon was of course, an astrologer and psychic.

My mother always had astrology books around the house and since she was the same Sun sign as me, Scorpio, I began reading them and wondering how it all worked. I was really obsessed with it my whole life. When I went away to college at UT in Austin, I brought all my astrology books with me. My college roommates called me a witch, always talking behind my back. I heard them say, “Did you see those books she reads? She is a witch.” I studied psychology in college, the closest thing to astrology, but then found a teacher in Austin who taught me how to calculate charts. He was the real thing. There I was with my Farrah Fawcett hairdo, in dresses, makeup and matching shoes with purses — I hardly fit in to the hippie stereotype. But as my roommates went to sorority parties, I went and studied astrology with hippies. I never changed my style, and my teacher over time said I was the best student he ever had. As a matter of fact, in the year of 2016, I spotted him in one of the classes I was teaching in California. That was such a great experience to see him again — when I was the teacher!

After all the ridicule throughout the years I am now receiving the respect I deserve for my dedication and hard work in building a professional practice as an Astrologer. After 20 years doing Western (tropical) astrology, I discovered there was another astrology from India called Vedic Astrology that was known to be more accurate and predictive, so even though it took incredible study to learn a new astrology I did it and became an authority in the West on Vedic (sidereal) Astrology. It wasn’t easy but it has been so worth it!

It has been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

OMG! There are so many mistakes — this would make a book! But as to all the dumb things I have done, I now tell all my students about the mistakes, so they don’t have to experience the embarrassment I went through. For one thing, when I would begin a reading, I would just start the reading and then after an hour and a half, when we finished, they would look at the chart and realize I had the wrong time of birth. I tell my students before ever beginning reading a chart, always confirm the data before you begin. But this wasn’t very funny because back then we didn’t have computers and it took hours just to calculate the charts. Then I would have to reschedule them and redo everything. This was grueling and embarrassing.

Never judge a book by it’s cover! I had a reading with an individual who, after reviewing his chart beforehand, I thought how he was a powerful and successful businessman by his chart. But when he arrived at the door he was in muddy jeans and I thought “Well I was wrong on this one!” He then sat down and apologized for his clothes because he said he just came from the construction site of one of his three construction companies.

Can you share with our readers some of the strategies you’ve used to build an engaged, loyal, and large online community?

Consistency is my motto. I put out 3 to 4 videos every week on YouTube — I have had my YouTube for 8 years. I never waver on this. They come out on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday (and sometimes Sunday). I have written a newsletter that comes out every month and began in 1999, and I have never missed a month since then.

I do readings during the weekdays Monday-Friday, write on Saturdays and film on Sundays. I teach two classes on Tuesdays for my Patreon, and one on Wednesdays for my University of Vedic Astrology students.

I first began my center in Dallas in 1995. I would send out newsletters through the mail about my classes and call people on the phone — there was no internet back then. Only one person showed up at my first class, and I sat down and cried. The woman felt so bad that she took me out to lunch. I never gave up because of my love and passion for what I do. We all have to start somewhere and build up our business or practice. It was so much harder back then without the internet. We must never give up!

You are a busy person with a demanding schedule, can you share with our readers two self-care routines, practices or treatments that help your body thrive?

This may sound crazy, but I write a book every year. I find whatever subject I am passionate about at the time and write a book on it. It doesn’t have to be a prolific 300 plus pages, but at least 150 pages or more. Then, I have a new subject I get to talk about in all my interviews or conferences that I speak at. I also have new info for my YouTube channel. It keeps me learning, expanding and doing new things.

For example: I wrote a book on Rahu and Ketu (nodes of the Moon). I discovered so much more than I already knew about them, and was able to pinpoint that when they went into a particular sign every 18 ½ years, catastrophic events always occurred. I was even able to predict the coming of the pandemic in 2020. I found that when Rahu went into Gemini and Ketu into Sagittarius, catastrophic events occurred. I wrote this book in 2017 and wrote that there would be an event occurring in February 2020 that would change the world forever and that a lot of people would die. I was accused of being gloom and doom — but it did happen. When I traced it back to 2001, that was September 11th, then back 18 ½ years to 1982, the Aids Virus. 18 ½ years before that, in 1963, was Kennedy’s Assassination, 18 1/2 years prior was the bombing of Hiroshima, and so on.

You may think I am a workaholic (and maybe I am), but the other thing I do that helps me is taking vacations. I love to travel! My husband and I take amazing trips at least two or three times a year. So knowing I am going to have a break and go somewhere exciting helps me balance my work. We love to travel to adventurous places and stay at amazing hotels. Last year we went to Japan, Bali, Malaysia, England and Istanbul.

I have students who can cover for me when I am gone, and I have to double up and do my videos way in advance, so you have to know I am confident in my predictions being accurate as they are done months in advance.

Can you share five ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”?

1) Always do your very best to be the best you can be every day, and especially when you leave the house, because you never know who you may run into. I always fix myself up to go on an airplane. It’s fun when I receive compliments on my dress, hair and makeup! Actually, I think it is fun to put on my makeup, fix my hair and decide what to wear every day in general. When I put pride into my appearance, even when going to the grocery store, others stop me and give a compliment. This makes me feel beautiful and creates more love and appreciation for myself. We must all feel pride, appreciation and self-love if we want to thrive and do well in the world. Also, it is important to give compliments and gratitude to others when you appreciate their appearance, actions and work. What you do and say always comes back to you. What you project out into the world is always mirrored back. When you are kind and loving you attract kind and loving people.

2) Eat the things you know will make you look and feel beautiful such as greens, fruit, and nuts. I visualize the foods nourishing my body with vitamins and minerals my body needs, and visualize my skin glowing, my hair shining, and my bones and teeth becoming stronger. Also, I love learning about vitamins and minerals. I read about the newest things that make us healthy and have always been taking supplements. For example, I take chlorella, a natural green algae that is packed full of minerals and vitamins. I know this is why I am so healthy and doctors are always amazed that I don’t take any medications at my age.

3) Exercise! It is so basic but essential to being fit, feeling good and striving for longevity. Just going for walks in nature is always healing. I love to listen to my music which motivates me to run and walk fast. I have to admit, I still listen to my old rock and roll from the 60s and 70s. My favorite year for music was 1967 — The Beatles, Beach Boys, Herman’s Hermits, Rolling Stones and the Hollies — to name a few. But if I want a break from Rock and Roll I love Yanni too.

4) Always feel a sense of gratitude for all that you have because with this attitude, you will continue to receive more to be grateful for. Right after the movie The Secret came out, I was always talking about manifestation and being positive. As a matter of fact, three of the people from the movie were my clients at the time. But my life was terrible, I had lost both my parents in the same year (2004), and opened a restaurant with my inheritance, and by 2008 when the crash of the markets occurred, I had lost all my money. With kids in college and problems with my marriage as well, I felt like I lost everything. I would talk about the principles in The Secret, a positive mindset, but my actions were not reflecting my words. Then, one day, my youngest son Austin told me: “Mom, you are not walking your walk, you are being a victim”. At that point, I realized he was right. I truly decided to change from being a victim to taking control of my life and focusing on what I was grateful for, and really living in gratitude. I stopped blaming all the circumstances around me for my losses, and it seemed in a very short time, my life shifted miraculously. I discovered the profit sharing I had in the airlines that I never thought about was worth triple what I lost in my inheritance and the restaurant. It was like I won the lottery! With that money, I was able to buy my dream home and my career as an astrologer became increasingly more successful. I attribute all my good fortune to waking up and realizing I was creating all my problems from being a victim and my gloom and doom attitude.

5) Express your loving thoughts and feelings with those that you love. What you give always comes back to you. This is the law of nature — that a force exerted outwardly will be met with equal force in return. This is also the law of karma. So we must always remind ourselves of what we are doing and if we want this force to be for good or bad in our own actions. So expressing loving thoughts and emotions is what we want returned to us in every area of our lives. I also do positive affirmations daily especially when I am trying to go to sleep at night. I say them over and over till I fall asleep. I heard that when you are in this state of mind right before sleep, you are putting these thoughts into your subconscious mind which controls our behaviors when we are conscious.

Is there a particular resource, a practitioner, expert, book, or podcast that made a significant impact on you and helped you to thrive? Can you share a story about that with us?

The book Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, which helped me understand the nature of our existence and the purpose of life. I believe we are here to discover who and what we really are, and that we are all part of the Divine or God consciousness. But most of all, I realized that Yogananda’s guru was a Vedic Astrologer so it set me off in a quest to learn more about Vedic astrology, which is the astrology of India. One thing they advocate for is meditation to find our connection to the Divine spirit of God. I meditate, but I feel I am in meditation most of the day as I connect and talk with this spirit within throughout the day.

I love the book The Power by Rhonda Byrne. This book keeps me focused on the reality of life — that we can manifest anything we want by being in the mindset of love and gratitude. That when we come from a place of loving everything in our life, the world begins to mirror our inner joy and happiness. She began with the concept of The Secret which helped me understand about being a victim and how to take responsibility for our own actions.

As an influencer, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

My mission and wish is to make Vedic astrology mainstream, where everyone everywhere would use their personal astrology to guide their lives. This would bring awareness and consciousness to humanity. In the 1970s, I used to do Yoga and so many people thought it was the weirdest thing. Now it is mainstream everywhere you look!

Another thing that is so important to me is to empower people through their astrological chart. In a birth chart you can see the best in people and what their gifts and talents are, and guide them to follow them. It is so wonderful to see people transform and become their best selves. I love helping people see their life’s destiny and live it as I have.

I just created The Galactic Planner that calculates a person’s personal birth chart and gives them the guidance they can use from the stars and planets. With this tool people will know when to make their moves in life, such as when to travel, make business plans, meetings, time for love and when to avoid things. This planner has emojis and gives the predictions without knowing anything about astrology. But it does give the astrological transits so for those that know astrology, it has that aspect. All of this is delivered to your personal calendar on your computer or phone. This is how I can begin to make astrology mainstream.

My entire life people laughed in my face when I told them I was an astrologer. They would say “You’re a What”? “Do you really believe in that”? “Do you believe in God, or Jesus”?

I love what I do and I am living the life I have always dreamed of, helping and empowering others, writing, speaking and traveling the world. I could have never achieved any of this if I didn’t stay true to my path. We must find our passion, be consistent and never give up. The money, joy and happiness will follow.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

YouTube — Joni Patry

Instagram — @jonipatry

Facebook- @jonipatry

Patreon — @Joni Patry

TikTok — @jonipatry

You can also sign up for my newsletter, which comes out every week, via my website. Check out The Galactic Planner at: galacticplanner.com

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!