CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Astrology is an age-old practice that started to see a rise before the pandemic, but it got a bigger boost as the virus spread.

According to Google Trends, people researching the term over the last five years spiked in 2020. Charlotte-based Astrologist Susan Reynolds is seeing this firsthand.

“I would say people are questioning that which they did not question before, and they are looking at their future in a whole new way,” she said.

Reynolds said her business not only grew in the past year, but her client footprint is now much wider.

Before the pandemic, Reynolds estimates about 85% of her clients were local. Now, about half of her clients are from all over, thanks to Zoom and other video-conferencing technology.

Reynolds stumbled into astrology after reading a book in the 1970s called "Sun Signs," by Linda Goodwin.

“I casually picked it up one day,” she said.

It opened a whole new world to her.

As she began taking astrology courses and learning more, she started practicing astrology part-time, reading for friends and family.

“And a friend of mine said you need to do this professionally and I said, ‘oh no! I couldn’t do that,'” Reynolds said.

But after 25 years of working for an advertising and publishing company, she felt a push to quit and finally focus on astrology full-time.

“I wasn’t somebody who was terribly unhappy at work,” she said. "I had health, vision and dental, and then one day I went into work and didn’t go back. I had no intention to make that decision, I was propelled.”

She found throughout the pandemic that other people are questing their own paths too.

“The vast majority of people, even those who are new, are doing this because they are looking for more self-awareness and this is what a chart does,” she said.

She creates birth charts for clients, mapping the alignment of the planets at the time they were born.

“The astrologer is going to look at those planets and look at what’s going on in the chart, and my job is to interpret that for my client,” she said. "This is what this means, this is what it’s showing me, this is your life’s purpose. We talk about home, business, family and career.”

She said she’s even seen a difference in the type of clients she gets, with a big uptick in entrepreneurs.

“A lot more in 2021 and thinking more into 2022, seeing people asking for a chart about their business,” she said.

She said some people are skeptical at first.

“But I reassure them. Astrology isn’t making decisions in your life, it’s not telling you what to do,” she said. ”It’s a wonderful guide, a wonderful piece of advice and that’s how I use it and that’s how my clients use it.”

As Reynolds sees more people turning to astrology for answers, she says they’re looking at it in a different way.

“People are opening up and looking at astrology in a much more modern way, which is lovely,” she said. “The almost two-dimensional, cartoonish way that the general public used to look at astrology is a thing of the past."

Sharing astrology with others is what Reynolds loves and it’s something she’ll never get tired of doing.

“Even today, after almost 40 years doing it, I am still the most excited person in the room,” Reynolds said.

She says January is her busiest month as people want a look at the year ahead.

Because of this, she holds an annual predictions talk, which is happening Sunday, January 9 at the HeartLight Center in Charlotte at 1:30 p.m. You can attend in person or through Zoom.