Sex by the Stars: Astrology for Conception

You’ve been tracking your cycle to see when you’re most fertile, but here’s another way to schedule your babymaking sex. It’s far more romantic—and fun—than a fertility monitor. Does it work? Well, let’s just say it can’t hurt!

A lmost 14 years ago, Annie* had a miscarriage. Though devastated, Annie, then 39, wasn’t about to let her loss stop her from trying again for her first child. In addition to seeking the help of a medical professional, she turned to the stars for guidance. Enter, Karen Christino, a New York City-based consulting astrologer. “I just wanted to know, ‘Will I get pregnant again, and will it happen soon?’” explains Annie. “And she was totally accurate.”

That was over a dozen years ago, and Annie is now the mother of a healthy 12-year-old boy. “Karen gave us the timeframe, and we conceived right away,” she says of the month Christino advised the couple to conceive. “She called it exactly. She said it was a good time to get pregnant over the next month and to not give up.”

Annie’s success story is not unusual among women who have turned to astrology for guidance on their fertility. It’s no secret that couples trying to make a baby often become stressed out and less than enthusiastic about having sex. Astrology for conception, says Christino, makes the experience a little more fun and wholly natural (a plus for couples looking to have organic conceptions). “It’s easy, it’s safe, it’s inexpensive,” says Christino, who explains that an astrology reading can help women to understand the symbols in their birth charts, and to optimize what’s there.

While astrology can certainly help pinpoint a good time to try, it’s important to note, adds Christino, that nothing is ever guaranteed. Bridgett Walther, an astrologer based in Sarasota, Florida, whose list of celebrity clients includes Richie Sambora and Cher, agrees. “You can’t control this process down to godlike status,” says Walther, author of Conquer the Cosmos: Use the Power of Astrology to Attract the Man, Money, and Happiness You Deserve (Plume, 2010). “But you can predict the best times to have intercourse to achieve conception, you can predict the baby’s personality and the interests the child will have. But you can’t be God.”

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