Privacy Policy

Who is responsible

Astro Medica, a medical-astrology practice of Ethan Ducasse in South Africa, is the responsible party for your personal information. Our Information Officer can be reached at admin@astro-medica.com.

What we collect

Account details: your name, email address and password (stored only as a secure hash).

Birth details: the date, time and place of birth for the charts you save or order — yours and those of people you add with their permission.

Where you live: the country you tell us and the country your connection appears to come from, which together decide whether you pay in rand or dollars.

Health information you choose to share, for example in the medical-history intake, the details of a planned procedure for a Surgery Electional Report, or session notes. This is special personal information; we collect it only with your explicit consent and use it only to prepare your reading or report.

Consultation recordings, only if you agree when you book: our note-taker, Fathom, records and transcribes the session so Ethan can write up a summary and next steps for you. Because a consultation often touches on your health, the recording, transcript and summary are special personal information. We use them only to prepare your session notes. The session goes ahead in the same way if you'd rather not be recorded, and you can change your mind at any time, including at the start of the session.

For a Surgery Electional Report, the hospital and the surgeon's name, and the surgeon's birth details if you have them and they've agreed to share them.

Reviews you write, with the name you choose to show. A review is published only once we've read it, and you can ask us to remove it at any time.

Orders and payments: what you bought, amounts, currency and payment references. Card details are handled by PayFast and never reach us.

Messages and bookings you send us, and basic, anonymous usage statistics about how the site is used.

Why we use it

To run your account, prepare and deliver your readings and reports, take payment, manage bookings and memberships, send the transit alerts you switch on, answer your messages and keep the site secure. We send marketing emails only if you've asked for them, and every one has an unsubscribe link.

We rely on your consent (for health information and marketing), on the need to perform our agreement with you, on our legal obligations (such as keeping financial records) and on our legitimate interest in running the practice well.

Who we share it with

We never sell your information. We share only what's needed with the services that help us operate: our website host, PayFast (payments), our email provider (alerts and newsletters), Fathom (recording and transcribing consultations, only when you've agreed) and, where used, a network provider such as Cloudflare that also tells us which country a visit comes from. Each processes it for us under an agreement.

Some of these providers store data outside South Africa. We use them only where the data is protected to a standard comparable to POPIA, or with your consent.

We may disclose information where the law requires it.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and charts while your account is open. Order and payment records are kept for five years for tax purposes. Health information is kept only as long as it's useful for your readings — you can ask us to delete it at any time. When you delete your account, we delete or anonymise your information, apart from records the law requires us to keep.

Consultation recordings, transcripts and summaries are kept only as long as they're useful for your sessions. Ask us at admin@astro-medica.com and we'll delete our copy and the recording in Fathom.

Keeping it safe

Connections to the site are encrypted, passwords are hashed, access to client information is limited to the practice, and private files are stored outside the public website. Session notes are seen only by Ethan, and by you once he shares the summary with you in your account. If we ever suffer a breach that affects you, we'll tell you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

Cookies

We use essential cookies to keep you signed in and to remember your preferences (such as dark mode). We don't use advertising cookies.

Your rights

You may ask to see the personal information we hold about you, have it corrected or deleted, object to its use, or withdraw your consent at any time — email admin@astro-medica.com. We'll respond within a reasonable time and may ask you to confirm your identity first.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you may complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa (inforegulator.org.za).

Children

Our services are for adults. A parent or guardian may add a child's chart; we treat that information with the same care and use it only for the reading requested.

Changes

We may update this policy; the date at the top shows the latest version.