Happy 12th Birthday, Willow's Web Astrology Blog, at the Jupiter Return!

 Willow's Web Astrology blog birth chart - February 25, 2008

Willow's Web Astrology blog is 12 years old today! This is a milestone birthday because it coincides with the blog's Jupiter Return in Capricorn in the 3rd house. 

Capricorn is a sign that relates to perspective gained through experience, an exalted view that comes as we survey all that has come before. At a Jupiter Return, we're surveying, in particular, the past 12 years.

Through it all - a catastrophic health condition; poverty; multiple moves; multiple supplemental jobs; break-ups; deaths in the family; censorship; being plagiarized; being mocked, attacked, and discounted; even being straight-up disowned for a time by a family who thought I had gone plumb crazy for doing this work - I practised astrology and wrote this site. I researched and I studied and I wrote and I practised. It was the single common thread that I could follow through this bumpy-ass, seemingly disjointed, often incendiary life, and I wrote my way through all of it. I wrote a path for myself through a life on a planet that I, at times, didn't know if I wanted to exist on. And I hope this writing has helped its readers on their paths through life on this planet, too. That was always and always will be the goal: helping other people through at the same time as I help myself through.

Capricorn is a sign related to status, prestige, and public recognition for one's efforts, and these themes have certainly been challenges. Blog articles are definitely considered less prestigious in the mainstream than writing a book or reporting for the nightly news - though I do not personally agree with those perceptions. 

Writing in general has become very devalued in this digital age when every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a lifestyle blog or Twitter account considers themselves a writer. People have come to expect ever-updating, easy access "content" (I really dislike that term) for free because there's so much of it out there. (Quantity has certainly usurped quality, however...)



Never mind that real, professional writing and research involve skills that not everyone has - and that doing these activities well requires a heck of a lot of work, to boot.

Then there's the perception that the quality/importance of the work equates with the popularity of the work or its public fanfare. In my experience, it's often quite the opposite. The closer you get to the core, the fewer people there are involved. The more potent the truths you're working with, the fewer the people who want to know them.

(That said, don't let the lack of comments here fool you. This site has a healthy number of readers, discreet as they may be, and it is a truly international crowd. A quick peruse of my stat counter shows regular visitors from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Romania, Estonia, Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, India, New Zealand, Australia, Costa Rica, Brazil, and others. My readings customers and patrons are an international crew, as well.)

At times, I've let the public perceptions about this work get to me. I've allowed doubts to creep in about whether it was worth the time and energy I've devoted to it over the past 16 years of study and 12 years of professional writing and practise. 

At times, I've felt trapped under the weight of the public perception that this is not even real work. 

I've picked up on the societal snickers about people who consider themselves professional bloggers. 

"*snort* Get a real job!"

(How do I explain that this has not been your typical blog?) 

I've seen pop astrology - a more superficial, drama-filled, and/or clickbaity take on things - proliferate, while more serious or soulful astrology stayed niche and relatively obscure.

At times, I've wondered if I should abandon my efforts and do something different, but the pang in my heart (not to mention the anger springing up about not letting the bastards get me down) told me otherwise. That was not the way to go.

And really, what else could I do? This is what I do. This is who I am. Like it or lump it.

Receiving heartfelt feedback from people who have been helped by my efforts over the years has been a big boost to keep me going. It has validated the worth of this work that is most often under-valued and even ridiculed in the broader society.

When I think of my life without this beautiful, glowing (and hardcore!) thread in it, without astrology and the writing that expresses its insights, I know that yes, indeed, it has been a worthwhile pursuit. Considering the circumstances on this planet and the type of person I am, there was really no other route through.

I know that staying small and niche and independent was also, ultimately, the right route for Willow's Web Astrology. I can't imagine writing articles on someone else's timeline. I can't imagine writing about subjects that appeal to the masses instead of writing the things that simply have to come out of me, that seem imperative to the times, no matter how many clicks or shares the articles may (or may not) get. I can't imagine shaping my writing to what society wants rather than by what this planet needs.

It would be nice to be recognized for this work on a broader public platform - at the very least, the acknowledgement that I've been offering a professional service for the past 12 years that is as legitimate and valuable as other (more recognized) services. It would be nice for this work to be acknowledged as real, legitimate work. But I also know that, often, the more acceptable you become in the public and the bigger the public platform you have to maintain, the less real and raw and willing to go to the mat you become. You tame yourself and filter your words to appeal to a broader swath of people, to fit in with the business world. You shy away from certain subjects, and you gravitate to a more surface and socially-acceptable level of things.

And I would absolutely hate for Willow's Web Astrology to ever be less real and raw and willing to go to the mat. Wouldn't you? I mean, what would even be the point of that? Willow's Web Astrology was born to be real and raw and willing to go to the mat, willing to go to places that others feared to go. That's its whole purpose on this Earth. 

If broader public recognition had come organically, if more popularity had developed out of exactly what Willow's Web is - intuitive, punk-rock astrology for people who don't shy away from the core issues - I would have been cool with that.  

But I never would have traded its heart and soul and realness and rawness in exchange for those things. I never could have allowed the bullshit to prevail. And as long as I'm writing and astrologizing on this Earth, I never will. 

If punks and anarchists have one thing, it's their integrity!

I take this work seriously, and I take the responsibility of doing this work seriously (Capricorn seriously!). I always have. I hope readers and readings customers who come into contact with it can sense that. This is a real discipline. A real profession. It's real work. And the people who do this profession seriously work very hard at it.

One full Jupiter cycle. A full circle moment. Happy Birthday, Willow's Web Astrology! Thank-you for being exactly what you are, no hold's barred, and letting the chips fall where they may. 

Tip Jar - $3.00 (Canadian)

Tip Jar - $5.00 (Canadian)

Become a Willow's Web Astrology Patron