Sunday, February 26, 2012

Happy, Happy Birthday, Babyyyyyy.

Four years ago on February 26, 2008 at 12:39 a.m., I posted my first Willow's Web Astrology post on this site. It's been quite the ride since - personally and on the planet, in general. 

Time is definitely a relative concept at this point. I couldn't tell you whether I've been writing for four months, forty years, or four millennia. Four years is the Earth Time they say has passed, so that's what we'll go with. 

I didn't plan to post the first WWA article at a particular time or on a particular date, as many astrologers would have. The original format wasn't even my own. Another astrology site was looking for an astrologer/writer to write a monthly forecast, and I wrote a couple to send in. When that astrologer passed on them, I held them for a while until asking my friend Saviabella for instruction on how to start my own site. (Thanks, Savia.) 

As I said, there was not much planning or foresight. I just slapped the first two articles up when the mood struck, when I was impelled to do so, all messy-like. And yet, the exact aspects and positions are uncanny. You can see clearly from the chart for Willow's Web Astrology's "birth" the workings of the universe through the lens of astrological intelligence. 

This is a Pluto on zero Capricorn site. That's pretty apparent, I'd say, and it kind of speaks for itself. 

The site's Jupiter is also in Capricorn. 

Willow's Web Astrology site had its birth during the Uranus in Pisces - Neptune in Aquarius mutual reception, and it was certainly meant to be in existence for these times - a true "straddling the ages" navigational enterprise. The site's Aquarius North Node is conjunct Neptune in Aquarius, and Chiron in Aquarius is exactly semi-sextile Uranus in Pisces, increasing the theme. 

Willow's Web Astrology site has a Pisces Sun in the 4th house tightly trine a Scorpio Moon in the 12th. You'd never know, would you? (sarcasm) 

In addition to the Scorpio Moon, the site has a Scorpio Ascendant with true Black Moon Lilith on the 29th degree of Scorpio in the 1st house. 

The site came into existence with Mercury and Venus forming an exact conjunction in Aquarius in the 3rd house. The Mercury-Venus conjunction is loosely conjunct Chiron in Aquarius and square the Scorpio Moon. 

The site has Mars in Gemini in the 8th house exactly trine the Aquarius North Node in the 3rd house and sextile the Leo South Node in the 9th house. 

Saturn was retrograde in early Virgo at the time, tightly conjunct the Virgo Midheaven, trine Pluto in Capricorn, and sextile the Scorpio Moon. 

The site's 2012 Solar Return chart looks to me like a "go balls out" sort of chart, but along pristine channels with pristine filters. Who would expect anything less? 

I was introduced to one of the major Sun sign astrologers a few months ago - a Canadian woman who has gained her reputation by writing syndicated Sun sign horoscopes for newspapers and magazines. She'd written a book letting people know that they are more than just their Sun signs (sort of ironic) and was doing a talk in the city where I live to promote it. I normally wouldn't have known about it, but I was asked to go by an astrologer friend who, it turns out, is this woman's long lost cousin. Talk about weird. 

I was introduced to her as a blogger and as one of the better astrological writers out there, and her reply was, "But have you actually written anything?" 

What she meant, of course, was have I written a book? Because for a lot of people, if you haven't written a book, you aren't considered a real writer. (This despite all the shite books published these days.) 

How can I explain what this site is, what this writing is, to people who don't believe you're legit unless you have a publisher? 

I don't have a publisher. I don't have a book to sell. I'm not sure I ever will - not because I couldn't write one but because I don't know that a book is the way to go. I don't have a fancy website. I didn't even bother migrating to WordPress, the blog site considered more pro. I'm not a member of the associations or societies. I don't attend the conferences. I can't name drop any big name astrologers I've had dinner with recently (I'm more likely to have throwdowns with them, anyway). I'm outside the scene - or maybe at the edge of the scene, practising a form of astrology that doesn't fit neatly into pre-structured channels. 

And I guess that remains a struggle with this site: working and writing as a professional astrologer, and as a DIY punk astrologer, when the markers that would indicate career success - along with the parity with other astrologers who have those markers - are not apparent to a lot of people. When what I do here is diminished in the minds of people who look for daily blog hits in the hundreds of thousands; shiny, new books sitting on bookstore shelves; a book tour; a lecture circuit; magazine articles; candid photos taken with gurus-of-the-day; television appearances; a tiny picture of my face in every newspaper in the country. 

I just can't get all that jazzed about that stuff, you know? 

Maybe it's the site's Leo South Node in the 9th house (publishing). Despite its generally much lower prestige value, I can't imagine anything could usurp the relevance and potency of finger-on-cosmic-pulse blog/internet writing. I mean, what a weird and wonderful thing. Though I would love to have the usual indicators of "success" just to shut people the fuck up and put them in their places, I can't imagine anything more interesting than writing astrology on my own site, in the moment, as it happens. 

Is it a waste to write this way? To offer it up, article after article, to the worldwide web? I don't think so, but I can't be sure. What I do know is there are reasons I started writing this way, there are reasons I'm still writing, and I guess I'll just keep going until I'm advised to stop! 

Here are some of the articles I particularly like from the past 365 days: 

From December 27, 2011: Saturn in Libra (Not Quite) Trine Neptune in Aquarius and Saturn Retrograde: Neptunian Relationship Fodder From the Anaretic Degrees 

From December 6, 2011: Uranus Direct on Zero Aries (The Fukushima Degree) at the Gemini Full Moon Eclipse 

From December 1, 2011: Mars in Virgo Hot or Nots 

From November 6, 2011: Weeping Willow Designs with Mars in the Last Degrees of Leo Opposite Stationing Neptune in Aquarius and Closing Out a Creative Cycle  

From November 2, 2011: Scorpio on Not Letting it Go Too Soon 

From October 23, 2011: Via Combusta Scorpio New Moon October 26 Opens Into the Dark Half and Sets the Tone for Saturn in Scorpio 2012 - 2015  

From September 18, 2011: New Social Authority For the Pluto in Libra Generation and Blazing the Plutonic Trail Through Relationship Constructs Past  

From July 10, 2011: Ceres Stations Retrograde at Zero Aries Conjunct Uranus and Buying Organic Is a Revolutionary Act 

From June 27, 2011: Warning: You're About to Read a Plutonic Punk Astrologer. Proceed at Your Own Discretion. 

From June 14, 2011: The Law of Attraction Fukushima-Style  

From June 6, 2011: Saturn Stationing Direct in Libra Says: Time to Get Very Serious About Who You Have in Your Life 

From May 24, 2011: Neptune Stations in Pisces and We Head to the Gemini New Moon Entryway Into the Cardinal Grand Cross/Triple Eclipse Summer of 2011 

From May 8, 2011: Canada Day Cardinal Grand Cross Eclipse: Well, Golly Gee Whiz. Look Who's Fuelling the Global Nuclear Industry  

From April 18, 2011: Pluto in Capricorn Retrospective: It's All Just a Norman Rockwell Painting, Isn't It? 

From April 1, 2011 (April Fool's Day post): A Message From Our Starry Brethren at the Galactic Centre  

From March 20, 2011: The Sun Conjunct Uranus at the Zodiac Birth Point Marking Astrological New Year and the "Odyssey Dawns" 

From March 9, 2011: The Precession of the Equinoxes, Shifting Astrological Eras and '2012'

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many Happy Returns. Your views on life are thought provoking.

To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself.
Albert Einstein
US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

This quote comes to mind.

Ruth said...

DIY Punk Astrology? That's the book title right there!

Seriously I think the generosity you show with the richness and detail of your posts is astonishing. I would actually say that you should collect and publish some material. Not only because you deserve any royalties that come your way but because certain people might then stumble across you a different way. I personally didn't know anything about astrology until I blundered into it in the 'Mind, Body, Spirit' section of a bookshop.

Thanks for all your wonderful work. In times of despair I often turn to this blog. It gives me a bigger, difficult, complex and sometimes hard-to-digest picture, but I always feel more thoughtful and perhaps even wiser because of it.

Willow said...

Thank-you, folks!

Ruth, I definitely wouldn't rule out publishing some stuff. I just don't like the diminishing of this type of writing in favour of books, etc.

But yeah, I've often thought it would be nice to have a hard copy for people, if they'd like one.

Joie de Vivre said...

Willow, congrats! Ruth is correct; your posts need to be deseminated for public consumption..."What's the Word?...Willow's Web"

I wondered how your words bewitched me and the results are in...W.W. Natal chart v. de Vivre chart:

Merc. opp. Sun
Venus opp. Sun
Mars sex. Mars
Saturn conj. Merc.
Node conj. Mars

It was kismet...and a swift kick in my ass...:)

Many Happy Returns, Willow! You are Canada's Punk Treasure!

shannon said...

Happy Birthday Willow's Web!

What you've done here, i believe is better than publishing a book, it is a living , breathing, in the moment, prodigiously written, refreshing and mind bendingly fabulous work. Your posts have helped me navigate some of the roughest seas of my life, your readings have been seminal and crucial to helping me survive the last 4 years....
We are giving you a standing ovation gal, while tippin me hat!
with love and gratitude

Willow said...

Awww, thank-you, guys! I appreciate your WWA birthday wishes.

And shannon, thank-you for expressing in your wonderful words what I was trying to say about blog writing. The fact that it is so alive and responsive. I'm so happy and honoured to have been any help to such a fabulous and formidable woman such as yourself. Mwah!

Jason said...

Happy 2nd Birthday willow.
Wow I didnt realize people were so- like, people in astro world. It thought it would be more of a zen community. But human psychology says bullshit is across the board. Ive even had to learn blind people can be jerks..

Im on the fringe of your fringe then :)
Every little bit helps, even if were paving the way for people after us to get used to and see astrology as the great spiritual life confirming art it is.

I guess capitalisim ruins almost everyone.

HoBad said...

Sun in Pisces, Moon in scorpio = "the psychic spy" I call it.

Suzi and Charles Harvey write in their book the greatest strengths of this pairing are "ability to understand great mysteries" and "ability to help and heal others who are in real despair"

"Bravo" I say.

ps: liz taylor was a pisces sun, scorp moon.

Debs said...

Happy birthday, Willow's site!!

And I think you're verysuccessfulthanks. Writing because the desire is within you to do so is way way better and more respectable than writing to gain approval or attention-- I see attention-whorey writers on the web all the time, and it's sickening to say the least.

I do think, though, that you have the skills and talent and brains and sense for publishing not just a book but an endless series on what YOU enjoy and find important... and people would read it.

:) Deb

Anonymous said...

i try it with a short one...
seems as if i always need to post more than one time to bring it on the wall!

wwa is simply great and the most beautiful astro-work i could find, because you give words the underlying and hidden truth.
books are baggage. not many people are able to carry a lot these times. (i mean also the unmaterial baggage)
blog is puls, is present, authentic.
and for me, which i need to translate a lot.... i couldnt do that with a book - type almost every sentence in to translate.
and i love to possibility to ask the author. thats real rich exchange.

thanks for being here these stormy days, willow.

häppy b-day wwa, angi

Anonymous said...

Wow, i hear you about those cultural "sucess markers," i have the same dilemma, i don't think i care enough about that paradigm anymore. And synchronicity, have you read dharmaruci's latest blog post? Some similar observations there about not fitting the dominant paradigm either. Whew, i feel a whole lot better. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I rarely, if ever, comment ~ but now feel compelled to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed your posts for the past several years. I especially love the fact that while astrologically accurate and insightful, you’re not afraid to reveal a little “mood du jour” in the readings 

Thank you, girl!! Keep it up. (please)
kendra

Brenda Johnson said...

Only getting to this blog entry now - but happy solar return/birthday Willow! Moon in scorpio hey! Yup - as well as saturn in virgo in early degrees - got that one too! I think the comments have really covered the response to your writing - its graciousness, bare honesty sludging through the deep and pervasive social and mind conditioning.

It seems that when you maintain this integrity, it evolves organically with the true nature of who we are and big gifts/rewards for this integrity - this is why it is so soulful and comforting because you take your sword to the lies, it allows people to KNOW TRUENESS - not opinions, working it through at the ground, connected with natural world, core laws of nature somehow. Its visceral.

There is so much bait out there for not knowing ourselves - distractions, comfort , security, riches, ego fulfillment - endless. Your website has the equivalent effect as some ancient teachings and keeps us focused on joy, love, friendship, self care - So happy you are doing what you are doing in the way you are doing it. (fyi - often refer people to blog, on radio show and fb page to get the real story!) The sleuth. Thanks. Keep it up!

msfullroller said...

Happy Birthday WWA!!!

Sis, your blog and a couple other astrology blogs are the only ones I check and read on the regular. Your willingness to go deep and give us the nitty gritty appeals very much to me. (Pluto/Uranus conjunction rising in Virgo) I also like the blog format because like Anon said, we get to have interaction with you that we would not have if your writing were in a book. Having said that, if you did write a book esp an ebook, I'd most definitely buy it.

Keep doing yo thang girl! You are successful because you are helping people...you've definitely helped me. I bet many, many folks read your writings but don't comment. I read all of your posts but don't comment much. I love your blog because you keep it real.

Willow said...

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

Yes, I think the blog is successful. I'm happy with it - just pointing out that some of the cultural ideas about success (and especially successful writing) are a bit limited at this point!

Also that internet/blog writing and book writing are two different animals, and book writing is not higher on the totem pole, in my mind.