2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 28,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 17 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 237 posts. There were 5 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 67kb.

The busiest day of the year was March 10th with 281 views. The most popular post that day was Happiness is ….

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were astrodispatch.com, libraseekingbalance.com, cafeastrology.com, juliedemboski.wordpress.com, and realastrologers.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for vesta, theodore gericault, delacroix, sex and zen, and elvira mistress of the dark.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Happiness is … March 2010
4 comments

2

Controlled chaos, or thoughts on the Saturn-Uranus opposition September 2008

3

Sex and Zen I: Vesta March 2008
2 comments

4

The mad woman leaves the attic October 2009
6 comments

2009 — through the looking-glass

What is there left to say about 2009 I haven’t already done? (See archive on sidebar!) 2008 ended with a measure of optimism, 2009 is ending with a measure of relief. tPluto square nPluto, tPluto opposite nVenus, tSaturn conjunct nPluto, Jupiter, my chart ruler playing hide-and-seek all year with Chiron and Neptune as part of Lucy’s Clusterfuck of Doom, and so on and so forth, haven’t by any means been fun, but they have been ultimately revealing.

The bumpiest ride since my Saturn return — just over one seven-year Saturn cycle since then — has undoubtedly been uncomfortable, but I think it’s also done the job of shaking loose more bits of old baggage. None of those cycles are yet complete but I look forward to entering 2010 lighter and leaner (meaner, too?). Looking ahead to the fact that nearly all the eclipses in the coming year make contact with a personal planet or node in my natal chart, I suspect that 2009 was merely the preamble to further changes in 2010.

Astrology podcasts

The internet has really done a lot for astrology in the past decade. Apart from amazing blogs (some listed on the sidebar), there are also some really good podcasts I thought I’d draw your attention to. I find it useful to be able to listen to them while cleaning windows, or ironing, or doing some other mundane chore. Some offer short snippets of info into current transits, while others do a full length radio programme, complete with guest interviews and live callers. I enjoy some of the live readings as they really bring astrology to life as a tool for everyday living.

Safe space, my space

I just read this article by Judith Gayle, who is as ever amazingly frank and astute:

We humans have various energy fields that overlap: physical, emotional, mental. Each has its own frequency, existing as layers in a single space. Emotions have a resonant signal; they attract more of the same, and send signals to those who match, drawing them in. Fear is a particularly dense vibration; a teeth-rattling one. It works like a magnet to pull more fear toward it. Literally, that’s how we get ‘what we deserve.’

When we choose to connect with people, we make a choice to share energy fields, and we take it on faith that they’ll be respected. We all have such spaces be they in the home, in the work place, the car, or even in the mind or the psyche. The dreamspace it seems to me is one such space where possibilities we don’t even consider can get played out. Likewise, this blog is a similar space, as I wrote recently about my 100-Acre Wood.

Poll: Jupiter direct

I remain phenomenally busy through October, but thought I should mark the week Jupiter goes direct, since Jupiter rules my chart and I’m badly looking forward to a break after a v.e.r.y. l.o.n.g. s.u.m.m.e.r.

For a list of what else is happening astrologically this week, have a look at Lynn Hayes’ post and Pat Paquette’s on Real Astrologers.

Pluto direct: Blog stats spike!

Hey, I was totally surprised to find out that the number of hits to my blog has spiked exponentially in the past 24 hours! Mainly because some very popular and respected astrologers have recommended my blog — I’m awed and humbled. Is this an effect of Pluto direct in my 1st house?!

Thank you to all the astro-blogging -twitter friends I’ve made these past weeks, who have linked to my blog, left comments, re-tweeted my posts and so on. You’re all so amazing, I’m privileged to be counted among you. Here are some of you:

• astrogrrl
• Donna Cunningham
• itsplanetary
• Julie Demboski
• lucywatchthesky
• Lynn Hayes
• Neith
• Neeti Ray

If I’ve missed out anyone, I’m sorry!! Just know that every comment is appreciated.

I hope Pluto direct is ushering good things for you.

So I decided to Twitter after all

Or is the proper word, ‘tweet’?

Anyhow, I decided to sign up for Twitter just ahead of the new moon in Leo.

‘Follow me’, or whatever it is they say.

Isn’t that what the Pied Pier of Hamelin said to the townsfolk…??!

Hmm…

Image: Pied Piper. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Break up songs: the Zen pick

Annie of CafeAstrology Relationships posted a list of break up songs. All great choices.

It might date me a bit, but personally, ABBA works for me, weirdly enough; especially the late-career songs mirroring the group members’ own failing relationships.

Anyway, here’s one that speaks to the Zen approach to break-ups, I think. Lyrics below the break.

To Twitter or not to Twitter?

Okay, all you Twitter-bugs out there, I’d like some advice.

Shall I Twitter or not?

Saturn in Gemini is resisting, wondering if it’ll add to the white noise (what with blogs, Facebook, email, texting, news feeds, and all) but Sun-Merc thinks it might be fun.

If you’ve had a positive or negative experience, please share in the comment stream. Thanks.

P.S. Oh, and did I mention the Clusterf*** is in my 3rd house?

Safe space, open space

Neeti Ray‘s comment about my use of the analogy of the front porch below got me thinking about how we create psychic spaces safely for others to enter, and how we behave when we are invited into another’s.

The 100-Acre Wood, illustrated by E. H. Shepard

Children’s literature is full of these spaces: Winnie-the-Pooh’s 100 Acre Wood is one, Narnia is another. These are not hermetically-sealed spaces; dangers sometimes lurk, but are, in the realm of the psyche, ultimately contained. Like a playground where children learn to rough and tumble, to fight as well as get along.

Melancholy baby

I have been weepy all week.

There. I’ve come out and said it. Ordinarily, I’d wait to process the pain before confessing to it, my Capricorn moon preferring to hide in the basement until it passes, but I have been bolstered by the courage of those like the inimitable Lucy Looking Upward to bear their souls and share mine.

Put it down to the yod in my chart, the Hades Moon, the current Pluto transits, or the once-in-a-lifetime Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron conjunction (personally, I prefer Lucy’s more colourful ‘Clusterfuck of Doom’), it doesn’t really matter. In reality, it’s probably all the above exerting tremendous pressure on my 7th house Venus in Cancer.

We are reminded constantly of the message behind this rare triple conjunction: wounding, awareness, healing, and so on. Personally, I wouldn’t mind the occasional dose of Neptunian anaesthesia from time to time. I know I’m supposed to take lessons from it, I know I am being asked to re-assess what I value, I just wish it didn’t have to feel like a botched bikini wax, metaphorically speaking.

‘Peace is this moment without judgement’

As the Moon conjuncts Pluto in Capricorn and buried emotions rise to the surface, I was originally intending to blog about a heartbreaking experience that happened to me recently. My natal moon is in Capricorn (trine Pluto = Hades Moon!) and Eric Francis writes about how Capricorn moons often have their hearts shattered; well, I feel like it’s still holding together — sort of like seeing cracks in the glass but the shape is visibly intact. At the tipping point, I can shatter or I can reconfigure the shards, and right now, I choose the latter.