Caught in the Web 1

The Astrological Association publishes a bi-monthly Journal which is free to their members. The Astrological Journal is renowned throughout the world for the quality and breadth of its content and articles, so I feel honored that the Journal now has a regular column penned by yours truly. The column is a regular round-up of astrology on the Internet, so if you know of any sites you feel I should be reviewing please leave me a comment.

The first article is reproduced below, with many thanks to Gerasime Patilas, editor of the Journal, for the lovely graphic which heads the piece, and to Chris Mitchell for his proof reading skills.

Welcome to our regular round up of astrology on the Internet. There is no doubt that there is a lot of good astrology and astrological information to be found on the World Wide Web, but equally some are not so good. Each issue we will be looking at some of the better astrology sites and astrological communities on the Internet.

The Internet is currently thriving with online social networking communities such as MySpace, Bebo, Facebook etc, but what if you are looking for a community of astrologers? In my view one of the best ways to find and network with other astrologers is via forums. There isn’t room here to list all of the good astrological forums so I’m going to use this issue to highlight my personal favourites.

Forums

So what is a forum? It’s an online community where people meet online to read and post topics of common interest. Forum participation, whether as a reader or a poster, can be a useful for any astrologer who wants to learn, discuss or just reach out to other astrologers. I would suggest you read the posts on the following forums as a good way to obtain a basic knowledge about each particular forum.

The Astrological Association Forum: As a part of its ongoing website makeover the Astrological Association has developed its own forum exclusively for members. Although it got off to a slow start it is now an active international community with many subjects under discussion. One of the main advantages of the AA’s forum, as you can see from the illustration, are the separate areas for discussion of astrological interests ranging from Hellenistic and Horary through to Mundane and Psychological. Not forgetting the social side of Internet networking there is also an area where you can meet and greet other AA members.
http://www.astrologicalassociation.com/forum/

Node-o-Rama: Node-o-Rama is a US based forum with a lively community of astrologers from all around the world. In their own words they are “A community of astrology enthusiasts who discuss astrology using real-world examples.” They also have a section for horary astrology where you can develop and practice horary astrology skills as well as a non-astrological section for working with dream images. Our own Chris Mitchell is an administrator at Node-o-Rama – a sure sign that as well as some good astrology it’s also a fun place to be.
http://www.nodeorama.com/

Skyscript Astrology Forum: For those of you who like traditional astrology Deborah Houlding’s site has a forum hidden away amongst its many treasures. This forum is for the serious astrologer with lots of discussion and debate centred on traditional astrological techniques. It’s a great learning resource and well worth a visit.
http://skyscript.co.uk/forums

Jupiter Rising: This is my own forum and is included as an example of how forums can be used to enhance local groups. Jupiter Rising started life as the Suffolk Astrological Society magazine in the early 80’s; it was transformed into a mailing list in the 90’s and recently was transformed again into a forum. It has a small but growing community and gives us a way to discuss various astrological techniques as well as continue to discuss recent meeting topics.
http://www.astrogroups.co.uk/JupiterRising

This article first appeared in the Jan/Feb 08 edition of the Astrological Journal

Bits & Pieces – fitting together like a jigsaw

So yesterday (14th Feb) transiting Mars trined my ascendant, transiting Jupiter also opposed natal Uranus. Is there a good guy and a bad guy aspect here? No it’s all interlinked! Trines indicate that things come easy, but if the things indicated are big upsets then big upsets are what will come easy.

Natally I have Mars square Moon and in a wide opposition to Jupiter, I also have Uranus in Cancer. So Mars, Jupiter and Uranus are all connected with my home comforts (Cancer and the Moon). Late last night my heating (Mars) unexpectedly (Uranus) stopped working, temperatures are set to plummet during the weekend and there is not much chance of it being fixed before Tuesday.

So tonight (15th February) I visited my friend Kitty’s Blog. She is an excellent Blogger and as always there was a lot to catch up on at Kitty's Bloggy Bits. Jupiter is transiting my 11th house of friends and Mars is currently in Gemini. So here is my friend (11th) who puts a lot (Jupiter) of energy (Mars) into communicating (Gemini) via the Internet (Uranus).

While catching up with Kitty's Blog I discovered that she had handed me an award. The award was originally handed to Kitty for her excellent Blog. (The history of the award is documented by Kitty.) She in turn awarded it to: all the wonderful women bloggers over in my sidebar, some of whom I'm sure don't even know I exist, so won't ever know they've been awarded. They're in my sidebar because I just enjoy reading their blogs.

A Big Thankyou Kitty, I’m not much of a Blogger but I appreciate the award – it’s an honour and yet another manifestation of Jupiter opposite Uranus – it has inspired me (Jupiter) to add another post here as you can see. (Mars in Gemini)

I can’t sign off without mention of the current Mercury Retrograde. I took the time to rethink my website and to redesign it. The task was not without its glitches as you can imagine. A spare div threw the whole design out on IE – but I tracked it down and found it eventually. Even this fits in with the theme. Those who know me know that my astrological passion (Mars) is promoting (Jupiter) the wonderful and dedicated astrologers (Jupiter and Uranus) who work hard on a local (Gemini) level. So do you see how it all fits together? Transits shouldn’t be taken in isolation; the whole pattern and its connection to the natal chart are pieces that make the puzzle complete.

PS I would love to have some feedback on the website: http://www.astrogroups.co.uk/

Imprisoned in the 12th

Many years ago when I was first learning astrology I was given a piece of advice I’ve never forgotten. It was “If you want to know how something works in a chart, ask someone who has it in their chart.” With this in mind I’m going to share my experiences of progressed moon in the 12^th house hoping it will help you understand it.


Deborah Houlding has methodically researched the traditional meaning of the houses and of the 12th she says
“associated with sad events, sorrow, anguish of mind, tribulation, captivity, imprisonment, persecution, hard labour, all manner of affliction and self-undoing.” Plus “Its significations include secret, unknown enemies, such men as maliciously undermine their neighbours or inform secretly against them: traitors, spies; witchcraft, malicious hauntings; weakness, infirmity and bondage.”

quoted from "The Houses: Temples of the Sky" by Deborah Houlding

So maybe this is not a good place for my progressed moon to be? Let’s look at this in more depth to see how the symbolism has worked itself out.

Firstly the day the moon hit my 12^th house cusp I had an unfortunate event (Sorry folks, I won’t go into details.) The event meant that I had to stay confined to my house for a few days.

Since then I have faced the incidents mentioned previously here indicating enemies, maliciousness and gossip behind my back. Oh and I have upset a practising witch recently!

And is it my self-undoing? Well yes because I have the following afflictions; I trust people until I find out otherwise, I speak before I think and a I have a weird sense of humour that not everyone understands.

So what of the imprisonment? The 12^th house can make you feel very isolated – even amongst friends or a large group of people. I find myself wanting to retreat all the time, or staying in areas where I feel ‘safe’. People who know me will know that I am addicted to forums, there are some great communities amongst forums, many that I have posted in. But unless it’s the safety of my own forum I find that since the moon progressed into my 12^th I feel a bit of an outsider and uncomfortable joining in. Such things never used to worry me.

So is it all doom and gloom? No because I’ve also been busy working away behind the scenes on a couple of websites. There is a certain satisfaction in gradually being able to improve said sites. Plus I’m of the belief that amongst the hidden things of 12^th house are hidden talents. I have discovered recently for instance that I can make promotional movies. Look here for my first attempt, produced and uploaded just 2 days after I had discovered the program hiding away on my laptop.

Who knows what other talents I may find, I just hope it’s nothing to do with cattle (which also come under 12th house rulership). I haven’t found a cow in the garden yet....