2007 January : Big Sky AstroBlog

Jan

30

There’s an interesting article in Salon today (you will probably have to watch an ad in order to read the full article) that seems to speak to the upcoming Aquarius/Leo Full Moon theme of artist vs. audience: how best to balance the “Leo” need for creative self-expression with the feedback and acceptance/rejection by an “Aquarian” audience:

The Internet has turned what was once primarily a one-way communication into a dialogue — or maybe a melee. From a cultural perspective, the new democracy of voices online is a wonderful thing. But writers have an odd and ambiguous relationship with their readers, and the reader revolution is having massive consequences we can’t even foresee. Writers are being pulled, or lured, down from their solitary perches and into the madding throng. This has opened useful debate and made writers accountable. But it has also thrown open the gate to creeps, narcissists and wannabe Byrons who threaten to damage the fragile, half-permeable membrane writers use to keep the world from being too much with them.

I’ve certainly had my share of difficult interactions with readers in the nearly eight years since I started my website, though the overwhelming number of emails I receive about my writing are warm, friendly, and supportive. Still, even a couple of nastygrams - I can count about five over the years that have just about made me pack up shop - can throw a writer for a loop.

I’ll freely admit to being thin-skinned - Moon in the 7th house, square Pluto, anyone? - and I haven’t always handled criticism well. Then again, the negative responses I’ve received over the years have been less intellectually “critical” than ad hominem attacks - which I suppose my rather personal writing style invites. In fact, when I started this blog a couple of years ago I initially didn’t activate the “comments” feature; I wanted to just write, to feel my way without having to defend myself against criticism, or to let even positive feedback influence what I wrote about. These days, I welcome the feedback and conversation of my blog comments, and find many of them inspire subsequent blog entries and articles; but I still moderate them, and won’t hesitate to delete any that are flat-out nasty. Hey, it’s a blog, not a democracy.

In any event, it’s been an education watching some of my fellow online writers, especially what we used to call “online diarists“, deal with criticism over the years. It’s a relief to see that most of them are just as touchy as I am! But others handle negative feedback beautifully. Michele’s been exploring some negative reader feedback over on her blog in a very thoughtful way, and I’ve observed her handling of negative comments to past posts; she is always so humble, compassionate, and respectful to those who disagree with her approach to writing or astrology. Lynn manages to handle the occasional negative comments on her blog with a graceful blend of firmness and good humor. And not coincidentally, these are women who are extremely prolific. They don’t appear to let negative feedback from the collective, Aquarian, Internet “audience” censor their Leo creative voices.

Jeff has an interesting take on this Leo/Aquarius polarity:

It can be easy to have your pride wounded this Full Moon, because face it … you’re not the be all and end all. Mars, Uranus and the Sun are telling you that there’s a whole world out there that does not cater to your wishes. And they’re doing it in a way that can come as a shock. A little brusque. A bit cold.

Certainly, “Aquarius” perspective is a positive check against the potential myopia of “Leo”. A writer sits alone in a room, or at a table in a cafe, and dumps the contents of his or her mind, heart, and psyche onto a printed or virtual page. It’s an intimate process that, at best, reflects one’s own Leo process rather than catering to public approval. That’s why it’s a bit of a bracing shock to a writer to receive hate mail or negative comments on a blog; such feedback often suggests that we should be other than who we are, or implies that we think we’re better, smarter, or more interesting than other people. But we can only be what we are; and the fact that we write about ourselves, or from our own perspectives (what other perspective would we write from?), doesn’t mean we think we’re more important than anyone else.

But yes, at this Full Moon we’re reminded that there is a whole world out there, a world that can be cold and brusque and indifferent. And if we’re consistently writing in a way that fails to capture the public’s imagination, it’s healthy to know that; it tells us that we’re off course, that our perspective has become too narrow, and encourages us to open up our minds and hearts to other points of view. At its best, writing is not just a way to express what we are, but also a method of inquiry that asks, “What else might I become?”

I hope some of you will leave some thoughts in comments… does feedback in email, comments, and the like affect how and what you write?

January 30, 2007 | 8 Comments

Jan

25

thursday 13

13 Random Acts of Whatever

I’m too burned out to be creative - so here are 13 utterly random bits of whatever, to fulfill my Thursday 13 quota (since I missed last week):

Twelve years ago today, my brother died, completely out of the blue.
I found out by phone.
Two years later, my mother died, suddenly but marginally less shockingly.
I found out by phone.
Three years later, my aunt died, which was pretty much expected.
I found out - you guessed it! - by phone.
Between all these Calls o’ Death and a couple of years I spent working on hideous psychic hotlines, I hate the bloody phone. Really. I almost never answer the thing.
Can you say, “Moon in Gemini square Pluto?”
After years of staunch refusal to traffic in all things Chiron, today I found myself toying with the idea of adding it to the lineup of planets and other things that I use in my readings.
On the other hand, it looks like I’ll soon be taking (yet) a(nother) sabbatical from doing readings.
I’m already thinking about writing another book. It sort of becomes a habit. I should find out the fate of the other one within a couple of weeks.
I can’t believe my Progressed Moon is getting ready to flip over into Aquarius. It seems like it just entered Capricorn. On the other hand…
I can’t wait for my Progressed Moon to flip over into Aquarius. It feels like it’s been in Capricorn forever.

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January 25, 2007 | 3 Comments

Jan

23

Heh. Someone caught George tidying up before a visit from Chinese President Hu Jintao - perhaps to keep his mind off this evening’s oral presentation on the state of the union (in a word: “disgruntled”):

“I knew he was coming, but I didn’t realize he was coming todayâ€”just look at this place,” said a visibly flustered Bush, as he and his Secret Service detail hurriedly picked up trash along Interstate 66 near Arlington, VA. “We got the area around the [National] Mall spotless, but now it just makes the rest of the city look worse. There are homeless people cluttering up our streetsâ€”and not just here, but in Denver and San Francisco, too.”

“It’s humiliating how much we let this place go,” Bush added.

Isn’t it just?

So what will be Bush’s tone during this evening’s address - chastened? chagrined? conciliatory? Will charges leveled at VP Dick “Darth” Cheney by the prosecution in today’s installment of the “Scooter” Libby trial - that Cheney was behind the Valerie Plame leak (surprise!) possibly have chastened the beleaguered “President”? Don’t bet on it; the Moon is in feisty Aries, coming off a square to Mars earlier in the day….

January 23, 2007 | Comments Off

Jan

17

There are many interesting things about Barack Obama, but my interest in him is personal: We are nearly birthday twins, born just 26 hours apart. Both of us were born with a Leo Sun in the 9th house and a Gemini Moon in the 7th house. We’re both writers; both lost our fathers in car accidents (I at age 9, he at age 21); and both currently have transiting Saturn and progressed Venus hovering around natal Uranus.

The conclusion I have drawn from these corollaries is obvious: Today, friends, I declare my candidacy for President of the United States.

PSYCH! Nah, I don’t want the job. Give it to the guy with Mars in the 11th house (team player), Scorpio ascendant (politically astute), and rock-star Leo Midheaven. With my Sag ascendant and Virgo midheaven, and Mars in the 10th, I’d rather be free to do my own thing. But I wish my near-celestial twin well in his bid for White House, and shall watch his journey with interest - despite the uncomfortable feeling that I’m simply not ready to be the same age as the President of the United States.

Obama appears to be meeting with rather more success in his career at the moment than I am, having been propelled into the spotlight by his dazzling oratory skills. My oratory skills, on the other hand, just earned a rejection of my application to speak at UAC, the big astrology conference being held next year in Denver. Ah well, me and about a hundred other people, and it’s not as though I have an illustrious resume after all. Still, at midlife - when one’s birthday mates are, after all, bidding on positions such as Leader of the Free World - one feels a little dejected to realize the upper echelon of one’s own profession may prove forever elusive. Who knows… perhaps Barack feels the same way, some days.
Sag-like, though, I insist on viewing this turn of events as a blessing in disguise; tomorrow’s New Moon falls very close to my natal Jupiter. When a door closes, sometimes a window opens - although sometimes a bird flies in through that window and poops on your desk.

Keep a screen on your window, Mr. Obama.

January 17, 2007 | 8 Comments

keep looking »

Sign of Pisces

Moon conjuncts Uranus at
5:54 am on Oct.12, 2008

Moon trines Venus at
11:27 am on Oct.12, 2008

Moon squares Pluto at
10:02 pm on Oct.12, 2008

Moon goes void of course at
10:02 pm on Oct.12, 2008

Moon enters Aries at
12:07 am on Oct.13, 2008