My Ten Year Blog

2007

I began this blog on 30th January 2007, so am celebrating tomorrow!  The blogs were very short when they started out, and I only aimed for a brief description of the week’s aspects.  At first, I was not relating the blog to celebrities or world events. I think the humour was on good form that year, because I didn’t think anyone was reading the blog, so it was unselfconscious! I was still working in the Office those days, so there were numerous references to office life sprinkled around.

2008

By 2008, I had started to include some information about celebrities and goings on in the outside world (such as weather patterns).  Also, the length of the  blog was gradually creeping up. I wrote a series of blogs about the triple conjunction of the North Node, Chiron and Neptune during that year, and found that this was being referred to on a forum or two.  It then felt like a proper blog.

On the brink of the election of Barak Obama (19th October), I wrote:

“Last night I found myself trying to navigate a driver who also did not know the route, in the pitch dark, with no lighting and signposts. It’s a Scorpionic sort of week coming up, and so that may be a metaphor: negotiating the darkness. We are truly on an unknown path, both with the economic situation, and the US Presidential Election which astrologically has become synonymous with the upcoming Saturn-Uranus opposition.”

And now, of course, we are at the other side of his 8 year Presidency.

2009

In 2009 we had another big triple conjunction, that of Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron. I had an explosion of consciousness and came up with a recipe on 8th March:

“Description: A giant souffle, needing careful preparation

Serves: All humanity, but can be prepared for one, or any number

Time for preparation: until the end of May 2009

Oven temperature: yes it is warming up

Ingredients:

An uncluttered kitchen or workspace

Hope (Jupiter)

Compassion (Neptune)

Openness to healing (Chiron)

Adaptability

Listening skills (to your own needs, to others and to the Universe)

A sense of responsibility (re-read Obama’s inauguration speech)…”

and so on…

By then, I was regularly blogging on world events in relation to Astrology, as well as about celebrities.  I was also connecting with other astro-bloggers around the world.  My first blog about Soul Groups came on 13th September, on the subject of the Pre-Raphaelites:

“The recent TV series has revived an interest in the fascinating group of artists known as the Pre-Raphaelites.  The accompanying biography by Franny Moyle, published by John Murray, and entitled “Desperate Romantics” is as gratifyingly profound as the TV series was superficial (though very watchable).  The book is in fact an Astrologer’s dream, giving dates and times of day for such detail as an annulment, a railway train caught, and episodes of paranoia.  You could happily spend a whole day printing out such charts.  If the Moon’s Nodes are the key to karmic entanglements, then the astrological evidence corroborates the picture of a huge set of triangular relationships within the group (at the last count 8), and that includes triangles of brotherhood as well as menages a trois.”

On 15 November I wrote:

“I’ve been staring at too many screens lately: television, computers, commuter screens, mobile phone, i-phone and cinema (the wonderful “Bright Star” depiction of the life of John Keats – with Ben Whishaw divinely cast as the archetypal poet)…knowing that all these electrical vibes are interfering with my natural state of being.  Ten years ago I was just fighting a paper war, and this is more detrimental.”

Nothing has changed, in that respect. But I retired from my day job on 15 December, so after that there was less of an emphasis on office paper clips, and more about how lack of work expands to fill the time available after retirement.

2010

In February, I began a series of Interviews, mainly of interesting friends.  The first was of my friend Asia Haleem and her creation of the Cosmokrator.  Then followed interviews with Felicity “The Voice” Cook, Laura Dane (Theosophist and Telepath), Barry Stevens (Mandala Man), Sarah Berry (Universal Auntie and Channel), Astrologer cj wright (“Auntie Moon”) and Kim Gould (Love Your Design).  I later added a couple more interviews.

I also took some interest in the run up to the 2010 U.K. General Election, finding astrological evidence for a hung parliament, which resulted in a coalition between the Conservatives and the LibDems.  Attention also turned to the Greek economy, which was destabilizing in Europe.  There were quite a few blog about Europe in those days.  In these times, of course, we find ourselves separating from Europe.  How times change.

My first “Wimbledon Watch” was posted on June 27th:

“As I observed in my radio show with Kim Gould in March (link on my Past Lives page), tennis seems to have come in 3 clear phases astrologically.  The first was before the mid-70s, when the Sun Signs of top players tended to be Cancerian or Libra, both genteel signs responsive to the ebb and flow of the art.  The second phase came in the mid-70s with the advent of the power serve, when the Fire signs were more in evidence; speed, muscle, brawn and athleticism to the fore. Nowadays there is an accentuation of Mercury-ruled signs Virgo and Gemini in the charts of top players, showing that they have added to the responsiveness of the first phase and the athleticism of the second phase, and learned to use the mind and cerebral faculties on top of this.”

Julian Assange was mentioned in several blogs, the leaking of information by Wikileaks having coincided with the Jupiter-Pluto square.  Now, several years on, he is still holed in at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.  Jupiter is again square Pluto, and there may be movement in his affairs: he was encouraged by Barak Obama’s pardon of Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning), who had assisted him.

2011

By 2011, the Arab Spring was under way, and very much equated with the ingress of Uranus into Aries.  That occupied quite a bit of blogging space, and the consequences of this phenomenon are still very much in the picture.

At the beginning of April, I posted my blog on the karmic South Nodes, which I had originally written for Joyce Mason’s blog, a Californian astro-blogger and writer.  I have used these Past Life Archetypes subsequently in my work, and am painting cards along these lines to accompany the novel The Quiet Office which I have now been writing since 2006.  I have just submitted the first three chapters to a literary agent.

26 June brought an innovation which has stuck.  “Bullet Man” (who shall remain incognito) complained that he did not like the preamble to the aspects, which he said was mainly about celebrities.  He just wanted me to get on with the business, in order to plan his week at a glance.  So the “Week in Bullet Points” feature was born!

In August, I started a new series, entitled the “Zodiac Masterclass”.  Each sign was represented by someone of the corresponding Sun sign.  The series began with “The Virgoan Guide to Decluttering” by Asia Haleem, who had by that time contributed a Guest Blog on Astro-Archaeology and the Mayan Calendar. It took a couple of years to complete the series, and the signs did not completely follow their sequence.  For the Capricorn Masterclass I scouted worldwide, and eventually a girl called April Jones came forward and declared it was she who was destined to write it.  The Piscean Masterclass was delayed by a year because the writer just missed the deadline (very Piscean). This series was accompanied by Mandalas painted by Sarah Berry from Barry Stevens’ Mandala Colouring book.  Sadly, these images were lost when changes had to be made to the website.

I started a new category that year, in September, when I wrote about Future Lives prior to attending to Anne Jirsch’s workshop to become a certified practitioner in Future Life Progression at the beginning of October.

On 4 December, Bullet Man again intervened in the fate of the blog:

“For those of you who have been following this blog since the summer, you will understand when I say that “Bullet Man” (responsible for the bullet point innovation on the blog) has again expressed an opinion.

This time he has asked for the blog to appear in paragraphs, to make it easier to read.”

He was re-named, or parallel-named, “Paragraph Man”.  As you can see, he has been very influential.  I seem to have been a bit resistant, as the spacing between paragraphs occurred gradually after that point.  But really, when I look at the blogs before that point, they look indigestible, so am very grateful and also apologetic.

2012

I began 2012 by writing about the upcoming U.S. Presidential Election due to take place in November – it was that time already!  By contrast, in the more recent campaign, I wrote one piece in December 2015 about Donald Trump, and then another about Hillary Clinton just before the election. No prizes for guessing why.

Soon after, in February, I was writing about the death of war reporter Marie Colvin in Syria, a tragedy which by now was now fully unfolding.  The Syrian Civil War had begun the year before, in a similar fashion to the other rebellions of the Arab Spring, but with even more disastrous consequences. To this date, no one knows what to do about this conflict, and Vladimir Putin and Barak Obama locked horns over the situation.  Now Donald Trump is President of the United States, he has vowed to do things differently…

That summer’s Wimbledon season saw a growing participation from commenters round the world, enquiring about whether their favourite tennis player would make it to the next round, or better still, win.  I started to collect records and data on the subject in more earnest, and am still trying.

That summer also the beginning of the 7-pronged Uranus-Pluto square, and a rise in violence in the Middle East as well as generally in the world.

On 30 December, I wrote:

“2012 Year of Extremes

2012 was undoubtedly a year of extremes.  Starting with the weather – in the UK alone we went from the driest year to the wettest year, all in one year!  The weather seems to be getting wilder all over the globe, and of course is set to continue that way.”

We continue to have wild statistics, e.g. that we now have the warmest years on record.

2013

The blog in 2013 hopefully became easier to read, not only with bullet points and paragraphs, but actual paragraph headings in colour according to their content (using my synaesthesia to good effect!).  This seems to have been a gradual process which occurred towards the end of December 2012, and my goodness it makes it much easier for me to re-read back over my old work.

In April I wrote a synastry piece about the compatibility between my hubby and I, as it was our 40th wedding anniversary, which was well received by family and friends.  Mike plays a valuable role in checking current affairs and political blogs.

“Bullet/Paragraph Man” again showed his hand in May of that year, when I took to heart his advice that a blog about football would greatly increase the popularity of the blog.  Thus it was I wrote about Alex Ferguson’s retirement. And, yes, the response to that blog was quite good, again proving that the advice from that quarter tends to be sound.

In September that year I wrote a follow up piece recording my progress with Future Life Progression since attending and qualifying at Anne Jirsch’s course.  I hope to write more on that subject in the future!

The Uranus-Pluto square rumbled on, causing mayhem and havoc worldwide…and personal problems for many, which included health issues for me.

One of the most outstanding icons of modern history passed away in December: Nelson Mandela (1918  – 2013), and I made sure his life did not go unrecorded in the blog:

“Today is a day of prayer and reflection, not just in his native South Africa, but around the world.  As a world citizen, he may be unparalleled.  His achievements were many, but all shot through with integrity and consistency.  The courage he bore in his long incarcerated years in Robben Island and the spiritual leadership in demonstrating reconciliation and forgiveness has set an example for world leaders (will they follow?) and an inspiration to all people.”

2014

2014 brought some strange disappearances of aircraft in airspace, the mysteries of which have not yet been completely unravelled.  The first took place on 8 March:

“Malaysian Airlines Flight 370

Given the safety of air travel nowadays, the disappearance of this flight is a total mystery.  The safety record of that airline (Boeing 777) is excellent.  There was no warning of messages from the crew, and it was a sudden event.  Oil slicks were found in the Gulf of Thailand, but who knows if they are linked?  Several countries have taken up the search, and a current theory is that terrorism is involved, with the discovery that two passengers were travelling under stolen passports.  There were 277 passengers on board, and 12 crew members.  Venus was still exactly square the Nodes on the day it happened, suggesting a collective karma requiring co-operation of several nations to help to solve the mystery.”

In September, the Scottish Referendum took centre stage in the blog.  The Scots found their political bone, and the United Kingdom narrowly escaped disunity.  I reported:

‘My own fears chime with those of Will Hutton writing in the Observer:

“Absurdly, there will be two countries on the same small island that have so much in common. If Britain can’t find a way of sticking together, it is the death of the liberal enlightenment before the atavistic forces of nationalism and ethnicity – a dark omen for the 21st century. Britain will cease as an idea. We will all be diminished.”’

That is all very strange to contemplate now.  Gordon Brown stuck his neck out to keep Scotland with us, and the very next day David Cameron diminished the achievement and dishonoured his promises. 2016 was much more of a shock in terms of national disunity, and brought the prospect of Scotland breaking away much nearer.  Brexit inspired Donald Trump, and the rest is history…

2015

11 January saw the blog about the first Paris shootings.  That was shocking enough at the time, but little did we know that more Paris and European shootings were to follow, linked with Islamic State.

There followed a number of blogs beginning in February, leading up to the U.K. General Election in May, about the various political parties.  Another hung parliament was expected, but instead the Conservatives gained a majority.  I was so shocked that, together with Hubby, I joined the Labour Party (before Jeremy Corbyn was a twinkle in the political eye), feeling I had been complacent and needing to do something.

At the end of March, I wrote a long piece about Colour, the Zodiac Signs and Colour Healing, again a subject that as a synaesthete I had been researching for years.  That piece wanted to be mentioned!

In May, I began a new series: Animal Totems and Archetypes, with Gemini as the first one.  This proved fun to research, and the series followed sequentially through to Taurus in April 2016.  I had been researching this topic for years, and I am still adding to this research.

It was a record year for blog comments on the Wimbledon blogs.

The gathering momentum of the Jeremy Corbyn phenomenon was documented in a blog at the end of July.  Again, it is strange to look in hindsight on that journey: his election in the September, then the revolt the following year, followed by another leadership election, and now the state of the Labour Party as a two-party state.

6 September saw an overdue blog on the subject of refugees, which had become a Europewide, if not worldwide, problem.  Many of these refugees were from the desperate conditions of Syria, but some were from North Africa, Libya, Afghanistan and other countries:

“The focal point of this week was a photograph of a 3 year old Syrian boy drowned at sea, but there have also been dramatic scenes in Hungary of packed trains, a woman and baby on a railway line, and refugees marching to the Austrian border, some finally yesterday finding refuge in Germany.

Currently, Jupiter is exactly square Syria’s Mars/Uranus, possibly depicting the sudden mass emigration of its populace, who cannot take any more of ISIL or President Assad.

And Pluto is exactly square Syria’s Ascendant on the 4^th House cusp, maybe the lowest point at which it could sink.”

And still it goes on…

2016

2016 was the year of the Obituary.  As I wrote at the end of the year:

“The Year that Was (2016)

How do we remember 2016?  Let me count the ways:

First of all, we lost so many legends.  I got to write about more than a few of them.  I covered David Bowie,  Alan Rickman, Terry Wogan, Nancy Reagan, Ronnie Corbett, Prince, Victoria Wood, Jonathan Cainer, Muhammed Ali, Jo Cox, Shimon Peres, Leonard Cohen and Fidel Castro.  And of course, there were many, many more I could not cover.  Since 18th December Zsa Zsa Gabor, Rabbi Lionel Blue, Rick Parfitt, George Michael, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds have passed over.  It did not escape anybody’s notice that this was a year of loss.”

Three of those obituaries were in January: Alan Rickman, David Bowie and Terry Wogan.  The tragedies continued right through the year.

In 2016 we prepared for two major events: the European Referendum, which was to take place in June, and the U.S. Presidential Election.  The former occupied a great deal of blog space.

April was another heavy month of celebrity losses: Ronnie Corbett was first, Prince second and Victoria Wood third.  When asked at the end of the year which loss had affected him the most, Hubby replied Victoria Wood.

In June, I started a new series, about the compatibilities of the signs.  This has not received so much interest – well, you can’t win ’em all!

Then there was the shock of Brexit…

In July, Theresa May became Prime Minister, and I wrote:

“Transits this week

Some have greatness thrust upon them, and this week it was Theresa’s time.

In the aftermath of the European Referendum, when it was clear that she was a strong contender for the leadership, Theresa had a Jupiter Return to its natal position in Virgo.  This is a work related boost, though we do not have her birth time and do not know which House this falls into in her natal chart.”

I was rather fond of my September blog about the TV series “Poldark”, based on the novels of Winston Graham.  Last week, in the National Television Awards the programme lost out to “Call the Midwife” in the Best Drama category.

I wrote about Hillary Clinton at the end of October, and by 9 November we became aware that she had lost the election to Donald Trump, though she had not lost the Popular Vote.  Another twist in world history.

November brought two more obituaries, Leonard Cohen and Fidel Castro.  Leonard Cohen is the figure I most miss from 2016, and that blog was heartfelt. They all are, of course (!), so more than usually so.

Christmas Day fell on a blog day in 2016, and an incredible day for positive aspects.  I had been meaning for some time to write a blog about the interplay of Jupiter (Religion) and Neptune (Spirituality) in the birthchart, and it came together for that day.  Also memorable was a trine between Venus and Jupiter, which I associate with engagements.  Sure enough, an unexpected family proposal was announced by the end of the day.

2017

Who knows what the news will bring up for this year’s blogs?

Thank you to all my readership, and to my commenters who have kindly kept me going all this time!

I hope you have the stamina for more…

Love

       Lana