Earlier this week I had began a post dealing with the Venus-Mars conjunction in Taurus, which falls in my natal 12th House, pertaining to body image issues and sexuality and how men initially doubt your intelligence and use you to cheat on their girlfriends when you look like a Titian painting-R. Crumb cartoon hybrid WAAAAAAAHHHH. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake (mmm, cake), since most of my 12th-House neuroses having to do with Taurus and body image and food are actually not that subconscious and haven’t been since I was fourteen. But it actually turned out to be harder than I thought. What I can usually articulate verbally in a very mature and neutral-sounding manner was coming out as this hateful rant that on second and third reads made me sound like kind of An Asshole in a non-ironic way. Not to mention that now I’m totally traumatized and disoriented by the Second Horseman of the Apocalypse Farrah Fawcett, Sky Saxon of The Seeds, and Michael Jackson the motherfucking King of Pop all dying on the same day. (Seriously, like NO ONE is tweeting about Iran anymore. I need my smelling salts.) So instead of straining to edit myself to the point of repression, I decided to stick it back in the 12th House where it belongs and take this opportunity to make my selections for Lemonade Awards.
At the risk of sounding repetitive, the way the Lemonade Awards work is that once you’re nominated, you have the option of choosing your own ten blogs that show “great attitude and/or gratitude.” It’s not like Follow Friday on Twitter, where everyone re-tweets the same people every week and it feels like sixth grade all over again. You’re highlighting the blogs that have the most resonance for you, and you’re letting your nominees know so they can pay it forward too. I think it’s a great thing, because it never really stops- you get to see who’s reading you, and you can add more excellent resources to your blogroll. Of course, as a relatively new blogger, there’s tons of material to digest, but so quickly I’ve connected with so many other astrologers with so many different styles, and it’s great education. Not to mention (insert childish narcissism) that it makes me really thrilled that I’ve been nominated a few times already- and not just because when I told my mom that I was nominated for a “great attitude blog” award, she cracked up laughing. I write about astrology in conjunction with my personal life because I want people who read it to see that the study of astrology doesn’t have to be totally abstract or exist in a vacuum, like it’s calculus or something. I don’t just believe in astrology and archetype and symbolism, I utilize them, and they’ve been some of the best tools I’ve got for self-growth. So when people commend me for my honesty or my introspection or my insight, I want to say, “Thank you very much. NOW YOU DO IT TOO.” Truly, thank you to those of you who read what I write and enjoy it and learn from it and connect with it. I’m still learning quite a bit, but I’m totally excited to move forward with all your support and interest and contributions.
So without further ado, in no particular order, here are ten astrology blogs I’ve been loving:
1a) AstroDispatch (http://www.astrodispatch.com) and 1b) ElsaElsa, The Astrology Blog (http://www.elsaelsa.com)- I’m making these two part of one entry because Elsa works her tail off at both of them. Being a lazy Pisces, I love astrodispatch.com because it literally just HANDS you fascinating astrology material to read. But the good part is that it’s all well thought out, quality material, that’s never repetitive or redundant. And Elsa’s own blog is brief and to the point, but totally right on, totally accessible, and humorous to boot. (Qualities I continually strive for in my own writing.)
2) Abyssal Epistles (http://barons.uraniasweb.com/blog)- the Baron’s horoscopes make me seriously squishy inside. I love that his style is so dark but still very poignant and philosophical, almost like parables. And I trust this man’s talent for subtext and nuance like no other. If the Baron says, “Pisces, read this book,” you fucking bet I will read that book, because there is without question something the Baron knows I will identify with in that book. So far he’s never been wrong, and we’ve never even met. (Yet.)
3) Dana’s Moonblog (http://mooncircles.com/blog)- since I started reading The Mountain Astrologer at the tender age of fifteen, Dana Gerhardt has been one of my favorite writers. Her style bears a delightful abundance of personability and a delightful lack of gobbledy-gook, giving you great insights into how to understand astrology symbolically and how to use it practically at the same time. Her articles were perfect supplements as I was learning the technical jargon of astrology. (You know, when I was like, “The 8th House is, like, the house of… stuff… that I don’t know about… because I’m fifteen…”) It also bears noting that Dana was the first professional astrologer I ever made contact with, when I was fresh out of college and participated in her Venus Unleashed research, and she was so sweet and supportive in her responses. (Which of course wasn’t a SURPRISE, but still.)
4) Sasstrology (http://sasstrology.com)- similar to AstroDispatch, Sasstrology is a great collection of articles and blog posts by awesome astrologers, but specifically related to relationships. It’s lightearted and funny without being totally freaking wrong and based on generalizations, like what you’d normally expect of Sun sign love astrology. Sasstrology also led me to some of the astrologers I’m going to list below, so I’ll hush about that. But I will say that I have the utmost respect for Jeffrey Kishner because he and I are both workaholic freelancers but he’s actually successful at it, because Sasstrology isn’t the only astrology website he maintains, and because he will freely admit what he believes to be lacking in his own work and take steps to FIX it, instead of just leaving it fallow out of resignation. Also, he lives near my parents, so he has street cred.
5a) Julie Demboski (http://juliedemboski.wordpress.com) and 5b) Been There, Done That (http://askjulie.wordpress.com)- Julie Demboski is THE SHIT. I am not embarrassed to admit that I only really started honing in on asteroids in natal charts after I found her articles. I’d always been interested in them, of course, but I couldn’t really find any reading material about them that wasn’t murky and dumbed-down, like, “Vesta is the hearth, like your uterus, which is also like a BEAUTIFUL FLOWER.” Julie’s horoscopes show a really dynamic interplay between the major planets and the asteroids, such that they have substance and you can actually see what they mean and how their energies add shading to major transits, instead of trying to identify what part of your ladyparts Pallas Athena is supposed to represent. (Hint: not the clitoris.) Her site Been There, Done That gives really sound astrological relationship advice that is universal without reading like a self-help book.
6) Chirotic Journal (http://chirotic.wordpress.com)- One of the things that boils my freaking blood is when people mistakenly assume that astrology is a religion, then concede that it’s at best a “pseudo-science,” and are totally limited in their awareness of how astrology could actually be valuable in certain disciplines of academia. From now on, every time someone says something in that vein to me, I’m referring them to Jeremy Neal’s blog. There is something so crisp and so scholarly about the way he deals with astrology that you have to wonder why he’s not teaching it at some tweedy Ivy League university somewhere. At the same time, though, he’s not afraid to write about his personal experiences in a way that is simultaneously deep and relatable. When he does it, it comes across like something you’d find in a psychoanalytic journal. One day, if I can write like that, I will buy myself an ice cream cone.
7) Moonkissd by Jessica (http://moonkissd.com/blog)- The thing I like best about Jessica’s approach to astrology is that it is incredibly optimistic without being saccharine, and it is steeped heavily in passion. Jessica clearly adores what she does, and she wants everyone who reads her blog to have the same kind of passion for what they do. Actually, scratch that: she knows that everyone does, but she wants to help you access it and embrace it. Passion is mightily underrated, I think. (Plus I have a special affinity for other redheads.)
8. Crime Horoscope (http://www.crimehoroscope.com)- in case you hadn’t noticed me going on at length about my Pluto final dispositor and my taste for horror movies, I love true crime equally as much as I love astrology. So when I found this blog, I nearly shit myself. They offer concise but fascinating astrological insights into some pretty grisly events. While I certainly don’t believe that one’s natal chart can automatically mean, “You will go into a dormitory and rape and murder eight nursing students,” it is always pretty chilling when in hindsight something in the natal chart can reflect one’s darkness just as much as one’s light. (p.s. my dash of OCD wants you to know that the reason the numeral 8 has a period instead of a parentheses at the end is because otherwise it will automatically turn it into an emoticon smiley face wearing sunglasses, which is totally not appropriate for an item about true crime.)
9) Big Sky Astrology (http://bigskyastrology.com/bloggish/index.php)- I’ve always felt like April Elliott Kent and I think alike in a lot of ways, and not just because she openly admitted on her own Lemmy nomination list that she prefers blogs with bad attitudes. Some of her work has actually brought me to tears, because I’ve read it and thought, “Oh my God, how did you know?” (Not saying which pieces, though.) The blog is called “Big Sky,” but April cannilly pulls the big sky down to earth in wholesome, digestible bites. (Mmm, sky.) It brings new meaning to the expression “God is in the details.”
10) Matthew The Astrologer (http://matthewastrology.blogspot.com)- Matthew Currie is probably sick of everyone being like, “OMIGOD Matthew Currie is SO FUNNY!” but seriously, HE IS. No matter what subject you’re writing about, it’s incredibly difficult to stay true to the jargon and still retain your own wit and humor. Matthew is seemingly effortless at it, though. If you don’t believe me, here is a list of things I have snarfed out from laughing while reading Matthew’s blog: water, grapefruit juice, cranberry juice, Dr Pepper, peaches, macaroons, and almond butter toast. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson the first few times, right?
Now that I’ve finished my Lemonade Awards, I just might go and make some actual lemonade. But I will not drink it while reading Matthew The Astrologer.
