Happy 12th Birthday To The Aquarius Papers

by Robert Wilkinson

Yes, it was 12 years ago today that I launched the original Aquarius Papers as a Salon blog. A little backstory and reflection....

Right up front, for the astrologers who come here, I launched this project at 12:10 pm, April 28, 2004, at Westwood (UCLA), California. I chose this time to begin publication of the first article, since it's a very strong chart. Also, it proves that Mercury retrograde projects really do have staying power if they are activities that mirror Mercury retrograde energies (like publishing)!

The chart has 6 degrees 52 minutes Leo rising, 28 degrees 9 minutes Aries on the MC, and the Moon is 21 degrees 4 minutes Leo in an exact Grand Fire Trine with Mercury retrograde at 21 degrees 14 min Aries and Pluto at 21 degrees 55 min Sagittarius. The Sun is in the 10th house at 8 degrees 49 minutes Taurus conjunct the North Node at 12 Taurus in a very close trine to Jupiter at 8 degrees 58 minutes Virgo in the 2nd house. (I'll leave you to check out the rest of the positions on your own.)

This chart is an example of how the branch of the craft known as "Electional Astrology" works. It's related to Horary Astrology, except that the former seeks the right timing to set events into motion (marriage, launching a business, filing legal papers, asking for a favor, making first contact with someone, etc.) while the latter marks the time of an event to find the answer to that event (Where did I lose the watch? How to respond to what I just heard? Is this person trustworthy?).

Both of these branches of Astrology have somewhat different rules about how to read the charts. That's why most astrologers have no business telling a client when to marry or start a business, since a birth chart is read in much different ways than an electional chart. (Sometimes a chart is not a chart in the usual sense...) And of course, there is almost never a time when all indicators are favorable with no afflictions in the chart, just as there is never a time when all indicators are unfavorable with no strengthening aspects to mitigate the potential damages.

And now for the story!

I am the first astrological blogger. There were none before me who published daily astrological content and interacted with commenters from around the world. When I began posting astrology articles on the web, the internet was still pretty much unorganized, with no blogware, no interactivity, and nothing but primitive commercial astrology sites selling astrology services.

I had done the usual static website approach to publishing my articles in 1997-2003, but because web everything was in its infancy, my webmaster was a) constantly tinkering with the code, so that (b) articles never got posted in a timely way, and c) the website design and paths kept changing and I never could figure out how to navigate it to any degree of satisfaction. So I was cranking out great material back then, but by the time it was posted it had expired since it was past its shelf life.

It just seemed a very counterintuitive way to offer what I write, with no opportunities to interact with my readers and a cumbersome way to post with no way to get more material up soon after. So while I polished my writing skills during those years, it was still frustrating to write great material only to see it become irrelevant soon thereafter with few if any reading it.

And then I met THE BLOG. It was in late 2001 when I lived in Northern California that I met a young man who had an unfocused political and vaguely philosophical blog on Salon, which was really the only game in town back then. Through his encouragement I started to "feel my way around" the blogosphere, checking out various blogs on all kinds of subjects.

I didn't have my own, but learned how to jump in, comment, take heat, get into and out of political firefights, and became confident that I could find a voice in the blogosphere, despite the general unfriendliness and nasty arrogance of the political arena to newbies. My friend pestered me for months to start my own, and I resisted, not knowing exactly how I could tend to such a thing on a regular basis. But eventually he convinced me to set one up just to see what would happen, and if I really could attract readers to a site devoted to astrology and metaphysics.

I moved back to LA in Summer 2003, and after a lot of reflection and a dress rehearsal in late March 2004, I set up the launch for this day 12 years ago. I wasn't sure how it would be received, and so made it both astrological and spiritual with a sidebar called "The Outer Edge" for political and social commentary. I felt the two might have some overlap, via Gandhi and other sages, since I don't believe we can or should divorce politics from ethics and its impact on society, which immediately introduces a philosophical element into any political dialog.

Well, that went over like a lead balloon! I found that most spiritually or astrologically minded people are bored or indifferent when it comes to politics, and political junkies loathe anything related to astrology or spirituality. Since then, I've found that many who are into astrology would prefer me NOT to post my political views, especially Republicans and would-be Libertarians. Oh well. That doesn't work for me.

Anyway, back to ancient days. So my friend and I agreed to make his blog a collective "political" blog featuring social commentary, political humor, and busting miscreants in business, industry, and politics, while the Aquarius Papers would be mine personally, and focus mainly on astrology and spirituality. We and others were administrators on the political blog (one of the first group blogs!) and I became Captain of the Starship Aquariuspapers, Version 1.0

The blogware we were forced to use to post on Salon was miserable and cumbersome, and looked dreadful. Anyone who ever was a forced subscriber to "Radio Userland" will absolutely attest to this! So after some research, we found a couple more blogware suppliers that had begun to operate, and then migrated this site in Summer 2005 to Typepad which is the platform I have used since then.

For those who want to see the living evolution of this blog, please go to this page, as it has quite a few of the original articles posted on the blogs.salon.com site. Back when the Salon archives were still available, you could see I was describing the Grand Irrationality from day one, though I didn't invent that specific term until a bit later. In a historical note, my first post using that term was October 26, 2004, even though I had used it in talks before then.

In the original archives, the articles began on June 2, 2004 rather than April 28. That was because my computer crashed (thanks to Norton - a miserable virus protection software if ever there was one - scrambling my operating system) and it took me a couple of days to resurrect the site/software/blog articles posted up to then. So though the first article actually was posted on April 28, it was as though the whole thing had to begin again on June 2. (Yes, that is a Mercury retrograde phenomenon!)

Anyway, that's how this site got started 12 years ago. It's certainly become more than I could ever have imagined at that time, and thanks to the evolution of blogware, search engine technology, and the times we live in, it's now one of the biggest sites of its kind in the world!

I gave up tracking hard numbers some time ago. This time in 2014 we were about 4.6 million unique visits and 10.7 million page views since February 2005 when I began tracking the numbers, with people coming in from over 130 countries around the world. That pretty much averages 500-600,000/year and around 1.2 million page views/year. (Those traffic totals don’t count the various server attacks on typepad and the numerous times that sitemeter was down.)

So we’re now moving into the 13th year! I gather that the Typepad blogware has evolved in many ways, and so I must do some maintenance this year. And due to several DoS attacks on Typepad servers from vindictive hackers, the site does go down from time to time. When it does, the community finds out about it on Facebook, so our wired world helps us all stay in touch.

Due to rapidly evolving developments in other media, I’m also rethinking how I can do webinars, and plan to begin some podcasting when I find the time. And of course, the 5th Ray publishing operation is up and running, so the community can now find my books and purchase altar stones via the site links. More books are also in development, and I am working on transferring hundreds of hours of my talks from tape to digital files, so stay tuned!

While this site has always been about me offering insights to the community and a forum where we can find other gentle truth seeking Souls, I hope that future years will help us all build and strengthen our global community and network of Light workers to assist the birthing of the new era while staying as safe as possible in the midst of the accelerated changes. The changes are happening, but we'll always have the Wisdom, the Way, and the Community as the "refuges" to help us overcome suffering, whether our own or what we find in the world.

So I'm glad you're here, glad to know those of you who have chosen to be part of this gentle community, and glad to be able to offer this sanctuary in the midst of the uncertainty, dread, confusion, and "Grand Irrationality." We're moving from the unreal to the real, darkness to light, and death to immortality. Aum Namah Shivaya! Aum Mani Padme Hum! And Aum Namah the Age of Aquarius!

Happy birthday, all!

© Copyright 2016 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Aline]

Happy Birthday, Aquarius Papers. This Aquarian has been with you since the early days
and is grateful for the sanctuary provided herein! xo

[Ale Tarallo]

A milestone!! Happy Birthday Aquarius Papers!!!

[sw]

Happy Birthday!!! I am so glad I found you. In these dark days before the light, you are a safe harbor for me.

[Kristin]

Happy Birthday! Much gratitude for the site and its valuable information and insights!

[Jean]

Happy Birthday Aquarius Papers!
Many thanks for one of the most innovative and informative astrology communities on the web. Still going strong at twelve and growing.
Thanks so much Robert. Looking forward to another twelve!

Namaste

[yzse]

Congratulations Robert! :)

This site is online from the time I've started to learn astrology, and I'm here from 2007. or 2008.
Thank you for teaching us and sharing your knowledge :)

[carmen]

Blessings to Aquarius Papers and your dedication to sharing your insights to your fellow sojourners on the path...

[chickie farella]

Molti Grazie for all you do and who u are Ur Highness!!!

[Nic]

Congratulations to Aquarius Papers and many thanks for your sustained effort and knowledge sharing.
So glad that you are pushing forward other projects and specially the effort to build a community of light workers...
Great stuff.
Blessing be to all.

[Ilse]

Congratulations Robert, and once again thank you very much for your good work!

[dcu]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This site is by far the best astrology site around. I know that you spend countless hours creating this site. Thank you so very much.

[Felipe Gonzales]

Feliz Cumpleaños Aquarius Papers!
Muchas gracias for sharing your wisdom and light with us all these years. Many blessings to you and the community.

[Diane]

You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.
THOMAS MERTON

A most happy birthday Aquarius Papers! And a huge thank you, to you Robert for your dedication, time & effort in creating & maintaining this sanctuary for all of us. I always look to Aquarius Papers as my "weather map" of what be happenin'.