The Inner Wheel is one year old today. To celebrate, I’ve registered theinnerwheel.com as a domain name. You can still get here via the old WordPress address, but I’m hoping the change will make it easier for people to find it if they’ve heard of it, or find it again if they’ve lost it. Don’t forget the ‘the.’ If you do, you’ll get to an international organization of Rotarian wives. Not a bad thing, but probably not what you want.

Even though I’d been using the Internet since the early days (well, around ’92 or ’93) I didn’t know what to expect. I don’t really do social networking or have much time for reading other people’s blogs, and my limited experience on the ‘net was research, shopping, and participating in a few astrology forums. But it was in the forums that I saw a need. The availability of computer software for astrology meant there were a lot of people out there with a lot of information on their hands and no way to really interpret it, or to learn about the fundamentals of the art, of getting to the bottom of it and putting it all together. The emails I received from the forum participants were always so grateful and encouraging. So here I am. (Moon in Leo. I need approbation.)

I still remember pushing the button to publish the first post. I probably always will. There was a brief flash of ‘What the hell am I doing?” We 12th house types like to hide, and being on the Internet in my own format felt like shouting ‘me, me, me’ and walking around in a hat with a giant neon arrow on it. But I sensed it was a new beginning for me, a very big step forward from doing consults and teaching the occasional class. I ‘came out’ to a lot of people in my life who had no idea that I was an astrologer, and I could point them here to understand it better. It was liberating. I felt more genuine and authentic than I have ever felt. There is a French word I’ve always loved, which has no real English equivalent, jaillir. It means to gush, to shoot up, to fly out, to burst forth. Je jaillis. Je jaillerai…

The first day, on the inner wheel I was thrilled that four people showed up. I’d written a piece called The Darkling Sun, dealing with my dislike of August and relating it to having the Sun in a 12th house phase (don’t we all feel a little glum before our birthdays?), and I thought that four was a pretty good start. I wasn’t too dismayed when I found out that two of them had been searching for a novel with a similar title. And then, I was picked up by a funny little astrology site whose name I can’t remember–all I remember was that the logo was a cute little owl. In the mysterious ways of the Internet, the numbers started growing–6 people, 8 people, 10 people. I was happy. Wow, I write something and 10 people read it right away. Amazing. It was a good first week.

Now, 70,000 views and 100 posts later, I’m still a bit gobsmacked. I’ve met the most amazing people this year–warm, compassionate, intelligent and caring people who are genuine seekers. I’ve been blessed with wonderful clients and the most talented, passionate and eager students a teacher could ever hope for. I’ve made friends of other astrologers, and am grateful for their friendship and insight. I look forward to meeting many more of you.

Public thanks are in order. First, to my parents, and especially to my mother, Stella, who has always supported me in all my decisions. Everyone should have parents who support you even when they think what you’re doing is mad, frightening and dead wrong. That takes real courage and faith beyond imagining. Thanks to my brother Paul, who has been pushing me for years to have an Internet presence, and who once took the time to code an entire website for me. I owe him. (His daughter, my niece Mariana, is a bit improved but still far from out of danger. Your continuing prayers would be appreciated.) Thanks to my old forum-friend, Kevin, who has left astrology behind but not before pushing me deeper into it. We’re out of touch now, but I keep hoping he’ll stumble onto this site one day and see what he instigated. Thanks to Elsa, and the wonderful AstroDispatch that allows us to find one another. Thanks to Don Musser, Neeti Ray and LeAnn Plank, whose endless enthusiasm is an inspiration and a vaulting point for many of these articles. Thanks to my colleague and new friend Anne Whitaker for all her support and encouragement. Her comments and judgment are always spot on and my days would be lacking without her good humour. And warm thanks to T, for for hijacking me on a journey past the boundaries of my understanding and making me a better astrologer and a better human being.

To commemorate this grand occasion, the inner wheel is going to have another little contest. Since the date is August 5th (8/5) I’m offering a free off the cuff reading or tutoring session to the person who can best explain, in 300 words or less, how the fifth house relates to the eighth house. Email me at alcuin9@gmail.com with BIRTHDAY as the subject matter. If the winning entry is exceptional, I’ll post it as a guest post. Please send your entries in before Wednesday, August 11th.

And thanks to every one of you, for your passion and your commitment to learning this complex and difficult art. Those of you who keep striving and pushing the envelope, who are determined to create gold from the muck of life. You make my work worthwhile, and I look forward to a long and satisfying future with you.

It’s been a wonderful year. Thank you so much, for everything.

Love,

Dawn

The inner wheel