One Day in the Internet Age

Friends, Cousins, Readers:

This morning, an email appeared on my desk saying that Planet Waves got an honorable mention as one of the best astrology websites on the Internet. This is the third time in a month or so that we’ve made one of these lists. I would not be here alone — I have the whole Planet Waves staff to thank for their unique contributions.

The source of the review is Free Horoscopes Astrology (dot-com), apparently our top hit-referrer. We keep getting listed as one of the best astrology sites out there, but this one was truly interesting: we were given an ‘honorable mention’ because we don’t offer free horoscopes. Now, since the reviewing site is called “Free Horoscopes Astrology,” this is a little like the time that I read a poem at a slam in Germany and got a kind of honorable mention because I was speaking English. But this is better.

The reviewers are saying that of all the top astrology sites on the Internet, we’re the only one that requires a subscription fee for the horoscopes — and people even pay it. All the ‘better’ sites give away their work and people pony up a few dollars for ours. In a capitalist system, according to my sense of irony, that says we are the honorary #1 site. Not that I’m competitive or anything.

We are doing this on an Internet where people still expect things to be free. Most don’t pause to wonder how they’re supposed to get there.

About eight years ago, when the Net was still pretty young, I realized that people valued my horoscopes and if I wanted to be in business, I needed to add a subscription fee. I did — and a big pile of bills on my desk disappeared that week. And I was able to hire Chelsea about a month later, and start growing my business as a business. As an astrologer who counsels a lot of artists, actors, recording artists and healers, this the biggest issue out there: how to be a business. That’s what we are: a cool one, a friendly one, but a business indeed. This ain’t my hobby and you get what you pay for. This, we guarantee.

Now for that review —
Eric Francis
Planet Waves Founder & Editor

PS, when they listed the ‘eclectic interests’ of Planet Waves, they forgot to mention everything that I’ve had to say about sex and relationships over the years.

Honorable Mention – Planet Waves by Eric Francis

We find ourselves scratching our head as to how one of the top three astrologers in the world and a terrific website like Planet Waves by Eric Francis didn’t make our top ten best astrology website list. He is after all, one of our very favorite astrologers on the web. Try as we could, though, in spite of the outstanding quality of Eric’s writing and his commitment to bettering the world, we simply couldn’t place him based upon the scarcity of free horoscopes available on his website. We realize that Eric’s writing is both prolific and important. His interests are eclectic, spanning world news and photography, art and philosophy as well as astrology, and we are deeply aware of the contribution that Planet Waves makes. The articles and photographs are so good and the monthly horoscope forecasts are both outstanding and free. Had there been a free weekly reading, we would certainly have placed Planet Waves in our top 10 astrology sites on the web. We just couldn’t do that because others are providing so much high quality free astrology on a daily or weekly basis and the focus of our site is on free horoscopes and astrology forecasts. Still, Eric Francis deserves honorable mention as one of the best astrologers we’ve ever seen. He is truly a renaissance man and Planet Waves by Eric Francis is one of the best sites on the internet, period.

27 thoughts on “One Day in the Internet Age”

  1. e:

    So here’s a point that supports you doing what we do, and screw the mainstream:

    From Andrew Sullivan’s blog:

    Today’s Quote of the Day from Matt Taibbi made something gel for me – something I think you’ve been illustrating for a long time. Forgive me my slowness, but damn: journalism is dying because of (a) the challenge from the blogosphere and (b), the inexplicable, getting-worse-every-day cowardice of the MSM in the face of established power. But maybe (b) is explicable – by (a). Reporters are clinging to their privileged relationships with sources because that’s all they’ve got. It’s what sets them apart from those dastardly upstarts on the Internet. By clinging and deferring instead of actually reporting, they of course become useless to their audience. Worse than useless, really. This strengthens their opponents, the bloggers. And so they cling more.

  2. Amanda,

    Yes, my daughter learned “camp appropriate hugs” at her day-camp where she later became a counselor and passed on the tradition!

    The good part of that (so to speak) is that there were hugs at all. (as you point out).

    Me too – when I was a kid hugging was (somewhat) normal – but not in my family – other than (as kids) a Big Hug for grandma when we first came rolling up the back porch late at night after the long drive and ready for sleep.

    It was me, even then, who was different – I thought hugging was not only OK but that it was a really Good Thing. Fancy that.! And this was long before the current witch-hunts.

    My kids know all about touching AND sex. SADLY the BIGGEST “taboo” in the world of nasty-divorce is letting on about Healthy Sexual RELATIONSHIP/S that Mom might be having. For the most part, frankly – in my experience anyway – it seems that ‘anything goes’ for the dads.

    Well – and that’s a different part of the conversation.
    xo (and many of them! 🙂

  3. Dearest E – so proud of you, V. P. (Very Proud). However, please count yourself lucky that JC and the Daily Mail did not go with your philosophy on astrology or sex or life – it is the greatest fear peddlar this country has, a critical parent at large and I wouldn’t use it to wipe my bum if I’d just used the last pice of toilet roll on the planet. If Hitler were alive today, he’d be be editor-in-chief or at least have a seat on the board.

    Money surely is the only reason JC uses a horrific rag like that to market his work, otherwise it has no fit with what he writes about, or it would appear, him. The most depressing thing about that bloody paper is that it sells; I see people buying it in the supermarket in droves, fear headlines in CAPITALS and this probably informs much of the decisions they make in their lives – that in itself is scary. It’s like Fox news but times 1000.

    Love that you are being recognised, love what you do. Hx

  4. aword —

    yes, we have some pretty convoluted sides to the mama/sex coin, to be sure.

    that paranoia of being accused of improper sexual conduct is unfortunately justified in terms of the modern-day witch hunts around the topic.

    even something as simple as a hug is scary territory these days if you’re not a close relative. when i was a teen, i went to this amazing little summer camp where hugs were normal social expression. about ten years ago, i went back as a counselor for a half week designed for 3rd & 4th graders who’d never been away from home overnight.

    i was shocked when the camp’s deans informed me we weren’t supposed to give hugs to these kids. we could put an arm across the tops of their shoulders, but that was it. the fear of litigation had become so rampant as well as the social confusion over what safe, loving touch is.

    we’ve totally confused whole generations kids about loving touch and “appropriateness” and made adults afraid to be human…

  5. half —
    as always, you write a very cool and lucid distinction! and i heartily second the idea of a collaboration on “how the margins and the mainstream do not have to remain polar extremes but can evolve into an organically driven osmosis.”
    beautiful.

  6. “Everyone is afraid they are going to get fired (or worries what mama might think).”

    Or Mamas who are afraid of losing custody of their children because of what society thinks about mamas that have sex (???!!) or Mamas who believe in healthy sexuality.

    Or Mamas who are afraid of what judgement their own children will pass off on them because the world around those children – beginning with school and other children’s parents – teaches them to be afraid of sex and their own sexuality. Therefore Mama must be a bad person if Mama is sexual.

    Heaven forbid a single mom be sexual in any way.

    Where in the Hell will our children learn about healthy sexuality then (if NOT from mama)?

    Just a mini-rant vis-a-vis the “mama” idea. Thx.

    You run with it Eric Francis. Just run with it – like a banner flowing in the wind as you go. You have more than a few of us behind trying to keep up.
    xo

  7. It was certainly an interesting bellwether to see my horoscopes work so well in the Daily Mail (and by extension, People.com, Hola.com and many other mainstream web outlets where the Cainer horoscope runs).

    What most people don’t know is I don’t have that gig anymore because my out position on sexuality was perceived to be a conflict of interest: the Mail is a family paper. I write about sex, which is allegedly a no-no in Middle England. This was Cainer’s call.

    So here we have the “market” or the “marketing concept” determining the content and establishing the ethos. If you’re wondering why it’s so difficult to find honest conversation of sexuality in our society, this is it. Everyone is afraid they are going to get fired (or worries what mama might think).

    The supposedly controversial page on Planet Waves was our sexuality resources area.

    Here it is, as last updated in 2006.

    http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/resources/pworldssxresources_2006-08.html

    Note, this occurred the day that Pluto was “demoted,” and I do mean the very day. My response was to reorganize Planet Waves, and start Book of Blue.

    Here is an artifact from that time:

    http://www.cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html

  8. I thought it necessary to add an observation on reflection. Jonathan Cainer strikes me as a medium who just happens to utilise astrology as his conducive vehicle of expression.

    Eric’s journalism cast and background and his inductive approach to astrology (where he has mapped back from so many case histories and life narratives onto the cosmic picture) has enabled him to see patterns much more in keeping with how neuropsychology functions, in exploring the pattern matching aspects of brain functioning. Science, metaphor, myth and spirituality blended – thoroughly modern and sophisticated.

    Jonathan Cainer’s focus upon cosmic ordering is populist. He himself can carry it off because he is incredibly grounded in his understanding of positive psychology and its revolutionising effects on the psyche. Most people who decode Cainer’s epistemology, however, will probably often do so in a way that doesn’t grasp the relationship of cosmic ordering type spiritualities to positive psychology – which can lead them into superstition, fear, dependency and all the negatives that tabloid astrology can invoke in readers who lack core awareness.

    The fact that Eric works the awareness receptivity and does not profit from mass market dynamics (always closely allied with UNawareness) represents an integrity and ethical sufficiency that is rarely found nowadays in a business model.

    So while it is an oversimplification to describe Cainer as primarily a medium and Eric as primarily an holistic and intuitive scientist of the humanum, it is probably the correct axis of differentiation and delineation.

    Two differing forms of guidance ensue. Both have to be done brilliantly to succeed and both are. Personally, I’d love to see some collaboration between Eric and Jonathan on this thorny subject of how the margins and the mainstream do not have to remain polar extremes but can evolve into an organically driven osmosis.

    Wouldn’t that be something?

    HdW

  9. Planet Waves gives out lots of free horoscopes, the ones that count. For me, it’s the astro analysis of events that are happening around us (the BP spill, politics, etc). Plus all the writing, (Judith Gayle!! Fe Bongolan!!), cool links, and beautiful photography.

  10. i dunno what website they’ve been coming to but i’ve been seeing free (almost) daily astrology content on this site for a long time now. don’t be fooled by the lack of bolded sign headings! the daily astrology blogs on this site are where it’s at! thanks len, priya, genevieve…and all the other contributors. and thanks eric for creating a special sanctuary on the internet for us.

  11. Moonrose:

    A staged reading is when a play is read out loud before an audience. No props, lights or sets. Just actors reading the script before a live audience.

    And yes, we were there the first year – I believe it was 2005. The mural for the cabaret stage had just been done.

    Andy is one of the good guys.

  12. I’m not sure mainstream is something to aspire to :D. Better to do what you love without compromise.

    AND that was a very nice “honorable mention” *wink* even though — well let’s just say that I don’t personally agree with their assessments of some of the list participants.

    Audio is both accessible and personal, so I can see why so many folks enjoy listening. Not quite like being there, but a start and a step away from our sometimes techno-detached positions.

    Thanks so much for all you do.

  13. Fe, how cool. I didn’t know about Busboys and Poets in 2005. You were there close to its opening. I don’t know Andy but I agree with what you say about what he has brought to the community. I’m sure many would.

    What is a staged reading?? And what was it about?

    moonrose

  14. Moonrose:

    I was in a staged reading with the Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal in 2005. He’s a great guy and a true community servant for political and community artists.

  15. Len,

    Make that ‘The Honorable Chopped Liver’, please!

    And some of us LIKE liver.

    If you, Len, are the Honorable Liver of the Chop, then Eric –
    -are you The Most Honorable Great Gazoo of the Wave?

    Honorable WaverBoat Crew christenings….ah! and you are already all Honorable as Jere points out! 🙂

    BTW – So great that you are receiving these honors no matter what the head-scratching!
    xo

  16. Len you are certainly not chopped liver! I have a great recipe for that, though, if you’re interested. 🙂

    MoonRose
    who is so happy it’s finally storming!

  17. ah the twisted irony..

    ” this the biggest issue out there: how to be a business. That’s what we are: a cool one, a friendly one, but a business indeed. This ain’t my hobby and you get what you pay for. This, we guarantee”

    right fucking on !

    and deserving of “honorable mention” for its business model I should say

    congrats man for continuing to make people scratch their heads and think out of the box

  18. ..I think honorable mention is cool..

    ..I think honor is cool..

    ..I think there’s a way around you,.. just not sure,.. I am a “subscriber”, (terminology doesn’t do it justice..) (haven’t been able to language my thoughts)

    ..You need to get out more.. I know, that sounds stupid coming from me..

    ..give, and trust,.. and Love

    Your friend,

    Jere

  19. I know! THEY decided. So you can imagine them at their meeting.

    Hmm. We’re not picking this site. Scratch scratch. I wonder why we’re not. Hmmm…

    I bob in and out of “mainstream.” As you say, an open secret. I consider myself the Brian Eno of astrology.

  20. Why are they scratching their heads?

    e:

    Pardon me, but I will not go off — at least not too much. Soon enough, you’re headed for a mainstream gig. I visualize that from all my magic-producing centers.

  21. Thanks, Half.

    Every time I put out an audio forecast, we get rave reviews from our customers. Those are in the “audio store” listed at the bottom of every post.

  22. Just to say on Cainer, his audio and video forecasts are unreal and extremely accessible. Unlike Jonathan, who has a six figure tabloid daily uk astrology position, Eric doesn’t tread that mainstream populist path. Big respect to Jonathan for pulling that fine walk off to a tee but his salary means he can give lots a way free as a self-promotion tool. In a sense, for him, all freebies are great advertising. An he’s just concentrating on astrology period. Eric harnesses greater diversity.

    So honourable mention or not, Eric is right up there with Jonathan for astrological quality. He touches the more discerning market, while JC (oops!) reaches elsewhere. A fine complementary pairing!

    Go Eric! Your written forecasts are the best anywhere.

    Half

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