Dear Friend and Reader,
The Friday edition of Planet Waves Astrology News will be available to subscribers momentarily. And not to brag, because I’ve been working on it all week, but this is a really good edition.
First of all, it features the debut of Genevieve’s weekly horoscope: she’s taking over for Eric for the next few weeks as we finish up Next World Stories, the annual edition that will knock your socks off (or your sandals if you’re somewhere warm).
As our 10th anniversary approaches, we’ve also opened with the first Planet Waves essay ever: “Astrology as the Art of Bullshit,” with a new introduction written by Eric:
As part of our commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Planet Waves, we’re reprinting what I consider to be the first-ever Planet Waves essay. It was written in Munich the spring of 1998, more than six months before PlanetWaves.net went on the air. I was in an email dialog with Brad Blanton, author of Radical Honesty, and he was taking his at times annoying position that astrology is bullshit; that I should give it up and do something real with my life, such as take his classes.
In a moment of revelation and revolt, I considered his viewpoint for a moment, and seized the territory as my own. In about an hour, I jammed out this essay. I sent the piece to Rob Brezsny, who loved it so much he published it that week and left it linked from his homepage for nearly two years. I am sure that I have met a number of you through this piece of writing. A decade on, it’s clear that I was setting the agenda for Planet Waves. I think you will see what I mean.
I went on to write a series of articles that summer and autumn for Rob’s site (then called Real Astrology), covering the Clinton impeachment, my exploration of early holocaust sites in Erfurt and, further setting the Planet Waves agenda, publishing “Coming to the Revolution” (my first missive on masturbation) and “Options to Romance” (a kind of alt-sex dictionary). In retrospect, it was authentically gutsy of Rob to print those pieces on an astrology website, and revealed his true-to-life open mind.
We’ve also begun a briefs section, written by one of my favorite Planet Waves’ contributors, Shanna Philipson. The briefs will cover major astrology and astronomy headlines from the week, along with other interesting/funny/weird news that comes up as well. For example, Sarah Palin was Google’s fastest rising search in 2008. Now you know.
Thanks to a generous collaboration, I’ve also been including the work of wonderful artists in the subscriber editions. You may have seen some of their work appearing on this page, but on Fridays I have the opportunity to really utilize their work. It comes out as a virtual gallery; and if you’re in any way visually inclined, this is not something to miss.
A subscription to Planet Waves Astrology News costs $7.33 per month. Click here for your subscription options.
Yours & truly,
Rachel Asher
To see more from contributing artist Beverly Naidus, click here.