Sunday, April 29, 2012

Radical Retrospective: The 200th Post!


 © 2012 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved



I started The Radical Virgo blog in 2009, thanks to a huge cosmic hint contained in the enthusiasm of an avid reader. He was inspired by my article that first appeared in The Mountain Astrologer in 1990, The Radical Virgo. "The Radical Virgo," the article, also has been posted online for years on the wonderful Australian archive, A Place in Space. It continued to get positive feedback nearly 20 years later. (People have referred to me as “The Radical Virgo” ever since I first wrote it.) This blog was an experiment, and it seemed logical to name it after the article that catalyzed its creation, especially since it was also my astrological nickname.

On the cusp of launching my new astrology site, I was no stranger to blogging. I had been posting for three years on my baby boomer turned spirited living blog, Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights. I absolutely loved Hot/Cool, despite the fact that it took me awhile to find its footing and right direction. Alas, I never did find but a fraction of its potential audience.

This was not the case, at all, with The Radical Virgo. Out of the gate, I had four to five times the pageviews and visitors in just weeks, compared to three years of hard work on Hot/Cool. This was my first hint that the experiment of The Radical Virgo was a success and that this blog was meant to be.

On this anniversary of the 200th post on The Radical Virgo, I marvel at what we’ve created here together in both community and body of knowledge. I didn’t know I had it in me. My topics and frequency of blogging have varied over this trio of years, but not as much as I thought till I looked back. There are usually a minimum four posts per month, and in the past, up to twice as many. My habit of considering bits of astrology in depth, usually seasoned with humor, still prevails. Even when I’m less available to blog, as I am currently, the whole adventure of blogging continues to be like eating potato chips for me. I can’t have just one. The crisp, salty taste just keeps me coming back for more. Every time I think I’ve run out of things to say, that maniacal muse in the back of my head starts laughing my head off—and I’m writing down some other inspiration. These often occur at the beauty salon under the hair dryer, a bit from one of my Auntie Joyce posts that is autobiographical and oddly true. (I go to a salon that has almost all Virgo hairdressers. How could a Venus-ruled Virgo not write in such an atmosphere?)

I always think these milestones are a great time to look at a few fun stats and factoids about what we’re doing here. Let’s start with the 10 Top Posts of All Time as of this 200th post:


The Radical Hit Parade, 2009 – 2012

  1. Chiron Quiz: How Strong is Your Chiron? (Aug 17, 2010, 101 comments/ 5,666 Pageviews

  1. Chiron in Pisces: Integration and Integrity (Apr 16, 2010, 14 comments/ 2,734 Pageviews)

  2. Emotional Maturity: The Secondary Progressed Moon ... (Apr 18, 2011, 5 comments/ 1,051 Pageviews
  3. Humor: Quotes for the Signs #2 (Jul 6, 2009, 2 comments/ 715 Pageviews)
  4. The Chiron Resonance Quiz: What’s Your Chi-Res Sco... (Sep 17, 2010, 20 comments/ 697 Pageviews
  5. Ten Ways to Celebrate Mars Retrograde (Jan 23, 2012, 14 comments / 654 Pageviews)
  6. Quotes for the Signs #7 (Feb 25, 2011, 2 comments/ 650 Pageviews)
  7. Neptune in Pisces: Sharing Our Visions for Astrology (Mar 5, 2012, 2 comments/ 615 Pageviews)
  8. Saturn in Libra: "Form" Your Love Life, Chart Your... (Mar 4, 2010, 8 comments/ 531 Pageviews)
   10. Moonwalk: Sagittarius (Dec 3, 2010, 6 C/ 427 PV)  

Several things stand out for me in this line-up. Despite my being a Chiron specialist and writing a lot about Chiron, only three of the Top 10 are articles about Chiron. I’m glad you find my two-cents worth on other topics worth reading, too. One of these hits belongs to my colleague, a beautiful human being both inside and out, Mandi Lockley of the UK. Visit her on Astroair Astrology to get more of her excellent articles like #3, above, “Emotional Maturity: The Secondary Progressed Moon Cycle.”

I’m still chuckling about #10. Of all the Moonwalks we’ve taken around the zodiac—and we’ve done them all!—Sagittarius turns out to be the most popular. I’m laughing because two of the loves of my life, including my first husband, had Sag Moon. I found them both delightful and exasperating! Apparently, I’m the not the only one who wants to know more about what makes these guys and gals tick.

I’ll always wonder, of all the Quotes for the Signs, what makes #2 and #7 stand out in the crowd?

Click chart to enlarge


The Radical Virgo on the RV Blog’s Chart

The Radical Virgo launched at one of the best times to begin something new, the Spring Equinox. With all the emphasis on Aquarius and Pisces and the 10th and 11th Houses, RV was meant to be a group effort where unique ideas converge. Aries Sun makes it trailblazing and adventurous. The blog shares my personal degree of Taurus Rising on purpose, an obvious way to help me remain indentified with it. Ironically, there isn’t a single planet in Virgo in the chart of the Radical Virgo Blog; however, the radical part is more than covered by the stellium in Aquarius.

Who Are You?

The ringtone on my phone is from the original CSI, its theme song by The Who, Who Are You? (Who? Who?) This is a musical pun for me, every time the phone rings. But I digress. Here’s a bit about who you are, my Radical Readers:

·       The vast majority of readers come from the USA. Top states are California, New York, Ohio, Florida and Washington in order.

·       The next most traffic comes from the UK, Canada, India, Australia, France, and Romania.

·       You typically read an average of 1.5 pages, currently for over 2.5 minutes. Because I write longer articles, many of you will read for 5-10 minutes or more. In our fast-paced cyber world, I consider your attention quite a compliment and am grateful for your time.

·       Most of you come by way of search engines (49%). Thirty-five percent are referred from other sites, and 11 percent come directly, presumably via bookmarked links. At least a quarter of you are “regulars,” who return often. Thank you!

“Best of” Sites

The Radical Virgo is in the Top 10-20, much of the time, on a number of sites that track astrology blogs. Here are a few examples.

·       Astrology Top Listed

·       Post Rank - Astrology

·       Astrology All Top


Ideas for Joining the Celebration

If you enjoy reading The Radical Virgo as much as I enjoy writing the articles at the heart of it, here are some ways you can join me in celebrating yet another marker on the round trips from Earth to Sky that we make on these pages.

  1. Comment—now and as often as possible. Let me know why you like coming here or your response to a specific article. There are no direct rewards for blogging, though there are many indirect ones, a few financial (like connections for readings and book sales) and many more that are invaluable like the formation of simpatico friendships and sharing transformative ideas. Your enthusiasm is the salt on my potato chips. Keep connecting and letting me know what you like and want more of. I’ll be here, if you will! Another way this helps? Considerable traffic is driven to The Radical Virgo from the “best blog” sites. For many of them, rankings are based on interactions, including comments. Of course, most people tend to visit the higher-placed blogs.

  2. Visit or Revisit Some of the Top 10. The Top 10 are hardly the only articles on The Radical Virgo—only five percent of them. You can download the Annotated Article Index by topic of the first three years and easily see what’s been written so far in 2012 by way of the Blog Archive toward the bottom of the sidebar.

  3. Sign Up for the Cardinal Quarterly Newsletter, if you haven’t already. You get special offers on readings, book sales, and exclusive information that is not posted but shared only with those of you willing to make our communications a two-way street. See the top of the sidebar.

  4. Tell Your Friends about The Radical Virgo. Blogs keep alive and thrive by your endorsements. Forward this or the link to any post to folks you think would appreciate our Radical romps. I’d love it if you’d post the RV link on your blog, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest pages.

  5. Like “Joyce Mason – The Radical Virgo” on Facebook. You can also Friend me on my personal page.

  6. Follow Me on Twitter. You’ll get links to my blog posts, inspirational quotes, and a lot more in a lot less space.

  7. Follow Me on Pinterest. If you haven’t discovered or yet indulged in this newest, graphic-driven way of social networking, as my heroine Auntie Mame would say, I can show you worlds!

  8. Contribute an article.  If you like to write, I’m always open to guest articles, especially now that I need to lower my number of posts to make room for book projects. Email me to discuss your proposal.


Last but most important: Where ever you are when you read this, send warm thoughts to The Radical Virgo, the blog and the blogger—and toast us in your mind! I often feel your warm thoughts in the ethers and sense your vibrations in the cybersphere. Sometimes, I can almost hear your heartbeats. I love those notes that often come in response to one of the newsletters—or any other time.

Jupiter smiles on me. This has been one of the most rewarding projects of my life. Thanks for your part in making it so.

~~~

Photo Credit: 200 © Christian Pedant | Fotolia.com




4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Joyce!

First of all, congratulations on the RV's 200th post! I was really glad to read about its success in terms of visitors, as I myself have been one of your readers for a long time now. I enjoy everything you write, especially your insights on both Virgo and Chiron, since the former tends to be a bit underestimated and there is not yet a lot being published on the latter. I admire your writing style, your approach to Astrology and the wonderful way in which you make it so accessible to anyone willing to learn with an open mind and an understanding heart.

For all this, well done!!, and please keep up the good work here at the Radical Virgo, as I am sure you will continue to captivate many more readers with your talent and your spirit!

Raquel

Joyce Mason said...

Thanks, Raquel. Wonderful to hear your experience here. I feel cheered on! I'm especially grateful to know that you find my insights on Virgo and Chiron helpful.

I'm grinning over your words that Virgo "tends to be a bit underestimated." (I love understatement!) With self-doubt as such a major Virgo issue, I think it's the Virgo underestimation of self that has created much of the limiting aura around the V-sign. For the sake of everyone with any Virgo energy, it's good for the planet for people to reconnect with the true core of the Virgo archetype. It's about honing self to an ideal, peeling away layers of "chaff" till what's left is the core individual, stripped of all the layers of negative psychological dross that keeps us from being ourselves. The virgin symbol, to me, expresses pure self. At the heart of every planet in Virgo is the desire to reach that pure self, and when we do, something amazing happens. We touch our desire to serve and the cusp of Libra, the next sign, representing the first sign of the other.

Every blessing,
Joyce

Mandi Lockley said...

Yay! congrats joyce on reaching the 200 milestone...i look forward to the next 200. and thanks so much for generous mention x

Joyce Mason said...

Mandi, the mention was well deserved as you've helped make the 200th milestone possible! Your energy as both a contributor and commenter is always appreciated here and have added immeasurably to this blog's success.The popularity of the Emotional Maturity article speaks for itself. It has become an all-time favorite on The Radical Virgo. Thanks for your generous spirit of sharing!