Winter Solstice

The winter solstice is one of the four "cardinal" turning points in astrology, when the Sun begins its run down the "home stretch" of the zodiac toward the spring equinox and the beginning of the new astrological year.

Much of the symbolism of the winter solstice (and of the zodiac in general) comes from the northern hemisphere, where the winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year -- the point at which the Sun has descended as far as it can go and the night is of maximum length. After the solstice, the Sun begins to rise again, with the amount of daylight increasing daily for the next 6 months, until the summer solstice.

Thus, it is not surprising that the modern celebration of the new year, at least in many western cultures, occurs at the time of the winter solstice. Astrologically we generally look to the spring equinox as the beginning of the new astrological year, but a strong argument can also be made in favor of the winter solstice. The word "solstice" itself is derived from Latin words from "sun" and "to stand still" -- i.e., the point at which the Sun halts in its descending path and begins to reverse direction. This could easily be defined as the beginning of a new year or cycle.

Happy Solstice!

--- Ed

Ed Perrone
Founder/Webmaster
support@myastrology.net

MyAstrology.net Website

We have made some design and content changes to the MyAstrology.net website, in order to help it load faster, look better, and provide better services. The home page in particular has cut down on display features that required excessive computations that were slowing down page loading. Instead, the home page now simply displays links to those features. In addition, we have removed some features that were not being utilized.

Perhaps most significantly, we have moved the website (along with its sister site, CurrentPlanetaryPositions.com) to a completely new hosting company and webserver. This company allows a much greater number of simultaneous users than our old host, which had been slowing down the sites to an unacceptable level with only a handful of users there at one time.

All of this should add up to a much more pleasant experience for all of you on both sites.

We have also added a new informational section as a slideshow entitled "The Planets in Astrology." This slideshow presents some basic astronomical and astrological information about the planets in an easy-to-understand format. We may add more slideshows on other topics in the future.

You are still able to order Personal Chart Reports -- and the beginning of the new year might not be such a bad time to do so. Several types of reports, including forecasts, are available, so drop by and take a look.

(Please note that the chart reports will be unavailable from December 24th through January 13th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.)

For a different type of New Year's forecast, you can speak live via videochat to astrologers, Tarot readers, numerologists, psychic readers, and more through our affiliation with the Oranum Esoteric Community. These readers are available 24 hours a day to provide personalized guidance on all topics.

Astrology Videos

I've recently become much more involved with astrological videos, through my work with the Media Studio of the International Academy of Astrology (IAA). IAA has over 300 videos of the world's leading astrologers giving lectures, leading discussions, and teaching courses. These videos had previously been sold in the IAA online store, but they are now being gradually transferred over to the streaming service, Vimeo.

Many of these videos are available to stream for free. Others can be "rented" (streamed for a limited time) or "purchased" (streamed forever) for minimal fees. Lectures and lessons are available on virtually all facets of astrology: natal, predictive, horary, electional, vedic, spiritual, and more.

You can even take complete mini-courses on various astrological topics taught by such noted astrologers as J. Lee Lehman, Jodie Forrest, Adam Gainsburg, and others. These courses range from 2-6 classes; and because they are on video, you can access them on your own schedule and completely at your own convenience.

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Astrological Community

Meet and stay in touch with other astrologers both on the web and in person. Check out our links to other astrological websites, including organizations, conferences, and schools.

• Local Astrological Organizations: Find like-minded astrologers in your local area. Most groups meet at least monthly, and many bring in outside speakers and sponsor additional activities.
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