Happy New Year everyone!

Today I give you Phil Brown’s look back at the year in astrology and fantastic link extravaganza. I’ve copied the whole article here for your convenience, but please be sure to visit Phil’s website for other of his terrific articles.

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A totally subjective and random look at the wonderful world of astrology in 2007

Biggest astrology trend (a repeat from last year): Astrology blogs. They’ve been growing exponentially. Check out Jeffrey Kishner’s Astrology Blogger Directory, a “comprehensive guide to every Western astrology blog on the web.” By the time you scroll to the bottom of the list, you’ll be in a new time zone, your head spinning in a blissful astro-blogosphere tag cloud. Then check out the blog podcasts and vidcasts. Top Ten Astrology Sources will also keep you happily busy for most of your waking hours.

Second biggest astrology trend: Interest in Mayan cosmology and 2012. Although the apocalypse is what’s simmering in a part of the collective consciousness right now, respected experts in Mayan cosmology are not forecasting any sort of 2012 pre-Columbian rapture. John Major Jenkins’ Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 (which doesn’t really predict an apocalypse and is probably the best of the 2012 books–a fascinating read) has steadily outsold most astrology books on the list of astrology bestsellers. Bruce Scofield’s How to Practice Mayan Astrology has been finding a much wider readership. And there’s been an endless parade of other 2012 books.

Planet of the Year (and probably next year, too): Saturn. When contacted, Saturn merely griped that he could not accept the Planet of the Year award because he was too busy “tightening my rings, sir.” Indeed, Saturn’s coming off the opposition to Neptune, went into Virgo, and recent discoveries indicate that Saturn’s rings are a lot older than previously believed—and thus, perhaps, in need of a little adjusting. Oh well, it’s been a SERIOUS year. Even the comedians have been hard-edged and Comedy Central’s Stewart and Colbert haven’t been doing new shows due to the writer’s strike (although they are scheduled to come back in early January). Pluto’s about to go into Saturn-ruled Capricorn and Saturn’s starting to face off against Uranus. No wonder Saturn’s tightening his rings. He needs to be ready. Damn ready.

Dwarf planet of the year: Ceres. Now that global warming has our full attention, the recently elevated planet Ceres—the goddess of agriculture and seasonal change—is getting a lot of overdue respect. And you gotta love the sub-plot involving a mythic underworld Amber Alert.

Astrology book of the year: Wish I had time to read more books, but there’s been precious little time this year. I’m still trying to catch up with books from several centuries ago. However, my favorite book this year (even though it was published last year) was Venus: Her Cycles, Symbols, and Myths, by Anne Massey. Venus seemed due for a major makeover and Anne Massey masterfully brings her into the 21st Century—yet Venus still maintains an ageless symmetry. A real eye-opener.

Cosmic event of the year: Pluto conjunct the Galactic Center certainly helped to explain a world in transition. For an excellent discussion of this alignment, see Lynn Hayes’ article on her AstroDynamics website.

Most anticipated astrology event that hasn’t happened yet: Tie between 2012—the Mayan calendar end date—and the U.S. election on November 4, 2008. At this point, it is not clear which will be more transformational. Technically, a national election is not an astrology event per se, but this one will coincide with the exact opposition of Saturn and Uranus. Runner-up: Pluto’s entry into Capricorn.

Astrology event most anticipated by me personally: the mid-2007 waning of the Saturn-Neptune opposition. It hit a few of my own planets and I’d just about had it up to here with that alignment, although Neptune kept fogging things up to the point where I could never quite figure out what “it” was.

Least noticed astrology event: The discoveries of other solar systems. The astrology reaction’s generally been like, “Yeah, if I was born on some planet orbiting 47 Ursa Majoris, I might care.” But according to Zane Stein and Debbi Kempton-Smith (authors respectively of A View from Chiron and the irreverent classic Secrets from a Stargazer’s Notebook), these exo-planets might be a lot more potent than we think.

Biggest astrology frustration: The lack of solid birth times for most of the presidential candidates. AKA Looking for Hillary…and Barack…and Mike…and John (at least the one from North Carolina)…and…I realize there are more important issues facing our world today, but hey, if they can answer questions from a snowman on YouTube, the least they can do is have some aide dig up a birth certificate and post it on the candidate’s MySpace page. Inquiring astrologers REALLY want to know.

Best planet, all things considered: Earth. The character of the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town commented that of all the worlds in the known universe, “Only this one is straining away, straining away all the time to make something of itself.” Hopefully, we can make something better of our own small planet in 2008.

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Amen, brother. and may the best of all things come to you and yours this next year.