An authentic life is the most personal form of worship. Everyday life has become my prayer.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

I hope you don’t mind if I toot my own horn today (and flinf some confetti, as my friend Thalassa would say).

My blog turns fifteen this week.

I will refrain from saying anything like “it’s been a long, strange trip” (even though it has), but I will say that I am kind of proud of this gift, from my heart to yours.

It has been Fifteen Years of faithful service, all pretty much for free, just for the pleasure of opening doors and hearts in whatever ways I can.

You see, my blog was, from the beginning, never directly about my Tarot reading services. Yes, it’s always been an electronic business card, with contact info, hours, and other pertinent information if you are interested in working with me.

But the main thing — the thing that got me motivated to create it in the first place — was to reach out and connect with like-minded souls; to meet together in the aethers, exploring interesting subjects, bouncing ideas and experiences around, and jamming with whoever else might also find a variety of esoteric, diverse ruminations of interest.

Because of YOU, my faithful readers, it has been a magnificent gift of learning, exploration, epiphany, and inspiration.

A Retrospective

[Warning: geeky deets ahead that may not be your cup of tea…]

I was a relatively early blogger because I had been on the internet since its earliest days. First, as a techie working in the IT industry and as an active participant in Usenet (anyone remember them?), and then, by making rich, life-long friendships via The Well – the world’s first online community (which I still belong to and highly recommend if you are looking for non-trivial, global connections with amazing, real people).

Because the Well offered space for members’ web sites, I met with my good friend Vicky Earp (the brilliant artist who created my owl, Moon, and stars logo), and together we hammered out a site using Adobe GoLive (a tool for building and maintaining sites).

And so, just before Summer Solstice, 2003, my website was born. (Yes, probably a Gemini!).

Vicky built a template for me that held several pages, and I took it from there, using GoLive to update it, often at an HTML code level.

Every day, on the Home page, I would post a magical tidbit or a scrap of lore, history, or other observations. This was where I began my Tarot card of the week posts.

Some of you might also remember, it was on this original owlsdaughter.com site that I launched my infamous Mercury Retrograde contests (featuring tales of Merc retro woes). I had to discontinue those when the negative aspects of Mercury retrograde began to amplify and then manifest in my own life. In other words, it appeared that by giving undue attention to the shadow side, it grew and even became contagious!

However, the happy outcome of those contests was that I made some wonderful friends that I might not have otherwise (looking at you, Tina!).

But technically, it was very challenging. Every time I updated, the old content was lost – there were no real archives or any way to save previous posts. Plus, I was eager to interact with my visitors on the site, inviting comments and participation.

I wanted to be a part of this newfangled thing called a “weblog,” which mercifully was shortened to “blog.”

The final straw was when I learned that GoLive was being discontinued and replaced by a new package by Adobe that was cumbersome, very expensive, and far too technical for me. I knew I needed to find an alternative.

Luckily, by that time, there were lots of user-friendly blogging sites like TypePad, LiveJournal, and Blogger (Blogspot). I chose the latter as my new home, and the fun really began!

Owl’s Wings: Where You’ll Find a Little Bit of Magic Every Day

Since this was before the siphoning off of everyone and their attention spans to Facebook, there were deep, thoughtful, ongoing discussions. It was wonderful making so many online friendships that I still treasure today.

Also at this time, I renewed my commitment, which I’d begun on my Well site, to posting daily updates. Yes, daily. That’s why in the 4 years or so that I was there, I wrote over 1,100 posts.

During that time, my intrepid band of readers and I worked our way through The Artists’ Way (by Julia Cameron). Yep, the whole thing — over the course of a year.

I researched and wrote discussions about feng shui, the elements of magic, the sabbats, magical cooking, prosperity practices, prayers, spells, Goddesses, poetry, and lots of Moon lore.

I posted holidays and spiritual observances for nearly every day of the year, from every culture and age. I started celebrating the Solstice Sun Wheel with you.

And of course, Tarot. Lots of Tarot, focusing primarily on my Card of the Week.

Eventually, though, Blogspot was becoming increasingly unstable and frustrating for the kinds of customization and interactions I wanted.

So, with the help of Joanna Powell Colbert (I lucked out and was one of her very last website building clients!), at Samhain 2009, I moved everything from Blogspot over to my shiny new digs on WordPress:

WordPress is now my permanent home (as far as I can imagine).

Still, more time passed, and in 2016, you may recall, I did a big renovation (thanks to the expert guidance of my “Web Goddess,” Shari Smith).

My makeover was launched on April Fool’s Day, 2016, which, by the way, I stated at the time should be an international Tarot holiday.

So while I am at it, right now, this very minute, I do hereby and forever now declare April 1 every year to be Tarot Appreciation Day for All — Ta-da!

And Here We Are

As you are certainly aware, in the last few years, I have had to cut back from my daily post regimen. I frankly don’t know how I ever managed it for so long, except to say it was quite challenging and sometimes all-consuming.

But as of today, I am flirting with nearly 3,000 posts here. By the way, I migrated everything from Blogspot, so you can find ALL of those topics right here in my categories of Enchantment and Illumination.

I have to say I am pretty proud of the fact that I have never missed a Card of the Week, not even at the very worst parts of my cancer treatments. In fact, it was a lifeline at times – a place to come and focus on something else, something magical, something beyond my small, difficult world.

With that behind, I intend to keep things going for a long, long time to come.

Because this is a labor of love, y’all.

I love visiting with you, sharing the cards, listening to the Mystery, and invoking the magic together.  We are the witnesses and midwives to a tremendous time of change, for better or worse.

Fifteen years down the road, I am more committed than ever to do all I can to make it for the better. Thanks for being on this journey with me.