Excellent points, all. The current transits activate important areas of each chart.
Isthmus Nekoi, the first and seventh houses together comprise a single axis, one of the most critical of any chart; so whether the conjunctions and oppositions fall in the first house or the seventh, each is impacted equally. I read the August 5 (Brisbane) chart as having the most relevance to Solandia as Aeclectic's creator, and the August 4 (Flossmoor) chart as pertaining particularly to the membership as a body -- Aeclectic's current incarnation, but perhaps not the last. Solandia's tension about the viability of the new birth on August 5th are indicated by the Mars/Pluto/Saturn/Ascendant/Descendant interactions; she faced the possibility of further breakdown (oppositions), and experienced a sense of open warfare, so to speak, with the software system and server. Squares and oppositions signify friction that must find its outlet in action; this is why they are often experienced as painful. To the degree that we are open to change and flux in life, these aspects tend to reflect excitement, drive and challenge. No doubt Solandia experienced all of these emotions and orientations as she rebuilt the site and went on-line again.
Having reviewed each of the charts, I see the Original Publication horoscope of April 2000 as the "background radiation" or backdrop which gives the First Post chart(s) its context. Seen in another way, the First Post chart (with its tight grouping within the Mystic Rectangle) appears to me a complex jewel in a handcrafted setting (the Publication chart). Yet another way to view the charts is to understand the First Post(s) as Aeclectic's physical/etheric and astral bodies, and the Publication chart as its mental body.
The Publication chart of April 2000 shows only the North Node in water, at the critical 29th degree, the last full degree within a sign (I use the Mean Node's position); the Moon, symbolic of the membership, is also in the 29th degree of her own sign (Leo); the Moon is semisextile the North Node and quincunx (150 degrees) the South Node. To me, this indicates the need to carefully find one's way in the realm of emotion, as the quincunx indicates a great struggle of adaptation and adjustment. This is especially so here, because the Moon is in the 12th house of the unconscious and self-undoing; it is also the house of imprisonment, which in a sense is true of Aeclectic's membership, few of whom will ever actually meet and who are thus essentially "in the dark." The Moon in the same degree as the Nodes is in a fateful relationship with the remainder of the chart, and when that degree is the 29th, the message is underscored: the membership needs to be very conscious of a collective need to be aware of the many personal issues each of us brings to even the most seemingly innocuous thread.
The variety of strongly-held positions on Aeclectic has never seemed to me primarily a reflection of emotion, but rather will and passion expressed through emotion (emotion as their vehicle). It therefore doesn't surprise me that water is not much in evidence in the chart. Missing elements tend not to mean that the attitude or orientation signified by the element is lacking, but that the attitude is likely to appear in a more or less unadapted form. This underscores our need to think carefully before we commit words to "electronic paper." Moon is opposite Uranus, indicating the operation of a hair-trigger temper, but also the potential for great originality and the capacity to widen our collective horizon through thoughtful interaction. There are genuine feelings of goodwill among the membership, and strong individualities to be blended and balanced. Saturn's important role in all of the charts points toward a strong cohesiveness and bond between Aeclecticians: no lasting relationship is possible without such Saturnian linkages.
In the Publication chart, Saturn and Mars are conjoined; in the First Post chart, they are opposed. This is akin to "driving with the brakes on" and signifies (among other things) the start-stop nature of a forum, and the tendency to require a rebuilding process from time-to-time.
Aries and Libra are intercepted in (not appearing on any cusp, but wholly contained within) the first and seventh houses of the Publication chart; this is the Self-Other axis and refers to interaction and relationship. When a sign is intercepted, its opposite is intercepted, as well. This means that for every interception, two signs will cover the cusps of another pair of houses. In this case, Gemini and Sagittarius -- signs concerning communication, ideals, philosophies and learning (concrete and abstract) -- occupy the cusps of four houses: Gemini and the third/fourth houses, and Sagittarius and the ninth/tenth. These axes have to do with issues around authority, parents (and parent-figures), the meaning of success and the fruits of visibility, plus environments near and far -- wonderfully descriptive of the forum. The third house and Gemini are both related to siblings, which is how I see each of us.
Days can be spent studying charts, especially when one applies transits and progressions to them; all of these horoscopes are rich and filled to the brim with meaning, and it will be interesting to hear different views about them.
(Edited to add that the significance of Aries-Libra intercepted in the first-seventh axis -- their own axis in the natural chart, with positions reversed in the Publication chart -- refers to the necessary constraints placed upon forum relationships due to the limitations of the electronic medium, as well as the need to place oneself in others' shoes and to try to see issues from many points of view.)
