Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
DECEMBER 19, 2007
FreeWillAstrology.com
+
A PREVIEW OF YOUR DESTINY IN 2008
This week my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES offer you a preview of
some major themes you'll be working and playing with in 2008.
Beginning next week, I'll devote three weeks to an in-depth discussion
of your long-range outlook for the coming 12 months.
To find out more about the Expanded Audio Horoscopes, go to RealAstrology.com.
The cost is $6 per sign on the Web, or $1.99 per minute by phone.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A BRIEF FOR THE DEFENSE
by Jack Gilbert
Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.
-Jack Gilbert
Gilbert has several books.
One is Refusing Heaven, available here:
tinyurl.com/o8kwn
Another is The Great Fires, available here:
tinyurl.com/38az42
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS
Fundamentalist Christians send me hate mail. Religious zealots
in ten cities have banned one of my books. Along with meditation,
yoga, and sex for fun, the Vatican has declared astrology, one
of my occupations, to be dangerous to your spiritual health.
All of these haters would be shocked if they learned that Jesus
Christ is one of the Main High Dudes in my pantheon of gods. They
seem to believe that people like me -- goddess-worshiping tantric
sufi Qabalist Buddhist pagans who hang around with zen trickster
witches and espouse a socialist libertarian political philosophy
-- couldn't possibly have an intimate relationship with the cosmic
hero they claim to own. They must think they have commandeered
the trademark of one of the sweetest avatars in history!
But I do have an intimate relationship with Jesus. How could
I not? He was a champion of women's rights, a threat to the established
political order, and a radical spiritual activist who worked outside
religious institutions. The dude owned nothing and was a passionate
advocate for the poor and underprivileged. He was uncompromisingly
opposed to violence and war. Besides that, he was a master of
love and he devoted his life to serving the Divine Intelligence.
I want to be like him when I grow up!
"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle,"
he said, "than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of heaven." That's a pretty clear statement of his position
towards rightwing accumulators of property and wealth.
"Love your enemies," he said, "do good to those
who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat
you." How any militarist promoting global arms sales and
pre-emptive war could claim an affinity with Jesus is incomprehensible.
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My book
"PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings"
is available for sale at
tinyurl.com/qaj62
To read news and features from
the book, go here:
tinyurl.com/lhwx2
THE MORE ACCIDENTAL, THE MORE TRUE
"The more accidental, the more true," wrote Boris Pasternak
in his poem "February." Scholar Mikhail Epstein expanded
this observation: "The more accidental the phenomenon, the
more divine its nature, for the divine is what has not been envisioned,
what cannot be deduced from general rules, nor irreducible to
them."
If we pursue this line of thought to its logical conclusion,
we may decide that the most useful sources of illumination are
not always holy books, revered dogma, and great truths that everyone
has heard. They might also be serendipitous anomalies that erupt
into the daily routine and break the trance of ordinary awareness.
"The tiny spark," Epstein writes, "is the precise
measure of the holiness of the world." (Source: Mikhail Epstein,
"Judaic Spiritual Traditions in the Poetry of Pasternak and
Mandel'shtam.")
+
When you're an aspiring master of pronoia, you see the cracks
in the facades as opportunities; inspiration erupts as you careen
over bumps in the road; you love the enticing magic that flows
from situations that other people regard as rough or crooked.
"That which is not slightly distorted lacks sensible appeal,"
wrote poet Charles Baudelaire, "from which it follows that
irregularity--that is to say, the unexpected, surprise and astonishment--is
an essential part and characteristic of beauty."
+
Wabi-sabi is a Japanese term that refers to a captivating work
of art with a distinctive flaw that embodies the idiosyncratic
humanity of its creator. An aqua groove in an otherwise perfectly
green ceramic pot may give it wabi-sabi. A skilled blues singer
who intentionally wails out of pitch for a moment may be expressing
wabi-sabi.
Wabi-sabi is rooted in the idea that perfection is a kind of
death.
+
"The essence of Wabi-sabi is that true beauty, whether it
comes from an object, architecture, or visual art, doesn't reveal
itself until the winds of time have had their say. Beauty is in
the cracks, the worn spots, and the imperfect lines."
- Todd Dominey, www.whatdoiknow.org
+
Wabi-sabi is a kind of beauty that's imperfect, impermanent,
and incomplete, says Leonard Koren in his book Wabi-Sabi for
Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers. It differs from
Western notions that beauty resides in the "monumental, spectacular,
and enduring." It's about "the minor and the hidden,
the tentative and the ephemeral: things so subtle and evanescent
they are almost invisible at first glance."
+
"When bread is baked, some parts are split at the surface,
and these parts which thus open, and have a certain fashion contrary
to the purpose of the baker's art, are beautiful, and in a peculiar
way excite a desire for eating. Again, figs, when they are quite
ripe, gape open; and in the ripe olives the very circumstance
of their being near to rottenness adds a peculiar beauty to the
fruit. And the ears of corn bending down, and the lion's eyebrows,
and the foam which flows from the mouth of wild boars, though
they are far from being beautiful, please the mind."
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, translated by George
Long
+
"I am done with great things and big plans, great institutions
and big success. I am for those tiny, invisible loving human forces
that work from individual to individual, creeping through the
crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillaries."
- William James, The Will to Believe
+
"The great lessons from the true mystics, from the Zen monks,
is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found
in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends, and family,
in one's back yard, and that travel may be a flight from confronting
the sacred. To be looking everywhere for miracles is a sure sign
of ignorance that everything is miraculous."
- Abraham H. Maslow, Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences
+
"If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are
still bobbing in the ocean of delusion."
- Lin-Chi, The Taoist Classics, translated by Thomas
Cleary
+
"The lesson that life constantly enforces is 'Look underfoot.'
You are always nearer to the true sources of your power than you
think. The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive.
The great opportunity is where you are. Don't despise your own
place and hour. Every place is the center of the world."
- Naturalist John Burroughs
+
"We want to be God in all the ways that are not the ways
of God, in what we hope is indestructible or unmoving. But God
is fragile, a bare smear of pollen, that scatter of yellow dust
from the tree that tumbled over in a storm of grief and planted
itself again."
- Deena Metzger, Prayers for a Thousand Years, edited
by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon
+
"Nature exults in abounding radicality, extremism, anarchy.
If we were to judge nature by its common sense or likelihood,
we wouldn't believe the world existed. In nature, improbabilities
are the one stock in trade. The whole creation is one lunatic
fringe . . . No claims of any and all revelations could be so
far-fetched as a single giraffe."
- Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To read news and features from my book, go here: tinyurl.com/lhwx2
You can buy the book here:
AMAZON
tinyurl.com/qaj62
POWELLS
tinyurl.com/3dsx6q
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF ROCKS
tinyurl.com/226fyb
What if everything is sentient?
BENEVOLENT PRANKS OR ANGELIC ART?
tinyurl.com/2hjw7o
The crop circle hall of fame! I don't care who makes them -- extraterrestrials,
angels, or guys with GPS gadgets sneaking around in the middle
of the night -- they're gorgeous, and I give thanks for their
mysteriousness.
THE FRONTIER IS EVERYWHERE
tinyurl.com/2927gh
The Six Most Important Experiments in the World
(Note: I endorse these because
I like them. These are not advertisements,
and I get no kickbacks.)
Please tell me your own personal
nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning December 20
Copyright 2007 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
French author and statesman André Malraux observed that
Jesus Christ was the only anarchist who ever really succeeded.
It's no coincidence that Christ was a Capricorn, I might add,
since the evolved members of your tribe have many of the qualities
necessary to thrive in situations where there are no formal rules
or laws. If you would like to move more in the direction of being
the highly evolved Capricorn you were born to be -- and I think
2008 will be a very favorable time to do just that -- you should
cultivate the qualities of a successful anarchist. In other words,
be self-motivated, disciplined, and respectful of the needs of
other people. Do the right thing without having to be coerced
to do the right thing. Foster in yourself a reverence for freedom
and a knack for making constructive use of your freedom.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Last July 11, lightning zapped the steeple of the Newman United
Methodist Church in Grants Pass, Oregon. Later that same evening,
another bolt from the heavens struck the exact same spot. Was
this bad luck? A punishing message from an angry God? No. The
rare double shot knocked the siding off the steeple, revealing
a problem that no one at the church had suspected: The inner structure
was rife with dry rot that would have collapsed soon. In exposing
the hidden danger, the lightning did everyone a big favor. I predict
that you will benefit from a metaphorically comparable sequence
in early 2008, Aquarius.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
If you wanted to, you could be a skilled rainmaker in 2008, and
make big bucks catalyzing downpours in drought-stricken areas.
Your magical potentials are such that you might even be able to
divert the flows of rivers, purify the pollution out of suffering
lakes, and staunch the tears of people who've cried way too much.
In other words, Pisces, you will have great power over the element
of water. You could even use your wizardry to achieve a masterful
equanimity toward your own oceanic emotions.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
"Ambition is a bad excuse for not having enough good sense
to be lazy," my ex-girlfriend Arlene used to say. She claimed
to be a Zen master whose duty it was to deprogram me out of my
absurd striving to make something of myself. She believed the
key to enlightenment was to do nothing as much as possible. "You're
egotistically attached to your identity as a poet," she'd
yell into my room as I toiled over my writing. "Come out
here and show me you have the spiritual guts to sit in front of
the TV and lose your grandiose self in a meaningless game show."
While I did eventually emerge from our relationship with an appreciation
for the value of emptiness, it was not ultimately my destiny to
downplay ambition. On the contrary! Which is why I'm here to exhort
you, Aries, to treat your desires as sacred rocket fuel -- in
2008, more than ever. In the coming months, in accordance with
your astrological omens, I will intensify my efforts to supercharge
your ambition.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
This week my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES offer you a preview of
some major themes you'll be working and playing with in 2008.
Beginning next week, I'll devote three weeks to an in-depth discussion
of your long-range outlook for the coming 12 months.
To find out more about the Expanded Audio Horoscopes, go to RealAstrology.com.
They're $6 if you access them on the Web, or $1.99 per minute
over the phone: 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
"Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade
of prejudices," said author Laurence J. Peter. One of your
top assignments in 2008 will be to prove him wrong. I hope that
you will aggressively pursue a more authentic form of higher learning
in numerous ways, from exploring the frontiers of your world to
reading more good books to seeking out the company of original
thinkers. I trust that as you expose yourself to novel data and
expansive perspectives, you will get your mind blown over and
over again.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
How do you numb your pain, Gemini? In 2008, I suggest that you
do that less than you ever have before. Instead, launch a fierce,
relentless campaign to heal the pain so that you no longer have
to numb it. The astrological omens say that if you establish that
as your intention, you will attract into your life the helpers
and inspiration you need to make it happen. More than that: You'll
be likely to generate the kind of good fortune that will render
at least some of the pain obsolete.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
You worked your ass off in 2007. Am I right, my fellow Cancerian?
In fact, you threw yourself into your hard labors with so much
dutiful fervor that you sometimes lost sight of the fact that
they were mostly just preparation for bigger and better assignments.
Luckily for you, I'm here to snap you out of your amnesia. Please
begin immediately to formulate a vision of how you will make the
transition to those bigger and better assignments.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Some weeds are good for flowers and vegetables, protecting them
from predatory insects. So say horticulturalists Stan Finch and
Rosemary Collier, writing in Biologist magazine. When
the bugs come looking for their special treats -- the plants we
love -- they often get waylaid by the weeds, landing on them first
and getting fooled into thinking there's nothing more valuable
nearby. So for example, when cabbages are planted in the midst
of clover, flies lay eggs on only seven percent of them, compared
to a 36-percent infestation rate on cabbages that are grown in
bare soil with no clover nearby. I recommend that you use this
as a key metaphor in 2008, Leo. Make sure there are always a few
chickweed or henbit weeds surrounding your ripening tomatoes.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
This week my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES offer you a preview of
some major themes you'll be working and playing with in 2008.
Beginning next week, I'll devote three weeks to an in-depth discussion
of your long-range outlook for the coming 12 months.
To find out more about the Expanded Audio Horoscopes, go to RealAstrology.com.
They're $6 if you access them on the Web, or $1.99 per minute
over the phone: 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
"Life is a punishment," wrote poet Robert Frost. "All
we can contribute to it is gracefulness in taking the punishment."
That's the opposite of my philosophy. I say life is a miraculous
gift, and the best way to express our gratitude is to be fountains
of generosity. Where do you stand on the issue, Virgo? Even if
you've had a view like Frost's up to this point in your journey,
I think you'll have good reasons to convert to my perspective
in 2008. You will, of course, have to be open to that possibility
in order for it to happen. If you're addicted to believing that
life is punishment, you'll miss a flood of clues contradicting
that quaint notion.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
The coming months will be a favorable time to work hard on improving
your number one relationship: you know, the one between you and
yourself. So I hope you'll have a lot of long, deep, sympathetic
conversations with yourself in 2008, even as you cut way back
on the scattered, careless, unloving conversations. To get your
pep talks off to a hot start, go to a mirror that makes you look
your very best and unleash a hail of wild praise and outrageous
compliments toward the gorgeous genius gazing back at you.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
I meditated on the perfect holiday gift for you. What might
inspire you to be in closest alignment with the cosmic currents
in 2008? I decided that if I could, I'd buy you a costume shop.
That way you could try on a thousand different masks and disguises.
And that would put you in the proper frame of mind for the assignment
I hope you will carry out all year long, which is to play with
your identity and experiment with new self-images and maybe even
treat your life as an epic theatrical extravaganza.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Due to the gravitational pull of the Moon, the Earth's rotation
is gradually slowing down. A billion years ago, a day lasted only
18 hours. In about 14 million years, it will be 48 hours long.
Imagine how much more you'll be able to accomplish in your future
incarnations with all that extra time. By then, I'm sure someone
will have also invented a pill that reduces the amount of sleep
you need, further boosting your capacity to get things done. In
2008, I predict you will be blessed with a foreshadowing of that
glorious period 14 million years from now. You will work smarter
and do things more efficiently and engage in less wasted motion
and maintain a crisper to-do list. Because of that, time will
seem to expand for you.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HOMEWORK:
What's the one feeling you want to feel more than any other in
2008? Tell me by going to FreeWillAstrology.com
and clicking on "Email Rob."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
WANT TO GET YOUR CHART DONE?
I'm not doing personal charts, but I highly recommend my astrological
colleague, RO LOUGHRAN. Her approach closely matches my own. In
our many discussions about astrology over the years, we've had
a major influence on each other's work.
Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained
intuition, emotional warmth, and
a high
degree of technical proficiency
in horoscope interpretation; she
is skilled
at exploring the mysteries of your
life's purpose and nurturing your
connection with your own inner
wisdom.
Ro is based in California, but
can do phone consultations and
otherwise
work with you regardless of geographic
boundaries.
Ro's website is at YourSoulJourney.com
She can also be reached at roloughran@comcast.net
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Submissions sent to the Free
Will Astrology Weekly Newsletter
or in response to "homework
assignments" may be
published in a variety of formats
at Rob Brezsny's discretion,
including but not limited to newsletters,
books, the Free Will
Astrology column, and Free Will
Astrology website. We reserve
the right to edit such submissions
for length, style, and content.
Requests for anonymity will be
honored with submissions;
otherwise, reader names, screen
names, or initials will be used.
Please be sure to note your preference
when sending to us. We
are not responsible for unsolicited
submission of any creative
material.
Contents of the Free Will Astrology
Newsletter are Copyright
2007 Rob Brezsny
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
