Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter September 10, 2008

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
SEPTEMBER 10, 2008
FreeWillAstrology.com

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Check out my podcast here:
FreeWillAstrology.com/Pronoia.mp3

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"We are experiencing the initiation of the human race into a new level of consciousness, and that is a very terrifying experience. It does no good to turn and run from the terror of our darkness into light; we must sit it out: zazen.

"We must take our counsel from The Tibetan Book of the Dead and realize that these frightening projections of famines, economic disasters, ecological catastrophes, floods, earthquakes, and wars are all only the malevolent aspects of beneficent deities. If we sit and observe them, do not identify with them, but remember our Buddha-nature, we will not be dragged down by them into an incarnation of the hell they prefigure.

"If we run from them, we validate them; we give the projections the very psychic energy they need to overtake us. Then, as Jung has pointed out, the situation will happen outside as fate."

- William Irwin Thompson, Evil and World Order

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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

You can listen to me read an excerpt from the book here:
FreeWillAstrology.com/Pronoia.mp3

Here's an excerpt:

PRONOIA NEWS NETWORK

These are our top stories.

IMPOSSIBLE DREAM FULFILLED
The world's largest private bank, Citigroup, has agreed to stop financing projects that damage sensitive ecosystems. It has promised to invest more in projects that use renewable energy and to pursue policies that protect indigenous people. How did this impossible dream come to pass? The humble but dogged environmental group, Rainforest Action Network, creatively pestered Citigroup for years until the corporation gave in to its demands.

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IT'S IN THE GENES
Researchers at Emory University found that humans are biologically programmed to be nice. Their study used magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of women who were playing a game called the Prisoners' Dilemma. While seeking the goal of financial gain, the women could choose between collaborative or self-aggrandizing strategies. Whenever they opted for the former, the parts of their brains correlated with reward-seeking behavior lit up.

"The longer the women engaged in a cooperative strategy, the more strongly flowed the blood to the pathways of pleasure," wrote Natalie Angier in her account in The New York Times.

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THE IMMORTALISTS
Current human life expectancy, already at age 78 for Americans, is steadily increasing. Men now live an average of 27 years longer than they did a century ago, and women 31 years. Many scientists believe there is no absolute limit to the human life span. Some expect that by 2070, life expectancy will be 100.

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SHARING YOUR BREATH
Quoting geneticists, Guy Murchie says we're all family. You have at least a million relatives as close as tenth cousin, and no one on Earth is any farther removed than your 50th cousin.

Murchie also describes our kinship through an analysis of how deeply we share the air. With each breath, you take into your body 10 sextillion atoms, and - owing to the wind's ceaseless circulation - over a year's time you have intimate relations with oxygen molecules exhaled by every person alive, as well as by everyone who ever lived. Right now you may be carrying atoms that were once inside the lungs of Malcolm X, Christopher Columbus, Joan of Arc, and Cleopatra. (Source: Guy Murchie, The Seven Mysteries of Life)

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MOOSE LUXURY
A Canadian moose can now walk in peace and safety all the way to South America, thanks to Harrison Ford. He and other celebrities with wealth and influence quietly worked together for years to purchase land along corridors that connect various wildlife refuges and national parks.

Meanwhile, Canadian government officials report that their country, the second largest in the world, plans to create ten giant national parks and five marine conservation areas. The new sanctuaries, when added to the existing 39 national parks, will double the amount of protected land.

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TEEN ANGST UPDATE
Crime committed by teenagers has plummeted to its lowest levels in more than two decades. Drunken teens are still killing themselves while driving cars, but the rate is half what it was 20 years ago. The overall teen death rate from accident, homicide, or suicide dropped 28 percent between 1990 and 2000.

In 60 years, there hasn't been a lower birth rate among teenage girls than there is now. The overall dropout rate among American high school students has declined by four percent in the last two decades, with an eight percent improvement among African Americans. Three-fourths of high school students say they get along very well or extremely well with their parents, and only three percent say they don't get along well.

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EPIC COLLABORATION
You are a metropolis of 50 trillion citizens, says biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton. Each of the cells in your body can be considered a sentient being in its own right. They all act together as a community, performing an ongoing act of prodigious collaboration.

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ADORATION REBORN
"The insulted waters of New York City are again sacred passages, as they once were to Native Americans for millennia. Raw sewage no longer pours into vital waterways, and industrial pollution has largely been checked. We are witnessing the ecological resurrection of our rivers and bays, from the return of wood-eating gribbles and shipworms that devour our piers to winter visits by a small seal community. People are coming down to the water again to see rare birds, to kayak and to swim. And responding to an ancient call, they're coming down to the water to pray. Among the worshipers are Hindus, Shintoists, African Americans of the Yoruba-influenced Spiritual Baptist faith, Wiccans, Zoroastrians, Christians, and Jews."
- Erik Baard, Village Voice, tinyurl.com/3ya6y5

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GREEDY GIANT VERSUS GENEROUS GIANT
Wal-Mart is famous for the stingy pay and benefits it offers its employees. But another giant chain store, Costco, takes a different approach. Full-time workers there average $15.97 per hour, which is almost 40 percent higher than their Wal-Mart counterparts, who earn $11.52. After four years, a Costco cashier's yearly salary can rise to $44,000. The company also covers 92 percent of most of its workers' health care costs. While the industry-wide turnover rate averages 66 percent, Costco's is just 23 percent.

Costco is so unusual in its benevolence that some business gurus disapprove. "From the perspective of investors, Costco's benefits are overly generous," says retail analyst Bill Dreher, quoted in the Wall Street Journal. He thinks that the company's largesse depresses its stock value because investors are afraid its profit margins aren't as high as they could be.

But the fact is that Costco is very successful. Its five-year growth rate has been 10.1 percent annually, better than Wal-Mart's 9.8 percent. Its annual earnings were expected to rise from $41.7 billion in 2003 to $47.2 billion in 2004.

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THE INNER VOICE SPEAKS
Scientists have confirmed what we all knew: You do indeed have a little voice in your head that warns you when you're about to do something dumb. It's called the anterior cingulate cortex, according to white-coated authorities at Carnegie-Mellon University. If you're receptive to it, it's as good as having a guardian angel. "Don't do it," the voice whispers when you're on the verge of locking your keys in your car or leaving the bar with the cute drunk you just met. "Go back," it murmurs as you start to walk away from a huge, though initially inconvenient, opportunity.

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THIS DASY IN PRONOIAC HISTORY
Early last century, marauding boll weevils devoured the cotton crop that was the main product of Enterprise, Alabama. Local farmers had no choice but to diversify the plants they grew. As a result, the town's per capita income tripled what it had been when cotton was king. In response, grateful citizens built a huge bronze monument to the insect that had forced them to grow richer.

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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

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OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:

THE WORLD IS MORE AMAZING THAT YOU IMAGINE
Photos of Miracles
tinyurl.com/686v2n

LET'S IDENTIFY MORE GENIUSES WHO AREN'T SCIENTISTS
What Is Enlightenment magazine
www.wie.org
This inventive magazine includes speculations on, among other fun things, "the revolutions in consciousness and culture that are shaping the geopolitical future of the planet and leading us, potentially, toward an integral world federation."

HONESTY'S PRONOIAC, RIGHT?
Secrets Unveiled
postsecret.blogspot.com

(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They are not advertisements, and I get no kickbacks.)

Please tell me your own personal nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES.

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning September 11

Copyright 2008 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

Surprise! You're not as fragile as you imagine. Now and then -- like the phase you're going through this September, for instance -- your health thrives if you push and stretch and test yourself harder than usual. So for the time being, Virgo, I urge you to proceed on the assumption that the most likely way to feel your best is to try things you've previously considered to be beyond your capacity.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

On his Bad News Hughes blog, Patrick Hughes warned his readers never to use a mini-vacuum cleaner to suck up the contents of an ashtray. Speaking from experience, he said the rapid intake of air could reignite waning embers and create a fiery mess. I suggest you make that your metaphor of the week, Libra. It's a good time to clean the hell out of everything in your life and throw away all the stuff that's dead to you. But make sure that whatever you dispose of doesn't contain some smoldering remains that could blow up in your face. (P.S. I'm not predicting things will blow up, but rather advising you what to do so that they don't blow up.)

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

It's Let It Go Week, Scorpio -- also known as Just Drop It Week. This is a fertile moment in your astrological cycle, a time when you'll be rewarded with a creative influx if you surrender your tight grip, give up your obsessive hold, and stop clinging to your hardened expectations. So I urge you to summon your most brazen vigor and get yourself as completely unstuck as you dare. And please keep in mind that this should be relaxing fun, not a worrisome ordeal.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Once a year I hike into the hills above San Anselmo, CA and perform a concert for the trees, birds, insects, and sun. If clouds happen to show up that day, I include them as part of my audience. The show typically consists of 80-minutes' worth of a cappella songs and ecstatic poems, along with my "Dionysian sermons" and "primordial gossip." None of my listeners ever express anything resembling applause, but that's fine. For me, it's an exercise in giving without strings attached. I provide the gift simply because it makes me feel good to be generous, not because I have expectations about how the gift will be used. I recommend that you find an equivalent approach to bestowing blessings in the coming week.

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LISTEN TO AN EXPANDED HOROSCOPE

In addition to the horoscopes that you read here, I create additional in-depth audio horoscopes for your inspiration.

They're not repeats or elaborations of the stuff you find here, but entirely fresh explorations of your astrological omens, designed to help you tune in to your soul's code.

Try them at RealAstrology.com.

They're available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

They're $6 if you access them on the Web, or $1.99 per minute over the phone.

"Your audio horoscopes help me love myself better, and I mean that in a non-narcissistic way."
- Deva P., Indianapolis

"I'm really grateful for the way you pick up my telepathic requests and answer them in your expanded audio 'scopes."
- Marion H., Birmingham, AL

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Writing in the magazine sub-TERRAIN, John More makes the following declaration: "Captains of industry, great generals, artists of genius, even politicians, are often just people who have discovered that alcohol can enable them to make economic, tactical, creative, or political decisions whose implications would paralyze a sober individual." Your assignment, Capricorn, is to find an alcohol-free way to make such a decision. It's time for you to summon visionary courage from your soul, not from a bottle, as you catalyze complex blessings that will ripple through your future for a long time.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

To get a read on how democracy and human rights are faring on the planet, check out the research of an organization called Freedom House (freedomhouse.org). In its most-recent annual report, it declared that 90 countries are free. They represent 47 percent of the world's population. Fifty-eight countries, accounting for another 30 percent of the human swarm, are "partly free." Then there are the "not free" nations: 45 of them, with 23 percent of the Earth's inhabitants. (Half of the "not free" people are in China.) It so happens that your personal degree of freedom, Aquarius, almost matches the world's. You're 46 percent completely free, 35 percent partly free, and 19 percent not free. The good news is that the coming weeks will be an excellent time to reduce that 19 percent.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

Your funny bone isn't a bone at all; it's actually your ulnar nerve. A firefly is a beetle, not a fly. A lead pencil has graphite in it, but no lead. A cucumber is technically a fruit, not a vegetable. Is there anything in your life that might be mislabeled like these things? Anything that's different from what it's alleged to be? Now is an excellent time to penetrate to the truth below the prevailing assumptions.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

Some people would like the world better if it didn't have oddballs, freaks, black sheep, misfits, and crackpots. Personally, I'm very much in favor of these types, and celebrate the entertaining diversity they add to the world. I hope you share my attitude, Aries, because you're going to have to be in intimate relationship with your own inner weirdo in the coming week. If you're prejudiced against people who don't act normal, you'll have trouble dealing with the unusual urges and needs that will be welling up in you. But if you've developed an appreciation for anomalous behavior, you'll be able to love yourself just right.

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LISTEN TO AN EXPANDED HOROSCOPE

In addition to the horoscopes that you're reading here, I create more in-depth audio horoscopes for your inspiration. Find out more at RealAstrology.com.

The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

"The best part about your audio horoscopes is that they pat me on the head and kick me in the ass at the same time."
- Rita L., San Diego

"Your audio oracles go beyond helping me find the truth -- they inspire me to find the WILD truth."
- Patrick K., Montreal

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

After studying the astrological omens, I had a psychic vision of you jumping up and down, screaming with joy as if you'd won the lottery. That doesn't necessarily mean you will actually win the lottery, though. My visions are usually symbolic, not literal. So what does it mean? It could prophesy the imminent arrival of a good surprise. It may signify that your physical vitality will be exceptional, or maybe you will be visited by an exhilarating revelation about the future. To get yourself in the proper spirit, why not jump up and down and scream for joy right now? Then keep doing it at least twice a day until the breakthrough actually occurs.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

After my psychic reading in Santa Rosa, I waited in the parking lot for a friend to pick me up. To entertain myself, I watched a robin as it pecked at a small patch of grass nearby. I applauded when it snagged a fat worm for its meal. Minutes later, I cheered and whistled as it found a second worm. When the bird subsequently plucked up yet another reddish-brown wriggler, I yelled "Bravo! Bravo!" Still it continued to hunt. My mood turned. "Aren't you getting greedy?" I said to the robin. It rummaged around fruitlessly for a while, no longer in tune (or so I imagined) with the grace of the cosmos. The moral of the story, in accordance with your current astrological omens: Be alert for the unexpected abundance packed into a seemingly modest space or situation, but don't try to keep milking that bounty beyond what you need.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

There's more help available to you right now than you realize. You may have to cure yourself of an illusion in order to connect with it, however. What's the illusion? I suspect it's a misguided belief that you never have enough help! Here's another mini-shocker, Cancerian: You've been making a certain process more difficult than it has to be. If and when you cure yourself of an illusion, everything could very well snap into place and the process will unfold with relative ease. What's the illusion? I suspect it's your (unconscious?) belief that success is more valuable if it's hard and complicated.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

It's a perfect moment for you to try the kind of money mojo that worked for one of my readers, Tamara L. of Las Vegas. Here's her testimony: "I never believed in any of this mystic mumbo-jumbo before. But I was desperate. I was paying the price after indulging in the sick pleasure of telling my boss to go to hell. I couldn't pay my bills. What did I have to lose? I took Rob Brezsny's advice and did a financial ritual. I wrote 'I hereby purify my money karma' on a dollar bill, then burned it in the flame of a green candle while wearing a hat made out of the Wall Street Journal and chanting the magic spell 'Money is my servant, not my god.' Within days, I won big at the casino."

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HOMEWORK:

No one can make you feel any emotion unless you agree to feel it. You are the sovereign of what happens inside you. Explain why by going to FreeWillAstrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."

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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

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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 2008 Rob Brezsny

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