Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter December 3, 2008

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
DECEMBER 3, 2008
FreeWillAstrology.com

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"The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming."
- Freeman Dyson, pioneering physicist

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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

Here's an excerpt:

THE RICH GET RICHER

"Dear Beauty and Truth Laboratory: Help! My old Buick's transmission is dead, my credit cards are maxed, my kid's got to see the dentist real bad, and the one-speed bike I ride everywhere is about to collapse. I'm working two low-paying jobs already, although I just applied for a more lucrative gig as a strip-club dancer, only I'm having so much mysterious pain in my joints I'm not sure how sexy my gyrations will be. Please clue me in to some tricks that will help me keep a pronoiac attitude in the midst of the mess that is my life. - Pickled"

Dear Pickled: Here's the first thing I want to tell you: Pronoia does not assume that material comfort is a sign of divine favor. The universe is an equal-opportunity provider, conspiring to shower blessings on every one of us in the same abundance. But while the blessings may come in the form of money and possessions, they're just as likely to consist of other gifts that aren't as concrete.

Here's a hypothetical example. Let's say you have the gift of feeling at home in the world no matter where you are. The universe has determined that it's the exact skill you need in order to fulfill the specific purpose you came to earth to carry out. Having a prestigious job and big salary, on the other hand, might be exactly what you don't need.

The question of what gifts are essential revolves around your precise role in the universal conspiracy to perpetrate blessings.

The second meditation I'll offer you is a passage from the Gospel of Matthew: "Whoever has, shall be given more and more, while whoever has nothing, even what he has will be taken away from him."

Pronoiac translation: Whatever you choose to focus your attention on, you will get more of it. If you often think of everything you lack and how sad you are that you don't have it, you will tend to receive prolific evidence of how true that is. As you obsess on all the ways your life is different from what you wish it would be, you will become an expert in rousing feelings of frustration and you will attract experiences that assist you in rousing frustration.

If, on the other hand, you dwell on the good things you have already had the privilege to experience, you will expand your appreciation for their blessings, which in turn will amplify their beneficent impact on your life. You will also magnetize yourself to receive further good things, making it more likely that they will be attracted into your sphere. At the very least, you will get in the habit of enjoying yourself no matter what the outward circumstances are.

Bear in mind that you are a great wizard. You can use your powers to practice white magic on yourself instead of the other kind. The most basic way to do that is to concentrate on naming, savoring, and feeling gratitude for the blessings you do have - your love for your kid, the pleasures of eating the food you like, the sight of the sky at dusk, the entertaining drama of your unique fate. Don't ignore the bad stuff, but make a point of celebrating the beautiful stuff with all the exuberant devotion you can muster.

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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:

EIGHT HOURS OF PURE PRONOIA IS YOURS FOR FREE EVERY NIGHT
The Secret History of Dreaming by Robert Moss
"Robert Moss's detective work has unearthed a 'secret history of dreaming' that demonstrates how nighttime dreams, in concert with coincidence and imagination, have resulted in artistic productions, scientific discoveries, political turnarounds, spiritual breakthroughs, and the course of human evolution itself. "
tinyurl.com/6b9o9c
mossdreams.com

ALMOST LIKE ROBIN HOOD
Rogue Philanthropist Gives Away Money with No Strings Attached
tinyurl.com/6aj35s

BENEVOLENT CHANGE DOESN'T ALWAYS HAVE TO COME THROUGH PUNISHMENT
"We've Cut Cigarette Smoking By Half and We Didn't Have To Arrest 20 Million Americans To Do It"
Now about applying these lessons to develop an alternative to the War on Drugs
tinyurl.com/65tfh3

(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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If you'd like to give your friends and loved ones holiday gifts of my work without spending any money, here's what you can do:

1. Give them the URLs where I've posted about half of my most recent book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia.

The links are here:
tinyurl.com/lhwx2
tinyurl.com/6bj8cf

2. Or go to the above links yourself, print out the pages, and make them into a homemade version of my book.

3. Download mp3s of my eight podcasts and burn them onto a CD. The URLs for those podcasts can be found here: tinyurl.com/5v9rxb

4. Give them the URL where I've posted the entirety of my second book The Televisionary Oracle. Start here: tinyurl.com/6blklz

5. Download mp3s of my band's music and burn them onto a CD.

Most of the songs are here: tinyurl.com/5px7ke

All of the songs are here: tinyurl.com/yh5v7j

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning December 4

Copyright 2008 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

I got an invitation through MySpace to audition for an upcoming production of the "Vagina Monologues." While I was honored to be asked, I wasn't sure that the kind of audience members who would come to see the "Vagina Monologues" would want to hear me, a man, expound on the central topic. Upon reading the fine print, however, I found out that the producers were indeed seeking some male actors. The metaphorical moral of the story, Sagittarius, is to be open to invitations, opportunities, and requests that may at first seem odd, misdirected, or irrelevant.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

From 1987 to 2006, Alan Greenspan was Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve and a major force in shaping the world's most powerful economy. When the recent troubles hit, Congress called on him to testify. With shocking humility, he confessed that there had been a flaw in his model of reality. All those years he'd believed that "free, competitive markets are by far the unrivaled way to organize economies." Now he saw he was wrong. While I'm sorry for the collective pain his mistaken ideas have unleashed, I'm elated for him personally: How many 82-year-old men are open to the possibility that their philosophy of life needs adjustment? For that matter, how many people of any age are receptive to changing their ideas about how the world works? I invite you to take your inspiration from Greenspan, Capricorn. Be curious about how your own major theories might need revision. Doing this heroic deed will energize you with good karma and fresh mojo.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

What's the healthiest, holiest rebellion you could launch, Aquarius? What would be the most constructive way to channel your longing to live in a more perfect world? How might you overthrow the status quo in ways that would so thoroughly enhance the greater good that even the people bent on preserving the status quo would benefit? Given the fact that you are in a phase when your trouble-making skills are dovetailing very nicely with your ability to bestow blessings, these are excellent questions for you to consider.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

A column in the Washington Post called "The Style Invitational" has identified the "Top 10 New Religions." I'm calling your attention to two that might be attractive to you in the coming months, a time when you'll probably have urges to transform and expand upon your spiritual practices. First, there are the Oxymormons, who engage in polygamous monogamy. The second group is the Salivationists. They speak in tongues like some other sects, but they also speak in drool. A third option, of course, is for you to whip up your own brand new, totally unique religion using just the parts you really like from all of the other traditions. However you do it, Pisces, I encourage you to be playfully creative as you get more disciplined about your relationship with the Divine Wow.

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LISTEN TO AN EXPANDED HOROSCOPE

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

To get an idea of what the audio 'scopes are like, tune in to two of my free podcasts:

"Fear Versus Intuition": tinyurl.com/582k22
"You Are a Prophet": tinyurl.com/5dcedz

My approach there has a close resemblance to the style of my weekly pay-for-view offerings.

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

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ARIES (March 21-April 19):

The European Union has had rules banning the sale of ugly carrots with knobby protrusions, cucumbers that are grossly curved, and equally unaesthetic specimens of 24 other fruits and vegetables. Recently that changed, however. The stiff standards were relaxed. "It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the 'wrong' shape," said the EU's commissioner for agriculture. I suggest you make a metaphorically similar shift, Aries. It's time for you to expand your capacity to welcome some fine, useful things that happen to look a bit imperfect.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

In the Broadway play "Passing Strange," the narrator praises the healing power of mysterious songs, saying: "You know when the music goes right over your head, bypasses your mind, and strengthens the part of you that's most beautiful?" That's the kind of nourishment I encourage you to seek out in the coming week, Taurus. You need soul-toning experiences that elude your rational understanding -- encounters with wise animals, waking dreams, unpredictable love, exotic music, and twilight whispers that blissfully boggle your imagination.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

According to the imaginative reporters at the Weekly World News, the devil doesn't sit by passively as people beseech God for help and consolation. Using his own version of stealth technology, the evil one "intercepts or jams" up to one-third of all prayers on their way heavenward. Timid and fuzzy prayers are the easiest for him to block. Just in case there's a grain of truth in this claim, Gemini, take special measures when you send out appeals for assistance in the coming days. You need and deserve attention from higher powers, both the earthbound and divine kind. To ensure that the devil (or one of his surrogates) can't interfere, formulate your messages concisely and communicate them with crisp confidence.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

Lame-duck U.S. President George Bush is mostly dreaming of his retirement these days, although he takes time out now and then to create executive orders that undo environmental protections. Barack Obama is planning hard for the monumental recovery he hopes to lead when he assumes the presidency, but his time won't come until January 20. Meanwhile, all the things that have been falling apart under Bush's watch are continuing to fall apart, only bigger and badder. Writes Josh Marshall in Talkingpointsmemo.com, "We're paying mightily for having no captain at the helm at one of the most perilous points in our recent national history." In regard to your own personal life, Cancerian, please avoid acting like America. Don't wait for some formal deadline before you make your moves. Expedite the transition from the old order to the new with the force of a thousand ecstatic activists.

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EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

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

To get an idea of what the audio 'scopes are like, tune in to two of my free podcasts:

"Fear Versus Intuition": tinyurl.com/582k22
"You Are a Prophet": tinyurl.com/5dcedz

My approach there has a close resemblance to the style of my weekly pay-for-view offerings.

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

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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

"It's better to be clumsy than clever," says an ancient Chinese book called Poets' Jade Splinters, "better plain than affected, better crude than weak, better eccentric than vulgar." That's a good prescription for you to use in the way you live your life in the coming days, Leo. Here's another observation from the same text that should also be helpful: "Inspiration enters at the border between hard work and laziness." That suggests you've got to work hard and discipline yourself in order to earn the right to inspiration, but often the inspiration flows in when you're goofing off or giving yourself some slack. (Source: tinyurl.com/5qu7fv)

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

In 1952, renowned modern composer John Cage created the infamous "4'33"." It's a "song" that consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of pure silence. Recently a San Francisco performance artist, Jonathon Keats, did a remix of that tune and made it available as a ring-tone. I'd love for you to be inspired by those two geniuses in the coming week, Virgo. It'll be an excellent time for you to come to a perfect stop, fill yourself with stillness, and bask in the healing power of undiluted nothingness.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

I urge you not to Google the word "duh," Libra. If you do, you'll mark yourself as a conformist trend-slave, joining over 33 million people who have already done it before you. Furthermore, you will be in danger of wasting the potential the cosmos is offering you, which is to reap rich rewards by exploring brave new frontiers on the edges of your awareness. So please be insanely curious about stuff you've never heard of and people you've never met. Research subjects that tantalize your imagination and stick your nose in where it supposedly doesn't belong. But don't Google "duh."

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

Researchers have determined that you've got longer than you imagine to salvage food that has dropped on the floor. Bacteria don't get a foothold and start growing on your pizza or muffin for at least 30 seconds. Keep that in mind as an all-purpose metaphor in the coming days, Scorpio. Anything that you fear has already been spoiled or tainted may actually be possible to restore and redeem. You probably have more time than you thought.

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HOMEWORK:

You know what to do and you know when to do it, but you've been trying to hide that fact from yourself. Why? Testify 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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