Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
APRIL 6, 2011
FreeWillAstrology.com
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The piece below is excerpted from my book PRONOIA IS THE
ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA
available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
Here's an excerpt:
ECSTATIC STUDY GUIDE
Strategies for plying a chronic, low-key, blissful union with
everything you're not
1. Writing on Salon.com, Scott
Rosenberg recalled how in his youth he loved to play the fantasy
role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. "You'd have to
choose not one but two 'alignments' for your character,"
he mused. "Good and evil, of course, but also 'law' and 'chaos.'
And among the people I ran with, 'chaotic/good' was the thing
to be, because it let you trust other people and still have fun."
Try out the "chaotic/good" approach for the character
you play in your actual life.
2. The water you drink is three billion years old, give or take
five million years. The stuff your body is made of is at least
10 billion years old, probably older, and has been as far away
as 100,000 light-years from where it is right now. The air you
breathe has, in the course of its travels, been literally everywhere
on the planet, and has slipped in and out of the lungs of almost
every human being who has ever lived.
Would you act differently if you had a visceral sense of how
eternal and infinite you are? What unprecedented behavior might
you express? Visualize a waking dream in which you remember the
water you floated in three billion years ago. Imagine you can
see the light that shone on you 100,000 light-years ago.
3. We tried to get our manifesto "Bigger, Better, More Original
Sins" excerpted in Taboo Busters, a zine published
by American expatriates in Berlin. Unfortunately, the editors
didn't like the spin we put on the subject of taboos. They're
fixated on depraved vices and sickening violations and contrived
rejections of conventional values: smuggled photos of dead celebrities
lying in morgues, for instance; paintings of religious scenes
that use the artist's blood or other bodily fluids; hospital scenes
of Iraqi children with gangrenous stumps where their limbs once
were; performance artists who do Marquis de Sade imitations.
Our approach is different. We're connoisseurs of taboo-busting
that yields uplifting pleasures; we identify and initiate transgressions
that don't hurt anyone and expand our intelligence and improve
the world. Here are a few examples: midwife Ida May Gaskin's suggestion
that a partner can expedite the birth process by giving erotic
pleasure to the woman in labor; our idea that satirizing one's
own cherished beliefs is the most honest form of mockery; the
Menstrual Temple of the Funky Grail's classes that teach men how
to symbolically menstruate in order to learn to love rather than
fear the Dark Goddess; my ability to use principles formulated
by people I mostly disagree with, as in the case of St. Paul's
"I die daily."
Are there examples of this kind of taboo-busting in your life?
Make a list of uplifting transgressions that expand your intelligence
and push you in the direction of cosmic consciousness and improve
the world.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
DISEASE FIGHTERS GET MORE RESOURCES
Lots more funding for young scientists exploring radical new directions
in cancer research.
tinyurl.com/26mgc32
ANOTHER OUTBREAK OF ENLIGHTENED PRACTICES
West African farmers have succeeded in cutting the use of toxic
pesticides, increasing yields and incomes and diversifying farming
systems.
tinyurl.com/46wffxo
SAVE THE BEES!
Queen of the Sun: What are the bees telling us? Critics
call the film "entertaining, gorgeous, and relevant . . .
You are engulfed by wonder."
queenofthesun.com
THE EVIDENCE KEEPS ACCUMULATING
pronoiaresources.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 April 7
Copyright 2011 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
When he was three years old, actor Charlie Sheen got a hernia
from yelling too much and too loud. I definitely don't encourage
you to be like that. However, I do think it's an excellent time
to tune in to the extravagant emotions that first made an appearance
when you were very young and that have continued to be a source
of light and heat for you ever since. Maybe righteous anger is
one of those vitalizing emotions, but there must be others as
well -- crazy longing, ferocious joy, insatiable curiosity, primal
laughter. Get in touch with them; invite them to make an appearance
and reveal the specific magic they have to give you right now.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
The hydrochloric acid in our digestive system is so corrosive
it can dissolve a nail. In other words, you contain within you
the power to dematerialize solid metal. Why is it so hard, then,
for you to conceive of the possibility that you can vaporize a
painful memory or bad habit or fearful fantasy? I say you can
do just that, Taurus -- especially at this moment, when your capacity
for creative destruction is at a peak. Try this meditation: Imagine
that the memory or habit or fantasy you want to kill off is a
nail. Then picture yourself dropping the nail into a vat of hydrochloric
acid. Come back every day and revisit this vision, watching the
nail gradually dissolve.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Now and then I include comments in these horoscopes that might
be construed as political in nature. For instance, I have always
endorsed a particular candidate in the American presidential elections.
Some people are outraged by this, saying, in effect, "How
dare you?! What do your political opinions have to do with my
life?!" If you feel that way, you might want to stop reading
now. It's my sacred duty to tell you that the twists and turns
of political and social issues will be making an increasingly
strong impact on your personal destiny in the months ahead. To
be of service to you, I will have to factor them into my meditations
on your oracles. Now let me ask you: Is it possible that your
compulsive discontent about certain political issues is inhibiting
your capacity for personal happiness?
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
If you were a poker player, the odds would now be far better
than usual that you'd be voted one of the "50 Sexiest Poker
Players in the World." If you were a physician volunteering
your services in Haiti or Sudan, there'd be an unusually high
likelihood that you'd soon be the focus of a feature story on
a TV news show. And even if you were just a pet groomer or life
coach or yoga teacher, I bet your cachet would be rising. Why?
According to my reading of the omens, you Cancerians are about
to be noticed, seen for who you are, or just plain appreciated
a lot more than usual.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
No other country on the planet has a greater concentration of
artistic masterpieces than Italy. As for the place that has the
most natural wonders and inspiring scenery per square mile: That's
more subjective, but I'd say Hawaii. Judging from the astrological
omens, Leo, I encourage you to visit one or both of those two
hotspots -- or the closest equivalents you can manage. (If you
already live in Italy or Hawaii, you won't have far to go.) In
my opinion, you need to be massively exposed to huge doses of
staggering beauty. And I really do mean that you NEED this experience
-- for your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Healer Caroline Myss coined the term "woundology."
It refers to the practice of using our wounds to get power, sympathy,
and attention. Why give up our pain when we can wield it to manipulate
others emotionally? "I am suffering, so you should give me
what I want." When we're in pain, we may feel we have the
right to do things we wouldn't otherwise allow ourselves to do,
like go on shopping sprees, eat tasty junk food, or sleep with
attractive people who are no good for us. In this scenario, pain
serves us. It's an ally. Your assignment, Virgo, is to get touch
with your personal version of woundology. Now is a good time to
divest yourself of the so-called "advantages" of holding
on to your suffering.
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EXPANDED HOROSCOPES
In addition to the horoscopes that come to you in this newsletter,
I create audio horoscopes for your inspiration. They discuss themes
and cover material that I don't have room to deal with in the
written horoscopes.
They're $6 if you access them on the Web, or $1.99 per minute
over the phone.
Try them at RealAstrology.com.
By phone: 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.
"I always feel like I know myself better after listening
to your audio 'scopes."
-June R., Austin, TX
"Your audio horoscopes calm me down when I'm too manic and
pep me up when I'm down."
-Arthur T., Cleveland, OH
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
As an American who has lived most of my life in the U.S., I write
these horoscopes in English. But for years they have also been
translated into Italian for the zesty Italian magazine, Internazionale.
Over the years, my readership there has grown so sizable that
an Italian publisher approached me to create an astrology book
for Italians. Late last year Robosocopo appeared in Italy
but nowhere else. It was an odd feeling to have my fourth book
rendered in the Italian language but not in my native tongue.
I suspect you'll be having a comparable experience soon, Libra.
You will function just fine in a foreign sphere -- having meaningful
experiences, and maybe even some success, "in translation."
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
You can gain more power -- not to mention charisma, panache,
and love -- by losing some of your cool. This is one time when
too much self-control could actually undermine your authority.
So please indulge in a bit of healthy self-undoing, Scorpio. Gently
mock your self-importance and shake yourself free of self-images
you're pathologically attached to. Fool with your own hard and
fast rules in ways that purge your excess dignity and restore
at least some of your brilliant and beautiful innocence.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
This week will be a time when you might want to get a hold of
a toy you loved when you were a kid, and actually play with it
again; a time when you could speak so articulately about an idea
you're passionate about that you will change the mind of someone
who has a different belief; a time when you may go off on an adventure
you feared you would regret but then it turns out later that you
don't regret it; a time when you might pick out a group of stars
in the sky that form the shape of a symbol that's important to
you, and give this new constellation a name; and a time when you
could make love with such utter abandon that your mutual pleasure
will stay with you both for several days.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The Norwegian film Twigson is about a boy who feels
so friendless and isolated that he seeks companionship with a
talking twig. In the coming weeks, I encourage you to be equally
as proactive in addressing the strains of your own loneliness.
I'm not implying that you are lonelier or will be lonelier than
the rest of us; I'm just saying that it's an excellent time for
taking aggressive action to soothe the ache. So reach out, Capricorn.
Be humbly confident as you try to make deeper contact.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
During one of 2010's Mercury retrograde phases, astrologer Evelyn
Roberts wrote on her Facebook page that she was doing lots of
things you're "not supposed to do" during a Mercury
retrograde: buying a new computer, planning trips, making contracts,
signing documents. Why? She said she always rebels like that,
maybe because of her quirky Aquarian nature. More importantly,
she does it because what usually works best for her is to pay
close attention to what's actually going on rather than getting
lost in fearful fantasies about what influence a planet may or
may not have. During the current Mercury retrograde, Aquarius,
I recommend her approach to you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Damon Bruce is a San Francisco sports talk show host I listen
to now and then. He told a story about being at a bar and seeing
a guy with a tattoo of a life-sized dollar bill on the back of
his shaved head. Bruce was incredulous. Why burn an image of the
lowest-denomination bill into your flesh? If you're going to all
that trouble, shouldn't you inscribe a more ambitious icon, like
a $100 bill? My sentiments exactly, Pisces. Now apply this lesson
to your own life.
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HOMEWORK:
Compose a sincere prayer in which you ask for something you think
you're not supposed to. Testify at Freewillastrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2011 Rob Brezsny
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