Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter November 2, 2011

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
NOVEMBER 2, 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

Listen to the song here: bit.ly/vuWtlE

SHADOW BLESSINGS

Life is a vast and intricate conspiracy that's guaranteed to keep you well supplied with blessings.

What kind of blessings? Ten million dollars, a gorgeous physique, a perfect marriage, a luxurious home, and high status?

Maybe. But it's just as likely that the blessings will be interesting surprises, dizzying adventures, gifts you hardly know what to do with, and conundrums that dare you to get smarter.

Novelist William Vollman referred to these types of blessings when he said that "the most important and enjoyable thing in life is grappling with a complicated, tricky problem that you don't know how to solve."

Sculptor Henry Moore had a similar idea. He said, "The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is -- it must be something you cannot possibly do."

So in other words, pronoia does not guarantee that you will forevermore be free of all difficult experiences.

It doesn't ask you to pretend that everything is sweet and harmonious all the time.

On the contrary, when you embody the spirit of pronoia, you build your optimism by loving your challenges, not repressing them.

You know that your problems are gifts from the Goddess that are designed to make you smarter and wilder and kinder and trickier.

You welcome each fresh puzzle as a potential source of your future bliss, as an exciting teaching that will usher you to your next breakthrough.

Now here's a spell to commit pronoia. I invite you to say it with me.

Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;

Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within me;

Opening to my loss and pain and ignorance,
I remember who I am and what I'm here for.

Surrendering into emptiness,
I find fullness without end.

Each condition I flee from pursues me,
Each condition I welcome transforms me

and becomes itself transformed
into the blessing it always was.

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The last 12 lines of "Shadow Blessings" are borrowed from a poem by the brilliant psychotherapist, Jennifer Welwood.

Hear the music version of "Shadow Blessings" here: http://bit.ly/vuWtlE

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

IT'S ODD HOW WELL-HIDDEN THE GOOD NEWS IS
Don't believe the evening news: Violent crime and murder have been declining steadily for two decades in this country. Last year was statistically the safest year in almost four decades for Americans, and everyone's got a theory as to why. Here's one possibility: The diminishing of the lead poisoning caused by leaded gasoline.
tinyurl.com/3hc86rm

LET'S KEEP DIGGING TO SEE WHAT ELSE THE MEDIA IS IGNORING
Like the U.S. homicide rate, Canada's rate just keeps falling and falling.
tinyurl.com/6ho8v72

TO STOKE PRONOIA, EXPRESS YOUR THANKS
The Art of Gratitude
http://tinyurl.com/3h95pp3

(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 November 3

Copyright 2011 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

"Try to be surprised by something every day," advises Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. That's an inspirational idea for everyone all the time, but especially for you Scorpios right now. This is the week of all weeks when you have the best chance of tinkering with your rhythm so that it will thrive on delightful unpredictability. Are you brave enough to capitalize on the opportunity? I think you are. Concentrate your attention on cultivating changes that feel exciting and life-enhancing.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

"Dear Rob: I was born on November 30, and am quite attached to having it as a birthdate. But there's a complication. While in Iraq in 2006, I was half-blown up by a bomb, and had a near-death experience. When I returned from my excursion to the land of the dead, I felt I'd been born anew. Which is why I now also celebrate September 24, the date of the bombing, as my second birthday. What do you think? Two-Way Tamara." Dear Two-Way: I believe we'd all benefit from having at least one dramatic rebirth in the course of our lives, though hopefully not in such a wrenching fashion as yours. In fact, a fresh rebirth every few years or so would be quite healthy. If it means adding additional astrological identities to our repertoire, so much the better. Thanks for bringing up the subject, as it's an excellent time for Sagittarians everywhere to seek out an exhilarating renewal.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Social climbers are people who are focused on gaining higher status in whatever circle of people they regard as cool, even to the point of engaging in fawning or ingratiating behavior. Soul climbers, on the other hand, are those who foster the power of their imagination, keep deepening their connection with life's intriguing enigmas, and explore the intersection of self-interest and generosity toward others. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you could go far in either of those directions during the coming weeks, Capricorn -- but not both. Which will you choose?

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

An Australian man named Daniel Fowler has more giraffe tattoos on his shoulders than any other human being on the planet. So says the Universal Record Database at Recordsetter.com. Meanwhile, Darryl Learie is now the only person to ever be able to insert three steak knives into an inflated balloon, and Billy Disney managed to inject a world-record 31 sexual innuendoes into a rap song about potatoes. What could or should be your claim to fame, Aquarius? This would an excellent time to try to establish your reputation as the best at your specific talent.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

"You have to know how far to go too far," said poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. I reckon that's good advice for you right now. You're at a phase of your astrological cycle when you really can't afford to keep playing by all the rules and staying inside the proper boundaries. For the sake of your physical and psychological and spiritual health, you need to wander out beyond the limits that you've been so faithfully respecting. And yet, on the other hand, it would be a mistake to claim you have a right to stop at nothing. Know how far to go too far.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

Here's Malcolm Gladwell, writing in The Tipping Point: "We need to prepare ourselves for the possibility that sometimes big changes follow from small events, and that sometimes these changes can happen quickly . . . Look at the world around you. It may seem an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push -- in just the right place -- it can be tipped." You are now within shouting distance of your own personal tipping point, Aries. Follow your gut wisdom as you decide where to give a firm little push.

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IF YOU WANT MORE FREE WILL ASTROLOGY,
TRY THE EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES

Since I put all my heart and soul into the written horoscopes I send out in this newsletter, they're pretty nutritious. You may never need any of the other stuff I create.

But if you ever do crave an added boost, you may want to sample my Expanded Audio Horoscopes. They're different in tone and intent than the written scopes, imbued with a little more of the psychologist in me, and a little less of the poet.

Find out more at RealAstrology.com.

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

"Your expanded astrology thingees help me remember who I really am."
- Gareth N., Toronto

"I never knew it was possible to get my butt kicked and my head patted at the same time -- until I listened to you, Rob."
- Kristi P., Portland, OR

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

Welcome to the autumnal garden of earthly delights, Taurus. It's a brooding, fermenting paradise, full of the kind of dark beauty that wouldn't be caught dead in a spring garden. There's smoldering joy to be found amidst this riotous flowering of moody colors, but you won't appreciate it if you're too intent on seeking bright serenity and pristine comfort. Be willing to dirty your hands and even your mind. Feel the moss on your back, the leaves in your hair, and the mist on your bare legs. (P.S. If you like, you can take what I just said as an elaborate metaphor.)

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

Here's a vignette described by columnist Thomas Friedman: "Ludwig Wittgenstein once remarked that if you ask a man how much is 2 plus 2 and he tells you 5, that is a mistake. But if you ask a man how much is 2 plus 2 and he tells you 97, that is no longer a mistake. The man you are talking with is operating with a wholly different logic from your own." I'd like to suggest, Gemini, that for you right now the whole world is like the man who swears 2 plus 2 is 97. At least temporarily, you are on a very different wavelength from your surroundings. In order to understand what's coming toward you, you will have to do the equivalent of standing on your head, crossing your eyes, and opening your mind as wide as it'll stretch.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

If you want to grow vanilla beans, you have to pollinate the plant's flowers within 12 hours after they bloom. In nature, the only insect that can do the job is the Melipona, a Mexican bee. Luckily, humans can also serve as pollinators, which they do on commercial vanilla farms. They use thin wood splinters or stems of grass to perform the delicate magic. I'm thinking that you resemble a vanilla bean right now, Cancerian. It is the season when you're extra receptive to fertilization, but all the conditions have to be just right for the process to be successful. Here's my advice: Figure out exactly what those conditions are, then call on all your resourcefulness to create them.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

Even our most sophisticated drilling machines have barely made pinpricks in the earth's surface. The deepest hole ever dug was 40,000 feet, which is just 0.2 percent of the planet's 20-million-foot radius. I offer this up as a spur to your imagination, Leo. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to plumb further into the depths of anyplace or anything you're intrigued by -- whether that's a subject you've always wondered about, a person you care for, the mysteries of life, or the secrets of your own psyche. You could reach the equivalent of five million feet into the Earth's innards.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

National Geographic speculates that most of the species on Earth are still unknown and unnamed (tinyurl.com/UnknownLife). While 1.2 million life forms have been identified by science, there may be as many as 7.5 million that are not, or 86 percent of the total. I suspect that this breakdown is similar to the situation in your life, Virgo. You know about 14 percent of what you need to know, but there's still a big frontier to explore. The coming months should be prime time for you to cover a lot of new ground -- and now would be a perfect moment to set the stage for that grand experiment.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

I suspect that you will have a minor form of good luck going for you this week. It probably won't be enough to score you a winning lottery ticket or earn you a chance to get the answer to your most fervent prayers. But it might bring you into close proximity with a financial opportunity, a pretty good helper, or a resource that could subtly boost your stability over the long haul. For best results, don't invoke your mild blessings to assist in trivial matters like finding parking places or avoiding long lines at check-out lines. Use them for important stuff.

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HOMEWORK:

Which of your dead ancestors would you most like to talk to? Imagine a conversation with one of them.

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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 2011 Rob Brezsny

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