Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter April 25, 2012

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
April 25, 2012
FreeWillAstrology.com

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My book
PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA
is available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: bit.ly/PronoiaPowells

Below is the text of a spoken-word piece based on a text in the book. To listen to it, go here: bit.ly/yBmWBg

GLORY IN THE HIGHEST

Thousands of things go right for you every day, beginning the moment you wake up. Through some magic you don't fully understand, you're still breathing and your heart is beating, even though you've been unconscious for many hours. The air is a mix of gases that's just right for your body's needs, as it was before you fell asleep.

You can see! Light of many colors floods into your eyes, registered by nerves that took God or evolution or some process millions of years to perfect.

The interesting gift of these vivid hues is furthermore made possible by an unimaginably immense globe of fire, the sun, which continually detonates nuclear explosions in order to convert its own body into light and heat and energy for your personal use.

Your hands work wonderfully well. Your heart circulates your blood all the way out to replenish the energy of the muscles and nerves in your fingers and palms and wrists. And after your blood has delivered its blessings, it finds its way back to your heart to be refreshed. This wondrous mystery recurs over and over again without stopping every minute of your life.

You can smell intoxicating aromas. You can hear provocative and soothing sounds. You can taste a thousand different tastes. How is any of this possible? You can think thoughts any time you want -- big, wide, colorful thoughts or tiny dark burrowing thoughts. You can revel and wallow in great oceans of emotion. What colossal secret intelligence or improbable series of fabulous accidents conspired to bestow these superpowers upon you?

TO READ AND HEAR THE REST OF THIS PIECE, go here: bit.ly/yBmWBg

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Steal This Image from PRONOIA: bit.ly/zuol3v

When they say, "Be Yourself!", which self do they mean?

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

MAYBE THERE'S AN ART TO CULTIVATING HAPPINESS
10 Things Science Says Will Make You Happy
tinyurl.com/yjfgcrg

BACK FROM THE DEAD
"Lost" Long-Fingered Frog rediscovered in Africa after 62 years, scientists say.
tinyurl.com/7ztbl6u

PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW ARE WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES FOR THE GOOD OF US ALL
A vaccine that can train cancer patients' own bodies to seek out and destroy tumor cells has been developed by scientists.
tinyurl.com/bvkjj5h

(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 26

Copyright 2012 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

"What people really need and demand from life is not wealth, comfort, or esteem, but games worth playing," said psychiatrist Thomas Szasz. I love that thought, and am excited to offer it up to you right now. You have been invited or will soon be invited to participate in some of the best games ever. These are not grueling games foisted on you by people hoping to manipulate you, nor pointless games that exhaust your energy for naught. Rather, they are fun challenges that promise to stretch your intelligence, deepen your perspective, and enhance your emotional riches.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

Is it conceivable that you've gotten a bit off track? As I close my eyes and ask my higher powers for a psychic vision, I get an impression of you staring at a blurry image of a symbol that is no longer an accurate representation of your life goal. Now of course there's a chance that my vision is completely unfounded. But if it does ring at least somewhat true to you -- if it suggests a question worth asking yourself -- I invite you to meditate on the possibility that you need to update your understanding of what your ultimate target looks like.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

From an astrological point of view, it's prime time for you to attend a networking extravaganza or collaboration spree. Likewise, this is an excellent phase in your long-term cycle to organize a gathering for the close allies who will be most important in helping you carry out your master plan during the next 12 months. Have you ever heard of the term "Temporary Autonomous Zone"? It's a time and place where people with shared interests and common values can explore the frontiers of productive conviviality. It might be a dinner party in an inspirational setting, a boisterous ritual in a rowdy sanctuary, or a private festival for fellow seekers. I hope you make sure something like that materializes.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

To begin one of his performances, comedian and musician Steve Martin ambled on stage and told his audience what to expect. "Before every show," he said, "I like to do one thing that is impossible. So now I'm going to suck this piano into my lungs." That's the kind of brag I hope to hear coming from you sometime soon, Leo -- the more outrageous the better. Why? Because I'd love to see you cultivate a looser, breezier relationship with your actual ambitions. To make boastful jokes about wacky or farfetched goals might inspire you to be jauntier and friskier about those real ones. And that would rouse a burst of fresh motivational energy.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

The text for this week's oracle comes from Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), a great American statesman who, after escaping slavery, became a leader of the abolitionist movement. "Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation," he said, "are people who want crops without plowing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning . . . The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand." Please apply these thoughts to your own situation, Virgo. You have entered the liberation phase of your cycle.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

I'm about to list some declarations that I hope will come out of your mouth at least once in the next three weeks. If for any reason you're not finding yourself in situations where these words would make sense for you to utter, please rearrange your life accordingly. 1. "There's nothing else I'd rather be doing right now." 2. "Is it okay with you if we take this really slow?" 3. "No one's ever done that before." 4. "Squeeze my hand when it feels really amazing." 5. "It's like we know what each other is thinking." 6. "Can I have some more, please?"

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YOU NEED MAGIC EVERY DAY

Every day, you have to wade through a relentless surge of soul-less facts. The experience tends to shut down your sense of wonder.

Every day, you're over-exposed to narratives that have been sucked free of delight and mystery. That's why you have to make such strenuous efforts to keep your world enchanted.

I like to think I can contribute to the sacred cause of feeding your sense of wonder and enchantment. In fact, that's one of my prime motivations for offering you the free weekly horoscopes you read in this newsletter.

If you ever want more of that good stuff, and think it's worth paying for, please consider trying out my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

Go here to access them: RealAstrology.com

You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888

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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

A political strategist told me one of her most important rules: To win an election, you have to help your candidate choose the right fights. I think that would be an excellent guiding principle for you in the coming weeks, Scorpio. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will be getting invitations to spar, joust, and wrangle. Although it might be exciting to leap into each and every fray with your eyes blazing, I suggest you show careful discernment. Try to confine your participation to those tangles that will downplay your weaknesses and highlight your strengths.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

In the famous children's book The Little Prince, the hero lives on an asteroid with three volcanoes, two active and one dormant. One day he decides to leave home and travel to other realms. Before departing, he meticulously scours all three volcanoes. "If they are well cleaned out," the narrator reports, "volcanoes burn slowly and steadily, without any eruptions." I recommend that you take after the Little Prince, Sagittarius. It's high time to attend to the upkeep of your volcanoes. Make sure they will burn slow and steady in the coming months, even when you're not at home.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

One of the classics of ancient Sanskrit literature is the Kama Sutra, which gives practical advice about erotic love. The most popular edition of the book offers instructions on eight kinds of kisses and 64 sexual positions, with additional tips on styles of embracing and caressing. This would be an excellent time for you to get inspired by information like that, Capricorn. Your relationship with the amorous arts is due for expansion and refinement. You don't necessarily need to rely on book learning, of course. You could accomplish a lot of empirical exploration simply by getting naked and firing up your imagination.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Singer-songwriter Tom Waits was strongly influenced by Bob Dylan's down-to-earth album The Basement Tapes. "I like my music with the rinds and the seeds and pulp left in," Waits testifies. "The noise and grit" of Dylan's rootsy, intimate songs, he says, creates a mood of "joy and abandon." That's the spirit I wish for you in the coming weeks, Aquarius. Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, get down to the gritty, organic core of things. Hunker down in the funky fundamentals. Hang out where the levels of pretension are low and the stories are fresh and raw.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

You're not really breaking the rules, right, Pisces? It's more like you're just testing their elasticity; you're helping them become more supple and flexible. I'm sure that sooner or later people will thank you for how you're expanding the way the game is played. It may take a while, but they will eventually appreciate and capitalize on the liberties you are now introducing into the system. In the short run, though, you might have to take some heat for your tinkering and experiments. Try not to let that inhibit your eagerness to try creative risks.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

"True life is lived when tiny changes occur," said Leo Tolstoy. I agree. It's rare for us to undergo rapid, dramatic transformations in short periods of time. That's why it's delusional to be forever pining for some big magic intervention that will fix everything. The best way to alter our course is slowly and gradually, by conscientiously revamping our responses to the small daily details. Keep these thoughts close at hand in the coming weeks, Aries. Be a devotee of the incremental approach. Step-by-step. Hour-by-hour.

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HOMEWORK:

What famous person were you in your past life? If you don't know or weren't really, make something up. Testify at Freewillastrology.com.

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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 2012 Rob Brezsny

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