Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
OCTOBER 24, 2012
FreeWillAstrology.com
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Read "Dissident Horoscopes for Samhain (and Halloween) Insurgents,"
by Job Disney, Rob Brezsny's only partially evil twin:
bit.ly/craweu
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The piece below is excerpted from my book
PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA
is available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
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FLIP-FLOP THE TRAUMATIC IMPRINT
Beauty and Truth Lab researcher Artemisia had just begun menstruating,
and was suffering from debilitating cramps. Massive doses of ibuprofen
were not relieving the distress, so she went to her regular acupuncturist,
Dr. Lily Ming, to get relief.
Dr. Ming had Artemisia lie down on the table and proceeded to
insert 10 needles in her belly and hand and ear. Then Dr. Ming
introduced a treatment that Artemisia was unfamiliar with: She
lightly pounded the nail of Artemisia's left big toe with a small
silver hammer for a few minutes.
"Why are you doing that?" Artemisia asked.
"It is good for the uterus," the doctor replied.
Indeed, Artemisia's cramps diminished as the doctor thumped,
and in the days to come they did not recur.
After the session, as Artemisia prepared to leave, the usually
taciturn Ming started up a conversation. Artemisia was surprised,
but listened attentively as Dr. Ming made a series of revelations.
The most surprising was Dr. Ming's description of a traumatic
event from her own childhood.
During the military occupation of her native Manchuria, a province
of China, she was forced to witness Japanese soldiers torturing
people she loved. Their primary atrocity was using hammers to
drive bamboo shoots through their victims' big toes.
The moral of the story: Dr. Ming has accomplished the heroic
feat of reversing the meaning of her most traumatic imprint. She
has turned a symbol of pain into a symbol of healing.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
COMMIT SOME PRONOIA ON YOURSELF
Telling Fewer Lies Linked to Better Health
tinyurl.com/9ymvnfg
SOMETIMES PRONOIAC ACTS REQUIRE YOU TO GET MAD
"Finally, public opinion around the biotech industry's contamination
of our food supply and destruction of our environment has reached
the tipping point. We're fighting back."
tinyurl.com/bw9xez6
HAVE YOU GOTTEN YOUR MINIMUM DAILY REQUIREMENT OF BEAUTY?
Gorgeous scene from East Iceland
i.imgur.com/6bZwH.jpg
THE EVIDENCE KEEPS ACCUMULATING
A compendium of pronoiac news.
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 October 25
Copyright 2012 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
"It's so fine and yet so terrible to stand in front of
a blank canvas," said French painter Paul Cezanne. Many writers
make similar comments about the excruciating joy they feel when
first sitting down in front of an empty page. For artists in any
genre, in fact, getting started may seem painfully impossible.
And yet there can also be a delicious anticipation as the ripe
chaos begins to coalesce into coherent images or words or music.
Even if you're not an artist, Scorpio, you're facing a comparable
challenge in your own chosen field. Halloween costume suggestion:
a painter with a blank canvas.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
As you contemplate what you want to be for Halloween, don't
consider any of the following options: a thoroughbred racehorse
wearing a blindfold; a mythic centaur clanking around in iron
boots; a seahorse trying to dance on dry land. For that matter,
Sagittarius, I hope you won't come close to imitating any of those
hapless creatures even in your non-Halloween life. It's true that
the coming days will be an excellent time to explore, analyze,
and deal with your limitations. But that doesn't mean you should
be overwhelmed and overcome by them. Halloween costume suggestions:
Houdini, an escaped prisoner, a snake molting its skin.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
"Does anyone know where I can find dinosaur costumes for
cats?" asked a Halloween shopper on Reddit.com.
In the comments section, someone else said that he needed a broccoli
costume for his Chihuahua. I bring this up, Capricorn, because
if anyone could uncover the answers to these questions, it would
be you. You've got a magic touch when it comes to hunting down
solutions to unprecedented problems. Halloween costume suggestion:
a cat wearing a dinosaur costume.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
The Live Monarch Foundation made a video on how to fix a butterfly's
broken wing (tinyurl.com/FixWing).
It ain't easy. You need ten items, including tweezers, talcum
powder, toothpicks, and glue. You've got to be patient and summon
high levels of concentration. But it definitely can be done. The
same is true about the delicate healing project you've thought
about attempting on your own wound, Aquarius. It will require
you to be ingenious, precise, and tender, but I suspect you're
primed to rise to the challenge. Halloween costume suggestion:
herbalist, acupuncturist, doctor, shaman, or other healer.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
It's not a good time to wear Super-Control Higher-Power Spanx,
or any other girdle, corset, or restrictive garment. In fact,
I advise you not to be a willing participant in any situation
that pinches, hampers, or confines you. You need to feel exceptionally
expansive. In order to thrive, you've got to give yourself permission
to spill over, think big, and wander freely. As for those people
who might prefer you to keep your unruly urges in check and your
natural inclinations concealed: Tell them your astrologer authorized
you to seize a massive dose of slack. Halloween costume suggestions:
a wild man or wild woman; a mythical bird like the Garuda or Thunderbird;
the god or goddess of abundance.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In the coming days, many of your important tasks will be best
accomplished through caginess and craftiness. Are you willing
to work behind the scenes and beneath the surface? I suspect you
will have a knack for navigating your way skillfully and luckily
through mazes and their metaphorical equivalents. The mists may
very well part at your command, revealing clues that no one else
but you can get access to. You might also have a talent for helping
people to understand elusive or difficult truths. Halloween costume
suggestions: spy, stage magician, ghost whisperer, exorcist.
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THE OTHER VERSION OF FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
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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TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
The coming week could have resemblances to the holiday known
as Opposite Day. Things people say may have meanings that are
different or even contrary to what they supposedly mean. Qualities
you usually regard as liabilities might temporarily serve as assets,
and strengths could seem problematical or cause confusion. You
should also be wary of the possibility that the advice you get
from people you trust may be misleading. For best results, make
liberal use of reverse psychology, freaky logic, and mirror magic.
Halloween costume suggestion: the opposite of who you really are.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
I don't have a big problem with your tendency to contradict
yourself. I'm rarely among the consistency freaks who would prefer
you to stick with just one of your many selves instead of hopscotching
among all nine. In fact, I find your multi-level multiplicity
interesting and often alluring. I take it as a sign that you are
in alignment with the fundamentally paradoxical nature of life.
Having said all that, however, I want to alert you to an opportunity
that the universe is currently offering you, which is to feel
unified, steady, and stable. Does that sound even vaguely enticing?
Why not try it out for a few weeks? Halloween costume suggestion:
an assemblage or collage of several of your different personas.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
An avocado tree may produce so much fruit that the sheer weight
of its exuberant creation causes it to collapse. Don't be like
that in the coming weeks, Cancerian. Without curbing your luxuriant
mood, simply monitor your outpouring of fertility so that it generates
just the right amount of beautiful blooms. Be vibrant and bountiful
and fluidic, but not unconstrained or overwrought or recklessly
lavish. Halloween costume suggestion: a bouquet, an apple tree,
a rich artist, or an exotic dancer with a bowl of fruit on your
head.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
I hope your father didn't beat you or scream at you or molest
you. If he did, I am so sorry for your suffering. I also hope
that your father didn't ignore you or withhold his best energy
from you. I hope he didn't disappear for weeks at a time and act
oblivious to your beauty. If he did those things, I mourn for
your loss. Now it's quite possible that you were spared such mistreatment,
Leo. Maybe your dad gave you conscientious care and loved you
for who you really are. But whatever the case might be, this is
the right time to acknowledge it. If you're one of the lucky ones,
celebrate to the max. If you're one of the wounded ones, begin
or renew your quest for serious and intensive healing. Halloween
costume suggestion: your father.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Do you know how to tell the difference between superstitious
hunches and dependable intuitions? Are you good at distinguishing
between mediocre gossip that's only ten percent accurate and reliable
rumors that provide you with the real inside dope? I suspect that
you will soon get abundant opportunities to test your skill in
these tasks. To increase the likelihood of your success, ask yourself
the following question on a regular basis: Is what you think you're
seeing really there or is it mostly a projection of your expectations
and theories? Halloween costume suggestions: a lie detector, an
interrogator with syringes full of truth serum, a superhero with
X-ray vision, a lab scientist.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
I am officially protesting you, Libra. I am staging a walkout
and mounting a demonstration and launching a boycott unless you
agree to my demand. And yes, I have just one demand: that you
take better care of the neglected, disempowered, and underprivileged
parts of your life. Not a year from now; not when you have more
leisure time; NOW! If and when you do this, I predict the arrival
of a flood of personal inspiration. Halloween costume suggestion:
a symbolic representation of a neglected, disempowered, or underprivileged
part of your life.
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HOMEWORK:
Exhausted by the ceaseless barrage of depressing stories you
absorb from the news media? Here's an antidote: PronoiaResources.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2012 Rob Brezsny
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