Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
NOVEMBER 7, 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 an excerpt.
TORRENTIAL PRONOIA THERAPY, Part One
Experiments and exercises in becoming a blasphemously reverent,
lustfully compassionate, eternally changing Master of Transgressive
Beauty
1. Take inventory of the extent to which your "No"
reflex dominates your life. Notice for 24 hours (even in your
dreams) how often you say or think:
"No."
"That's not right."
"I don't like them."
"I don't agree with that."
"They don't like me."
"That should be different from what it is."
Then retrain yourself to say "YES" at least 51 percent
of the time. Start the transformation by saying "YES"
aloud 22 times right now.
2. Go to the ugliest or most forlorn place you know -- a drugstore
parking lot, the front porch of a crack house, a toxic waste dump,
or the place that symbolizes your secret shame -- and build a
shrine devoted to beauty, truth, and love.
Here are some suggestions about what to put in your shrine: a
silk scarf; a smooth rock on which you've inscribed a haiku or
joke with a felt-tip pen; coconut cookies or ginger candy; pumpkin
seeds and an origami crane; a green kite shaped like a dragon;
a music CD you love; a photo of your hero; a votive candle carved
with your word of power; a rubber ducky; a bouquet of fresh beets;
a print of Van Gogh's Starry Night.
3. Late at night when there's no traffic, stride down the middle
of an empty road that by day is crawling with cars. Dance, careen,
and sing songs that fill you with pleasurable emotions. Splay
your arms triumphantly as you extemporize prayers in which you
make extravagant demands and promises. Give pet names to the trees
you pass, declare your admiration for the workers who made the
road, and celebrate your sovereignty over a territory that usually
belongs to heavy machines and their operators.
4. What causes happiness? Brainstorm about it. Map out the foundations
of your personal science of joy. Get serious about defining what
makes you feel good. To get you started, I'll name some experiences
that might rouse your gratification: engaging in sensual pleasure;
seeking the truth; being kind and moral; contemplating the meaning
of life; escaping your routine; purging pent-up emotions. Do any
of these work for you? Name at least ten more.
5. In response to our culture's ever-rising levels of noise and
frenzy, rites of purification have become more popular. Many people
now recognize the value of taking periodic retreats. Withdrawing
from their usual compulsions, they go on fasts, avoid mass media,
practice celibacy, or even abstain from speaking. While we applaud
cleansing ceremonies like this, we recommend balancing them with
periodic outbreaks of an equal and opposite custom: the Bliss
Blitz.
During this celebration, you tune out the numbing banality of
the daily grind. But instead of shrinking into asceticism, you
indulge in uninhibited explorations of joy, release, and expansion.
Turning away from the mildly stimulating distractions you seek
out when you're bored or worried, you become inexhaustibly resourceful
as you search for unsurpassable sources of cathartic pleasure.
Try it for a day or a week: the Bliss Blitz.
6. When many people talk about their childhoods, they emphasize
the alienating, traumatic experiences they had, and fail to report
the good times. This seems dishonest -- a testament to the popularity
of cynicism rather than a reflection of objective truth.
I don't mean to downplay the way your early encounters with pain
demoralized your spirit. But as you reconnoiter the promise of
pronoia, it's crucial for you to extol the gifts you were given
in your early years: all the helpful encounters, kind teachings,
and simple acts of grace that helped you bloom.
In Homer's epic tale The Odyssey, he described nepenthe,
a mythical drug that induced the forgetfulness of pain and trouble.
I'd like to imagine, in contrast, a potion that stirs up memories
of delight, serenity, and fulfillment. Fantasize that you have
taken such a tonic. Spend an hour or two remembering the glorious
moments from your past.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
EARLY ADAPTERS FIND SUCCESS FASTER
"Continuing a pattern: Countries, states, businesses, and
cities that begin seriously implementing renewable energy meet
with greater success, sooner, at less cost, than even the most
optimistic proponents would have imagined."
tinyurl.com/d9e6omt
THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF AN ABOMINATION
U.N. is set to ban horrific practice
tinyurl.com/9q4eaxe
GET YOUR MINIMUM DAILY SERVING OF BEAUTY
Beauty in the small things
tinyurl.com/8ks8zkf
(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 8
Copyright 2012 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
This is not prime time for you to rake in rewards, collect hard-earned
goodies, and celebrate successes you've been building towards
for a long time. It's fine if you end up doing those things, but
I suspect that what you're best suited for right now is getting
things started. You'll attract help from unexpected sources if
you lay the groundwork for projects you want to work on throughout
2013. You'll be in alignment with cosmic rhythms, too. Your motto
comes from your fellow Scorpio, writer Robert Louis Stevenson:
"Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds
you plant."
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
On a beach, a man spied a pelican that was barely moving. Was
it sick? He wanted to help. Drawing close, he discovered that
ants were crawling all over it. He brushed them off, then carried
the bird to his car and drove it to a veterinarian. After a thorough
examination, the doctor realized the pelican was suffering from
a fungus that the ants had been eating away -- and probably would
have removed completely if the man hadn't interfered. Moral of
the story: Sometimes healing takes place in unexpected ways, and
nature knows better than we do about how to make it happen. Keep
that in mind during the coming weeks, Sagittarius.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
A farmer in Japan found a 56-leaf clover. Well, actually, he
bred it in his garden at home. It took effort on his part. Presumably,
it provided him with 14 times the luck of a mere four-leaf clover.
I don't think your good karma will be quite that extravagant in
the coming week, Capricorn, but there's a decent chance you'll
get into at least the 16-leaf realm. To raise your odds of approaching
the 56-leaf level of favorable fortune, remember this: Luck tends
to flow in the direction of those who work hard to prepare for
it and earn it.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
The largest bell in the world is located in Moscow, Russia.
Called the Tsar Bell, it's made of bronze, weighs 445,170 pounds,
and is elaborately decorated with images of people, angels, and
plants. It has never once been rung in its 275 years of existence.
Is there anything comparable in your own life, Aquarius? Some
huge presence that has never actually been used? The time is near
when that stillness may finally come to an end. I suggest you
decide how this will occur rather than allowing fate to choose
for you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Are you interested in experiencing a close brush with a holy
anomaly or a rowdy blessing or a divine wild card? If not, that's
perfectly OK. Just say, "No, I'm not ready for a lyrical
flurry of uncanny grace." And the freaky splendor or convulsive
beauty or mystical mutation will avoid making contact with you,
no questions asked. But if you suspect you might enjoy communing
with a subversive blast of illumination -- if you think you could
have fun coming to terms with a tricky epiphany that blows your
mind -- then go out under the night sky and whisper a message
like this: "I'm ready for you, sweetness. Find me."
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
The data that's stored and disseminated on the Internet is unimaginably
voluminous. And yet the 540 billion trillion electrons that carry
all this information weigh about the same as a strawberry. I'd
like to use this fun fact as a metaphor for the work you're doing
these days -- and the play, too. Your output is prodigious. Your
intensity is on the verge of becoming legendary. The potency of
your efforts is likely to set in motion effects that will last
for a long time. And yet, to the naked eye or casual observer,
it all might look as simple and light as a strawberry.
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EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
featuring tips and suggestions
that may help you
read your own mind --
in other words,
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with your own subconscious depths
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The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888.
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TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
What if you have a twin sister or brother that your mother gave
up for adoption right after you were born and never told you about?
Or what if you have a soul twin you've never met -- a potential
ally who understands life in much the same ways that you do? In
either case, now is a time when the two of you might finally discover
each other. At the very least, Taurus, I suspect you'll be going
deeper and deeper with a kindred spirit who will help you transform
your stories about your origins and make you feel more at home
on the planet.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
I urged my readers to meditate on death not as the end of physical
life, but as a metaphor for shedding what's outworn. I then asked
them to describe the best death they had ever experienced. I got
a response that's applicable to you right now. It's from a reader
named Judd: "My best death was getting chicken pox at age
13 while living in the Philippines. My mother banished me to the
TV room. I was uncomfortable but hyperactive, lonely and driven
to agony by the awful shows. But after six hours, something popped.
My suffering turned inside out, and a miracle bloomed. I closed
my eyes and my imagination opened up like a vortex. Images, ideas,
places, dreams, people familiar and strange -- all amazing, colorful,
and vibrant -- flowed through my head. I knew then and there that
no material thing on this Earth could hook me up to the source
of life like my own thoughts. I was free!"
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Conservationists are surprised by what has been transpiring in
and around Nepal's Chitwan National Park. The tigers that live
there have changed their schedule. Previously, they prowled around
at all hours, day and night. But as more people have moved into
the area, the creatures have increasingly become nocturnal. Researchers
who have studied the situation believe the tigers are doing so
in order to better coexist with humans. I suspect that a metaphorically
similar development is possible for you, Cancerian. Meditate on
how the wildest part of your life could adapt better to the most
civilized part -- and vice versa. (Read more: tinyurl.com/HumanTiger.)
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
What is a dry waterfall? The term may refer to the location
of an extinct waterfall where a river once fell over a cliff but
has since stopped flowing. Döda Fallet in Sweden is such
a place. "Dry waterfall" may also signify a waterfall
that only exists for a while after a heavy rain and then disappears
again. One example is on Brukkaros Mountain in Namibia. A third
variant shows up in Cliffs Beyond Abiquiu, Dry Waterfall,
a landscape painting by Georgia O'Keeffe. It's a lush rendering
of a stark landscape near the New Mexico town where O'Keeffe lived.
Soon you will have your own metaphorical version of a dry waterfall,
Leo. It's ready for you if you're ready for it.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
You are getting to where you need to be, but you're still not
there. You have a good share of the raw materials you will require
to accomplish your goal, but as of yet you don't have enough of
the structure that will make everything work. The in-between state
you're inhabiting reminds me of a passage from the author Elias
Canetti: "His head is made of stars, but not yet arranged
into constellations." Your next assignment, Virgo, is to
see what you can do about coalescing a few constellations.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Doctors used to believe that ulcers were caused by stress and
spicy foods. But in the 1980s, two researchers named Barry Marshall
and Robin Warren began to promote an alternative theory. They
believed the culprit was H. pylori, a type of bacteria.
To test their hypothesis, Marshall drank a Petri dish full of
H. pylori. Within days he got gastric symptoms and underwent
an endoscopy. The evidence proved that he and his partner were
correct. They won a Nobel Prize for their work. (And Marshall
recovered just fine.) I urge you to be inspired by their approach,
Libra. Formulate experiments that allow you to make practical
tests of your ideas, and consider using yourself as a guinea pig.
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HOMEWORK:
Name ten items you would put in a time capsule to be dug up by
your descendants in 500 years. Testify at Freewillastrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2012 Rob Brezsny
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