Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter April 24, 2013

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
APRIL 24, 2013
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:

PRACTICAL PRONOIA
The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet by Ramez Naam
"We Are Not Headed For A Disaster Of Biblical Proportions," says the author of a provocative new book.

"Most books about the future are written by blinkered Pollyannas or hand-wringing Cassandras. Not this one. Having thought about science, technology and the environment for decades, Ramez Naam has become that rarest of creatures: a clear-eyed optimist. Concise, informed and passionately argued, 'The Infinite Resource' both acknowledges the very real dangers that lie ahead for the human enterprise and the equally real possibility that we might not only survive but thrive."
- Charles Mann

"This book contains a plan - probably the only plan - to save the world." - Steven Pinker

tinyurl.com/csf58ya

Go here to read a summary of Ramez Naam's ideas:
tinyurl.com/c7koeao

MERGER OF NATURE AND MACHINE
This is what happens when you leave a bike chained to a tree for 60 years.
imgur.com/r/earthporn/w18TO2f

TURNING TRASH INTO TREASURE
The Washed Ashore Project builds large art sculptures of sea life made from plastic marine debris. These unique art pieces are part of a traveling exhibition which includes educational signage and programs that encourage reducing, refusing, reusing and recycling.
washedashore.org

(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 25

Copyright 2013 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

In 1921, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev -- born under the sign of the Bull -- premiered his opera The Love for Three Oranges in the United States. Here's how The New York Times felt about it: "There are a few, but only a very few, passages that bear recognizable kinship with what has hitherto been considered music." It's possible, Taurus, that you will get a similar reaction when you debut your new approach or endeavor. And that may disturb you. But I think it would be a good omen -- a sign that you're taking a brave risk as you try something innovative and unfamiliar.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

I'm passionate about doing whatever I can to make the world a better place. How boring and sad it would be if I only thought of satisfying my personal needs. But I also remember what Aldous Huxley said: "There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self." Even if you have mad skills at healing and fixing everyone whose life you touch, Gemini, Huxley's reminder is good for you to honor right now. The place that's in most pressing need of transmutation -- and where you're most likely to be successful -- is within you. Now here's the trick ending: To the degree that you regenerate yourself, you will improve everyone around you. Your inner work will be contagious.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

Thomas Jefferson almost pulled off a miracle in 1784. America was a young country. There were only 13 states and a few unorganized territories. As a representative to the Continental Congress, Jefferson proposed an ordinance that would have prohibited slavery in those territories, including what would later become Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. By just one vote, alas, the provision failed to pass. Can you imagine what the United States would have been like if slavery had been partly extinguished decades before the Civil War? The moral of the story, Cancerian, is that at certain pregnant moments, small shifts can have big consequences. The astrological omens suggest your life will be proof of that in the coming weeks.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

I believe you will crawl or scramble or glide to the top of some mountain in the next four weeks. What mountain do you want it to be? A crumbly molehill? A pile of cheap but useful gravel? A lofty peak where you can see for miles and miles? I urge you to decide soon on which of the possibilities you will choose. Then affirm your intention to call on all your resources, allies, and powers to help you make the ascent. This is a chance for serious expansion, Leo. Unleash your soulful ambitions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

Have you ever seen a moonbow? It's like a rainbow but is created by the reflected light of the moon instead of the sun. For this phenomenon to occur, the sky must be dark. The moon has to be full and setting in the west, near the horizon, and rain must be falling. So it's a rare event. All the conditions have to be just right. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, it's more likely than usual that you'll spot one of these exceptional beauties in the coming days. Your affinity for curious wonders and mysterious marvels of all kinds will be at a peak. I suspect you will have a knack for being exactly where you need to be in order to experience them.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

Lonesome George was about a hundred years old when he died last year. He was the last remaining member of a giant tortoise species that had lived on Ecuador's Pinta Island for thousands of years. But scientists say his kind is not necessarily extinct forever. They believe that by cross-breeding tortoises of other related species, they could recreate a 100-percent-pure version of Lonesome George's species. I suspect, Libra, that you may be able to pull off a metaphorically comparable resurrection -- especially if you initiate the effort in the coming weeks.

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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 dampen your sense of wonder.

Every day, you're overexposed to stories 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 here in my newsletter.

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

Go here to register and log in: RealAstrology.com.

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

"Your expanded horoscopes get more personal and intimate with me than some of my closest friends. Thanks for the loving reflections."
- Ari S., Ann Arbor, MI

"Your audio 'scopes have a knack for waking me up from whatever random dream has sneaked into my brain and rendered me half-blind."
- Teresa F., Boston, MA

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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

Let's imagine ourselves near the snowy summit of Washington's Mount Rainier. We're in an unusual kind of cave. Volcanic steam rises from cracks in the rocky floor. Above us is a roof made of ice. As we stand between the heat and the chill, we find the temperature quite cozy. The extremes collaborate to produce a happy medium. Can you accomplish something in your life that's similar to what's going on in this cave? Metaphorically, I mean? I think you can.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

"We cannot accept the world as it is," remarked Belgian author Hugo Claus. "Each day we should wake up foaming at the mouth from the injustice of things." I don't subscribe to the idea that each day should begin like this. On some mornings we should rise and greet the world singing songs of praise for the great fortune of being alive. But I do think Claus's approach is precisely right on certain occasions -- like now, for you Sagittarians. The time is ripe to tap into your reservoir of righteous anger. Fight to right the wrongs that disturb you the most.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

"Your story begins the moment Eros enters you," says Anne Carson in her book Eros the Bittersweet. "That incursion is the biggest risk of your life. How you handle it is an index of the quality, wisdom and decorum of the things inside of you. As you handle it you come into contact with what is inside of you, in a sudden and startling way. You perceive what you are, what you lack, what you could be." I want to extend Carson's dramatic hypothesis. I'd like to propose that eros enters you again and again in the course of your life, and your story resets each time. How will you handle it when it makes its next incursion? Get ready, because here it comes.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

"I prefer by far warmth and softness to mere brilliancy and coldness," wrote Anais Nin in one of her early diaries. "Some people remind me of sharp dazzling diamonds. Valuable but lifeless and loveless. Others, of the simplest field flowers, with hearts full of dew and with all the tints of celestial beauty reflected in their modest petals." I suspect that even if you normally love cold brilliancy, Aquarius, you will need an abundance of warmth and softness in the coming days. To attract the best possible embodiments of this influence, get clear about your favorite forms of it. Be picky! Don't accept sloppy sentimentality.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

Ludwig Wittgenstein was a genius. His last book, which influenced many different fields of thought, is regarded as one of the most important philosophy tomes of the 20th century. And yet he was a big fan of foolishness. "If people did not sometimes do silly things," he observed, "nothing intelligent would ever get done." Another time he said, "Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness." Here's one more of his opinions: "Don't be afraid of talking nonsense! But you must pay attention to your nonsense." I hope that's enough evidence to support my advice, Pisces, which is: Now is a good time for you to get both smarter and wiser. And a good way to do that is to play and play and play some more.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

How we react to the sound of the wind gives clues to our temperament, said philosopher Theodor W. Adorno. The unhappy person thinks of "the fragility of his house and suffers from shallow sleep and violent dreams." But for the happy person, the wind sings "the song of protectedness: its furious howling concedes that it has power over him no longer." I bring this up to illustrate a point about your life. There will be a strong and vivid influence coming your way that is like the wind as described by Adorno. It's neither bad nor good in itself, but may seem like one or the other depending on the state of mind you choose to cultivate.

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HOMEWORK:

Buy or make yourself a present that encourages you to be more generous. Report results 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 2013 Rob Brezsny

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