Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
OCTOBER 30, 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 an excerpt.
To read the piece in its entirety, go here: bit.ly/wGN3iM
SHADOW SCHOOL
You're a gorgeous mystery with a wild heart and a lofty purpose.
But like all of us, you also have a dark side -- a part of your
psyche that snarls and bites, that's unconscious and irrational,
that is motivated by ill will or twisted passions or instinctual
fears.
It's your own personal portion of the world's sickness: a mess
of repressed longings, enervating wounds, ignorant delusions,
and unripe powers. You'd prefer to ignore it because it's unflattering
or uncomfortable or very different from what you imagine yourself
to be.
If you acknowledge its existence at all (many of us don't), you
might call it the devil, your evil twin, your inner monster, or
your personal demon. Psychologist Carl Jung referred to it as
the shadow. He regarded it as the lead that the authentic alchemists
of the Middle Ages sought to transmute into gold.
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Astrologer Steven Forrest has a different name for the shadow:
stuff. "Work on your stuff," he says, "or your
stuff will work on you." He means that it will sabotage you
if you're not aggressive about identifying, negotiating with,
and transforming it.
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The shadow is not inherently evil. If it is ignored or denied,
it may become monstrous to compensate. Only then is it likely
to "demonically possess" its owner, leading to compulsive,
exaggerated, "evil" behavior.
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"The shadow, which is in conflict with the acknowledged
values, cannot be accepted as a negative part of one's own psyche
and is therefore projected -- that is, it is transferred to the
outside world and experienced as an outside object. It is combated,
punished, and exterminated as 'the alien out there' instead of
being dealt with as one's own inner problem." -- Erich Neumann,
Depth Psychology and a New Ethic
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The qualities in ourselves that we deny or dislike are often
the very qualities that we most bitterly complain about in other
people. So for instance, an old friend of mine named Mark had
a special disgust for friends who were unavailable to him when
he really needed them. But I was witness to him engaging in the
same behavior three different times, disappearing from the lives
of his friends just when they needed him most.
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"Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world
as an event," said Jung. If you disown a part of your personality,
it'll materialize as an unexpected detour.
Everyone who believes in the devil is the devil . . . .
TO READ THE REST OF "SHADOW SCHOOL," go here: bit.ly/wGN3iM
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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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Steal a song from the soundtrack for THE TELEVISIONARY ORACLE:
bit.ly/smkFxM
Triple Witching Hour
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
All of this week's Pronoiac Resources come directly from the
wonderful pronoiac YES! magazine: yesmagazine.org
A New Dad Asks, If Male Violence Is the Biggest Threat to Women,
How Do I Raise a Kind Son?
The idea of having a baby boy scared me: What kind of man will
he grow up to be? Here's what I learned about what it takes to
raise compassionate men.
tinyurl.com/pqblt9b
Detroit Bankrupt? Six Ways the Motor City Is Thriving.
National media accounts of Detroit's bankruptcy miss the growing
industries, strong communities, and policy changes laying the
foundation's for the city's recovery.
tinyurl.com/lbtl2gw
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Meet its Real-Life, Climate-Defending,
Disney-Dissenting Villains.
When their name appeared in Joss Whedon's new TV show, the environmentalist
group Rising Tide took to social media to fight back.
tinyurl.com/lfjec6d
(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 31
Copyright 2013 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
What if you had the power to enchant and even bewitch people
with your charisma? Would you wield your allure without mercy?
Would you feel wicked delight in their attraction to you, even
if you didn't plan to give them what they want? I suspect these
questions aren't entirely rhetorical right now. You may have more
mojo at your disposal than you realize. Speaking for your conscience,
I will ask you not to desecrate your privilege. If you must manipulate
people, do it for their benefit as well as yours. Use your raw
magic responsibly. Halloween costume suggestion: a mesmerizing
guru; an irresistible diva; a stage magician.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
I had a dream that you were in the film O Brother, Where
Art Thou? You were like the character played by George Clooney
after he escaped from a prison chain gang. Can you picture it?
You were wearing a striped jailbird suit, and a ball and chain
were still cuffed around your ankle. But you were sort of free,
too. You were on the lam, making your way from adventure to adventure
as you eluded those who would throw you back in the slammer. You
were not yet in the clear, but you seemed to be en route to total
emancipation. I think this dream is an apt metaphorical depiction
of your actual life right now. Could you somehow use it in designing
your Halloween costume?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
I invite you to try the following exercise. Imagine the most
powerful role you could realistically attain in the future. This
is a position or niche or job that will authorize you to wield
your influence to the max. It will give you the clout to shape
the environments you share with other people. It will allow you
to freely express your important ideas and have them be treated
seriously. Let your imagination run a little wild as you visualize
the possibilities. Incorporate your visions into your Halloween
costume.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In the course of earning a living, I have worked four different
jobs as a janitor and six as a dishwasher. On the brighter side,
I have performed as a songwriter and lead singer for six rock
bands and currently write a syndicated astrology column. According
to my analysis of the astrological omens, you Aquarians are primed
to cultivate a relationship with your work life that is more like
my latter choices than the former. The next eight months will
be a favorable time to ensure that you'll be doing your own personal
equivalent of rock singer or astrology columnist well into the
future. Halloween costume suggestion: your dream job.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Author Robert Louis Stevenson loved the work of poet Walt Whitman,
recommending it with the same enthusiasm as he did Shakespeare's.
Stevenson also regarded Whitman as an unruly force of nature,
and in one famous passage, called him "a large shaggy dog,
just unchained, scouring the beaches of the world and baying at
the moon." Your assignment is to do your best imitation of
a primal creature like Whitman. In fact, consider being him for
Halloween. Maybe you could memorize passages from Whitman's Leaves
of Grass and recite them at random moments. Here's one: "I
too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, / I sound my
barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Once when I was hiking through Maui's rain forest, I spied a
majestic purple honohono flower sprouting from a rotting log.
As I bent down close, I inhaled the merged aromas of moldering
wood and sweet floral fragrance. Let's make this scene your metaphor
of the week, Aries. Here's why: A part of your life that is in
the throes of decay can serve as host for a magnificent bloom.
What has been lost to you may become the source of fertility.
Halloween costume suggestion: a garbage man or cleaning maid wearing
a crown of roses.
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WHAT NEW INFLUENCES ARE HEADED YOUR WAY?
How do you want to create your life story in the coming weeks?
How can you exert your free will to seek out the adventures that'll
bring out the best in you, even as you find graceful ways to cooperate
with the tides of destiny?
If you'd like help in figuring it all out, 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.
Find out more at RealAstrology.com.
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888.
"I don't much believe in astrology. But that doesn't seem
to get in the way of me deriving a whole lot of benefits from
your expanded audio horoscopes."
- A. Arrosto, Indianapolis
"You have an amazing aptitude for cutting through the lies
I tell myself. Thanks for the gentle shocks."
- T. Preneris, Toronto
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TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
What don't you like? Get clear about that. What don't you want
to do? Make definitive decisions. What kind of person do you not
want to become and what life do you never want to live? Resolve
those questions with as much certainty as possible. Write it all
down, preferably in the form of a contract with yourself. Sign
the contract. This document will be your sacred promise, a declaration
of the boundaries you won't cross and the activities you won't
waste your time on and the desires that aren't worthy of you.
It will feed your freedom to know exactly what you like and what
you want to accomplish and who you want to become. Halloween costume
suggestion: the opposite of who you really are.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Are you up for an experiment? Not just on Halloween, but for
a week afterwards, be scarier than your fears. If an anxious thought
pops into your mind, bare your teeth and growl, "Get out
of here or I will rip you to shreds!" If a demon visits you
in a nightly dream, chase after it with a torch and sword, screaming
"Begone, foul spirit, or I will burn your mangy ass!"
Don't tolerate bullying in any form, whether it comes from a critical
little voice in your head or from supposedly nice people who are
trying to guilt-trip you. "I am a brave conqueror who cannot
be intimidated!" is what you could say, or "I am a monster
of love and goodness who will defeat all threats to my integrity!"
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Are you ready to be amazed? Now would be an excellent time to
shed your soul's infantile illusions . . . to play wildly with
the greatest mystery you know . . . to accept gifts that enhance
your freedom and refuse gifts that don't . . . to seek out a supernatural
encounter that heals your chronic sadness . . . to consort and
converse with sexy magical spirits from the future . . . to make
love with the lights on and cry when you come. Halloween costume
suggestion: the archetypal LOVER.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Some people in your vicinity are smoldering and fuming. The
air is heavy with emotional ferment. Conspiracy theories are ripening
and rotting at the same time. Hidden agendas are seeping into
conversations, and gossip is swirling like ghostly dust devils.
Yet in the midst of this mayhem, an eerie calm possesses you.
As everyone else struggles, you're poised and full of grace. To
what do we owe this stability? I suspect it has to do with the
fact that life is showing you how to feel at home in the world
no matter what's happening around you. Keep making yourself receptive
to these teachings. Halloween costume suggestion: King or Queen
of Relaxation.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Unification should be a key theme for you in the coming weeks.
Anything you do that promotes splicing and blending and harmonizing
will get extra help, sometimes from mysterious forces working
behind the scenes. The more you work to find common ground between
opposing sides, the stronger you'll feel and the better you'll
look. If you can manage to mend schisms and heal wounds, unexpected
luck will flow into your life. To encourage these developments,
consider these Halloween disguises: a roll of tape, a stick of
Krazy Glue, a wound that's healing, a bridge.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
What do you think you'd be like if you were among the one-percent-wealthiest
people on Earth? Would you demand that your government raise your
taxes so you could contribute more to our collective well-being?
Would you live simply and cheaply so you'd have more money to
donate to charities and other worthy causes? This Halloween season,
I suggest you play around with fantasies like that -- maybe even
masquerade as an incredibly rich philanthropist who doles out
cash and gifts everywhere you go. At the very least, imagine what
it would be like if you had everything you needed and felt so
grateful you shared your abundance freely.
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HOMEWORK:
Meditate on death not as the end of physical life, but as a metaphor
for shedding what's outworn. In that light, what's the best death
you've experienced? Freewillastrology.com
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2013 Rob Brezsny
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