Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter August 3, 2016

 Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
 August 3, 2016
 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 are excerpts.

We are dissident bodhisattvas rebelling against all those forces that feed fear and ignore love.

We are spiritual freedom fighters rising up to protect nature and foment peace and demand justice.

We are subversive mystics stoking the cool blue fires of poetry and lobbying for the liberated imagination.

We are militant ecstatics invoking the transformative powers of pleasure to sanctify and beautify our one and only Earth.

We are mutinous purveyors of grace who redistribute the wealth so that all creatures may have the means to thrive.
 

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The world is young, your soul is free, and you're smart enough to fall in love with every experience you have.
 

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"Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love."

- Reinhold Niebuhr, "The Irony of American History"
 

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I'm not doing personal horoscope readings, and haven't done them for years. There's too much other fun work to do! Writing my column! Creating audio horoscopes! Authoring books! Recording music! But during the time I did do personal readings, I gave a set of guidelines to those who enlisted my services. I'll provide them below. Maybe they will be of use to you if you're ever shopping for an astrologer to do your chart.

When I do a personal chart-reading, it's crucial that I talk WITH you, not AT you. I perform my best service when I'm in dialog with you. It's also important that I not set myself up as a fount of divine wisdom. For me to act like an all-knowing expert tends to shut down your access to your own hidden sources of knowing.

I've been wary of certain styles of fortune-telling ever since a fortune-telling astrologer told me when I was 19 years old that I was going to die at age 23. I spent that whole year of my life looking for omens of death in my dreams. During the last week before my 24th birthday, I cowered in fear and barely went out of the house.

I survived, of course, and vowed that in my own role as "fortune-telling astrologer," I'd never plant seeds in people's psyches that made them feel they had no control over their destiny. Good astrology doesn't cripple your willpower, but rather pumps it up.

One of my favorite ways to describe the kind of work I do is to say that I predict the present, not the future. In other words, I try to home in on the unconscious patterns and invisible forces that are coming to bear on you now. My job is not to show off my psychic powers by, say, giving you the numbers you should play to win the lottery or revealing when your future soul mate is going to discover you in the checkout line.

I want to help you read your own mind by uncovering secrets buried in your subconscious. I want to inspire you to figure out what part of your own long-term cycles you're in. I want to conspire with you to get to the heart of your highest potentials. Our main goal is not to find all the answers. It's about framing better questions than the ones you've been stuck on.

Astrology isn't a fixed set of strict formulas. It's a gaggle of evocative symbols that should stimulate your imagination and challenge you to create your own true myths. I want us to seize the poetic license to imagine all sorts of wild ideas, some of which can be taken at face value as wise suggestions (but not final solutions), and some of which may be ways to jolt you out of your ruts.

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The reading I'll do with you consists of two sessions: the exploratory session, which is always by phone, and then the main reading. During the exploratory session, I get to know you a little better and find out what you want out of your reading. Because a chart can be read on so many different levels, this first step is crucial.

During the exploratory session, I'll ask you to give me four questions or issues you want to have addressed during your reading. Please think about these beforehand. This is an important part of the process that is emblematic of my approach to doing a reading. I don't want you to be a passive sponge, attributing to me a kind of divine expertise. I expect you to participate with a strong and passionate quest to uncover new ways to look at your life.

During this exploratory session, I'd also love it if you can tell me an important dream or series of dreams you've had. They'll help further focus our investigations into your mysteries. But if you don't have any dreams to bring, don't worry about it.

The main reading itself usually lasts one and a half hours. If we've had a good exploratory session, I'll probably come into the reading with some strong intuitions about where to go and how to proceed. But I encourage you to interrupt me, question me, or add your own input at any time during the process.
 

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In her book "Women Who Run with the Wolves," Clarissa Pinkola Estés suggests that we all need to periodically go cheerfully and enthusiastically out of our minds. Make sure, she says, that at least one part of you always remains untamed, uncategorizable, and unsubjugated by routine. Be adamant in your determination to stay intimately connected to all that's inexplicable and mysterious about your life.

At the same time, though, Estés believes you need to keep your unusual urges clear and ordered. Discipline your wildness, in other words, and don't let it degenerate into careless disorder.
 

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Can a stretch of land be a person in the eyes of the law? Can a body of water?

In New Zealand, they can. A former national park has been granted personhood, and a river system is expected to receive the same soon.

The unusual designations, something like the legal status that corporations possess, came out of agreements between New Zealand’s government and Maori groups. The two sides have argued for years over guardianship of the country’s natural features.

Chris Finlayson, New Zealand’s attorney general, said the issue was resolved by taking the Maori mind-set into account. “In their worldview, ‘I am the river and the river is me,’” he said. “Their geographic region is part and parcel of who they are.”

More: tinyurl.com/h6mr6zj

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Bolivia is set to pass the world's first laws granting all nature equal rights to humans. The Law of Mother Earth, now agreed by politicians and grassroots social groups, redefines the country's rich mineral deposits as "blessings" and is expected to lead to radical new conservation and social measures to reduce pollution and control industry.

The country, which has been pilloried by the US and Britain in the UN climate talks for demanding steep carbon emission cuts, will establish 11 new rights for nature. They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered.

Controversially, it will also enshrine the right of nature "to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities."

tinyurl.com/jbyd25x
 

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"How does my spiritual practice and daily life serve the earth? How does my spiritual practice and daily life affect the poorest third of humanity? How will my spiritual practice and daily life affect the generations to come in the future?”
~ Starhawk
 

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

Black female physicist Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green recently won a $1.1 million grant to further develop her patent-pending technology for using laser-activated nanoparticles to treat cancer.
tinyurl.com/z6r3lnh

Dr. Bill Thomas broke the law to build a better nursing home. One doctor's radical crusade to change how we think about aging.
tinyurl.com/zbxecak

The number of wild tigers has gone up globally by 22 per cent since 2010, according to the World Wildlife Fund and the Global Tiger Forum.
tinyurl.com/hbe8pjl
 

(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They aren’t advertisements, and I get no kickbacks.)

Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES: Truthrooster@gmail.com.
 

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
 Week beginning August 4

Copyright 2016 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
 

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

You're not doing a baby chick a favor by helping it hatch. For the sake of its well-being, the bird needs to peck its way out of the egg. It's got to exert all of its vigor and willpower in starting its new life. That's a good metaphor for you to meditate on. As you escape from your comfortable womb-jail and launch yourself toward inspiration, it's best to rely as much as possible on your own instincts. Friendly people who would like to provide assistance may inadvertently cloud your access to your primal wisdom. Trust yourself deeply and wildly.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

I hear you're growing weary of wrestling with ghosts. Is that true? I hope so. The moment you give up the fruitless struggle, you'll become eligible for a unique kind of freedom that you have not previously imagined. Here's another rumor I've caught wind of: You're getting bored with an old source of sadness that you've used to motivate yourself for a long time. I hope that's true, too. As soon as you shed your allegiance to the sadness, you will awaken to a sparkling font of comfort you've been blind to. Here's one more story I've picked up through the grapevine: You're close to realizing that your attention to a mediocre treasure has diverted you from a more pleasurable treasure. Hallelujah!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

ould it be true that the way out is the same as the way in? And that the so-called "wrong" answer is almost indistinguishable from the right answer? And that success, at least the kind of success that really matters, can only happen if you adopt an upside-down, inside-out perspective? In my opinion, the righteous answer to all these questions is "YESSS???!!!" -- at least for now. I suspect that the most helpful approach will never be as simple or as hard as you might be inclined to believe.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

Your strength seems to make some people uncomfortable. I don't want that to become a problem for you. Maybe you could get away with toning down your potency at other times, but not now. It would be sinful to act as if you're not as competent and committed to excellence as you are. But having said that, I also urge you to monitor your behavior for excess pride. Some of the resistance you face when you express your true glory may be due to the shadows cast by your true glory. You could be tempted to believe that your honorable intentions excuse secretive manipulations. So please work on wielding your clout with maximum compassion and responsibility.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Did you honestly imagine that there would eventually come a future when you'd have your loved ones fully "trained"? Did you fantasize that sooner or later you could get them under control, purged of their imperfections and telepathically responsive to your every mood? If so, now is a good time to face the fact that those longings will never be fulfilled. You finally have the equanimity to accept your loved ones exactly as they are. Uncoincidentally, this adjustment will make you smarter about how to stir up soulful joy in your intimate relationships.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

You may experience a divine visitation as you clean a toilet in the coming weeks. You might get a glimpse of a solution to a nagging problem while you're petting a donkey or paying your bills or waiting in a long line at the bank. Catch my drift, Capricorn? I may or may not be speaking metaphorically here. You could meditate up a perfect storm as you devour a doughnut. While flying high over the earth in a dream, you might spy a treasure hidden in a pile of trash down below. If I were going to give your immediate future a mythic title, it might be "Finding the Sacred in the Midst of the Profane."
 

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WHY IS IT CALLED "FREE WILL" ASTROLOGY?

It's called Free Will Astrology because my goal is to create horoscopes that nurture your free will!

And if you ever want more than the 'scopes you're reading here, keep in mind that I also create EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

Need more help in figuring out the questions life is asking you? Crave more support in your efforts to build your courage? Check out the EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES.

To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to RealAstrology.com.

Register and/or log in through the main page.

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

The cost is $6 per sign on the Web (discounts available for bulk purchases), or $1.99 per minute by phone.

The Expanded Audio Horoscopes work on most smart phones and tablets.

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"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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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

I've worked hard for many years to dismantle my prejudices. To my credit, I have even managed to cultivate compassion for people I previously demonized, like evangelical Christians, drunken jocks, arrogant gurus, and career politicians. But I must confess that there's still one group toward which I'm bigoted: super-rich bankers. I wish I could extend to them at least a modicum of amiable impartiality. How about you, Aquarius? Do you harbor any hidebound biases that shrink your ability to see life as it truly is? Have you so thoroughly rationalized certain narrow-minded perspectives and judgmental preconceptions that your mind is permanently closed? If so, now is a favorable time to dissolve the barriers and stretch your imagination way beyond its previous limits.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

Are you lingering at the crux of the crossroads, restless to move on but unsure of which direction will lead you to your sweet destiny? Are there too many theories swimming around in your brain, clogging up your intuition? Have you absorbed the opinions of so many "experts" that you've lost contact with your own core values? It's time to change all that. You're ready to quietly explode in a calm burst of practical lucidity. First steps: Tune out all the noise. Shed all the rationalizations. Purge all the worries. Ask yourself, "What is the path with heart?"

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

I apologize in advance for the seemingly excessive abundance of good news I'm about to report. If you find it hard to believe, I won't hold your skepticism against you. But I do want you to know that every prediction is warranted by the astrological omens. Ready for the onslaught? 1. In the coming weeks, you could fall forever out of love with a wasteful obsession. 2. You might also start falling in love with a healthy obsession. 3. You can half-accidentally snag a blessing you have been half-afraid to want. 4. You could recall a catalytic truth whose absence has been causing you a problem ever since you forgot it. 5. You could reclaim the mojo that you squandered when you pushed yourself too hard a few months ago.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

August is Adopt-a-Taurus month. It's for all of your tribe, not just the orphans and exiles and disowned rebels. Even if you have exemplary parents, the current astrological omens suggest that you require additional support and guidance from wise elders. So I urge you to be audacious in rounding up trustworthy guardians and benefactors. Go in search of mentors and fairy godmothers. Ask for advice from heroes who are further along the path that you'd like to follow. You are ready to receive teachings and direction you weren't receptive to before.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

When a parasite or other irritant slips inside an oyster's shell, the mollusk's immune system besieges the intruder with successive layers of calcium carbonate. Eventually, a pearl may form. I suspect that this is a useful metaphor for you to contemplate in the coming days as you deal with the salt in your wound or the splinter in your skin. Before you jump to any conclusions, though, let me clarify. This is not a case of the platitude, "Whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger." Keep in mind that the pearl is a symbol of beauty and value, not strength.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

It's your lucky day! Spiritual counsel comparable to what you're reading here usually sells for $99.95. But because you're showing signs that you're primed to outwit bad habits, I'm offering it at no cost. I want to encourage you! Below are my ideas for what you should focus on. (But keep in mind that I don't expect you to achieve absolute perfection.) 1. Wean yourself from indulging in self-pity and romanticized pessimism. 2. Withdraw from connections with people who harbor negative images of you. 3. Transcend low expectations wherever you see them in play. 4. Don't give your precious life energy to demoralizing ideas and sour opinions.
 

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HOMEWORK:

What if you didn't feel compelled to have an opinion about every hot-button issue? Try living opinion-free for a week. Testify at Truthrooster@gmail.com.

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Submissions sent to Rob Brezsny's Astrology 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 submissions for length, style, and content. Requests for anonymity will be honored. We are not responsible for unsolicited submission of any creative material.

Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright 2016 Rob Brezsny

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