Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
November 23, 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.
Let me tell you a bit about myself. I am the most total nobody in a world full of nobodies. I am a sex-laugher and a friendly shocker and a fantasy doctor . . . a time traveler and a jinx unraveler and a curiosity savior. I champion the art of adoration and I fight the genocide of the imagination.
The people I trust the most are those who are always wrestling and negotiating with their own shadows, making preemptive strikes on their personal share of the world's evil, fighting the good fight to keep from spewing their darkness on those around them. I aspire to be like that, which is why I regularly kick my own ass.
Self-ass-kicking lessons are available here:
tinyurl.com/gw3xmyh
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"Remember that at any given moment there are a thousand things you can love."
- David Levithan
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NEW CURSE WORDS
The English language is in a state of rapid ferment. New words are barging into the dictionary at an unprecedented rate, even as old familiars fall into disuse. There's one exception to this trend: profanity. Boring favorites like "fuck," "shit," and "asshole" have gained an acceptance unthinkable 30 years ago, but fresh curse words are rarely coined.
At the Beauty and Truth Lab, we find the overused classics inadequate for expressing our evolving rage at injustice, bigotry, mass delusion, ignorance, and ugliness. Furthermore, as deadening clichés, they don't satisfy the pronoiac mandate to use language with sonorous precision.
How can you purge the clichéd ire that dilutes the useful, inspired stuff? One good method is to make fun of it by expressing it bigger than life. Try this. Go alone to a place where it's safe to feel blind rage. Envision a person or thing you love to hate, then unleash the following mantra 15 times in the most vulgar tones possible:
"You miasmic heap of shaved-off cemetery warts. You mangled preen of politicians' tongue scabs. You brackish tripe of experts' ego tinkles. You fragile crap of orphaned tyrants. You demented cluster of fickle weasel vows. You curdled slosh of rotting fracas-spawned opinions."
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PILLAR OF SEVERITY
Working with the Hermetic Qabalah has been the core of my spiritual transformations for decades. It's also the foundation of my creative life as a musician, performer, writer, and astrologer.
So I have long been in love with the Qabalistic Tree of Life, which is a symbol of reality. The Tree can be read as a map of how Divine Intelligence eternally creates the universe . . . and a map of the human soul . . . and a map of how the human soul may best align and resonate with Divine Intelligence.
I love the fact that the Tree is composed of three trunks, or "Pillars": the Pillar of MERCY, the Pillar of BALANCE, and the Pillar of SEVERITY. All are vital aspects of the Creation.
The three planets that reside within the Pillar of Severity are:
Saturn, the power of creative limitation
Mars, the power to dissolve harm and fight for what's right
Mercury, the power of intellectual discernment
At this particular moment in our cultural evolution, I am drawn to emphasizing work with the Pillar of Severity.
Of course I won't neglect my devotion to the concerns of the Pillar of Balance and the Pillar of Mercy -- ultimately, all need equal attention -- but I have done an abundance of work and play through those two Pillars for many years.
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ROMANCING THE PARADOX
How do we summon the right blend of practical love and constructive anger?
How do we refrain from hating other people even as we fight fiercely against the hatred and danger they have helped unleash?
How do we cultivate cheerful buoyancy even as we neutralize the bigoted, autocratic poisons that are on the loose?
How can we be both wrathful insurrectionaries and exuberant lovers of life?
How can we stay in a good yet unruly mood as we overthrow the mass hallucinations that are metastasizing?
In the face of the danger, how do we remain intensely dedicated to building beauty and truth and justice and love even as we keep our imaginations wild and hungry and free?
Can our struggle also be a form of play?
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
U.S. Organic Farmland Hits Record 4.1 Million Acres in 2016
tinyurl.com/zyk3kfe
New antibiotic mined from human gut reverses drug resistance in superbugs
tinyurl.com/jsw6bsv
When Google was losing a lot of female employees because they weren't coming back to work after giving birth, the company lengthened maternity leave to five months from three, and changed it from partial pay to full pay. The amount of women who didn't come back after maternity leave dropped by 50%.
tinyurl.com/b8r57qn
(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 November 24
Copyright 2016 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Despite your sign's reputation, you Sagittarians don't always require vast expanses to roam in. You aren't ceaselessly restless, on an inexhaustible quest for unexpected experiences and fresh teachings. And no, you are not forever consumed with the primal roar of raw life, obsessed with the naked truth, and fiercely devoted to exploration for its own sake. But having said that, I suspect that you may at least be flirting with these extreme states in the coming weeks. Your keynote, lifted from Virginia Woolf's diary: "I need space. I need air. I need the empty fields round me; and my legs pounding along roads; and sleep; and animal existence."
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
"If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet," said George Bernard Shaw, "you had best teach it to dance." This advice is worthy of your consideration, Capricorn. You may still be unable to expunge a certain karmic debt, and it may be harder than ever to hide, so I suggest you dream up a way to play with it -- maybe even have some dark fun with it. And who knows? Your willingness to loosen up might at least alleviate the angst your skeleton causes you -- and may ultimately transform it in some unpredictably helpful way.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
"No pain, no gain" is a modern expression of an old idea. In a second-century Jewish book of ethics, Rabbi Ben Hei Hei wrote, "According to the pain is the gain." Eighteenth-century English poet Robert Herrick said, "If little labor, little are our gains: Man's fate is according to his pains." But I'm here to tell you, Aquarius, that I don't think this prescription will apply to you in the coming weeks. From what I can surmise, your greatest gains will emerge from the absence of pain. You will learn and improve through release, relaxation, generosity, expansiveness, and pleasure.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The less egotistical you are, the more likely it is that you will attract what you really need. If you do nice things for people without expecting favors in return, your mental and physical health will improve. As you increase your mastery of the art of empathy, your creativity will also thrive. Everything I just said is always true, of course, but it will be intensely, emphatically true for you during the next four weeks. So I suggest you make it a top priority to explore the following cosmic riddle: Practicing unselfishness will serve your selfish goals.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
"Creative people are at greater risk," said psychiatrist R. D. Laing, "just as one who climbs a mountain is more at risk than one who walks along a village lane." I bring this to your attention, Aries, because in the coming weeks you will have the potential to be abundantly creative, as well as extra imaginative, ingenious, and innovative. But I should also let you know that if you want to fulfill this potential, you must be willing to work with the extra tests and challenges that life throws your way. For example, you could be asked to drop a pose, renounce lame excuses, or reclaim powers that you gave away once upon a time.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Taurus musician Brian Eno has been successful as a composer, producer, singer, and visual artist. Among his many collaborators have been David Byrne, David Bowie, U2, Coldplay, Laurie Anderson, Grace Jones, and James Blake. Eno's biographer David Sheppard testified that capturing his essence in a book was "like packing a skyscraper into a suitcase." I suspect that description may fit you during the next four weeks, Taurus. You're gearing up for some high-intensity living. But please don't be nervous about it. Although you may be led into intimate contact with unfamiliar themes and mysterious passions, the story you actualize should feel quite natural.
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MY OTHER HOROSCOPES
Factual information and reasonable thinking alone are not sufficient to guide you through life’s labyrinthine tests. You need and deserve regular deliveries of uncanny revelation.
One of your inalienable rights as a human being should therefore be to receive mysteriously useful omens on a regular basis. In this spirit, I offer you the free weekly horoscopes you read here.
If you ever want more, and think it's worth paying for, try my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny and where you're headed.
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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"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
"When I listen to your audio 'scopes, my free will lights up." - Alex D., Los Angeles
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GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
You are free! Or almost free! Or let me put it this way: You could become significantly freer if you choose to be -- if you exert your willpower to snatch the liberating experiences that are available. For example, you could be free from a slippery obligation that has driven you to say things you don't mean. You could be free from the temptation to distort your soul in service to your ego. You might even be free to go after what you really want rather than indulging in lazy lust for a gaggle of mediocre thrills. Be brave, Gemini. Define your top three emancipating possibilities, and pursue them with vigor and rigor.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Have you been feeling twinges of perplexity? Do you find yourself immersed in meandering meditations that make you doubt your commitments? Are you entertaining weird fantasies that give you odd little shivers and quivers? I hope so! As an analyzer of cycles, I suspect that now is an excellent time to question everything. You could have a lot of fun playing with riddles and wrestling with enigmas. Please note, however, that I'm not advising you to abandon what you've been working on and run away. Now is a time for fertile inquiry, not for rash actions. It's healthy to contemplate adjustments, but not to initiate massive overhauls.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
"Everybody is dealing with how much of their own aliveness they can bear and how much they need to anesthetize themselves," writes psychoanalytic writer Adam Phillips. Where do you fit on this scale, Leo? Whatever your usual place might be, I'm guessing that in the coming weeks you will approach record-breaking levels in your ability to handle your own aliveness. You may even summon and celebrate massive amounts of aliveness that you had previously suppressed. In fact, I'll recklessly speculate that your need to numb yourself will be closer to zero than it has been since you were five years old. (I could be exaggerating a bit; but maybe not!)
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Do you periodically turn the volume down on your mind's endless chatter and tune into the still, small voice within you? Have you developed reliable techniques for escaping the daily frenzy so as to make yourself available for the Wild Silence that restores and revitalizes? If so, now would be a good time to make aggressive use of those capacities. And if you haven't attended well to these rituals of self-care, please remedy the situation. Claim more power to commune with your depths. In the coming weeks, most of your best information will flow from the sweet darkness.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
One of your vices could at least temporarily act as a virtue. In an odd twist, one of your virtues may also briefly function like a vice. And there's more to this mysterious turn of events. A so-called liability could be useful in your efforts to solve a dilemma, while a reliable asset might cloud your discernment or cause a miscalculation. I'm riffing here, Libra, in the hopes of stimulating your imagination as you work your way through the paradoxical days ahead. Consider this intriguing possibility: An influence that you like and value may hold you back, even as something or someone you've previously been almost allergic to could be quite helpful.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Between now and the solstice on December 21, you will have extraordinary power to transform into a more practical, well-grounded version of yourself. You may surprise yourself with how naturally you can shed beliefs and habits that no longer serve you. Now try saying the following affirmations and see how they feel coming out of your mouth: "I am an earthy realist. I am a fact-lover and an illusion-buster. I love actions that actually work more than I like theories that I wish would work. I'd rather create constructive change than be renowned for my clever dreams."
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HOMEWORK:
What famous historical personage were you in your past life? If you don't know or weren't really, make something up. Testify at Freewillastrology.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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