Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
February 15, 2017
FreeWillAstrology.com
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If you would like to support my work, please visit my Virtual Tip Jar at Paypal. It's here: paypal.me/FreeWillAstrology
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What's the difference between the old edition and the Revised and Expanded version of my book PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA?
The revised and expanded version has over 63,500 new words and 73 new illustrations -- 55% additional material beyond what the first edition had. Basically, there's a whole extra new book crammed into it.
There are 2 extra chapters, 18 completely new pieces, plus 14 new
Sacred Advertisements. Many of the original pieces of the book were revised and expanded, as well. There are 73 new illustrations.
A central piece in the book, "Glory in the Highest," is nine times longer than it was in the original.
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The newer edition of PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA is available here:
Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
Powells: bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
Barnes & Noble: bit.ly/PronoiaBN
Below is an excerpt. It's from the piece called "Subterranean Pronoia Therapy."
1. The greatest gift you can give might be the gift that you yourself were never given. Give that gift.
The most valuable service you have to offer your fellow humans may be the service you have always wished were performed for you. Offer that service.
An experience that wounded you could move you to help people who've been similarly wounded. Heal yourself by healing others.
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2. Declare amnesty for the part of you that you don't love very well. Forgive that poor sucker. Hold its hand and take it out to dinner and a movie. Tactfully offer it a chance to make amends for the dumb things it has done.
And then do a dramatic reading of this proclamation by the playwright Theodore Rubin: "I must learn to love the fool in me -- the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my fool."
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3. No matter how holy and good, everyone in the world has a portion of the world's sickness inside them. It's known by many names: neurosis, shadow, demon, devil. Many people try to deny that it inhabits them. Others acknowledge its power so readily that they allow themselves to be overwhelmed and distorted by it.
At the Beauty and Truth Lab, we take a position between those two positions. We accept the fact that the evil is part of us, but treat it with compassionate amusement and flexible vigilance. Our stance is partly that of loving parents and partly that of warriors.
Once you make a commitment to explore the mysteries of pronoia, your shadow will try to play tricks on you that it has never tried before. How will you respond? We recommend an aggressive, tender, improvisational approach. Be ready for anything. Avoid both blithe excesses of tolerance and grave fundamentalism.
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4. Philosopher William James proposed that if our culture ever hoped to shed the deeply ingrained habit of going to war, we'd have to create a moral equivalent. It's not enough to preach the value of peace, he said. We have to find other ways to channel our aggressive instincts in order to accomplish what war does, like stimulate political unity and build civic virtue.
Astrology provides a complementary perspective. Each of us has the warrior energy of the planet Mars in our psychological makeup. We can't simply repress it, but must find a positive way to express it. How might you go about this project?
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5. In his book The Thought of the Heart and the Soul of the World, psychologist James Hillman writes: "The question of evil refers primarily to the anaesthetized heart, the heart that has no reaction to what it faces, thereby turning the variegated sensuous face of the world into monotony, sameness, oneness."
What would you have to do in order to triumph over this kind of evil in yourself?
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6. "The problem, if you love it, is as beautiful as the sunset," wrote J. Krishnamurti. "The obstacle is the path," says the Zen proverb. What frustrating puzzle do you love the best?
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
The number of jobs supported by the wind industry has cracked the 100,000 mark. The milestone means wind power now employs more workers than nuclear, natural gas, coal, or hydroelectric power plants. And one out of every four of those wind workers are employed in the state of Texas.
tinyurl.com/zlyq3f3
The Evolution of Gratitude
tinyurl.com/jgfwyu6
How to Combat America’s Creativity Crisis
tinyurl.com/zrppobl
(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 February 16
Copyright 2017 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Here's your mantra for the next three weeks: "I know what I want, and I know how to glide it into my life." Say this out loud 11 times right after you wake up each morning, and 11 more times before lunch, and 11 more times at bedtime. "I know what I want, and I know how to glide it into my life." Whenever you do this little chant, summon an upflow of smiling confidence -- a serene certainty that no matter how long the magic might take, it will ultimately work. "I know what I want, and I know how to glide it into my life." Don't let any little voice in your head undermine your link to this simple truth. Lift your heart to the highest source of vitality you can imagine.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
"We cannot simply sit and stare at our wounds forever," writes Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. "We must stand up and move on to the next action." That's your slightly scolding but ultimately inspirational advice, Pisces. According to my astrological analysis, you have done heroic work to identify and investigate your suffering. You have summoned a tremendous amount of intelligence in order to understand it and further the healing. But right now it's time to turn your focus to other matters. Like what? How about rebirth?
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
By my estimates, 72 percent of you Aries are in unusually good moods. The world seems friendlier, more cooperative. Fifty-six percent of you feel more in love with life than you have in a long time. You may even imagine that the birds and trees and stars are flirting with you. I'm also guessing that 14 percent of you are weaving in and out of being absurdly, deliriously happy, sometimes without any apparent explanation. As a result of your generosity of spirit, you may be the recipient of seemingly impossible rewards like free money or toasted ice cream or unconditional tenderness. And I bet that at least ten percent of you are experiencing all of the above.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
I am launching a campaign to undo obsolete stereotypes about you Bulls. There are still backwards astrologers out there who perpetrate the lie that many of you are stingy, stolid, stubborn slowpokes. As an antidote, I plan to heighten everyone's awareness of your sensual, soulful sweetness, and your tastefully pragmatic sensitivity, and your diligent, dynamic productivity. That should be easy in the coming weeks, since you'll be at the height of your ability to express those superpowers. Luckily, people will also have an enhanced capacity to appreciate you for who you really are. It will be a favorable time to clarify and strengthen your reputation.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Will Giovanni surreptitiously replace Allesandra's birth control pills with placebos? Will Camille take a hidden crowbar to her rendezvous with the blackmailer? Will Josie steal Jose's diary and sell it on eBay? Given the current astrological omens, you may have an unconscious attraction to soap opera-type events like those. The glamour of melodrama is tempting you. But I'm hoping and predicting that you will express the cosmic currents in less toxic ways. Maybe you'll hear a searing but healing confession after midnight in the pouring rain, for instance. Perhaps you'll break an outworn taboo with ingenious grace, or forge a fertile link with a reformed rascal, or recover a lost memory in a dusty basement.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
All naturally-occurring matter on earth is composed of 92 basic elements arranged in various combinations. Since some of these appear in trace amounts, they took a long time for humans to discover. In the 18th and 19th centuries, chemists were exuberant when they tracked down seven of the 92 in a single location: an underground mine on the Swedish island of Ytterby. That small place was a mother lode. I'm predicting a metaphorically similar experience for you, Cancerian: new access to a concentrated source that will yield much illumination.
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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 Audio Horoscopes provide me with the Rest of the Story. I'm not necessarily a believer in the scientific accuracy of astrology, but I do think you've got a lot of practical wisdom to impart."
- M. Tennenbaum, New York
"No one knows more about me than me. But you're right up there near the top of the list of people who do understand something about how I tick. How is that possible?"
- R. Goren, Albuquerque
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P.S. My long-range, big-picture audio horoscopes for the coming months are still available. Register and/or log in through the main page, and then access the horoscopes by clicking on "Long Range Prediction." Choose from Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Each part is a standalone report, not dependent on the other two.
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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
The next four weeks will be an excellent time to upgrade your understanding of the important characters in your life. In fact, I suspect you will generate good fortune and meaningful synchronicities whenever you seek greater insight into anyone who affects you. Get to know people better, Leo! If there are intriguing acquaintances who pique your curiosity, find out more about them. Study the oddballs you're allergic to with the intention to discern their hidden workings. In general, practice being objective as you improve your skill at reading human nature.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
In 1787, English captain Arthur Phillip led an eight-month naval expedition to the southeastern part of the continent now known as Australia. Upon arrival, he claimed the land for England, despite the fact that 250,000 Aboriginal people were living there, just as their ancestors had for 2,000 generations. Two hundred years later, an Aboriginal activist named Burnum Burnum planted the Aboriginal flag on the White Cliffs of Dover, claiming England for his people. I encourage you to make a comparably artful or symbolic act like Burnum's sometime soon, Virgo -- a ritual or gesture to assert your sovereignty or evoke a well-deserved reversal or express your unconquerable spirit.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
The ancient Roman rhetorician Quintilian authored a twelve-volume textbook on the art of oratory. As ample as it was, it could have been longer. "Erasure is as important as writing," he said. According to my reading of the astrological omens, that counsel should be a rewarding and even exciting theme for you in the coming weeks. For the long-term health of your labor of love or your masterpiece, you should focus for a while on what to edit out of it. How could you improve it by making it shorter and more concise?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Do you know about the long-running kids' show Sesame Street? Are you familiar with Big Bird, the talking eight-feet-tall yellow canary who's one of the main characters? I hope so, because your horoscope is built around them. In the Sesame Street episode called Don't Eat the Pictures, Big Bird solves a riddle that frees a 4,000-year-old Egyptian prince from an ancient curse. I think this vignette can serve as a model for your own liberation. How? You can finally outwit and outmaneuver a very old problem with the help of some playful, even child-like energy. Don't assume that you've got to be relentlessly serious and dour in order to shed the ancient burden. In fact, just the opposite is true. Trust blithe and rowdy spirits.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Your lessons in communication are reaching a climax. Here are five tips to help you do well on your "final exam." 1. Focus more on listening for what you need to know rather than on expressing what you already know. 2. Keep white lies and convenient deceptions to a bare minimum. 3. Tell the truth as strong and free as you dare, but always -- if possible -- with shrewd kindness. 4. You are more likely to help your cause if you spread bright, shiny gossip instead of the grubby kind. 5. Experiment with being unpredictable; try to infuse your transmissions with unexpected information and turns of phrase.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The meaning of the Latin phrase crambe repetita is "cabbage reheated, twice-cooked." I urge you to avoid partaking of such a dish in the coming weeks, both literally and figuratively. If you're truly hungry for cooked cabbage, eat it fresh. Likewise, if you have a ravenous appetite for stories, revelations, entertainment, and information -- which I suspect you will -- don't accept the warmed-over, recycled variety. Insist on the brisk, crisp stuff that excites your curiosity and appeals to your sense of wonder.
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HOMEWORK:
Imagine you have time-traveled to one of your favorite places in the year 2020. What do you see? I'm 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 2017 Rob Brezsny
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