Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
October 25, 2017
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.
Readers of my horoscope column "Free Will Astrology" are sometimes surprised when I say I only believe in astrology about 80 percent. "You're a quack?!" they cry.
Not at all, I explain. I've been a passionate student of the ancient art for decades. About the time my over-educated young brain was on the verge of desertification, crazy wisdom showed up in the guise of astrology, moistening my soul just in time to save it.
"But what about the other 20 percent?" they press on. "Are you saying your horoscopes are only partially true?"
I assure them that my doubt proves my love. By cultivating a tender, cheerful skepticism, I inoculate myself against the virus of fanaticism. This ensures that astrology will be a supple tool in my hands, an adaptable art form, and not a rigid, explain-it-all dogma that over-literalizes and distorts the mysteries it seeks to illuminate.
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P.S.: I use the same 80-20 approach with every belief system I love and benefit from: science, psychology, feminism, and various spiritual traditions like Qabalah, Buddhism, paganism, and magick.
I take what's useful from each, but am not so deluded as to think that any single system is the holy grail that the physicists call the "Theory of Everything."
Unconditional, unskeptical faith is the path of the fanatic and fundamentalist, and I aspire to be a rowdy philosophical anarchist, aflame with objectivity and committed to the truth that the truth is always evolving.
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NO SUCH THING
There's no such thing as an inherently bad astrological configuration or an aspect in your chart that justifies fear. Avoid doomsayers.
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CHANGING YOUR MIND
"Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."
- George Bernard Shaw
"The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind." - William Blake
"Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind." - W. Somerset Maugham
"The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself; I am large –- I contain multitudes." - Walt Whitman
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ARE YOU BEAUTIFUL?
"The sign of a beautiful person is that they see beauty in others."
-Omar Suleiman
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KARMA
While driving a car, you swerve to avoid hitting a squirrel.
Unknown to you, the squirrel pledges a life debt to you.
In your darkest hour, the squirrel arrives.
More: bit.ly/SquirrelSavior
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
All the good news below comes from the "Small Victories" newsletter: www.celebratesmallvictories.com/archives
1. TransCanada (which owns the proposed Keystone XL pipeline) canceled plans for a pipeline that would have crossed 50 First Nations territories.
2. A white supremacist’s event at the University of Florida attracted only a handful of supporters and more than 2,500 protesters.
3. California legally recognized a non-binary gender option on state documents like driver’s licenses and made it easier for people to update documents with their accurate gender identity.
4. The St. Petersburg, FL city council voted to outlaw super PACs, setting the stage for a potential ripple effect across the country.
5. The “Philando Feeds the Children” fund, honoring Philando Castile’s work as a cafeteria supervisor, raised more than $85,000—enough money to erase every St. Paul student’s school lunch debt for at least a year.
6. Our Revolution candidate Paul Feeney won a Massachusetts state Senate race, after campaigning for Medicare for All, equal pay for women, and debt-free education.
7. California banned the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits from puppy mills.
8. With input from Black Lives Matter and Racial Justice Coalition organizers, the Vera Institute helped the Asheville, NC police department develop a new use-of-force policy promoting de-escalation and accountability.
9. University of Chicago graduate students overwhelmingly voted to unionize.
10. The Kingston, NY Republican Committee cut ties with a local candidate who made racist comments, thanks to public outcry condemning her remarks. (Thanks, Jess!)
11. The newest version of Trump’s Muslim ban was blocked by two judges.
(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 October 26
Copyright 2017 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
"You never sing the same song twice," said chanteuse Billie Holiday. "If you sing it with all the same phrasing and melody, you're failing your art." That's an extreme statement, but I understand what she was driving at. Repeating yourself too much can be debilitating. That includes trying to draw inspiration from the same old sources that have worked in the past. I suggest you avoid this behavior in the coming days. Raise Holiday's approach to a universal principle. Fresh sources of inspiration are available! Halloween costume suggestion: a persona or character unlike any you've ever imagined yourself to be.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
How can you enjoy the lavish thrills of rebirth later unless you die a little inside now? It's the trickiest phase of your cycle, when your energies are best used to resolve and graduate from the unfinished business of the last ten months. I suggest that you put the past to rest as best as you can. Don your funniest sad face and pay your last respects to the old ways and old days you'll soon be leaving behind. Keep in mind that beauty will ultimately emerge from decay. Halloween costume suggestion: the mythical phoenix, which burns itself down, then resurrects itself from its own ashes.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
There are no such things as magic healings and miraculous redemptions and impossible breakthroughs. Right? Hard evidence provided by science precludes the existence of exotic help coming from spiritual realms. Right? Well, no. Not right. There is in fact another real world that overlaps the material world, and it operates according to different laws that are mostly imperceptible to our senses. But events in the other real world can have tangible effects in the material world. This is especially true for you right now. Take advantage! Seek practical answers and solutions in your dreams, meditations, visions, and numinous encounters. Halloween costume suggestion: white-magic sorcerer or good witch.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Many years from now, in your last hours on earth, you will have visions that show you how all the events in your life were crucial to your life story. You will understand the lesson that was provided by each twist and turn of your destiny. Every piece of the gigantic puzzle will slip into place, revealing the truth of what your mission has been. And during that future climax, you may remember right now as a time when you got a long glimpse of the totality. Halloween costume suggestion: the happiest person on Earth; the sovereign of all you survey; the wise fool who understands yourself completely.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
You might be able to pass for normal, but it will be better for your relationship with yourself if you don't. You could try to tamp down your unusual urges and smooth your rough edges, but it will be smarter to regard those urges and edges as fertile raw material for your future happiness. Catch my drift? In the coming weeks, your main loyalty should be to your idiosyncratic intelligence. Halloween costume suggestion: the beautiful, interesting monster who lives in you.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
I share Vincent Van Gogh's belief that "the best way to know life is to love many things." But I also think that the next twelve months will be an inspiring time for you to be focused and single-minded in your involvement with love. That's why I encourage you to take an approach articulated by the Russian mystic Anne Sophie Swetchine: "To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others." Halloween costume suggestion: a lover celebrating a sacred union to the love of your life, to God or Goddess, or to a symbol of your most sublime ideal.
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MAYBE JOY AND PLEASURE ARE ESSENTIAL SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
Assume that your drive to experience pleasure and happiness isn't a barrier to your spiritual growth, but is in fact essential to it. Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating joy can make you a more ethical and compassionate person. Imagine that feeling good has something important to teach you every day.
For inspiration in practicing this approach, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.
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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TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
"Yes, We Have No Bananas" is a silly novelty song that became a big hit in 1923. Its absurdity led to its wide use for humorous effect. For example, on the kids' TV series The Muppet Show, puppets made out of fruits and vegetables sang parodies of the tune. That's why I find it droll that the "No Bananas" songwriters stole part of the melody from the "Hallelujah Chorus," the climax of classical composer George Handel's religious oratorio Messiah. I'd love to see you engage in comparable transmutations, Taurus: making serious things amusing and vice versa. It's a time when you can generate meaningful fun and playful progress through the art of reversal. Halloween costume suggestion: a tourist from Opposite Land or Bizarro World.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
In the next two weeks, you may have to navigate your way through careless gossip, distorted "facts," superficial theories, hidden agendas, fake news, and official disinformation. To prevent problems in communication with people who matter, take advantage of the Halloween spirit in this way: Obtain a bicycle helmet and cover it with aluminum foil. Decorate it with an Ace of Clubs, a red rose, images of wrathful but benevolent superheroes, and a sign that says "No Bullshit Allowed." By wearing this crown, you should remain protected. If that's too weird for you, do the next best thing: Vow to speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and ask to receive the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Watch out for a fake pizza-delivery driver who's actually trying to issue you a legal summons. Be careful you don't glimpse a blood red sky at dusk, in case it's a prophetic sign that your cell phone will fall into a toilet sometime soon. Beware of the possibility that a large bird carrying a turtle to its nest accidentally drops its prey into a rain puddle near you, splashing mud on your fancy clothes. JUST KIDDING! All the scenarios I just described are stupid lies. The truth is, this should be one of the most worry-free times ever. You're welcome, of course, to dream up a host of scary fantasies if you find that entertaining, but I guarantee that they'll be illusory. Halloween costume suggestion: an indomitable warrior.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
What is the material object you want most but don't have? This is an object that would serve your soul's highest purposes, although not necessarily your ego's. Here's another question: What evocative symbol might help keep you inspired to fulfill your dreams over the course of the next five years? I suggest that you choose one or both of those things to be the inspiration for your Halloween costume.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Did you get a chance to go to circus school when you were a kid? How about magic school? Or maybe detective school or time-travel school or superhero school? Probably none of the above, right? Much of your education revolved around what you HAD to learn rather than what would be fun to learn. I'm not saying it was bad you were compelled to study subjects you felt ambivalent about. In the long run, it did you good. But now here's some sweet news, Virgo: The next ten months will be a favorable time to get trainings and teachings in what you YEARN to learn. Halloween costume suggestion: a student.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Now is an excellent phase in your cycle to scour bathrooms, scrub floors, shampoo carpets, and wash windows. But the imminent future will be an even more favorable period to purify your motivations, tonify your emotions, purge your less-than-noble agendas, calm down your monkey mind and monkey heart, disinfect the moldy parts of your past, and fact-check the stories you tell about yourself. So which set of tasks should you focus on? It may be possible to make great strides on the second set as you carry out the first set. But if there's not enough time and energy to do both, favor the second set. Halloween costume suggestion: a superhero who has wondrous cleaning powers; King Janitor or Queen Maid.
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HOMEWORK:
Name your greatest unnecessary taboo and how you would violate it if it didn't hurt anyone. 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 2017 Rob Brezsny
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