Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
April 4, 2018
FreeWillAstrology.com
+
Pain motivates you to grow? OK. But maybe you don't need as much of that stuff as you used to. Maybe you could actually start learning more and more from -- gasp! -- pleasurable experiences.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
SPIRIT VERSUS SOUL
"I call the high and light aspects of my being spirit," says the Dalai Lama, "and the dark and heavy aspects soul.”
"Soul is at home in the deep, shaded valleys. Heavy torpid flowers saturated with black grow there. The rivers flow like warm syrup.
"Spirit is a land of high, white peaks and glittering jewel -- like lakes and flowers. Life is sparse and sounds travel great distances."
+
In his book Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships, psychotherapist John Welwood writes, "Psychological work focuses more on what has gone wrong: how we have been wounded in our relations with others and how to go about addressing that.
"Spiritual work focuses more on what is intrinsically right: how we have infinite resources at the core of our nature that we can cultivate in order to live more expansively. If psychological work thins the clouds, spiritual work invokes the sun."
+
To these formulas I would add that the spirit is about rising above and seeking what's most noble, while the soul is about diving in and wrestling with exactly what is.
Both tasks are valuable. Neither realm is inherently better or more important. If you have a bias one way or the other, it's usually best to be conscientious about maintaining a balance.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
YOU BELONG TO YOURSELF
While you commune with us here at the Conspiracy to Commit Insurrectionary Beauty and Smart Love:
Your favorite phrase might be "flux gusto"
The colors of your soul might be sable, vermilion, ivory, and jade
Your special emotion might be skeptical faith
Your magic talisman might be a thousand-year-old Joshua tree whose flowers blossom just one night each year and can only be pollinated by the yucca moth
The garage sale item you most resemble might be an old but beautiful and sonorous accordion with a broken key
Your sweet spot might be in between the true believers and the scoffing skeptics
Your sacred fungus might be yeast and your soil of destiny might be peat moss
The shape of your life might be oval with soft dark sparks
Your lucky number might be 3.14159265
Your lucky phobia might be arachibutyrophobia, or the fear of peanut butter adhering to the roof of your mouth
Your holiest pain might come from your yearning to change yourself in the exact way you'd like the world around you to change
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The preceding blips are excerpts from my book
PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA
It's available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
LIFE IS A BARGAIN
Every wise man I met in Asia warned me against caring.
Explained how everything I loved would get old,
or be taken away and I would suffer.
I tried to explain what a bargain it is.
- Jack Gilbert, "Nights and Four Thousand Mornings"
+
“What if the heart does not pale as the body wanes,
but is like the sun that blazes hotter each day
on these immense, perishing fields? What then?”
— Jack Gilbert, "Getting Ready”
+
"come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed."
— Lucille Clifton
+
"The secret title of all good poems could be 'Tenderness.'"
— Galway Kinnell
+
"Are You the Lamb of Your Own Forgiving?
I mean: Can you forgive yourself / all
those crimes without victims?"
– Richard Brautigan
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Bill Gates has gone from being seen as an evil man at the helm an intimidating monopoly, to a benevolent savior of the world. It's all thanks to the billions of dollars he is spending to fight the spread of disease and develop richer sources of food for the neediest people in the world.
tinyurl.com/3zpuwct
10 Films That Would Win If the Oscars Had Awards for Empathy, Resilience, and Forgiveness.
tinyurl.com/y8knbv6k
First U.S. City to Ban Fossil Fuel Expansion Offers Roadmap for Others. Portland climate activists celebrate a win against Big Oil as city- and state-level initiatives gain momentum across the country.
tinyurl.com/y8tvxleg
Why Are More Cities Divesting From Big Oil? It’s Moral and Practical.
tinyurl.com/yboxln9v
(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.
Read old but still useful archives of Pronoia Resources: pronoiaresources.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning April 5
Copyright 2018 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Eighty-three-year-old author Harlan Ellison has had a long and successful career. In the course of publishing hundreds of literary works in seven different genres, he has won numerous awards. But when he was in his thirties, there was an interruption in the upward arc of his career. The film production company Walt Disney Studios hired him as a writer. During his first day on the job, Roy Disney overheard Ellison joking with a co-worker about using Disney characters in an animated pornographic movie. Ellison was fired on the spot. I am by no means predicting a comparable event in your life, Aries. On the contrary. By giving you this heads-up, I'm hoping you'll be scrupulous and adroit in how you act in the early stages of a new project -- so scrupulous and adroit that you will sail on to the next stages.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Are you an evolving Taurus or an unevolving Taurus? Are you an aspiring master of gradual, incremental progress or a complacent excuse-maker who secretly welcomes inertia? Will the theme of your next social media post be "The Smart Art of Compromise" or "The Stingy Glory of Stubbornness"? I'm hoping you will opt for the former rather than the latter in each of the three choices I just offered. Your behavior in the coming weeks will be pivotal in your long-term ability to animate your highest self and avoid lapsing into your mediocre self.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
If you fly in a passenger jet from New York to London, the trip usually takes more than six hours. But on January 8, 2015, a powerful jet stream surging across the North Atlantic reduced that time significantly. With the wind's extra push, several flights completed the trip in five hours and 20 minutes. I suspect you'll have comparable assistance in the course of your upcoming journeys and projects, Gemini. You'll feel like the wind is at your back.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Actor Keanu Reeves' career ascended to a higher level when he appeared as a lead character in the film Speed. It was the first time he had been a headliner in a big-budget production. But he turned down an offer to reprise his starring role in the sequel, Speed 2. Instead he toured with his grunge band Dogstar and played the role of Hamlet in a production staged by a local theater company in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I admire him for being motivated more by love and passion than by fame and fortune. In my estimation, Cancerian, you face a choice that in some ways resembles Keanu's, but in other ways doesn't. You shouldn't automatically assume that what your ego craves is opposed to what your heart yearns for and your soul needs.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
A Leo sculptor I know is working on a forty- foot-long statue of a lion. Another Leo friend borrowed $30,000 to build a recording studio in her garage so she can pursue her quixotic dream of a music career. Of my other Leo acquaintances, one is writing a memoir of her time as a black-market orchid smuggler, another just did four sky dives in three days, and another embarked on a long-postponed pilgrimage to Slovenia, land of her ancestors. What about you? Are there any breathtaking challenges or smart gambles you're considering? I trust you can surf the same astrological wave.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
How sexy is it possible for you to be? I'm referring to authentic soul-stirring sexiness, not the contrived, glitzy, counterfeit version. I'm alluding to the irresistible magnetism that wells up in you when you tap in to your core self and summon a reverent devotion to your life's mission. However sexy it is possible for you to be, Virgo, I suggest you unleash that magic in the coming weeks. It's the most reliable strategy for attracting the spiritual experiences and material resources and psychological support you need.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
YOU NEED MAGIC EVERY DAY
Every day, you have to wade through a relentless surge of soul-less facts. The experience tends to shut down your sense of wonder.
Every day, you're over-exposed to cynical narratives that have been sucked free of delight and mystery. That's why you have to make such strenuous efforts to keep your world enchanted.
I like to think I can contribute to the sacred cause of feeding your sense of wonder and enchantment. In fact, that's one of my prime motivations for offering you the free weekly horoscopes you read in this newsletter.
If you ever want more of that good stuff, and think it's worth paying for, please consider trying out my 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.
+
"I always feel like I know myself better after listening to your audio 'scopes."
-June R., Austin, TX
"Your audio horoscopes calm me down when I'm too manic and pep me up when I'm down."
-Arthur T., Cleveland, OH
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
According to my analysis of the cosmic omens, your impact is rising. You're gaining influence. More people are tuning in to what you have to offer. And yet your stress levels also seem to be increasing. Why is that? Do you assume that having more power requires you to endure higher tension? Do you unconsciously believe that being more worried is the price of being more responsible? If so, banish that nonsense. The truth is this: The best way to manage your growing clout is to relax into it. The best way to express your growing clout is to relax into it.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
The immediate future will challenge you to revisit several fundamental Scorpio struggles. For best results, welcome these seeming intrusions as blessings and opportunities, and follow these guidelines: 1. Your control over external circumstances will increase in direct proportion to your control over your inner demons. 2. Your ability to do what you want will thrive to the degree that you stop focusing on what you don't want. 3. Your skill at regulating and triumphing over chaos will be invincible if you're not engrossed in blaming others.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
I'm about to say things that sound extraordinary. And it's possible that they are in fact a bit overblown. But even if that's the case, I trust that there is a core of truth in them. So rejoice in their oracular radiance. First, if you have been hoping for a miracle cure, the next four weeks will be a time when you're more likely than usual to find it or generate it. Second, if you have fantasized about getting help to address a seemingly irremediable problem, asking aggressively for that help now will lead to at least a partial fix. Third, if you have wondered whether you could ever retrieve a lost or missing part of your soul, the odds are more in your favor than they've been in a long time.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The French government defines books as an "essential good," along with water, bread, and electricity. Would you add anything to that list of life's basics? Companionship? Stories? Deep sleep? Pleasurable exercise and movement? Once you identify your "essential goods," I invite you to raise the level of reverence and care you give them. Take an oath to treat them as holy treasures. Boost your determination and ability to get all you need of their blessings. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to enhance your appreciation of the fundamentals you sometimes take for granted.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Buckingham Palace is the home and office of the Queen of England. It has been the main royal residence since Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837. But in earlier times, the site served other purposes. The 17th-century English lawyer Clement Walker described the building occupying that land as a brothel, a hotbed of "debauchery." Before that the space was a mulberry garden where silkworms tuned mulberry leaves into raw material for silk fabrics. I see the potential for an almost equally dramatic transformation of a certain place in your life, Aquarius. Start dreaming and scheming about the possibilities.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Poet Carolyn Forché is a role model for how to leave one's comfort zone. In her early career, she earned writing degrees at placid universities near her childhood home in the American Midwest. Her first book mined material about her family; its first poem is addressed to her grandmother. But then she relocated to El Salvador, where she served as a human rights advocate during that country's civil war. Later she lived and wrote in Lebanon at the height of its political strife. Her drive to expand her range of experience invigorated her poetry and widened her audience. Would you consider drawing inspiration from Forché in the coming weeks and months, Pisces? I don't necessarily recommend quite so dramatic a departure for you, but even a mild version will be well rewarded.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HOMEWORK:
Buy or make yourself a present that encourages you to be more generous. Report results at FreeWillAstrology.com.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 2018 Rob Brezsny
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
