Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
April 18, 2018
FreeWillAstrology.com
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Here's the oracle I'd like to be able to write for you a year from today:
"You escaped the chains that kept you enslaved to your primary source of suffering. You broke the trance it kept you in, and you freed yourself from its demoralizing curse.
'Now you have forged a resilient new relationship with your primary source of suffering -- a relationship that allows you to deal with it only when it's healthy for you to do so and only when you feel strong enough to do it.
"Very nicely done! Congratulations! Excellent work!'
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I INVITE YOU to say these things:
"I love everything about me"
"I love my uncanny beauty and my bewildering pain"
"I love my hungry soul and my wounded longing"
"I love my flaws, my fears, and my scary frontiers"
"I love my surprising power, my sweet mysteries, and my unknown freedom"
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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!
Contrary to what some horoscope fans believe, there's no such thing as predestination. Fate is a tricky, wiggly sucker that keeps changing its mind about where it wants to go. The stars may impel, as the astrological saying goes, but they don't compel.
That's why I've never considered myself a fortuneteller. I prefer to think that my greatest service is as a psychic intelligence agent, helping you expose the hidden patterns and unconscious forces that may be affecting your life without your knowledge.
If I "predict" anything, it's not so much the future as the unknown part of the present.
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.
These forecasts are different in tone and format from the written horoscopes you read here in the newsletter. They're longer and more leisurely in tone. They tend to bring out more of the patient counselor in me, and have a bit less of the poet.
To buy and listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to RealAstrology.com.
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ONE WISH
If I could have but one wish granted it would be
to live in a universe like this one
at a time like the present
with friends like the ones I have now
and be myself.
- by Rand Howells
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WANT TO GET YOUR ASTROLOGICAL CHART READ?
If you want your personal chart done, I recommend a colleague whose approach to reading astrology charts closely matches my own. She's my wife, RO LOUGHRAN. We've been enjoying regular conversations about astrology since 1989! Her website's here: www.roloughran.com
Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and a high degree of technical proficiency in horoscope interpretation. She is skilled at exploring the mysteries of your life's purpose and nurturing your connection with your own inner wisdom.
In addition to over 30 years of astrological experience, Ro has been a licensed psychotherapist for 17 years. This enables her to integrate psychological insight with the cosmological perspective that astrology offers.
Ro is based in California, but can do phone consultations and otherwise work with you regardless of geographic boundaries.
Check out Ro's website at www.roloughran.com
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"Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way."
- Alan Watts
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STOP MAKING SENSE
Once a month, we celebrate the holy principle of STOP MAKING SENSE. It helps keep us immune from the pandemic of sober sincerity and funereal earnestness that's infecting the collective imagination.
Go to my Facebook page to participate in this month's celebration: tinyurl.com/yah72zcy
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DEDICATING THE MERIT
Lama Palden Drolma says: "There is such power in sharing the good results in our lives -- whether in meditation or in anything else we do. The practice of 'dedicating the merit' in Tibetan Buddhism is an act of radical imagination that has a real impact.
“In dedicating our meditation to ease the suffering of all beings, we engage in an act of radical imagination. Our radical imagining is that all beings are free, at peace, and awakened. Imagining this stretches our minds and creates the possibility for it to actually happen, because if we cannot imagine something, it’s nearly impossible to actualize it.
“In this radical imagining, our vision includes everyone equally in our love. This develops our generosity, loving-kindness, and commitment to the equality of beings. This kind of beneficence does not condone anyone’s destructive actions. Rather it looks toward the possibility of liberating and transforming the ignorance that drives people’s destructive actions.”
More: tinyurl.com/yae73exj
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Students Look Beyond Gun Control Laws to Prevent Violence—and It’s Working. As lawmakers dither about school shootings, student clubs are focused on reducing youth violence at schools and in their communities.
tinyurl.com/yah9a8v2
TV Stations Follow John Oliver’s Lead in the Movement to Forgive Medical Debt. How former debt collectors showed everyone how to buy up people’s medical debt at pennies on the dollar.
tinyurl.com/y9gqmqqq
9 Ways You Can Use the Midterm Elections to Build Local Power. We can build long-term power in our communities and help elect our favorite candidates if we work strategically, inclusively—and independently.
tinyurl.com/ybmst8e7
(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 April 19
Copyright 2018 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
The Chesapeake Bay is a fertile estuary that teems with life. It's 200 miles long and holds 18 trillion gallons of water. More than 150 streams and rivers course into its drainage basin. And yet it's relatively shallow. If you're six feet tall, you could wade through over a thousand square miles of its mix of fresh and salt water without getting your hat wet. I see this place as an apt metaphor for your life in the coming weeks: an expanse of flowing fecundity that is vast but not so deep that you'll get overwhelmed.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
You'll soon arrive at a pressure-packed turning point. You'll stand poised at a pivotal twist of fate where you must trust your intuition to reveal the differences between smart risks and careless gambles. Are you willing to let your half-naked emotions show? Will you have the courage to be brazenly loyal to your deepest values? I won't wish you luck, because how the story evolves will be fueled solely by your determination, not by accident or happenstance. You will know you're in a good position to solve the Big Riddles if they feel both scary and fun.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Strong softness is one of your specialties. So are empathetic rigor, creative responsiveness, and daring acts of nurturing. Now is a perfect time to summon and express all of these qualities with extra flair. If you do, your influence will exceed its normal quotas. Your ability to heal and inspire your favorite people will be at a peak. So I hereby invite you to explore the frontiers of aggressive receptivity. Wield your courage and power with a fierce vulnerability. Be tenderly sensitive as an antidote to any headstrong lovelessness you encounter.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Pink Floyd released the album The Dark Side of the Moon. Since then, it has been on various Billboard charts for over 1,700 weeks, and has sold more than 45 million copies. Judging from the astrological aspects coming to bear on you, Leo, I suspect you could create or produce a beautiful thing with a similar staying power in the next five months. What vitalizing influence would you like to have in your life for at least the next 30 years?
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
I beg you to take a break sometime soon. Give yourself permission to indulge in a vacation or recess or sabbatical. Wander away on a leave of absence. Explore the mysteries of a siesta blended with a fiesta. If you don't grant yourself this favor, I may be forced to bark "Chill out, dammit!" at you until you do. Please don't misunderstand my intention here. The rest of us appreciate the way you've been attending to the complicated details that are too exacting for us. But we can also see that if you don't ease up, there will soon be diminishing returns. It's time to return to your studies of relaxing freedom.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Singer-songwriter Roy Orbison achieved great success in the 1960s, charting 22 songs on the Billboard Top 40. But his career declined after that. Years later, in 1986, filmmaker David Lynch asked him for the right to use his tune "In Dreams" for the movie Blue Velvet. Orbison denied the request, but Lynch incorporated the tune anyway. Surprise! Blue Velvet was nominated for an Academy Award and played a big role in reviving Orbison's fame. Later the singer came to appreciate not only the career boost, but also Lynch's unusual aesthetic, testifying that the film gave his song an "otherworldly quality that added a whole new dimension." Now let's meditate on how this story might serve as a parable for your life. Was there an opportunity that you once turned down but will benefit from anyway? Or is there a current opportunity that maybe you shouldn't turn down, even if it seems odd?
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SUNBURSTS: MY DAILY HOROSCOPES
Some people don't know that I create daily horoscopes, available as text messages sent to your cell or smart phone.
They're shorter than the weekly 'scopes, but on the other hand they're more frequent -- every day of the week.
My weekly horoscopes are free, but the dailies cost about 67 cents a day if you sign up for a subscription.
If you think you might enjoy getting regular bursts of inspiration from me to illuminate your adventures, check them out.
Go to RealAstrology.com. Register or log in. On the new page, click on "Subscribe / Renew" under "Daily Text Message Horoscopes" in the right-hand column.
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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
You've been to the Land of No Return and back more than anyone. But soon you'll be visiting a remote enclave in this realm that you're not very familiar with. I call it the Mother Lode of Sexy Truth. It's where tender explorers go when they must transform outworn aspects of their approach to partnership and togetherness. On the eve of your quest, shall we conduct an inventory of your capacity to outgrow your habitual assumptions about relationships? No, let's not. That sounds too stiff and formal. Instead, I'll simply ask you to strip away any falseness that interferes with vivacious and catalytic intimacy.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
In 1824, two British explorers climbed a mountain in southwestern Australia. They were hoping to get a sweeping view of Port Phillip Bay, on which the present-day city of Melbourne is located. But when they reached the top, their view was largely obstructed by trees. Out of perverse spite, they decided to call the peak Mount Disappointment, a name it retains to this day. I suspect you may soon have your own personal version of an adventure that falls short of your expectations. I hope -- and also predict -- that your experience won't demoralize you, but will rather mobilize you to attempt a new experiment that ultimately surpasses your original expectations.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Capricorn rock musician Lemmy Kilmister bragged that he swigged a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey every day from 1975 to 2013. While I admire his dedication to inducing altered states of consciousness, I can't recommend such a strategy for you. But I will love it if you undertake a more disciplined crusade to escape numbing routines and irrelevant habits in the next four weeks. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will have a special knack for this practical art.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Germany was one of the big losers of World War I, which ended in 1919. By accepting the terms of the Versailles Treaty, it agreed to pay reparations equivalent to 96,000 tons of gold. Not until 2010, decades after the war, did Germany finally settle its bill and fulfill its obligation. I'm sure your own big, long-running debt is nowhere near as big or as long-running as that one, Aquarius. But you will nonetheless have reason to be ecstatic when you finally discharge it. And according to my reading of the astrological omens, that could and should happen sometime soon. (P.S. The "debt" could be emotional or spiritual rather than financial.)
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
"I would rather have a drop of luck than a barrel of brains," said the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes. Fortunately, that's not a choice you will have to face in the coming weeks, Pisces. According to my reading of the cosmic signs, your brain will be working with even greater efficiency and ingenuity than it usually does. Meanwhile, a stronger-than-expected flow of luck will be swirling around in your vicinity. One of your main tasks will be to harness your enhanced intelligence to take shrewd advantage of the good fortune.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In the early history of the automobile, electric engines were more popular and common than gasoline-powered engines. They were less noisy, dirty, smelly, and difficult to operate. It's too bad that thereafter the technology for gasoline cars developed at a faster rate than the technology for electric cars. By the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, the petroleum-suckers were in ascendance. They have remained so ever since, playing a significant role in our world's ongoing environmental degradation. Moral of the story: Sometimes the original idea or the early model or the first try is better. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you should consider applying this hypothesis to your current state of affairs.
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HOMEWORK:
It's easy to see fanaticism, rigidity, and intolerance in other people, but harder to acknowledge them in yourself. Do you dare? 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 2018 Rob Brezsny
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