Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
July 4, 2018
FreeWillAstrology.com
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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. She's at www.roloughran.com.
Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and 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. She integrates psychological insight with astrology's cosmological perspective.
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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RE-GENIUS YOURSELF (Hear this with music: bit.ly/ReGenius)
Although we are all born geniuses, the grind of day-to-day living tends to de-genius us. That's the bad news. The good news is that you have the power to re-genius yourself.
I'm going to give you a ritual you can use to jump-start the process.
The Greek philosopher Plato long ago recognized that in addition to eating, drinking, sleeping, breathing, and loving, every creature has an instinctual need to periodically leap up into the air for no other reason than because it feels so good.
Please face south, leap up in the air, and say these words: "From the south, I purify, electrify, beautify, and fructify this sacred space."
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When I was a kid I used to love to go out in the middle of a meadow and whirl around in spirals until I got so dizzy I fell down. As I lay on the ground, the earth and sky and sun kept reeling madly, and I was no longer just a pinpoint of awareness lodged inside my body, but rather I was an ecstatically undulating swirl in the kaleidoscopic web of life. I invite you to feel that way right now.
Spin yourself around until you topple over. And while lying on the ground, face west and say these words: "From the west, I sanctify, unify, clarify, and intensify this sacred space."
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The people I trust the most are those who are always tenderly 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. Will you try that right now wherever you are?
Jump off the ground and snap your heels up against your butt. Then face north and say these words: "From the north, I immunize, psychoanalyze, satirize, and exorcise this sacred space."
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In one sense each of us is an intriguing, intricately unique individual, justifiably proud of and in love with our own personal story. In another sense, we are all one body, descended from the same primordial mother and made of identical stuff -- the calcium in all of our bones and the iron in all of our blood originally forged in a red giant star that died billions of years ago.
Rotating slowly in a clockwise direction, look down at your belly as you imagine that at this moment, everyone in the world is breathing along with you. Then face east and say this: "From the east, I lubricate, pollinate, consecrate, and emancipate this sacred space."
Now it's time to confess the truth about who you really are.
Gaze upward and stretch your arms out high. Say the following: "I am a genius."
And say this: "I am a lucky, plucky genius."
And say this: "I am a lucky, plucky, good-sucking genius."
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Thank you for finally confessing the truth. It's about time you admitted that you are a miraculous work of art.
You came into this world as a radiant bundle of exuberant riddles. You slipped into this dimension as a shimmering burst of spiral hallelujahs. You blasted into this realm as a lush explosion of ecstatic gratitude. And it is your birthright to fulfill those promises.
I'm not pandering to your egotism by telling you these things. When I say, "Be yourself," I don't mean you should be the self that wants to win every game and use up every resource and stand alone at the end of time on top of a Mt. Everest-sized pile of pretty garbage.
When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the self that says "Thank you!" to the wild irises and the windy rain and the people who grow your food.
When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the rebel creator who's longing to make the whole universe your home and sanctuary.
When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the dissident bodhisattva who's joyfully struggling to germinate the seeds of divine love that are packed inside every moment.
When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the spiritual freedom fighter who's scrambling and finagling and conspiring to relieve your fellow messiahs from their suffering and shower them with rowdy blessings.
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Now let's move on to the next stage of your confession.
Squat. While patting and massaging the ground or floor in front of you, say this: "I am insane."
And say this: "I am an insane hurricane."
And say this: "I am a highly trained, entertainingly insane hurricane."
Thank you for finally confessing the truth, which is that you are constitutionally incapable of adapting nicely to the sour and crippled mass hallucination that is mistakenly called "reality." You are too amazingly, blazingly insane for that.
You are too crazy smart to lust after the stupidest secrets of the game of life. You're too seriously delirious to wander sobbing through the sterile, perfumed labyrinth looking in vain for the most ultra-perfect mirror. Thank the Goddess that you are a fiercely tender throb of sublimely berserk abracadabra.
You will never get crammed in a neat little niche in the middle of the road at the end of a nightmare.
You refuse to allow your soul's bones to get ground down into dust and used to fertilize the killing fields that proudly dot the ice cream empire of monumentally demeaning luxuries.
You're too brilliantly cracked for that.
You're too ingeniously whacked.
You're too ineffably godsmacked.
Now stand up and make a series of small jumps, rotating a quarter turn in a clockwise direction with each jump. And as you do, say this: "I am a lucky, plucky, good-sucking genius and a highly trained, entertainingly insane hurricane."
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Experiment: Imprint yourself with the intention that, say, 25% of the time, you will seek out the GOOD news instead of the BAD stuff -- that you will regard tales of affliction and mayhem and corruption and tragedy as no more interesting or worthy of your attention than tales of triumph and liberation and pleasure and ingenuity.
If this idea appeals to you, here are sources of GOOD news to get you started:
Yes magazine: yesmagazine.org
Good News Network: goodnewsnetwork.org
Celebrate Small Victories: celebratesmallvictories.com/archives/
Reddit Uplifting News: reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews
Heroic Stories: heroicstories.com
(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
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning July 5
Copyright 2018 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
An open letter to Cancerians from Rob Brezsny's mother, Felice: I want you to know that I played a big role in helping my Cancerian son become the empathetic, creative, thoughtful, crazy character he is today. I nurtured his idiosyncrasies. I made him feel secure and well-loved. My care freed him to develop his unusual ideas and life. So as you read Rob's horoscopes, remember that there's part of me inside him. And that part of me is nurturing you just as I once nurtured him. I and he are giving you love for the quirky, distinctive person you actually are, not some fantasy version of you. I and he are helping you feel more secure and well-appreciated. Now I encourage you to cash in on all that support. As Rob has told me, it's time for you Cancerians to reach new heights in your drive to express your unique self.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
The ghost orchid is a rare white wildflower that disappeared from the British countryside around 1986. The nation's botanists declared it officially extinct in 2005. But four years later, a tenacious amateur located a specimen growing in the West Midlands area. The species wasn't gone forever, after all. I foresee a comparable revival for you in the coming weeks, Leo. An interesting influence or sweet thing that you imagined to be permanently defunct may return to your life. Be alert!
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
The ancient Greek poet Sappho described "a sweet-apple turning red high on the tip of the topmost branch." The apple pickers left it there, she suggested, but not because they missed seeing it. It was just too high. "They couldn't reach it," wrote Sappho. Let's use this scenario as a handy metaphor for your current situation, Virgo. I am assigning you the task of doing whatever is necessary to fetch that glorious, seemingly unobtainable sweet-apple. It may not be easy. You'll probably need to summon extra ingenuity to reach it, as well as some as-yet unguessed form of help. (The Sappho translation is by Julia Dubnoff.)
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Is there any prize more precious than knowing your calling? Can any other satisfaction compare with the joy of understanding why you're here on earth? In my view, it's the supreme blessing: to have discovered the tasks that can ceaselessly educate and impassion you; to do the work or play that enables you to offer your best gifts; to be intimately engaged with an activity that consistently asks you to overcome your limitations and grow into a more complete version of yourself. For some people, their calling is a job: marine biologist, kindergarten teacher, advocate for the homeless. For others, it's a hobby, like long-distance-running, bird-watching, or mountain-climbing. St. Therese of Lisieux said, "My calling is love!" Poet Marina Tsvetaeva said her calling was "To listen to my soul." Do you know yours, Libra? Now is an excellent time to either discover yours or home in further on its precise nature.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Have you entertained any high-quality fantasies about faraway treasures lately? Have you delivered inquiring communiqués to any promising beauties who may ultimately offer you treats? Have you made long-distance inquiries about speculative possibilities that could be inclined to travel in your direction from their frontier sanctuaries? Would you consider making some subtle change in yourself so that you're no longer forcing the call of the wild to wait and wait and wait?
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
If a down-to-earth spiritual teacher advised you to go on a five-day meditation retreat in a sacred sanctuary, would you instead spend five days carousing with meth addicts in a cheap hotel? If a close friend confessed a secret she had concealed from everyone for years, would you unleash a nervous laugh and change the subject? If you read a horoscope that told you now is a favorable time to cultivate massive amounts of reverence, devotion, respect, gratitude, innocence, and awe, would you quickly blank it out of your mind and check your Instagram and Twitter accounts on your phone?
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BRAINSTORM ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE
with my Expanded Audio Horoscopes for the Second Half of 2018 and onward into 2019.
In the coming months, what areas of your life are likely to receive unexpected assistance and divine inspiration?
Where are you likely to find most success?
How can you best cooperate with the cosmic rhythms?
What questions should you be asking?
To hear my LONG-TERM AUDIO FORECAST, register and/or sign in here:
RealAstrology.com
After you log in through the main page, click on the link "Long Term Forecast for Second Half of 2018."
You can also listen to your short-term forecast for the coming week by clicking on "This week (July 3, 2018)."
The horoscopes cost $6 apiece. Discounts are available for multiple purchases.
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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
A typical working couple devotes an average of four minutes per day to focused conversation with each other. And it's common for a child and parent to engage in meaningful communication for just 20 minutes per week. I bring these sad facts to your attention, Capricorn, because I want to make sure you don't embody them in the coming weeks. If you hope to attract the best of life's blessings, you will need to give extra time and energy to the fine art of communing with those you care about.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Allergies, irritants, stings, hypersensitivities: sometimes you can make these annoyances work in your behalf. For example, my allergy to freshly-cut grass meant that when I was a teenager, I never had to waste my Saturday afternoons mowing the lawn in front of my family's suburban home. And the weird itching that plagued me whenever I got into the vicinity of my first sister's fiancé: If I had paid attention to it, I wouldn't have lent him the $350 that he never repaid. So my advice, my itchy friend, is to be thankful for the twitch and the prickle and the pinch. In the coming days, they may offer you tips and clues that could prove valuable.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Are you somehow growing younger? Your stride seems bouncier and your voice sounds more buoyant. Your thoughts seem fresher and your eyes brighter. I won't be surprised if you buy yourself new toys or jump in mud puddles. What's going on? Here's my guess: you're no longer willing to sleepwalk your way through the most boring things about being an adult. You may also be ready to wean yourself from certain responsibilities unless you can render them pleasurable at least some of the time. I hope so. It's time to bring more fun and games into your life.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Twentieth-century French novelist Marcel Proust described nineteenth-century novelist Gustave Flaubert as a trottoire roulant, or "rolling sidewalk": plodding, toneless, droning. Meanwhile, critic Roger Shattuck compared Proust's writing to an "electric generator" from which flows a "powerful current always ready to shock not only our morality but our very sense of humanity." In the coming weeks, I encourage you to find a middle ground between Flaubert and Proust. See if you can be moderately exciting, gently provocative, and amiably enchanting. My analysis of the cosmic rhythms suggests that such an approach is likely to produce the best long-term results.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
You remind me of Jack, the nine-year-old Taurus kid next door, who took up skateboarding on the huge trampoline his two moms put in their backyard. Like him, you seem eager to travel in two different modes at the same time. (And I'm glad to see you're being safe; you're not doing the equivalent of, say, having sex in a car or breakdancing on an escalator.) When Jack first began, he had difficulty in coordinating the bouncing with the rolling. But after a while he got good at it. I expect that you, too, will master your complex task.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
From the day you were born, you have been cultivating a knack for mixing and blending. Along the way, you have accomplished mergers that would have been impossible for a lot of other people. Some of your experiments in amalgamation are legendary. If my astrological assessments are accurate, the year 2019 will bring forth some of your all-time most marvelous combinations and unifications. I expect you are even now setting the stage for those future fusions; you are building the foundations that will make them natural and inevitable. What can you do in the coming weeks to further that preparation?
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HOMEWORK:
Is there an area of your life where your effects are different from your intentions? 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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