Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
July 17, 2019
FreeWillAstrology.com
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THIS IS THE LAST WEEK THE BIG-PICTURE AUDIO HOROSCOPES WILL BE AVAILABLE!
EXPLORE THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE
with my Expanded Audio Horoscopes for the Second Half of 2019 and onward into 2020. This is the last week they will be available.
How can you exert your free will to create the adventures that will bring out the best in you, even as you find graceful ways to cooperate with the tides of destiny?
To listen to my IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM AUDIO FORECAST for YOUR LIFE during the next six months and beyond, go here, then register and/or sign in:
freewillastrology.sparkns.com
After you log in through the main page, click on the link "Long Term Forecast for Second Half of 2019."
The horoscopes cost $6 apiece. Discounts are available for multiple purchases.
You can also listen to your short-term forecast for the coming week by clicking on "This week (July 16, 2019)."
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DO YOU HAVE A SOUL?
Some people imagine the word "soul" to be a New Age term, a lazy woo-woo concept favored by fuzzy thinkers. As evidence that this isn't the case, I offer references to "soul" by writers who don't fit those descriptions, starting with Walt Whitman.
I am the poet of the body,
And I am the poet of the soul.
The pleasures of heaven are with me, and the pains of
hell are with me,
The first I graft and increase upon myself — the latter I
translate into a new tongue.
—Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"
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How prompt we are to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our bodies; how slow to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our souls!
—Henry David Thoreau
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The soul should always stand ajar,
That if the heaven inquire,
He will not be obliged to wait,
Or shy of troubling her.
—Emily Dickinson
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This earth is honey for all beings, and all beings are honey for this earth. The intelligent, immortal being, the soul of the earth, and the intelligent, immortal being, the soul in the individual being—each is honey to the other.
—Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
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Ondinnonk is an Iroquois word with two related meanings: 1. a secret wish of the soul, especially as revealed in dreams; 2. the spiritual part of our nature that longs to do good deeds.
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In the best-known version of the Greek myth, Persephone is dragged down into the underworld by Hades, whose title is "Pluto." But in earlier, pre-patriarchal tales, she descends there under her own power, actively seeking to graduate from her virginal naiveté by exploring the intriguing land of shadows.
"Pluto" is derived from the Greek word plutus, meaning "wealth." Psychologist James Hillman says this refers to the psyche-building riches available in Pluto's domain. Hades, he says, is "the giver of nourishment to the soul."
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Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
—Oscar Wilde
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"There is a saying that when the student is ready, the teacher appears," writes Clarissa Pinkola Estes. But the magic of that formula may not unfold with smooth simplicity, she says: "The teacher comes when the soul, not the ego, is ready. The teacher comes when the soul calls, and thank goodness—for the ego is never fully ready."
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What is the "soul," anyway? Is it a ghostly blob of magic stuff within us that keeps us connected to the world of dreams and the divine realms? Is it an amorphous metaphor for the secret source of our spiritual power? Is it a myth that people entertain because they desperately want to believe there's more to them than just their physical bodies?
Here's what I think: The soul is a perspective that pushes us to go deeper and see further and live wilder. It's what drives our imagination to flesh out our raw experience, transforming that chaotic stuff into rich storylines that animate our love of life.
With the gently propulsive force of the soul, we probe beyond the surface level of things, working to find the hidden meaning and truer feeling.
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Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
—Pablo Picasso.
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"The works must be conceived with fire in the soul but executed with clinical coolness," said the painter Joan Miró in describing his artistic process.
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"Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul," wrote environmentalist Edward Abbey.
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"I had tended to view waiting as mere passivity," wrote author Sue Monk Kidd in her memoir. "When I looked it up in my dictionary, however, I found that the words 'passive' and 'passion' come from the same Latin root, pati, which means 'to endure.' Waiting is thus both passive and passionate. It's a vibrant, contemplative work . . . It involves listening to disinherited voices within, facing the wounded holes in the soul, the denied and undiscovered, the places one lives falsely."
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If you need to visualize the soul, think of it as a cross between a wolf howl, a photon, and a dribble of dark molasses. But what it really is, as near as I can tell, is a packet of information. It's a program, a piece of hyperspatial software designed explicitly to interface with the Mystery. Not a mystery, mind you, the Mystery. The one that can never be solved.
By waxing soulful you will have granted yourself the possibility of ecstatic participation in what the ancients considered a divinely animated universe."
—Tom Robbins
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As part of the Beauty and Truth Lab's ongoing crusade to wrestle the English language into a more formidable servant of the ecstatic impulse, we're pleased to present some alternate designations for "soul." See if any of the following concoctions feel right coming out of your mouth:
1. undulating superconductor;
2. nectar plasma;
3. golden lather;
4. smoldering crucible;
5. luminous caduceus.
If none of these work for you—or even if they do—have fun creating your own terms.
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"Each person is a story that the Soul of the World wants to tell to itself," writes storyteller Michael Meade.
What does that Soul want to say through you?
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At times it seems to me that I am living my life backwards, and that at the approach of old age my real youth will begin. My soul was born covered with wrinkles — wrinkles my ancestors and parents most assiduously put there and that I had the greatest trouble removing.
– André Gide
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The soul moves in circles.
—ancient Greek philosopher Plotinus
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Sensual pleasure passes and vanishes, but the friendship between us, the mutual confidence, the delight of the heart, the enchantment of the soul, these things do not perish and can never be destroyed.
—philosopher Voltaire in a letter to his partner Marie Louise Denis
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You will never be able to experience everything. So, please, do poetical justice to your soul and simply experience yourself.
—Albert Camus
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I note the echo that each thing produces as it strikes my soul.
—Stendhal
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I am not quick moving. I have to wait for myself—it is always late before the water comes to light out of the well of my self, and I often have to endure thirst for longer than I have patience. That is why I go into solitude — so as not to drink out of everybody’s cistern.
When I am among the many I live as the many do, and I do not think as I really think; after a time it always seems as though they want to banish me from myself and rob me of my soul—and I grow angry with everybody and fear everybody. I then require the desert, so as to grow good again.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
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EVIL IS BORING
I heard an interview with the German film actor Udo Kier. He specializes in playing villains. "Evil has no limit," he sneered, blustering like a naughty genius. "Good has a limit. It is simply not as interesting."
How many times have I heard that idiotic cliché? Most everyone everywhere seems to agree with Udo Kier. And I'm in a tiny minority in my belief that evil is boring. There seem to be few thinkers, communicators, and creators who share my curiosity about exploring the frontiers of righteous pleasure and amusing truth and boisterous integrity.
Some pretenders do make counterfeit attempts: Hollywood producers who produce sentimental fantasies with artificially happy endings, advertising executives who sell the pseudo-positivity of narcissistic comfort, and New Age gurus who ignore the darkness with their one-dimensional appeals to sweetness and light.
But how dare Udo Kier—and all his like-minded devotees of the entertainment value of evil—proceed on the assumption that "good has a limit" and that "good isn't as interesting" when there are so few smart artists and thinkers who are brave and resourceful enough to explore the frontiers of beauty and truth and joy and compassion?
See the video of me presenting "Evil Is Boring": bit.ly/EvilIsBoring
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HEALING LESSONS
Many of us have a superficial notion of the nature of healing, writes Peter Kingsley in his book In the Dark Places of Wisdom. We think that “healing is what makes us comfortable and eases the pain.” But the truth is, “what we want to be healed of is often what will heal us if we can stand the discomfort and the pain.”
I invite you to work with this theme. See if you can stave off your urge for ease as you marinate longer in the aching confusion.
“If we really face our sadness,” says Kingsley, “we find it speaks with the voice of our deepest longing. And if we face it a little longer we find that it teaches us the way to attain what we long for.”
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"May I feel all I need to feel in order to heal; may I heal all I need to heal in order to feel."
- Marguerite Rigoglioso
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What thought or trick do you use to help liberate yourself from unnecessary suffering?
What joke do you play on yourself when you're taking yourself too seriously?
How do you compassionately bust yourself when you realize you've been indulging in hypocritical behavior?
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"You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings."
- Elizabeth Gilbert
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Why Rituals Are Good for Your Health. Research shows rituals reduce anxiety, improve performance and confidence—and even work on people who don’t believe in them.
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Wind farms now provide 14% of EU power. Denmark, Ireland, the UK and Germany are leading the way.
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Wyoming Billionaire Plans To Buy Around 15% Of The Planet To Protect Its Nature.
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(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 July 18
Copyright 2019 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
What would you say if I asked you to tell me who you truly are? I wouldn't want to hear so much about your titles and awards. I'd be curious about your sacred mysteries, not your literal history. I'd want to know the treasured secrets you talk about with yourself before you fall asleep. I'd ask you to sing the songs you love and describe the allies who make you feel real. I'd urge you to riff on the future possibilities that both scare you and thrill you. What else? What are some other ways you might show me core truths about your irrepressible soul? Now is a good time to meditate on these riddles.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Isaac Asimov wrote a science fiction story about a physicist who masters time travel and summons William Shakespeare into the present time. The Bard enrolls in a night school class about his own plays—and proceeds to flunk the course. Modern ideas and modes of discourse are simply too disorienting to him. He is unable to grasp the theories that centuries' worth of critics have developed about his work. With this as a cautionary tale, I invite you to time-travel not four centuries into the future, but just ten years. From that vantage point, look back at the life you're living now. How would you evaluate and understand it? Do you have any constructive criticism to offer? Any insights that could help you plan better for your long-term future?
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to buy yourself toys, change your image for no rational reason, and indulge in an interesting pleasure that you have been denying yourself for no good reason. In addition, I hope you will engage in at least two heart-to-heart talks with yourself, preferably using funny voices and comical body language. You could also align yourself gracefully with cosmic rhythms by dancing more than usual, and by goofing off more than usual, and by wandering in the wilderness and seeking to recapture your lost innocence more than usual.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Although you'll never find an advertisement for Toyota or Coca Cola or Apple within my horoscope column, you will find hype for spiritual commodities like creativity, love, and freedom. Like everyone else, I'm a huckster. My flackery may be more ethical and uplifting than others', but the fact is that I still try to persuade you to "buy" my ideas. The moral of the story: Everyone, even the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, is selling something. I hope that what I'm saying here purges any reluctance you might have about presenting yourself and your ideas in the most favorable light. It's high time for you to hone your sales pitch; to explain why your approach to life is so wise; to be a forceful spokesperson and role model for the values you hold dear.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
You are growing almost too fast, but that won't necessarily be a problem—as long as you don't expect everyone around you to grow as fast as you. I suspect that you also know almost too much—but I don't anticipate that will spawn envy and resistance as long as you cultivate a bit of humility. I have an additional duty to report that you're on the verge of being too attractive for your own good—although you have not yet actually reached the tipping point, so maybe your hyper-attractiveness will serve you rather than undermine you. In conclusion, Scorpio, I invite you to celebrate your abundance, but don't flaunt it.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
The snow leopards of Central Asia crave a lot of room to wander. Zoologists say that each male prefers its territory to be about 84 square miles, and each female likes to have 44 square miles. I don't think you'll require quite that vast a turf in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. But on the other hand, it will be important not to underestimate the spaciousness you'll need in order to thrive. Give yourself permission to be expansive.
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BRAINSTORM ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE
with my Expanded Audio Horoscopes for the Second Half of 2019 and beyond:
freewillastrology.sparkns.com
What will be the story of your life during the rest of 2019 and onward into 2020? How can you exert your free will to create the adventures that will bring out the best in you, even as you find graceful ways to cooperate with the tides of destiny?
If you'd like a high-octane boost of inspiration to fuel your quest to create your most interesting and meaningful destiny, tune in to my meditations on your long-term outlook.
Go here: freewillastrology.sparkns.com. Then register and/or log in and click on this link:
"Long Term Forecast for Second Half of 2019"
You can also listen to your short-term forecast for the coming week by clicking on "This week (July 16, 2019)."
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"Your long-range audio horoscopes encouraged me to think bigger about my life. As I listened, I could feel my shrunken expectations melting away."
—Therese Pembroke, San Diego
"I love the soothing kindness of your long-range audio horoscopes. I also love their invigorating encouragement and surprising inspiration!" —Franny Kaiser, Minneapolis
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The horoscopes cost $6 apiece. Discounts are available for multiple purchases.
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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
"I want to do things so wild with you that I don't know how to say them." Author Anaïs Nin wrote that in a letter to her Capricorn lover Henry Miller. Is there anyone you could or should or want to say something like that? If your answer is yes, now is a good time to be so candid and bold. If the answer is no, now would be a good time to scout around for a person to whom you could or should or want to say such a thing. And if you'd like to throw in a bit more enticement, here's another seductive lyric from Anaïs: "Only the united beat of sex and heart together can create ecstasy."
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Did you hear the story about the California mom who started a series of forest fires so as to boost her son's career as a firefighter? She is an apt role model for behavior you should diligently avoid in the coming weeks. It's unwise and unprofitable for you and yours to stir up a certain kind of trouble simply because it's trouble that you and yours have become skilled at solving. So how should you use your problem-solving energy, which I suspect will be at a peak? I suggest you go hunting for some very interesting and potentially productive trouble that you haven't wrangled with before—some rousing challenge that will make you even smarter than you already are.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The heroine of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass is curious, adventurous, and brave. First she follows a well-dressed rabbit down a rabbit hole into an alternate universe. Later she slips through a mirror into yet another parallel reality. Both times, with great composure, she navigates her way through many odd, paranormal, and unpredictable events. She enjoys herself immensely as she deals with a series of unusual characters and unfamiliar situations. I'm going to speculate that Alice is a Pisces. Are you ready for your very own Alice-in-Wonderland phase? Here it comes!
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
An Aries reader sent me a boisterous email. "I was afraid I was getting too bogged down by my duties," he said, "too hypnotized by routine, too serious about my problems. So I took drastic action." He then described the ways he broke out of his slump. Here's an excerpt: "I gave laughing lessons to a cat. I ate a spider. I conducted a sneezing contest. I smashed an alarm clock with a hammer. Whenever an elderly woman walked by, I called out 'Hail to the Queen!' and did a backflip. I gave names to my spoon (Hortense), the table (Beatrice), a fly that was buzzing around (Fallon), and a toothpick (Arturo)." According to my analysis of the astrological omens, Aries, you'd be wise to stage a comparable uprising.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Welcome home, homegirls and homeboys. After observing all your homesteading in homes away from home, I'm pleased to see you getting curious about the real home brew again. I wonder how many times I'll say the word "home" before you register the message that it's high time for you to home in on some homemade, homegrown homework? Now here's a special note to any of you who may be feeling psychologically homeless or exiled from your spiritual home: the coming weeks will be a favorable time to address that ache and remedy that problem.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
The world is full of eternally restless people who seethe with confused desires they don't understand. Fueled by such unfathomable urges, they are driven in unknown directions to accomplish fuzzy goals. They may be obsessed in ways that make them appear to be highly focused, but the objects of their obsession are impossible to attain or unite with. Those objects don't truly exist! I have described this phenomenon in detail, Gemini, because the coming months will offer you all the help and support you could ever need to make sure you're forever free of any inclination to be like that.
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HOMEWORK:
Name something you could change about yourself that might enhance your love life. 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 2019 Rob Brezsny
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