Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
October 30, 2019
FreeWillAstrology.com
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People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. When I look at a sunset, I don't find myself saying, "Soften the orange a bit on the right hand corner." I don't try to control a sunset. I watch with awe as it unfolds.
― Carl R. Rogers
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CHANGING OUR MEMORIES
"We should not think of our past as definitely settled, for we are not a stone or a tree," wrote poet Czeslaw Milosz. "My past changes every minute according to the meaning given it now, in this moment.”
So, yes, you have the power to re-vision and reinterpret your past. Keep the following question in mind as you go about your work: "How can I recreate my history so as to make my willpower stronger, my love of life more intense, and my future more interesting?"
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THE LOVE AFFAIR WITH LIFE
The great affair, the love affair with life, is to live as variously as possible, to groom one's curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred, climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sunstruck hills every day.
—Diane Ackerman
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I'm an Earth ecstatic, and my creed is simple: All life is sacred, life loves life, and we are capable of improving our behavior toward one another.
—Diane Ackerman
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"Ecstasy is what everyone craves—not love or sex, but a hot-blooded, soaring intensity, in which being alive is a joy and a thrill. That enravishment doesn't give meaning to life, and yet without it life seems meaningless.
—Diane Ackerman
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CITIZEN OF DARK TIMES
Agenda in a time of fear: Be not afraid.
When things go wrong, do right.
Set out by the half-light of the seeker.
For the well-lit problem begins to heal.
Learn tropism toward the difficult.
We have not arrived to explain, but to sing.
Young idealism ripens into an ethical life.
Prune back regret to let faith grow.
When you hit rock bottom, dig farther down.
Grief is the seed of singing, shame the seed of song.
Keep seeing what you are not saying.
Plunder your reticence.
Songbird guards a twig, its only weapon a song.
—Kim Stafford
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CHANGING OUR MINDS
Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
—George Bernard Shaw
The person who never alters their 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 that can't 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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CHANGING OUR SHADOWS
Let's explode memories
and leap out of
yesterday's shadows,
lucid as they may be
Let's unanticipate the future
and answer all the torturous riddles
with deliriously simple YESes
Let's break the sky mirrors
and unsing the national anthems
and refuse the fake medicine
Let's change into light
that can neither be killed nor predicted
Let's forget every dance move
unless we learned it
in last night's dreams
Let's get invaded
by the only sunbeams
that know our true names
and let's be feasted on
by images erupting
from the center of the Earth
We will prevail
over our former glories
We will vanquish
the stories
that believe in us
more than we believe in them
No river will be able
to tell us who we are
No wind will have the power
to trap us with promises
No love will survive
unless it's reinvented right now
No reverence
will have any right
to enchant us
unless we feel it
in our bodies
for the very first time
—by me
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REGENERATING OUR SOULS
Here's an excerpt of a letter I wrote to America's richest woman, Oprah Winfrey.
"Dear Oprah," I began. "Please buy up all the Pizza Huts and convert them into a network of Menstrual Huts. Create 10,000 or 100,000 local neighborhood sanctuaries where women can retreat while they're in the throes of their monthly appointment with dying and purification—or any time they need a break from the tyranny of the clock.
"Let the men come, too. They need sabbaticals. We're all desperate for a regular chance to drop out of the crazy-making grind, to find respite from civilizations' crimes against the rhythms of sleep and love and play.
"Men may actually need the Menstrual Huts even more than women. They mistakenly imagine that they can drive themselves on and on and on. Their poor bodies don't have a built-in menstrual mechanism to cyclically slow them down. And so they mostly never stop to peer into the heart of their own darkness. Which is why so many of them tend to find evil everywhere else except in themselves, and fight it everywhere else except in themselves.
"Just a theory to consider: If men got a chance to have periodic breakdowns and negotiate in a safe place with the toxic feelings that just naturally build up inside everyone over time, maybe they wouldn't wreak so much havoc out in the world. Maybe Menstrual Huts would save the world."
My letter to Oprah went on for two more pages, but you get the gist. She has not yet responded to my plea.
In the meantime, I suggest that anyone who's interested create their own local Moon Lodges and Menstrual Huts. Here's a list of self-inquiries that could help to guide the time in the sanctuary.
1. What feelings and intuitions have you been trying to ignore lately?
2. Which parts of your life are overdue for death?
3. What messages has life been trying to convey to you but which you've chosen to ignore?
4. What red herrings, straw men, and scapegoats have you chased after obsessively in order to avoid dissolving your most well-rationalized delusions?
5. What unripe parts of yourself are you most ashamed or fearful of? How can you give those parts more ingenious love?
6. What parts of yourself have the least integrity and don't act in harmony with what you regard as your highest values? How can you bring them into alignment with your true desires?
7. Is it possible that in repressing things about yourself that you don't like, you have also disowned potentially strong and beautiful aspects of yourself? What are they?
8. Are those really flaws that are bugging you about the people whose destinies are entwined with yours, or just incompletely developed talents? Are those really flaws that are bugging you about yourself, or merely incompletely developed talents?
9. Some people try to deny their portion of the world's darkness and project it onto individuals or groups they dislike. Others acknowledge its power so readily that they allow themselves to be overwhelmed by it. We believe in taking an in-between position, accepting it as an unworked gift that can serve our liberation. Where do you stand?
10. It's easy to see fanaticism, rigidity, and intolerance in other people, but harder to acknowledge them in yourself. Do you dare?
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SACRED UPROAR
If you'd maybe like to see me perform my pagan revival show "Sacred Uproar," but aren't sure whether you want to commit to an entire evening, here's a ten-minute sample:
tinyurl.com/RevivalShow
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May sound and light
not rise up and appear as enemies,
may I know all sound as my own sound,
may I know all light as my own light,
may I spontaneously know all phenomena as myself,
may I realize original nature,
not fabricated by mind,
emptynaked awareness.
—John Giorno
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Bacteria contradict Darwin: "Survival of the friendliest" outweighs "survival of the fittest" for groups of bacteria. Bacteria make space for one another and sacrifice properties if it benefits the bacterial community as a whole.
tinyurl.com/y3rckvpf
CEO Who Cut His Own Salary Gives New Employees Immediate $10K Raise, with $30K to Follow: tinyurl.com/y2tu5x9q
What Baltimore Gets Right about Urban Trees. While other cities plant trees, Baltimore has focused on monitoring and maintaining the ones it already has—and is one of the few cities whose urban forest is expanding.
tinyurl.com/y3nokzwt
(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 31
Copyright 2019 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
In his novel Zone One, Scorpio author Colson Whitehead writes, "A monster is a person who has stopped pretending." He means it in the worst sense possible: the emergence of the ugly beast who had been hiding behind social niceties. But I'm going to twist his meme for my own purposes. I propose that when you stop pretending and shed fake politeness, you may indeed resemble an ugly monster—but only temporarily. After the suppressed stuff gets free rein to yammer, it will relax and recede—and you will feel so cleansed and relieved that you'll naturally be able to express more of your monumental beauty. Halloween costume suggestion: your beautiful, fully exorcised monster.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
"I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice," testified poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. "Had I abided by it, I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes." This is excellent advice for you. I suspect you're in the midst of either committing or learning from a valuable mistake. It's best if you don't interrupt yourself! Halloween costume suggestion: the personification or embodiment of your valuable mistake.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Cleopatra was an ancient Egyptian queen who ruled for 21 years. She was probably a Capricorn. All you need to know about her modern reputation is that Kim Kardashian portrayed her as a sultry seductress in a photo spread in a fashion magazine. But the facts are that Cleopatra was a well-educated, multilingual political leader with strategic cunning. Among her many skills were poetry, philosophy, and mathematics. I propose we make the REAL Cleopatra your role model. Now is an excellent time to correct people's misunderstandings about you—and show people who you truly are. Halloween costume suggestion: your actual authentic self.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Around the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the eleventh sign of the zodiac, Aquarius, will be capable of strenuous feats; will have the power to achieve a success that surpasses past successes; will be authorized to attempt a brave act of transcendence that renders a long-standing limitation irrelevant. As for the eleven days and eleven hours before that magic hour, the eleventh sign of the zodiac will be smart to engage in fierce meditation and thorough preparation for the magic hour. And as for the eleven days and eleven hours afterward, the eleventh sign should expend all possible effort to capitalize on the semi-miraculous breakthrough. Halloween costume suggestion: eleven.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Author Robert Musil made a surprising declaration: "A number of flawed individuals can often add up to a brilliant social unit." I propose we make that one of your mottoes for the coming months. I think you have the potential to be a flawed but inspiring individual who'll serve as a dynamic force in assembling and nurturing a brilliant social unit. So let me ask you: what would be your dream-come-true of a brilliant social unit that is a fertile influence on you and everyone else in the unit? Halloween costume suggestion: ringleader, mastermind, orchestrator, or general.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Do you have any skill in fulfilling the wishes and answering the prayers of your allies? Have you developed a capacity to tune in to what people want even when they themselves aren't sure of what they want? Do you sometimes have a knack for offering just the right gesture at the right time to help people do what they haven't been able to do under their own power? If you possess any of those aptitudes, now is an excellent time to put them in play. More than usual, you are needed as a catalyst, a transformer, an inspirational influence. Halloween costume suggestion: angel, fairy godmother, genie, benefactor.
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ARE YOU THE HERO OF YOUR OWN LIFE?
"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." So begins Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield.
I'd like to inspire you to create a story of your own that begins with similar words. That's why I provide these free horoscopes for you.
If you'd ever enjoy getting even more assistance from me, tune into your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE, which I create for you each week. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.
To buy and listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to freewillastrology.sparkns.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888.
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The cost is $6 per sign. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.) You can also access them for $1.99 per minute by phone. Each forecast is 4-5 minutes long.
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"Your Expanded Audio Horoscopes provide me with the Rest of the Story. I'm not necessarily a believer in the scientific accuracy of astrology, but I do think you've got a lot of practical wisdom to impart."
- M. Tennenbaum, New York
"No one knows more about me than me. But you're right up there near the top of the list of people who do understand something about how I tick. How is that possible?"
- R. Goren, Albuquerque
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TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Author Amy Tan describes the magic moment when her muse appears and takes command: "I sense a subtle shift, a nudge to move over, and everything cracks open, the writing is freed, the language is full, resources are plentiful, ideas pour forth, and to be frank, some of these ideas surprise me. It seems as though the universe is my friend and is helping me write, its hand over mine." Even if you're not a creative artist, Taurus, I suspect you'll be offered intense visitations from a muse in the coming days. If you make yourself alert for and receptive to these potential blessings, you'll feel like you're being guided and fueled by a higher power. Halloween costume suggestion: your muse.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
More than a century ago, author Anton Chekhov wrote, "If many remedies are prescribed for an illness, you may be certain that the illness has no cure." Decades later, I wrote, "If you're frantically trying to heal yourself with a random flurry of half-assed remedies, you'll never cure what ails you. But if you sit still in a safe place and ask your inner genius to identify the one or two things you need to do to heal, you will find the cure." Halloween costume suggestion: physician, nurse, shaman, healer.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Cancerian artist Marc Chagall (1887–1985) was a playful visionary and a pioneer of modernism. He appealed to sophisticates despite being described as a dreamy, eccentric outsider who invented his own visual language. In the 1950s, Picasso observed that Chagall was one of the only painters who "understood what color really is." In 2017, one of Chagall's paintings sold for $28.5 million. What was the secret to his success? "If I create from the heart, nearly everything works," he testified. "If from the head, almost nothing." Your current assignment, Cancerian, is to authorize your heart to rule everything you do. Halloween costume suggestion: a heart.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
The Dead Sea, on the border of Jordan and Israel, is far saltier than the ocean. No fish or frogs live in it. But here and there on the lake's bottom are springs that exude fresh water. They support large, diverse communities of microbes. It's hard for divers to get down there and study the life forms, though. The water's so saline, they tend to float. So they carry 90 pounds of ballast that enables them to sink to the sea floor. I urge you to get inspired by all this, Leo. What would be the metaphorical equivalent for you of descending into the lower depths so as to research unexplored sources of vitality and excitement? Halloween costume suggestions: diver, spelunker, archaeologist.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
"We have stripped all things of their mystery and luminosity," lamented psychologist Carl Jung. "Nothing is holy any longer." In accordance with current astrological omens, Virgo, your assignment is to rebel against that mournful state of affairs. I hope you will devote some of your fine intelligence to restoring mystery and luminosity to the world in which you dwell. I hope you will find and create holiness that's worthy of your reverence and awe. Halloween costume suggestion: mage, priestess, poet, enchantrix, witch, alchemist, sacramentalist.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
"One language is never enough," says a Pashto proverb. How could it be, right? Each language has a specific structure and a finite vocabulary that limit its power to describe and understand the world. I think the same is true for religion: one is never enough. Why confine yourself to a single set of theories about spiritual matters when more will enable you to enlarge and deepen your perspective? With this in mind, Libra, I invite you to regard November as "One Is Never Enough Month" for you. Assume you need more of everything. Halloween costume suggestion: a bilingual Jewish Santa Claus; a pagan Sufi Buddha who intones prayers in three different languages.
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HOMEWORK:
"Be homesick for wild knowing," wrote Clarissa Pinkola Estés. Try that out. Report results to 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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