Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
May 13, 2020
FreeWillAstrology.com
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Dear Readers:
For years, my column "Free Will Astrology" has been published in alternative newsweeklies all over North America.
From City Pages in Minneapolis to The Stranger in Seattle to Creative Loafing in Tampa to Now in Toronto—and more than 100 other newspapers—these vibrant sources of local journalism have paid me actual money to print my horoscopes.
I've been very lucky! Their support of my work has been instrumental in me being able to become the person I want to be.
But I'm sad to report that our Global Healing Crisis has financially devastated the alternative newsweeklies. They've lost much of their ad revenue from restaurants, gyms, nightclubs, and cultural institutions. Some papers have shut down. Others are now publishing online only, no longer in hard copy. Virtually all have furloughed workers.
I decided early in the pandemic that I wanted to help out the newspapers that have helped me thrive. I told them all that they could publish "Free Will Astrology" for free during the months of April and May.
While I'm glad I made that move, it means my income has been drastically reduced. Is this a permanent situation? I don't know. The hope is that I will begin getting paid again by July, but if the newsweeklies' predicament remains intense, I will extend my free offer to them.
It's also possible that the crisis won't abate for months, and that some newspapers will close forever. Even in a best-case scenario, wherein most of them re-open, I'll charge them reduced rates.
Solutions? There are several I can think of. They're listed below. If you have other ideas, please let me know at Truthrooster@gmail.com.
1. Visit my Gift Page — paypal.me/GiftsForRob — and contribute to me now and then via the "Friends and Family" option.
2. Commit to offering me a regular donation through my Patreon page at Patreon.com/FreeWillAstrology
3. Send checks or cash to me at P.O. Box 4400, San Rafael, CA 94913.
4. Buy my Expanded Audio Horoscopes and/or Daily Text Message Horoscopes. Go here: RealAstrology.com
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P.S.: No pressure, though! I understand that some of you don't have enough money yourself, and it wouldn't make sense for you to give some to me.
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WHY IS EVERYTHING SO GORGEOUS?
why is everything
so gorgeous
this bogus dream
this lunacy why?
—Zen monk and poet Ikkyū
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I LEFT MY NUMBER EVERYWHERE
Call me. I have left my number
everywhere. I want to know
how this story turns out
—Eleanor Lerman
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QUESTIONS FOR YOU
What feeling or experience do you want more than anything else?
What's the best way to serve the mission you came to Earth to carry out?
What are the best gifts you have to offer?
How might you need to change in order to get what you want and carry out your life's mission?
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YOUR ANCESTORS ASKED ME TO TELL YOU
Your ancestors asked me to tell you the following: "Call on your ingenuity and imagination as you learn to love everyone even more than you ever have before. It's a great tonic for your mental health and your future dreams."
"Your ancestors also mentioned that although the Bible has a lot of irrelevant nonsense in it, there is some good stuff, including this: 'Don't neglect to show kindness to strangers; for, in this way, some, without knowing it, have had angels as their guests.'"
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I AM BUSY
I am busy
today and tomorrow
and next week
and for as long as it takes
struggling to change
the way my eyes work,
learning to peel away
the memories that
make me blind
to the science light of the fairies
and the dark love sparks
firing in our brains
and the luminous dreams
of PARADISE NOW
shrouded in my blood and yours.
I want to see all those things!
I want you to see all those things!
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Today and always
I am fidgeting
finagling
finessing
as I kill off
the dull decayed shock
that blocks me
from finding and speaking
the magic words
that got lost
inside my old misunderstanding
of death.
I don't misunderstand any more!
But it's taking me
longer than I thought
to fix the glitch.
Hard work!
Unwavering effort!
I'm fighting,
exultant and relentless,
to dismantle the buffers
that make me half-deaf
to the hum of the planets
and the thrum of the rivers
and the music of your ripe longing.
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I am grappling and scrapping
with my self-appointed censors—
LET GO, IDIOTS!—
so I can hear again
the pre-verbal prayers
chanted to me in the crib
by the helpers
with kaleidoscope lyrics
woven in their wings.
I am yearning and pleading
for the animals to teach me
the mysteries of their ordeals and joys
in their own language,
not mine.
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Now and forever
I am frantic
to disgorge the machine stories
that trick my empathy
into falling asleep
with their fake blood and explosions
with their digitally rendered sobs
and pretend suffering.
Because OF COURSE!!!
I want to sear
the real sobs and suffering,
the true blood and explosions,
into my blasphemous quest
for reverent justice
my rowdy, rumbling quest
for sacred justice
not just for myself
but for all seekers
of the gods' everlasting flux wonder.
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RIGHTS OF PERSONHOOD FOR RIVERS AND WILD RICE
According to United States law, a corporation is regarded and treated as a person. There is even a legal term, "corporate personhood," that ensures corporations have the same rights as an individual.
In recent years, indigenous North American tribes have joined the international Rights of Nature movement, whose goal is to protect certain natural features by granting them the "rights of personhood."
The Yurok of Northwestern California hope to reverse the human damage done to the Klamath River, and thereby preserve the health of the salmon that live there. These people have designated the Klamath as having the full rights of personhood.
In Northwestern Minnesota, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe has made a similar move, granting personhood status to manoomin, or wild rice.
The tribe's resolution asserts that the wild rice has “inherent rights to restoration, recovery and preservation,” including “the right to pure water and freshwater habitat,” the right to a healthy climate and “a natural environment free from human cause global warming.”
What natural feature would be your first choice for gaining the right of personhood?
More: tinyurl.com/RightsOfPersonhood
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THIS WORLD IS ASTONISHING
When poet Wislawa Szymborska delivered her speech for winning the Nobel Prize, she said that "whatever else we might think of this world—it is astonishing." She added that for a poet, there really is no such thing as the "ordinary world," "ordinary life," and "the ordinary course of events."
In fact, "Nothing is usual or normal. Not a single stone and not a single cloud above it. Not a single day and not a single night after it. And above all, not a single existence, not anyone's existence in this world."
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FEAR CAN BE USEFUL
Rebecca Solnit is writing about our Global Healing Crisis in ways I love. (She's at facebook.com/rebecca.solnit)
Jason Hine is another author doing that. He has become one of my favorites.
Here's an excerpt from one of Jason's recent posts (and I recommend reading the entire thing):
It's ok to be afraid: fear is a necessary helpful preparatory emotion when it is titrated and deeply rooted in the body.
Somatically integrate fear, and fear will become an ally of your readiness and responsiveness.
Love is important too, but don't fall for that child like regressive application of the mantra "always choose love over fear" to every circumstance.
Read all of Jason Hine's post: tinyurl.com/JasonHine
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
The pandemic brings us a lot of bad news, but we shouldn't neglect to also notice the good news:
Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimated to Fall by 8% in 2020—the Largest Recorded Drop in History
tinyurl.com/ydxwtdmj
Survey Finds Working From Home Has So Many Benefits, 48% of Workers Would Take Pay Cut to Continue
tinyurl.com/yapf2nd8
Kroger Buys and Redirects Dairy Farmers’ Excess Milk, Sending 50,000 Gallons Per Month to Food Banks
tinyurl.com/yaxwpm7x
California Will Start Paying Restaurants To Deliver Food to Seniors in Need
tinyurl.com/yceo3u76
Portugal Preparing Several Billion-dollar Clean Energy Projects for Post-Coronavirus Future
tinyurl.com/y8fw9e8a
Banksy Drops Off Superhero Nurse Artwork at Hospital in UK With a Thank You Note
tinyurl.com/ybt9qawb
Britain’s Best Gardening Couple Outdo Themselves With Spring Spectacular After Spending Lockdown Tending Their Oasis
tinyurl.com/ycy7g3ru
Lowe‘s Sends Mother’s Day Love to Isolated Seniors With $1 Million in Flower Baskets Delivered From Local Growers
tinyurl.com/yde63dvg
Irish People Are Repaying Debt of Gratitude to Suffering Native Americans 170 Years After Potato Famine
tinyurl.com/y8jl859q
Nike Donates Tens of Thousands of Shoes They Designed Exclusively for Healthcare Workers
tinyurl.com/yd2597q2
Landlord Hands Over His Family’s Stimulus Check to His 13 Tenants So They Could Save on Rent
tinyurl.com/yd7d632k
This Gym Helping Its Members Stay Sober in Quarantine is Now Helping Addicts Around the World as Well
tinyurl.com/ya54ozdm
Anonymous Donor Gives $1 Million Gift to Hospital So It Can Be Divided Between Every Single Employee
tinyurl.com/y8j9sry4
Italians Turn Old Tradition of Charitable Giving into Modern COVID Response With ‘Suspended Shopping
tinyurl.com/ycdh3ju2
(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 May 14
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Of all the signs, Tauruses are among the least likely to be egomaniacs. Most of you aren't inclined to indulge in fits of braggadocio or outbreaks of narcissism. (I just heard one of my favorite virtuoso Taurus singers say she wasn't a very good singer!) That's why one of my secret agendas is to tell you how gorgeous you are, to nudge you to cultivate the confidence and pride you deserve to have. Are you ready to leap to a higher octave of self-love? I think so. In the coming weeks, please use Taurus artist Salvador Dali's boast as your motto: "There comes a moment in every person's life when they realize they adore me."
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
When I was young, I had a fun-filled fling with a smart Gemini woman who years later became a highly praised author and the authorized biographer of a Nobel Prize-winning writer. Do I regret our break-up? Am I sorry I never got to enjoy her remarkable success up close? No. As amazing as she was and is, we wouldn't have been right for each other long-term. I am content with the brief magic we created together, and have always kept her in my fond thoughts with gratitude and the wish for her to thrive. Now I invite you to do something comparable to what I just did, Gemini: Make peace with your past. Send blessings to the people who helped make you who you are. Celebrate what has actually happened in your life, and graduate forever from what might have happened but didn't.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
"You have two ways to live your life, from memory or from inspiration," writes teacher Joe Vitale. Many of you Cancerians favor memory over inspiration to provide their primary motivation. That's not necessarily a bad thing, although it can be a problem if you become so obsessed with memory that you distract yourself from creating new developments in your life story. But in accordance with astrological potentials and the exigencies of our Global Healing Crisis, I urge you, in the coming weeks, to mobilize yourself through a balance of memory and inspiration. I suspect you'll be getting rich opportunities to both rework the past and dream up a future full of interesting novelty. In fact, those two imperatives will serve each other well.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Author Anne Lamott has some crucial advice for you to heed in the coming weeks. "Even when we’re most sure that love can’t conquer all," she says, "it seems to anyway. It goes down into the rat hole with us, in the guise of our friends, and there it swells and comforts. It gives us second winds, third winds, hundredth winds." I hope you'll wield this truth as your secret magic in the coming weeks, Leo. Regard love not just as a sweet emotion that makes you feel good, but as a superpower that can accomplish practical miracles.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Theologian St. Catherine of Siena observed, "To a brave person, good and bad luck are like her left and right hand. She uses both." The funny thing is, Virgo, that in the past you have sometimes been more adept and proactive in using your bad luck, and less skillful at capitalizing on your good luck. But from what I can tell, this curious problem has been diminishing for you in 2020—and will continue to do so. I expect that in the coming weeks, you will welcome and harness your good luck with brisk artistry.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
"I’m curious about everything, except what people have to say about me," says actor Sarah Jessica Parker. I think that's an excellent strategy for you to adopt in the coming weeks. On the one hand, the whole world will be exceptionally interesting, and your ability to learn valuable lessons and acquire useful information will be at peak. On the other hand, one of the keys to getting the most out of the wealth of catalytic influences will be to cultivate nonchalance about people's opinions of you.
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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 RealAstrology.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 on the On the Web. (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 horoscopes get more personal and intimate with me than some of my closest friends. Thanks for the loving reflections."
- Ari S., Ann Arbor, MI
"When I listen to your audio 'scopes, my free will lights up." - Alex D., Los Angeles
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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
On the kids' TV show Sesame Street, there's a muppet character named Count von Count. He's a friendly vampire who loves to count things. He is 6,523,730 years old and his favorite number is 34,969—the square root of 187. The Count was "born" on November 13, 1972, when he made his first appearance on the show, which means he's a Scorpio. I propose we make him your patron saint for the next four weeks. It's an excellent time to transform any threatening qualities you might seem to have into harmless and cordial forms of expression. It's also a favorable phase for you to count your blessings and make plans that will contribute to your longevity.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
"No one ever found wisdom without also being a fool," writes novelist Erica Jong. "Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great," says singer Cher. "He dares to be a fool, and that is the first step in the direction of wisdom," declared art critic James Huneker. "Almost all new ideas have a certain aspect of foolishness when they are first produced," observed philosopher Alfred North Whitehead. According to my analysis of astrological omens, you're primed to prove these theories, Sagittarius. Congratulations!
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
"Few people have a treasure," writes Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro. She's speaking metaphorically, of course—not referring to a strongbox full of gold and jewels. But I'm happy to inform you that if you don't have a treasure, the coming months will be a favorable time to find or create it. So I'm putting you on a High Alert for Treasure. I urge you to be receptive to and hungry for it. And if you are one of those rare lucky ones who already has a treasure, I'm happy to say that you now have the power and motivation to appreciate it even more and learn how to make even better use of it. Whether you do or don't yet have the treasure, heed these further words from Alice Munro: "You must hang onto it. You must not let yourself be waylaid, and have it taken from you."
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
At this moment, there are 50 trillion cells in your body, and each of them is a sentient being in its own right. They act together as a community, consecrating you with their astonishing collaboration. It's like magic! Here's an amazing fact: Just as you communicate with dogs and cats and other animals, you can engage in dialogs with your cells. The coming weeks will be a ripe time to explore this phenomenon. Is there anything you'd like to say to the tiny creatures living in your stomach or lungs? Any information you'd love to receive from your heart or your sex organs? If you have trouble believing this is a real possibility, imagine and pretend. And have fun!
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
"A myriad of modest delights constitute happiness," wrote poet Charles Baudelaire. I think that definition will serve you well in the coming weeks, Pisces. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, there won't be spectacular breakthroughs barging into your life; I expect no sublime epiphanies or radiant transformations. On the other hand, there'll be a steady stream of small marvels if you're receptive to such a possibility. Here's key advice: Don't miss the small wonders because you're expecting and wishing for bigger splashes.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
During a pandemic, is it possible to spread the news about your talents and offerings? Yes! That's why I suggest you make sure that everyone who should know about you does indeed know about you. To mobilize your efforts and stimulate your imagination, I came up with colorful titles for you to use to describe yourself on your résumé or in promotional materials or during conversations with potential helpers. 1. Fire-Maker 2. Seed-Sower 3. Brisk Instigator 4. Hope Fiend 5. Gap Leaper 6. Fertility Aficionado 7. Gleam Finder 8. Launch Catalyst 9. Chief Improviser 10. Change Artist
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HOMEWORK:
What has been your favorite lesson during our Global Healing Crisis? 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 2020 Rob Brezsny
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