Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
June 3, 2020
FreeWillAstrology.com
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This devastating moment in history has the redemptive effect of calling forth our deepest longings to care for each other.
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OUR SPIRITUAL WORK INCLUDES ACTIVISM
Dismantling white supremacy and dissolving racism are crucial to our spiritual work.
Those of us who aspire to carry out the bodhisattva vow, who strive to do the Goddess's work, who yearn to create a world in which love is the supreme law, devote ourselves to healing the toxic bigotry that is at the heart of the American experiment.
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Things white people can do in behalf of racial justice: tinyurl.com/y7ou7rkd
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SACRED ACTIVISM
A spirituality that is only private and self-absorbed, one devoid of an authentic political and social consciousness, does little to halt the suicidal juggernaut of history.
On the other hand, an activism that is not purified by profound spiritual and psychological self-awareness and rooted in divine truth, wisdom, and compassion will only perpetuate the problem it is trying to solve, however righteous its intentions.
When, however, the deepest and most grounded spiritual vision is married to a practical and pragmatic drive to transform all existing political, economic and social institutions, a holy force - the power of wisdom and love in action - is born.
This force I define as Sacred Activism.
― Andrew Harvey, The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism
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WHERE YOUR DEEP GLADNESS AND THE WORLD'S DEEP HUNGER MEET
“God calls you to the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet,” writes theologian Frederick Buechner.
You’re free to ignore that call, of course. You can pretend that you don’t really know what brings you deep gladness, and you can act as if the world’s deep hunger is of no concern to you.
But if you hope to be proud of the life you have lived when, many years from now, you shed your mortal coil, you’ll probably at least experiment with using Buechner’s formula as a working hypothesis.
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KEEPING YOUR BODY HEALTHY IS A GIFT TO THE WORLD
Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos—the trees, the clouds, everything.
―Thich Nhat Hanh
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THE LIGHTNING MEDICINE
"No one can give you the lightning-medicine."
—the people who cannot give the lightning-medicine
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THE MIRACULOUS IS CLOSE
Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold.
Death’s great black wing scrapes the air,
Misery gnaws to the bone.
Why then do we not despair?
By day, from the surrounding woods,
cherries blow summer into town;
at night the deep transparent skies
glitter with new galaxies.
And the miraculous comes so close
to the ruined dirty houses—
something not known to anyone at all
But wild in our breast for centuries.
—Anna Akhmatova, “Everything is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold"
(translated by Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayward)
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I WANT EVERYONE TO BE LOVED
The lyrics to my simple song "I Want Everybody"
(Listen to the song: tinyurl.com/WantEverybody)
I want to be free
in the mystery of love
I want to be wild
when the world begins again
I want to wake up and listen
Be in love with my life and death
and I want you to be there with me
I want all the children
to have enough to eat
I want all the angry men
to destroy their own pain
I want us all to be happy
and crazy and safe and real
I want everybody to be loved
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Lots more of my music: soundcloud.com/sacreduproar
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THE GIFT OF ATTENTION
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.
—philosopher and activist Simone Weil
Attention is the natural prayer of the soul.
—philosopher Nicolas Malebranche
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WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO ME
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
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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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Feisty 103-Year-old Grandma Celebrates COVID Recovery By Drinking an Ice Cold Bud Light
tinyurl.com/y7m299xf
Canadian Government Buys Hotels to House Homeless People—And Also Rehire Workers
tinyurl.com/yaf2j3uh
Maasai Nature Conservancy Asks For Help To Fight Pandemic—And 100,000 People Answer
tinyurl.com/yctbal3a
Wear the Cap, Donate the Gown: Student Helps Donate Thousands of Graduation Gowns to Hospitals in Need
tinyurl.com/y8tfztzb
After Weeks of Struggling to Make Ends Meet, Hair Stylist Surprised With $2,500 Tip From Walk-in Customer
tinyurl.com/y9hfrl9u
10-Year-old Gives the Gift of Art to More Than 1,500 Kids in Shelters and Foster Care During Quarantine
tinyurl.com/y9n4lbq2
People Are Installing Portable Hand-Washing Sinks for the Homeless in Cities Across the US
tinyurl.com/yc6dbyrq
Homeschooled 12-Year-old Boy Designs COVID-19 Protection Device – The Safe Touch Pro
tinyurl.com/y78xapew
(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 June 4
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
"It's OK to live a life others don't understand," writes author Jenna Woginrich. That's a healthy attitude for an eccentric person like her, who taught herself by trial and error how to run a small farm with a meager budget while all alone in the middle of nowhere. But does her advice apply to everyone? I say yes, it does. All of us have quirky behaviors and idiosyncratic ideas and odd feelings that other people find hard to understand, let alone appreciate. I bring this to your attention, Gemini, because the coming weeks will be a time when it's best for you to emancipate yourself as much as possible from the need to be perfectly understood as you express your raw, pure, unique self.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
I'm one of the lucky people who has never been addicted to alcohol or drugs. What's the source of my great fortune? Two kinds of grace are key: I suffered no abuse and trauma when I was growing up, and my genetic make-up doesn't predispose me to self-medicate with intoxicants. But I am indeed a bit addicted to other things, like fearful fantasies, sexual feelings, and the urge to win arguments. So I'm blessed in some ways, cursed in others—just like all of us! In honor of our season of introspection, my fellow Cancerian, I invite you to do what I just did: Count your blessings and curses. Doing so will bring you just the right kind of healing.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
"Jacquemus Mini Le Chiquito" is the name of a tiny purse you can buy for $522. It fits into the palm of your hand, and won't hold much—maybe a single-use strand of dental floss, a shoe from a Barbie doll, a snippet of a loved one's hair, an aspirin, maybe a few crumbs from a potato chip. In any case, I don't recommend it for you. You should be surrounding yourself with symbols of capaciousness and roominess. You need influences that inspire you to be a spacious container. It's time for you to welcome and receive an abundance of blessings, inquiries, and invitations.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
"Worry is a way to pretend that you have knowledge or control over what you don’t," writes author Rebecca Solnit. "And it surprises me, even in myself, how much we prefer ugly scenarios to the pure unknown." Your assignment in the coming weeks is to thoroughly incorporate Solnit's wisdom—and then wield it with tender ferocity as you reshape your relationship with the future. See if you can manage, if only for ten days, to fight off and dissolve the reflex to worry. Here's a tip: Any time the agitated fantasy of an ugly scenario rises up in your imagination, remind yourself that it's not objectively true and immediately replace it with a fantasy of a desirable scenario.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Nobel Prize-winning Libran author William Faulkner was asked by a cousin if he was drunk when he dreamed up the imaginative stories and characters in his novels. The truth was that on occasion Faulkner did indeed consume alcohol in excessive amounts. However, he rarely indulged while actually writing. His creative ideas mostly came from his fertile imagination, not an unhinged spirit. In the coming weeks, I hope you will be like Faulkner during the inventive phases he enjoyed while sober and disciplined and driven by focused intention. The astrological omens suggest that's the best recipe for generating original ideas and productive visions.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
"What use is this howling tenderness?" wrote eighth-century Tamil mystic poet Andal. My research on Google reveals that no one has answered her question until now. I decided you would benefit from hearing my response, since you are in a chapter of your life story when howling tenderness could work to your benefit. So here's my counsel: Howling tenderness is useful because it has the power to shatter mysterious barriers that have been at least partially obstructing you from exploring the frontiers of sacred intimacy.
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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 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 explore the hidden patterns and unconscious forces that may be affecting your life without your full 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.
To buy and listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to freewillastrology.sparkns.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
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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 audio horoscopes help me love myself better, and I mean that in a non-narcissistic way."
—Deva P., Indianapolis
"I'm really grateful for the way you pick up my telepathic requests and answer them in your expanded audio 'scopes."
—Marion H., Birmingham, AL
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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield articulates the spiritual medicine I think you should seek in the coming weeks. You especially need it, and by happy coincidence, it's likely to be available. Kornfield writes: "When we have for so long been judged by everyone we meet, just to look into the eyes of another who does not judge us can be extraordinarily healing." I urge you to identify the people who can perform this service for you, then ask them point-blank to perform this service, even if it has to happen over FaceTime or via Zoom. To generate the good karma that will ensure this happens in just the right way, offer to perform the same service for others.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
"The changes we dread most may contain our salvation," writes author Barbara Kingsolver. Although I mostly agree with her conclusion, I'll also suggest that we could come up with less melodramatic versions of it. For example, we might say, "The adjustments we're resisting may actually be healthy." Or "The uncomfortable transitions we're avoiding might ultimately lead to a better version of comfort." Or "The revelations we're attempting to ignore and deny could eventually be the source of relief and release." Do any of these work for you right now, Capricorn? I bet at least one does.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Some people seem to think of sacredness as being pristine and pious—an immaculate and orderly transcendence of earthly concerns. Author and minister Marilyn Sewell has a different perspective. "Who can order the Holy?" she asks. "It is like a rain forest, dripping, lush, fecund, wild. We enter its abundance at our peril, for here we are called to the wholeness for which we long, but which requires all we are and can hope to be." I recommend Sewell's version of holiness to you in the coming weeks, Aquarius. You're primed to upgrade and deepen your sacred lust for life.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
When Europeans arrived in the New World, the Iroquois Confederacy in what's now northeastern North American had been practicing participatory democracy for 350 years. The visionary principles of these native people ultimately influenced the formation of the United States and its Constitution. Now would be a good time for you to be inspired by these facts. How? You could draw teachings from the past and use them to create your future. You could study the perspectives of indigenous people and incorporate their wisdom into the way you live your life. You could tune in to and explore the traditions of people you respect and adopt them for your own use.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Aries poet Paul Verlaine wrote "Autumn Song" in 1866. It became a well-known French poem, and eventually played a role in a historical turning point. In June 1944, a top-secret British spy organization used the poem as a code to communicate crucial information to the French Resistance, via BBC radio, about the allies' upcoming D-Day invasion of Normandy. In the spirit of poetry being used to accomplish practical actions, I'm now sending out a burst of code to you, Aries. It's adapted from another poem by Verlaine: "Delight in good-omened fortune, baptized by the bristling scents of mint, thyme, and clover on the wind of dawn." Regard this as a signal for you to acquire a necessary resource, strengthen connections with key allies, and intensify your current quest.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Taurus philosopher Bertrand Russell observed, "The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play the largest part and the possessive impulses the smallest." That is always an important principle for everyone to embrace, in my opinion. But it will be an especially essential truth for you in the coming weeks. Your creative powers will thrive, even soar and generate blessings, to the degree that you downplay and outwit your possessive inclinations.
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HOMEWORK:
What's your favorite thing to do when you're alone? Testify: 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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