Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter July 29, 2020

 Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
 July 29, 2020
 FreeWillAstrology.com

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UNCONDITIONAL, by Jennifer Welwood

Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;
Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within;

Opening to my loss,
I gain the embrace of the universe;
Surrendering into emptiness,
I find fullness without end.

Each condition I flee from pursues me.
Each condition I welcome transforms me
And becomes itself transformed
Into its radiant jewel-­like essence.

I bow to the one who has made it so,
Who has crafted this Master Game;
To play it is pure delight,
To honor its form -- true devotion.

- by psychotherapist Jennifer Welwood

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EVERY PERSON YOU MEET

"Every person you meet should be regarded as one of the walking wounded. We have never seen a man or woman not slightly deranged by either anxiety or grief. We have never seen a totally sane human being."

—Robert Anton Wilson

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FEAST DAY

Last week I celebrated the feast day of my beloved heroine, Mary Magdalene. I wrote about her extensively in my book The Televisionary Oracle. Here's a passage from the book:

Mary Magdalene was the visionary consort of Jesus Christ. Not a penitent prostitute, as the Christian church later distorted her in an attempt to undermine the radical implications of their divine marriage. Not an obeisant groupie who mindlessly surrendered her will to the man-god.

On the contrary. Magdalene was Christ's partner, his equal. More than that, she was his joker, his wild card: his secret weapon. They worshiped the divine in each other. So say the ancient texts of our mystery school.

But you need not believe the secret texts to guess the truth. Even the manual of the Christian church itself, as scoured of the truth as it is, strongly hints at Magdalene's majesty.

While all the male disciples disappeared during the crucifixion, she was there with Christ. While the twelve male disciples were cowering in defeated chaos, she was the first to find the empty tomb. Jesus appeared to her first after his resurrection; she was the first to be called by him to the mission of apostle.

The Gnostic texts from Nag Hammadi, discovered in 1947, reveal even more of their relationship, which violated all the social norms of their time. She was a confidante, a lover, an Apostle above all the other Apostles.

Jesus called her the "Woman Who Knew the All," and said she would rule in the coming Kingdom of Light. Even an early Christian father, Origen, helped propagate these truths, calling her immortal, and maintaining that she had lived since the beginning of time.

From the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas:

When you make the two one, and when you make
the inside like the outside and the outside
like the inside, and the above like the below
and the below like the above, and when you make
the male like the female and the female like the
male, then you will enter the Kingdom.

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Personal - by Tony Hoagland:

"Don’t take it personal," they said;
but I did, I took it all quite personal—

the breeze and the river and the color of the fields;
the price of grapefruit and stamps,

the wet hair of women in the rain—
And I cursed what hurt me

and I praised what gave me joy,
the most simple-minded of possible responses.

The government reminded me of my father,
with its deafness and its laws,

and the weather reminded me of my mom,
with her tropical squalls.

"Enjoy it while you can," they said of Happiness
"Think first," they said of Talk

"Get over it," they said
at the School of Broken Hearts

but I couldn’t and I didn’t and I don’t
believe in the clean break;

I believe in the compound fracture
served with a sauce of dirty regret,

I believe in saying it all
and taking it all back

and saying it again for good measure
while the air fills up with "I’m-Sorries"

like wheeling birds
and the trees look seasick in the wind.

Oh life! Can you blame me
for making a scene?

You were that yellow caboose, the moon
disappearing over a ridge of cloud.

I was the dog, chained in some fool’s backyard;
barking and barking:

trying to convince everything else
to take it personal too.

—Tony Hoagland

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REAL MAGIC

I'm not a major fan of occultist Aleister Crowley, but I appreciate some of his ideas. His definition of magic is pure and true: "the Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with will."

He wasn't simply referring to the esoteric transformations attempted by wizards and witches wielding spells and conjurations. He meant anyone who seeks to make practical shifts in his or her life.

Let's say you grew up conditioned to feel shame about behavior there's no good reason to feel shame about, and you resolve to do whatever it takes to dissolve that shame, and you succeed in doing it. That's magic.

Or maybe you no longer want to attract bad listeners and flaky collaborators into your sphere, and you promise yourself you will alter that pattern, and you ultimately achieve your goal. That's magic, too.

One other example: You decide you want to be a skilled songwriter, and spend years learning to play an instrument, analyzing the songs you love in order to understand how they're constructed, and cultivating your creativity. That's magic at work.

I invite you to offer an example or two of your own magic skills.

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SHOULD I CARE?

I consulted my spirit guides to ask if i should give a f*#%. They said, "Hell, yes."
More: tinyurl.com/y29f54fu

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OBJECTIVE REPORT ON POLICE BRUTALITY

On his recent TV show, John Oliver turned his attention to police brutality against protesters who oppose police brutality. He explained how white supremacy is baked into local law enforcement, whose roots involve returning runaways to slavery.

Today, police officers armed with billion-dollar budgets and military-grade weaponry are not only trained to believe that they are at war with the people they’re meant to protect, but they’re also tasked with what Oliver described as a “massive array of complicated duties that they aren’t equipped to handle, making them very much the Jared Kushners of local officials.”

He further described the obstacles to law enforcement reform, like qualified immunity and police unions.

Watch: tinyurl.com/BrutalityCops

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CHAOS IS ORDER

"Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds."
—George Santayana

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THE MAD KING

Fairy tale: A mass psychosis grips the land, as millions of broken souls channel their inner Mad King. They are inflamed by the actual Mad King, who regularly splatters toxic drivel and delivers delusional decrees that poison the dreams of his subjects.

Does the Mad King intend to spread literal death and destruction? Is it his conscious purpose to maim his victims' love of life? Only the trickster gods know.

The disintegration can't go on forever. Once upon a future time, it will collapse in a crash of chaos.

Those who aren't under his berserk spell—and there are many—are already rebuilding amidst the ever-growing ruins.
 

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

High-School All-Girl, All-Genius Robotics Team Creates Mobile Ventilator to Help Afghanistan’s Covid-19 Efforts
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Charitable Donors in U.S. Give Record Amount, As Support Surges in First 6 Months of 2020
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Jewish People Who Have Recovered From COVID Have Donated Half of All the Plasma Used in US Treatments
tinyurl.com/yyf2mgvp
 

(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 30

Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
 

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

"Notice what no one else notices and you'll know what no one else knows," says actor Tim Robbins. That's perfect counsel for you right now, Leo. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, your perceptiveness will be at a peak in the coming weeks. You'll have an ability to discern half-hidden truths that are invisible to everyone else. You'll be aggressive in scoping out what most people don't even want to become aware of. Take advantage of your temporary superpower! Use it to get a lucid grasp of the big picture—and cultivate a more intelligent approach than those who are focused on the small picture and the comfortable delusions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

"Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else," wrote playwright Tom Stoppard. That's ripe advice for you to meditate on during the coming weeks. You're in a phase of your astrological cycle when every exit can indeed be an entrance somewhere else—but only if you believe in that possibility and are alert for it. So please dissolve your current assumptions about the current chapter of your life story so that you can be fully open to new possibilities that could become available.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

"One must think with the body and the soul or not think at all," wrote Libran author and historian Hannah Arendt. She implied that thinking only with the head may spawn monsters and demons. Mere conceptualization is arid and sterile if not interwoven with the wisdom of the soul and the body's earthy intuitions. Ideas that are untempered by feelings and physical awareness can produce poor maps of reality. In accordance with astrological omens, I ask you to meditate on these empowering suggestions. Make sure that as you seek to understand what's going on, you draw on all your different kinds of intelligence.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

"I always wanted to be commander-in-chief of my one-woman army," says singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco. I think that goal is within sight for you, Scorpio. Your power over yourself has been increasing lately. Your ability to manage your own moods and create your own sweet spots and define your own fate is as robust as I have seen it in a while. What do you plan to do with your enhanced dominion? What special feats might you attempt? Are there any previously impossible accomplishments that may now be possible?

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Your meditation for the coming weeks comes to you courtesy of author and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. "We can never have enough of nature," he wrote. "We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic features, the sea-coast with its wrecks, the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, the thunder cloud, and the rain which lasts three weeks and produces freshets. We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander." Oh, how I hope you will heed Thoreau's counsel, Sagittarius. You would really benefit from an extended healing session amidst natural wonders. Give yourself the deep pleasure of exploring what wildness means to you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Author and activist bell hooks (who doesn't capitalize her name) has taught classes at numerous American universities. She sometimes writes about her experiences there, as in the following passage. "My students tell me, 'we don't want to love! We're tired of being loving!' And I say to them, if you're tired of being loving, then you haven't really been loving, because when you are loving you have more strength." I wanted you to know her thoughts, Capricorn, because I think you're in a favorable position to demonstrate how correct she is: to dramatically boost your own strength through the invigorating power of your love.
 

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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.

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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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Aquarian author Langston Hughes (1902–1967) was a pioneering and prolific African American author and activist who wrote in four different genres and was influential in boosting other Black writers. One of his big breaks as a young man came when he was working as a waiter at a banquet featuring the famous poet Vachel Lindsay. Hughes managed to leave three of his poems on Lindsay's table. The great poet loved them and later lent his clout to boosting Hughes' career. I suspect you might have an opening like that sometime soon, Aquarius—even if it won't be quite as literal and hands-on. Be ready to take advantage. Cultivate every connection that may become available.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

Author Faith Baldwin has renounced the "forgive and forget" policy. She writes, "I think one should forgive and remember. If you forgive and forget, you're just driving what you remember into the subconscious; it stays there and festers. But to look upon what you remember and know you've forgiven is achievement." That's the approach I recommend for you right now, Pisces. Get the relief you need, yes: Forgive those who have trespassed against you. But also: Hold fast to the lessons you learned through those people so you won't repeat them again later.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

Aries poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti is renowned for his buoyancy. In one of his famous lines, he wrote, "I am awaiting, perpetually and forever, a renaissance of wonder." Here's what I have to say in response to that thought: Your assignment, as an Aries, is NOT to sit there and wait, perpetually and forever, for a renaissance of wonder. Rather, it’s your job to embody and actualize and express, perpetually and forever, a renaissance of wonder. The coming weeks will be an especially favorable time for you to rise to new heights in fulfilling this aspect of your life-long assignment.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

I live in Northern California on land that once belonged to the indigenous Coast Miwok people. They were animists who believed that soul and sentience animate all animals and plants as well as rocks, rivers, mountains—everything, really. Their food came from hunting and gathering, and they lived in small bands without centralized political authority. According to one of their creation stories, Coyote and Silver Fox made the world by singing and dancing it into existence. Now I invite you to do what I just illustrated: Find out about and celebrate the history of the people and the place where you live. From an astrological perspective, it's a favorable time to get in touch with roots and foundations.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

"When I look down, I miss all the good stuff, and when I look up, I just trip over things," says singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco. I wonder if she has tried an alternate approach: looking straight ahead. That's what I advise for you in the coming weeks, Gemini. In other words, adopt a perspective that will enable you to detect regular glimpses of what's above you and what's below you—as well as what's in front of you. In fact, I suggest you avoid all extremes that might distract you from the big picture. The truth will be most available to you if you occupy the middle ground.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

The Italian word nottivago refers to "night roamers": people who wander around after dark. Why do they do it? What do they want to accomplish? Maybe their ramblings have the effect of dissolving stuck thoughts that have been plaguing them. Maybe it's a healing relief to indulge in the luxury of having nowhere in particular to go and nothing in particular to do: to declare their independence from the obsessive drive to get things done. Meandering after sundown may stir up a sense of wild freedom that inspires them to outflank or outgrow their problems. I bring these possibilities to your attention, Cancerian, because the coming days will be an excellent time to try them out.
 

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HOMEWORK:

What do you like best about yourself when you're comfortable? What do you like best about yourself when you feel challenged? 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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