Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
September 9, 2020
FreeWillAstrology.com
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Treat every moment
as if it is not
preparation for something else.
—Shunryu Suzuki
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CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR UPGRADE
Think back to your first descent into the abyss many years ago. You were a raw rookie at the time, and didn't have many skills to help you negotiate the dark, dank regions. It was no surprise that you came back touchy and scarred.
But in each stint in the underworld since then, you've gained more proficiency at remembering who you are even when you feel lost.
In fact, I suspect that somewhere along the way you passed a crucial threshold. You learned the difference between repetitive, unnecessary pain and the kind of useful pain that rejuvenates and empowers. You discovered how a journey into the underworld can sharpen your soul's vision and enrich your creative passion.
Congratulations on the upgrade!
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CLARIFY YOUR SITUATION
I get many requests from people who are going through challenging times in their lives and would like my personal advice. I wish I could respond to these inquiries, because they are often profound and well-thought-out, demonstrating an ability to define the problems at hand with lucid insight.
Unfortunately, I can't respond. My various lines of work are too demanding to add any other tasks to my life, no matter how interesting they might be. But I've developed a general response to those people who seek my personal input. I'm offering it below.
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I'm honored that you regard me as someone who might be able to provide answers or solace, but I don't think it would be responsible for me to fling advice your way without knowing more about the complexities of your problem. And I'm afraid I can't give the time necessary to explore those complexities.
The only thing I'll suggest, as you seek to clarify your situation, is for you to arrange to go on a retreat. During that time of withdrawal from the world's everyday madness, I urge you to avoid all media and to be as silent and relaxed as it's possible for you to be.
During the first part of your retreat, spend hours visualizing in your mind's eye the entire story of your life, from the earliest memory to the present moment.
During the second phase of your retreat, begin your meditations by establishing contact with the highest source of wisdom and love within you. You can call this source God or Goddess or your Guardian Angel or Higher Self. Spend luxurious time in dialogue with this source, making sure to ask these questions:
1. "What is it I want more than anything else?"
2. "What is the best way to serve the mission I came to Earth to carry out? What are the very best gifts I have to offer other humans?"
3. "What path will allow me to ultimately learn the most about wise love?"
4. "How do I need to change in order to get what I want, carry out my life's mission, and learn about wise love? What influences and attitudes do I need to eliminate?"
During the third phase of the process, write out a mission statement: what you want to accomplish by the time you die many years hence. Then create a master plan of the actions you will take in order to make that mission statement come true. Include three actions you will take in the next month to get more serious about accomplishing your mission.
During the fourth phase, visualize the following scenarios in lush detail: that God/Goddess loves you, that the entire universe is conspiring to give you the lessons and blessings and kicks in the ass and liberations you need exactly when you need them, and that you are ready to welcome that love and guidance with all your heart.
P.S. I'm a big believer in trusting your intuition. Even if it doesn't lead you to what your ego thinks is a successful outcome, your intuition will always guide you to the experiences that your soul needs.
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IN SPIRITUAL MATTERS, GOD GRANTS ALL DESIRES
"In purely spiritual matters, God grants all desires," said philosopher and activist Simone Weil. "Those who have less have asked for less." I think this is a worthy hypothesis for you to try out.
To be clear: It doesn't necessarily mean you will get a dream job and perfect lover and ten million dollars. What it does suggest is this: You can have any relationship with the Divine Wow that you dare to imagine; you can get all the grace you need to understand why your life is the way it is; you can make tremendous progress as you do the life-long work of liberating yourself from your suffering.
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UNLEASHING THE POWER OF YOUR IMAGINATION
Do the planets control our fates? Are we merely puppets of cosmic forces? Not in my view. I believe the study of astrology can be a liberating force, alerting us to our own unconscious motivations and revealing the long-term cycles in our lives.
In offering you my horoscopes, I aspire to unleash the power of your imagination to create the destiny you want. It is in that spirit that I named this column "Free Will Astrology." I hope it serves as a continual reminder that you are always the boss of you.
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OVERCOMING OUR NEURAL BIAS FOR NEGATIVITY
"To overcome our neural bias for negativity, we must repetitiously and consciously generate as many positive thoughts as we can."
tinyurl.com/d3jhcxh
The article never advises us to refrain from saying no when discernment and boundary-making are necessary. It argues that we have a neural bias, a built-in biological predilection for negativity, that may have served our distant ancestors but is now a deep handicap.
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LOVE IS HARD WORK!
"For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation."
- Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by M.D. Herter Norton
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"Love is the most difficult and dangerous form of courage. Courage is the most desperate, admirable, and noble kind of love."
- Delmore Schwartz
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MAGIC SECRET
"The real secret of magic is that the world is made of words," said Terence McKenna, "and that if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish."
Here's my version of that hypothesis: What world you end up living in depends at least in part on your use of language.
Do you want to move and breathe amidst infertile chaos where nothing makes sense and no one really loves anyone? Then speak with unconscious carelessness, expressing yourself lazily. Constantly materialize and entertain angry thoughts in the privacy of your own imagination, beaming silent curses out into eternity.
Or would you prefer to live in a realm that's rich with fluid epiphanies and intriguing coincidences and mysterious harmonies? Then be discerning and inventive in how you speak, primed to name the unexpected codes that are always being born right in front of your eyes. Turn your imagination into an ebullient laboratory where the somethings you create out of nothings are tinctured with the secret light you see in your dreams of invisible fire.
P.S. "The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words," wrote Philip K. Dick in his essay, "How to Build A Universe That Won't Fall Apart in Two Days."
- from "Pronoia Is the Antidote to Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings" - bit.ly/Pronoia
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Listen to "Magic Secret": bit.ly/M9S8Ub
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THE PEOPLE I TRUST
The people I trust the most are those who are always tenderly wrestling and negotiating with their own shadows, making preemptive strikes on their personal share of the world's evil, fighting the good fight to keep from spewing their darkness on those around them.
I aspire to be like that, which is why I regularly kick my own ass.
(For a demonstration of how to kick your own ass, go here -- about three minutes in: bit.ly/1QWemwr)
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The above is an excerpt from my book, Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings
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YOU TASTE DELICIOUS
Of the many songs I've written and co-written, this is my favorite right now: "You Taste Delicious."
First version sung by Adrienne Mehri Shamszad: bit.ly/1QUqyP7
Second version sung by me: bit.ly/YouTasteDelicious2
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
A City in Alaska is Housing its Homeless – Which Makes It Possibly The ‘Nicest Place’ in America
tinyurl.com/yyug2vq6
How to Make a Billion Tons of Carbon Dioxide Disappear. New research shows that sprinkling rock dust on fields where crops are grown could have a huge effect.
tinyurl.com/y5jmy3bj
The Deep-Red City that Elected a Trans Woman. “When folks say, ‘I cannot believe a trans person could win in a place like West Virginia,’ I think, ‘This is the very place I believe a trans person could win elected office.'”
tinyurl.com/yymxm75n
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For a lot more pronoiac resources and ideas, read my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings
Available at Barnes & Noble: tinyurl.com/PronoiaBN
Available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
A free preview of the book is available here: tinyurl.com/PronoiaPreview
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning September 10
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo poet Mary Oliver was renowned for giving herself permission. Permission to do what? To become a different person from the self she had been. To shed her familiar beliefs and adopt new ones. To treat every experience as an opportunity to experiment. To be at peace with uncertainty. I think you'll be wise to give yourself all those permissions in the coming weeks—as well as others that would enhance your freedom to be and do whatever you want to be and do. Here's another favorite Mary Oliver permission that I hope you'll offer yourself: "And I say to my heart: rave on."
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
"The more unintelligent people are, the less mysterious existence seems to them," wrote philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. I agree with that idea, as well as the converse: The more intelligent people are, the more mysterious existence seems to them. Since I expect you to be at the peak of your soulful intelligence in the coming weeks, I am quite sure that life will be exquisitely mysterious to you. It's true that some of its enigmatic qualities may be murky and frustrating, but I suspect that many of them will be magical and delightful. If you ever wanted your life to resemble a poetic art film, you're going to get your wish.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Comedian and actor Aubrey Plaza bragged about the deal she made. "I sold my soul to the devil," she said. "I’d like to thank the devil." Plaza is quite popular and successful, so who knows? Maybe the Prince of Darkness did indeed give her a boost. But I really hope you don't regard her as a role model in the coming weeks—not even in jest. What worked for Plaza won't work for you. Diabolical influences that may seem tempting will not, in the long run, serve your interests—and may even sabotage them. Besides, more benevolent forces will be available to you, and at a better price.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Many of you Sagittarians specialize in generous breakthroughs and invigorating leaps of truth. Often, you make them look easy and natural—so much so that people may not realize how talented you are in generating them. I hope you adjust for that by giving yourself the proper acknowledgment and credit. If this phenomenon shows up in the coming weeks—and I suspect it might—please take strenuous measures to ensure that you register the fullness of your own accomplishments. To do so will be crucial in enabling those accomplishments to ripen to their highest potential.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel wrote, "When you die and go to heaven, our maker is not going to ask, 'why didn't you discover the cure for such and such? why didn't you become the Messiah?' The only question we will be asked in that precious moment is 'why didn't you become you?'" I hope that serves as a stimulating challenge for you, Capricorn. The fact is that you are in an extended phase when it's easier than usual to summon the audacity and ingenuity necessary to become more fully yourself than you have ever been before.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Years ago, comedian Lenny Bruce observed, "Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God." His statement is even truer today than it was then. Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank, has gathered the concrete evidence. Church attendance was way down even before the pandemic struck. Now it's even lower. What does this have to do with you? In my astrological opinion, the coming months will be prime time for you to build your intimate and unique relationship with God rather than with institutions that have formulaic notions about who and what God is. A similar principle will be active in other ways, as well. You'll thrive by drawing energy from actual sources and firsthand experiences rather than from systems and ideologies that supposedly represent those sources and experiences.
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YOU ALWAYS HAVE MORE HELP THAN YOU IMAGINE
Both people whom you know and people you don't know could very well come to your assistance and offer their support if you meet two conditions: 1. you believe you deserve their assistance and support; 2. you seek out and ask for their assistance and support.
There's a higher part of your brain that will also provide you with insight and guidance if you turn to it in humility and seek its input.
Whether or not you actually believe in spiritual beings, they, too, are ready to offer unexpected help, support, blessings and resources. If you don't believe in their existence, I invite you to pretend you do for a while and see what happens. If you do believe in them, formulate clear requests for what you'd like them to offer you.
I may also be able to provide you with compassionate guidance, both through the written horoscopes I provide in this newsletter and the Expanded Audio Horoscopes I offer online and via telephone.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to RealAstrology.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
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The cost is $6 per sign online. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.)
You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888. The cost is $1.99 per minute. Each forecast is 4-5 minutes long.
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"Your audio horoscopes encourage me to think bigger about my life. As I listen, I can feel my shrunken expectations melting away."
—Therese Pembroke, San Diego
"I love the way your audio horoscopes make me see my life differently while at the same time they give me support for how hard I'm trying to live my best life."
—Shanice Bryant
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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Psychologist Carl Jung wrote, "The function of dreams is to restore our psychological balance by producing dream material that re-establishes the total psychic equilibrium." According to my reading of the astrological omens, you especially need this kind of action right now. To expedite your healing process, meditate on what aspects of your life might have become too extreme or one-sided. Where could you apply compensatory energy to establish better equipoise? What top-heavy or lopsided or wobbly situations could benefit from bold, imaginative strokes of counterbalance?
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
"It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t," observes author James S. Gordon. "Rather, it’s that some people are ready to change and others are not." Lucky for you, Aries! Your willpower is even more potent than usual right now, and your willingness to change is growing stronger. And so very soon now, I expect you will reach the threshold that enables you to act crisply and forcefully. You will become so convinced that it's wise to instigate transformation that you will just naturally instigate transformation. Adjust, adapt, improvise, improve!
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi is an expert on the mental state known as being in the flow. He defines it as what happens when you're completely absorbed in what you are doing: "immersed in a feeling of energized focus," with "full involvement and enjoyment in the process of the activity." According to my reading of the astrological omens, you are extra likely to enjoy such graceful interludes in the coming weeks. But I hope you will be discerning about how you use them. I mean, you could get into a flow playing video games or doing sudoku puzzles. But God and Life and I would prefer it if you'll devote those times to working on a sublime labor of love or a highly worthy quest.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
According to researcher Rosalind Cartwright, "Memory is never a precise duplicate of the original. It is a continuing act of creation." Neurologist Oliver Sacks agrees, telling us, "Memories are not fixed or frozen, but are transformed, disassembled, reassembled, and recategorized with every act of recollection." Reams of additional evidence also suggest that our experience of the past is always being transformed. In accordance with astrological potentials, I invite you to take advantage of this truth. Re-imagine your life story so it has more positive spins. Re-envision the plot threads so that redemption and rebirth are major features. Engage in a playful reworking of your memories so that the epic myth of your destiny serves your future happiness and success.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
All of us are susceptible to fooling ourselves and lying to ourselves. And all of us are susceptible to the cowardice that such self-sabotage generates. But the good news is that you Cancerians will have an expansive capacity to dissolve and rise above self-deception in the coming weeks—and will therefore be able to call on a great deal of courage. As Cancerian author and Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön says, "The essence of bravery is being without self-deception."
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
If you like, I will give you the waning crescent moon and the dawn breeze. Do you want them? How about sudden bursts of joy for no apparent reasons and a warm greeting from a person you thought had a problem with you? Would you be interested in having those experiences? And what about an unexpected insight into how to improve your financial situation and a message from the future about how to acquire more stability and security? Are those blessings you might enjoy? Everything I just named will be possible in the coming weeks—especially if you formulate a desire to receive them and ask life to provide them.
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HOMEWORK:
What's the best possible commotion you could stir up -- a healing commotion that would help heal and liberate you? 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 2020 Rob Brezsny
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