Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
October 7, 2020
FreeWillAstrology.com
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Sometime in the next 24 hours, try saying this to someone (but only if you really mean it): "Thanks for making my life better."
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To My Fellow Americans:
WE'RE BUILDING A NEW WORLD
I am extremely grateful for the activists and politicians who are now working to ensure the integrity of the vote. They're heroes.
My personal task is to visualize and advocate for the desirable outcome: a new President Biden with strong Democratic majorities in the House and Senate and a cabinet full of progressives carrying out a progressive agenda.
Wherever you live, here's how to vote in the election:
tinyurl.com/VoteForLifeOverDeath
tinyurl.com/VoteForTruthOverLies
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100 reasons to vote for Biden and Harris:
1.) $15.00 federal minimum wage
2.) Reinstate DACA – allowing new applicants to apply
3.) 12 Weeks federal paid family leave
4.) Universal Pre-Kindergarten/Childcare for ages 3 and 4
5.) Tuition free college for those with household income less than $125,000.00
6.) Allow student loans to be relieved in bankruptcy
7.) LGBTQ+ Equality Act in the first 100 days in office
8.) Rejoin the Paris Climate Accords
9.) Decriminalize cannabis use and expunge convictions
10.) Eliminate cash bail system
11.) Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences
12.) Outlaw all online firearm and munition sales
13.) Restore the voting rights act
14.) Create a new $20 billion competitive grant program to spur states to shift from incarceration to prevention.
15.) He’ll triple funding for Title I Programs
16.) Appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States
17.) Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
18.) Ensure the US achieves a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050
19.) Protecting Biodiversity, slowing extinction rates and helping leverage natural climate solutions
20.) Develop a plan to ensure that America has the cleanest, safest and fastest rail system in the world, for both passengers and freight
21.) Expand the safety net for survivors
22.) Confront online harassment, abuse and stalking
23.) End the rape kit backlog
24.) Address the deadly combination of guns and domestic violence
25.) Change the culture that enables domestic violence
Read the other 75 reasons why it's a noble idea to Vote for Biden and Harris:
bit.ly/voteforlifeandlove
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WE'RE ALL FAMILY
We're all family. You have at least a million relatives as close as tenth cousin, and no one on Earth is any further removed than your fiftieth cousin.
With each breath, you take into your body 10 sextillion atoms, and, owing to the wind's circulation, every year you have intimate relations with oxygen molecules exhaled by every person alive, as well as by everyone who ever lived. (Source: Guy Murchie, The Seven Mysteries of Life)
Right now you may be carrying atoms that were once inside the lungs of Malcolm X, William Shakespeare, Joan of Arc, and Cleopatra.
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Your body contains about four octillion atoms. That's four with 27 zeroes after it. Believe it or not, 200 billion of that total were once inside the body of Martin Luther King, Jr. For that matter, an average of 200 billion atoms of everyone who has ever lived and died is part of you. I am not making this up.
See the mathematical analysis here: tinyurl.com/AtomsFromEveryone.
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Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson told The Washington Post the following fun facts: "There are more molecules of water in a cup of water than cups of water in all the world's oceans. This means that some molecules in every cup of water you drink passed through the kidneys of Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Abe Lincoln, or any other historical person of your choosing."
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IMAGINAL HYGIENE
"Imaginal hygiene is the inner art of self-managing the imagination, to defend it from forces that compromise, pollute, colonize, shrink, and sterilize it, and to cultivate those that illuminate, expand, and nourish it."
The above is an excerpt from a wonderful piece by M. T. Xen, which I highly recommend. tinyurl.com/q4wxvj9
You can also listen to my six-minute take on the power of your imagination here: bit.ly/lovesmart.
Or read my piece here: bit.ly/1RZgPVe
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DUMB PAIN VERSUS SMART PAIN
Dumb pain is the kind of pain you're compulsively drawn back to out of habit. It's familiar, and thus perversely comfortable.
Smart pain is the kind of pain that surprises you with valuable teachings and inspires you to see the world with new eyes.
While stupid pain is often born of fear, wise pain is typically stirred up by love.
The dumb, unproductive stuff comes from allowing yourself to be controlled by your early conditioning and from doing things that are out of harmony with your essence.
The smart, useful variety arises out of an intention to approach life as a beautiful, interesting game that's worthy of your curiosity.
I invite you to come up with more definitions about the difference between dumb pain and smart pain.
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ANGER VERSUS CALM
Your opinion, please: When you are waging a righteous battle, is it better to be constantly feeding off your anger about the situation you're trying to change?
Or are you more likely to be an effective fighter if you're relatively clear and calm, holding a vision of the new reality you want to create?
Or neither? Other choices? Your thoughts?
Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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WORLD KISS
All of creation is alive and conscious, and all of creation deserves our burning, churning, yearning love. All of it. Not just the people and creatures and things that we personally find beautiful and helpful and interesting. But everything. All of creation.
If we want to become the gorgeous geniuses we were born to be, if we want to give back as many blessings as we are given, we've got to be in love with every single part of the Goddess's extravagant masterpiece.
And so we can't possibly be mere heterosexuals. We can't possibly be mere homosexuals or bisexuals.
If we want to commune with the world the way the Goddess does, we've got to be Pantheosexuals -- we've got to be experts in the art of Polymorphous Perverse Omnidirectional Goddess Cuddling. Anything less is a lie, an obscene limitation.
Hear the rest of this song: bit.ly/tlUzBZ
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PROCEED WITH ABANDON
"In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth."
- Patti Smith
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THE NECESSITY OF PLAY
Psychiatrist Stuart Brown has proposed this simple definition: "Play is spontaneous behavior that has no clear-cut goal and does not conform to a stereotypical pattern. The purpose of play is simply play itself; it appears to be pleasurable."
In a study of 26 convicted murderers, Brown discovered that as children, most of them had suffered either "from the absence of play or abnormal play like bullying, sadism, extreme teasing, or cruelty to animals."
Brown's work led him to explore the biological roots of play. "New and exciting studies of the brain, evolution, and animal behavior," he wrote, "suggest that play may be as important to life -- for us and other animals -- as sleeping and dreaming."
—Stuart L. Brown, "Animals at Play," National Geographic
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
A team of researchers from Yale University have some sweet news for humanity: Most people are inherently good and kind-hearted, and it's the mean girls and guys who deviate from the norm. tinyurl.com/jnlecee
Daphne Sheldrick has dedicated her life to raising orphaned elephants. Once they are old enough, they are taken to protected areas and integrated with other orphan groups.
tinyurl.com/j83reft
The world's largest soup kitchen is the Golden Temple, the holiest temple for Sikhs, which is located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. The Golden Temple can serve free food for up to 100,000 - 300,000 people every day, regardless of faith, religion, or background.
tinyurl.com/hedly9g
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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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Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES: Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning October 8
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Libran author Ursula K. Le Guin said that we don't just naturally know how to create our destinies. It takes research and hard work. "All of us have to learn how to invent our lives, make them up, imagine them," she wrote. "We need to be taught these skills; we need guides to show us how. If we don't, our lives get made up for us by other people." I bring this to your attention, Libra, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time to upgrade and refine your mastery of these essential powers. What can you do to enhance your capacity to invent your life? Which teachers and information sources might be helpful?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
In 1984, hip hop group Run-DMC was the first to achieve a gold record in their genre, meaning they sold more than 500,000 albums. Their next album sold over a million. They were pioneers. In 1986, legendary producer Rick Rubin encouraged them to do a remake of "Walk This Way," a song by the hard rock band Aerosomith. The members of Run-DMC didn't want to do it; they felt the tune was in a genre too unlike their own. But Rubin eventually convinced them, and the cross-pollination was phenomenally successful. The Run-DMC-meets-Aerosmith collaboration launched a new genre that sold very well. The song was later voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In this spirit, and in accordance with current cosmic rhythms, I urge you to try a bold hybrid or two yourself, Scorpio: blends of elements or influences that may seem a bit improbable. They could ultimately yield big dividends.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
You Sagittarians periodically go through phases when you specialize in stirring up fresh intuitions. I mean, you're always one of the zodiac's Intuition Champions, but during these special times, your flow becomes an overflow. You have a knack for seeking and finding visions of the interesting future; you get excited by possibilities that are on the frontiers of your confidence. From what I can tell, your life in recent weeks has been bringing you these delights—and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Take maximum advantage. Aggressively gather in the gifts being offered by your inner teacher.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Calling on my expert knowledge of healing language and imaginative psychology, I have formulated a mantra for you to use in the next six weeks. I suggest you say it five times after you wake up, and again at mid-day, and before dinner, and before sleep. It should help keep you intimately aligned with the dynamic groove that the cosmos will be conspiring to provide for you. For best results, picture yourself as glowing inside with the qualities named in the mantra. Here it is: StrongBrightFree ClearBoldBrisk DeepNimbleKind AdroitSteadyWarm.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles features displays that extol the musicians who've won Grammy Awards over the years. A few years ago, a distinctly unfamous musician named Paz Dylan made professional-looking fake posters touting his own magnificent accomplishments, and managed to sneakily hang them on the museum walls. They remained there for a month before anyone noticed. I'm going to encourage you to engage in similar gamesmanship in the coming weeks, Aquarius. It'll be a favorable time to use ingenuity and unconventional approaches to boost your confidence and enhance your reputation.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
"Relationships never stop being a work in progress," writes author Nora Roberts. That's bad news and good news. It's bad news because even for the most loving bond, you must tirelessly persist in the challenging task of reinventing the ways the two of you fit together. It's good news because few activities can make you more emotionally intelligent and soulfully wise than continually reinventing the ways the two of you fit together. I bring these thoughts to your attention because the coming weeks will be a fertile time for such daunting and rewarding work.
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MAYBE JOY AND BLISS ARE CATALYTIC SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
Assume that pleasure and happiness doesn't interfere with your spiritual growth, but may in fact stimulate it.
Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating delight and wonder might make you a more ethical and compassionate person.
Imagine that feeling good has something important to teach you every day.
For inspiration in practicing this approach, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.
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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"I always feel like I know myself better after listening to your audio 'scopes."
—June Roseville, Austin, TX
"Your audio horoscopes calm me down when I'm too manic and pep me up when I'm down."
—Arthur Trachten, Cleveland, OH
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ARIES (March 21-April 19):
"A person’s best ally is someone who takes care of herself," says actress Susan Clark. I heartily agree. The people with whom you can cultivate the most resilient bonds and most interesting synergy are those who have a high degree of self-sufficiency—those who take rigorous responsibility for themselves and treat themselves with tender compassion. In the coming weeks, Aries, I think it's especially important for you to emphasize relationships with allies who fit that description. Bonus! Their exemplary self-care will influence you to vigorously attend to your own self-care.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
According to my reading of the astrological potentials, the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to take a vacation in reverse. What's that? It's when you devote yourself to renewing and reinvigorating your relationship with the work you love. You intensify your excitement for the vocation or job or long-term quest that teaches you important life lessons. You apply yourself with sublime enthusiasm to honing the discipline you need to fulfill the assignments you came to earth to accomplish.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
"If you are not having fun you are doing something wrong," said comedian Groucho Marx. He was exaggerating so as to drive home his humorous point, but his idea contains some truth—and will be especially applicable to you in the immediate future. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you have a temporary exemption from feeling frantically dour and unpleasantly dutiful. As crazy as the world is right now, you have a cosmic mandate to enjoy more playtime and amusement than usual. The rest of us are depending on you to provide us with doses of casual cheer.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
"Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark," writes Cancerian author Rebecca Solnit, adding, "That’s where the most important things come from." I think this is good advice for you in the coming weeks. What exactly does it mean? How and why should you do what she advises? My first suggestion is to reframe your conception of the unknown and the dark. Imagine them as the source of everything new; as the place from which the future comes; as the origin of creative changes. Then instruct your imagination to be adventurous as it explores brewing possibilities in the dark and the unknown.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
"If something comes to life in others because of you, then you have made an approach to immortality," wrote author Norman Cousins. Whether or not you believe the "immortality" part of his formulation, I'm sure you understand how fabulous it is when you help activate beauty and vitality in someone. You may even feel that inspiring people to unleash their dormant potential is one of the most noble pleasures possible. I bring these thoughts to your attention, Leo, because I suspect that you now have exceptional power to perform services like these for your allies, friends, and loved ones. I dare you to make it one of your top priorities.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
"The messiah will come when we don't need him any more," said author Franz Kafka. In that spirit, and in alignment with current astrological omens, I will tell you that the precise help you wish you could attract into your life will show up as soon as you make initial efforts to provide that help to yourself. Here are some additional nuances: The gift or blessing you think you need most will be offered to you by fate once you begin giving that gift or blessing to yourself. A rescuer will arrive not too long after you take steps to rescue yourself. You'll finally figure out how to make practical use of a key lesson as you're teaching that lesson to someone you care for.
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HOMEWORK:
What's the most interesting and transformative action you could take right now? 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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