Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
November 25, 2020
FreeWillAstrology.com
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I invite you to say this:
"Novel intuitions are now erupting from my smart heart, awakening me from any trance I've been ensnared in. I am hereby breaking and escaping obstructions that hinder my ability to express my soul's code. My unique capacities are being liberated, my potentials activated."
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LOVING OUR BODIES
Many spiritual teachers, some of whom I respect, say things like "I am not my body" or "This body is not me."
I don't understand that. It's an insult and disparagement. It's dismissive of our bodies' sublime beauty and our bodies' divine role in educating our souls.
I mean, I do agree that we are not ONLY our bodies. I do agree that a big part of us is eternal, lives free of all limitations, and is ecstatically immersed in the interconnected web of life—not just trapped in some solitary boundaried form.
But hell yes, I am my body. It's a glorious aspect of who I am. It's a miraculous creation that has taken millions of years to evolve into the masterpiece it is now.
So for me, yes, I am my body and yes, this body is me. I love my body. I am in awe of it. I am pleased to be united with it.
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LOVE AND ANGER
How do we summon the right blend of practical love and constructive anger?
How do we refrain from hating other people even as we fight fiercely against the hatred and danger they have helped unleash?
How do we cultivate cheerful buoyancy even as we neutralize the bigoted, autocratic poisons that are on the loose?
How can we be both wrathful insurrectionaries and exuberant lovers of life?
How can we stay in a good yet unruly mood as we overthrow the mass hallucinations that are metastasizing?
In the face of the danger, how do we remain intensely dedicated to building beauty and truth and justice and love even as we keep our imaginations wild and hungry and free?
Can our struggle also be a form of play?
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WHAT TO GIVE
The greatest gift you can give might be the gift that you yourself were never given. Give that gift.
The most valuable service you have to offer your fellow humans may be the service you have always wished were performed for you. Offer that service.
An experience that wounded you could move you to help people who've been similarly wounded. Heal yourself by healing others.
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WHAT CAN'T BE DOMESTICATED
That in a person which cannot be domesticated is not his evil but his goodness.
—author Antonio Porchia
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MAKE THE INVISIBLE DARK FORCE BEAUTIFUL
Make the invisible dark force beautiful. Create a song out of your moans. Brag about your wounds. Dance reverently on the graves of your enemies. Sneak a gift to your bad self. Dissolve the ties that bind you to hollow intelligence.
Train yourself in the art of unpredictability. Play forever in time's blessing. Lift up your heart unto the wild sun. Distribute your favors to the little ones who can never pay you back. Fall out of love with fear. Make beautiful messes in the midst of ugly messes.
Anything I missed?
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HOW WELL DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE GREAT MYSTERY?
The ever-evolving truth is far too complicated and fluid and slippery and scrambled and gorgeously abundant for one human being to completely master.
I'm lucky to have gotten my percentage of mastery up to about 3%. On a good day, that’s how much I understand of the Maddening and Delightful Mystery we are embedded in.
Here's a hypothesis that's a cornerstone of my 3%: It's smart and healthy to joyfully rebel against everyone who assuredly tells me that they know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
How well do you understand the Great Mystery? What's your percentage?
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HOW NOT TO MEDITATE
"Lama Surya Das, the “Buddha from Brooklyn,” is one of the handful of Westerners who have been teaching meditation for decades. And yet, he says we’re doing it wrong.
Lama Surya Das says there are other ways to meditate besides those that are currently popular: "So many people seem to be moving narcissistically into self-centered happiness-seeking and quietism, not to mention the use of mindfulness for mere effectiveness," he says. "True meditation generates wisdom and compassion, which may be very disquieting, at least in the short term."
"'Quiet your mind' or 'calm and clear your mind' are instructions I hear way too much," he says. "Some teachers actually encourage people to try to stop thinking, when in fact meditative awareness means being mindful of thoughts and feelings, not simply trying to reduce, alter or white them out and achieve some kind of oblivion."
"The anti-intellectual meditators, thought-swatters and imagination-suppressors have long ruled meditation-oriented circles in the West," he says. "But authentic meditative practices can enhance and even unleash the creativity and imagination.'
You don’t have to quiet the mind to do many of the types of meditation he proposes. They don't involve trying to find a quiet "moment of Zen" apart from the messy, noisy world of work, family and children, but rather inviting all of the noise into meditation.
These thoughts are from an article by Jay Michaelson in huffingtonpost.com. More here: tinyurl.com/o8yl9jc
Lama Surya Das's book: tinyurl.com/ooltqx2
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DO YOU USE GMAIL?
Gmail has gone on a rampage of sending legitimate emails—including my newsletter—to their users' junk bins.
My newsletter administration team has filed a report with gmail, but there is no telling when or if we will see results from this action.
According to gmail's documentation, one of the best things to do to remedy the situation is to have valid subscribers whose copies of the Free Will Astrology newsletter are going to their gmail junk bins click the "this is not spam" button.
It seems as though gmail may possibly respond to this.
Other things you can try:
1. Complain to gmail. Ask them why my newsletters are being blocked and tell them you want to know how the situation can be corrected.
2. Add my address, televisionary@comcast.net, to your address book.
3. Resubscribe using an email address that's not gmail.
4. Go to the site where my newsletters are archived. It's here: tinyurl.com/FWAarchive
5. Check the horoscopes at my website: freewillastrology.com
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THE ORIGINAL SUCCESS OF MY ASTROLOGY COLUMN
A little more than 29 years ago—an entire Saturn cycle—my astrology column went from being published in six newspapers to being syndicated in more than 50 newspapers, all within the space of a few months.
Here's the immediate reason why: The United States launched the first Gulf War, illegally and immorally invading and occupying Iraq.
And in response I filled my horoscopes with a steady surge of criticism and satire about that series of atrocities—always, of course, with references to the personal lives of my readers, either as metaphors for psychological factors at work in their destinies or as useful meditations on how the personal and political were interwoven.
So it's no exaggeration to say that my success as an astrology columnist was initially built on my determination to blend bold progressive political perspectives with psychological and spiritual insights.
I've been doing that ever since. Anyone who thinks otherwise about my work simply hasn't been paying attention.
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HOW TO BE WILD
To be wild is not to be crazy like a criminal or psychotic, says Robert Bly, but rather ”mad as the mist and snow."
It has nothing to do with being childish or primitive, nor does it manifest as manic rebellion or self-damaging alienation.
The marks of wildness, Bly says, are a love of nature, a delight in silence, a voice free to say spontaneous things, and an exuberant curiosity in the face of the unknown.
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Here are other marks I’ll add: a passion to find where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet; a determination to serve your highest purpose as you give the world your finest gifts; a commitment to doing what you love as you express your love for all those who have given so much to you.
Do you have others you’d like to add?
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YOUR PERFECT ANIMAL BODY
Listen to the free four-and-a-half-minute ceremonial medicine invocation "Moon Lodge": bit.ly/LFz2mP
Here's how it begins:
Breathe sweetly and deeply. As you inhale, remember that the calcium in your bones and the iron in your blood were originally created at the core of a red giant star that died billions of years ago.
As you exhale, allow your perfect animal body to gentle explode with luminous gratitude. Feel streams of orgiastic compassion flowing out of your wild heart in spiral hallelujahs . . .
Hear the rest: bit.ly/LFz2mP
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MY DAILY HOROSCOPES
Some people don't know that I write daily horoscopes, available as text messages sent to your cell or smart phone.
They're shorter than the weekly 'scopes, but on the other hand they're more frequent -- every day of the week.
My weekly horoscopes are free, but the dailies cost about 67 cents a day if you sign up for a subscription.
If you think you might enjoy getting regular bursts of inspiration from me to illuminate your adventures, check them out.
Go to RealAstrology.com. Register or log in. On the new page, click on "Subscribe / Renew" under "Daily Text Message Horoscopes" in the right-hand column.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
At the Cloud Appreciation Society, you can vote for Cloud of the Month and see the gorgeous art that Gaia creates on a regular basis:
tinyurl.com/y4a868u3
The Ancient Greeks' Six Words for Love. Looking for an antidote to modern culture's emphasis on romantic love? Perhaps we can learn from the diverse forms of emotional attachment prized by the ancient Greeks.
tinyurl.com/kt298qm
"Empathy isn’t just something that happens to us -- a meteor shower of synapses firing across the brain -- it's also a choice we make: to pay attention, to extend ourselves. It's made of exertion, that dowdier cousin of impulse.
"Sometimes we care for another because we know we should, or because it's asked for, but this doesn’t make our caring hollow. The act of choosing simply means we've committed ourselves to a set of behaviors greater than the sum of our individual inclinations: I will listen to his sadness, even when I'm deep in my own.
—Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams: tinyurl.com/njwww5d
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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 November 26
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
"You live best as an appreciator of horizons, whether you reach them or not." Those words from poet David Whyte would be a perfect motto for you to write out on a piece of paper and tape to your bathroom mirror or your nightstand for the next 30 years. Of all the tribes in the zodiac, you Sagittarians are most likely to thrive by regularly focusing on the big picture. Your ability to achieve small day-by-day successes depends on how well you keep the long-range view in mind. How have you been doing lately with that assignment? In the coming weeks, I suspect you could benefit from hiking to the top of a mountain—or the metaphorical equivalent—so you can enjoy seeing as far as you can see.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Sensible Capricorn author E. M. Forster (1879–1970) said, "Passion does not blind. No. Passion is sanity.” That's the opposite of what many poets and novelists have asserted down through the ages, which is that passion isn't truly passion unless it renders you half-crazy, driven by obsession, and subject to delusion and irrationality. But in offering you counsel in this horoscope, I'm aligning myself with Forster's view. For you in the coming weeks, Capricorn, passion will help you see clearly and keep you mentally healthy.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Alpine swifts are small birds that breed in Europe during the summer and then migrate long distance to Africa for the winter. Ornithologists were shocked when they discovered that at least some of these creatures fly for more than 200 days without ever once landing on the ground. They're not always flapping their wings—sometimes they glide—but they manage to do all their eating and drinking and sleeping and mating in mid-air. Metaphorically speaking, I think it's important for you to not act like the alpine swifts in the coming months, dear Aquarius. Please plan to come all the way down to earth on a regular basis.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
There's substantial evidence that when people talk to themselves out loud in the midst of doing a task, they improve their chances of succeeding at the task. Have you ever heard athletes giving themselves verbal encouragement during their games and matches? They're using a trick to heighten their performance. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to experiment with this strategy in the coming weeks. Increase your brainpower by regularly offering yourself encouraging, supportive instructions. It's fine if you just sort of whisper them, but I'd love it if now and then you also bellowed them.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
"A little too much is just enough for me," joked poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. I suspect that when he said that, he was in a phase similar to the one you're in now. I bet he was experiencing a flood of creative ideas, pleasurable self-expressions, and loving breakthroughs. He was probably right to risk going a bit too far, because he was learning so much from surpassing his previous limitations and exploring the frontiers outside his comfort zone. Now here's your homework, Aries: Identify two actions you could take that fit the profile I've described here.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Biologists believe that no tree can grow more than 436 feet tall. As much as an individual redwood or spruce or mountain ash might like to sprout so high that it doesn't have to compete with other trees for sunlight, gravity is simply too strong for it to pump enough water up from the ground to its highest branches. Keep that in mind as a useful metaphor during the next ten months, Taurus. Your assignment is to grow bigger and taller and stronger than you ever have before—and know when you have reached a healthy level of being bigger and stronger and taller.
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EXTRA BONUS SUPPORT
Since I put all my heart and soul into the written horoscopes I send out in this newsletter, they're pretty nutritious. You may never need any of the other stuff I create.
But if you ever do crave an added boost, you may want to sample my Expanded Audio Horoscopes. They're different in tone and intent than the written scopes, imbued with a little more of the psychologist in me, and a little less of the poet.
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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GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
I haven't felt the savory jolt of bacon in my mouth since I was 15, when I forever stopped eating pigs. I still remember that flavor with great fondness, however. I've always said I'd love to find a loophole that would allow me to enjoy it again. And then today I found out about a kind of seaweed that researchers at Oregon State University say tastes like bacon and is healthier than kale. It's a new strain of a red marine algae called dulse. If I can track it down online, I'll have it for breakfast soon. I bring this to your attention, Gemini, because I suspect that you, too, are primed to discover a fine new substitute—something to replace a pleasure or resource that is gone or taboo or impossible. What could it be?
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
By age 49, Cancerian author Norman Cousins had been struck with two debilitating diseases. His physicians gave him a one in 500 chance of recovery. He embarked on a series of unconventional attempts to cure himself, including "laugh therapy" and positive self-talk, among others. They worked. He lived lustily for another 26 years, and wrote several books about health and healing. So perhaps we should pay attention to his belief that "each patient carries his own doctor inside him"—that at least some of our power to cure ourselves resides in inner sources that are not understood or accredited by traditional medicine. This would be a valuable hypothesis for you to consider and test in the coming weeks, Cancerian. (Caveat: But don't stop drawing on traditional medicine that has been helping you.)
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
In accordance with astrological rhythms, I'm giving you permission to be extra regal and majestic in the coming weeks. You have a poetic license to be a supremely royal version of yourself, even to the point of wearing a jeweled crown and purple silk robe. Would you prefer a gold scepter with pearls or a silver scepter with rubies? Please keep in mind, though, that all of us non-Leos are hoping you will be a noble and benevolent sovereign who provides enlightened leadership and bestows generous blessings. That kind of behavior will earn you the right to enjoy more of these lofty interludes in the future.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
In the coming weeks, I will refer to you as The Rememberer. Your task will be to deepen and refine your relationship with the old days and old ways—both your own past and the pasts of people you care about most. I hope you will take advantage of the cosmic rhythms to reinvigorate your love for the important stories that have defined you and yours. I trust you will devote treasured time to reviewing in detail the various historical threads that give such rich meaning to your web of life.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
"Those who build walls are their own prisoners," wrote Libran author Ursula K. Le Guin. She continued, "I'm going to fulfill my proper function in the social organism. I'm going to unbuild walls." I hope that sounds appealing to you, Libra. Unbuilding walls is my first choice for your prime assignment in the coming weeks. I'd love to see you create extra spaciousness and forge fertile connections. I'll be ecstatic if you foster a rich interplay of diverse influences. If you're feeling super-plucky, you might even help unbuild walls that your allies have used to half-trap themselves.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
"If you can’t help me grow, there’s no point with you being in my life." Singer and actress Jill Scott said that. In my view, Scorpios may be the only sign of the zodiac that can assert such a sentiment with total sincerity and authority. For many of the other tribes, it might seem harsh or unenforceable, but for you it's exactly right—a robust and courageous truth. In addition to its general rightness, it's also an especially apt principle for you to wield right now. The coming weeks will be a potent time to catalyze deep learning and interesting transformations in concert with your hearty allies.
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HOMEWORK:
Imagine it's 30 years from now and you're telling God the worst things and best things you ever did. What would they be? 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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