Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
January 20, 2021
FreeWillAstrology.com
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Here's your mantra for the next 33 days: "I know what I want and I know how to get it. I know what to do and I know how to do it."
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Dear Readers,
I've gathered all of the long-term, big-picture horoscopes I wrote for you in recent weeks, and bundled them in one place. Here's a compendium of your forecasts for 2021:
bit.ly/BigPicture2021
In addition to these, I've created EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES that go even further in Exploring Your Long-Term Destiny in 2021.
What will be the story of your life in the coming months? What new influences will be headed your way? What fresh resources will you be able to draw on? How can you conspire with life to create the best possible future for yourself?
To listen to these three-part, in-depth reports, go here:
RealAstrology.com
Register and/or log in through the main page, and then access the horoscopes by clicking on "Long Range Prediction." (Choose from Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.)
If you'd like a boost of inspiration to fuel you in your quest for beauty and truth and love and meaning, tune in to my meditations on your Big-Picture outlook.
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Each of the three-part reports is seven to nine minutes long. The cost is $6 per report. There are discounts for the purchase of multiple reports.
P.S. You can also listen to a short-term Expanded Audio Horoscope for the coming week.
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THE REVOLUTION OF CARING
Johanna Hedva writes: The most anti-capitalist protest is to care for another and to care for yourself. To take on the historically feminized and therefore invisible practice of nursing, nurturing, caring.
To take seriously each other’s vulnerability and fragility and precarity, and to support it, honor it, empower it. To protect each other, to enact and practice community.
A radical kinship, an interdependent sociality, a politics of care.
—Johanna Hedva, www.instagram.com/bighedva
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PRONOIA IS NOT ABOUT DENIAL
As anyone who has read my book about pronoia knows, cultivating visionary optimism never means ignoring or downplaying pathology and hatred.
In that spirit, I think it's important to be clear about the dire cavalcade of dangerously fascistic events, which is now upon us—as evidenced by the attack on the Capitol and the continued activity of rightwing extremism and terrorism.
Yes, I can and will call attention to other positive things going on. But I won't minimize the severity of our present crisis, which we are not even close to being done with.
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THE SECRET OF SECRETS
What is the Secret of Secrets? The Great Work? The fulfillment of the Quest for the Grail?
I suspect it's the heroic trick of dispersing fear; of becoming clear to experience life without the rumbling subtext of chronic anxiety.
And I suspect that’s at the core of EVERYONE’s struggle.
In my personal story, the cure is most possible as I cultivate a relaxed capacity to perceive the presence of Divine Consciousness at work in every action everywhere.
I'm not there yet, but am making some progress! How about you?
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END OF THE NIGHTMARE
Tobias Barrington Wolff wrote all the words in this section.
I have an exhortation to offer as we approach the end of this nightmare. For the last five years, I have been using the tools and lessons developed from surviving a childhood with a dangerous and malignant parent to understand, explain, and guard against the depredations of the toxic madman who has been occupying the U.S. presidency.
I will continue to be on guard these next four days, as will we all, but I am finally starting to anticipate releasing that hyper-awareness and vigilance and never, ever spending my days thinking about this monster again. I urge you to do the same.
One of the lessons I have learned in my journey is the danger of becoming too attached to your arsenal of tools. When you put in the difficult and intense work of learning to understand a toxic abuser, dissect their motivations, predict their behavior and thwart or sidestep their assaults, you feel a sense of accomplishment.
It may be a perverse form of gratification, but the gratification is real. When you have no choice but to deal with an abuser, you feel good about yourself for learning how to deal with them successfully. That is a human response, and when you are in the danger zone it can be an emotional necessity.
If you are not careful, however, that gratification becomes a trap. You start returning to the abusive situation in order to show how well you can deal with it, to remind yourself how gratified you feel when you figure out or thwart or sidestep the abuse.
Or you feel a sharp lack of resolution in the situation because the abuser has never admitted their crimes, asked forgiveness, been properly humbled, and so you keep returning to the abusive situation armed with your arsenal of tools to try to extract that satisfying resolution, gratified and pleased that your tools will let you deal with the abuser successfully every time you reengage.
That is not freedom. Freedom is leaving the abuser permanently behind you in a cloud of dust. And it is not healthy. Healthy is recognizing that you should use your tools and the lessons you have learned to avoid ever engaging with a toxic, malignant person again.
Every one of us has been in an involuntary relationship with an abuser for the past five years. Four days from now, when he is no longer in a position of authority and there is no longer any imperative to dissect or predict or thwart or sidestep his depredations, embrace that freedom.
Choose to be healthy. Erase him from your consciousness. We will deal with him as needed: we will follow the reporting of his criminal trials, see his impeachment trial, uncover the corruption and debasement that have riven our government for the last four years.
But on a day to day basis, I urge you to lay aside everything that you have built up these last five years, honor yourself as a courageous warrior for surviving the experience, and purge him from your soul.
—Tobias Barrington Wolff wrote all the words in the above section He's at tinyurl.com/y4ebqjz8
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URANUS IN TAURUS
How to Respond to Uranus in Taurus (where it'll be until April 2026) — by Olivia Pepper
Reevaluate your possessions. All of them. Give away or destroy items that are holding you back spiritually, especially expensive items that you do not use.
Stop throwing good things away. Now that you have reevaluated your possessions, take deep and attentive care of the things you own. Patch items creatively and lovingly. When something breaks, turn it into something new. Learn to work with your own hands. Move away from a disposable culture.
Celebrate beauty. Revere the rise of new beauty standards and relationships with gender. Let Uranus in Taurus liberate you from oppressive, rigid modes of viewing physical beauty and presentation. Practice beholding, displaying, and appreciating a variety of physical beauty.
Transform the way you eat. This can be something that is both luxurious and deliberate. We’ll likely be seeing a worldwide shift in diet and food culture, perhaps even the long-awaited downfall of the agro-industrial complex as we focus on local, bioregional, sustainable, and indigenous food sources
Start a garden. Even if it is just a planter box of herbs in your apartment window, take this opportunity to connect with the process of growing your own food.
Invest in alternative economies. Prepare for the rise of cryptocurrencies and the potential of upheaval in the global financial markets. Begin to participate in barter and gift economies in your communities.
Separate your worth from your wealth. It is hard for us in a late capitalist society to do this. We were raised with the adage “time is money,” but time is not money. Time is not anything except an arbitrary way of measuring our experience in a constantly changing universe.
And, while we’re on the subject, money is not anything either! It is merely an outmoded symbolic system that technology can replace, as soon as we are ready to let go of attachment to hierarchy. You are not your bank account.
—Olivia Pepper, tinyurl.com/yxzryb29
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THE TRUTH ABOUT MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
A reader tried to tell me that at this precarious moment we need to rise above partisan politics; that we need people who have no ideology fueling their perspective; that we can't afford to be feeding argument.
This person invoked Martin Luther King Jr. as fitting this description. They said that King brought people together like no one has done since.
The truth is very different. Martin Luther King Jr. was fiercely anti-racist, anti-poverty, and anti-war and anti-militarism. He did not hold anything back in his criticisms of the corrupt American system. And he alienated a great number of white people.
Historian Nathan Connolly says it's important to remember that King was considered a divisive figure, both in his lifetime and after his death. Some people today try to make him into a consensus builder. But the fact is that he never watered down his commitments to justice,
It's true that he specifically advised us to avoid physical violence. But he was a staunch fighter, a vehement defender of what's right, an uncompromising force advocating a fundamental remaking of American politics and culture.
It's not hard to imagine how King would have responded to the White Supremacist President and his White Supremacist terrorist army.
King saw Three Evils in the World: tinyurl.com/y9fkgfze
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IDIOT COMPASSION
Pema Chodron says that one of the enemies of compassion “is idiot compassion. This is when we avoid conflict and protect our good image by being kind when we should definitely say 'no.'
"Compassion doesn't only imply trying to be good. When we find ourselves in an aggressive relationship, we need to set clear boundaries. The kindest thing we can do for everyone concerned is to know when to say 'enough.' Many people use Buddhist ideals to justify self-debasement. In the name of not shutting our heart we let people walk all over us.
"It is said that in order not to break our vow of compassion we have to learn when to stop aggression and draw the line. There are times when the only way to bring down barriers is to set boundaries."
—Pema Chodron, The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times
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CONSPIRITUALITY
Conspirituality — the overlap between the New Age and conspiracy beliefs:
tinyurl.com/y6pcarnh
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CITIZEN OF DARK TIMES — by Kim Stafford
Agenda in a time of fear: Be not afraid.
When things go wrong, do right.
Set out by the half-light of the seeker.
For the well-lit problem begins to heal.
Learn tropism toward the difficult.
We have not arrived to explain, but to sing.
Young idealism ripens into an ethical life.
Prune back regret to let faith grow.
When you hit rock bottom, dig farther down.
Grief is the seed of singing, shame the seed of song.
Keep seeing what you are not saying.
Plunder your reticence.
Songbird guards a twig, its only weapon a song.
~by Kim Stafford
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TRUE CONSERVATIVES
As the Trumpocalypse comes to its whimpering, desolate, ignominious end, I will mildly celebrate the fact that many Republicans opposed the cruel tyrant feeding the vortex of doom.
Here's a list of Republicans and conservatives who opposed Trump: tinyurl.com/y6g7978f
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Birds are Linked to Happiness Levels. The more bird species we live near, the happier we are, new study finds
tinyurl.com/y8kjpz6o
Nature's Artistry. Porth Nanven, Cornwall
tinyurl.com/m823647
The renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma once came to the home of computer pioneer Steve Jobs and performed a private concert. Jobs was deeply touched, and told Ma, "Your playing is the best argument I’ve ever heard for the existence of God, because I don’t really believe a human alone can do this."
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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 January 21
Copyright 2021 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
"My business is circumference," wrote poet Emily Dickinson in a letter to her mentor. What did she mean by that? "Circumference" was an important word for her. It appeared in 17 of her poems. Critic Rochelle Cecil writes that for Dickinson, circumference referred to a sense of boundlessness radiating out from a center—a place where "one feels completely free, where one can express anything and everything." According to critic Donna M. Campbell, circumference was Dickinson's metaphor for ecstasy. When she said, "My business is circumference," she meant that her calling was to be eternally in quest of awe and sublimity. I propose that you make good use of Dickinson's circumference in the coming weeks, Aquarius. It's time to get your mind and heart and soul thoroughly expanded and elevated.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Should I quote the wisdom of people who have engaged in behavior I consider unethical or immoral? Should I draw inspiration from teachers who at some times in their lives treated others badly? For instance, Pisces-born Ted Geisel, better known as beloved author Dr. Seuss, cheated on his wife while she was sick, ultimately leading to her suicide. Should I therefore banish him from my memory and never mention the good he did in the world? Or should I forgive him of his sins and continue to appreciate him? I don't have a fixed set of rules about how to decide questions like these. How about you? The coming weeks will be a good time to redefine your relationship with complicated people.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
On May 4, 2019, my Aries friend Leah woke up in a state of amazement. During the night, she felt she had miraculously become completely enlightened. Over the next 16 hours, she understood her life perfectly. Everything made sense to her. She was in love with every person and animal she knew. But by the next morning, the exalted serenity had faded, and she realized that her enlightenment had been temporary. She wasn't mad or sad, however. The experience shook her up so delightfully that she vowed to forevermore seek to recreate the condition she had enjoyed. Recently she told me that on virtually every day since May 4, 2019, she has spent at least a few minutes, and sometimes much longer, exulting in the same ecstatic peace that visited her back then. That's the Aries way: turning a surprise, spontaneous blessing into a permanent breakthrough. I trust you will do that soon.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
One morning, famous French army general Hubert Lyautey (1854–1934) instructed his gardener to spend the next day planting a row of saplings on his property. The gardener agreed, but advised Lyautey that this particular species of tree required 100 years to fully mature. "In that case," Lyautey said, "plant them now." I recommend that you, too, expedite your long-term plans, Taurus. Astrologically speaking, the time is ripe for you to take crisp action to fulfill your big dreams.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Someone asked poet E. E. Cummings what home was for him. He responded poetically, talking about his lover. Home was "the stars on the tip of your tongue, the flowers sprouting from your mouth, the roots entwined in the gaps between your fingers, the ocean echoing inside your ribcage.” What about you, Gemini? If you were asked to give a description of what makes you feel glad to be alive and helps give you the strength to be yourself, what would you say? Now would be a good time to identify and honor the influences that inspire you to create your inner sense of home.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
"Be sweet to me, world," pleads Cancerian poet Stephen Dunn in one of his poems. In the coming weeks, I invite you to address the world in a similar way. And since I expect the world will be unusually receptive and responsive to your requests, I'll encourage you to add even more entreaties. For example, you could say, "Be revelatory and educational with me, world," or "Help me deepen my sense that life is meaningful, world," or "Feed my soul with experiences that will make me smarter and wilder and kinder, world." Can you think of other appeals and supplications you'd like to express to the world?
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LET'S IMAGINE WHAT INTERESTING MYSTERIES
MIGHT BE COMING YOUR WAY IN THE COMING YEAR
Would you like some inspiration as you muse and wonder about your upcoming adventures in 2021?
You can still listen to my long-range, in-depth explorations of your destiny in the coming months. Each report in the three-part series is 7 to 9 minutes long.
Go to RealAstrology.com to register and/or sign in through the main page.
Then access the Long-Term, Big-Picture EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES by clicking on "Long Range Prediction." Choose from Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
The cost for the Expanded Audio Horoscopes is $6 per sign. (You can get discounts for multiple purchases.)
A new short-range forecast for this week is also available.
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"Your Expanded Audio Horoscopes provide me with the Rest of the Story. I'm not necessarily a believer in the scientific accuracy of astrology, but I do think you've got a lot of practical wisdom to impart."
—M. Tennenbaum, New York
"No one knows more about me than me. But you're right up there near the top of the list of people who do understand something about how I tick. How is that possible?"
—R. Goren, Albuquerque
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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Throughout his many rough travels in the deserts of the Middle East, the Leo diplomat and army officer known as Lawrence of Arabia (1888–1935) didn't give up his love of reading. While riding on the backs of camels, he managed to study numerous tomes, including the works of ancient Greek writers Aeschylus and Aristophanes. I'd love to see you perform comparable balancing acts in the coming weeks, Leo. The astrological omens suggest you'll be skilled at coordinating seemingly uncoordinatable projects and tasks—and that you'll thrive by doing so. (PS: Your efforts may be more metaphorical and less literal than Lawrence's.)
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Sculptor Stefan Saal testifies that one of his central questions as a creator of art is to know when a piece is done. "When making a thing I need to decide when is it thoroughly made, when is it dare-we-say 'perfected.'" He has tried to become a master of knowing where and when to stop. I recommend this practice to you in the next two weeks, Virgo. You've been doing good work, and will continue to do good work, but it's crucial that you don't get overly fussy and fastidious as you refine and perhaps even finish your project.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
You're entering the potentially most playful and frisky and whimsical phase of your astrological cycle. To honor and encourage a full invocation of gleeful fun, I offer you the following thoughts from Tumblr blogger Sparkledog. "I am so tired of being told that I am too old for the things I like. No cartoons. No toys. No fantasy animals. No bright colors. Are adults supposed to live monotonous, bleak lives ? I can be an adult and still love childish things. I can be intelligent and educated and informed and I can love stuffed animals and unicorns. Please stop making me feel bad for loving the things that make me happy."
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
"Nature cannot be ordered about, except by obeying her," wrote philosopher Francis Bacon (1561–1626). That paradoxical observation could prove to be highly useful for you in the coming weeks. Here are some other variants on the theme: Surrendering will lead to power. Expressing vulnerability will generate strength. A willingness to transform yourself will transform the world around you. The more you're willing to acknowledge that you have a lot to learn, the smarter you'll be.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
In his book The Lover’s Dictionary, David Levithan advises lovers and would-be lovers to tell each other their very best stories. "Not the day’s petty injustices," he writes. "Not the glimmer of a seven-eighths-forgotten moment from your past. Not something that somebody said to somebody, who then told it to you." No, to foster the vibrant health of a love relationship—or any close alliance for that matter—you should consistently exchange your deepest, richest tales. This is always true, of course, but it's especially true for you right now.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
On October 18, 1867, the United States government completed its purchase of Alaska from Russia. How much did this 586,000-acre kingdom cost? Two cents per acre, which in today's money would be about 37 cents. It was a tremendous bargain! I propose that we regard this transaction as a metaphor for what's possible for you in 2021: the addition of a valuable resource at a reasonable price. (PS: American public opinion about the Alaskan purchase was mostly favorable back then, but a few influential newspapers described it as foolish. Don't let naysayers like them dissuade you from your smart action.)
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HOMEWORK:
Where in your life do you push harder than is healthy? Where do you not push hard enough? 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 2021 Rob Brezsny
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