Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
March 10, 2021
FreeWillAstrology.com
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Tell jokes to clowns.
Cook gourmet meals for chefs.
Show babies how to crawl.
Sing to the birds.
Play a joke on your fear.
Honor your anger.
Capitalize on your guilt.
Kill your own death.
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WHAT LIFE STORY WILL YOU CREATE FOR YOURSELF
IN THE COMING MONTHS?
Get inspired by listening to my 3-part EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES about your LONG-RANGE FUTURE.
These forecasts will be available for just two more weeks.
Who do you want to become between now and January 2022? Where do you want to go and what do you want to do? How can you exert your free will to create adventures that'll bring out the best in you, even as you find graceful ways to cooperate with the tides of destiny?
To listen to my 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, and Part 3. Each part is a standalone report, not dependent on the other two.
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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CAN YOUR RELATIONSHIP HEAL THE WORLD?
Andrew Harvey writes: The crisis we are facing is a crisis in which the sacred powers of love in the human soul are being diverted by distraction, by greed, by ignorance, by the pursuit of power, so that they never irrigate the world and transform it.
There are seven requirements necessary for a vision of evolutionary love to emerge into the world.
1. Both beings need to be plunged individually into a deep and passionate devotion of the Beloved, by whatever name they know the Beloved, because without both beings centering their life in God, the relationship will never be able to escape the private circle.
2. Both beings must develop a mastery of solitude.
3. There is an equality of power, and that equality is born out of a profound experience of the sacredness and dignity of the other person’s soul.
4. If you are going to have a beloved-beloved relationship, you have to center your whole being and work and evolution in God. You must also bring the sacred practice of prayer and meditation into the very core of your life, so that the whole relationship can be enfolded in a mutually shared sacred enterprise.
5. Both lovers completely abandon any Hollywood sentimentality about what relationships actually are. Each person is the safe-guarder of the other’s shadow—not the judge of the other’s shadow, not the denier of the other’s shadow, but someone who recognizes where the other has been wounded, and safeguards and protects them with unconditional compassion without allowing themselves to be mauled or manipulated by the other.
6. If you are going to enter into the evolutionary process, you have to accept that it never ends, never stops unfolding.
7. You must make the commitment for your relationship not to be just a cultivation of an oasis of private pleasure. You must engage consciously in this relationship to serve the planet, to recognize that it is a relationship not only grounded in God, not only infused by sacred practice, but it is from the very beginning dedicated to making both people more powerful, more reflective, more passionately engaged with the only serious truth of our time: The world is dying, and we need a major revolution of the heart to empower everyone to do the work of reconstruction and re-creation that is desperately needed.
All the words in this section were written by Andrew Harvey
Read the entire essay by Andrew Harvey: tinyurl.com/y7qqw7gl
It's an excerpt from Andrew Harvey's book Evolutionary Love Relationships: Passion, Authenticity, and Activism
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The kind of passion, the kind of emotion and connection, that Westerners look for from a romantic relationship. village people look for from spirit.
—Burkinabe author and teacher Sobonfu Somé
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An atheist reader writes: What about atheists? I think they can and do often love each other as much as people who believe in and/or have a relationship with the Divine.
My reply: I think Andrew's point could apply to atheists who are interested in dedicating their relationship to the service of a higher good, whether that's fighting to undo White Supremacy, reversing ecocide, or making great art that inspires people.
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PS: I love it when atheists find something inspirational or useful in my expressions! And / but everything I express is rooted in my relationship with the Divine Intelligence. If I offer anything of worth, it's because the Goddess has created it.
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EFFECTIVE ACTIVISM NEEDS POSITIVE VISIONS OF THE FUTURE
I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now and can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine some real grounds for hope.
We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries—the realists of a larger reality.
—Ursula K. Le Guin
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The rise and fall of images of the future precede or accompany the rise and fall of cultures. As long as a society's image is positive and flourishing, the flower of culture is in full bloom. Once the image begins to decay and lose its vitality, the culture does not long survive.
—Fred Polak
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Almost without exception, everything society has considered a social advance has been prefigured first in some utopian writing.
—David L. Cooperrider
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You gotta remember, and I’m sure you do, the forces that are arrayed against anyone trying to alter the hammerlock on the human imagination. There are trillions of dollars out there demotivating people from imagining that a better tomorrow is possible.
Utopian impulses and utopian horizons have been completely disfigured and everybody now is fluent in dystopia. My young people’s vocabulary . . . their fluency is in dystopic futures. When young people think about the future, they don’t think about a better tomorrow, they think about horrors and end of the worlds and things or worse.
Do you really think the lack of utopic imagination doesn’t play into demotivating people from imagining a transformation in the society?"
—J. Díaz
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What some call my "blasphemous cheerfulness" or my "cockeyed optimism" just depends on my basic agnosticism. We don't know the outcome of the current worldwide transformation, so it seems sick and decadent (in the Nietzschean sense) when fashionable opinion harps on all the gloomy alternatives and resolutely ignores the utopian possibilities that seem equally likely (and, on the basis of past evolution, perhaps a little more likely).
—Robert Anton Wilson
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I invite you to see the image I chose to illustrate this group of thoughts: tinyurl.com/yk68sdn4
It's from the cover of Jerome Rothenberg's book Technicians of the Sacred, which offers a range of poetry from the indigenous people of Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.
I chose it to illustrate these ideas because I suspect, more and more, that indigenous people's strategies for cultivating and engaging with the sacred should be a key factor in our efforts to reclaim the word from its profane decimators.
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Some activists don't want to register evidence that contradicts their foregone conclusions about humans' cancerous presence on the planet. It's dangerous to do so, they feel, because it threatens to make us complacent and fall under the delusion that our work as freedom fighters is done.
Cultivating hope and celebrating progress are foolish indulgences that would sap our motivation to keep agitating for even greater justice. Focusing on the good stuff tempts us to ignore the continuing bad stuff.
I understand that position. It's the stance of many devoted activists who have a ferocious devotion to the extinction of suffering. I respect their work and am rooting them on. But I'd also like to suggest that there are additional ways to wage the war on stupidity, violence, and tyranny—as we build a new world.
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When I call attention to the value of hope, and when I report good news about the world that invigorates our hope, I of course don't mean to imply that paradise is at hand. My recognition of under-reported progress and miracles is not equivalent to an endorsement of evil-doers. And I trust that after reading these words you won't go numb to the suffering of others and stop agitating on their behalf.
Just the opposite: I hope that you will be energized. I hope you'll be motivated to give yourself with confidence to the specific role you can play in manifesting the ultimate goal: to create a heaven on earth in which everyone alive is a healthy, free, self-actualized, spiritually enlightened millionaire dedicated to living sustainably.
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EXPANDED EMPATHY
Dave Berman has started a study group for people who want to explore the ideas I write about in my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
Register here for the book club, which is called the Pronoia Experimentation Pod: tinyurl.com/56j88asx
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Dave Berman writes: I wonder why references to empathy all seem to be about feeling the undesirable or seemingly "negative" feelings of another person.
Who is going to empathize with my joy when I #celebrate what seems mundane? Where is the empathy for the pride experienced at handling challenges better than in the past? Who will cultivate compersion to align their emotional experience with someone discovering for the first time that jealousy has an exact opposite?
If you are capable of empathy, you and anyone you choose to empathize with deserve a fuller range of empathetic experiences!
If you have struggled with empathy in the past, here is a chance to start fresh pointing in a different direction.
If this idea is blowing your mind, melting your face, or in any way new and different from anything you've previously considered then you need to read Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings by Rob Brezsny
. . . and register for the book club called the Pronoia Experimentation Pod: tinyurl.com/56j88asx
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True success is figuring out your life and career so you never have to be around jerks.
—John Waters
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WHEN VACCINATIONS WEREN'T AVAILABLE
How different the history of North America would have been had there been a smallpox vaccination available before that deadly disease killed millions of Native Americans. (Central America and South America, too.)
After the European invasion of what we now call the Americas, the deaths of 90% of the native population were caused by Old World diseases brought by the invaders. Smallpox was the chief culprit.
Estimates of mortality rates resulting from smallpox epidemics range between 38.5% for the Aztecs, 50% for the Piegan, Huron, Catawba, Cherokee, and Iroquois, 66% for the Omaha and Blackfeet, 90% for the Mandan, and 100% for the Taino.
Smallpox epidemics affected the demography of the stricken populations for 100 to 150 years after the initial first infection.
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The smallpox vaccine is no longer available to the public. In 1972, routine smallpox vaccination in the United States ended. In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared smallpox was eliminated. Because of this, the public doesn't need protection from the disease.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Very good news: With over 60 Black students, Harvard Law School's class of 2021 is one of the largest class of Black J.D. candidates in the educational institution's history. tinyurl.com/75ntzk68
Inside the L.A.P.D.’s Experiment in Trust-Based Policing. Can the notoriously hardline force become an ally to Black communities? tinyurl.com/3j2ceau2
Vancouver Gave Homeless People $5,800. It Changed Their Lives. A single infusion of cash helped recipients pay their rent, get to work — and put their lives back on track. tinyurl.com/2budezjs
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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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(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 March 11
Copyright 2021 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The bad news is that the narrow buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea is laced with landmines. Anyone who walks there is at risk for getting blown up. The good news is that because people avoid the place, it has become an unprecedented nature preserve—a wildlife refuge where endangered species like the red-crowned crane and Korean fox can thrive. In the coming weeks and months, I'd love to see you engage in a comparable project, Pisces: finding a benevolent use for a previously taboo or wasted part of your life.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Artist Richard Kehl tells this traditional Jewish story: God said to Abraham, "But for me, you would not be here." Abraham answered, "I know that Lord, but were I not here there would be no one to think about you." I'm bringing this tale to your attention, dear Aries, because I think the coming weeks will be a favorable time to summon a comparable cheekiness with authorities, including even the Divine Wow Herself. So I invite you to consider the possibility of being sassy, saucy, and bold. Risk being an articulate maverick with a point of view that the honchos and experts should entertain.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Spiritual author Ernest Holmes wrote, "True imagination is not fanciful daydreaming; it is fire from heaven." Unfortunately, however, many people do indeed regard imagination as mostly just a source of fanciful daydreaming. And it is also true that when our imaginations are lazy and out of control, when they conjure delusional fears and worries, they can be debilitating. I bring this to your attention, Taurus, because I believe the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to harness the highest powers of your imagination—to channel the fire from heaven—as you visualize all the wonderful and interesting things you want to do with your life in the next nine months.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
"I'm always waiting for a door to open in a wall without doors," wrote Gemini author Fernando Pessoa. Huh? Pessoa was consistently eccentric in his many writings, and I find this particular statement especially odd. I'm going to alter it so it makes more sense and fits your current needs. Here's your motto for the coming weeks: "I'm always ready to figure out how to make a new door in a wall without doors, and call on all necessary help to make it."
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
You can't drive to the Kamchatka Peninsula. It's a 104,000-square-mile area with a sub-Arctic climate in the far east of Russia. No roads connect it to the rest of the world. Its major city, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, is surrounded by volcanoes. If you want to travel there, you must arrive by plane or ship. And yet Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky has long had a thriving tourist industry. More so before the pandemic, but even now, outsiders have come to paraglide, hunt for bears, and marvel at the scenery. In this horoscope, I am making an outlandish metaphorical comparison of you to the Kamchatka Peninsula. Like that land, people sometimes find it a challenge to reach you. And yet when they do, you can be quite welcoming. Is this a problem? Maybe, maybe not. What do you think? Now is a good time to re-evaluate.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Biting midges, also known as no-see-ums, are blood-sucking flies that spread various diseases. Yuck, right? Wouldn't the world be a better place if we used science to kill off all biting midges everywhere? Well, there would be a disappointing trade-off if we did. The creepy bugs are the primary pollinators for several crops grown in the topics, including cacao. So if we got rid of the no-see-ums, there'd probably be no more chocolate. I'm guessing that you may be dealing with a comparable dilemma, Leo: an influence that has both a downside and an upside. The central question is: Can you be all you want to be without it in your life? Or not? Now is a good time to ponder the best way to shape your future relationship.
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EXPLORING THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LONG-RANGE FUTURE
My long-range, big-picture EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for the coming months are still available, but only for two more weeks.
Who do you want to become between now and January 2022? Where do you want to go and what do you want to do? How can you exert your free will to create adventures that'll bring out the best in you, even as you find graceful ways to cooperate with the tides of destiny?
Go to RealAstrology.com to register and/or sign in through the main page.
Then access the horoscopes by clicking on "Long Range Prediction." Choose from Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Each part is a standalone report, not dependent on the other two.
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.
A new short-range forecast for this week is also available.
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"Your audio horoscopes help me love myself better, and I mean that in a non-narcissistic way."
—Deva Paramaus, Indianapolis
"I'm really grateful for the way you pick up my telepathic requests and answer them in your expanded audio 'scopes."
—Marion Houseman, Birmingham, AL
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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
According to my analysis of your imminent astrological potentials, you already are or will soon be floating and whirling and churning along on an ocean of emotion. In other words, you will be experiencing more feelings and stronger feelings than you have in quite some time. This doesn't have to be a problem as long as you do the following: 1. Be proud and appreciative about being able to feel so much. 2. Since only a small percentage of your feelings need to be translated into practical actions, don't take them too seriously. 3. Enjoy the ride!
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Poet Wendell Berry says "it's the immemorial feelings" he likes best: "hunger and thirst and their satisfaction; work-weariness and earned rest; the falling again from loneliness to love." Notice that he doesn't merely love the gratification that comes from quenching his hunger and thirst. The hunger and thirst are themselves essential components of his joy. Work-weariness and loneliness are not simply inconvenient discomforts that he'd rather live without. He celebrates them, as well. I think his way of thinking is especially worthy of your imitation in the next three weeks.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Famous and influential science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick relied on amphetamines to fuel his first 43 novels. Beginning with A Scanner Darkly, his 44th, he did without his favorite drug. It wasn't his best book, but it was far from his worst. It sold well and was made into a movie featuring Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., and two other celebrity actors. Inspired by Dick's success without relying on his dependency—and in accordance with current astrological omens—I'm inviting you to try doing without one of your addictions or compulsions or obsessions as you work on your labor of love.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Ninety percent of all apples in the world are descended from a forest of apple trees in southeast Kazakhstan. Most of us have tasted just a few types of apples, but there's a much wider assortment of flavors in that natural wonderland. You know how wine is described as having taste notes and aromas? The apple flavor of Kazakhstan's apples may be tinged with hints of roses, strawberries, anise, pineapples, coconuts, lemon peels, pears, potatoes, or popcorn. Can you imagine traveling to that forest and exploring a far more complex and nuanced relationship with a commonplace food? During the coming weeks, I invite you to experiment with arousing metaphorically similar experiences. In what old familiar persons, places, or things could you find a surprising wealth of previously unexplored depth and variety?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Author Andrew Tilin testified that he sometimes had the feeling that his life was in pieces—but then realized that most of the pieces were good and interesting. So his sense of being a mess of unassembled puzzle parts gave way to a deeper contentment—an understanding that the jumble was just fine the way it was. I recommend you cultivate and enjoy an experience like that in the coming weeks, Capricorn.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Indian poet Meena Alexander (1951–2018) was bon under the sign of Aquarius. She became famous after she moved to the US at age 29, but was raised in India and the Sudan. In her poem "Where Do You Come From?," she wrote, "Mama beat me when I was a child for stealing honey from a honey pot." I'm sorry to hear she was treated so badly for enjoying herself. She wasn't committing a crime! The honey belonged to her family, and her family had plenty of money to buy more honey. This vignette is my way of advising you, in accordance with astrological omens, to carry out your personal version of "stealing the honey from the honeypot," dear Aquarius. Take what's rightfully yours.
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HOMEWORK:
If you have a question whose answer might be interesting to other readers, send it. Maybe I'll address it in the column. Truthrooster@gmail.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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