Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
+
August 4, 2004
+
http://www.freewillastrology.com
+
Dear Beauty and Truth Fans,
If you're going to BURNING MAN this year, consider coming to my
performance on Friday, September 3 between 4 and 6 pm. It'll be at
PLANET WOW, which will be located at 3:30 and Esplanade.
For more info on BURNING MAN, see the website at
http://www.burningman.com
PLANET WOW is at http://www.planetwow.org
See you there,
Rob
+
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
August 4
Copyright 2004 by Rob Brezsny
www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): "Charles Baudelaire counseled readers to be
drunk continually 'on wine, on poetry, or on virtue, as you wish,'" wrote
Kate Taylor in *The New Yorker.* "But he also thought drugs were a
perversion of our taste for the infinite and that great minds could furnish
their own intoxicants." I'm hoping you're one of those "great minds" the
French poet was talking about, Aries. According to my reading of the
astrological omens, you need a large helping of the magic that lies outside
of ordinary consciousness. But you're far more likely to thrive if you can
find a natural way to satisfy your "taste for the infinite."
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): To hint at the potentials of the coming week,
I'll appropriate the words of avant-garde music composer and author,
John Cage. In describing his work, he once said, "I have nothing to say/
and I am saying it/ and that is poetry." Here's an altered version, Taurus,
created especially to suit your current astrological needs: You have
nothing to do/ and you are doing it/ and that's your genius.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The gods have authorized me to give you
three tough but sweet oracles. Ready? 1. If you hope to be in the right
place at the right time to hear the words that will set you free, you'll have
to act with both more confidence and more humility. 2. To learn the clue
that will heal an old rift, you'll have to *really* want to know what's
going on beneath the official version of the truth. 3. To find the hidden
beauty and inspiration in an initially awkward mess, you'll have to
respond without anger to a message that feels threatening to your pride.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Your actions in the immediate future could
have a potent impact on your long-range future. For instance, new
connections you forge in the coming weeks -- especially if you leave your
comfort zone to make them -- will be valuable if you decide to leave your
current dream home and head to a new dream home next year. Here's
another example: If you spend some time this August trying to fix a glitch
in the way you communicate, 2005 may bring a dramatic enrichment of
your sense of community and a surge of grace in your family dynamics.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In describing his creative process, novelist Jack
Kerouac said, "The first thought is the best thought." When Allen Ginsberg
was asked "What's the best advice you can give a poet?", he echoed
Kerouac. On the other hand, Nobel Prize-winning writer William Butler
Yeats constantly revised works he had already published, even fiddling
with poems that were many years old. Pierre Bonnard was so committed
to editing himself that "he was once caught trying to retouch one of his
own paintings hanging on a museum wall," wrote poet Linh Dinh, who
concluded, "Last thought is the best thought." While there are valid
arguments for both views, Leo, the astrological omens say your best bet
for now is to go the way of Kerouac and Ginsberg.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Before you can move on to your next exciting
challenge, you'll have to answer a few hard questions about the life you've
lived since your last birthday. The object of this test is not to make you
feel guilty, but to help you take inventory of your gaffes and indiscretions
so you can make atonement, thereby clearing a path to the future. Have
you purposely caused anyone pain? Did you tell any big lies? Did you
commit any unethical acts? Have you revealed information told to you in
confidence? Do you owe money or energy to anyone you have no intention
of paying back? Confess everything, Virgo--to the mirror. Then go set
things right, or at least as right as possible.
**********************************************
EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
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.
The Expanded Audio horoscopes cost $6 if you access them on the Web via
RealAudio, or $1.99 per minute if you want them over the phone.
For Web access, go here:
http://www.relationshipnetwork.com/horo/index.asp?client_id=50700
From the United States, call
1-900-950-7700
or if you prefer to pay by credit card
1-877-873-4888
If you live in Canada, call 1-888-499-4425 to purchase a Block of Time
with your credit card.
**********************************************
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): "If the landscape reveals one certainty," wrote
Annie Dillard in *Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,* "it is that the extravagant
gesture is the very stuff of creation. After the one extravagant gesture of
creation in the first place, the universe has continued to deal exclusively
in extravagances, flinging intricacies and colossi down aeons of
emptiness, heaping profusions on profligacies with fresh vigor." In my
astrological opinion, Libra, it is your duty to resonate with this
particular aspect of the cosmos. For the next few weeks, you have license
to overflow with floods of self-expression; you have the right to create
like a god who has the pleasure and privilege of creating a new world.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A Taoist parable tells of a poor farmer who
owned a single horse. One night it ran away. The neighbors came to offer
condolences. "What bad luck!" they said. "Maybe," the farmer replied.
"Maybe not." A week later, the fugitive horse returned, accompanied by
six wild horses. The farmer and his son corralled them. "Lucky you!" the
neighbors cried. "Maybe," the farmer said. "Maybe not." Soon the son
tried taming the new arrivals. A stallion threw him to the ground,
breaking his leg. "Terrible luck!" the neighbors wailed. "Maybe," said the
farmer. "Maybe not." The next day, soldiers visited the village. Strife had
broken out between two warlords, and one had decided to conscript the
local young men. Though every other son was taken, the farmer's boy was
spared because of his injury. "What fantastic luck!" the neighbors said. I
think this story captures the essence of your coming week pretty well,
Scorpio.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In the middle of a moonlit night last
February, someone in the English town of Pembury sneaked into the yards
of over a hundred homes and secretly planted an ash sapling in each one. It
was hard work. The weather was bad and each tree needed a hole dug to
accommodate it. Judging from your current astrological omens,
Sagittarius, I believe you'll soon be the recipient of a gift like that. Other
good surprises may be on tap as well, especially if you say a prayer in
which you tell God or Goddess that you're ready, willing, and able to
receive all manner of unexpected benevolence.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The saliva of vampire bats appears to be
effective in dissolving the blood clots that cause strokes. Ongoing research
into the medical applications of snake venom suggests it may ultimately be
used to fight cancer, heart attacks, and mad cow disease. And I suspect that
in the coming weeks, Capricorn, you will be healed by a small dose of an
experience that in large doses has felt noxious to you in the past. Keep
your mind open to the possibility. Don't automatically avoid everything
that seems unpleasant.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You are more ready than you've ever been
for the kind of intimacy that the poet Adrienne Rich extols: "An honorable
human relationship -- that is, one in which two people have the right to
use the word 'love' -- is a process, delicate, violent, often terrifying to
both persons involved, a process of refining the truths they can tell each
other." I'm not implying, Aquarius, that you *should* find a relationship
where you can continually break down your self-delusions and dig for the
raw truth. Nor am I insisting that you *should* prod one of your existing
relationships to leap to this higher octave. But I am saying that you have
the strength and courage to try it.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Visionary educator Maria Montessori
believed that self-discipline motivated by a child's own enthusiasm is far
better than discipline imposed on the child by a strong-willed authority.
What's the best way to develop the superior form? Kids need to
understand the difference between good and evil, and even more
importantly, they must not associate good with passive immobility and
evil with animated activity. I believe her argument will be useful for you
to meditate on in the coming weeks, Pisces. It's an ideal time to bring
more order, efficiency, and discipline into your rhythm. And the best way
to do that is to cultivate an irrepressible desire to perpetrate aggressive
acts of generosity and good will.
*********************************************
HOMEWORK:
Identify your fondest childhood memory, and recreate in the present time
the feeling you had back then. Testify by going to
www.freewillastrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."
*********************************************
WANT TO GET YOUR CHART DONE?
I'm not doing charts these days. In addition to writing my weekly column
and expanded audio horoscopes, I'm also working on a book and CD.
But I can recommend a colleague whose astro-aesthetics closely match my
own. She's RO LOUGHRAN.
Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and a
high degree of technical proficiency in horoscope interpretation; she is
skilled at exploring the mysteries of your life's purpose and nurturing
your connection with your own inner wisdom. In addition to over 20 years
of astrological experience, Ro is also a licensed psychotherapist, allowing
her to integrate psychological insight with the cosmological perspective
that astrology offers.
Ro is based in California, but can do phone consultations and otherwise
work with you regardless of geographic boundaries.
Ro's website is at
http://www.astrology-psychotherapy.com/
She can also be reached at roloughran@comcast.net
Namaste,
Rob
*********************************************
NEED TO CHANGE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS?
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, or to change the address
where you receive it, go to:
http://www.freewillastrology.com/newsletter/
I totally respect your privacy. I'll never sell or give away your address to
anyone.
*********************************************
Submissions sent to the Free Will Astrology Weekly 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 such submissions for length, style, and content.
Requests for anonymity will be honored with submissions;
otherwise, reader names, screen names, or initials will be used.
Please be sure to note your preference when sending to us. We
are not responsible for unsolicited submission of any creative
material.
Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2004 Rob Brezsny
********************************************