Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
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November 17, 2004
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Below is an excerpt from the most inspiring thing I've read in weeks.
To read the whole thing, go here:
http://www.thestranger.com/current/feature.html
THE URBAN ARCHIPELAGO
by The Editors of The Stranger
It's time to state something that we've felt for a long time but have been
too polite to say out loud: Liberals, progressives, and Democrats do not
live in a country that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from
Canada to Mexico. We live on a chain of islands. We are citizens of the
Urban Archipelago, the United Cities of America. We live on islands of
sanity, liberalism, and compassion--New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia,
Seattle, St. Louis, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and on and on. And we live
on islands in red states too--a fact obscured by that state-by-state map.
Denver and Boulder are our islands in Colorado; Austin is our island in
Texas; Las Vegas is our island in Nevada; Miami and Fort Lauderdale are
our islands in Florida. Citizens of the Urban Archipelago reject heartland
"values" like xenophobia, sexism, racism, and homophobia, as well as the
more intolerant strains of Christianity that have taken root in this
country.
And we are the real Americans. They--rural, red-state voters, the denizens
of the exurbs--are not real Americans. They are fools and hate-mongers.
Red Virginia prohibits any contract between same-sex couples.
Compassionate? Texas allows the death penalty to be applied to teenaged
criminals and has historically executed the mentally retarded. Dumb? The
Sierra Club has reported that Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama,
and Tennessee squander over half of their federal transportation money
on building new roads rather than public transit.
If Democrats and urban residents want to combat the rising tide of red
that threatens to swamp and ruin this country, we need a new identity
politics, an urban identity politics, one that argues for the cities, uses a
rhetoric of urban values, and creates a tribal identity for liberals that's as
powerful and attractive as the tribal identity Republicans have created for
their constituents. John Kerry won among the highly educated, Jews,
young people, gays and lesbians, and non-whites. What do all these
groups have in common? They choose to live in cities. An overwhelming
majority of the American popuation chooses to live in cities. And John
Kerry won every city with a population above 500,000. He took half the
cities with populations between 50,000 and 500,000. The future success
of liberalism is tied to winning the cities. An urbanist agenda may not be a
recipe for winning the next presidential election--but it may win the
Democrats the presidential election in 2012 and create a new Democratic
majority.
*
In cities all over America, distressed liberals are talking about fleeing to
Canada or, better yet, seceding from the Union. We can't literally secede
and, let's admit it, we don't really want to live in Canada. It's too cold up
there and in our heart-of-hearts we hate hockey. We can secede
emotionally, however, by turning our backs on the heartland. We can
focus on our issues, our urban issues, and promote our shared urban
values. We can create a new identity politics, one that transcends class,
race, sexual orientation, and religion, one that unites people living in cities
with each other and with other urbanites in other cities. The Republicans
have the federal government--for now. But we've got Seattle, Portland,
San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, New York City
(Bloomberg is a Republican in name only), and every college town in the
country. We're everywhere any sane person wants to be.
*
To all those progressives, liberals, and Democrats who live in cities, we
say take heart. Clearly we can't control national politics right now--we can
barely get a hearing. We can, however, stay engaged in our cities, and
make our voices heard in the urban areas we dominate, and make each
and every one, to quote Ronald Reagan (and John Winthrop, the 17th-
century Puritan Reagan was parroting), "a city on a hill." This is not a
retreat; it is a long-term strategy for the Democratic Party to cater to
and build on its base.
To red-state voters, to the rural voters, residents of small, dying towns,
and soulless sprawling exburbs, we say this: Your issues are no
longer our issues. We're going to battle our bleeding-heart instincts and
ignore pangs of misplaced empathy. We will no longer concern ourselves
with a health care crisis that disproportionately impacts rural areas.
Instead we will work toward winning health care one blue state at a time.
When it comes to the environment, our new policy is this: Let the
heartland live with the consequences of handing the national government
to the rape-and-pillage party. The only time urbanists should concern
themselves with the environment is when we are impacted--directly, not
spiritually (the depressing awareness that there is no unspoiled wilderness
out there doesn't count). Air pollution, for instance: We should be
aggressive. If coal is to be burned, it has to be burned as cleanly as
possible so as not to foul the air we all have to breathe. But if West
Virginia wants to elect politicians who allow mining companies to lop off
the tops off mountains and dump the waste into valleys and streams,
thus causing floods that destroy the homes of the yokels who vote for
those politicians, it no longer matters to us. Fuck the mountains in West
Virginia--send us the power generated by cleanly burned coal, you rubes,
and be sure to wear lifejackets to bed.
Wal-Mart is a rapacious corporation that pays sub-poverty-level wages,
offers health benefits to its employees that are so expensive few can
afford them, and destroys small towns and rural jobs. Liberals in big cities
who have never seen the inside of a Wal-Mart spend a lot of time worrying
about the impact Wal-Mart is having on the heartland. No more. We will
do what we can to keep Wal-Mart out of our cities and, if at all possible,
out of our states. We will pass laws mandating a living wage for full-time
work, upping the minimum wage for part-time work, and requiring large
corporations to either offer health benefits or pay into state- or city-run
funds to provide health care for uninsured workers. That will reform Wal-
Mart in our blue cities and states or, better yet, keep Wal-Mart out
entirely. And when we see something on the front page of the national
section of the New York Times about the damage Wal-Mart is doing to the
heartland, we will turn the page. Wal-Mart is not an urban issue.
We won't demand that the federal government impose reasonable fuel-
efficiency standards on all cars sold in the United States. We will,
however, strive to pass state laws, as California has done, imposing fuel-
efficiency standards on cars sold in our states.
We officially no longer care when family farms fail. Fewer family
farms equal fewer rural voters. We will, however, continue to support
small faggy organic farms, as we are willing to pay more for free-range
chicken and beef from non-cannibal cows.
We won't concern ourselves if red states restrict choice. We'll just make
sure that abortion remains safe and legal in the cities where we live, and
the states we control, and when your daughter or sister or mother dies in
a botched abortion, we'll try not to feel too awful about it.
*
The truth is that rural states--the same red states that vote reflexively
Republican in national elections--are welfare states. While red-state voters
like to complain about "tax-and-spend liberals," red states are hopelessly
dependent on the largess of the federal government to prop up their
dwindling rural population. Red states like North Dakota, New Mexico,
Mississippi, Alaska, West Virginia, Montana, Alabama, South Dakota, and
Arkansas top the list of federal spending per dollar of federal taxes paid.
And who's paying the most? Blue states. Cities--and states dominated by
their cities. Welfare states, in contrast, demand federal money to fund
wasteful roads to nowhere. Welfare states guzzle barrel upon barrel of oil
so their rural residents can sputter along on ribbons of asphalt.
Take a state like Wyoming, the arid, under-populated home of our
glowering vice president Dick Cheney. Wyoming receives the second-
highest amount of federal aid in the nation per capita (Alaska, another red
state, is number one), and it ranks second lowest in federal taxes paid
(behind only South Dakota). Overall, the federal government spent about
$2,413 per capita in Wyoming for the fiscal year 2002 (the last year for
which data is available), compared with almost exactly half that amount,
or $1,205 per capita, for Washington State. This ridiculous disparity
extends even to Homeland Security funds, which ought to be targeted
toward the most vulnerable areas--coastlines, big city landmarks, porous
borders. But landlocked Wyoming, with exactly zero important strategic
targets, merits $38.31 per capita in Homeland Security funds. New York
state residents get a measly $5.47. An urban agenda would argue for
kicking Wyoming off the federal dole. States should pay their own way,
not come to cities begging for handouts.
*
You've made your choice, red America, and we urban Americans are going
to make a different choice. We are going to make Seattle--and New York,
Chicago, and the rest--a great place to live, a progressive place. Again,
we'll quote Ronald Reagan: We will make each of our cities--each and
every one--a shining city on a hill.
Read the rest of this piece here:
http://www.thestranger.com/current/feature.html
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Week beginning November 18
Copyright 2004 by Rob Brezsny
www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I'd love to see you risk making brilliant
mistakes in the coming weeks, Aries. I hope you'll plunge into imaginative
adventures without worrying about whether they'll have practical
benefits. I look forward to cheering you on as you explore forbidden
zones, dabble with unfamiliar pleasures, and try intriguing experiments
that make you tingle all over. Now here's a tip, courtesy of Mark Twain,
which should help you take maximum advantage of the mischievous
opportunities ahead: "Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in
authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more."
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Italian poet Dante Alighieri finished his
masterpiece, *The Divine Comedy,* before he died. But when his sons,
Jacopo and Pietro, assembled the manuscript for publication, they
realized that parts of it were missing. They searched the house for days,
to no avail. Only after they had given up hope did help arrive. The spirit of
Dante appeared in Jacopo's dream and showed his son a hiding place in
his old bedroom wall. Upon awakening, Jacopo went to the spot his father
had pointed out and found the lost papers. I offer this story as a gift to
you, Taurus. I believe that sometime in the next three weeks, you will
have a comparable experience. What form might it take? Maybe the dead
will assist you in locating a valuable. One of your dreams could provide a
missing clue that will solve a mystery. It's conceivable you'll receive a
legacy from a departed loved one. And maybe all of these possibilities will
come to pass.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Last January, an Indiana man named Randy
Fletcher came home from work early and found his wife in bed with
another man. In March, after working for years to restore his 1956 Chevy
to mint condition, he wrecked it on a country road when he swerved to
avoid hitting a deer. The capper came in May, when his beloved dog fell ill
and had to be euthanized. But on July 17, two days after his divorce was
final, his luck changed: Fletcher won $1 million in the state lottery. Your
recent hardships haven't been anywhere near as harsh as his, Gemini, nor
will your imminent reward be as monumental. But I do expect that you will
soon be compensated handsomely for your trouble.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): A poultry expert has come up with a
revolutionary use for the feathers that are left over when chickens are
slaughtered. David Emery has built a machine to turn the damp, dirty
refuse into a strong, light fiber that's suitable for making auto parts and
medical instruments. I believe you will possess a similar capacity for
ingenious transformation in the coming weeks, Cancerian. Though your
work may not always be fun or easy, you will be an alchemical wizard with
the power to metamorphose muck and dregs into useful stuff.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "The pace of change is accelerating," says futurist
Ray Kurzweil. "We're doubling the paradigm shift rate, the rate of
progress, every decade." I agree with Kurzweil. By my estimate, half of
what you know today will be obsolete in five years. Isn't that exciting?
What could be more pleasurable than continually molting your old
perspectives and growing fresh ways to see the world? That's the good
news, Leo. Now here's the great news: The coming months will be an ideal
time to formulate and jumpstart an aggressive five-year plan to keep your
education continually up to date.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "To the mind that is still," said the ancient
Chinese sage Lao Tzu, "the whole universe surrenders." This is true all the
time, of course, but in the coming weeks it will be even more intensely
true for you. According to traditional astrologers, that would be a
problem. They believe that advising Virgos to keep their minds still is like
ordering Niagara Falls to stop splashing 600,000 gallons of water per
second over its precipice. But here's my nontraditional perspective: It
may be harder for you Virgos to quiet your mind, but if and when you
actually accomplish it, the universe surrenders more completely to you
than to any other sign. (P.S. On March 29, 1848, an ice jam stopped the
flow of water over Niagara Falls for several hours.)
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EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
Every week, in addition to the written horoscopes you get in this
newsletter, I offer a fresh batch of Expanded Audio Horoscopes.
They tend to be soothing and meditative, though now and then I invite
you to kick your own ass, too. My intention is for them to be healing and
inspirational at the same time.
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.
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Hydrogen is an explosive, highly inflammable
gas. Oxygen is an essential ingredient in sustaining any blaze. But when
the two are mixed together in the right proportion, they form water,
which is the opposite of fire. You should regard this as an apt metaphor
for the opportunity you will have in the coming weeks, Libra. To get
started in taking advantage of this promise, meditate on this question:
What two fiery elements can you combine to bring a soothing, moistening
influence into your life?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Materialism is our culture's dominant
ideology. It's the specious doctrine that physical matter is the only reality
and that nothing can be said to exist unless it's perceivable by our five
senses or detected by instruments we've created. Paradoxically, the
proponents of materialism warn us to be skeptical about all phenomena
that they don't recognize as real, even as they fanatically avoid
skepticism about their own fundamentalist assumptions! I urge you to
undertake an inquiry into the ways your outlook on the world has been
hemmed in by this crippling superstition, Scorpio. Begin immediately. In
2005, you'll be offered abundant help from spiritual sources. If you're
overly influenced by materialism, you'll have trouble recognizing and
accessing those riches.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): According to my reading of the
astrological omens, you have recently fulfilled the first part of the Dalai
Lama's theory that "not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful
stroke of luck." It may take a few weeks for the second part--the
"wonderful stroke of luck" part--to fully take effect. But I bet you'll get a
glimpse of its early stages in the coming week. Don't spend even ten
seconds lost in regret about not getting what you want. Start uncorking
your gratitude immediately.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): *Guitar World* magazine says that Poison
guitarist C.C. DeVille played the worst guitar solo of all time. *Forbes* put
the Chevy Vega on its list of the worst cars ever made. Poet Bob Holman
selected William Topaz McGonagall as the worst poet in history.
Salon.com decided that a humorous passage in my memoir, *The
Televisionary Oracle,* deserved second place in its Bill O'Reilly Bad Sex
Writing Contest. With these examples as your inspiration, Capricorn, I
invite you to figure out what thing you're not so good at--maybe even so
bad that you're the worst ever. Why? Because you're entering the Season
of Humility, that's why. You should celebrate all the flaws and failures that
prevent you from turning into an arrogant know-it-all. Besides, if you have
fun mocking your own shortcomings, you might convince fate to kick
your ass very gently during the imminent karmic adjustment.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I don't know if you're interested--lots of
seemingly more practical matters are soaking up your attention right
now--but it's my duty to inform you that you can make more progress
towards spiritual enlightenment in the next three weeks than you've made
in the previous ten months. Alert, relaxed listening should be the radical
act at the heart of your drive towards illumination. Ferocious curiosity
should be your normal state of awareness. "Thou shalt be aggressively
receptive" should be your main commandment.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If you're average, you have more than 1,400
dreams a year. But there have been few weeks in 2004 when you've had
as many vivid, memorable, and useful dreams as you're likely to enjoy in
the coming days. Pay close attention, Pisces! No other sources--not
psychics, psychotherapists, good books, or wise teachers--can provide
you with as much useful information as your dreams will. They will be
intimate, artful, playful communiqués from your soul, designed to give
you answers to critical questions that you are just beginning to formulate.
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HOMEWORK:
Pretend to already be something you're on your way to becoming. Report
your results to www.freewillastrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."
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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
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anyone.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2004 Rob Brezsny
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