Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
reminds you that you are a genius of love
if you want to be
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December 22, 2004
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"The whole thing, the most difficult thing, is to wake the heart. Somehow
one has to learn to be able to live in the heart, to judge from the heart, as
ordinarily as we live in mechanical mind and judge from that. It is shifting
the center of attention in oneself. For the movements of the heart are so
quick that only if one can learn to live there for some time, is it possible
to catch them as they pass and obey them. This also means that we have
to learn to feed the heart, taking emotional impressions directly there;
just as we now take knowledge directly into the mind."
--Rodney Collin, The Theory of Conscious Harmony
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EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES FOR THE COMING YEAR
What hidden factors will be massaging your destiny in 2005? Could you
use some hints about how to prepare for the adventures awaiting you in
the next 12 months? Are there any lingering secrets about 2004 you'd
like to pry loose before leaping into the new year?
This week and the next two weeks, I'll be exploring the BIG PICTURE of
your life in my Expanded Audio Horoscopes. If, like most of us, you slip
into a philosophical, visionary mood at the end of each year, you might
appreciate my perspectives on your long-term destiny.
My IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM FORECASTS FOR YOUR LIFE IN 2005 cost $6
apiece 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.
If you have a 900# block on your phone or prefer to use your credit card,
there's another way to access the Expanded Audio Horoscopes by phone.
Using your credit card, call 1-877-873-4888 to buy the amount of time
that best suits you.
If you live in Canada, call 1-888-499-4425 to purchase a Block of Time.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning December 23
Copyright 2004 by Rob Brezsny
www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your assignment in 2005 is to wage a
revolution in the sphere where you have the most power. Your home?
Your marriage? Your workplace? Local government? Wherever it is, Aries,
arm yourself with tact and compassion as you overthrow the stale status
quo by manifesting your shining ideal. Let this advice from Buckminster
Fuller serve as your touchstone: "You never change things by fighting the
existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete."
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I'll send many suggestions your way in the
coming months, Taurus. Some of them will ring true to you, and others
may not. Some will be evocative clues you'll meditate on for days, while
others may fade from your awareness right after you read them. Through
it all, there will be two constants. First, every horoscope will be offered to
you in a spirit of love. Second, you will always be free to take it or leave
it. And now I present what I consider the most important advice for you
to keep in mind throughout 2005, though only you can decide if it
actually is: Consistently cut away the smaller, weaker buds in order to
direct all the forces of growth into the few buds most likely to succeed.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Am I afraid of sounding too extravagantly
optimistic as I deliver my predictions for your year ahead? Well, yes, a
little. But I think you can handle it. Besides, there is a caveat: Since even
the arrival of good news can be stressful, you may have to struggle at
times to deal with all the positive changes that are on the way. Here's an
example: I believe 2005 will be your Year of Mind-Wobbling, Heart-
Opening Adventures in Love. To receive the fullness of the demanding
gifts you'll be offered, you'll probably have to make big adjustments in
your habitual behavior.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Here's an odd paradox about your fate in
2005: You will get as close to your true home as you have ever been, and
yet you'll also be teased and intrigued by a provocative mystery. Let me
say it another way: More than at any other time in your life, you will feel
like you truly belong here--and yet you'll often be amazed at how
enigmatic everything is. I'll give you one more angle on the confounding
security that will visit you in the coming months: You'll have an uncanny
sense of being cared for by a mother goddess, even as you keep delving
further than ever before into the riddles of your unpredictable destiny.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Last month, a religious fanatic in Taiwan decided
to reach out to a previously neglected group of heathens. At a zoo, he
leaped into a lion's den and began trying to convert the beasts to the
Christian faith. "Jesus will save you!" was one of his oft-repeated
exhortations. The lions seemed enraged by his appeals, and it was only
through the heroic efforts of the zookeepers that the crusader was saved
from martyrdom. Let him serve as your anti-role model in 2005, Leo.
Work diligently to spread your good intentions; be brave in promoting
your high ideals; ramp up your powers of persuasion to a new level; but
don't waste your time trying to win over dumb beasts, bad listeners, and
narrow-minded dogmatists.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Marilynne Robinson published her first novel,
*Housekeeping,* in 1982. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and an
influential critic called it one of the ten best novels of the twentieth
century. This November, 22 years later, Robinson came out with her
second work of fiction, *Gilead.* "Writing is like praying," she told Carin
Besser in *The New Yorker Online.* "In both, if they are to be authentic,
grace and truth must discipline thought." I nominate Robinson to be your
patron saint in 2005, Virgo. May she inspire you to produce another gem
like the one you did some years ago. May her example give you the faith
to work as slowly as you need to in order to remain impeccable, allowing
grace and truth to discipline your thought.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A four-year-old artist from Binghampton, New
York has sold 25 of her paintings, earning $40,000. Marla Olmstead's
works have been compared to those of Wassily Kandinsky and Jackson
Pollack, and many have appeared in galleries. One critic wrote, "Painting
with fingers, spatulas, and brushes, and using plastic mustard bottles to
squirt out acrylics, she creates textured, abstract landscapes laden with
emotion, depth, and real talent." I'm naming Marla as your official role
model for 2005, Libra. I expect the youngest part of you to blossom,
unleashing frequent bursts of creativity.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A few years ago East Timor was described as
an "unimaginable, apocalyptic ruin" by UN peacekeepers. More than
200,000 people had died during a 25-year struggle to separate from
Indonesia. But after finally gaining its independence, the new nation is
now prospering in peace. With this as your inspiration, Scorpio, identify
the most intractable and painful problem in your life. Now imagine that in
the next ten months, you will transform it as dramatically as the people of
East Timor did theirs.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): One of your main assignments in 2005
is to cultivate your sense of wonder. It's true that you already possess a
more acutely developed sensitivity to marvels and miracles than most of
the other astrological signs, but you still have a way to go to reach your
highest potential. With this in mind, I'll ask you to make 52 appointments
with yourself in the coming year. They could be at noon every Monday, or
whatever time you choose. During each meeting, you will renew your
commitment to seeing with fresh eyes. You'll vow to be alert for
previously unnoticed delights lurking in the midst of your familiar
surroundings. You'll promise yourself to seek out experiences that teach
you things you don't know.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In her book *Soul Sounds,* Mary Summer
Rain recounts a conversation between a man and God. "How long is a
million years to you," the man asked. "A second," God replied. Then the
man asked, "How much money is a million dollars to you?" "A penny," God
said. "Can I borrow a penny?" the man asked. "Sure," God said, "in a
second." Here's my interpretation of this anecdote: God was struck by
the man's greed and decided to have a joke at his expense. Now if you,
on the other hand, Capricorn, are less grandiose in your financial requests
for 2005, I believe God will be pretty responsive.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The planetary omens for 2005 are
unambiguous: You've got to spend more time in nature. For the sake of
your physical and mental health, you must escape the familiar confines of
your comfy cages--must wander out into wild places that are far from
plastic, concrete, bricks, and glass. Your Official Maxim of the Year comes
from essayist Edward Dahlberg: "Man is at the nadir of his strength when
the earth, the seas, the mountains are not in him, for without them his
soul is unsourced, and he has no images by which to abide." In the coming
months, Aquarius, find a way to get the earth, the seas, and the
mountains inside you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The coming year will be prime time for you to
reinvent your conception of and relationship with God. The best way to
begin this fun project is to throw away everything you think you know
about the subject and start from scratch. Why not imagine a Divine
Creator who is wild and free, who inhabits both the dark and the light,
who exudes mystery as well as goodness, who heals with strange beauty
as much as with sweet insight, and who gives you puzzles that bring you
to the brink of crazed excitement, at which point you break through into
a higher way of knowing-an almost sensual contact with a marvelous,
difficult, entertaining God?
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Fundamentalist Christians send me hate mail. Religious zealots have
banned my last book. Along with meditation, yoga, and sex for fun, the
powers-that-be at the Vatican has declared astrology to be dangerous to
your spiritual health.
All of these people would no doubt be shocked if they learned that Jesus
Christ is one of the Main High Dudes in my pantheon of gods. They seem
to believe that people like me -- goddess-worshiping tantric sufi Qabalist
Buddhist pagans who hang around with zen trickster witches and espouse
a socialist libertarian political philosophy -- couldn't possibly have an
intimate relationship with the cosmic hero they claim to own. They must
think they have commandeered the trademark to one of the sweetest
avatars in history!
But I do have an intimate relationship with Jesus. How could I not? He was
a champion of women's rights, a threat to the established political order,
and a radical spiritual activist who worked outside religious institutions.
The dude owned nothing and was a passionate advocate for the poor and
underprivileged. He was uncompromisingly opposed to violence and war.
Besides that, he was a master of love and he devoted his life to serving
the Divine Intelligence. I want to be like him when I grow up!
"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle," he allegedly
said, "than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." That's a
pretty clear statement of his position towards plutocratic accumulators of
property and wealth.
"Love your enemies," he said, "do good to those who hate you, bless
those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." How any
militarist promoting global arms sales and pre-emptive war could claim an
affinity with Jesus is incomprehensible.
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
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HOMEWORK:
All of us are trying to wake up from our sleepy delusions about the nature
of life. What will be your most potent wake-up technique in 2005? Testify
by going to www.freewillastrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2004 Rob Brezsny
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