Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
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June 15, 2005
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Here's what "Body + Soul" magazine said about my new book,
PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings:
"Rob Brezsny, the renegade wizard behind the syndicated 'Free Will
Astrology' column, has dedicated himself to putting the 'pro' back into
'protest.' In his new book, he presents his own irreverent manifesto,
mixing activism and optimism. It reads like the I Ching on Ecstasy and is
as insightful and puzzling as a Zen koan."
For more info about buying the book, go to my website at
http://www.freewillastrology.com.
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Dear Readers,
I've got two ideas to help you help me sell my new book:
1. Buy my book between now and June 30 and mail to me. I'll autograph
it and inscribe it with a rowdy blessing, then send it back to you. Please
provide me with a large self-addressed envelope stamped with $2
postage. (Or if you live in Canada, send $10 Canadian worth of
International Reply Coupons.)
2. Go into one of your local stores and buy at least 10 books to give as
gifts to your friends and loved ones. Send me the receipt. You will get a
free one-hour personal horoscope reading by phone with my personal
long-time astrology teacher, Ro Loughran.
Here's the address to send the books you want me to sign or the receipt
that's proof you've bought 10 books in your local store: P.O. Box
150628, San Rafael, CA 94915.
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Now here's an excerpt from
PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
EVIL IS BORING
When an old tree in the rain forest dies and topples over, it takes a long
time to decompose. As it does, it becomes host to new saplings that use
the decaying log for nourishment.
Picture yourself sitting in the forest gazing upon this scene. How do you
describe it? Would you dwell on the putrefaction of the fallen tree while
ignoring the fresh life sprouting out of it? If you did, you'd be imitating
the perspective of many modern storytellers, especially the journalists
and novelists and filmmakers and producers of TV dramas.
They devoutly believe that tales of affliction and mayhem and corruption
and tragedy are inherently more interesting than tales of triumph and
liberation and pleasure and ingenuity. Using the machinery of the media
and entertainment industries, they relentlessly propagate this covert
dogma. It's not sufficiently profound or well thought out to be called
nihilism. Pop nihilism is a more accurate term. The mass audience is the
victim of this inane ugliness, brainwashed by a multibillion-dollar
propaganda machine that in comparison makes Himmler's vaunted soul-
stealing apparatus look like a child's backyard puppet show.
At the Beauty and Truth Laboratory, we believe that stories about the rot
are not inherently more captivating than stories about the splendor. On
the contrary, given how predictable and omnipresent the former have
become, they are actually quite dull. Obsessing on evil is boring. Rousing
fear is a hackneyed shtick. Wallowing in despair is a bad habit. Indulging in
cynicism is akin to committing a copycat crime.
Most modern storytellers go even further in their devotion to the rot,
implying that breakdown is not only more interesting but far more
common than breakthrough. We reject this assumption as well. We don't
believe that entropy dominates the human experience. Even factoring in
the prevailing misery in the Middle East and Africa, we doubt that the
Global Bad Nasty Ratio ever exceeds 50 percent. And here in the West,
where most of you reading this live, the proportion is lower.
Still, we're willing to let the news media fill up half their pages and
airwaves and bandwidths with poker-faced accounts of decline and
degeneration. We can tolerate a reasonable proportion of movies and
novels and TV dramas that revel in pathology. But we also demand EQUAL
TIME for stories about integrity and joy and beauty and bliss and renewal
and harmony and love. That's all we ask: a mere 50 percent . . . .
For the rest of "EVIL IS BORING," excerpted from
PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia,
go here:
http://www.freewillastrology.com/beauty/
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning June 16
Copyright 2005 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): "You always learn your mystery at the price of
your innocence," wrote Robertson Davies in *Fifth Business.* In the
coming week, Aries, your assignment is to disprove this assertion. I think
it will happen quite naturally; you won't have to exert yourself heroically.
In fact, I predict you will demonstrate the exact opposite of Davies'
assertion: As you dive deeper into the secrets of your greatest mystery,
you will reclaim a lost portion of your innocence.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus musician Willie Nelson is a premier
talent. Though described as a country artist, he's really a genre unto
himself. During his 50-year career, he has written and recorded many
great songs, collaborated with Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and founded
Farm Aid, an organization that raises funds to support family farms.
Recently, however, he suffered a disappointment. Republican state
senators in Texas shot down a bill that would have named a 49-mile patch
of highway after him. They had a problem with the fact that Nelson
smokes pot, is an exuberant consumer of alcohol, and supports
Democratic candidates. Sound familiar, Taurus? You, too, are in danger of
being cheated out of your rightful rewards because of some minor
problems. Nelson didn't protest his deprivation, but I think you should
fight yours.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Here's your question for the week: What's the
difference between deluded self-esteem that leads you to waste your
time on impossible dreams and well-justified self-esteem that inspires you
to seek a viable goal that's beyond your previous level of
accomplishment? An example of the first is the Louisiana State University
student who declared himself eligible for the National Basketball
Association's draft, although he wasn't even good enough to play on his
college team. An example of the second is my talented musician friend
Allie, who made a demo CD in her home studio and brazenly sent it to a
big record company executive, who liked it so much he signed her to a
recording contract.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Your assignment this week, should you
choose to accept it, is to outdo the Dullest Blogger in the World. From a
command post at www.wibsite.com/wiblog/dull, this mystery figure
writes entries like the following: "I was sitting on one of the chairs in my
house. My hand was resting on the arm of the chair. I drummed my
fingers on the arm, thereby making a barely audible sound . . . I
considered playing some music on the stereo system. I looked at some
CDs for a while, but didn't put one on." And what, you may ask, is my
reasoning for urging you to be more humdrum than this person who is
renowned for provoking yawns? The astrological fact of the matter,
Cancerian, is that you need to temporarily tone down your excitement
levels--*way* down. Escape the entertaining melodramas for now, and
take a rejuvenating excursion into lazy boredom.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The rules you've been playing by have worked fine
for quite a while--not perfectly, but well enough. My sense is that their
usefulness is almost at an end, however. Soon they will become
counterproductive, no longer bringing out the best in you or the other
players. I suggest, therefore, that you change the rules now, before they
start undermining everyone. You know that old saw, "If it ain't broke,
don't fix it?" This is one time when that advice is wrong.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is
known as the father of medicine. Even today, the approach that he and
his followers formulated remains a major influence, epitomized in the
Hippocratic Oath sworn by all new doctors. His views on horoscopes
might be shocking to some, however. "A physician without a knowledge
of astrology," he wrote, "has no right to call himself a physician." I wish
modern MDs would take that part of Hippocrates' wisdom as seriously as
they do the rest; the art of healing would be more efficacious if it
included an understanding of patients' astrological makeup. Now please
apply this approach as you revisit the ideas that are at the foundation of
what you believe, Virgo. In other words, explore the original sources of
your inspiration and education. See if there are vital aspects of the
wisdom contained therein that you have missed or ignored.
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"PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings"
by Rob Brezsny
"I have seen the future of American literature and its name is Rob
Brezsny."
-Tom Robbins, author of "Still Life with Woodpecker," "Jitterbug
Perfume," "Another Roadside Attraction," and "Skinny Legs and All"
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): As a boy, the renowned Spanish matador
Manolete was a sissy. He rarely played outdoors, preferring to be near his
mother as he read books and painted pictures. Psychologist James Hillman
explains this by suggesting that the youthful Manolete had already sensed
his destiny, intuiting that one day he would be alone in the ring facing
down angry half-ton bulls. His childhood behavior was a way of marshalling
his strength and shielding him from the enormity of the challenges he
would seek out one day. Think about how this theme might apply to your
own life, Libra. Is it possible that what you have considered one of your
weaknesses has actually been preparing you to express tremendous
strength?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The only secrets you have to worry about
are those you're keeping from yourself. It might be helpful to know what
other people are hiding, true, but the only way their covert agendas and
sneaky maneuvering can hurt you is if you continue to lie to yourself.
Besides, there's just one sure strategy for exposing the secrets that
others are keeping: Tell yourself the naked truth about your own feelings
and motivations.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): It's Feel Gratitude for Your Ex-Lovers,
Old Flames, and Divorced Spouses Week. One of the best ways to
celebrate is to stop thinking of your old relationships as failures. Instead,
regard them as classrooms where you learned valuable lessons about
intimacy. Think of them as practice sessions that helped you figure out
what you really want a loving bond to be. Acknowledge the fact that even
if you believe your former partners did you wrong, they were great
teachers. I urge you to send them thank-you notes, or at least honor their
memory with silent bursts of gratitude.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): British medical researchers recently
announced that contrary to conventional wisdom, brief periods of stress
are healthy for us--so much so that they boost longevity and enhance our
cells' ability to repair themselves. At the same time, the scientists
emphasized that intense, long-term stress is still just as bad for us as
we've always thought. If they're right, Capricorn, you should be the
picture of vitality right now. The difficulties you've been facing lately have
passed the Goldilocks' test: neither too great nor too small, but just right.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): So you want to move a certain mountain
from where it now stands to a place more conveniently located. Is that a
worthy project? I don't know. Here's what I do know: The task *can* be
done, but it will take longer than you think. In the early going you may
have to work without the best tools and do much of the heavy lifting
yourself. In order to succeed, you will also have to develop more stamina
than you currently have. But all of these things would actually be very
good for you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In my travels by car, I often see bumper
stickers on which parents brag about their offspring. Today I spied both
"My child is an honor student at Newbury Middle School" and "My kid beat
up an honor student at Newbury Middle School." A new wrinkle also
appeared on a third bumper: "I'm the proud parent of a rat terrier." It led
me to muse on how everyone has a parental relationship with someone or
something. The vulnerable little thing they care for might be a child or pet
or houseplant or plot of land, or even a machine or other inanimate
object. What about you, Pisces? Whatever it is you take care of, you
should concentrate harder on being a good mom or dad in the coming
week. Your ward or dependent or protégé needs you more than usual.
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HOMEWORK:
If you believed everything you see and hear in the "news," you'd be so full
of despair you couldn't move. Describe how you protect yourself from
media mind-parasites. Testify by going to
http://www.freewillastrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."
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I totally respect your privacy. I'll never sell or give away your address to
anyone.
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or in response to "homework assignments" may be
published in a variety of formats at Rob Brezsny's discretion,
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2005 Rob Brezsny
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