Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
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July 27, 2005
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"PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings"
is the title of my new book.
For more info, go to my website at
http://www.freewillastrology.com.
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Now here's an excerpt from the book:
GAZING INTO THE ABYSS OF HAPPINESS
More and more creative people find they do their best work when they're
feeling healthy and secure. We know writers who no longer need to be
drunk or in agony in order to shed the numbness of their daily routine and
tap into the full powers of their imagination. We have filmmaker friends
whose best work flows not from the depths of alienated self-doubt but
rather from the heights of well-earned bliss.
Singer-songwriter P.J. Harvey is the patron saint of this new breed. "When
I'm contented, I'm more open to receiving a lot of inspiration," she has
testified. "I'm most creative when I feel safe and happy."
At the Beauty and Truth Lab, we've retired the archetype of the
tormented genius. We have zero attraction to books and movies and
songs by depressed jerks whose work is celebrated but whose lives are a
mess. Stories about supposedly interesting creeps don't rouse our
perverse fascination because we've broken our addiction to perverse
fascination. When hearing about illustrious creators who brag that they
feel most stimulated when they're angry or miserable, we unleash the
Official Beauty and Truth Lab Histrionic Yawn.
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Sadly, many storytellers and artists are still addicted to the old delusions
about the risks of good mental health. Even those who don't view peace
of mind as a threat to their creative power often believe that it's a rare
commodity attainable only through dumb luck. "One cannot divine nor
forecast the conditions that will make happiness," said novelist Willa
Cather. "One only stumbles upon them by chance, in a lucky hour, at the
world's end somewhere."
There is another obstacle to overthrowing the status quo. Oppressively
nice, indiscriminately optimistic, sentimental comfort-hoarders give
happiness a bad name. They seem to justify Flaubert's mean-spirited
observation that "To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three
requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost."
Here's a third blotch on the reputation of happiness: that it's mostly an
absence of pain. In *The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying,* Sogyal
Rinpoche frames the issue well: "Would you prefer the happiness of
scratching a mosquito bite over the happiness of not having a mosquito
bite in the first place?"
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It's possible to define a more supple variety of happiness that does not
paralyze the will or sap ambition. For the first clue about how to proceed,
we turn to Buddhist researchers Rick Foster and Greg Hicks. In their book
*How We Choose to Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy
People,* they reveal that the number one trait of happy people is a
serious determination to be happy. Bliss is a habit you can cultivate, in
other words, not an accident that you stumble upon by chance, in a lucky
hour, at the world's end somewhere.
For another clue about how to conjure up a kind of happiness that does
not anesthetize the soul, we call on Kenneth Koch. Here's what he wrote
about Nobel Prize-winning poet Saint-John Perse: "So many poets have
the courage to look into the abyss. But Perse had the courage to look
into happiness."
To read other pieces excerpted from
"PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia,"
go here:
http://www.freewillastrology.com/beauty/
To buy the book, use the links to Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and
Powells, which are on my homepage at http://www.freewillastrology.com
Or here are the direct links:
AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/1583941231/qid=1117646708/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-8504044-
3522341?v=glance&s=books
BARNES & NOBLE
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=Pb
6oZrnAQk&isbn=1583941231&itm=2
POWELLS
http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-1583941231-2
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Testimonials for Rob Brezsny and *PRONOIA Is the ANTIDOTE FOR
PARANOIA*
"You don't need The Church, a Savior, a Guru, or psilocybin mushrooms to
'break on through to the other side.' Brezsny takes you there in the
pages of 'PRONOIA.' It's the best book I've read in the 21st Century!"
-Chris Duel, News-Talk 550 KTSA, San Antonio, Texas
"'PRONOIA' is a life manual for not just overthrowing the dictator within
(and so without) but more vital than this, a manual for creating an
intelligent, sexy and juicy alternative to the Big Should."
-Jessica Mapes, http://www.moonkissd.com
"What Rob Brezsny does with words is *grammarye,* the Old English term
for magic. With his strange brew of macho feminism and poetic
rationalism, Brezsny weaves yarns crazy enough to be true and real
enough to subvert the literalist virus of cynicism now immobilizing the
collective mindscape."
-Antero Alli, author of *Astrologik,* *Angel Tech,* and *The Vertical
Oracle* (website at http://www.paratheatrical.com/info.html)
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Dear Readers,
Here's how you can help me sell my new book:
1. Buy my book between now and August 21 and mail it 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
$2.26 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. Her website is at
http://www.astrology-psychotherapy.com/
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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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning July 28
Copyright 2005 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Have you been dreaming of frogs, worms, and
potted plants? Researchers have found that pregnant women have an
inordinate number of encounters with those three things during their
sleep-time adventures. And while you may not technically be carrying a
developing baby inside you, you are at least gestating a brainchild. Like a
woman who will give birth in the not-too-distant future, you're both
delicate and strong, a bit lumbering but radiantly graceful, sometimes out
of sorts but often wiser than you've ever been.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): As Deputy Defense Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz
was a key part of the team that planned America's invasion of Iraq in
2003. These days he's got a new gig, President of the World Bank, and
prefers not to be distracted by the Downing Street memo and other ever-
growing evidence that the war was built on faulty and deceitful
assumptions. "There will be a time and place to talk about history," he
has said, "but I really don't believe it's now." Wolfowitz should be your
anti-role model in the coming week, Taurus. This is the time and this is
the place for you to talk and think about your own personal history in
exhaustive detail.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): According to author Truman Capote, "It's a
scientific fact that if you stay in California, you lose one point of IQ for
every year." I hope he was wrong, since it would mean my IQ has already
declined 28 points since I moved to the West Coast in 1977. But even if
his theory is correct, and you're a Gemini who lives in California, you'll be
able to recover some of your lost intelligence in the coming weeks. That's
because the current astrological configurations virtually guarantee that
you'll be getting smarter, and probably wiser as well. As for you Twins
living outside of California, you can expect to soar as close to the genius
level as you ever have.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Emily Dickinson had a boundless imagination
and an intense craving for privacy. She wrote nearly 1800 poems, but
kept them to herself, stashing most of them in a trunk belonging to her
maid. Only seven of them were published while she was alive. Why did she
hide the brilliant and prolific outpouring of her soul? No one really knows.
Let's make sure you don't follow her example, Cancerian. In my
astrological opinion, it's high time for you to begin revealing at least some
of the incredible beauty that you conceal from the world. When you look
back at this period of your life 40 years from now, maybe you'll say,
"That was the turning point, when I stopped being such a closely guarded
secret."
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "The fact that some geniuses were laughed at
does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses," wrote Carl
Sagan. "They laughed at Columbus and they laughed at the Wright
brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown." I bring this to your
attention, Leo, because your bright ideas may be met with skeptical
amusement in the coming week. Is that because they're in the Wright
brothers' category or more like Bozo's? I suspect they'll actually be a mix
of both--half-ingenious and half-cracked. Your job is to be ruthlessly
honest as you figure out which are which.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Last June in Ethiopia, seven men kidnapped a
12-year-old girl and held her in a remote wilderness for seven days. Then
a miracle occurred. Three lions sprang out of nowhere and chased the
abductors away. They protected the girl until a search team arrived, then
slipped away. "The lions stood guard until we found her and then they
just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," said one of the
rescuers. I've told you this story, Virgo, because I believe it has
metaphorical resemblances to an adventure you're in the middle of.
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EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
In addition to the written horoscopes you get in this newsletter, I offer
Expanded Audio Horoscopes. They're $6 if you access them on the Web,
or $1.99 per minute 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): There would be no apples if it weren't for the
bees that pollinate apple blossoms. Likewise, chocolate wouldn't exist
without the flies that pollinate the flowers of the cacao tree. In the
coming week, Libra, I encourage you to imagine you're analogous to those
bees and flies--a social pollinator who spreads good influences from group
to group and connects people who should be allies. In addition, I'd like you
to imagine you're cooking up metaphorical versions of chocolate mousse
and apple pie. In other words, make it your goal to generate delicious
effects that are both gourmet and down to earth. You might also want to
be like another pollinator, bats. They ensure the fruitfulness of agave
plants and hence are responsible for tequila.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Pioneer cartoonist Walt Disney had no
doubts about what inspired his greatest ardor. "I love Mickey Mouse more
than any woman I've ever known," he said. My sculptor friend Rachel has a
similar relationship with her art. "I don't have time for boyfriends," she
told me. "Men just distract me from my work, which is the only thing that
gives me unconditional joy." I suggest that in the coming weeks you make
Walt and Rachel your role models, Scorpio. What form of creative self-
expression inspires as much of your passion as your drive for romantic
intimacy? Feed it with the same fervor you summon when you're
infatuated with a new lover.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): A few weeks ago I went to the Warped
Tour, an outdoor music festival featuring 80 hard-core rock and punk
bands on ten different stages. Pummeled nonstop in mosh pits full of
flailing dancers in the 100-degree heat, basking in the blasts of guitars,
drums, and vocals roaring at jet-engine volumes, showered by saliva and
sweat from the frenzied musicians, I had a religious experience. On the
one hand, unbridled chaos seemed to be raging all around me. On the
other hand, I felt perfectly safe and thoroughly entertained. I was also
serenely amused by the knowledge that everyone was there primarily to
play and have fun. That's what I wish for you in the coming days,
Sagittarius: a knack for putting yourself in the enjoyable eye of the human
hurricane.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): There are at least 20 different kinds of
kisses, and the ancient Indian book *Kama Sutra* describes ten of them.
Loving gazes and caresses come in an almost infinite variety, and the
2600-year-old book identifies a few of each. As for sexual positions, the
Kama Sutra provides insight into how to perform 84. In the coming
weeks, I suggest you explore the *Kama Sutra* or a text like it, Capricorn,
because your astrological assignment is to be ingenious and experimental
as you push past the frontiers of your sexual wisdom.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): My brother Tom is a real estate agent.
Lately he's been noticing that a lot of people are suffering from what he
calls IDD--Intention Deficit Disorder. They act as if they really want to buy
or sell a house, but then never get past the first few fledgling steps
toward that end. Their good intentions get derailed by modest challenges.
I want to make sure that you Aquarians don't develop a case of IDD in the
coming weeks. The astrological omens suggest that you could fall prey to
wandering around aimlessly unless you add a large dose of steel to your
will.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the 19th century, ketchup was sold as a
medicine. Physicians prescribed "Dr. Miles Compound Extract of Tomato"
and similar potions to cure a variety of maladies, including liver disease,
baldness, athlete's foot, and depression. In this wacky tradition, I'm
recommending that you eat lots of ketchup to cure what ails you. There's
actually nothing wrong with you at all, of course. But you have been
feeding a tiny delusion with so much worried attention that it has
bloomed into a big bad hallucination. One of the best medicines might be
ketchup, whose healing power is as imaginary as your fake problem, and
which is therefore a likely cure for it.
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HOMEWORK:
Compose a love spell to get the exact kind of intimate connection you
want--but without messing with anyone's free will. 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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Submissions sent to the Free Will Astrology Weekly Newsletter
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2005 Rob Brezsny
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