Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
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August 3, 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:
A DANGEROUS TABOO
The Beauty and Truth Lab's ongoing exploration of pronoia is a
conversation, not a dictation. It's an inquiry, not dogma. We're explorers
in search of the ever-evolving truth, not authorities proclaiming doctrine
from on high. We refuse to be salespeople intent on getting you to be like
us or buy our ideas. In fact, let's look at the downsides of the
perspectives we celebrate.
The first thing you should consider before leaping into a relationship with
pronoia is that it is utterly at odds with conventional wisdom. The
19th-century poet John Keats said that if something is not beautiful, it is
probably not true. But the vast majority of modern storytellers-
journalists, filmmakers, novelists, talk-show hosts, and poets-assert the
opposite: If something is not ugly, it is probably not true.
In a world that equates pessimism with acumen and regards stories about
things falling apart as having the highest entertainment value, pronoia is
deviant. It is a taboo so taboo that it's not even recognized as a taboo.
The average American child sees 20,000 murders on TV before reaching
age 18. This is considered normal. Every community has video rental
stores filled with hundreds of multimillion-dollar films that depict people
doing terrible things to each other. If you read newspapers, you have
every right to believe that Bad Nasty Things compose 90 percent of the
human experience. The authors of thousands of books published this year
will hope to lure you in through the glamour of murder, addiction, self-
hatred, sexual pathology, shame, betrayal, extortion, robbery, cancer,
arson, and torture.
But you will be hard-pressed to find more than a few novels, films, news
stories, and TV shows that dare to depict life as a gift whose purpose is
to enrich the human soul.
If you cultivate an affinity for pronoia, people you respect may wonder if
you have lost your way. You might appear to them as naive, eccentric,
unrealistic, misguided, or even stupid. Your reputation could suffer and
your social status could decline.
But that may be relatively easy to deal with compared to your struggle to
create a new relationship with yourself. For starters, you will have to
acknowledge that what you previously considered a strong-willed
faculty-the ability to discern the weakness in everything-might
actually be a mark of cowardice and laziness. Far from being evidence of
your power and uniqueness, your drive to produce hard-edged opinions
stoked by hostility is likely a sign that you've been brainwashed by the
pedestrian influences of pop nihilism.
Before the onset of pronoia, you may feel fine about the fact that you
generate much of your dynamic energy through anger, agitation,
discomfort, and judgmental scorn. But once the pronoia kicks in, you'll
naturally want more positive feelings to be your high-octane fuel. That will
require extensive retraining. The work could be arduous, delicate, and
time-consuming.
Are you truly ready to shed the values and self-images that keep you
locked into alignment with the dying civilization? Will you have the
stamina and inspiration necessary to dream up bigger, better, more
original sins and wilder, wetter, more interesting problems? Do you realize
how demanding it will be to turn yourself into a wildly disciplined, radically
curious, fiercely tender, ironically sincere, ingeniously loving, aggressively
sensitive, blasphemously reverent, lustfully compassionate master of
rowdy bliss . . . .
. . . To read the rest of
"A DANGEROUS TABOO,"
excerpted from "PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia,"
go here:
http://www.freewillastrology.com/beauty/
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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*
"Brezsny's "PRONOIA" is unreligious yet divinely inspired . . . brazen yet
tender . . . hilarious yet caring . . . bizarre yet healing." -Nancy Roberts,
single mother of five
"Rob Brezsny writes in a lyrical, irreverent, wildly unconventional and
beautiful style. I've never seen anyone else write like that. "PRONOIA"
reminds me of Ram Dass' "Be Here Now," and I think it will be as popular.
-O. Brown
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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 August 4
Copyright 2005 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Drama Queen or Drama King within you is
secretly plotting to raise the emotional stakes to record levels. For that
inner extremist, mere adventure might not be enough; thunderous
histrionics and romantic excess may be considered essential. While I have
no problem with you enjoying a fevered fling, I don't think it's necessary
to cross the line into delirious hysteria and volcanic excess. So here's
what I'm going to suggest: Take your inner Drama Queen or Drama King
for about ten rides on an actual roller coaster. That way he or she may
not need to make your whole life into a roller coaster.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): There was a personalized California license
plate on the yellow Hummer I saw today. It said "U Move." I took this to
be the driver's announcement that he was king of the road and had no
obligation to watch where he was going. He seemed to be saying that if
you had a problem with him, you should get the hell out of his way. In the
moment, I took this to be an idiotic communication from a belligerent
jerk, but when I studied your astrological aspects for the coming week I
realized it was actually a good motto for you to adopt. For a limited time
only, you have the right to proclaim the following to anyone who thinks
you should be anywhere else besides where you are: "No, *you* move."
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Let's say you were somehow able to travel to a
comet as it approached the sun. Let's say you also brought a container in
which you were able to capture all of the vapor from the comet's 5,000-
mile gaseous tail. The container wouldn't have to be any bigger than a
wine bottle, because there's not much actual stuff in the tail. This
hypothetical project is a good metaphor for the work you have ahead of
you in the coming week, Gemini. Vast volumes of hot air will contain only
a tiny bit of rarefied substance. And yet that bit will be interesting and
useful.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Can you keep your balance and your dignity
while trying to sit on two fences at once? Can you be a friend to all, a
servant of none, and a freestyle wheeler-dealer all at the same time? As
you're flattered and criticized for the oddest reasons, and as people try
to manipulate you and impress you, can you keep your ego from inflating
and deflating like a hyperventilating lung? The answer to these questions
is a definite maybe, Cancerian. For best results, be as dispassionate as a
Buddhist monk and as brave as a drunk without actually getting drunk.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Please speak the following series of declarations
at least once a day in the coming week: "I want to drink in the brilliance of
someone's beautiful eyes today. I want to dream of the kind of intimacy I
will someday be worthy of. I want to learn to enjoy everything that I do
and everything that happens to me, even if it's not what I expected or
thought I needed. I want the end of every story to be quickly followed by
the beginning of the next story. I want to go home to a home I have
never known."
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The average person throws out 19 pounds of
garbage per week. Between now and August 24, however, you have
license to exceed that figure by a large margin. In fact, Virgo, the cosmos
would love you to carry out a Great Purge. So take full advantage of this
opportunity to lighten your load. Get rid of every last scrap of dross and
clutter, give away anything that has outlived its usefulness, and unburden
yourself of outmoded necessities that have been sitting untouched in a
closet or storage unit for more than a year. As much as you possibly can,
free yourself of the unnecessary residues of your past.
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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): A panel of 23 astrologers headed by yours
truly has named you Window Shopper of the Month for August. I know
that may sound premature, given the fact that you have not yet done
much browsing this month. But the astrological omens are clear. We're
confident you'll justify our faith and do what's necessary to earn your
title. To get you pointed in the right direction, here are some things you
might want to fantasize about acquiring: a silk lantern, a stained glass
window, a bird's nest, black pearls, 2,000-year-old honey, photos of
smoke rising from ritually consecrated fires, a compass that once
belonged to a great explorer, and anything else that simultaneously
evokes your love of beauty and your sense of wonder.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): John Madden was a successful pro football
coach who understood the value of taking things both seriously and not
very seriously at all. He was a hard-working master of strategy and
motivation who drilled his team relentlessly so they'd develop the
discipline necessary to excel. But he also understood how critical it was to
inject playfulness into the mix, even during high-pressure moments. There
was one stretch in the 1970s when he prepared his players for each game
with a fierce pep talk, but then refused to let them leave the locker room
until running back Mark van Eeghen could summon a belch. I recommend
this dual approach to you, Scorpio. As you wade in to your upcoming
dates with destiny, draw liberally on the leavening power of teasing and
whimsy.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): According to my analysis of the
astrological omens, it would be an excellent time for you to put on your
best clothes and clean toilets at a leper colony in India, or give exuberant
foot massages to workers at a sewage disposal plant, or sing songs, sip
champagne, and play card games with patients at a psychiatric hospital.
Adventures like those would put you in close alignment with your highest
possible destiny. Do they strike you as too extreme? If so, figure out
alternatives that will work for you: Conjure up your most expansive and
generous energy as you carry out taxing tasks that benefit other people.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You've probably heard tales about people
who buy an old desk at a thrift store or a used jacket at a yard sale, then
find a big stash of money in it when they get it home. You may also know
the story of author Byron Katie, who was wallowing in depression on the
floor of a halfway house when she had the epiphany that ultimately
transformed her into a brilliant, rich, successful teacher. I believe your
fate in the coming weeks will have elements of both of those motifs.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Early American politician and inventor
Benjamin Franklin said, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy,
wealthy and wise." And yet for one period of his life, he frequently stayed
up all night reading books. Make him your role model in the coming week,
Aquarius. Use his example to inspire you to rebel against one of your
mottoes or refuse to obey your own well-worn advice. At least
temporarily, the best thing you can do for your mental health is
experiment with alternatives to policies you usually regard as inviolable.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Wasting your time and getting caught up in
trivial details might feel like the most natural thing to do in the coming
week, but I'd love to steer you away from doing that. Please please pretty
please take heed of this proverb from ancient Rome: "The eagle does not
catch flies." In other words, avoid lowering yourself to pursue rewards
that don't really interest you or nourish you. And please please pretty
please also listen to the advice of this Nepalese proverb: "Conduct short
rituals for minor gods." Translation: Acknowledge the second-tier powers-
that-be, but don't prostrate yourself in front of them for hours.
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HOMEWORK:
Describe the difference, if any, between what your ego needs and what
your soul needs. 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
or in response to "homework assignments" may be
published in a variety of formats at Rob Brezsny's discretion,
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Please be sure to note your preference when sending to us. We
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material.
Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2005 Rob Brezsny
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