Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
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October 5, 2005
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http://www.freewillastrology.com.
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PUBLIC APPEARANCE:
Booksmith bookstore
Tuesday, October 11
7 pm
1644 Haight Street
San Francisco
415.863.8688
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DO YOU LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY?
I will be in New York from November 7 through November 12. So far I
have shows scheduled for Wednesday, November 9 and Thursday, November
10. (More info on them is coming soon.) Now I'd love to hear your ideas
about other things I could do while I'm in town.
Do you own a bookstore where I could do a reading and book signing? Or
do you have a friend that schedules events at a bookstore?
Are you interested in hosting me for a workshop or performance? Do you
have a home or club or store or basement where you and I and a small
crowd could hold a party, salon, or pagan revival meeting?
Any other bright ideas?
Write me at televisionary@comcast.net and let me know.
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Here's an excerpt from my book
"PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings"
PRONOIA NEWS NETWORK
These are our top stories.
IMPOSSIBLE DREAM FULFILLED
The world's largest private bank, Citigroup, has agreed to stop
financing projects that damage sensitive ecosystems. It has promised to
invest more in projects that use renewable energy and to pursue
policies that protect indigenous people. How did this impossible dream
come to pass? The humble but dogged environmental group, Rainforest
Action Network, creatively pestered Citigroup for years until the
corporation gave in to its demands.
CRIME DECLINES
Between 1973 and the end of 2002, the violent crime rate in the U.S.
decreased by 52 percent, from 48 victims per 1,000 people to 23. During
the same period, crimes against property shrank by 69 percent, from 520
victims per thousand to 159. Crime is now at its lowest level since it
was first officially tracked. The report comes from the Bureau of
Justice's "National Crime Victimization Survey."
"Despite our perceptions, based on television or chats around the water
cooler, it is clear crime is on the decline in a significant way and
has been for some years now," said Ralph Myers, a criminologist at
Stanford University, speaking to *USA Today.*
IT'S IN THE GENES
Researchers at Emory University found that humans are biologically
programmed to be nice. Their study used magnetic resonance imaging to
scan the brains of women who were playing a game called the Prisoners'
Dilemma. While seeking the goal of financial gain, the women could
choose between collaborative or self-aggrandizing strategies. Whenever
they opted for the former, the parts of their brains correlated with
reward-seeking behavior lit up.
"The longer the women engaged in a cooperative strategy, the more
strongly flowed the blood to the pathways of pleasure," wrote Natalie
Angier in her account in *The New York Times.*
SACRED ADVERTISEMENT
PNN is made possible by Mary Oliver's poem about sunflowers, in which
she writes that the long work of turning their lives into a celebration
is not easy.
THE IMMORTALISTS
Current human life expectancy, already at age 78 for Americans, is
steadily increasing. Men now live an average of 27 years longer than
they did a century ago, and women 31 years. Many scientists believe
there is no absolute limit to the human life span. Some expect that by
2070, life expectancy will be 100.
SHARING YOUR BREATH
Quoting geneticists, Guy Murchie says we're all family. You have at
least a million relatives as close as tenth cousin, and no one on Earth
is any farther removed than your 50th cousin.
Murchie also describes our kinship through an analysis of how deeply we
share the air. With each breath, you take into your body 10 sextillion
atoms, and—owing to the wind's ceaseless circulation—over a year's time
you have intimate relations with oxygen molecules exhaled by every
person alive, as well as by everyone who ever lived. Right now you may
be carrying atoms that were once inside the lungs of Malcolm X,
Christopher Columbus, Joan of Arc, and Cleopatra. (Source: Guy Murchie,
*The Seven Mysteries of Life*)
MOOSE LUXURY
A Canadian moose can now walk in peace and safety all the way to South
America, thanks to Harrison Ford. He and other celebrities with wealth
and influence quietly worked together for years to purchase land along
corridors that connect various wildlife refuges and national parks.
Meanwhile, Canadian government officials announced that their country,
the second largest in the world, plans to create ten giant national
parks and five marine conservation areas. The new sanctuaries, when
added to the existing 39 national parks, will double the amount of
protected land.
THIS DASY IN PRONOIAC HISTORY
Early last century, marauding boll weevils devoured the cotton crop
that was the main product of Enterprise, Alabama. Local farmers had no
choice but to diversify the plants they grew. As a result, the town's
per capita income tripled what it had been when cotton was king. In
response, grateful citizens built a huge bronze monument to the insect
that had forced them to grow richer.
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There are hundreds more stories like this in *PRONOIA Is the Antidote
for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with
Blessings*
To read other pieces from the book, go here:
http://freewillastrology.com/beauty/beauty.main145.shtml
To buy the book, use the links to Amazon.com and Powells, which are on
my homepage at http://www.freewillastrology.com
Or cut and paste the direct links below:
AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1583941231/qid=1123690660/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1737423-7631942?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
POWELLS
http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-1583941231-2
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OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:
WEBSITE
The Onion
http://www.theonion.com/content/index
ARTICLE
"So What Do You Have to Do to Find Happiness"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1793873,00.html
"State of Emergency: A Paratheatre Manifesto" by Antero Alli
http://www.paratheatrical.com/manifesto.html
BOOK
*How to Know Higher Worlds: The Classic Guide to the Spiritual Journey*
by Rudolf Steiner
*T.A.Z.: Temporary Autonomous Zone* by Hakim Bey
MUSIC
*Shri Durga* by DJ Cheb I Sabbah
FILM:
Disney's *Fantasia*
(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They're not advertisements,
and I get no kickbacks.)
Please tell me your own personal nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning October 6
Copyright 2005 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I'm afraid I had to name you "Underachiever
of the Month" for September, Aries. You didn't quite succeed at
wrestling your frustrations into submission, though you had the power
to do so. You also failed to cash in on much of the great potential you
had for smashing injustice, exposing fakery, and toppling the rotting
status quo. That's the bad news. The good news is that some of your
missed opportunities will become available again in the coming week.
Make up for lost time, please.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I predict that in 2013, the United Nations
will designate a 52,000-square-mile area in Canada's far north to be
the world's dumping ground. By then global warming will have melted
much of the ice that currently makes it problematical to access that
area by sea, allowing a steady stream of ships to deliver loads of
garbage from every country on the planet. I'm not saying this is a good
thing; I'm just reporting the facts as I foresee them. But I'd also
like to propose that you use this idea as a metaphor in dealing with
your own psychic waste. What if you had a certain place and a regular
time where you could ritually dispose of it? Let's say you'd go to
there every Saturday at 10 a.m. After a short meditation, you'd take
out a piece of paper, scribble down everything that's making you sick
and crazy, then burn it or bury it or rip it to shreds. Try it.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): If you've ever dreamed of being a flamenco
dancer or lion trainer or midwife when you grow up, now's a perfect
time to make a big push in that direction. The astrological omens
suggest the universe is more favorably inclined toward your wilder
fantasies than it has been in a long time. At the very least, Gemini,
revisit thrilling schemes that at some time in the past you dismissed
as impossible. They may not be quite so absurd anymore.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): I predict that in the future, palm-size
"emotional control" machines will be available. With a flick of a
switch, people suffering from unwanted feelings will use the device to
beam an electromagnetic pulse at their brains, erasing the offending
emotion and arousing a sense of well-being. Unfortunately, I don't
foresee this new technology being ready until 2020. Fortunately, you
can teach yourself how to do the same trick using only your own
willpower. And it so happens that you're currently in a phase when you
can go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): My friend Gail told me about her harrowing
journey on a purple bus through small towns in Guatemala. "We needed
three drivers," she said. "One to handle the steering wheel, one to
constantly wipe off the windshield when it rained, and one to lean out
the door and yell at pedestrians to get out of the way." This reminds
me of the challenge you have ahead of you, Leo. A single guide won't be
enough as you wend your way through serpentine but scenic
complications. Nor will one cook or one planner or one choreographer.
To succeed, you've got to have multiple directors who are skilled at
coordinating their efforts. Keep control freaks out of the loop.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In his "MuseLetter," Richard Heinberg writes
that Jesus "taught renunciation of ephemeral desires, fearless and
carefree public behavior, and contempt for riches." This happens to be
a precise prescription for those of you who hope to put yourself in
maximum alignment with cosmic rhythms in the coming week. I suggest you
suspend your pursuit of the relatively trivial goals that soak up an
inordinate amount of your attention, and instead intensify your
devotion to your single most important reason for living. This should
help you lose your unnecessary inhibitions. It should also free you
from any delusions you might have that greed is normal or that you need
*more* than enough of anything.
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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): Many people who live in countries steeped in
the Judeo-Christian tradition look down on voodoo, considering it a
mishmash of superstition and sorcery. But in her book *Vodou Visions,*
Sallie Ann Glassman argues that Vodou (the preferred spelling among its
practitioners) is an authentic religious tradition worthy of respect.
She does acknowledge that some of its beliefs may seem odd to polite
society. For instance, Vodou's calm, gentle, sweet spirits are not
always forces for good, while some of its hot, turbulent, revolutionary
spirits are not necessarily bad. Be open to the possibility that
there'll be similar principles at work in your life in the coming week,
Libra--whether or not you have any connection to Vodou.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I went to first grade in a working class
town in Michigan. One day while walking home from school, I encountered
three third-grade bullies. They dragged me into an alley, where two of
them held my arms while the other belted me once in the abdomen. "Why?"
I cried. No one answered. The puncher sneered and got ready to deliver
another smack. Just then a woman's voice called out. She was hanging
wet laundry on a clothesline in her backyard nearby. "You stop that
nonsense right now!" she exclaimed, and ran toward us. The boys fled.
She took me into her house, fed me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,
and called my mother. I was a little shaky yet ecstatic, feeling I had
proof that angels were always watching over me. This story is an apt
metaphor for your experience in the coming week, Scorpio.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): For many people, physical appearance is
the most important consideration in their search for a mate. Social
status is often a decisive factor as well, as well as religious and
political compatibility. In contrast, here's what evolutionary
psychologist Geoffrey Miller told *The New York Times* when asked why
he chose the wife he did: "Because she was very witty and funny and a
woman I thought I could learn a lot from. You look for somebody you
feel you could talk to for years without getting bored." I recommend
that you adopt Miller's criteria for selecting your next three new
allies, Sagittarius. It's time to refine your approach to creating your
network.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In his poem "Jerusalem, Easter," Stanley
Moss writes, "On this bright Easter morning / smelling of Arab bread, /
what if God simply changed his mind / and called out into the city, /
'Thou shalt not kill,' and, like an angry father, 'I will not say it
another time!' / They are praying too much in Jerusalem . . ." With
this as your inspiration, Capricorn, I'd like you to meditate on two
themes: 1) What crucial message do you keep getting from God or life
but continue to ignore? 2) Is there a certain ideal you say you believe
in but sometimes neglect to carry out in your day-to-day encounters?
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): This would be an excellent time to escape
every boring routine that is sapping your life energy. And when I say
"escape," I'm hoping you don't settle for a trip to a Wal-Mart in a
city 50 miles away. The more dramatic and complete your break with
habit, the better. Would you consider exploring the Outback of
Australia on the back of a camel? Or how about rafting down Tibet's
"River of Golden Sand," or reconnoitering Botswana's Okavango Delta,
Africa's most beautiful oasis?
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): By comparing your biorhythms with those of
hundreds of celebrities, Celebmatch.com analyzes which of those
glamorous people you'd be most compatible with. I was surprised to find
that I would get along extremely well with Harry Potter author J.K.
Rowling, tennis star Venus Williams, and Shirley Manson, lead singer of
the band Garbage. I suggest you find out the luminaries who would be
your best matches, Pisces. According to the astrological omens, it's
prime time to bring a playful stimulus or two to your romantic fantasy
life.
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HOMEWORK:
If you could make money from doing exactly what you love to do, what
would it be? Testify by going to http://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 CD and
promoting my new book.
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.
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
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Mail" or "Junk Mail" folder.
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
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2005 Rob Brezsny
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