Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
"Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power
predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other."
-C.G. Jung, *Psychological Reflections: A Jung Anthology*
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January 4, 2006
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http://www.freewillastrology.com
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EXPLORE THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE
with my Expanded Audio Horoscopes for the Coming Year
How can you best cooperate with the opportunities and challenges that
2006 will bring you? What are the blessings that life is likely to offer you
as a spur to your growth? Would you like some inspiration as you survey
your destiny from the mountaintop perspective?
This week as well as the last two weeks, I'm 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 meditations on your long-term destiny.
Your BIG PICTURE horoscopes are available here:
http://snipurl.com/krjm
For Part Three, click on "Hear This Week's Horoscope."
For Part Two, click on "Last Week."
For Part One, click on "2 Weeks Ago."
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Read "The Singing Astrologer," an article about me and pronoia in
*Common Ground* magazine:
http://snipurl.com/l9no
or
http://www.commongroundmag.com/2006/01/singastrol0601.html
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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*
available at http://snipurl.com/krjj
or find out more at http://www.freewillastrology.com
SACRED UPROAR
Pronoia is closer than your breath and older than death. It dreams like a
mountain, laughs like a river, prays like the sun, and sings the way the
animals think. It's always as fresh as the beginning of time.
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Life is a vast and intricate conspiracy designed to keep us well supplied
with blessings. What kind of blessings? Palatial homes, attractive lovers,
lottery winnings, career success? Maybe. But just as likely: interesting
surprises, unexpected challenges, gifts we hardly know what to do with,
conundrums that force us to get smarter.
Novelist William Vollman referred to the latter types of blessings when he
said that "the most important and enjoyable thing in life is doing
something that's a complicated, tricky problem for you that you don't
know how to solve."
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The Christian writer C.S. Lewis once said: "I thank God that He hasn't
given me all the things I've prayed for, because as I look back now I
realize it would have been disastrous to have received some of them."
Pronoia provides the gifts your soul needs, not necessarily those your ego
craves.
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Pronoia works because there is a Divine Being who comprises the entire
universe. When I say, "Life is a conspiracy to shower us with blessings," I
understand that this Divine Being is the Chief Architect, Builder, and
Manager of the conspiracy, overseeing the evolution of 500 billion
galaxies and everything in them, yet also available as an intimate
companion and daily advisor to every one of us.
Some lovers of pronoia don't like this part of my rap. They want pronoia
to be free of anything that smacks of God. That's OK. No hard feelings.
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The Maker of the conspiracy constantly tinkers, always keeping the big
picture in mind and moving in the direction of ultimate blessings for all
concerned.
But the Maker also loves getting help from us. To the degree that we co-
conspire, the inevitable blessings ripen more lyrically and in greater
fullness.
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Pronoia asks us to be attuned to the shifting conditions of the Maker's
ever-fresh creation. It encourages us to be quite happy about regularly
divesting ourselves of the beliefs and theories that guided us yesterday
so that we can see clearly what's right in front of us today.
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As much as we might be dismayed at the actions of our political leaders,
pronoia says that toppling any particular junta, clique, or elite is irrelevant
unless we overthrow the sour, puckered mass hallucination that is
mistakenly called "reality"--including the part of that hallucination we
foster in ourselves.
The revolution begins at home. If you overthrow yourself again and again,
you might earn the right to help overthrow the rest of us.
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Pronoia will change your past if you let it. It's the language you study at
night in your dreams, the open secret of how to live forever, the last
judgment transformed into a daily gift.
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To read other pieces from the book, go here:
http://snipurl.com/l9o3
or
http://freewillastrology.com/beauty/beauty.main145.shtml
To buy the book, use the links to Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble,
which are on my homepage at http://www.freewillastrology.com
Or cut and paste the direct links below:
AMAZON
http://snipurl.com/krjj
BARNES & NOBLE
http://snipurl.com/krjn
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OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:
PRONOIAC LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD goes to:
New Dimensions World Broadcasting Network
http://www.newdimensions.org
QUESTION
"What's your dangerous idea?"
Edge: The World Question Center
http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_index.html
SONG
"Great Lord God Bird" by Sufjan Stevens, as well as his CD *Illinois*
BOOK
*The New Earth* by Eckhart Tolle
WEBSITE
The Lucidity Institute
center for lucid dream research
http://www.lucidity.com
(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 January 5
Copyright 2006 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I'm hoping that in 2006 you will work your ass
off with great ingenuity--not just at your job, but in every area of your
life. Do you have it in you to break all your previous records for brilliant
diligence? Are you willing to summon fierce discipline and crafty willpower
not only to pump up your career ambitions but also to refine your
approach to intimacy and increase your command over your own
emotions? Are you finally ready to master all the excruciating but crucial
details you've always avoided? If so, you could generate years' worth of
blessings.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Some religious traditions preach the doctrine
that desire is a major obstacle to enlightenment. To escape from the
predicament of your suffering, they insist, you must overcome all of your
yearning. But Tantric scholar Daniel Odier believes this dogma is a
delusion. In his book *Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening,* he says
desire should be at the heart of spiritual practice. Not all longings are
equally sacred, of course: Fantasies about winning the lottery or seeing an
adversary punished are not on a par with wanting to expand your capacity
to bestow blessings and give love. In 2006, Taurus, consider the
possibility that Odier is right. Try out the hypothesis that the most
spiritual thing you can do is cultivate high-minded yearnings.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "The Simpsons" TV show has made the leap to
the Arab world. Broadcast by satellite from Dubai, it reaches a big
audience in the Middle East. A few transformations were necessary,
however. In accordance with Islamic law, the man of the house doesn't
drink beer or eat pork. Instead, he enjoys soda and beef sausages. His
name is Omar instead of Homer, and he doesn't frequent squalid bars or
befriend scruffy derelicts as he does in the American version of the show.
On the other hand, son Bart (now called Badr) is still a brat. Omar is as
lazy as Homer, and, like the original, works at a nuclear power facility. I
mention this, Gemini, because it's a good analogue for your possible
future. In 2006, you will have the power and opportunity to translate
something you're good at into a brand new sphere.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): There's no delicate way to say this, so please
stop reading and come back next week if you're offended by graphic
references to pleasure. According to my analysis of the long-term
astrological omens, you're on tap to experience more orgasms in 2006
than you have in any previous year. On average, your climaxes are also
likely to be longer and more intense. Other varieties of bliss, rapture, and
joy will probably occur at record levels, as well. Think you can handle it?
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Recently someone asked me, "What do you look
for in an ally, Rob?" Here's what I said: "I favor people who take
responsibility for their unripe qualities and don't spew their undigested
angst on me when they're feeling low." I think this approach should
become a priority for you, Leo. In 2006, you will have striking
opportunities to upgrade your relationship to relationships. One of the
best ways to do that is to give special preference to connections with
emotionally intelligent people who work hard to transmute their own
darkness.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In 2006, you will have greatest success if you
approach every experience as a student. Your ability to experience
happiness will expand if you re-ignite your love of learning and become
perpetually ablaze with curiosity. You know that old expression, "When
the student is ready, the teacher will appear"? I suggest you make
yourself ready, because a crucial teacher is or will soon be in your vicinity.
Here's another key piece of advice, courtesy of J. Bronowski: "It is
important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence
to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to
question it."
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YOUR FORECAST FOR 2006
Normally my Expanded Audio Horoscopes cover just a week at a time. But
this week, as well as the last two weeks, I am offering explorations of the
entire year ahead. To hear Part Three of my IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM
FORECAST FOR YOUR LIFE IN 2006, check out your Expanded Audio
Horoscope. The reading costs $6. You can also listen to Part One from
two weeks ago and Part Two from last week.
For Web access, go here:
http://snipurl.com/krjm
For Part Three, click on "Hear This Week's Horoscope."
For Part Two, click on "Last Week."
For Part One, click on "2 Weeks Ago."
You can also get the readings by phone.
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.
"Your audio horoscopes help me tune in to my own inner wisdom. It's like
you're the UNteacher teaching me how to teach myself." —Rose F.,
Ypsilanti, MI
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In a few weeks, economist Benjamin Bernanke
will begin serving as the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, becoming
the most important person in setting America's monetary policy. Though
news reports typically describe him as cautious and scholarly, he has
promised to prevent deflation by any means necessary--even by printing
lots of extra money and throwing it out of helicopters. If that occurs in
the coming months, members of your sign will no doubt be in the right
places at the right times to gather up disproportionately large shares of
those dollars floating down from above. The astrological omens suggest
that 2006 will be a time of financial luck for Librans of every nationality. If
you're ever going to benefit from a windfall, it'll be this year.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In my homeland of Northern California, four
of the most overused terms are "juicy," "sacred," "radical," and "wild." I
haven't made a scientific study, but I'd guess that maybe 30 percent of
all workshops and self-help books originating in this part of the world have
at least one of those words in their titles. As a connoisseur of language, I
naturally try to avoid them myself. Nevertheless, your long-term
astrological omens demand that I invoke them to describe your destiny. In
fact, I'm duty-bound to predict that 2006 will be the Year of Juicy Sacred
Radical Wildness for you Scorpios. Do your best, please, to express the
primal potency of these words.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): A few weeks ago a group of people in
the Netherlands reserved a large hall in hopes of breaking the world
record for falling dominoes. Their goal was to set up and then topple
4,321,000 of the rectangular black tiles. While they were working, a
sparrow flew in an open window and accidentally knocked over 23,000
pieces. It was only a temporary setback, however. The record-seekers
restored the prematurely fallen pieces and ultimately achieved their goal. I
predict that this vignette will have a metaphorical similarity to your
destiny in 2006. If you assign yourself an epic yet fun goal (which I hope
you will), you'll probably experience an unforeseen interruption, but will
prevail in the end. (P.S. Don't do anything like what the Dutch people did,
which was shoot the bird.)
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Stage magician David Copperfield made an
intriguing announcement recently. He told the German magazine *Galore*
that in his next show, he will use magic to make a woman pregnant--
without touching her. That's similar to the kind of mojo you will possess in
2006, Capricorn. It's true that your success in the past has usually come
from your pragmatic intelligence, organizational ability, and thoroughness.
But in the coming months you will also have a talent for conjuring
beautiful illusions that ultimately become very real.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Every person you know has a different idea
about who you are, and none of those notions is exactly the same as the
image you have of yourself. In other words, there are hundreds of
unauthorized versions of you in addition to the one you believe in. Usually
you don't have much power to control this, but that could change in
2006. More than at any other previous time, you'll have a knack for
bringing public opinion into alignment with your own picture of yourself.
Your reputation may even come to closely resemble the person you really
are.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I encourage you to climb trees in 2006,
Pisces. I also suggest that you regularly look down at the world from
mountaintops and skyscrapers and flying dreams. Get above it all, in other
words. Give yourself the pleasure of gazing from vistas that inspire you to
meditate on the really big picture. You might also consider expanding your
consciousness now and then if you do so in a disciplined, careful, and
responsible way. (Getting high on a mix of street meth with strangers at
3 a.m. is not what I mean.) Your magical symbol for the year is a golden
ladder.
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HOMEWORK:
Who are your Top Five Heroes--your Men and Women of the Year? Testify
by going to http://www.freewillastrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."
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Many people have requested access to the column I did at the end of
1999, wherein I gave hints about each sign's destiny for the coming
years. Here, by popular demand, is a reprint of that mysterious thing.
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 30, 1999
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Clip and save this preview of your fate in the
coming years. Year 2000: Normally you Aries folks are as crafty and
circumspect as a battering ram. But you'd be advised to wield these
virtues more like a cagey Scorpio in the coming months. You'll have to
know when to hide your raging clarity and when to unleash it in laser-like
blasts. 2001: Escape every limitation from March through August. After
that, embrace invigorating new limitations. 2002: Come home, dammit!
Come all the way home! 2003: Love wants all of you--and won't accept
any less. Either go all the way, or else don't go at all. 2004: If you've
always lived like a wildfire, this is the year you'll learn to be a furnace.
2006: Amazing grace comes in incremental bits and drabs.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Clip and save this preview of your fate in the
coming years, Taurus. Year 2000: Can you expand and contract at the
same time? Can you open up your imagination to the gifts awaiting you at
the frontiers while at the same time you prune your useless comforts and
indulgences? 2001: If you work with high integrity at a task that makes
people happy, unexpected money will come from a seemingly unrelated
source. 2002: Dare to be versatile. 2003: Your web grows as if spun by
spiders on steroids. 2004: Everything you ever thought you knew about
love will not prepare you for the generous surprises that await you. 2006:
You are the one you've been waiting for.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Clip and save this preview of your fate in the
coming years, Gemini. Year 2000: Scream goodbye to every pest that's
bugged you, every ghost that's haunted your reveries, every failed dream
that's riddled you with remorse. 2001: Howl hello to the breakthroughs
that have eternally eluded you, the teachings that have previously been
over your head, and the potential pleasures that until this golden year
have relentlessly teased but never gratified. 2002: Use all your ingenuity
to find the niche that gives you the freedom to express your multitude of
talents. 2003: Pray to strange angels until they agree to show you a
secret that inspires but does not shatter. 2004: Your roots deepen, your
foundation grows stronger. 2006: Neither here nor there, but in the most
in-between power spot you can imagine: That's where your off-center
center will be.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Clip and save this preview of your fate in the
coming years, Cancer. Year 2000: You know that project you've been
working on for so long? That smoldering yet moist adventure which,
though it's not a secret, is 85 percent invisible to everyone but you? It'll
climax in the next eight months. 2001: By the end of this year, you will
have lost every last excuse for cultivating pessimism. 2002: Your world
will become at least 33 percent bigger than it's ever been. 2004:
Showdown of the Year: the Road Warrior versus the Road Worrier. 2005:
You'll look for, and most likely find, a new version of your dream home.
2006: The mega is mini and the mini is mega. 2008: I wonder how you'll
respond to the invitation to reinvent yourself from alpha to omega?
Ignore it and it'll mutate into a strident demand. Jump on it and you'll get
the ride of your life.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Clip and save this preview of your life in the
coming years, Leo. Year 2000: It'll be a great time to master the
difference between invigorating pride and wicked arrogance, between
radiant aplomb and perilous overconfidence. 2001: You can't imagine the
blessings that'll come from soliciting feedback and critique. Surround
yourself with people who love what you do but are ballsy enough to tell
you the truth about your excesses. 2002: Run away from instant
gratification so you can devote yourself to what'll make you happy in the
long run. 2003: You'll be like a wise teenager. 2004: Your sweat is sweet,
your tears productive. 2006: Catch yourself falling asleep and you will
strike it rich.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Clip and save this preview of your fate in the
coming years, Virgo. Year 2000: With delightful regularity, you'll escape
the relentless gnawings of your steel-trap mind. As a result, you'll be
unusually free to explore a host of exotic feelings and altered (yet drug-
free) states. 2001: If you're doing the work you love, your career will
flourish. 2002: The various personalities in your psyche that co-exist but
do not cooperate will finally agree to peace talks. Detente will emerge, as
most of your inner voices will commit to serving a common goal. 2003: If
you vow to be like a warrior as you burn off your karma, every ending you
undergo will be clean and redemptive. 2004: The growing pains will feel
really good! You could give pioneering lessons to an Aries. 2006: The
coolest, craftiest message is in the mess.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Clip and save this preview of your fate in the
coming years, Libra. Year 2000: You got a problem with being sexy and
inscrutable? Hope not. Ready or not, you'll be less nice and more
dangerous than usual in the coming months. 2001: Off you go on the
madcap pilgrimage of your life. In the back of your mind, always be
thinking of how you can turn your adventures there into wealth-builders.
2002: Choose carefully what summit you want to be standing on by
summer. 2003: Reinvent work or let work reinvent you. 2004: Summon
your wildest integrity and most disciplined chutzpah as you finish up
every long-term life cycle. 2005: You'll either have a baby or be reborn
yourself. 2006: Watch over your shoulder and behind your back for the
clues to your backwards success.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Clip and save this preview of your fate in the
coming years, Scorpio. Year 2000: You'll finally be able to stop trying to
fill the holes in your soul through your obsessive search for the perfect
relationship. 2001: Revolution! if you can only avoid the cheap thrills of
masochism, you'll create the beautifully imperfect relationship you were
made for. 2002: Leave your home country at least once, please. And leap
out of your standard grooves at least 52 times. 2003: You'll be
ridiculously, extravagantly fertile. 2004: You'll laugh at the shock of
becoming more and more popular. 2006: The signature fear that has
always been your driving force will shrivel into irrelevance, leaving you
with the freedom either to replace it with a new terror or else learn to
motivate yourself without any angst at all.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Clip and save this preview of your fate in
the coming years, Sagittarius. Year 2000: Odds are 2-1 that you'll figure
out a better way to make your chronic wanderlust serve your career
goals, and 4-1 that your job will allow you to travel more. 2001: All your
theories about relationships will need to be thrown out so you can be free
of the burden of old biases as you study radical new teachings about
intimacy. 2002: If you're not married, you'll probably tie the knot. If you
already are, the only way to avoid divorce will be to deepen your devotion
to your union. 2003: You thrive out on a limb. 2004: Welcome to the
Really Big Show. 2006: Vacation in the wilderness right next door to the
wasteland. 2007: You'll finally outsmart or outgrow a riddle that's
mystified you since 1996.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Clip and save this preview of your fate in
the coming years, Capricorn. Year 2000: You'll be genuinely surprised by
how much creative fervor erupts from you. 2001: Will you be practical
and harvest the fruits of the previous year's teeming fertility? Or will you
be self-destructively cautious, freaking out as you scramble back to
numbing normalcy? 2002: If you allowed 2000's breakthroughs to change
you every which way, 2002 will bring a match made in heaven. 2003: It's
not the meek who will inherit the earth, but the well-disciplined pleasure-
seekers. 2004: It's finally time to unveil your revolutionary riffs and your
chance-taking chops. 2006: Make your memories of the future come alive
in not two, not four, but three different ways. 2007: You'll experience a
death which electrifies your sleeping potential into action.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Clip and save this preview of your fate in
the coming years. Year 2000: As an Aquarius, you'll always be an
idealistic networker with lots of nervous energy. But in the coming
months you'll be as down-to-earth, practical, and stable as it's possible
for you to be. 2001: Your theme song will be Bob Dylan's "When I Paint
My Masterpiece." You'll be surprised by the sustained creativity you're
capable of. 2003: The hunger you'll be consumed by could be a torment
or gift. It'll all depend on how well you understand the fact that you
ultimately can't change anyone but yourself. 2004: What's the holy
version of sex, drugs, and rock and roll? 2006: Where do you find the
escape route that leads to the sweet fracas? In a place that usually bores
you, of course.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Clip and save this preview of your fate in the
coming years, Pisces. Year 2000: You'll begin to shed your superstitious
approach to life, no longer wasting your energy wondering about whether
luck, fate, and God are working with you or against you. 2001: Your
willpower will bloom, infusing you with a wild and free determination to
accomplish your goals. 2002: Crazy love could drive you very, very sane.
2003: You'll develop an intimate relationship with an idea that will inspire
you the rest of your life. 2004: Celebration time: You're ready to meet
your match. 2006: Your doubts are like gold: They're your source of
liberation and glee.
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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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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,
including but not limited to newsletters, books, the Free Will
Astrology column, and Free Will Astrology website. We reserve
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Please be sure to note your preference when sending to us. We
are not responsible for unsolicited submission of any creative
material.
Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2006 Rob Brezsny
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