Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
"Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is
but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it
by the flimsiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness
entirely different. . . . No account of the universe in its totality can be
final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded."
-William James, *The Varieties of Religious Experience*
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February 22, 2006
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http://www.freewillastrology.com
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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
I'M A STAR, YOU'RE A STAR
You're a star--and so am I. I'm a genius--and so are you. Your brilliance
doesn't diminish my charisma, and vice versa.
Those are the new rules in the New World we're creating. That's different
from the Old World, where your greatness is supposed to make me feel
envious, and all of us are allegedly in competition for the rare privilege of
being a well-appreciated winner.
In the New World, you don't have to play down or apologize for your
prowess, because you love it when other people shine. You exult in your
own mastery without regarding it as a sign of inherent superiority. As you
ripen more of your latent aptitude, you inspire others to claim more of
their own idiosyncratic magnificence.
*
Tibetan Buddhist teacher Geshe Chekawa (1220–1295) specialized in
bodhicitta, seeking enlightenment not for personal gain but as a way to
serve others. On his deathbed, he prayed to be sent to hell so that he
might alleviate the suffering of the lost souls there.
As you explore pronoia, you'll discover that like Chekawa, you will have an
enormous capacity to help people. Unlike him, you'll find that expressing
your benevolence doesn't require you to go to hell. It may even be
unnecessary for you to sacrifice your own joy or practice self-denial. Just
the opposite: Being in service to humanity and celebrating your
individuality will be synergistic. They'll need each other to thrive.
*
The Golden Rule is a decent ethical principle, but it could be even better.
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" presumes that
others enjoy what you enjoy. But that's wrong. There are many things
you'd like to have done unto you that others would either despise or be
bored by. Here's a new, improved formulation, which we call the Platinum
Rule: Do unto others as they would like to have you do unto them.
Using this improved formula is not just a virtuous way to live, but is also
the best way to ensure the success of your selfish goals. The rituals and
spells of various occult orders purport to be supercharged techniques for
imposing your personal will on the chaotic flow of events, but I say that
practicing the Platinum Rule outstrips all of them as an exercise to
enhance your power and happiness.
*
At the heart of the pronoiac way of life is an apparent conundrum: You
can have anything you want if you'll just ask for it in an unselfish way. The
trick to making this work is to locate where your deepest ambition
coincides with the greatest gift you have to give. Figure out how the
universe, by providing you with abundance, can improve the lot of
everyone whose life you touch. Seek the fulfillment of your fondest
desires in such a way that you become a fount of blessings.
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The Bible quotes the radical first-century spiritual activist Jesus Christ as
follows: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those
who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
This approach is as important to my well-being as getting good food and
exercise and sleep. It's self-destructive for me to hate anything, including
things that are easy to hate and that I might be naturally inclined to hate.
As much harm as fundamentalist Christians have wreaked on our culture,
for instance, feeling disgust for them only makes me sick. It feeds the
very "us versus them" thinking that I'm pledged to root out, thereby
making me a hypocrite and tainting my integrity. My mental and physical
health suffer, and that diminishes my ability to get what I want.
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I got an e-mail from a beauty and truth fan who calls himself Drek, Agent
of the Future. "How come in the long list of human fears, 'showing one's
true self' is never included?" Drek mused. "Compared to the frighteningly
wonderful madness of tapping into our naked souls, stuff like snakes and
death and public speaking really don't seem that terrifying."
I wrote Drek back to congratulate him for facing his fear. I told him I
thought his struggle to reveal his raw beauty was as great a service to
humanity as the work of Buddhist teacher Geshe Chekawa.
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"To be an altruist, you must first be an egoist." -George Gurdjieff.
"Before you can give yourself away, you have to have a self to give." —
Isabel Hickey, *Astrology: A Cosmic Science*
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"In a gift-giving society, an individual gains prestige and satisfaction by
receiving, then adding to what has been received and passing it on." So
says Lewis Hyde in his book *The Gift, Imagination, and the Erotic Life of
Property.* "In a consumer society," he continues, "prestige and
satisfaction are gained through accumulation and acquisition. Nothing is
given, nothing is passed on."
Though you have been born and raised in a consumer society, your
attraction to pronoia suggests you have the ability to live in a gift-giving
society. One of the best ways to change yourself to help create such a
society is to expand your capacity for both accepting and bestowing
largesse.
Pronoia isn't just a matter of raking in the blessings offered to you by the
universal conspiracy, nor is it merely about aiding the conspiracy to
disseminate blessings to everyone else. It's a balance of the two.
*
One of the Beauty and Truth Lab's youngest practitioners is a 12-year-old
poet, Deirdre Vonn. She's modest about her art. She worries she hasn't
earned the states of awareness she writes about. "I don't know if I'm
really as sensitive and deep as I make myself out to be," she confessed
once as she handed me a beautiful poem.
I understand her concern. Am I as consistently noble-minded as my
writings might make me appear? Nope. Yet in the process of conjuring up
inspirational messages for my audience, I find myself pushing to live up to
their moral power; I become a more interesting and useful person.
How about you? Is there a gift you can give or service you can provide
that will awaken your dormant potential? Is there beauty you can bring to
life in your environment that will beauty you inside?
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To read other pieces from my 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:
INSPIRATION
Terence McKenna
http://deoxy.org/mckenna.htm
Everything on this page is a treat, but you might want to start by
listening to mp3s of Terence talking. Scroll down to "Spoken Word: Digital
Audio," and click on "McKenna/Dreaming Awake at the End of Time,"
"McKenna/Light of the 3rd Millennium-Austin," "McKenna/This World And
Its Double," or anything else.
NEWS
Good News Blog
http://www.goodnewsblog.com
GARDENERS
Seed Savers
http://www.seedsavers.org
An organization of gardeners who save and share heirloom seeds
BOOK
*The Biology Of Belief: Unleashing The Power Of Consciousness, Matter
And Miracles* by Bruce Lipton
SCHOOL
Omega Institute
http://www.eomega.org
(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 February 23
Copyright 2006 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): "The supple willow tree does not contend
against the storm." So says the Shaolin monk advising his young pupil in
the old TV show, *Kung Fu.* Let that be your watchword, Aries. There will
be other times when your best interests will be served by digging in,
steeling your will, and launching a fierce counteroffensive. But this is not
one of those occasions. If you're as supple as the willow, no harm will
come to you. In fact, you'll probably end up feeling like you've gotten a
very deep, long massage.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The greatest gift you can give right now
might be the gift that you yourself were never given. The most valuable
service you have to offer your fellow humans may be the service you
have always wished were performed for you. An experience that wounded
you could and should move you to help people who've been similarly
wounded. You now have the power to heal yourself by healing others.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Welcome to your crash course at Happiness
School, Gemini. To begin your first lesson, say the following aloud: "In the
next 20 days, I will rigorously test the hypothesis that it's possible for me
to become far more skilled at creating happiness for myself. During that
time, I will do everything within my power to make myself feel good." Now
take a piece of paper and write a list of ten familiar experiences that you
really enjoy and ten untried experiences that would fill you with well-being
if you summoned the courage and initiative to actually attempt them.
Finally, Gemini, do at least one of those 20 experiences every day for the
next 20 days.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): As of this week, I have written 1,500
astrology columns. Some have been better-written and more useful than
others, but I've given my utmost effort to every single one. My style has
mutated over the years; the horoscopes I penned in, say, 1994, are so
unlike those I write now that they almost seem to be the product of a
different author. But then I myself have transformed radically since then,
so it makes sense that my work has, too. In fact, my personal
development has been fueled by my growth as a writer. I urge you to do
what I've just done, fellow Cancerian. Take an inventory of the big tasks
you've been doing for years. Evaluate the way they've evolved and how
they've shaped your destiny. It's time for an expansive look at the labors
of love that have made you who you are.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Japanese farmers have perfected a way to grow
square watermelons. At the market the fruit can be stacked with more
ease and efficiency, and at home it fits better in the refrigerator. I
suggest that you make the square watermelon your metaphor of the
week, Leo. What can you do to retrain nature so that it better serves
your practical goals? How might you engineer your unruly instinctual
urges so as to further your civilized needs?
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In her book *Gender Shock,* Phyllis Burke
notes that as recently as 70 years ago, pink was regarded as a strong,
masculine color, and blue as delicate and feminine. This is one of many
pieces of evidence she cites to support her argument that definitions of
gender arise more from transitory cultural biases rather than biological
axioms. If you'd like to align yourself with cosmic rhythms, Virgo, you'll
experiment with her hypothesis. Are there ways you've cut yourself off
from potential powers because you wrongly assume they're a specialty of
the other gender? For instance, if you're a woman, have you been timid
about developing your will? If you're a man, have you crippled your ability
to be receptive?
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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?
To access my IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM AUDIO FORECASTS FOR YOUR LIFE IN
2006, go here:
http://snipurl.com/krjm
Click on your astrological sign, then choose either part 1, part 2, or part 3
of my BIG PICTURE look at your future--or even all three parts, if you're
feeling adventurous.
You can also choose to listen to my short-range outlook for the coming
week.
The Expanded Audio Horoscopes cost $6 apiece if you access them on
the Web via RealAudio.
You can also hear them over the phone for $1.99 per minute.
From the United States, call
1-900-950-7700
or
1-877-873-4888.
If you live in Canada, call
1-888-499-4425.
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): If you have been experiencing some form of
injustice, it's an excellent time to stage a protest, strike, or boycott. The
astrological omens don't necessarily guarantee you'll get all your demands
met, but they do make it likely you'll be able to harness your anger with
maximum lucidity. For best results, don't just fight for your own rights,
but for the rights of others as well. You should also make sure that in
fighting the disrespect you've suffered that you yourself don't disrespect
anyone.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "You can't wait for inspiration," proclaimed
writer Jack London. "You have to go after it with a club." That sounds too
violent to me, though I agree in principle that aggressiveness is the best
policy in one's relationship with inspiration--especially for you in the
coming weeks. Here's my modified version of London's advice: "Don't
wait for inspiration. Go after it with a butterfly net, fishing rod, specimen
jars, petri dishes, leashes, sweet treats, juicy bait, persuasive arguments,
and sincere flattery." And whatever you do, Scorpio, don't fall into the
trap of thinking that inspiration is a rare stroke of luck you're powerless
to summon.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "Earth is a school and daily life is our
classroom," asserts Dan Millman in his book *Living on Purpose.* Our
teachers aren't always experts and authorities, he says, but often appear
in the guise of strangers, acquaintances, children, animals, and
unexpected circumstances. The lessons we're asked to master come to us
first as simple, straightforward challenges. If we refuse to work at solving
them, they take on progressively more difficult and painful forms. Among
the most basic of our assignments is the mandate to take good care of
our bodies. In my opinion, Sagittarius, that's the most important
homework you have in the coming weeks. I hope you'll make dramatic
strides in your understanding of what helps your body thrive.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The language we use has a tremendous
power to shape our experience. This is especially true for you right now.
The words you choose to describe your feelings and adventures will tip
the balance of your energy toward delight and vigor or else toward
discouragement and apathy. The fewer negative perspectives you
formulate, the better your health will be. To spur yourself in the right
direction, make frequent use of beautiful words like the following (or
create your own list): mellifluous, thrive, melody, luminous, undulate,
freshening, reverence, primordial, shimmer.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): There was an indignant uproar after
revelations that James Frey's bestselling memoir *A Million Little Pieces*
contains fabrications. Hearing about it prompted me to ruminate on
whether there's any such thing as a completely accurate account of *any*
person's life. My conclusion: no. In every autobiography and biography
ever written, the author imaginatively strings together selectively chosen
details to conjure up artificially coherent narratives rather than depict the
crazy-quilt ambiguity that actually characterizes everyone's journey. If
you and nine writers set out to tell your life story, you'd produce ten
wildly different tales, each rife with subjective interpretation, misplaced
emphasis, unintentional distortions, and exorbitant extrapolations from
insufficient data. Your assignment this week, Aquarius, is to celebrate the
malleability of reality. Regale listeners with stories about the time you
worked as a pirate in the Indian Ocean, or rode the rails through Kansas as
a hobo, or gave Donald Trump sage advice in an elevator.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Biologist Rupert Sheldrake regularly riles up
the scientific establishment with his theories about telepathy and other
taboo subjects. After he published his book *A New Science of Life,* the
editor of the prestigious British journal *Nature* denounced it, saying
"This infuriating tract is the best candidate for burning there has been for
many years." The same editor later attacked Sheldrake for "heresy,"
advocating that he be "condemned in exactly the same language that the
Pope used to condemn Galileo." I propose that if you're doing your job
correctly in the coming weeks, Pisces, you will attract similar protests
from the status quo. Fulfilling your mission will require you to wander into
territory that's regarded as off-limits by the guardians of the way things
have always been done.
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HOMEWORK:
Forget everything you think you know about gratitude. Act as if it's a
brand new emotion you're tuning into for the first time. Then let it rip.
Report your results 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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I totally respect your privacy. I'll never sell or give away your address to
anyone.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2006 Rob Brezsny
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