Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
MID-YEAR PREVIEW OF YOUR DESTINY
This week my Expanded Audio Horoscopes give you a long-term look at
the ripe opportunities that are available to you between now and
December 1. If you'd like to hear my views on what areas of your life are
likely to receive unexpected assistance and divine inspiration, tune in.
The Expanded Audio horoscopes cost $6 apiece if you access them on
the Web via RealAudio (discounts are available for multiple purchases), or
$1.99 per minute if you want them over the phone.
For Web access, go here:
http://snipurl.com/krjm
From the United States, call
1-900-950-7700
or if you prefer to pay by credit card
1-877-873-4888
From the United States, call
1-900-950-7700
If you live in Canada, call 1-888-499-4425 to purchase a Block of Time
with your credit card.
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"One must have chaos within oneself if one is to be a dancing star." -
Friedrich Nietzsche
"There is nothing stable in the world; uproar's your only music." -John
Keats, Letters of John Keats
"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it." -Robin
Williams
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June 21, 2006
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http://www.freewillastrology.com
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ALERT
There's now a photo of me doing "Reverse Panhandling" on my website at
http://www.freewillastrology.com.
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ROB'S UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
Dear Readers: Please help get the word out about my readings in Seattle
on July 12 and Portland on July 13. I'm not sure there'll be much publicity
beyond word-of-mouth, which means I need your assistance.
Oregon Country Fair
http://www.oregoncountryfair.org
near Eugene, Oregon
Friday, July 7, 3:20-3:50 pm: Main Stage
Saturday, July 8, 1:10-1:50 pm: Stage Left
Sunday, July 9, 3:00-3:40 pm: Front Porch
Elliott Bay Bookstore
Seattle
Wednesday, July 12
6 p.m.
101 South Main Street
Seattle, Washington 98104
http://www.elliottbaybook.com
23rd Avenue Books
Portland
Thursday, July 13
7:30
1015 NW 23rd Avenue
Portland, OR 97210
http://www.23rdavebooks.com
Boulder Book Store
Wednesday, August 16
7:30
1107 Pearl Street
Boulder, CO 80302
http://www.boulderbookstore.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
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PRONOIA NEWS NETWORK
These are our top stories.
PRONOIA DOESN'T REQUIRE LOTS OF MONEY
"On a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 means 'not at all satisfied with my life' and
7 means 'completely satisfied,' the people on Forbes magazine's list of
the 400 richest Americans score an average of 5.8--the same as the Inuit
people in Greenland and the cattle-herding Masai of Kenya, who live in
dung huts with no electricity or running water. Calcutta's slum dwellers
score only a little lower, at 4.6."
(Source: http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=4053)
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MAKE-BELIEVE ART
The Museum of Make Believe features artifacts from nursery rhymes, fairy
tales, and classical literature. Among its treasures are Snow White's
mirror, the baseball mitt from The Catcher in the Rye, Jack and Jill's
notorious pail, and the tools Geppetto used to create his wooden son
Pinocchio. (Source: http://www.ruinedeye.com/MOMB/MAKEB.htm)
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HANDS THAT HARVESTED YOUR FOOD
"Strawberries are too delicate to be picked by machine. The perfectly ripe
ones bruise even at too heavy a human touch. Every strawberry you have
ever eaten has been picked by callused human hands. Every piece of toast
with jelly represents someone's knees, someone's aching backs and hips,
someone with a bandanna on her wrist to wipe away the sweat."
—Alison Luterman, quoted in *After the Ecstasy, the Laundry,* by Jack
Kornfield
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NEW HEALTH CRAZE
Prayer can have a medicinal effect, according to a study of 990 heart
patients at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City. Five prayer teams prayed
daily on behalf of half of the patients. Though they did not know they
were being prayed for, their health improved faster and they needed
fewer drugs than the patients who did not have the benefit of the
prayers. The report on the experiment appeared in the Archives of
Internal Medicine, published by the American Medical Association. (Source:
Associated Press)
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DOMESTICATING DISEASES
Biologist Paul Ewald is opposed to efforts to exterminate diseases spread
by germs. Instead, we should figure out how they co-evolve with humans,
and push them to mutate in ways that are favorable for us.
Like every living thing, harmful microbial species change over time in
response to environmental conditions. Syphilis, for example, was more
lethal and fast-spreading 500 years ago. It killed its human victims
relatively quickly, which diminished its ability to proliferate in new hosts.
Ultimately, a milder variety evolved. An infected person survived longer
and could spread the syphilis strain further.
Ewald wants to adopt this model as a conscious strategy, cultivating
conditions that encourage the mellow strains of a disease to trump their
nastier relatives.
"Maybe someday we'll barely notice when we get colonized by disease
organisms," Ewald told journalist Joel Achenbach. "We'll have co-opted
them. They'll be like in-laws, a little annoying but tolerable. If a friend sees
us sniffling, we'll just say, Oh, it's nothing—just a touch of plague."
(Source: Joel Achenbach, "Our Friend, the Plague," *National Geographic,*
November 2003)
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TUNDRA CHEER
"A major psychiatric study of 1,200 Finnish reindeer herders found
midwinter to be quite a cheery time, despite darkness and daily
temperatures that averaged a bone-chilling minus 22 degrees. 'All kinds
of disorders, including depression, were rare in the darkest season,' Dr.
Nayha Vaisanen and his team of scientists concluded in the 1994 issue of
the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia." —Lisa M. Krieger, *San
Francisco Examiner*
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MIRABILIA REPORT
Mirabilia n. innovations generated by unseen presences, enigmatic
phenomena on the cusp between fake and real, odd acts of deliverance
that inspire love or wonder or both; from the Latin mirabilia, "marvels."
* In 2002, scientists discovered a secret underground river running 800
feet below a Mauritanian town in the Sahara Desert. With a flow rate of
8,450 gallons per hour, it is the biggest unnamed river in the world.
* Oblivious to dire biblical prophecies about swarms of locusts, residents
of Beijing, China, warmly greeted their arrival in 2002. They scooped the
insects up in large bags, deep-fried them, and made them the main dish of
an enormous feast.
* Two percent of your fears are based in fact and are actually worth
worrying about, while the other 98 percent are either imagined or else not
yours, having infected you through the psychic version of contagion.
* Astronomers have discovered a crystal as big as our moon at the core
of a dying white dwarf star.
* A Japanese genius invented a robot that can belly dance.
* Twelve percent of the population believes that Joan of Arc was Noah's
wife.
* Because half of the world's vanilla crop is grown in Madagascar, the
whole island smells like vanilla ice cream.
* Your body contains so much iron that you could make a spike out of it,
and that spike would be strong enough to hold you up.
* Bali has 80,000 temples.
* Some piranhas are vegetarians.
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THIS WEEK IN PRONOIAC HISTORY
In an act of random violence, playwright Samuel Beckett was stabbed by a
pimp on a Paris street. A stranger, the pianist Suzanne Deschevaux-
Dumesnil, found him and got medical help. She visited him in the hospital,
and eventually the two were married.
Bach's St. Matthew Passion is a highly regarded musical composition. Yet
the score disappeared and the work wasn't played for years after Bach's
death in 1750. In 1829, composer Felix Mendelssohn rediscovered the
long-lost manuscript being used as wrapping paper in the estate sale of a
deceased cheese salesman. He arranged for a public performance of the
piece, and its revival began.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT
This perfect moment is brought to you by the thousand-year-old rose
bush that's growing on the wall of the Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany,
and by the fossilized remains of a 40-million-year-old wild rose found in
Florissant, Colorado.
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To read other news and features 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:
BOOK
*The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine
Spark* by Sera Beak
http://snipurl.com/s0ma
"If you're hungry for real magic but allergic to self-righteous jive, sit down
at this feast." -Rob Brezsny
FILM
*Rumi: Turning Ecstatic* by Tina Petrova
"A Shakespeare of mystics"
http://snipurl.com/s0mg
ROCK VIDEO
Sarah McLachlan's "World on Fire"
http://snipurl.com/s0m6
MUSIC DOWNLOAD
"The Lord God Bird" by Sufjan Stevens
http://snipurl.com/s0mk
(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 June 22
Copyright 2006 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): During America's Civil War, John Bell Hood was
a top general for the Confederacy. Though initially impressive, he grew
increasingly ineffectual as his ferocious courage devolved into maniacal
force devoid of strategy. His superior officer Robert E. Lee said that Hood
was "all lion and no fox." I mention this, Aries, in the hope that it will
serve as a kick in the butt. You're not as unbalanced as Hood--your ratio
is about 90 percent lion, 10 percent fox--but if you want to navigate your
way successfully through the coming weeks, you'll have to work harder on
cultivating your inner fox.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): According to a study done by sociologist
Werner Habermehl at the Hamburg Medical Research Institute, sex makes
you smarter. His test subjects showed greater skill at performing certain
mental tasks after they made love. Habermehl attributes the results to
the increased levels of adrenaline and cortisol that are released in the
body. I encourage you to do some experiments of your own, Taurus. The
coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to engage in all manner of
experiences that might boost your intelligence, including (though not
limited to) regular erotic adventures.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Using your common sense, you might assume
you could swim faster through water than through syrup. But research
published by Professor Edward Cussler has shown that's not true. In his
paper "Will Humans Swim Faster or Slower in Syrup?", he proved that the
breaststroke can be done with equal speed in both mediums. Keep that in
mind, Gemini. Your surroundings may sometimes feel dense in the coming
weeks--more like syrup than water. But as long as you don't buy into the
fear that life will be more difficult and slow-going, you'll be able to glide
along with just as much grace as you've enjoyed recently.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Since it's my birthday this week, I decided to
take a break from business as usual. That's why I outsourced the writing
of our Cancerian horoscope to an astrologer in Bangladesh, Farhana Rasel.
Here's what she came up with: It is an auspicious time to use the good
will you have accumulated through your generous deeds. You should ask
for favors from people who have enjoyed your favors, and coast along on
the currents of the good karma you have set in motion. Luck will be on
your side if you permit yourself an excursion into the naughty mysteries
of enlightened narcissism. You will be given more slack than usual,
especially if you have the nerve to demand it.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "Prescribed Burn Season Begins" read a headline
in a Colorado newspaper that publishes my column. The report said that
forestry officials planned to intentionally set easily-controllable fires on
parcels of bone-dry woods. By reducing the density of potential fuel, they
would dramatically reduce the threat of massive forest fires in the future.
The burns would also make habitats more livable for wildlife. I suggest you
make this your metaphor, Leo. If you burn a little now, you'll prevent a
bigger burn later.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Futurologist David Brin talks to a diverse range
of scientists. Over the years, he has noticed that many of them have
become "much livelier, more open-minded, and more interested in fields
outside their own" than they were when he first met them. Physicists are
more interested in biology, biologists in astronomy, and engineers in
cybernetics. According to my reading of the astrological omens, Virgo,
this is a perfect moment for you to have this kind of fun. You will attract
unexpected benefits into your life if you wander outside your areas of
specialty and check out the action in other genres. It's high time for
exuberant cross-pollination.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): If you think you need to be fixed, toned down,
made over, or recreated from scratch, you're reading the wrong
horoscope column. Likewise, if you imagine that you're a wounded animal
in desperate need of rescue or a helpless victim cowering in your closet,
I'm not the proper consultant for you. But if you long to be fiercely
understood, shaken awake, and dared to discover your higher calling,
you've come to the right place. Now let's get started on the next phase
of my pet project, which is to inspire you to deal with what philosopher
Alan Watts called "the taboo against knowing who you are." There are
secrets that your unconscious mind has been longing to reveal to your
conscious mind, and conditions are now favorable for that shocking yet
pleasurable communication to unfold.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the course of my life, I've known five
people whom I consider feral. They weren't raised by wolves in the wild,
but they have qualities that make it seem as if they could have been.
They regularly get wild glints in their eyes, and are given to sudden
expulsions of anomalous noises that express manic amusement mixed
with inscrutable emotions. They can survive while traveling in foreign
lands despite having little money, and even when they're home they're
prone to taking long rambles in the middle of the night. They couldn't
care less what anyone thinks of them, and rarely do what anyone expects
them to do. These feral folks are disruptive but not dangerous, and they
confound my beliefs about human nature in the most entertaining ways.
Even if you don't fit this description, Scorpio, you'd be wise to flirt with
your own brand of feral behavior in the coming weeks. It's time to untame
yourself.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The successful Czech composer Vaclav
Halek has an unusual muse: the mushroom kingdom. No, he doesn't ingest
the psychedelic varieties and write music while high. Rather, he wanders
out into the forest, lies down next to fungal colonies, and tunes in to their
vibrations. "I simply record music that the mushrooms sing to me," he
told *The Sydney Morning Herald.* Trees and rocks also produce
melodies, he reports, but the toadstools' compositions are the finest.
Given the fact that you're in a phase when becoming a better listener
would improve your life dramatically, Sagittarius, I encourage you to be
open-minded about Halek's approach to his creativity. Just imagine that
you have the power to eavesdrop on all of creation.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "What the heart knows today the head will
understand tomorrow," wrote Irish storyteller James Stephens. It's lucky
for you that this is true, Capricorn--or at least it *will* be lucky if you're
smart enough to trust your heart, which has already figured out a certain
truth that your head is still days away from registering. This is not merely
a pretty metaphor, by the way. Despite what you may have been led to
believe about the nature of the heart, it is actually an organ of
intelligence that is capable of deep thought.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): During an outdoor concert, '80s pop star
Cyndi Lauper experienced a rare event that every singer dreads. As she
belted out a long, booming note, a bird flying overhead dispensed a blob
that zoomed into her wide-open mouth. Lauper's grandmother later
assured her that this was a stroke of good luck, and the singer herself
referred to it as "God's little joke." I predict you will soon enjoy a
metaphorically similar visitation.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): According to my analysis of the astrological
omens, you're about to turn into a creative powerhouse--and will remain
so for at least a few weeks. That means you'll be at the peak of your
ability to conjure up artistic masterpieces. But more than that: You will
also have uncanny skill at whipping up fresh, crisp solutions to
conundrums that have stymied you and your tribe for a long time. It will
almost be as if you have found a way to tap into the future, where you
can learn novel ways of seeing that are impossible to access in the
present.
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HOMEWORK:
To celebrate my birthday this week, I'll say a high-powered prayer for you.
Telepathically tell me the one problem you want me to focus on. Or
testify at 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.yoursouljourney.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
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2006 Rob Brezsny
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