Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
December 27, 2006
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EXPLORE THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE
with my Expanded Audio Horoscopes for the Coming Year
Go to http://RealAstrology.com
or call 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.
What hidden factors will be massaging your destiny in 2007? Could you
use some hints about how to prepare for the adventures awaiting you in
the next 12 months? Are there any lingering secrets about 2006 you'd
like to pry loose before leaping into the new year?
Beginning this week, and for the next 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 perspectives on your long-term outlook.
To find out more ABOUT Your BIG PICTURE horoscopes, go to
http://RealAstrology.com.
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"It is eternity now; I am in the midst of it. It is about me in the sunshine; I
am in it, as the butterfly in the light-laden air. Nothing has to come; it is
now. Now is eternity; now is immortal life."
-Richard Jefferies
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The piece below is excerpted from my book
"PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings"
available at http://tinyurl.com/qaj62
or find out more at http://www.freewillastrology.com
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RAUCOUS PRONOIA THERAPY
Experiments and exercises in becoming a rigorously flexible, seriously
delirious, studiously playful Master of Zany Dignity
1. Take inventory of the extent to which your "No" reflex dominates your
life. Notice for 24 hours (even in your dreams) how often you say or
think:
"No."
"That's not right."
"I don't like them."
"I don't agree with that."
"They don't like me."
"That should be different from what it is."
Then retrain yourself to say "YES" at least 51 percent of the time.
Start the transformation by saying "YES" aloud 22 times right now.
2. The factor most likely to drive us to addiction or illness is a lack of
intimate contact with spirit. We all need a daily dose of vastness.
Paradoxically, many of us would also benefit from more microscopic
vision. Because we're so deprived of divine connection, we're half-
dreaming all the time; our unconscious pining for our eternal source
causes our minds to wander and saps our energy to dig in and master the
gritty details that are right in front of us.
Practice seeing the little things. Gather glimpses of colors, shapes, tones,
and shifts you usually ignore.
3. Some people feel polluted when they look at porn; others when they
eat junk food. Personally, I experience a sense of violation after being
exposed to celebrity gossip. And yet, if I've learned anything about how
to maintain a healthy relationship with purity, it's that an overly zealous
adherence to it is as dangerous as a compulsive indifference. This will
naturally be true for you as you practice pronoia. I urge you, therefore, to
rebel now and then against your drive to be a perfect perpetrator of
goodness and beauty and truth and justice. Describe two examples of
how you might do so without causing any harm.
4. During a trip to Europe, New York poet Stephen Ben Israel performed
Re-Blessing Ceremonies in venerable cathedrals and synagogues. His
primary sacramental act was to smoke a joint and invoke a visceral
awareness of the Divine Intelligence. In so doing, he aspired to reanimate
those sterile sanctuaries, where over the years so many worshipers have
brought only their inert concepts and habit-encrusted beliefs.
Carry out your own version of a Re-Blessing Ceremony in a once-sacred
place that has lost its juice.
5. Jungian analyst Arnold Mindell explores the relationship between mind
and body. He thinks you can achieve optimum physical health if you're
devoted to shedding outworn self-images. In his book *The Shaman's
Body,* he says, "You have one central lesson to learn—to continuously
drop all your rigid identities. Personal history may be your greatest
danger."
Kate Bornstein, author of *Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest
of Us,* agrees. Raised as a male, she later became a female, but
ultimately renounced gender altogether. "I love being without an
identity," she says. "It gives me a lot of room to play around."
What identities would be healthy for you to lose? Describe all the fun
you'd have if you were free of them.
6. If I ever produce a self-help manual called *The Reverse Psychology of
Getting Everything You Want,* it will discuss the following paradoxes:
a. People are more willing to accommodate your longings if you're not
greedy or grasping.
b. A good way to achieve your desires is to cultivate the feeling that you
have already achieved them.
c. Whatever you're longing for has been changed by your pursuit of it. It's
not the same as it was when you felt the first pangs of desire. In order to
make it yours, then, you will have to modify your ideas about it.
d. Be careful what you wish for because if your wish does materialize it
will require you to change in ways you didn't foresee.
Review your own life and identify experiences that exemplify these four
principles.
7. "Is it bad to live without a hell?" poet Pablo Neruda asks in *The Book
of Questions.* Let's add these queries to his: Is it dangerous to live
without the awakening force that an enemy provides? Is it naive to think
you can achieve great success without the driving motivation that comes
from having ideas you hate?
Consider the issue from another angle. Dentists love tooth decay.
Treating cavities provides them with a steady income. Likewise,
exterminators are dependent on termites, lawyers need crime, and priests
crave sinners. Lots of people have symbiotic connections with nasty
stuff. In fact, isn't it true that most of us nurture our feelings for the
things we love to despise and fear?
What's your favorite poison or adversary? Assume that your exposure to
pronoia is changing you in ways that will require you to update your
relationship with it. Speculate on how you'll go about this task.
8. We tried to get our manifesto *Bigger, Better, More Original Sins*
excerpted in Taboo Busters, a zine published by American expatriates in
Berlin. Unfortunately, the editors didn't like the spin we put on the
subject of taboos. They're fixated on depraved vices and sickening
violations and contrived rejections of conventional values: smuggled
photos of dead celebrities lying in morgues, for instance; paintings of
religious scenes that use the artist's blood or other bodily fluids; hospital
scenes of Iraqi children with gangrenous stumps where their limbs once
were; performance artists who do Marquis de Sade imitations.
Our approach is different. We're connoisseurs of taboo-busting that yields
uplifting pleasures; we identify and initiate transgressions that don't hurt
anyone and expand our intelligence and improve the world. Here are a few
examples: midwife Ida May Gaskin's suggestion that a partner can
expedite the birth process by giving erotic pleasure to the woman in
labor; our idea that satirizing one's own cherished beliefs is the most
honest form of mockery; the Menstrual Temple of the Funky Grail's
classes that teach men how to symbolically menstruate in order to learn
to love rather than fear the Dark Goddess; my ability to use principles
formulated by people I mostly disagree with, as in the case of St. Paul's "I
die daily."
Are there examples of this kind of taboo-busting in your own life? Make a
list of uplifting transgressions that expand your intelligence and improve
the world.
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To read other news and features from my book, go here:
http://snipurl.com/l9o3
You can buy the book here:
AMAZON
http://snipurl.com/krjj
BARNES & NOBLE
http://snipurl.com/krjn
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OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:
HEROES
Most Inspiring People of the Year 2006
http://tinyurl.com/yhzcso
PUBLIC ART
The murals of Clarion Street in San Francisco
http://tinyurl.com/yx7s7t
PRACTICAL ANARCHY
European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs
http://tinyurl.com/y5ux5v
(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 December 28
Copyright 2006 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): "When the first settlers arrived in the New
World, they were terrified by the vast open spaces," says Peter Anastas
in the film *Polis Is This.* "They wanted to remake this unkempt paradise
into a big English garden." This is a scenario you should NOT imitate in
2007, Aries. Wander out into the unknown with a cracked grin and a wild
heart. Let it work its elemental magic on you. Don't be too eager to turn
the frontier into a comfy hang-out.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Though millions of other people may be
flirting with glamorous badness and crafty nastiness in 2007, I bet you'll
have a minimal attraction to negativity, no matter how interesting it
might allegedly be. Drama kings and drama queens may try to seduce you
into the crazy chaos they stir up through their addiction to pain, but
you'll be pretty immune to their temptations. Seemingly reasonable
people might hope you'll buy into their gloom and doom, but you'll be too
smart for that. Congratulations in advance for your determination to be
free of the stupid suffering that so many people love to entertain
themselves with.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "Dear Rob: Did you ever hear of that
monstrous experiment in which a monkey actually died from lack of
touch? I often feel like that poor creature. For a while I thought I was
being selfish to want more love, but now I'm sick of that idiotic
intellectualized self-denial, and refuse to pretend I'm a self-sufficient saint
who can go through life feeling a chronic grey bathwater haze of half-
assed passion. Is there any hope? -Deprived Gemini." Dear Deprived: Good
news! The possibility that you'll be inundated with love is higher in 2007
than it has been for years. Here are two tips to make it more likely that
you'll be in the right places at the right times to capitalize: (1) Make
yourself supremely lovable; (2) increase your capacity to give love.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): I nominate you to be the zodiac's most
successful complainer in 2007. According to my analysis of the omens,
you could excel at formulating brisk critiques and constructive dissent.
You may even have a genius for bringing the bracing intelligence of the
heart to bear on situations that are paralyzed by mind games. If you
manage to fulfill the potential I'm prophesying, you'll set in motion far-
reaching ripples of benevolent change. More power to you, Cancerian! May
your grumbles and squawks and protests be imbued with lyrical
persuasiveness.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): My beautiful and talented Leo friend Alisha had a
traumatic experience early in her romantic history. At age 17, she fell in
love with the garbage man who hauled away her family's trash every
Saturday. Through her persistent efforts, the two of them started dating,
even though her parents hated his surly vulgarity, his permanently dirty
fingernails, and the fact that he couldn't read. After a whirlwind affair,
alas, he broke up with her. Ever since, even as Alisha has learned to make
better choices, she has carried the tragicomic embarrassment of having
been dumped by a mean, illiterate garbage man. But I predict that in
2007 she'll be healed: Delightful adventures in love will utterly expunge
that old twinge. Moreover, I believe many of you Leos will find comparable
romantic redemption.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In Kabbalah, the tree of life is the primary
symbol of the universe. In Norse mythology, the World Tree links heaven
to earth and shelters all living things; beneath it lies a magical well with
water that confers special powers on those who drink it. The ancient
Chinese spoke of a peach tree that bore a single fruit once every three
millennia, and provided immortality to anyone who ate it. In the mythic
tradition of modern science, trees have a crucial role in maintaining the
ecological health of the planet. I mention all this, Virgo, because in 2007
you'll benefit tremendously from deepening your relationship with trees--
both the actual and mythical kinds. Get to know them better. Learn from
them. Plant some. Put a picture of a favorite tree on your altar. Hug one
now and then.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to *The Onion* newspaper, the
Catholic Church has abolished the traditional "blessed" status of the
meek. The new official story is that the meek shall *not* inherit the earth.
One Church official was quoted as saying, "Everything about the meek,
from their quiet demeanors to their utter lack of can-do spirit, goes
against Church philosophy." I can't confirm the accuracy of *The Onion's*
report, but it does underscore a point I want to drive home to you in
2007: It'll be a favorable time for you to get tough with the docile,
submissive aspects of your own psyche. Humility's fine; that can stay. But
you should take aggressive measures to lose any tendencies you might
have to be passive. Capitalize on the fact that events in the coming
months will help you tap into reserves of courage that have previously
been inaccessible.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Would you like some inspiration as you muse and wonder about your
upcoming adventures in 2007?
In this week's EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, I give you Part One of a
long-term, in-depth exploration of your destiny in the coming year. Find
out more at http://RealAstrology.com.
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or
1-900-950-7700.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In 2007, you'll need to find the power to do
the half-right thing when it's impossible to do the totally right thing. To
help you do that, remember this advice from Abraham Lincoln: "The true
rule, in determining to embrace or reject anything, is not whether it have
any evil in it; but whether it have more of evil than of good. There are few
things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost every thing is an inseparable
compound of the two; so that our best judgment of the preponderance
between them is continually demanded."
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Not everything you feel in 2007 will be
new, but you'll have a lot more novel emotions than in a typical year. Not
everything you do will be creative and imaginative, but I suspect you'll
often be improvising your way smartly through experiences that have no
precedent. You may not be relentlessly reinventing yourself, but I bet
you'll be imitating your old shticks and tricks less than you ever have
before.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Your sins are pretty mild, Capricorn. Still,
you have from time to time violated some of your own highest standards;
you have on occasion failed to live with impeccable ethical integrity.
That's the bad news. The good news is that in 2007 you will have the
best chance ever to atone for past mistakes. If done well, your corrective
actions will win you a permanent vacation from the hell that those
mistakes have sometimes trapped you in.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): There are still places in China where plagues
of locusts periodically descend in Biblical proportions. A few years ago,
farmers in the region of Xinjiang fought back, gathering an army of
10,000 chickens in anticipation of the invading hordes. The bird soldiers
were trained for two months, and when the showdown came, they
acquitted themselves admirably. This vignette is an apt metaphor for a
challenge you'll face in 2007. While in general the year should bring an
abundant amount of sweet luck and high adventures, there will be a
locust visitation or two. I urge you to assemble your own personal
equivalent of a chicken army. What might that mean, practically speaking?
Here are some possibilities: (1) Be well-prepared for natural anomalies. (2)
Ally yourself with the enemy of your adversary. (3) Get others to help
you fight your battles.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You're not wearing a chastity belt right now,
right? You don't have on shoes that are so tight that they constrict your
sense of adventure? And please tell me you're not lugging around toxic
beliefs about the impossibility of experiencing authentic joy in this "sick,
twisted, miserable world we live in." But if by chance you *have*
victimized yourself with any of the debilitations I just named--or any other
form of self-torture for the matter--please take this opportunity to
unburden yourself. The time has come for you to explore the mysteries of
pleasure, happiness, and outright euphoria. I hope that in 2007, you will
fully exploit the new title I now anoint you with: Bliss Warrior.
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HOMEWORK:
Every January 1, many people make New Year's resolutions, promising to
embark on programs of self-improvement. But your assignment now,
should you choose to accept it, is to create a list of ANTI-resolutions.
Here are some questions to guide you:
1. What outlandish urges and controversial tendencies do you promise to
cultivate in the coming months?
2. What nagging irritations will you ignore and avoid with even greater
ingenuity?
3. What problems do you promise to exploit in order to have even more
fun as you make the status quo accountable for its corruption?
4. What boring rules and traditions will you thumb your nose at, paving
the way for exciting encounters with strange attractors?
Tell me about it 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 personal charts these days, but I highly recommend my
favorite astrological colleague, RO LOUGHRAN. Her approach closely
matches my own. In our many discussions about astrology over the years,
we've had a major influence on each other's work.
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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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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