Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
May 16, 2007
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
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"Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like
trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on
stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes."
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
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My book
"PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings"
is available for sale at http://tinyurl.com/qaj62
To read news and features from the book, go here:
http://tinyurl.com/2uhvjl
Here's an excerpt from the book:
GAZING INTO THE ABYSS OF HAPPINESS
More and more creative people find they do their best work when they're
feeling healthy and secure. We know writers who no longer need to be
drunk or in agony in order to shed the numbness of their daily routine and
tap into the full powers of their imagination. We have filmmaker friends
whose best work flows not from the depths of alienated self-doubt but
rather from the heights of well-earned bliss.
Singer-songwriter P.J. Harvey is the patron saint of this new breed. "When
I'm contented, I'm more open to receiving a lot of inspiration," she has
testified. "I'm most creative when I feel safe and happy."
At the Beauty and Truth Lab, we've retired the archetype of the
tormented genius. We have zero attraction to books and movies and
songs by depressed jerks whose work is celebrated but whose lives are a
mess. Stories about supposedly interesting creeps don't rouse our
perverse fascination because we've broken our addiction to perverse
fascination. When hearing about illustrious creators who brag that they
feel most stimulated when they're angry or miserable, we unleash the
Official Beauty and Truth Lab Histrionic Yawn.
*
Sadly, many storytellers and artists are still addicted to the old delusions
about the risks of good mental health. Even those who don't view peace
of mind as a threat to their creative power often believe that it's a rare
commodity attainable only through dumb luck. "One cannot divine nor
forecast the conditions that will make happiness," said novelist Willa
Cather. "One only stumbles upon them by chance, in a lucky hour, at the
world's end somewhere."
There is another obstacle to overthrowing the status quo. Oppressively
nice, indiscriminately optimistic, sentimental comfort-hoarders give
happiness a bad name. They seem to justify Flaubert's mean-spirited
observation that "To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three
requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost."
Here's a third blotch on the reputation of happiness: that it's mostly an
absence of pain. In *The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying,* Sogyal
Rinpoche frames the issue well: "Would you prefer the happiness of
scratching a mosquito bite over the happiness of not having a mosquito
bite in the first place?"
*
It's possible to define a more supple variety of happiness that does not
paralyze the will or sap ambition. For the first clue about how to proceed,
we turn to Buddhist researchers Rick Foster and Greg Hicks. In their book
*How We Choose to Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy
People,* they reveal that the number one trait of happy people is a
serious determination to be happy. Bliss is a habit you can cultivate, in
other words, not an accident that you stumble upon by chance, in a lucky
hour, at the world's end somewhere.
For another clue about how to conjure up a kind of happiness that does
not anesthetize the soul, we call on Kenneth Koch. Here's what he wrote
about Nobel Prize-winning poet Saint-John Perse: "So many poets have
the courage to look into the abyss. But Perse had the courage to look
into happiness."
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To read other pieces excerpted from the book,
go here:
http://tinyurl.com/2f3d92
You can buy the book here:
AMAZON
http://tinyurl.com/qaj62
POWELLS
http://tinyurl.com/3dsx6q
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:
MUSIC
"Everybody's Gone to War" by Nerina Pallot
http://tinyurl.com/2flhdk
TECH-GNOSIS
The Spiritual Potentials of the Internet and the Evolution of Global
Consciousness
by Lorenzo Hagerty
http://tinyurl.com/2vyh6j
ALTERNATE REALITIES
You can buy a customized parallel universe for your own personal use
http://tinyurl.com/3283sw
(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 May 17
Copyright 2007 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): "The Only Three Questions That Count" is the
title of a book by Ken Fisher. I'm stealing it to use as the theme of your
horoscope. So your next assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to
craft three essential questions that will guide your journey between now
and the end of 2007. These queries should excite your natural curiosity
about the life issues that matter most to you. They should be carefully
and precisely formulated. And they should motivate you to keep your
mind wide open and hungry as you hunt for more insight into your most
bafflingly interesting mysteries.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): It's about time you got the chance to be
knocked on your ass by a flood of positive surprises and good feelings. I
hope you're trusting enough to go with the tidal flow, even if it does
temporarily render you a bit woozy. Naturally you'd like to know if this
giddy surrender will land you in trouble. Is there any chance that you'll
have to endure some karmic adjustment at a later date because of the
fun you're having now? Here's my prediction: absolutely not. If anything,
your enthusiastic cooperation with the free-form dazzle will shield you
from any negative repercussions.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): For years I made my home in a Northern
Californian city called San Rafael. Near the end of my time there, I
discovered that the Miwok Indians who lived in the area for hundreds of
years before the white men stole it had a different name for it: Nanaguani.
I was embarrassed that it had taken me so long to know such a
fundamental fact about my own neighborhood. Make this the starting
point for your assignment this week, Gemini, which is to learn more about
the origins of the people and places and things that are most important
to you.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Reality is not all it's cracked up to be. Just
because millions of people suffer from the same hallucinations doesn't
mean those hallucinations are objectively true. I share Salvador Dali's
perspective: "One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we
have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of
dreams." For these reasons and many more, I don't automatically dismiss
people who live in their own fantasy worlds. Their dreamy concoctions
may be no more deluded than those of normal people, and might be far
more fun and amusing. Everything I just said is a preface for the main
point of this horoscope, Cancerian, which is to give you temporary license
to escape into the most beautiful mirage you can conjure up. Love your
fantastic visions. Let your imagination run far, far away with you.
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AUDIO LOVE LETTERS
In addition to the horoscopes that you're reading here, I create more in-
depth audio horoscopes for your inspiration. 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.
"Listening to your calming yet exciting audio horoscopes is sort of like
French-kissing Jesus." -Ariana B., Baltmore, MD
"I love the way you help me wake up from the daily trance." -Amy G.,
Sacramento
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The members of the Superbroke Brass and Tin
and Strings Electric Marching Band Ensemble wrote to me at my MySpace
page. "We're here to fight the Evil Anti-Groove," they said, "to liberate
the SuperFlow of the Universe, and to loosen the Sphincter of the
Collective Unconscious. I hope you'll march with us some day." I bring this
to your attention, Leo, because your mission in the coming weeks should
be much the same as theirs. Your personal success and satisfaction will be
directly tied to how skilled you are at enhancing the well-being of your
group, tribe, or community.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "Welcome to the never-ending brainstorm
session," reads an advertisement for Barclays Bank, one of the most
successful financial institutions in the world. It's an approach that has
some similarities to the ethic that prevails at Toyota, the company that
makes the world's best-selling car. Its core principle is *kaizen,* a
Japanese word meaning "continuous improvement," though it can also be
translated as "to take apart and put back together in a better way." A
blend of these attitudes is what I recommend to you during the coming
weeks, Virgo: *kaizen* meets the never-ending brainstorm.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): "There can be no transformation of darkness
into light and of apathy into movement without emotion," wrote
psychologist Carl Jung. That should be your motto in the coming week,
Libra. Clear thinking and impeccable logic will not be sufficient to guide
you to your next great adventure. You need the driving force of succulent
emotion rising up in your solar plexus, the lush power of raw sensitivity
piercing your heart. Feel as deep as you dare.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Last year the top hedge fund managers in
the U.S. earned an average of $363 million a year. I haven't been able to
determine what percentage of those plutocrats are Scorpios. But
whatever the number is, I predict it'll rise during the remaining months of
2007. The members of your tribe--not just in the upper crust, but those
of all crusts--are poised for the greatest financial upgrade in years. And
one of the most favorable periods for expansion is dead ahead.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): This week may feel like a far-off trumpet
playing mournfully at dawn as you awaken from a dream about buying
pomegranates in a seedy but oddly appealing open-air market in Morocco.
It could also resemble the sensation of talking on the phone long-distance
to a person you both love and hate as rain falls on a metal roof and you
gaze at a lunar eclipse that's breaking through a round hole in the cloud
cover. In other words, Sagittarius, it'll be a time that's rich in hard-to-
classify emotions. I expect you'll have experiences that will both spook
you and energize you, both mesmerize you and liberate you.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This weekly newsletter, which includes my written horoscopes and
excerpts from my books, is always free.
Here are the paid services I provide:
My EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES are weekly spoken-word reports on
your destiny. They're three to four minutes long, and are available at
http://RealAstrology.com.
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or
1-900-950-7700.
My DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES are short, sweet bursts of
illumination delivered seven days a week to your cell phone or other
mobile device. You can sign up for them at http://RealAstrology.com.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I wish I could get a newly discovered
species of beetle or an underground lake of ice on Mars named after you. I
wish I could buy you a temple in Bali, and arrange for you to have your
fortune told by the blind prophetess of Rio de Janeiro. And I wish I could
dress you in 200-year-old velvet robes and silk scarves once worn by
Turkish royalty. You richly deserve honors and blessings like these,
Capricorn. It's that time in your astrological cycle when life is supposed to
overflow with rewards for the good work you've been doing for a long
time. I urge you to be vividly confident that you do indeed deserve these
rewards, and radiate that faith in all directions.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The Inuit people of Canada's far northern
territory of Nunavut have a word that describes an old friend who's acting
oddly. In recent years, as global warming has gained momentum, they've
applied this term, *uggianaqtuq,* to their environment. What are the
symptoms? The sea ice forms later each winter and thaws earlier in the
spring. Robins and biting flies have arrived in places where they've never
been before. The sky is whiter and hazier, even on clear days. I suspect
you'll experience a version of *uggianaqtuq* in the coming days, Aquarius.
Something familiar will behave in a way you've never experienced. That
could be good or bad or a mixture of both. Which way it goes may depend
in part on whether you refrain from jumping to conclusions. It may also
hinge on your willingness to redefine the meaning of "good" and "bad."
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Your word of the week is *incubation.* It
refers to the act of a parent animal sitting on eggs to keep them warm as
the fetuses inside mature to the point of hatching. In a more metaphorical
sense, "incubation" means the process of protecting and nurturing an
idea or possibility as it ripens. Dream workers also tout "dream
incubation," in which you describe a problem that you'd like to have
addressed by your dreams, and hold it in your mind as you fall asleep. If
you do this with a strong intention, your dreams will eventually help you
solve the problem. I invite you to apply this meditation on incubation to
the work you have ahead of you, Pisces.
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HOMEWORK: What would it mean for you to "make love to the universe"?
Testify by going to http://RealAstrology.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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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2007 Rob Brezsny
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