Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
June 13, 2007
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
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"As a free deed, meditation is naturally individual, uniquely our own. It is
where we most fully *become* ourselves. Its practice is also always
individual. There are no rules. Just as every potter will elaborate his or her
own way of making pots, so every person who meditates will shape his or
her own meditation. No two people will do a given meditation in exactly
the same way. The same meditation practiced daily will be different every
time. Every meditation is experimental. One never knows what is going to
happen. Improvisation is essential . . . . Meditation is something to play
with . . . There is no "wrong" way of doing the meditation, except not
doing it!"
Christopher Bamford, *Start Now!: A Book of Soul and Spiritual Activities*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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
And now here's an excerpt from my book
"PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings"
WHAT IF YOUR DESIRES ARE HOLY?
Some religious traditions teach the doctrine, "Kill off your longings." In
their view, attachment to desire is at the root of human suffering. But the
religion of materialism takes the opposite tack, asserting that the
meaning of life is to be found in indulging desires. Its creed is, "Feed your
cravings like a French foie gras farmer cramming eight pounds of maize
down a goose's gullet every day."
At the Beauty and Truth Lab, we walk a middle path. We believe there are
both degrading desires that enslave you and sacred desires that liberate
you.
*
Psychologist Carl Jung believed that all desires have a sacred origin, no
matter how odd they may seem. Frustration and ignorance may contort
them into distorted caricatures, but it is always possible to locate the
divine source from which they arose. In describing one of his addictive
patients, Jung said: "His craving for alcohol was the equivalent on a low
level of the spiritual thirst for wholeness, or as expressed in medieval
language: the union with God."
*
Therapist James Hillman echoes the theme: "Psychology regards all
symptoms to be expressing the right thing in the wrong way." A
preoccupation with porn or romance novels, for instance, may come to
dominate a passionate person whose quest for love has degenerated into
an obsession with images of love. "Follow the lead of your symptoms,"
Hillman suggests, "for there's usually a myth in the mess, and a mess is
an expression of soul."
*
In *Maldoror and Poems,* the French poet Lautréamont wrote about holy
yearning disguised as mournful complaint. "Whenever you hear the dogs'
howling in the fields," his mother told him as a child, "don't deride what
they do: They thirst insatiably for the infinite, like you, me, and the rest
of us humans. I even allow you to stand at the window and gaze upon this
exalted spectacle."
*
"The primordial fire that sparked millions of galaxies is the same fire that
sparks the human creative impulse." —Cindy Spring, "The Non-Profit
Universe," EarthLight, Summer 2002.
"The human reproductive drive is a watered-down version of the godsex
that spawned our solar system." —"Lieutenant" Anfortas, the homeless
guy in the Safeway parking lot . . . .
. . . To read the rest of
"WHAT IF YOUR DESIRES ARE HOLY," go here:
http://tinyurl.com/3d6hut
++++++++++++++++++++++++
To read other news and features from my book, go here:
http://snipurl.com/l9o3
You can buy the book here:
AMAZON
http://tinyurl.com/qaj62
POWELLS
http://tinyurl.com/3dsx6q
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:
GOOD NEWS
Saving Endangered Species: 100 Success Stories
http://www.esasuccess.org/reports/
NEWS OF THE SMALL TRIUMPHS, THE SECRET MIRACLES, THE UNKNOWN
BREAKTHROUGHS
Heroic Stories
http://www.heroicstories.com/
HAPPY BRAINSTORM
http://happybrainstorm.com/
"Well we guess that your subconscious brought you here because it
wants you to be the best. We've got a zillion ideas."
(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 14
Copyright 2007 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don't take your time, Aries. Move double fast
and strategize from many angles, always thinking ten steps ahead. Please
don't keep your hands clean, either. Play with the muck and roll in the
mud and learn from the dirt. And don't you dare be measured and
balanced. Instead, be an intense and relentless initiator of decisive
actions. One last thing: Don't play nice and sweet. Be a holy
troublemaker, a noisemaker who breaks the silence and keeps it broken.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In what areas of your life are you trying too
hard? How might you be undoing your good intentions by grasping them
so tightly that you've squeezed out all the juice? In what ways are you so
boxed in by habitual thoughts that you're not spontaneous any more? It's
a perfect moment to fix these problems, Taurus. To begin getting
yourself in the mood, relax every muscle in your body -- especially your
achy-breaky desire muscles -- and half-sing, half-shout an exuberant "YO!"
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Your patron saint of the week is Beatrice Wood
(1893-1998), whose association with surrealist artists and her bohemian
life as a painter and actress earned her the title "The Mama of Dada." At
the age of 92, she finished her autobiography, which was entitled *I Shock
Myself.* Your first assignment, Gemini, is to do three things in the coming
week about which you'll be able to say, "I shock myself." Your second
assignment is to imagine that you're 92 and looking back with pride at
the top ten smart things you did to shock yourself into a heightened
state of awareness in the years between now and then.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Any strength can turn into a liability if it's
taken too far. Any skill may lead you astray if expressing it becomes a
compulsive habit that distracts you from responding authentically to the
raw truth of the moment. That's why every now and then I have to advise
you (and me, too, since I'm a Crab) not to nurture the hell out of
everyone, even though it comes naturally to you. This is one of those
times. Please suppress any urges you might have to take care of
everyone except yourself. In the coming week, your duty is to be your
own mommy and daddy.
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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): I have extensive experience with writing in the
dark. Every night for many years I have awoken in pitch blackness to write
down my dreams. I also take notes while watching movies in theaters,
scrawl poems on redeye plane flights while all the other passengers are
sleeping, and jot down my meditations as I stroll in the hills after
midnight. I recommend that you try this yourself, Leo. It's prime time to
peer inward and think hard . . . to sharpen your perceptions of the
invisible world . . . to gather impressions from the edgy frontier where
your conscious and unconscious minds overlap.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Say the following words aloud, please: "Give it
to me raw!" How does it make you feel when you allow that demand to
come out of your mouth? I hope it fills you with a sense of playful power.
If you're in alignment with cosmic influences, "Give it to me raw!" is a
pithy embodiment of your proper relationship with the world. Now try
these corollary statements: "I want the full blast of purity! Don't hold
anything back! Serve me up the maximum dose! I want the elixir of life,
not the hors d'oeuvres! Bless me with the whole truth and nothing but!
I'm in love with the flood, not the trickle!"
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): My archaeologist buddy Frank is of course a
devotee of the theory of evolution, but he likes to have fun being
blasphemous about some of its conclusions. Recently he told me, for
instance, that all the ancient bones that have ever been found and used
to deduce the course of human evolution, from homo habilis to homo
sapiens, would fit in the back of a pick-up truck. "Pretty slim evidence for
ideas that purport to explain millions of years of history, eh?" he said
mischievously. Can you identify a comparable situation in your life, Libra?
Is there a fundamental assumption you're loyal to even though the data
that prove it are scanty? This is a good time to gather more information
and re-evaluate your assumptions.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): America's former Poet Laureate Robert
Pinsky addressed an assembly at my daughter's high school. He read from
his translation of Dante's *Inferno* and took questions from students.
After hearing Dante's description of the nether regions, one boy asked
Pinsky what his personal version of hell was. The poet said that each of us
creates our own hell. The fearful and negative interpretations of reality
with which we infect our imaginations constitute curses that we cast on
ourselves. They terrify and enslave us so thoroughly that most of the
difficult outer circumstances we encounter are mild in comparison. Your
next assignment, Scorpio, is to work on dissolving the hell you carry
around in your own mind.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): There used to be a store outside of
Boston called Venus Envy. It sold sexy religious supplies and holy sex
toys. I wish there was a place like that near you, because you're in a
phase that's ideal for learning more about erotic spirituality. In lieu of
that, here are other ways you could milk the opportunities. (1) Read the
autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, in which she gives vivid accounts of
her ecstatic communion with divine beings. (2) Invoke the wild
intelligence that rises up in you when you're infatuated with a romantic
partner, then redirect that feeling toward the entire world. (3) Pray while
you're making love and make love while you pray.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "Women are much more willing to talk
about both their disasters and delights than men," says poet and
workshop leader Robert Bly. I hope that you men refute his assertion in
the coming week, because it'll be a favorable time for Capricorns of all
genders to spend quality time testifying and singing and wondering about
the most vivid experiences from your past. You're liable to attract a
variety of blessings if you come to new understandings about your
disasters and delights. The best way to do that is to revisit them and
revision them with fresh language.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Are we being sentimentally unscientific
when we refer to the heart as the seat of the soul? Or does that idea
contain a truth that surpasses reductive rationalism? In *A Dictionary of
Symbols,* J.E. Cirlot reports that in the Jewish tradition, meditation
involves "speaking to one's heart." According to Christian tradition, the
Kingdom of God resides in the heart. Hindus say the supreme god Brahma
lives there, and in Islam, the heart is referred to as the throne of God. If
you can get your modern prejudices out of the way, Aquarius, your next
assignment is to have a sustained, intimate, heart-to-heart communion
with your heart. Learn more about its secret thoughts. Converse with it
as if it were the literal source of your emotional intelligence. Proceed on
the hypothesis, as French philosopher Pascal did, that "great thoughts
come from the heart."
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): "Dear Rob: I appreciate your help in cueing us
in to the mysterious workings of our unconscious minds. I describe what
you do not so much as reading the planets to predict our future. Rather,
you conspire with us to expose and then overcome what we're hiding or
repressing or fearing. It's often a daunting task, but I love it! -Ever-Braver
Pisces." Dear Ever-Braver: I believe the upcoming weeks will be a Golden
Age in your tribe's efforts to expose and then overcome what you're
hiding or repressing or fearing. I expect that you'll break up the artificial
dam that has been clogging up your imaginative flow, thereby unleashing
a flood of creativity.
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HOMEWORK: What do you know or do that no one else in the world has a
clue about? Tell all! Go to http://RealAstrology.com and click 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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