Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
July 18, 2007
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http://FreeWillAstrology.com
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"Any media-brainwashed automaton can summon the insipid courage to
peer into the horrifying abyss. But it takes a freaking genius with a
fearless imagination to peer into the maw of happiness."
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WHAT'S AHEAD FOR YOU in the next six months?
EXPLORE THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE
with my Expanded Audio Horoscopes for the Second Half of 2007
To hear my IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM AUDIO FORECAST for YOUR LIFE
between now and January 1, 2008, go here:
http://tinyurl.com/ooga5
Log in and click on the link
"Long Term Forecast for Second Half of 2007"
You can also listen to your short-term forecast for the coming week by
clicking on "This week (July 17, 2007)."
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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/lhwx2
Here's an excerpt:
PRONOIA NEWS NETWORK
These are our top stories.
IMPOSSIBLE DREAM FULFILLED
The world's largest private bank, Citigroup, has agreed to stop financing
projects that damage sensitive ecosystems. It has promised to invest
more in projects that use renewable energy and to pursue policies that
protect indigenous people. How did this impossible dream come to pass?
The humble but dogged environmental group, Rainforest Action Network,
creatively pestered Citigroup for years until the corporation gave in to its
demands.
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IT'S IN THE GENES
Researchers at Emory University found that humans are biologically
programmed to be nice. Their study used magnetic resonance imaging to
scan the brains of women who were playing a game called the Prisoners'
Dilemma. While seeking the goal of financial gain, the women could
choose between collaborative or self-aggrandizing strategies. Whenever
they opted for the former, the parts of their brains correlated with
reward-seeking behavior lit up.
"The longer the women engaged in a cooperative strategy, the more
strongly flowed the blood to the pathways of pleasure," wrote Natalie
Angier in her account in *The New York Times.*
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THE IMMORTALISTS
Current human life expectancy, already at age 78 for Americans, is
steadily increasing. Men now live an average of 27 years longer than they
did a century ago, and women 31 years. Many scientists believe there is
no absolute limit to the human life span. Some expect that by 2070, life
expectancy will be 100.
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SHARING YOUR BREATH
Quoting geneticists, Guy Murchie says we're all family. You have at least a
million relatives as close as tenth cousin, and no one on Earth is any
farther removed than your 50th cousin.
Murchie also describes our kinship through an analysis of how deeply we
share the air. With each breath, you take into your body 10 sextillion
atoms, and—owing to the wind's ceaseless circulation—over a year's time
you have intimate relations with oxygen molecules exhaled by every
person alive, as well as by everyone who ever lived. Right now you may be
carrying atoms that were once inside the lungs of Malcolm X, Christopher
Columbus, Joan of Arc, and Cleopatra. (Source: Guy Murchie, *The Seven
Mysteries of Life*)
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MOOSE LUXURY
A Canadian moose can now walk in peace and safety all the way to South
America, thanks to Harrison Ford. He and other celebrities with wealth and
influence quietly worked together for years to purchase land along
corridors that connect various wildlife refuges and national parks.
Meanwhile, Canadian government officials report that their country, the
second largest in the world, plans to create ten giant national parks and
five marine conservation areas. The new sanctuaries, when added to the
existing 39 national parks, will double the amount of protected land.
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TEEN ANGST UPDATE
Crime committed by teenagers has plummeted to its lowest levels in more
than two decades. Drunken teens are still killing themselves while driving
cars, but the rate is half what it was 20 years ago. The overall teen death
rate from accident, homicide, or suicide dropped 28 percent between
1990 and 2000.
In 60 years, there hasn't been a lower birth rate among teenage girls than
there is now. The overall dropout rate among American high school
students has declined by four percent in the last two decades, with an
eight percent improvement among African Americans. Three-fourths of
high school students say they get along very well or extremely well with
their parents, and only three percent say they don't get along well.
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EPIC COLLABORATION
You are a metropolis of 50 trillion citizens, says biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton.
Each of the cells in your body can be considered a sentient being in its
own right. They all act together as a community, performing an ongoing
act of prodigious collaboration.
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ADORATION REBORN
"The insulted waters of New York City are again sacred passages, as they
once were to Native Americans for millennia. Raw sewage no longer pours
into vital waterways, and industrial pollution has largely been checked. We
are witnessing the ecological resurrection of our rivers and bays, from the
return of wood-eating gribbles and shipworms that devour our piers to
winter visits by a small seal community. People are coming down to the
water again to see rare birds, to kayak and to swim. And responding to an
ancient call, they're coming down to the water to pray. Among the
worshipers are Hindus, Shintoists, African Americans of the Yoruba-
influenced Spiritual Baptist faith, Wiccans, Zoroastrians, Christians, and
Jews." —Erik Baard, Village Voice, http://tinyurl.com/3ya6y5
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GREEDY GIANT VERSUS GENEROUS GIANT
Wal-Mart is famous for the stingy pay and benefits it offers its employees.
But another giant chain store, Costco, takes a different approach. Full-
time workers there average $15.97 per hour, which is almost 40 percent
higher than their Wal-Mart counterparts, who earn $11.52. After four
years, a Costco cashier's yearly salary can rise to $44,000. The company
also covers 92 percent of most of its workers' health care costs. While
the industry-wide turnover rate averages 66 percent, Costco's is just 23
percent.
Costco is so unusual in its benevolence that some business gurus
disapprove. "From the perspective of investors, Costco's benefits are
overly generous," says retail analyst Bill Dreher, quoted in The Wall Street
Journal. He thinks that the company's largesse depresses its stock value
because investors are afraid its profit margins aren't as high as they could
be.
But the fact is that Costco is very successful. Its five-year growth rate
has been 10.1 percent annually, better than Wal-Mart's 9.8 percent. Its
annual earnings were expected to rise from $41.7 billion in 2003 to
$47.2 billion in 2004.
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THE INNER VOICE SPEAKS
Scientists have confirmed what we all knew: You do indeed have a little
voice in your head that warns you when you're about to do something
dumb. It's called the anterior cingulate cortex, according to white-coated
authorities at Carnegie-Mellon University. If you're receptive to it, it's as
good as having a guardian angel. "Don't do it," the voice whispers when
you're on the verge of locking your keys in your car or leaving the bar
with the cute drunk you just met. "Go back," it murmurs as you start to
walk away from a huge, though initially inconvenient, opportunity.
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THIS DASY IN PRONOIAC HISTORY
Early last century, marauding boll weevils devoured the cotton crop that
was the main product of Enterprise, Alabama. Local farmers had no choice
but to diversify the plants they grew. As a result, the town's per capita
income tripled what it had been when cotton was king. In response,
grateful citizens built a huge bronze monument to the insect that had
forced them to grow richer.
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To read other news and features from my book, go here:
http://tinyurl.com/lhwx2
You can buy the book here:
AMAZON
http://tinyurl.com/qaj62
POWELLS
http://tinyurl.com/3dsx6q
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OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:
REBELLIOUS FIGHT TO WAGE GLOBAL HARMONY
The main event is over, but let's keep firing the grid!
http://www.firethegrid.com/
FILM
*Sicko* by Michael Moore
Moore's movie points us in the direction of a far more positive vision of
how we Americans can take care of our health needs.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
GOOD DEATH NEWS
*New Clothes for Old Souls: Worldwide Evidence for Reincarnation* by Guy
Lyon Playfair
http://tinyurl.com/2l2leu
FUTURE AMAZEMENTS
Top 10 Transhumanist Technologies
http://tinyurl.com/3arq4k
Transhumanists advocate the improvement of human capacities through
advanced technology. Not just technology as in gadgets you get from
Best Buy, but technology in the grander sense of strategies for
eliminating disease, providing cheap but high-quality products to the
world's poorest, improving quality of life and social interconnectedness,
and so on . . . Transhumanists tend to take a longer-than-average view of
technological progress, looking not just five or ten years into the future
but twenty years, thirty years, and beyond. They realize that the longer
you look forward, the more uncertain the predictions get, but one thing is
quite certain: if a technology is physically possible and obviously useful,
human ingenuity will see to it that it gets built eventually.
(Note: I endorse these because I like them. These are 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 July 19
Copyright 2007 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): How should we visualize the phase you're in? Are
you coming back home after a harrowing journey to the abyss? Or are
you about to launch a quest straight into the heart of the dawn's blinding
promise? Paradoxically enough, Leo, you're doing both. You're coming and
going at the same time. You're graduating from an ancient lesson and
beginning a new course of study. Hints of the future are mingled with the
last gasps of the past.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "Write the bad things that are done to you in
sand," says an Arab proverb, "but write the good things that happen to
you on a piece of marble." That's perfect advice for you in the coming
days. Why? Because I believe you'll be cheated or slighted in a way that
will have only minor, short-term consequences, whereas on the other
hand you'll be the beneficiary of a loophole or the recipient of a generous
blessing that should reverberate for a long time.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, born under
the sign of Libra, has been described by a fellow teacher as "a cross
between a cloud, a snail, and a piece of heavy machinery -- a true
religious presence." He translates his lofty visions into the most intimate
and practical terms, even providing suggestions about how to get more
spiritual inspiration out of breathing, eating, and walking. Take a similar
approach in the coming weeks, Libra. Bring heaven all the way down to
earth. Make the smallest details of your life reflect your highest ideals.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The modern English word "weird" is derived
from the Old English term *wyrd,* meaning "destiny." By the late Middle
Ages, *wyrd* had evolved into a concept similar to the Eastern notion of
karma. It implied that the momentum of past events plays a strong role in
shaping the future, but that human willpower can nevertheless also have a
hand in creating upcoming events. In some uses, *wyrd* could even mean
"the power to control destiny," as exemplified by the three Weird Sisters
of Shakespeare's *MacBeth.* I bring this up, Scorpio, because your Wyrd
Factor is pretty high these days. While the consequences of your past are
certainly impinging on your present to some degree, you've rarely had a
greater ability to override them through the force of your intentions.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
WHAT'S AHEAD FOR YOU in the next six months?
To hear my IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM AUDIO FORECAST for YOUR LIFE
between now and January 1, 2008, go here:
http://tinyurl.com/ooga5
Log in and click on the link
"Long Term Forecast for Second Half of 2007"
You can also listen to your short-term forecast for the coming week by
clicking on "This week (July 10, 2007)."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "Most people experience 'cubicle
creativity,'" says businessman Gerald Haman. "The size of their ideas is
directly proportional to the space they have in which to think." Just in
case this is true, Sagittarius, I urge you to expand the box you occupy
while dreaming up solutions to problems and fantasizing about the
adventures you want to embark on. It's time to stretch the boundaries in
every way you can imagine.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "Dear Rob: Last night I dreamt that I finally
met the soulmate I've been looking for all these years. We were making
love in a limousine that was driving us to the church where we would be
married. Then a terrible thing happened. Right there in my arms, my
perfect lover turned into a toothless, stinking geezer whose sparse white
hair was falling out in my hands. I shrieked and ran out of the car. Can you
interpret my dream for me? -Crushed Capricorn." Dear Crushed: Your
dream may mean that your romantic ideals have become outmoded; your
long-standing fantasies about what constitutes your perfect lover are no
longer relevant. It's probably time to adjust your definitions.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): To get in a mood to take maximum
advantage of the cosmic currents, go to tinyurl.com/25sgyx and read
Dara Wier's poem "A Modern Version of the Way the Rosary Was Once
Said Throughout Western Europe in the Late Middle Ages." What she
expresses there is exactly the attitude you should cultivate. Here's an
excerpt: "I'm not sewing velvet patches on a woolen blanket, not putting
silver buttons back where they belong, not sweeping or folding, not in my
right mind, not knowing what I owe or to whom I should bow down or
thank or praise, no neither am I storing up good deeds I'll need when I
need bailing out, nor do I wish to settle old scores, no not keeping wolves
at bay, and I'm not disturbing antbeds, not in touch with fine madness,
no, I'm not hiding under the kitchen table not wanting to listen anymore,
nor am I staying awake in case I might miss something, no, I'm not staring
forever into a fire, nor walking through a rainstorm into a cypress grove,
no, and I'm not waiting for lightning to strike."
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): While browsing at the garden store, I saw an
item that would be perfect for your current metaphorical needs: rose
gloves. They're specially designed to protect you while working with
those lush but thorny flowers. They feature padded palms, reinforced
fingertips, and extra-long gauntlets that safeguard your flesh up to the
elbow. As you play with and care for your own metaphorical version of the
paradoxical rose in the coming days, I suggest that you arm yourself with
equivalent protective measures.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EXPLORE THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE
with my Expanded Audio Horoscopes for the Second Half of 2007:
http://tinyurl.com/ooga5
What hidden factors will be massaging your destiny during the next six
months? Could you use some hints about how to prepare for the
adventures awaiting you during the rest of 2007?
To listen to my IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM AUDIO FORECAST for YOUR LIFE
during the next six months, go here:
http://tinyurl.com/ooga5
Log in and click on the link "Long Term Forecast for Second Half of
2007."
You can also listen to your short-term forecast for the coming week by
clicking on "This week (July 10, 2007)."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Here's how you damage the Aries soul,
according to astrologer Steven Forrest: You bore it, you deprive it of
adventure, and you starve it of chances to grow evermore courageous.
I'm worried this could happen in the coming weeks. According to my
reading of the omens, you may be tempted to get involved with things
that are too easy for you. Here's what you can do to make sure this
doesn't come to pass: Invite yourself into unpredictable situations. Give
yourself assignments that will force you out of your comfort zone. Fall in
love with questions that will turn your mind inside-out.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I'm drinking a toast to my grade-school
teachers, five of whom were stern spinsters in their 50s and 60s. I may
not have esteemed them when we were together those seven hours a
day, 180 days a year; I may have been alternately bored and alienated by
their nagging me to learn. But from my current vantage point, I'm ripe
with gratitude: pleased with my ability to wield the English language and
do the arithmetic my business requires and hold in my imagination a clear
vision of the planet's geography. Those maestros taught me well, and I'm
in awe of their tireless efforts. Now I suggest you do something similar to
what I just did, Taurus. Feel a flood of thanks for the helpers and teachers
from your past (even the inadvertent ones) whom you have never
appreciated sufficiently.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): A few years ago, a high school football team in
Colorado was reprimanded when officials discovered that players had
soaked their uniforms with an oily cooking spray before a big game.
Though there was no specific regulation against it in the rulebook, the
greasy stuff made it harder for their opponents to tackle them, giving
them an advantage. I'm recommending their ploy to you in the coming
week, Gemini--at least metaphorically. You will benefit from being
slipperier, more elusive, and difficult to pin down than usual. I'd also like
to see you be extraordinarily cagey, foxy, and tricky. To help focus your
mind on this assignment, buy a can of cooking spray and create an altar
around it.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Imagine all the life processes that unfold
outside of your conscious awareness: your body digesting your food and
circulating your blood; trees using carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to
synthesize their nourishment; micro-organisms in the soil beneath your
feet endlessly toiling away to create humus. You don't perceive any of
these things directly; they're invisible to you. What other growth and
transformation might be going on in secret, Cancerian? This is the perfect
time to tune in to all the vitalizing alchemy that is usually hidden from
you. In a sense, you have X-ray vision.
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HOMEWORK: What's the thing you lost that should stay lost? What's the
thing you lost that you should find? Testify by going to
http://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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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2007 Rob Brezsny
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