Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
August 29, 2012
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/RfFzvk
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My book
*PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA*
is available at Amazon: http://bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: http://bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
Below is an excerpt.
RECEPTIVITY REMEDIES
To read the entire piece, go here: http://bit.ly/x11kmj
Alert, relaxed listening is the radical act at the heart of our pronoiac
practice. Curiosity is our primal state of awareness. Wise innocence is a
trick we aspire to master. Open-hearted skepticism is the light in our
eyes.
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To achieve what the Zen Buddhists call "beginner's mind," you dispense
with all preconceptions and enter each situation as if seeing it for the first
time.
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities," wrote Shunryu
Suzuki in his book *Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind,* "but in the expert's there
are few."
As much as I love beginner's mind, though, I advocate an additional
discipline: cultivating a beginner's heart. That means approaching every
encounter imbued with a freshly invoked wave of love that is as pure as if
you're feeling it for the first time.
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To be the best pronoiac explorer you can be, I suggest you adopt an
outlook that combines the rigorous objectivity of a scientist, the
"beginner's mind" of Zen Buddhism, the "beginner's heart" of pronoia, and
the compassionate friendliness of the Dalai Lama.
Blend a scrupulously dispassionate curiosity with a skepticism driven by
expansiveness, not spleen.
To pull this off, you'll have to be willing to regularly suspend your brilliant
theories about the way the world works. Accept with good humor the
possibility that what you've learned in the past may not be a reliable
guide to understanding the fresh phenomenon that's right in front of you.
Be suspicious of your biases, even the rational and benevolent ones. Open
your heart as you strip away the interpretations that your emotions might
be inclined to impose.
"Before we can receive the unbiased truth about anything," wrote my
teacher Ann Davies, "we have to be ready to ignore what we would like to
be true."
At the same time, don't turn into a hard-ass, poker-faced robot. Keep
your feelings moist and receptive. Remember your natural affection for all
of creation. Enjoy the power of tender sympathy as it drives you to probe
for the unimaginable revelations of every new moment.
"Before we can receive the entire truth about anything," said Ann Davies,
"we have to love it."
. . . To read the rest of "RECEPTIVITY REMEDIES," go here:
http://bit.ly/x11kmj
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
BIG FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS COMMITTING MORAL ACTS? WHAT'S THIS
WORLD COMING TO?!
"Germany's second-biggest lender, Commerzbank, says it will no longer
participate in market speculation on basic food prices. The move came in
response to international studies claiming that such speculation had
played no small role in artificially pushing up food prices, contributing to
widespread hunger in many parts of the world."
http://tinyurl.com/cylk739
HAVE YOU GOTTEN YOUR MINIMUM DAILY REQUIREMENT OF BEAUTY?
Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada
http://bit.ly/NGCHni
HAVE YOU WASHED YOUR OWN BRAIN RECENTLY?
Clearing metabolic garbage from your thought center
http://tinyurl.com/btphtag
(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They 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 August 30
Copyright 2012 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the creation myths of Easter Island's native
inhabitants, the god who made humanity was named Makemake. He was
also their fertility deity. Today the name Makemake also belongs to a
dwarf planet that was discovered beyond the orbit of Neptune in 2005.
It's currently traveling through the sign of Virgo. I regard it as being the
heavenly body that best symbolizes your own destiny in the coming
months. In the spirit of the original Makemake, you will have the potential
to be a powerful maker. In a sense you could even be the architect and
founder of your own new world. Here's a suggestion: Look up the word
"creator" in a thesaurus, write the words you find there on the back of
your business card, and keep the card in a special place until May 2013.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): When novelist James Joyce began to suspect
that his adult daughter Lucia was mentally ill, he sought advice from
psychologist Carl Jung. After a few sessions with her, Jung told her father
that she was schizophrenic. How did he know? A telltale sign was her
obsessive tendency to make puns, many of which were quite clever.
Joyce reported that he, too, enjoyed the art of punning. "You are a deep-
sea diver," Jung replied. "She is drowning." I'm going to apply a
comparable distinction to you, Libra. These days you may sometimes
worry that you're in over your head in the bottomless abyss. But I'm here
to tell you that in all the important ways, you're like a deep-sea diver.
(The Joyce-Jung story comes from Edward Hoagland's *Learning to Eat
Soup.*)
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): No false advertising this week, Scorpio. Don't
pretend to be a purebred if you're actually a mutt, and don't act like you
know it all when you really don't. For that matter, you shouldn't portray
yourself as an unambitious amateur if you're actually an aggressive pro,
and you should avoid giving the impression that you want very little when
in fact you're a burning churning throb of longing. I realize it may be
tempting to believe that a bit of creative deceit would serve a holy cause,
but it won't. As much as you possibly can, make outer appearances
reflect inner truths.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In Christian lore, the serpent is the bad
guy that's the cause of all humanity's problems. He coaxes Adam and Eve
to disobey God, which gets them expelled from Paradise. But in Hindu and
Buddhist mythology, there are snake gods that sometimes do good deeds
and perform epic services. They're called Nagas. In one Hindu myth, a
Naga prince carries the world on his head. And in a Buddhist tale, the
Naga king uses his seven heads to give the Buddha shelter from a storm
just after the great one has achieved enlightenment. In regards to your
immediate future, Sagittarius, I foresee you having a relationship to the
serpent power that's more like the Hindu and Buddhist version than the
Christian. Expect vitality, fertility, and healing.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In Lewis Carroll's book *Through the
Looking Glass,* the Red Queen tells Alice that she is an expert at believing
in impossible things. She brags that there was one morning when she
managed to embrace six improbable ideas before she even ate breakfast. I
encourage you to experiment with this approach, Capricorn. Have fun
entertaining all sorts of crazy notions and unruly fantasies. Please note
that I am not urging you to actually put those beliefs into action. The
point is to give your imagination a good work-out.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I'm not necessarily advising you to become
best friends with the dark side of your psyche. I'm merely requesting that
the two of you cultivate a more open connection. The fact of the matter
is that if you can keep a dialogue going with this shadowy character, it's
far less likely to trip you up or kick your ass at inopportune moments. In
time you might even come to think of its chaos as being more
invigorating than disorienting. You may regard it as a worthy adversary
and even an interesting teacher.
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IF YOU WANT MORE FREE WILL ASTROLOGY,
TRY THE EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
The horoscopes you read in this newsletter may be plenty for your needs.
But if you'd like to experience more of my thoughts about your current
situation, you might want to try my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES.
They're 4 to 5 minute meditations on the state of your life and where
you're going.
Sign in and access them here:
http://RealAstrology.com
The weekly forecasts are also available by phone:
1-877-873-4888
"Your expanded audio horoscopes are the next best thing to actually
having you here next to me to remind me who I really am." - Alyssa R.,
Des Moines, Iowa
"When I listen to your audio 'scopes, my free will lights up." - Alex D., Los
Angeles
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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You need more magic in your life, Pisces.
You're suffering from a lack of sublimely irrational adventures and
eccentrically miraculous epiphanies and inexplicably delightful
interventions. At the same time, I think it's important that the magic you
attract into your life is not pure fluff. It needs some grit. It's got to have
a kick that keeps you honest. That's why I suggest that you consider
getting the process started by baking some unicorn poop cookies.
They're sparkly, enchanting, rainbow-colored sweets, but with an edge.
Ingredients include sparkle gel, disco dust, star sprinkles -- and a distinctly
roguish attitude. Recipe is here: http://tinyurl.com/UnicornPoopCookies.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I'm afraid your vibes are slightly out of tune.
Can you do something about that, please? Meanwhile, your invisible friend
could really use a Tarot reading, and your houseplants would benefit from
a dose of Mozart. Plus -- and I hope I'm not being too forward here -- your
charmingly cluttered spots are spiraling into chaotic sprawl, and your
slight tendency to overreact is threatening to devolve into a major
proclivity. As for that rather shabby emotional baggage of yours: Would
you consider hauling it to the dump? In conclusion, my dear Ram, you're
due for a few adjustments.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Is happiness mostly just an absence of pain?
If so, I bet you've been pretty content lately. But what if a more
enchanting and exciting kind of bliss were available? Would you have the
courage to go after it? Could you summon the chutzpah and the zeal and
the visionary confidence to head out in the direction of a new frontier of
joy? I completely understand if you feel shy about asking for more. You
might worry that to do so would be greedy, or put you at risk of losing
what you have already scored. But I feel it's my duty to cheer you on. The
potential rewards looming just over the hump are magnificent.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I've got some medicine for you to try, Gemini.
It's advice from the writer Thomas Merton. "To allow oneself to be carried
away by a multitude of conflicting concerns," he wrote, "to surrender to
too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to
help everyone in everything, is to succumb to the violence of our times."
It's always a good idea to heed that warning, of course. But it's especially
crucial for you right now. The best healing work you can do is to shield
your attention from the din of the outside world and tune in reverently to
the glimmers of the inside world.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): I dreamed you were a magnanimous
taskmaster nudging the people you care about to treat themselves with
more conscientious tenderness. You were pestering them to raise their
expectations and hew to higher standards of excellence. Your persistence
was admirable! You coaxed them to waste less time and make long-range
educational plans and express themselves with more confidence and
precision. You encouraged them to give themselves a gift now and then
and take regular walks by bodies of water. They were suspicious of your
efforts to make them feel good, at least in the early going. But eventually
they gave in and let you help them.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In the spirit of Sesame Street, I'm happy to
announce that this week is brought to you by the letter T, the number 2,
and the color blue. Here are some of the "T" words you should put extra
emphasis on: togetherness, trade-offs, tact, timeliness, tapestry,
testability, thoroughness, teamwork, and Themis (goddess of order and
justice). To bolster your mastery of the number 2, meditate on
interdependence, balance, and collaboration. As for blue, remember that
its presence tends to bring stability and depth.
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Homework: Forget about "less is more" for now. How are you going to
apply the principle of "more is more"? Freewillastrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2012 Rob Brezsny
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