Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
October 24, 2012
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/WFnTgh
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Read "Dissident Horoscopes for Samhain (and Halloween) Insurgents,"
by Job Disney, Rob Brezsny's only partially evil twin:
http://bit.ly/craweu
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The piece below is excerpted from my book
*PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA*
available at Amazon: http://bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: http://bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
FLIP-FLOP THE TRAUMATIC IMPRINT
Beauty and Truth Lab researcher Artemisia had just begun menstruating,
and was suffering from debilitating cramps. Massive doses of ibuprofen
were not relieving the distress, so she went to her regular acupuncturist,
Dr. Lily Ming, to get relief.
Dr. Ming had Artemisia lie down on the table and proceeded to insert 10
needles in her belly and hand and ear. Then Dr. Ming introduced a
treatment that Artemisia was unfamiliar with: She lightly pounded the nail
of Artemisia's left big toe with a small silver hammer for a few minutes.
"Why are you doing that?" Artemisia asked.
"It is good for the uterus," the doctor replied.
Indeed, Artemisia's cramps diminished as the doctor thumped, and in the
days to come they did not recur.
After the session, as Artemisia prepared to leave, the usually taciturn
Ming started up a conversation. Artemisia was surprised, but listened
attentively as Dr. Ming made a series of revelations. The most surprising
was Dr. Ming's description of a traumatic event from her own childhood.
During the military occupation of her native Manchuria, a province of
China, she was forced to witness Japanese soldiers torturing people she
loved. Their primary atrocity was using hammers to drive bamboo shoots
through their victims' big toes.
The moral of the story: Dr. Ming has accomplished the heroic feat of
reversing the meaning of her most traumatic imprint. She has turned a
symbol of pain into a symbol of healing.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
COMMIT SOME PRONOIA ON YOURSELF
Telling Fewer Lies Linked to Better Health
http://tinyurl.com/9ymvnfg
SOMETIMES PRONOIAC ACTS REQUIRE YOU TO GET MAD
"Finally, public opinion around the biotech industry's contamination of our
food supply and destruction of our environment has reached the tipping
point. We're fighting back."
http://tinyurl.com/bw9xez6
HAVE YOU GOTTEN YOUR MINIMUM DAILY REQUIREMENT OF BEAUTY?
Gorgeous scene from East Iceland
http://i.imgur.com/6bZwH.jpg
THE EVIDENCE KEEPS ACCUMULATING
A compendium of pronoiac news.
http://PronoiaResources.com
(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 October 25
Copyright 2012 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "It's so fine and yet so terrible to stand in
front of a blank canvas," said French painter Paul Cezanne. Many writers
make similar comments about the excruciating joy they feel when first
sitting down in front of an empty page. For artists in any genre, in fact,
getting started may seem painfully impossible. And yet there can also be
a delicious anticipation as the ripe chaos begins to coalesce into coherent
images or words or music. Even if you're not an artist, Scorpio, you're
facing a comparable challenge in your own chosen field. Halloween
costume suggestion: a painter with a blank canvas.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As you contemplate what you want to
be for Halloween, don't consider any of the following options: a
thoroughbred racehorse wearing a blindfold; a mythic centaur clanking
around in iron boots; a seahorse trying to dance on dry land. For that
matter, Sagittarius, I hope you won't come close to imitating any of those
hapless creatures even in your non-Halloween life. It's true that the
coming days will be an excellent time to explore, analyze, and deal with
your limitations. But that doesn't mean you should be overwhelmed and
overcome by them. Halloween costume suggestions: Houdini, an escaped
prisoner, a snake molting its skin.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "Does anyone know where I can find
dinosaur costumes for cats?" asked a Halloween shopper on Reddit.com.
In the comments section, someone else said that he needed a broccoli
costume for his Chihuahua. I bring this up, Capricorn, because if anyone
could uncover the answers to these questions, it would be you. You've
got a magic touch when it comes to hunting down solutions to
unprecedented problems. Halloween costume suggestion: a cat wearing a
dinosaur costume.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The Live Monarch Foundation made a video
on how to fix a butterfly's broken wing (tinyurl.com/FixWing). It ain't
easy. You need ten items, including tweezers, talcum powder, toothpicks,
and glue. You've got to be patient and summon high levels of
concentration. But it definitely can be done. The same is true about the
delicate healing project you've thought about attempting on your own
wound, Aquarius. It will require you to be ingenious, precise, and tender,
but I suspect you're primed to rise to the challenge. Halloween costume
suggestion: herbalist, acupuncturist, doctor, shaman, or other healer.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): It's not a good time to wear Super-Control
Higher-Power Spanx, or any other girdle, corset, or restrictive garment. In
fact, I advise you not to be a willing participant in any situation that
pinches, hampers, or confines you. You need to feel exceptionally
expansive. In order to thrive, you've got to give yourself permission to
spill over, think big, and wander freely. As for those people who might
prefer you to keep your unruly urges in check and your natural inclinations
concealed: Tell them your astrologer authorized you to seize a massive
dose of slack. Halloween costume suggestions: a wild man or wild woman;
a mythical bird like the Garuda or Thunderbird; the god or goddess of
abundance.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the coming days, many of your important
tasks will be best accomplished through caginess and craftiness. Are you
willing to work behind the scenes and beneath the surface? I suspect you
will have a knack for navigating your way skillfully and luckily through
mazes and their metaphorical equivalents. The mists may very well part at
your command, revealing clues that no one else but you can get access
to. You might also have a talent for helping people to understand elusive
or difficult truths. Halloween costume suggestions: spy, stage magician,
ghost whisperer, exorcist.
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THE OTHER VERSION OF FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
In addition to the horoscopes that come to you in this newsletter, I create
audio horoscopes for your inspiration. They discuss themes and cover
material that I don't have room to deal with in the written horoscopes.
They're $6 if you access them on the Web, or $1.99 per minute over the
phone.
Try them at http://RealAstrology.com.
By phone: 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.
"I always feel like I know myself better after listening to your audio
'scopes."
-June R., Austin, TX
"Your audio horoscopes calm me down when I'm too manic and pep me up
when I'm down."
-Arthur T., Cleveland, OH
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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The coming week could have resemblances to
the holiday known as Opposite Day. Things people say may have meanings
that are different or even contrary to what they supposedly mean.
Qualities you usually regard as liabilities might temporarily serve as assets,
and strengths could seem problematical or cause confusion. You should
also be wary of the possibility that the advice you get from people you
trust may be misleading. For best results, make liberal use of reverse
psychology, freaky logic, and mirror magic. Halloween costume
suggestion: the opposite of who you really are.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I don't have a big problem with your tendency
to contradict yourself. I'm rarely among the consistency freaks who would
prefer you to stick with just one of your many selves instead of
hopscotching among all nine. In fact, I find your multi-level multiplicity
interesting and often alluring. I take it as a sign that you are in alignment
with the fundamentally paradoxical nature of life. Having said all that,
however, I want to alert you to an opportunity that the universe is
currently offering you, which is to feel unified, steady, and stable. Does
that sound even vaguely enticing? Why not try it out for a few weeks?
Halloween costume suggestion: an assemblage or collage of several of
your different personas.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): An avocado tree may produce so much fruit
that the sheer weight of its exuberant creation causes it to collapse.
Don't be like that in the coming weeks, Cancerian. Without curbing your
luxuriant mood, simply monitor your outpouring of fertility so that it
generates just the right amount of beautiful blooms. Be vibrant and
bountiful and fluidic, but not unconstrained or overwrought or recklessly
lavish. Halloween costume suggestion: a bouquet, an apple tree, a rich
artist, or an exotic dancer with a bowl of fruit on your head.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I hope your father didn't beat you or scream at
you or molest you. If he did, I am so sorry for your suffering. I also hope
that your father didn't ignore you or withhold his best energy from you. I
hope he didn't disappear for weeks at a time and act oblivious to your
beauty. If he did those things, I mourn for your loss. Now it's quite
possible that you were spared such mistreatment, Leo. Maybe your dad
gave you conscientious care and loved you for who you really are. But
whatever the case might be, this is the right time to acknowledge it. If
you're one of the lucky ones, celebrate to the max. If you're one of the
wounded ones, begin or renew your quest for serious and intensive
healing. Halloween costume suggestion: your father.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Do you know how to tell the difference
between superstitious hunches and dependable intuitions? Are you good
at distinguishing between mediocre gossip that's only ten percent
accurate and reliable rumors that provide you with the real inside dope? I
suspect that you will soon get abundant opportunities to test your skill in
these tasks. To increase the likelihood of your success, ask yourself the
following question on a regular basis: Is what you think you're seeing
really there or is it mostly a projection of your expectations and theories?
Halloween costume suggestions: a lie detector, an interrogator with
syringes full of truth serum, a superhero with X-ray vision, a lab scientist.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I am officially protesting you, Libra. I am
staging a walkout and mounting a demonstration and launching a boycott
unless you agree to my demand. And yes, I have just one demand: that
you take better care of the neglected, disempowered, and underprivileged
parts of your life. Not a year from now; not when you have more leisure
time; NOW! If and when you do this, I predict the arrival of a flood of
personal inspiration. Halloween costume suggestion: a symbolic
representation of a neglected, disempowered, or underprivileged part of
your life.
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Homework: Exhausted by the ceaseless barrage of depressing stories you
absorb from the news media? Here's an antidote:
http://PronoiaResources.com.
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Submissions sent to the Free Will Astrology Weekly Newsletter
or in response to "homework assignments" may be
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2012 Rob Brezsny
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