Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
December 5, 2012
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/VikT3A
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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
Praise for *Pronoia*:
"I have seen the future of American literature and its name is Rob
Brezsny." - Tom Robbins
"With this work -- an instant pop classic -- Rob Brezsny offers a positive,
participatory, proactive vision of the workings of our inner and outer
universe, which will only give us as much pleasure, love, and ecstasy as
we are prepared to accept." - Daniel Pinchbeck
"While it may seem naive to put your faith in optimism these days,
Brezsny's new book offers up a convincing argument for leaving cynicism
and despair behind. This wild, wise, and subversive book is a must read for
those who want to live a more imaginative and free life. Rob Brezsny is a
Culture Hero." - *Utne Reader*
"With *Pronoia,* renegade wizard Rob Brezsny presents an irreverent
manifesto, mixing activism and optimism. It reads like the I Ching on
Ecstasy and is as insightful and puzzling as a Zen koan. He puts the 'pro'
back in 'protest.'" - *Body + Soul*
"I dig Rob Brezsny for his powerful yet playful insights, his poetry, and his
humor . . . I salute him for his dedication to inspiration."
- Jason Mraz, singer-songwriter
"In *Pronoia,* Brezsny tenderly leads us into the practice of re-imagining
the world as a compassionate miracle. He offers a bevy of ideas for
tricksters to re-create the universe." - *Santa Cruz Sentinel*
"Brezsny's *Pronoia* rotates, something like a Tibetan prayer wheel,
around the idea that love underpins being and that it's ours if only we
have the courage to take it. If we don't go to this original and endless
source, then we inherit the classical hell-on-earth of depression, decay
and destruction. Around and around his theme the verbally acrobatic,
mystically literate Brezsny lets fly a thousand zingers, each with the feel
of having been carved with some poetic effort to express a hard reality
instead of a platitude." - *San Francisco Chronicle*
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INTERVIEW WITH ROB
by Glen Starkey
of the San Luis Obispo New Times
http://www.newtimesslo.com/
GLEN STARKEY: Your book *PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia*
(http://bit.ly/Pronoia) isn't so much about astrology as it is about
philosophy. How does what you do in your weekly "Free Will Astrology"
column connect to what your book is about?
ROB BREZSNY: The book is a discussion of the philosophy that underlies
and informs the column. I believe everyone's life is a labyrinth with a
reward at the center, not a minefield in which fear should be one's
primary guide. I explain why in the book.
GLEN STARKEY: As I read it, your book is about training oneself to see the
world through optimistic eyes, to not dwell on the occasional bad thing
that happens and instead focus on all the things that go right, every day,
all the time. What led you to this idea?
ROB BREZSNY: Let me comment on the first statement. It's true that I
urge people not to dwell on the occasional bad thing that happens.
However, it's important to note that pronoia doesn't ask you to ignore or
suppress problems. On the contrary, just as pronoiacs retrain themselves
to notice and feel gratitude for all the beauty and largesse in the world,
they also retrain themselves to see every problem as a gift that is
designed to make them smarter, kinder, and more fully alive.
As for what led me to these ideas: I'm a natural-born rebel; I enjoy
identifying the conventional wisdom in every situation, and turning it on
its head. Today the conventional wisdom is that everything is falling
apart, that the world is a terrible place to live, that bad things
predominate. The most taboo possibility of all is the idea that the world is
full of beauty and that life is on our side. I gravitate toward that
perspective because everything in my life has confirmed it and because
my job is to do everything I can to overthrow the status quo.
GLEN STARKEY: Are you able to put into practice all that your book
suggests, or is attempting to exert pronoia an ongoing struggle?
ROB BREZSNY: I am by no means a master of pronoia. But I enjoy the
struggle to immunize myself against the insane culture-wide obsession
with pathology; I enjoy the hard work of retraining myself to bask in the
nonstop flood of daily miracles.
GLEN STARKEY: If you were to tell someone one thing in your book that's
the most important tidbit of knowledge, what would it be?
ROB BREZSNY: You always get exactly what you need, exactly when you
need it. Not exactly what you want, exactly what you want, mind you. Life
unfailingly presents you with what your soul needs, which isn't necessarily
what your ego wants.
GLEN STARKEY: Who should read this book, and who shouldn't?
ROB BREZSNY: Who shouldn't read this book: Cynics whose entire identity
and self-image are wrapped up in being cynical. My book may be unlikely
to crack through their fanatical bias against admitting how much beauty
and blessing the world is filled with, but if it did they would most likely
suffer from a nervous breakdown.
Who should read this book: everyone else.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
THIS YEAR IN PRONOIA HISTORY
Abolitionist Donaldina Cameron was a courageous, compassionate zealot
who is credited with rescuing some 3,000 people from slavery and
breaking the back of the Chinese slave trade in the U.S.
http://fiercecompassionbook.com/
CONSPIRACY TO FIND A CURE
A trio of oral medicines from Abbott Laboratories Inc to treat hepatitis C
produced unprecedented cure rates in patients who had failed to benefit
from standard treatment, as well as very high cure rates for newly treated
patients
http://tinyurl.com/be2g7wb
GET YOUR MINIMUM DAILY REQUIREMENT OF BEAUTY
Geirangerfjord, Norway
http://i.imgur.com/zLLu1.jpg
(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 December 6
Copyright 2012 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): If you thoroughly shuffle a deck of
cards, the novel arrangement you create is probably unique in all of
human history; its specific order has never before occurred. I suspect the
same principle applies to our lives: Each new day brings a singular set of
circumstances that neither you nor anyone else in the last 10,000 years
has ever had the pleasure of being challenged and intrigued by. There is
always some fresh opportunity, however small, that is being offered you
for the first time. I think it's important for you to keep this perspective in
mind during the coming week. Be alert for what you have never seen or
experienced before.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I wish I could do more than just fantasize
about helping you achieve greater freedom. In my dreams, I am
obliterating delusions that keep you moored to false idols. I am setting
fire to the unnecessary burdens you lug around. And I am tearing you
away from the galling compromises you made once upon a time in order
to please people who don't deserve to have so much power over you. But
it's actually a good thing I can't just wave a magic wand to make all this
happen. Here's a much better solution: You will clarify your analysis of the
binds you're in, supercharge your willpower, and liberate yourself.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In his book *Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,*
Tom Robbins talks about a gourmet who "gave up everything, traveled
thousands of miles and spent his last dime to get to the highest lamasery
in the Himalayas to taste the dish he'd longed for his whole life, Tibetan
peach pie. When he got there . . . the lamas said they were all out of
peach. 'Okay,' said the gourmet, 'make it apple.'" I suspect you'll be
having a comparable experience sometime soon, Aquarius. You may not
get the exact treat you wanted, but what you'll receive in its place is
something that's pretty damn good. I urge you to accept the gift as is!
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): "Having 'a sense of self' means possessing a
set of stories about who we are," according to William Kittredge in his
book *The Nature of Generosity.* He says there are two basic types of
stories: The first is "cautionary tales, which warn us" and therefore
protect us. The second consists of "celebratory" tales, which we use to
heal and calm ourselves. I believe that you Pisceans are now in a phase
when you primarily need celebratory stories. It's time to define yourself
with accounts of what you love and value and regard as precious.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Spencer Silver was a co-inventor of Post-it
notes, those small, colorful pieces of paper you can temporarily attach to
things and then remove to use again and again. Speaking about the
process he went through to develop this simple marvel, he said, "If I had
thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was
full of examples that said you can't do this." I'd like to make him your
patron saint for the next few weeks, Aries. Like him, you now have the
chance to make practical breakthroughs that may have seemed
impossible, or at least unlikely. Ignore conventional wisdom -- including
your own. Trust your mischievous intuition.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The axolotl is a kind of salamander that has an
extraordinary capacity for regenerating itself. If it loses a leg in an
accident, it will grow a new one in its place. It can even fix its damaged
organs, including eyes, heart, and brain. And get this: There's never any
scar tissue left behind when its work is done. Its power to heal itself is
pretty much perfect. I nominate the axolotl to be your power animal in
the coming weeks, Taurus. According to my reading of the astrological
omens, you now have an extraordinary ability to restore any part of your
soul that got hurt or stolen or lost.
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LISTEN TO AN EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE
Factual information and reasonable thinking alone are not sufficient to
guide you through life's labyrinthine tests. You need and deserve regular
deliveries of uncanny revelation.
One of your inalienable rights as a human being should therefore be to
receive mysteriously useful omens on a regular basis. In this spirit, I offer
you the free weekly horoscopes you read here.
If you ever want more, and think it's worth paying for, try my EXPANDED
AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're available here:
http://RealAstrology.com
You can also access them by phone:
1-877-873-4888
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GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the coming months, I hope that you will get
sweet revenge. In fact, I *predict* that you will get sweet revenge. Keep
in mind that I'm not talking about angry, roaring vindication. I don't mean
you will destroy the reputations of your adversaries or reduce them to
humiliating poverty or laugh at them as they grovel for mercy while lying
in a muddy gutter. No, Gemini. The kind of revenge I foresee is that you
will achieve a ringing triumph by mastering a challenge they all believed
would defeat you. And your ascent to victory starts now.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): I would love to speak with you about your
hesitancy to fully confront your difficulties. But I will not speak
forthrightly, since I'm pretty sure that would irritate you. It might even
motivate you to procrastinate even further. So instead I will make a lame
joke about how if you don't stop avoiding the obvious, you will probably
get bitten in the butt by a spider. I will try to subtly guilt-trip you into
taking action by implying that I'll be annoyed at you if you don't. I will wax
sarcastic and suggest that maybe just this once, ignorance is bliss.
Hopefully that will nudge you into dealing straightforwardly with the
unrest that's burbling.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "Drama is life with all the boring parts cut out of
it," said Leo filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. By that criterion, I'm guessing
that your experience in the coming week will have a high concentration of
magic and stimulation. You should be free from having to slog through
stale details and prosaic storylines. Your word of power will be
*succulence.* For best results, I suggest you take active control of the
unfolding adventures. Be the director and lead actor in your drama, not a
passive participant who merely reacts to what the other actors are doing.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): One of my spiritual teachers once told me that
a good spiritual teacher makes an effort not to seem too perfect. She
said some teachers even cultivate odd quirks and harmless failings on
purpose. Why? To get the best learning experience, students must be
discouraged from over-idealizing the wise advisors they look up to. It's
crucial they understand that achieving utter purity is impossible and
unrealistic. Being perceived as an infallible expert is dangerous for
teachers, too; it makes them prone to egotistical grandiosity. I bring this
up, Virgo, because it's an excellent time to reduce the likelihood that
you'll be seduced by the illusion of perfection.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): This would be a good week to talk to yourself
far more than you usually do. If you're the type of person who never talks
to yourself, this is a perfect time to start. And I do mean that you should
speak the words out loud. Actually address yourself with passionate,
humorous, ironic, sincere, insightful comments, as you would any person
you care about. Why am I suggesting this? Because according to my
interpretation of the astrological omens, you would benefit from the
shock of literally hearing how your mind works. Even more importantly:
The cheerleading you do, the encouragement you deliver, and the
motivational speeches you give would have an unusually powerful impact
if they were audibly articulated.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast," a
grotesque human-like creature hosts the heroine in his home, treating her
like a queen. She accepts his hospitality but rejects his constant requests
to marry him. Eventually, he collapses from heartache. Moved by the
depth of his suffering, she breaks into tears and confesses her deep
affection for him. This shatters the spell and magically transforms the
Beast back into the handsome prince he originally was. Your life may have
parallels to this story in the coming months, Scorpio. You might be
tested. Can you discern the truth about a valuable resource that doesn't
look very sexy? Will you be able to see beauty embedded in a rough or
shabby form?
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Homework: Write a parable or fairy tale that captures what your life has
been like in 2012. Freewillastrology.com
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2012 Rob Brezsny
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