Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
June 12, 2013
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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
Here are excerpts:
LETTERS TO THE BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB, Part 3
DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: I've wrestled all my life with fear. But
lately it's been even worse than usual. My personal demons seem to be
winning, or at least getting the better of the fight. I think it's related to
the fact that when I caught wind of the idea of pronoia, I started working
hard to lose all my illusions. Now I'm thinking maybe that was a mistake.
Perhaps I needed my illusions to keep the demons at bay? - Crybaby
DEAR CRYBABY: Hang on. This is the toughest part of your struggle. It
may seem that the illusions you dissolved were the main barriers
safeguarding you from your demons. But what's more likely is that those
illusions were food for your demons. Very soon now the demons will have
devoured the last of their fuel and will start to starve. If they don't die
off, they will at least fly away in search of other nourishment.
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DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: Two months ago I met the first person
with whom I am completely psychic. We fell deeply in love, of course. But
it turned out that neither of us was ready or able to fulfill the potential of
our connection because we are nowhere near as profoundly in love with
ourselves as we are with each other. The good news is that through my
love for him, I have intensified my desire to learn to love myself. The bad
news is that we can't really be together as fate intended until we upgrade
our self-love. Can you offer any consolation? - Lucky Yet Unlucky in Love
Dear Lucky: We appreciate your sage caution, but also offer this
alternative view from actress Tallulah Bankhead: "If I had to live my life
again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner."
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DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: Lately I've been practicing an evangelical
kind of pronoia. In addition to proceeding as if the universe is conspiring
to help me, I'm extending that assumption to my fellow planeteers. I'm
meeting people and visualizing realistically wonderful futures for them,
filled with interesting opportunities or at least fertile riddles.
For instance, yesterday I saw a morose woman staring blankly into space
at Starbucks as if she were the loneliest person ever born. I visualized her
falling into a deeply engaging conversation with a new friend, and feeling
emboldened by that encounter to be proactive about seeking out people
who stimulate her. Two days ago I saw an unruly kid acting crazy at the
grocery store. I visualized for him a future of uncompromising
individualism creating unique approaches to old problems.
This evangelical push is a real stretch sometimes. (It's a challenge to
visualize a positive future for, say, a homeless panhandler.) But I like how
it makes me feel. Maybe it's no coincidence that my physical health has
markedly improved recently. And it seems to be making me more highly
attuned to the sometimes subtle blessings that life does bring into my
vicinity -- blessings I might have missed in the past. -Architect of
Empathy
DEAR ARCHITECT: At the Beauty and Truth Lab, we work on the
hypothesis that all of us are affecting each other all the time, either by
direct contact, via telepathic contagion, or through the culture we co-
create. If even 25 percent of that hypothesis is true, why not be a
beacon of blessings, constantly broadcasting images that promote health
and well-being? People just might live up to our expectations, just as
easily as they can live down to them. Plus, as you noted, it has a tonic
effect on the one who acts as a beacon of blessings.
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DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: You asked us readers this question: "The
spiritual teacher A. H. Almaas believes that a genuinely creative act is
always motivated by generosity. If that's true, how do you explain all the
ego-obsessed 'geniuses' who treat everyone like dirt even as they churn
out their supposedly brilliant art?"
Here's my answer: Those aren't really geniuses, and what they make isn't
really brilliant art! It may be popular art, and it may earn a lot of money
for the fake geniuses, but it's not brilliant. The truth is, many of the
richest and most famous artists are those patronized for their ability to
fetishize, glamorize, and trivialize our cultural pain. You can apply the
same statement to supposed geniuses who apply their talent to the
pharmaceutical industry or nuclear weapons. Creative and intellectual
energy applied to cruelty, domination, and meanness is always stupid.
The true geniuses recognize that cooperation is a stronger evolutionary
force than competition. They know that the only appropriate application
for intelligence is to find ways to make us all feel stupendously good as
much as possible. - Malian
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DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: My mom calls me fat but feeds me pork
rinds. My strongest supporter is a person I want to wrap up like a mummy,
shove into a canoe, and push into the middle of the lake. My exuberant
imagination has taken me hostage, violating its own principles. I'm so
ambivalent and indecisive about everything that even my addictive nature
can't figure out what to be addicted to. I'd embrace my contradictions if I
could, but they've got me surrounded like a pink-haired, cross-dressing
SWAT team frothed up on multiple espressos. Can you point me in the
direction of the pronoiac exit from this circus-like hell? - Crazy Crank
DEAR CRAZY CRANK: We detect a lot of wit and style in your meditations.
Maybe that's the purpose of the limbo you're in: It's an opportunity to
build your skill at being lively and feisty and smart no matter what your
outer circumstances are.
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Are you in quest of an Intimate Ally? A Soul Friend? A Wild Confidante?
Check out Match.com via Free Will Astrology's link:
http://bit.ly/SoulMatch
Look for a Co-Pilot, Co-Conspirator, or Collaborator . . . an Agent to
represent you or a Disciple to worship you . . . a Secret Sharer who'll
listen better than anyone or an Amazing Accomplice with whom you can
practice the Art of Liberation.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
PRONOIA IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
We're on the verge of wiping out the Guinea worm, a water parasite that
affects many impoverished countries.
http://tinyurl.com/cec95dm
CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK TO CREATE THE WORLD WE WANT
"Three-fourths of the African country of Niger (not Nigeria) is desert, and
news headlines focus on hunger there. But over two decades, poor
farmers in the country's south have 'regreened' 12.5 million desolate
acres. In all, Niger farmers have nurtured the growth of some 200 million
trees—discovering that trees and crops are not competitors but are
complementary. The trees protect the soil, bringing big crop-yield
increases, and they provide fruit, nutritious leaves, fodder, and firewood.
Now young people are returning to villages in Niger, and school kids are
learning to care for the trees, too."
More info available in Frances Moore Lappe's book "EcoMind: Changing the
Way We Think, to Create the World We Want"
http://tinyurl.com/mo2um3p
NATURAL, INSTINCTUAL PRONOIA
New study shows that infants who were exclusively breastfed for at least
three months had enhanced development in key parts of the brain
compared to children who were fed formula or a combination of formula
and breastmilk.
http://tinyurl.com/k3es2k9
(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 June 13
Copyright 2013 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Long after the artist Amedeo Clemente
Modigliani died, his paintings sold for millions of dollars. But while alive, he
never got rich from doing what he loved to do. He expressed frustration
about the gap between his ambitions and his rewards. "I do at least three
paintings a day in my head," he said. "What's the use of spoiling canvas
when nobody will buy anything?" I hope you don't arrive at a comparable
conclusion, Gemini. It's crucial that you NOT keep your good ideas bottled
up in your imagination. You need to translate them into practical actions,
even if there's no immediate or obvious benefit in doing so. Expressing
yourself concretely has rarely been more important than it is right now.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In 1967, dissidents dreamed up a novel way
to protest America's horrific Vietnam War. They marched to the
Pentagon, the military's headquarters, and performed an exorcism to
purge the place of its evil. With the power of songs and chants, they
invoked magic spells designed to levitate the 6.5 million-square-feet
building into the air. Their plan didn't quite work in a literal way -- the
Pentagon remained firmly fixed to the ground -- but the legend they
spawned was potent. When I heard about it years later, it inspired me to
become an activist. I see myth-making as a worthy goal for you right now,
Cancerian. Dream up an epic task or project that will fuel your imagination
for a long time.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In 1926, surrealist artist Max Ernst painted "The
Blessed Virgin Chastising the Infant Jesus in Front of Three Witnesses." It
shows Mary vigorously spanking her son as he lies on her lap. Nowadays,
the image doesn't seem nearly as scandalous as it did when it first
appeared. Even some Christians I know find it amusing, welcoming the
portrayal of Jesus as a genuine human being with lessons to learn. What
would be your equivalent of creating a cheeky image like this, Leo? How
could you achieve cathartic release by being irreverent toward something
or someone you respect? I recommend it. (See the image:
tinyurl.com/SpankingJesus.)
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It's prime time to promote cross-cultural
liaisons and interspecies relationships, Virgo. I encourage you to
experiment with hybrids and facilitate the union of diverse interests. You
will be working in alignment with cosmic trends if you strengthen the
connections between influences that belong together, and even between
influences that don't know they belong together. So see what you can do
to facilitate conversations between Us and Them. Negotiate peace
treaties between Yes and No. Look for legitimate ways to compare apples
and oranges.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Gonzo columnist Mark Morford wrote a list of
liberated behaviors he wants to cultivate. Since you're in the
emancipatory phase of your yearly cycle, I invite you to try some of his
strategies. 1. Have a gentler grip. Let go of tight-assed attitudes. 2. Make
deeper penetration. Don't be satisfied with surfaces. 3. Raise the
vibration. Isn't it a waste of precious life energy to mope around in a sour
and shriveled frame of mind? 4. Appreciate appreciation. Treat gratitude
as an emotion of the same caliber as joy. 5. Cultivate ecstatic silliness.
Develop a blissful ability to take everything less seriously. 6. Drink the
awe. Allow astonishment to seep in. (More: tinyurl.com/morfordjoy.)
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): From an astrological perspective, now would
be a good time to go on a meditation retreat for a few days or make a
pilgrimage to your ancestral homeland. You would generate just the right
shifts in your brain chemistry by doing something like that. Other
recommended adventures: reviewing the story of your entire life from
your first memory to the present moment; writing a brief letter to the
five people you have loved best, telling them why you've loved them;
spending a day outside of time, when you don't consult a clock or use
electronic media for the duration.
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YOU NEED MAGIC EVERY DAY
Every day, you have to wade through a relentless surge of soul-less facts.
The experience tends to dampen your sense of wonder.
Every day, you're overexposed to stories that have been sucked free of
delight and mystery. That's why you have to make such strenuous efforts
to keep your world enchanted.
I like to think I can contribute to the sacred cause of feeding your sense
of wonder and enchantment. In fact, that's one of my prime motivations
for offering you the free weekly horoscopes you read here in my
newsletter.
If you ever want more of that good stuff, and think it's worth paying for,
consider trying my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-
minute meditations on the current state of your destiny and where you're
headed.
Go here to register and log in: http://RealAstrology.com
You can also listen over the phone by calling
1-877-873-4888
"Your expanded horoscopes get more personal and intimate with me than
some of my closest friends. Thanks for the loving reflections."
- Ari S., Ann Arbor, MI
"Your audio 'scopes have a knack for waking me up from whatever
random dream has sneaked into my brain and rendered me half-blind."
- Teresa F., Boston, MA
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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarius comedian Steven Wright says
he took a class in speed waiting. "Now I can wait an hour in only ten
minutes," he brags. I think you will have the same knack in the coming
days, Sagittarius. Your patience is likely to be much more effective than
usual. Results will come faster and they'll be more intense. The only catch
is that you will really have to be calm and composed and willing to wait a
long time. It won't work if you're secretly antsy and only pretending to be
imperturbable.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Let the boundaries blur a bit, Capricorn.
Don't stick too rigidly to the strict definitions. Play around with some
good old-fashioned fuzzy logic. The straight facts and the precise details
are important to keep in mind, but you shouldn't cling to them so
ferociously that they stifle your imagination. You need to give yourself
enough slack to try open-ended experiments. You'll be smart to allow
some wobble in your theories and a tremble in your voice. Magic will
happen if there's plenty of wiggle room.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "One should be light like a bird, and not like
a feather," said French poet Paul Valery. How do you interpret that
thought, Aquarius? In the book *The Science of Self-Control,* here's how
Howard Rachlin expands on Valery's idea: "We need to be spontaneous,
but only in the context of some framework that allows us to attain higher
levels of spontaneity; a feather is a slave to the wind, while a bird *uses*
the wind." Take heed, Aquarius! Your creative flights will go further and
last longer if you have a solid foundation to take off from.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Let's call today Sigh-Day. Tomorrow, too, and
the next day, and the two days after that. During these five Sigh-Days,
you should feel free to let out big, deep sighs at a higher rate than usual.
Allow yourself to be filled up with poignant thoughts about life's
paradoxical mysteries. Give yourself permission to be overwhelmed with
emotions that are midway between lamentation and reverent amazement.
For even better results, indulge in some free-form moaning during your
five Sigh-Days. That'll help you release your full backlog of tension and
give you more appreciation for the crazy beauty of your fate. (P.S. Try
not to whine, though.)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Irish poet Richard Brinsley Sheridan didn't
confine his lyrical wit to well-crafted poems on the printed page. He used
it to say things that would advance his practical ambitions. For example,
when he first met the woman who would eventually become his wife, he
said to her, "Why don't you come into my garden? I would like my roses
to see you." That's the kind of persuasive power I hope you will summon
in the coming days, Aries. According to my analysis of the omens, you
should have it in abundance. So what's the best use of this mojo? Is there
anything you would really like to sell? What new resources do you want to
bring into your sphere? Who do you want to convince?
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In *The Book of the Damned,* Charles Fort
revealed one of the secrets of power. He said that if you want power over
something, you should be more real than it. What does that mean? How
do you become real in the first place, and how do you get even more
real? Here's what I think: Purge your hypocrisies and tell as few lies as
possible. Find out what your deepest self is like -- not just what your ego
is like -- and be your deepest self with vigorous rigor. Make sure that the
face you show the world is an accurate representation of what's going on
in your inner world. If you do all that good stuff, you will eventually be as
real and as powerful as you need to be.
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Homework: Send news of your favorite mystery -- an enigma that is both
maddening and delightful -- to Freewillastrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2013 Rob Brezsny
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