Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
August 28, 2013
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/1cbwgoT
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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
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:
10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier, Backed
By Science
http://tinyurl.com/kx4nozf
A major new technology has been developed by The University of
Nottingham. It enables all of the world's crops to take nitrogen from the
air rather than expensive and environmentally damaging fertilizers.
http://tinyurl.com/nx8u7pb
Irena Sendler smuggled 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto
and provided false identity documents and housing outside the Ghetto,
saving those children during the Holocaust. The Nazis discovered her
activities and sentenced her to death, but she evaded execution and
survived the war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler
(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 29
Copyright 2013 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "A beginning is the time for taking the most
delicate care that the balances are correct," wrote science fiction author
Frank Herbert. I urge you to heed that advice. According to my analysis of
the astrological omens, you will oversee the germination of several new
trends in the coming weeks. Future possibilities will reveal themselves to
you. You will be motivated to gather the ingredients and formulate the
plans to make sure that those trends and possibilities will actually happen.
One of the most critical tasks you can focus on is to ensure that the
balances are righteous right from the start.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The online Time Travel Mart sells products you
might find handy in the event that you travel through time. Available
items include barbarian repellant, dinosaur eggs, time travel sickness pills,
a centurion's helmet, a portable wormhole, and a samurai umbrella. I have
no financial tie to this store. So when I recommend you consider
purchasing something from it or another company with a similar product
line, it's only because I suspect that sometime soon you will be
summoned to explore and possibly even alter the past. Be well-prepared
to capitalize on the unexpected opportunities. (Here's the Time Travel
Mart: http://826la.org/store.)
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Mystic poets find the divine presence
everywhere. The wind carries God's love, bestowing tender caresses. The
scent of a lily is an intimate message from the Holy Beloved, provoking
bliss. Even a bowl of oatmeal contains the essence of the Creator; to eat
it is to receive an ecstatic blessing. But those of us who aren't mystic
poets are not necessarily attuned to all this sweetness. We may even
refuse to make ourselves receptive to the ceaseless offerings. To the
mystic poets, we are like sponges floating in the ocean but trying very
hard not to get wet. Don't do that this week; Scorpio. Be like a sponge
floating in the ocean and allowing yourself to get totally soaked.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): James Caan is a well-known actor who
has appeared in more than 80 movies, including notables like *The
Godfather,* *A Bridge Too Far,* and *Elf.* But he has also turned down
major roles in a series of blockbusters: *Star Wars,* *Close Encounters of
the Third Kind,* *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,* *Kramer vs.
Kramer,* *Blade Runner,* and *Apocalypse Now.* I present his odd
choices as a cautionary tale for you in the coming weeks, Sagittarius.
Don't sell yourself short. Don't shrink from the challenges that present
themselves. Even if you have accomplished a lot already, an invitation to a
more complete form of success may be in the offing.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "What a terrible mistake to let go of
something wonderful for something real," says a character in one of
Miranda July's short stories. I'm offering similar advice to you, Capricorn.
The "something real" you would get by sacrificing "something wonderful"
might seem to be the more practical and useful option, but I don't think it
would be in the long run. Sticking with "something wonderful" will
ultimately inspire breakthroughs that boost your ability to meet real-world
challenges.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "There is more truth in our erotic zones
than in the whole of religions and mathematics," wrote the English artist
Austin O. Spare. I think he was being melodramatic. Who can say for sure
whether such an extreme statement is accurate? But I suspect that it's at
least a worthy hypothesis for you to entertain in the coming weeks,
Aquarius. The new wisdom you could potentially stir up through an
exploration of eros will be extensive and intensive. Your research may
proceed more briskly if you have a loving collaborator who enjoys playing,
but that's not an absolute necessity.
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TAP INTO THE FUTURE
What new influences are heading your way?
How do you want to create your life story in the coming weeks?
How can you exert your free will to seek out the adventures that'll bring
out the best in you, even as you find graceful ways to cooperate with the
tides of destiny?
If you'd like help in figuring it all out, 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
You can also listen over the phone by calling
1-877-873-4888
The cost is $6 if you access them on the Web -- with discounts for
multiple purchases -- or $1.99 per minute over the phone.
"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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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): "This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last."
So says a character in Oscar Wilde's play *The Importance of Being
Earnest.* I could envision you speaking those words sometime soon. Plain
old drama could creep in the direction of passionate stimulation. High
adventure may beckon, and entertaining stories might erupt. Soon you
could find yourself feeling tingly all over, and that might be so oddly
pleasant that you don't want it to end. With the right attitude -- that is, a
willingness to steep yourself in the lyrical ambiguity -- your soul could
feed off the educational suspense for quite a while.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You seem primed to act like a ram, the
astrological creature associated with your sign. I swear you have that look
in your eyes: the steely gaze that tells me you're about to take a very
direct approach to smashing the obstacles in your way. I confess that I
have not always approved of such behavior. In the past, you have
sometimes done more damage to yourself than to the obstruction you're
trying to remove. But this is one time when the head-first approach might
work. There is indeed evidence that the job at hand requires a battering
ram. What does your intuition tell you?
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" is a raucous love
song by the Scottish band The Proclaimers. In the chorus, the singer
declares, "I would walk 500 miles / And I would walk 500 more / Just to
be the man who walked 1000 miles / To fall down at your door." In 2011,
a Chinese woman named Ling Hsueh told her boyfriend Liu Peiwen she
would marry him if he took the lyrics of this song to heart. In response,
loverboy embarked on a thousand-mile hike to the distant city where she
lived. His stunt seemed to have expedited the deepening of their
relationship. The two are now wed. In accordance with your current
astrological omens, Taurus, I encourage you to consider the possibility of
being a romantic fool like Liu Peiwen. What playfully heroic or richly
symbolic deed might you be willing to perform for the sake of love?
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "The works must be conceived with fire in the
soul but executed with clinical coolness," said the painter Joan MirĂ³ in
describing his artistic process. I recommend a similar approach to you in
the coming weeks. Identify what excites you the most and will continue to
inspire and energize you for the foreseeable future. Activate the wild
parts of your imagination as you dream and scheme about how to get as
much of that excitement as you can stand. And then set to work, with
methodical self-discipline, to make it all happen.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): My vision of you in the coming week involves
you being more instinctual and natural and primal than usual. I have a
picture in my mind of you climbing trees and rolling in the grass and
holding bugs in your hands and letting the wind mess up your hair. You're
gazing up at the sky a lot, and you're doing spontaneous dance moves for
no other reason than because it feels good, and you're serenading the sun
and clouds and hills with your favorite songs. I see you eating food with
your fingers and touching things you've never touched. I hear you
speaking wild truths you've bottled up for months. As for sex? I think you
know what to do.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The Japanese word *senzuri* refers to a sexual
act of self-love performed by a man. Its literal meaning is "a hundred
rubs." The corresponding term for the female version is *shiko shiko
manzuri,* or "ten thousand rubs." Judging from the astrological omens,
I'm guessing that the applicable metaphor for you in the days ahead will
be *shiko shiko manzuri* rather than *senzuri.* Whatever gender you are,
you'll be wise to slowww wayyyy down and take your time, not just in
pursuit of pleasure but in pretty much everything you do. The best
rewards and biggest blessings will come from being deliberate, gradual,
thorough, and leisurely.
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Homework: What was your last major amazement? What do you predict
will be the next one? Testify at Freewillastrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2013 Rob Brezsny
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