Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
October 30, 2013
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/1by6sCk
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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.
To read the piece in its entirety, go here: http://bit.ly/wGN3iM
SHADOW SCHOOL
You're a gorgeous mystery with a wild heart and a lofty purpose. But like
all of us, you also have a dark side -- a part of your psyche that snarls and
bites, that's unconscious and irrational, that is motivated by ill will or
twisted passions or instinctual fears.
It's your own personal portion of the world's sickness: a mess of
repressed longings, enervating wounds, ignorant delusions, and unripe
powers. You'd prefer to ignore it because it's unflattering or
uncomfortable or very different from what you imagine yourself to be.
If you acknowledge its existence at all (many of us don't), you might call
it the devil, your evil twin, your inner monster, or your personal demon.
Psychologist Carl Jung referred to it as the shadow. He regarded it as the
lead that the authentic alchemists of the Middle Ages sought to
transmute into gold.
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Astrologer Steven Forrest has a different name for the shadow: stuff.
"Work on your stuff," he says, "or your stuff will work on you." He means
that it will sabotage you if you're not aggressive about identifying,
negotiating with, and transforming it.
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The shadow is not inherently evil. If it is ignored or denied, it may become
monstrous to compensate. Only then is it likely to "demonically possess"
its owner, leading to compulsive, exaggerated, "evil" behavior.
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"The shadow, which is in conflict with the acknowledged values, cannot
be accepted as a negative part of one's own psyche and is therefore
projected -- that is, it is transferred to the outside world and experienced
as an outside object. It is combated, punished, and exterminated as 'the
alien out there' instead of being dealt with as one's own inner problem." --
Erich Neumann, *Depth Psychology and a New Ethic*
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The qualities in ourselves that we deny or dislike are often the very
qualities that we most bitterly complain about in other people. So for
instance, an old friend of mine named Mark had a special disgust for
friends who were unavailable to him when he really needed them. But I
was witness to him engaging in the same behavior three different times,
disappearing from the lives of his friends just when they needed him
most.
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"Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event,"
said Jung. If you disown a part of your personality, it'll materialize as an
unexpected detour.
Everyone who believes in the devil is the devil . . . .
TO READ THE REST OF "SHADOW SCHOOL," go here:
http://bit.ly/wGN3iM
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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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Steal a song from the soundtrack for *THE TELEVISIONARY ORACLE*:
http://bit.ly/smkFxM
Triple Witching Hour
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
All of this week's Pronoiac Resources come directly from the wonderful
pronoiac YES! magazine: http://www.yesmagazine.org/
A New Dad Asks, If Male Violence Is the Biggest Threat to Women—How
Do I Raise a Kind Son?
The idea of having a baby boy scared me: What kind of man will he grow
up to be? Here's what I learned about what it takes to raise
compassionate men.
http://tinyurl.com/pqblt9b
Detroit Bankrupt? Six Ways the Motor City Is Thriving.
National media accounts of Detroit's bankruptcy miss the growing
industries, strong communities, and policy changes laying the
foundation's for the city's recovery.
http://tinyurl.com/lbtl2gw
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Meet its Real-Life, Climate-Defending, Disney-
Dissenting Villains.
When their name appeared in Joss Whedon's new TV show, the
environmentalist group Rising Tide took to social media to fight back.
http://tinyurl.com/lfjec6d
(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 31
Copyright 2013 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): What if you had the power to enchant and
even bewitch people with your charisma? Would you wield your allure
without mercy? Would you feel wicked delight in their attraction to you,
even if you didn't plan to give them what they want? I suspect these
questions aren't entirely rhetorical right now. You may have more mojo at
your disposal than you realize. Speaking for your conscience, I will ask you
not to desecrate your privilege. If you must manipulate people, do it for
their benefit as well as yours. Use your raw magic responsibly. Halloween
costume suggestion: a mesmerizing guru; an irresistible diva; a stage
magician.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I had a dream that you were in the film
*O Brother, Where Art Thou?* You were like the character played by
George Clooney after he escaped from a prison chain gang. Can you
picture it? You were wearing a striped jailbird suit, and a ball and chain
were still cuffed around your ankle. But you were sort of free, too. You
were on the lam, making your way from adventure to adventure as you
eluded those who would throw you back in the slammer. You were not yet
in the clear, but you seemed to be en route to total emancipation. I think
this dream is an apt metaphorical depiction of your actual life right now.
Could you somehow use it in designing your Halloween costume?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I invite you to try the following exercise.
Imagine the most powerful role you could realistically attain in the future.
This is a position or niche or job that will authorize you to wield your
influence to the max. It will give you the clout to shape the environments
you share with other people. It will allow you to freely express your
important ideas and have them be treated seriously. Let your imagination
run a little wild as you visualize the possibilities. Incorporate your visions
into your Halloween costume.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In the course of earning a living, I have
worked four different jobs as a janitor and six as a dishwasher. On the
brighter side, I have performed as a songwriter and lead singer for six rock
bands and currently write a syndicated astrology column. According to
my analysis of the astrological omens, you Aquarians are primed to
cultivate a relationship with your work life that is more like my latter
choices than the former. The next eight months will be a favorable time
to ensure that you'll be doing your own personal equivalent of rock singer
or astrology columnist well into the future. Halloween costume
suggestion: your dream job.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Author Robert Louis Stevenson loved the
work of poet Walt Whitman, recommending it with the same enthusiasm
as he did Shakespeare's. Stevenson also regarded Whitman as an unruly
force of nature, and in one famous passage, called him "a large shaggy
dog, just unchained, scouring the beaches of the world and baying at the
moon." Your assignment is to do your best imitation of a primal creature
like Whitman. In fact, consider being him for Halloween. Maybe you could
memorize passages from Whitman's *Leaves of Grass* and recite them at
random moments. Here's one: "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am
untranslatable, / I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Once when I was hiking through Maui's rain
forest, I spied a majestic purple honohono flower sprouting from a rotting
log. As I bent down close, I inhaled the merged aromas of moldering wood
and sweet floral fragrance. Let's make this scene your metaphor of the
week, Aries. Here's why: A part of your life that is in the throes of decay
can serve as host for a magnificent bloom. What has been lost to you
may become the source of fertility. Halloween costume suggestion: a
garbage man or cleaning maid wearing a crown of roses.
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WHAT NEW INFLUENCES ARE HEADED 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.
Find out more at http://RealAstrology.com.
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888.
"I don't much believe in astrology. But that doesn't seem to get in the
way of me deriving a whole lot of benefits from your expanded audio
horoscopes."
- A. Arrosto, Indianapolis
"You have an amazing aptitude for cutting through the lies I tell myself.
Thanks for the gentle shocks."
- T. Preneris, Toronto
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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): What don't you like? Get clear about that.
What don't you want to do? Make definitive decisions. What kind of
person do you not want to become and what life do you never want to
live? Resolve those questions with as much certainty as possible. Write it
all down, preferably in the form of a contract with yourself. Sign the
contract. This document will be your sacred promise, a declaration of the
boundaries you won't cross and the activities you won't waste your time
on and the desires that aren't worthy of you. It will feed your freedom to
know exactly what you like and what you want to accomplish and who
you want to become. Halloween costume suggestion: the opposite of who
you really are.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Are you up for an experiment? Not just on
Halloween, but for a week afterwards, be scarier than your fears. If an
anxious thought pops into your mind, bare your teeth and growl, "Get out
of here or I will rip you to shreds!" If a demon visits you in a nightly
dream, chase after it with a torch and sword, screaming "Begone, foul
spirit, or I will burn your mangy ass!" Don't tolerate bullying in any form,
whether it comes from a critical little voice in your head or from
supposedly nice people who are trying to guilt-trip you. "I am a brave
conqueror who cannot be intimidated!" is what you could say, or "I am a
monster of love and goodness who will defeat all threats to my integrity!"
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Are you ready to be amazed? Now would be
an excellent time to shed your soul's infantile illusions . . . to play wildly
with the greatest mystery you know . . . to accept gifts that enhance
your freedom and refuse gifts that don't . . . to seek out a supernatural
encounter that heals your chronic sadness . . . to consort and converse
with sexy magical spirits from the future . . . to make love with the lights
on and cry when you come. Halloween costume suggestion: the
archetypal LOVER.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Some people in your vicinity are smoldering and
fuming. The air is heavy with emotional ferment. Conspiracy theories are
ripening and rotting at the same time. Hidden agendas are seeping into
conversations, and gossip is swirling like ghostly dust devils. Yet in the
midst of this mayhem, an eerie calm possesses you. As everyone else
struggles, you're poised and full of grace. To what do we owe this
stability? I suspect it has to do with the fact that life is showing you how
to feel at home in the world no matter what's happening around you.
Keep making yourself receptive to these teachings. Halloween costume
suggestion: King or Queen of Relaxation.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Unification should be a key theme for you in
the coming weeks. Anything you do that promotes splicing and blending
and harmonizing will get extra help, sometimes from mysterious forces
working behind the scenes. The more you work to find common ground
between opposing sides, the stronger you'll feel and the better you'll
look. If you can manage to mend schisms and heal wounds, unexpected
luck will flow into your life. To encourage these developments, consider
these Halloween disguises: a roll of tape, a stick of Krazy Glue, a wound
that's healing, a bridge.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): What do you think you'd be like if you were
among the one-percent-wealthiest people on Earth? Would you demand
that your government raise your taxes so you could contribute more to
our collective well-being? Would you live simply and cheaply so you'd
have more money to donate to charities and other worthy causes? This
Halloween season, I suggest you play around with fantasies like that --
maybe even masquerade as an incredibly rich philanthropist who doles out
cash and gifts everywhere you go. At the very least, imagine what it
would be like if you had everything you needed and felt so grateful you
shared your abundance freely.
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Homework: Meditate on death not as the end of physical life, but as a
metaphor for shedding what's outworn. In that light, what's the best
death you've experienced? Freewillastrology.com
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2013 Rob Brezsny
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