Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
April 9, 2014
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/1klXO2V
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Dear Readers:
What nourishes you emotionally and spiritually?
I'm not talking about what entertains you or flatters you or takes your
mind off your problems.
I'm referring to the influences that make you stronger and the people who
see you for who you really are and the situations that teach you life-long
lessons.
I mean the beauty that replenishes your psyche and the symbols that
consistently restore your balance and the memories that keep feeding
your ability to rise to each new challenge.
I invite you to take inventory of these precious assets. And then make a
special point of nurturing them back.
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Tip Jar for Me: http://bit.ly/TipsforRob
Expanded Audio Horoscopes: http://RealAstrology.com
Sign up for daily astrological text messages: http://bit.ly/Sunbursts
Free excerpts from my most recent book: http://bit.ly/BeautyTruth
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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's an excerpt:
MIRABILIA REPORT
(Mirabilia: events that inspire wonder, marvelous phenomena, small
miracles, beguiling ephemera, inexplicable joys, changes that inspire quiet
awe, eccentric enchantments, unplanned jubilations, sudden deliverance
from boring evils; from the Latin *mirabilia,* "marvels.")
* The National Center for Atmospheric Research reports that the average
cloud is the same weight as 100 elephants.
* The seeds of some trees are so tightly compacted within their
protective covering that only the intense heat of a forest fire can free
them, allowing them to sprout.
* The average river requires a million years to move a grain of sand 100
miles, says science writer James Trefil.
* Thirty-eight percent of North America is wilderness.
* Anthropologists say that in every culture in history, children have played
the game hide and seek.
* With every dawn, when first light penetrates the sea, many seahorse
colonies perform a dance to the sun.
* A seven-year-old Minnesota boy received patent number 6,368,227 for
a new method of swinging on a swing.
* A chemist in Australia finally succeeded in mixing oil and water.
* Some Christians really do love their enemies, as Jesus recommended.
* The closest modern relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex may be the
chicken.
* Kind people are more likely than mean people to yawn when someone
near them does.
* The most frequently shoplifted book in America is the Bible.
* There are always so many fragments of spider legs floating in the air
that you are constantly inhaling them wherever you go . . . .
READ THE REST of MIRABILIA REPORT here: http://bit.ly/zWK11D
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PROTEST THE DULLNESS
"It is respectable to have no illusions -- and safe -- and profitable and
dull," said author Joseph Conrad.
Taking our cue from his liberating derision, I propose that we protest the
dullness of having no illusions. Let's decry the blah gray sterility that
comes from entertaining no fantastic fantasies and unreasonable dreams.
How boring it is to have such machine-like mental hygiene!
So I invite you to celebrate your crazy ideas. Treasure and adore your
wacky beliefs. Study all those irrational and insane urges running around
your mind to see what you can learn about your deep, dark
unconsciousness.
(P.S.: But I'm not saying you should act on any of those phantasms, at
least not now. Simply be amused by them.)
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Unphotoshopped images of 32 beautiful places
http://tinyurl.com/kaal4j8
On Wednesday, March 27th, Texas got almost one-third of its electricity
by harnessing the wind.
http://tinyurl.com/myvzex6
The rate of childhood obesity has dropped 43% over the last decade,
and sales of sugary soft drinks and cereals have plummeted.
http://tinyurl.com/kvcdy8n
See a compendium of past pronoia resources here:
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 April 10
Copyright 2014 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Freedom is the most important kind of joy you
can seek right now. It's also the most important subject to study and
think about, as well as the most important skill to hone. I advise you to
make sure that freedom is flowing through your brain and welling up in
your heart and spiraling through your loins. Write synonyms for "freedom"
on your arm with a felt-tip pen: liberation, emancipation, independence,
leeway, spaciousness, carte blanche, self-determination, dispensation.
Here's one more tip: Connect yourself with people who love and cultivate
the same type of freedom you do.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): It's Love Your Messes Week, Taurus. In
accordance with the astrological omens, you are authorized to love the
hell out of the messes in your life -- from the small, awkward knots of
confusion to the big, beautiful heaps of fertile chaos. This is not a time to
feel embarrassed or apologize for your messes; not a time to shy away
from them or ignore them. On the contrary, you should explore them,
celebrate them, and even take advantage of them. Whatever else they
are, your messes are untapped sources of energy. Learn to love them for
the mysterious lessons they keep teaching you. Love them for the
courage and willpower they compel you to summon. Love them for the
novelty they bring your way and the interesting stories they add to your
personal legend.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "A snowball's chance in hell" is an American
idiom that's equivalent to saying "it probably won't happen." After all, a
snowball would instantly melt if exposed to the scorching fires that rage
in the underworld. But what if there's an exception to this axiom? Let's
call on another American idiom: "when hell freezes over." It's another way
to say "it probably won't happen." But the truth is that now and then a
cold front does indeed sweep through the infernal region, icing its flames.
When that happens, a snowball's prospects of surviving there improve
dramatically. And that's exactly what I predict will happen for you in the
coming week.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In 2007, J. K. Rowling finished writing the
seventh volume of her seven Harry Potter books, *Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows.* The day it was published it sold 11 million copies. But
Rowling had actually written the final chapter of this last book way back in
1990, when she first conceived the story she was to spend the next 17
years working on. She knew the climax right from the beginning. I foresee
a similar theme unfolding for you in the coming weeks, Cancerian. As you
plot a project you will be developing for a long time to come, you will
have a vision of what it will be when it becomes fully mature.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): When you see your shadow, it's usually right next
to you. It's there on the ground or floor, a fuzzy black shape that follows
you around closely. But today I saw my shadow waving back at me from
afar. I was standing on top of a hill, and the sun's rays created a dusky
version of me in the meadow way down below. I think this is a useful
metaphor for an opportunity that's available to you. In the coming days,
you will be able to view the shadowy, undeveloped parts of your
personality as if from a distance. That means you will have more
objectivity about them, and thus greater compassion. You can get a calm,
clear sense of how they might be mucking with your happiness and how
you could transform them.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "You cannot use butterfly language to
communicate with caterpillars," said psychologist Timothy Leary. That's
good advice for you to keep in mind in the near future. You might want to
find a way to carry on constructive dialogs with people who have a hard
time understanding you. It's not necessarily that they are stupid or
resistant to your charms. The problem is that they haven't experienced
some of the critical transformations you have. They can't be expected to
converse with you in your butterfly language. Are you willing and able to
speak caterpillar?
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YOU'VE ALWAYS GOT MORE HELP AVAILABLE THAN YOU IMAGINE
What do you want to be when you grow up? Is it possible that you will
eventually develop beautiful capacities and sublime understandings that
you can't even imagine right now?
I might be able to help you move in the direction of becoming more of the
person you were born to be.
Tune in to my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
Find out more at http://RealAstrology.com.
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888.
"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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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Are you thinking of linking your fortunes to a
new ally? Or deepening your collaboration with a familiar ally? Have you
fantasized about bonding intensely with a source that may be able to give
you more of what you want and bring out more of the best in you? These
prospects are worth contemplating, Libra. But I suggest you let your
connection ripen a bit more before finalizing the shift. I'm not necessarily
saying there's a potential problem. I simply suspect that you need further
exploration and additional information before you can make the smartest
move possible.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Saturn has been in the sign of Scorpio since
October 2012 and will be there until the end of 2014. (It will make
another visit from June to September 2015.) What does that mean? I
have a view of Saturn that's different from many astrologers. They regard
it as the planet of limitation, struggle, and difficulty. Here's what I think:
While Saturn may push you to be extra tough and work super hard, it also
inspires you to cut away extraneous desires and home in on your deepest
purpose. It motivates you to build strong structures that free you to
express yourself with maximum efficiency and grace.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): When I took an intermediate painting
class in college, our first assignment was to imitate an old master. My
choice was the Flemish painter Pieter Breugel the Elder (1525-1569). I
worked on reproducing his painting *The Fight Between Carnival and Lent*
as precisely as I could. It was tedious and liberating. I invoked Breugel's
spirit and prayed for his guidance. I sank my psyche deeply into his. By
the end of the four-week process I'd learned a lot about painting. Given
the current astrological omens, Sagittarius, I suggest you try something
similar. Pick someone who excels at a way of working or a state of being
that you would like to master yourself, and copy that person for a while.
For best results, have fun with it. Play!
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn author J. R. R. Tolkien spent 14
years working on *The Lord of the Rings.* In using a typewriter to
produce over 1,200 pages, he relied solely on his two index fingers. He
never learned the ten-finger typing method. I suppose it didn't matter in
the end. Presumably, his impediment didn't affect the quality of his work,
but only made it harder to accomplish and required him to spend a lot
more time. Is there a fixable limitation on your own ability to achieve your
dream, Capricorn? Is there some handicap you could, with effort,
overcome? If so, now would be an excellent time to begin.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "The truth's superb surprise," wrote poet
Emily Dickinson, may be "too bright for our infirm delight." Sometimes
we've got to be careful about articulating what's really going on. "The
truth must dazzle gradually," she said. If it hits us too fast and hard, it
may be difficult to digest. So did Emily suggest that we should lie and
deceive? No. "Tell all the truth," she declared, "but tell it slant." This is
excellent advice for you in the coming days, Aquarius.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Here's my report on your progress. You are
not struggling to embody a delusional state of perfection as it is imagined
by other people. Rather, you are becoming an ever-more soulful version of
your idiosyncratic self, evolving slowly but surely. You are not dazedly
trudging along a narrow track laid down by thousands of sheep. Instead,
you are lively and creative as you bushwhack a path for yourself through
the wilderness. To celebrate this ongoing success, Pisces, I suggest you
get yourself a new power object that symbolizes your inventive devotion.
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Homework: Write a short essay on "How I Created Something Out of
Nothing." Go to FreeWillAstrology.com and click on "Email Rob."
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2014 Rob Brezsny
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