Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
September 10, 2014
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/YtlvNt
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If you would like to make a contribution to me via Paypal, here's where to
go: http://bit.ly/TipsforRob
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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:
LET'S MAKE MORALITY FUN
Are you turned off by the authoritarian, libido-mistrusting perversity of
the right-wing moral code, but equally reluctant to embrace the atheism
embedded in the left wing's code of goodness?
Are you hungry for a value system rooted in beauty, love, pleasure, and
liberation instead of order, control, politeness, and fear, but allergic to the
sophistry of the New Age?
Are you apathetic toward the saccharine goodness evangelized by
sentimental, superstitious fanatics, but equally bored by the intellectuals
who worship at the empty-hearted shrine of scientific materialism?
It may be time for you to whip up your very own moral code. If you do,
you might want to keep the following guidelines in mind:
1. A moral code becomes immoral unless it can thrive without a devil and
enemy.
2. A moral code grows ugly unless it prescribes good-natured rebellion
against automaton-like behavior offered in its support.
3. A moral code becomes murderous unless it's built on a love for the
fact that EVERYTHING CHANGES ALL THE TIME, and unless it perpetually
adjusts its reasons for being true.
4. A moral code will corrupt its users unless it ensures that their primary
motivation for being good is because it's fun.
5. A moral code deadens the soul of everyone it touches unless it has a
built-in sense of humor.
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"Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the
labors of other people, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in
order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still
receiving."
- Albert Einstein
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"Why is it so hard to find a soulmate?" asks psychologist Carolyn
Godschild Miller in her book "Soulmates." Her answer: "Because most of
us are actually searching for egomates instead. We place the most limited
and unloving aspect of our minds in charge of our search for love, and
then wonder why we aren't succeeding. To the degree that we identify
with this false sense of self, and operate on the basis of its limited point
of view, we aren't looking for someone to love so much as recruiting
fellow actors to take on supporting roles in a favorite melodrama."
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None of us is in danger of losing sight of the world's suffering. Every form
of news media, art, and entertainment relentlessly barrages us with
reminders. The rebels and iconoclasts offer an alternative truth that
sometimes rises above the nihilistic propaganda: that the world is
beautiful, that humans are miraculous, that we are doing amazingly well as
we carry out this impossible experiment called life.
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"Love the earth and the sun and animals, despise riches, give alms to
everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and the crazy, devote your
income and labors to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God,
have patience and indulgence towards the people, take off your hat to
nothing known or unknown, or to any man or number of men, go freely
with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and mothers of
families, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any
book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul and your very flesh shall be
a great poem and have the richest fluency, not only in its words but in
the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes
and in every motion and joint of your body."
- Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass*
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
6 Ways to Bring More Empathy to the Internet.
*Yes* magazine asked psychologists, user experience designers, and
writers what web users could to do to promote more empathic interaction
in online places. Here's what they said.
http://tinyurl.com/qbq7kc4
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The Enchanted Land Where Community College Is Free? Welcome to
Tennessee in 2015.
A new bill provides two years of tuition at a community college for
participating high school grads who might otherwise face a 7.5 percent
unemployment rateāand other states are already following suit.
http://tinyurl.com/p9pjojh
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This Solar-Powered Water Wheel Can Clean 50,000 Pounds of Baltimore's
Trash Per Day.
The Inner Harbor Water Wheel is proving to be an effective answer to the
city's water pollution problem.
http://tinyurl.com/mnxlbo5
(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 September 11
Copyright 2014 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In 1786, Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard
were the first explorers to reach the top of 15,781-foot Mont Blanc on
the French-Italian border. They were hailed as heroes. One observer wrote
that the ascent was "an astounding achievement of courage and
determination, one of the greatest in the annals of mountaineering. It was
accomplished by men who were not only on unexplored ground but on a
route that all the guides believed impossible." And yet today, 228 years
later, the climb is considered relatively easy for anyone who's reasonably
prepared. In a typical year, 20,000 people make it to the summit. Why am
I bringing this to your attention? Because I suspect that you are beginning
to master a skill that will initially require you to be like Balmat and
Paccard, but will eventually be almost routine.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Those who invoke the old metaphor about the
caterpillar that transforms into the butterfly often omit an important
detail: the graceful winged creature is helpless and weak when it first
wriggles free of its chrysalis. For a while it's not ready to take up its full
destiny. As you get ready for your own metamorphosis, Libra, keep that
in mind. Have plans to lay low and be self-protective in the days following
your emergence into your new form. Don't try to do loop-the-loops right
away.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): According to my analysis of the astrological
omens, you Scorpios are currently the sign of the zodiac that is least
likely to be clumsy, vulgar, awkward, or prone to dumb mistakes. On the
other hand, you are the most likely to derisively accuse others of being
clumsy, vulgar, awkward, or prone to dumb mistakes. I recommend that
you resist that temptation, however. In the coming week, it is in your
selfish interests to be especially tactful and diplomatic. Forgive and
quietly adjust for everyone's mistakes. Don't call undue attention to them
or make them worse. Continue to build your likeability and fine-tune your
support system.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You have cosmic permission to be
bigger than life and wilder than sin. You have a poetic license to be more
wise than clever. And you should feel free to laugh longer than might
seem polite and make no apologies as you spill drinks while telling your
brash stories. This phase of your astrological cycle does not require you
to rein yourself in or tone yourself down or be a well-behaved model
citizen. In fact, I think it will be best for everyone concerned if you
experiment with benevolent mischief and unpredictable healing and
ingenious gambles.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): For over 2,000 years, Chinese
astronomers have understood the science of eclipses. And yet as late as
the 1800s, sailors in the Chinese navy shot cannonballs in the direction of
lunar eclipses, hoping to chase away the dragons they imagined were
devouring the moon. I have a theory that there's a similar discrepancy in
your psyche, Capricorn. A fearful part of you has an irrational fantasy that
a wiser part of you knows is a delusion. So how can we arrange for the
wiser part to gain ascendancy? There's an urgent need for you to stop
wasting time and energy by indulging in that mistaken perspective.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Squirrels don't have a perfect memory of
where they bury their nuts. They mean to go back and dig them all up
later, but they lose track of many. Sometimes trees sprout from those
forgotten nuts. It's conceivable that on occasion a squirrel may climb a
tree it planted years earlier. I see this as a useful metaphor for you to
meditate on in the coming weeks. You are on the verge of encountering
grown-up versions of seeds you sowed once upon a time and then forgot
about.
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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 shut down your sense of wonder.
Every day, you're over-exposed to narratives 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 in this newsletter.
If you ever want more of that good stuff, and think it's worth paying for,
please consider trying out my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're
four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.
Register and/or sign in at http://RealAstrology.com.
They're available on your tablets and smart phones as well as your
computers.
You can also listen over the phone by calling
1-877-873-4888
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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): On a German TV show, martial artist Jackie
Chan performed a tough trick. While holding a raw egg in his right hand,
he used that hand to smash through three separate sets of four concrete
blocks. When he was finished, the egg was still intact. I see your next task
as having some resemblances to that feat, Pisces. You must remain
relaxed, protective, and even tender as you destroy an obstruction that
has been holding you back. Can you maintain this dual perspective long
enough to complete the job? I think you can.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the 2000 film *Cast Away,* Tom Hanks
plays an American FedEx executive who is stranded alone on a remote
Pacific island after he survives a plane crash. A few items from the plane
wash up on shore, including a volleyball. He draws a face on it and names
it "Wilson," creating a companion who becomes his confidant for the next
four years. I'd love to see you enlist an ally like Wilson in the coming
week, Aries. There are some deep, messy, beautiful mysteries you need
to talk about. At least for now, the only listener capable of drawing them
out of you in the proper spirit might be a compassionate inanimate object
that won't judge you or interrupt you.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): As far as I know, there has been only one
battleship in history that was named after a poet. A hundred years ago,
the Italian navy manufactured a dreadnought with triple-gun turrets and
called it Dante Alighieri, after the medieval genius who wrote the *Divine
Comedy.* Other than that, most warships have been more likely to
receive names like Invincible, Vengeance, Hercules, or Colossus. But it
would be fine if you drew some inspiration from the battleship Dante
Alighieri in the coming weeks. I think you will benefit from bringing a
lyrical spirit and soulful passion to your expression of the warrior
archetype.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): If you go to a 7-Eleven convenience store and
order a Double Big Gulp drink, you must be prepared to absorb 40
teaspoons of sugar. But what will be an even greater challenge to your
body is the sheer amount of fluid you will have to digest: 50 ounces. The
fact is, your stomach can't easily accommodate more than 32 ounces at
a time. It's true that if you sip the Double Big Gulp very slowly -- like for a
period of three and a half hours -- the strain on your system will be less.
But after the first half hour, as the beverage warms up, its taste will
decline steeply. Everything I've just said should serve as a useful
metaphor for you in the coming week. Even if you are very sure that the
stuff you want to introduce into your life is healthier for you than a
Double Big Gulp, don't get more of it than you can comfortably hold.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): If you surrender to the passive part of your
personality, you will be whipped around by mood swings in the coming
days. You will hem and haw, snivel and procrastinate, communicate
ineptly, and be confused about what you really feel. If, on the other hand,
you animate the proactive side of your personality, you are likely to
correct sloppy arrangements that have kept you off-balance. You will heal
rifts and come up with bright ideas about how to get the help you need.
It's also quite possible you will strike a blow for justice and equality, and
finally get the fair share you were cheated out of in the past.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In his 1982 martial arts film *Dragon Lord,* Jackie
Chan experimented with more complex stunts than he had tried in his
previous films. The choreography was elaborate and intricate. In one
famous sequence, he had to do 2,900 takes of a single fight sequence to
get the footage he wanted. That's the kind of focused attention and
commitment to detail I recommend to you in the coming weeks, Leo --
especially if you are learning new tricks and attempting novel approaches.
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Homework: What symbol best represents your deepest desire? Testify by
going to FreeWillAstrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2014 Rob Brezsny
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