Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
October 1, 2014
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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 are excerpts.
"We are fully human only while playing, and we play only when we are
human in the truest sense of the word." - Rudolf Steiner
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"'Approfondement' is a French word that means 'playing easily in the
deep.'" - Tom Robbins
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"The ancient Greeks knew that learning comes from playing," writes Roger
von Oech in his book *A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be
More Creative.* Their word for education, *paideia,* he says, was close to
their word for play, *paidia.*
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Psychiatrist Stuart Brown has proposed this simple definition: "Play is
spontaneous behavior that has no clear-cut goal and does not conform to
a stereotypical pattern. The purpose of play is simply play itself; it
appears to be pleasurable."
In a study of 26 convicted murderers, Brown discovered that as children,
most of them had suffered either "from the absence of play or abnormal
play like bullying, sadism, extreme teasing, or cruelty to animals."
Brown's work led him to explore the biological roots of play. "New and
exciting studies of the brain, evolution, and animal behavior," he wrote,
"suggest that play may be as important to life -- for us and other animals
-- as sleeping and dreaming."
- Stuart L. Brown, "Animals at Play," *National Geographic*
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"How much courage is needed
to play forever,
as the ravines play,
as the river plays."
- Boris Pasternak, "Bacchanalia"
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"You can't know fire unless you play with it," says Mark Finney, a math
whiz who develops computer models for fighting forest fires.
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Western science and religion have differing views on how the universe was
created, but they agree that it happened a long time ago. The mystery
schools of the West, on the other hand, assert that the universe is re-
created anew in every moment through the divine erotic play of God and
Goddess. They say that if we humans treat lovemaking as an experimental
sacrament, we can attune ourselves to the union of the two primal deities
and, in a sense, participate in the ongoing creation of the world.
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"As a free deed, meditation is naturally individual, uniquely our own. It is
where we most fully become ourselves. Its practice is also always
individual.
"There are no rules. Just as every potter will elaborate his or her own way
of making pots, so every person who meditates will shape his or her own
meditation. No two people will do a given meditation in exactly the same
way. The same meditation practiced daily will be different every time.
"Every meditation is experimental. One never knows what is going to
happen. Improvisation is essential . . . Meditation is something to play with
. . . There is no 'wrong' way of doing the meditation, except not doing it!"
- Christopher Bamford, *Start Now!: A Book of Soul and Spiritual
Exercises*
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Monitor the calm, gentle, sweet spirits in your life for the possibility that
they may act as agents of deception or passivity. Be inspired by the
creator gods and goddesses of ancient myth, who playfully forged millions
of beautiful things using wind, mud, tears, and lightning.
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You are a mutant deity in disguise -- not a Buddha or a Christ exactly, but
of the same lineage and conjured from the same fire. You have been
around since the beginning of time and will be here after the end. Every
day and in every way, you're getting better at playing the preposterously
amusing master game we all dreamed up together before the Big Bang
bloomed.
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American author Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) expressed his
mission in the passage below. I aspire to be like him!
I am to invite men drenched in Time to recover themselves and come out
of time, and taste their native immortal air.
I am to fire with what skill I can the artillery of sympathy and emotion.
I am to indicate constantly, though all unworthy, the Ideal and Holy Life,
the life within life, the Forgotten Good, the Unknown Cause in which we
sprawl and sin.
I am to try the magic of sincerity, that luxury permitted only to kings and
poets.
I am to celebrate the spiritual powers in their infinite contrast to the
mechanical powers and the mechanical philosophy of this time.
I am to console the brave sufferers under evils whose end they cannot
see, by appeals to the great optimism, self-affirmed in all bosoms.
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Sometimes we have a strong sense of what our destiny is calling us to do,
but we don't feel quite ready or brave enough to answer the call. We
need a push, an intervention, a serendipitous stroke -- what you might call
"fate bait." It's a person or event that awakens our dormant willpower
and draws us inexorably toward our necessary destiny; it's a thunderbolt
or siren song or stage whisper that gives us a good excuse to go do what
we know we should do.
Do you have any ideas about how to put yourself in the vicinity of your
fate bait?
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Here's how cartoonist Matt Groening feels about love: "Love is a perky elf
dancing a merry little jig and then suddenly he turns on you with a
miniature machine gun."
Here, on the other hand, is what composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
believed: "Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both
together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of
genius."
Which do you vote for?
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Beyond Divestment: Climate-Concerned Philanthropists Pledge to Move
Billions to Wind and Solar.
Groups have been divesting money from oil, coal, and gas for years. Now
they're hoping to get more climate-healing bang for their buck.
http://tinyurl.com/mdgvcuu
7 Practical Ideas for Compassionate Communities, From Free College to
Debt Relief.
It's not hard to bring a little more equality into each others' lives.
http://tinyurl.com/kekes9h
Germany will introduce caps on rent rises in densely populated areas in
the first half of 2015, the government announced on Tuesday, in what it
said was an attempt to keep homes affordable for people on average
incomes.
http://tinyurl.com/q2l29vv
A compendium of pronoiac news.
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 October 1
Copyright 2014 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): When Jimmy Fallon was a senior in high school,
he received a weird graduation gift: a troll doll, one of those plastic
figurines with frizzy, brightly colored hair. Around the same time, his
mother urged him to enter an upcoming comedy contest at a nearby club.
Jimmy decided that would be fun. He worked up a routine in which he
imitated various celebrities auditioning to become a spokesperson for troll
dolls. With the doll by his side, he won the contest, launching his career as
a comedian. I foresee the possibility of a comparable development in your
life: an odd blessing or unexpected gift that inspires you to express one
of your talents on a higher level.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "Dear So-Called Astrologer: Your horoscopes
are worse than useless. Mostly they are crammed with philosophical and
poetic crap that doesn't apply to my daily life. Please cut way back on the
fancy metaphors. Just let me know if there is money or love or trouble
coming my way -- like what regular horoscopes say! -Skeptical Scorpio."
Dear Skeptical: In my astrological opinion, you and your fellow Scorpios
will soon feel the kind of pressure you just directed at me. People will ask
you to be different from what you actually are. My advice? Do not
acquiesce to them.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Tomatoes are a staple of Italian cuisine
now, but there weren't any tomatoes in Europe until the 16th century,
when Spanish explorers brought them from Central and South America.
Likewise, Malaysia has become a major producer of rubber, but it had no
rubber trees until seeds were smuggled out of Brazil in the 19th century.
And bananas are currently a major crop in Ecuador thanks to 16th-
century Portuguese sailors, who transported them from West Africa. I
foresee the possibility of comparable cross-fertilizations happening for
you in the coming months, Sagittarius. Do you have your eye on any
remote resources you'd like to bring back home?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Years ago, you experienced an event that
was so overwhelming you could not fully deal with it, let alone understand
it. All this time it has been simmering and smoldering in the depths of
your unconscious mind, emitting ghostly steam and smoke even as it has
remained difficult for you to integrate. But I predict that will change in the
coming months. You will finally find a way to bring it into your conscious
awareness and explore it with courage and grace. Of course it will be
scary for you to do so. But I assure you that the fear is a residue from
your old confusion, not a sign of real danger. To achieve maximum
liberation, begin your quest soon.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): This is prime time to do things that aren't
exactly easy and relaxing, but that on the other hand aren't actually
painful. Examples: Extend peace offerings to adversaries. Seek
reconciliation with valuable resources from which you have been
separated and potential allies from whom you have become alienated. Try
out new games you would eventually like to be good at, but aren't yet.
Get a better read on interesting people you don't understand very well.
Catch my drift, Aquarius? For now, at least, leaving your comfort zone is
likely to be invigorating, not arduous.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Your oracle is built around the epigrams of
conceptual artist Jenny Holzer. From her hundreds of pithy quotes, I have
selected six that offer the exact wisdom you need most right now. Your
job is to weave them all together into a symphonic whole. 1. "It's crucial
to have an active fantasy life." 2. "Ensure that your life stays in flux." 3.
"I have every kind of thought, and that is no embarrassment." 4.
"Animalism is perfectly healthy." 5. "Finding extreme pleasure will make
you a better person if you're careful about what thrills you." 6. "Listen
when your body talks."
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LOVE YOUR LIFE
"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that
station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." So begins
Charles Dickens' novel "David Copperfield." So let me ask you: Are you
becoming the hero of your own life? Are you figuring out the secrets of
how to create your destiny -- and not just waiting around for destiny to
happen to you?
If you'd like help in this noble work, 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.
They are not repeats or extensions of the written 'scopes you read here
for free. They are entirely fresh explorations of your astrological omens,
and are designed to help you tune in to your soul's code. (P.S. They're
not free.)
Register and/or sign in at http://RealAstrology.com/
They're available on your tablets and smart phones as well as your
computers.
"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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ARIES (March 21-April 19): As I hike through the wilderness at dusk, the
crickets always seem to be humming in the distance. No matter where I
go, their sound is farther off, never right up close to me. How can that
be? Do they move away from me as I approach? I doubt it. I sense no
leaping insects in the underbrush. Here's how this pertains to you: My
relationship with the crickets' song is similar to a certain mystery in your
life. There's an experience that calls to you but forever seems just out of
reach. You think you're drawing nearer, about to touch it and be in its
midst, but it inevitably eludes you. Now here's the good news: A change
is coming for you. It will be like what would happen if I suddenly found
myself intimately surrounded by hundreds of chirping crickets.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In three years, you will comprehend truths
about yourself and your life that you don't have the capacity to grasp
now. By then, past events that have been confusing to you will make
sense. You'll know what their purpose was and why they occurred. Can
you wait that long? If you'd rather not, I have an idea: Do a meditation in
which you visualize yourself as you will be three years from today.
Imagine asking your future self to tell you what he or she has discovered.
The revelations may take a while to start rolling in, but I predict that a
whole series of insights will have arrived by this time next week.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The journey that awaits you is succinct but
epic. It will last a relatively short time but take months to fully
understand. You may feel natural and ordinary as you go through it, even
as you are being rather heroic. Prepare as best as you can, but keep in
mind that no amount of preparation will get you completely ready for the
spontaneous moves you'll be called on to perform. Don't be nervous! I bet
you will receive help from an unexpected source. Feelings of deja-vu may
crop up and provide a sense of familiarity -- even though none of what
occurs will have any precedents.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In the wild, very few oysters produce pearls --
about one in every 10,000. Most commercial pearls come from farmed
oysters whose pearls have been induced by human intervention. As you
might expect, the natural jewel is regarded as far more precious. Let's use
these facts as metaphors while we speculate about your fate in the next
eight months. I believe you will acquire or generate a beautiful new source
of value for yourself. There's a small chance you will stumble upon a
treasure equivalent to the wild pearl. But I suggest you take the more
secure route: working hard to create a treasure that's like a cultivated
pearl.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In June 2012, a U.S. Senator introduced a bill that
would require all members of Congress to actually read or listen to a
reading of any bill before they voted on it. The proposal has been in limbo
ever since, and it's unlikely it will ever be treated seriously. This is
confusing to me. Shouldn't it be a fundamental requirement that all
lawmakers know what's in the laws they pass? Don't make a similar error,
Leo. Understand exactly what you are getting into, whether it's a new
agreement, an interesting invitation, or a tempting opportunity. Be
thoroughly informed.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Oliver Evans (1755-1819) was a prolific Virgo
inventor who came up with brilliant ideas for steam engines, urban gas
lighting, refrigeration, and automated machines. He made a radical
prediction: "The time will come when people will travel in stages moved
by steam engines, almost as fast as birds fly, 15 or 20 miles an hour." We
may be surprised that a visionary innovator like Evans dramatically
minimized the future's possibilities. In the same way, I suspect that later
in your life, you might laugh at how much you are underestimating your
potentials right now. In telling you this, I'm hoping you will stop
underestimating.
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Homework: Make nonsense noises for a minute straight every day this
week. Report results to Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2014 Rob Brezsny
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