Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
November 5, 2014
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/1t86kjQ
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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.
As an experiment, I invite you to say this twice a day for the next ten
days: "Novel intuitions are now erupting from my smart heart, awakening
me from any trance I've been ensnared in. I am hereby breaking and
escaping obstructions that have hindered my ability to express my soul's
code. My unique capacities are being liberated, my potentials activated."
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In response to our culture's ever-rising levels of noise and frenzy, rites of
purification have become more popular. Many people now recognize the
value of taking periodic retreats. Withdrawing from their usual
compulsions, they go on fasts, avoid mass media, practice celibacy, or
even abstain from speaking. While we applaud cleansing ceremonies like
this, we recommend balancing them with periodic outbreaks of an equal
and opposite custom: the Bliss Blitz.
During this celebration, you tune out the numbing banality of the daily
grind. But instead of shrinking into asceticism, you indulge in uninhibited
explorations of joy, release, and expansion. Turning away from the mildly
stimulating distractions you seek out when you're bored or worried, you
become inexhaustibly resourceful as you search for unsurpassable sources
of cathartic pleasure. Try it for a day or a week: the Bliss Blitz.
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The greatest gift you can give might be the gift that you yourself were
never given. Give that gift.
The most valuable service you have to offer your fellow humans may be
the service you have always wished were performed for you. Offer that
service.
An experience that wounded you could move you to help people who've
been similarly wounded. Heal yourself by healing others.
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"Nothing's going right in my life. I feel anxious and paranoid all the time.
My relationships are a mess." In my line of work, people make confessions
like that to me.
My first response is usually something like this: "Do you habitually gobble
junk food near bedtime, steal a paltry five hours of sleep per night, gulp
two cups of coffee and no breakfast in the morning, then bolt to a
workplace where you get no sunlight or exercise and sit in an
uncomfortable chair?"
They often reply, "You must be psychic! How did you know?!"
My point is that many psychological troubles stem from our chronic failure
to take good care of our physical needs.
Name three things you can do to promote pronoia in yourself by taking
better care of your body.
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The following isn't from my book, but from Robert Anton Wilson:
"The underlying principle of Robert Anton Wilson's philosophy is 'I know
I'm wrong, I want to be less wrong.' This is very different to now, our
current internet culture, where the underlying philosophy is 'I'm right, and
I want you to know that.'
"And if you go onto any internet discussion, or debate, or things like that,
you find people declaring certainties loudly, people with very fixed
positions that they can express in 140 characters, that they hunker down
and defend, and don't listen to anything else, and attempt to drown out
all the others.
"That's so different to Robert Anton Wilson: he believed -- hang on, the
word believe is difficult with Bob -- he thought that what you believed
imprisoned you, he thought convictions create convicts.
"His philosophy can be called 'multiple-model agnosticism.' That's not just
agnosticism about God, that's agnosticism about everything."
http://tinyurl.com/mqg2kme
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
"All Sikh places of worship serve free meals for all visitors, regardless of
religious, regional, cultural, racial, caste, or class affiliations."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurdwara
Living Wages, Rarity for U.S. Fast-Food Workers, Served Up in Denmark
http://tinyurl.com/jw5mqe4
A British man who saved 669 children, most of them Jews, from the Nazis
has been awarded the Czech Republic's highest state honor.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29798434
(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 November 6
Copyright 2014 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Near the end of the 19th century, an
American named Annie Londonderry became the first woman to ride a
bicycle around the world. It was a brave and brazen act for an era when
women still couldn't vote and paved roads were rare. Her 15-month
journey took her through countries that would be risky for a single woman
on a bike to travel through today, like Egypt and Yemen. What made her
adventure even more remarkable was that she didn't know how to ride a
bike until two days before she departed. I'd love to see you plan a daring
exploit like that, Scorpio -- even if you do not yet have a certain skill you
will need to succeed.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): P. G. Wodehouse wrote more than 90
books, as well as numerous plays, musical comedies, and film scripts.
When he died at age 93, he was working on another novel. He did not
suffer from writer's block. And yet his process was far from effortless. He
rarely churned out perfection on his first attempt. "I have never written a
novel," he testified, "without doing 40,000 words or more and finding
they were all wrong and going back and starting again." The way I see
your immediate future, Sagittarius, is that you will be creating your own
version of those 40,000 wrong words. And that's OK. It's not a problem.
You can't get to the really good stuff without slogging through this
practice run.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): It's a favorable time for you to meditate
intensely on the subject of friendship. I urge you to take inventory of all
the relevant issues. Here are a few questions to ask yourself. How good of
a friend are you to the people you want to have as your friends? What
capacities do you cultivate in your effort to build and maintain vigorous
alliances? Do you have a clear sense of what qualities you seek in your
cohorts and colleagues? Are you discerning in the way you choose your
compatriots, or do you sometimes end up in associations with people you
don't truly enjoy and don't have much in common with? If you discover
any laziness or ignorance in your approach to the art of friendship, make
the necessary fixes.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Before the invention of the printing press,
books in Europe were handmade. Medieval monks spent long hours
copying these texts, often adding illustrations in the margins. There's an
odd scene that persistently appears in these illuminated manuscripts:
knights fighting snails. Scholars don't agree on why this theme is so
popular or what it means. One theory is that the snail symbolizes the
"slow-moving tedium of daily life," which can be destructive to our hopes
and dreams -- similar to the way that literal snails may devour garden
plants. In accordance with the cosmic omens, I am bestowing a
knighthood on you, Aquarius, so you will be inspired to rise up and defeat
your own metaphorical version of the snail.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): To be in righteous alignment with cosmic
forces, keep the Halloween spirit alive for another week. You have a
license to play with your image and experiment with your identity.
Interesting changes will unfold as you expand your notion of who you are
and rebel cheerfully against your own status quo. To get started, try this
exercise. Imagine that your gangsta name is Butt-Jugglin Smuggla. Your
pirate name is Scallywagger Hornslasher. Your sex-worker name is Saucy
Loaf. Your Mexican wrestler name is Ojo Ăšltimo (Ultimate Eye). Your rock
star-from-the-future name is Cashmere Hammer. Or make up your own
variations.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Shape-shifting is a common theme in fairy
tales, says cultural historian Marina Warner in her book *From the Beast to
the Blonde.* "A rusty lamp turns into an all-powerful talisman," for
example. "A humble pestle and mortar become the winged vehicle of the
fairy enchantress," or a slovenly beggar wearing a dirty donkeyskin
transforms into a radiant princess. I foresee metaphorically similar events
happening in your life sometime soon, Aries. Maybe they are already
underway. Don't underestimate the magic that is possible.
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MY OTHER HOROSCOPES
Factual information and reasonable thinking alone are not sufficient to
guide you through life's labyrinthine tests. You need and deserve regular
deliveries of uncanny revelation.
One of your inalienable rights as a human being should therefore be to
receive mysteriously useful omens on a regular basis. In this spirit, I offer
you the free weekly horoscopes you read here.
If you ever want more, and think it's worth paying for, try my EXPANDED
AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the
current state of your destiny and where you're headed.
They're available here:
http://RealAstrology.com
You can also access them by phone:
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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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The technical scientific term for what happens
when you get a headache from eating too much ice cream too fast is
*sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia.* I urge you to be on guard against such
an occurrence in the coming week. You should also watch out for other
phenomena that fit the description of being too-much-and-too-fast-of-a-
good-thing. On the other hand, you shouldn't worry at all about slowly
getting just the right amount of a good thing. If you enjoy your pleasures
with grace and moderation, you'll be fine.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "Pregreening" is a term for what impatient
drivers do as they are waiting at a red light. They partly take their foot
off the brake, allowing their car to creep forward, in the hope of
establishing some momentum before the light changes to green. I advise
you to avoid this type of behavior in the coming week, Gemini -- both the
literal and the metaphorical variety. Pregreening might make sense by,
say, November 15 or 16. But for now, relax and abide.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): German composer Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827) was one of the greats. His influence on the evolution of
Western music has been titanic, and many of his best compositions are
still played today. He was prodigious, too, producing over 350 works. One
of the secrets to his high level of energy seems to have been his
relationship with coffee. It was an indispensable part of his diet. He was
fastidious in its preparation, counting out exactly 60 coffee beans for
each cup. I recommend that you summon a similar attention to detail in
the coming days. It will be an excellent time to marshal your creative
energy and cultivate your lust for life. You will get the best results if you
are precise and consistent and focused in your approach.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): By the time we have become young adults, most
of us don't remember much about our lives from before the age of five.
As we grow into middle age, more and more childhood memories drop
away. Vague impressions and hazy feelings may remain. A few special
moments keep burning brightly. But the early events that shaped us are
mostly gone. Having said that, I want to alert you to the fact that you are
in a phase when you could recover whole swaths of lost memories, both
from your formative years and later. Take advantage of this rare window
of opportunity to reconnect with your past.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Photographer Joel Leindecker can kick himself
in the head 127 times in one minute. *Guinness World Records* affirms
that his achievement is unmatched. I'm begging you not to try to top his
mark any time soon. In fact, I'm pleading with you not to commit any act
of mayhem, chaos, or unkindness against yourself -- even if it it's done for
entertainment purposes. In my view, it's crucial for you to concentrate on
caressing yourself, treating yourself nicely, and caring for yourself with
ingenious tenderness in the coming weeks.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The writing of letters is becoming a lost art.
Few people have a long enough attention span to sit down and compose a
relaxed, thoughtful report on what they have been doing and thinking.
Meanwhile, the number of vigorous, far-reaching conversations is waning,
too. Instead, many of us tend to emit and absorb short bursts of
information at frequent intervals. But I invite you to rebel against this
trend in the coming weeks. Judging from the astrological omens, I believe
you would stir up some quietly revolutionary developments by slowing
down and deepening the way you communicate with those you care
about. You may be amazed by how much richer your experience of
intimacy will become.
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Homework: Is there a place in your life where you're skilled at bending but
not breaking? Brag about it! Truthrooster@gmail.com
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2014 Rob Brezsny
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