Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
February 25, 2015
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My most recent book is *PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA*
The hard-copy edition is for sale here:
Amazon: http://bit.ly/Pronoia
Powells: http://bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/PronoiaBN
The e-book edition is available as an ePub directly from me at:
http://bit.ly/eePronoia
Below are excerpts from the book.
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I invite you to meditate on the relentlessness of your yearning for love.
Recognize the fact that your eternal longing will never leave you in peace.
Accept that it will forever delight you, torment you, inspire you, and
bewilder you -- whether you are alone or in the throes of a complicated
relationship.
Understand that your desire for love will just keep coming and coming and
coming, keeping you slightly off-balance and pushing you to constantly
revise your ideas about who you are.
Now read this declaration from the poet Rilke and claim it as your own:
"My blood is alive with many voices that tell me I am made of longing."
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There are thousand of things in the world that provide you with only
mediocre nourishment; the influences that deeply enrich you with their
blessings are much smaller in number.
To say it another way: You derive a bare amount of inspiration and
teaching from the great majority of people, songs, images, words, stories,
environments, and sights; whereas you draw life-sustaining illumination
and spirit-ennobling motivation from just a precious few.
I invite you to identify that special minority, and take aggressive steps to
be in ongoing communion with it.
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Feel free to steal all or parts of this personal ad for your own purposes:
SACRED AGENT SEEKS FREAKY CONSORT
Tired of both boringly nice goodie-goodies and menacing lunatics trying
to pass off their pathologies as "sexy"? I'm the happy medium: a
straddler of the mysterious edge where bliss and struggle overlap, where
the difference between light and dark just ain't that simple. I feel too
deeply to pretend that every question has a correct answer. I cry too
easily and love too much.
And you? Are you smart enough to be guided by your sacred dreams of
transgression? Are you free enough to surrender over and over again to
the waters of life? If you've got the courage, I've got the secrets. I'll be
your wild-eyed, smart-mouthed, spread-eagled muse if you'll be mine.
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Here's another personal ad for you:
MY EYES REMIND YOU WHERE YOU CAME FROM.
Uncork me, angel. Unfurl me. Release me and restore me and unleash me.
Not because I can't do it myself. Not because I'm just another narcissism-
addict jonesing for a quick fix.
On the contrary. I'm the most self-sufficient self-starter I've ever met. It's
from my position of strength that I aspire to whip up spectacular
synergies in tandem with your holy rolling reverberations.
So keep in mind that I'm here to uncork you and unfurl you and release
you and restore you and unleash you, too. That's the art of the game that
stretches out before us in all directions. That's the beauty of the gritty
reality that's disguised as a glittery fantasy. As you bless my risks and
massage my unconsciousness and save my soul, I'll always vice your
versa.
P.S. My last fortune cookie said, "You need nothing and want everything."
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Here's the Robert Bly poem that inspired the benediction I gave Geminis in
a recent Free Will Astrology horoscope:
THE THIRD BODY
A man and a woman sit near each other, and they do not long
at this moment to be older, or younger, nor born
in any other nation, or time, or place.
They are content to be where they are, talking or not talking.
Their breaths together feed someone whom we do not know.
The man sees the way his fingers move;
he sees her hands close around a book she hands to him.
They obey a third body they have in common.
They have made a promise to love that body.
Age may come, parting may come, death will come.
A man and woman sit near each other;
as they breathe they feed someone we do not know,
someone we know of, whom we have never seen.
~ Robert Bly, from "Loving a Woman in Two Worlds"
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The wildly disciplined, aggressively sensitive, ironically sincere,
blasphemously reverent unbelievers shall inherit the earth by making
sacred jokes through revolution.
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Are you in quest of an Intimate Ally? A Soul Friend? A Wild Confidante?
Check out Matchmaker.com via Free Will Astrology's link:
http://bit.ly/SoulMatch
Look for a Co-Pilot, Co-Conspirator, or Collaborator . . . an Agent to
represent you or a Disciple to worship you . . . a Secret Sharer who'll
listen better than anyone or an Amazing Accomplice with whom you can
practice the Art of Liberation.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
All of this week's Pronoaic Resources are from the marvelous *Yes*
magazine: http://www.yesmagazine.org/
"From Warrior Cops to Community Police: A Former Chief on How We Can
Turn Back the Tide of Militarization. Police in America belong to the
people -- not the other way around. Former Seattle police Chief Norm
Stamper on how we can turn war zone occupiers back into friendly
neighborhood officers."
http://tinyurl.com/oq377ul
"Deep in the Amazon, a Tiny Tribe Is Beating Big Oil. The people of
Sarayaku are a leading force in 21st century indigenous resistance,
engaging the western world politically, legally, and philosophically."
http://tinyurl.com/lhmruwy
"Portugal Cut Addiction Rates in Half by Connecting Drug Users With
Communities Instead of Jailing Them. Fifteen years ago, the Portuguese
had one of the worst drug problems in Europe. So they decriminalized
drugs, took money out of prisons, put it into holistic rehabilitation, and
found that human connection is the antidote to addiction."
http://tinyurl.com/o9hu8eg
(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 February 26
Copyright 2015 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The British rock band the Animals released
their gritty, growly song "The House of the Rising Sun" in 1964. It
reached the top of the pop music charts in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and
Australia, and was a hit with critics. *Rolling Stone* magazine ultimately
ranked it as the 122nd greatest song of all time. And yet it took the
Animals just 15 minutes to record. They did it in one take. That's the kind
of beginner's luck and spontaneous flow I foresee you having in the
coming weeks, Pisces. What's the best way for you to channel all that
soulful mojo?
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Lately your life reminds me of the action film
*Speed,* starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. In that story, a
criminal has rigged a passenger bus to explode if its speed drops below
50 miles per hour. In your story, you seem to be acting as if you, too, will
self-destruct if you stop moving at a frantic pace. I'm here to tell you that
nothing bad will happen if you slow down. Just the opposite, in fact. As
you clear your schedule of its excessive things-to-do, as you leisurely
explore the wonders of doing nothing in particular, I bet you will
experience a soothing flood of healing pleasure.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): One of the most dazzling moves a ballet
dancer can do is the *fouetté en tournant.* The term is French for
"whipped turning." As she executes a 360-degree turn, the dancer spins
around on the tip of one foot. Meanwhile, her other foot thrusts outward
and then bends in, bringing her toes to touch the knee of her supporting
leg. Can you imagine a dancer doing this 32 consecutive times? That's
what the best do. It takes extensive practice and requires a high degree
of concentration and discipline. Paradoxically, it expresses breathtaking
freedom and exuberance. You may not be a prima ballerina, Taurus, but in
your own field there must be an equivalent to the *fouetté en tournant.*
Now is an excellent time for you to take a vow and make plans to master
that skill. What will you need to do?
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): If you're a martial artist and you want to inject
extra energy into an aggressive move, you might utter a percussive shout
that sounds like "eee-yah!" or "hyaah!" or "aiyah!" The Japanese term for
this sound is *kiai.* The sonic boost is most effective if it originates deep
in your diaphragm rather than from your throat. Even if you're not a
martial artist, Gemini, I suggest that in the coming weeks you have fun
trying out this boisterous style of yelling. It may help you summon the
extra power and confidence you'll need to successfully wrestle with all the
interesting challenges ahead of you.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): The prolific and popular French novelist
Aurore Dupin was better known by her pseudonym George Sand. Few
19th-century women matched her rowdy behavior. She wore men's
clothes, smoked cigars, was a staunch feminist, and frequented social
venues where only men were normally allowed. Yet she was also a doting
mother to her two children, and loved to garden, make jam, and do
needlework. Among her numerous lovers were the writers Alfred de
Musset, Jules Sandeau, and Prosper Mérimée, as well as composer Frederic
Chopin and actress Marie Dorval. Her preferred work schedule was
midnight to 6 a.m., and she often slept until 3 p.m. "What a brave man
she was," said Russian author Ivan Turgenev, "and what a good woman."
Her astrological sign? The same as you and me. She's feisty proof that
not all of us Crabs are conventional fuddy-duddies. In the coming weeks,
she's our inspirational role model.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): It seems you've slipped into a time warp. Is that
bad? I don't think so. Your adventures there may twist and tweak a
warped part of your psyche in such a way that it gets healed. At the very
least, I bet your visit to the time warp will reverse the effects of an old
folly and correct a problem caused by your past sins. (By the way, when I
use the word "sin," I mean "being lax about following your dreams.")
There's only one potential problem that could come out of all this: Some
people in your life could misinterpret what's happening. To prevent that,
communicate crisply every step of the way.
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I'D LIKE TO ASSIST YOU AS YOU RE-GENIUS YOURSELF
Although we are all born geniuses, the grind of day-to-day living tends to
de-genius us. That's the bad news. The good news is that you have the
power to re-genius yourself.
For inspiration, tune in to your Expanded Audio Horoscopes. They're my
four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny. The
cost is $6 per reading, with a discount for multiple purchases.
Go here to register and/or sign in: http://RealAstrology.com/
You can also listen over the phone by calling
1-877-873-4888
REMEMBER:
You came into this world as a radiant bundle of exuberant riddles. You
slipped into this dimension as a shimmering burst of spiral hallelujahs. You
blasted into this realm as a lush explosion of ecstatic gratitude. And it is
your birthright to fulfill those promises.
I'm not pandering to your egotism by telling you these things. When I say,
"Be yourself," I don't mean you should be the self that wants to win every
game and use up every resource and stand alone at the end of time on
top of a Mt. Everest-sized pile of pretty garbage.
When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the self that says "Thank you!" to the
wild irises and the windy rain and the people who grow your food.
When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the rebel creator who's longing to make
the whole universe your home and sanctuary.
When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the dissident bodhisattva who's joyfully
struggling to germinate the seeds of divine love that are packed inside
every moment.
When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the spiritual freedom fighter who's
scrambling and finagling and conspiring to relieve your fellow messiahs
from their suffering and shower them with rowdy blessings.
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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In English and French versions of the word
game Scrabble, the letter z is worth ten points. In Italian, it's eight points.
But in the Polish variant of Scrabble, you score just one point by using z.
That letter is rarely used in the other three languages, but is common in
Polish. Keep this general principle in mind as you assess the value of the
things you have to offer. You will be able to make more headway and
have greater impact in situations where your particular beauty and power
and skills are in short supply.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): "Learn all you can from the mistakes of others.
You won't have to make them all your yourself." So said Alfred Sheinwold
in his book about the card game known as bridge. I think this is excellent
advice for the game of life, as well. And it should be extra pertinent for
you in the coming weeks, because people in your vicinity will be making
gaffes and wrong turns that are useful for you to study. In the future,
you'll be wise to avoid perpetrating similar messes yourself.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "Love her but leave her wild," advised a
graffiti artist who published his thoughts on a wall next to the mirror in a
public restroom I visited. Another guerrilla philosopher had added a
comment below: "That's a nice sentiment, but how can anyone retain
wildness in a society that puts so many demands on us in exchange for
money to live?" Since I happened to have a felt-tip pen with me, I
scrawled a response to the question posed in the second comment: "Be in
nature every day. Move your body a lot. Remember and work with your
dreams. Be playful. Have good sex. Infuse any little thing you do with a
creative twist. Hang out with animals. Eat with your fingers. Sing
regularly." And that's also my message for you, Scorpio, during this phase
when it's so crucial for you to nurture your wildness.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "Don't worry, even if things get heavy,
we'll all float on." So sings Modest Mouse's vocalist Isaac Brock on the
band's song "Float On." I recommend you try that approach yourself,
Sagittarius. Things will no doubt get heavy in the coming days. But if you
float on, the heaviness will be a good, rich, soulful heaviness. It'll be a
purifying heaviness that purges any glib or shallow influences that are in
your vicinity. It'll be a healing heaviness that gives you just the kind of
graceful gravitas you will need.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "What I look for in a friend is someone
who's different from me," says science fiction novelist Samuel Delany.
"The more different the person is, the more I'll learn from him. The more
he'll come up with surprising takes on ideas and things and situations."
What about you, Capricorn? What are the qualities in a friend that help
you thrive? Now is a perfect time to take an inventory. I sense that
although there are potential new allies wandering in your vicinity, they will
actually become part of your life only if you adjust and update your
attitudes about the influences you value most.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): At the turn of the 19th century, Russian
laborers constructed thousands of miles of railroad tracks from the
western part of the country eastward to Siberia. The hardest part of the
job was blasting tunnels through the mountains that were in the way. I
reckon you're at a comparable point in your work, Aquarius. It's time to
smash gaping holes through obstacles. Don't scrimp or apologize. Clear
the way for the future.
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Homework: True or false: You can't get what you want from another
person until you're able to give it to yourself. Explain why or why not.
FreeWillAstrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2015 Rob Brezsny
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