Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
April 29, 2015
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/1EM5425
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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
The e-book is available at http://bit.ly/eePronoia
Below are excerpts.
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Here are practical ways I carry on the work of championing and
embodying the Divine Feminine:
I regard relationship as a crucible for spiritual work.
I think of the practical expression of kindness and compassion and ethical
behavior as an essential spiritual practice.
I assume that a crucial element of spiritual practice is the consciousness
and compassion we bring to the sometimes chaotic and messy details of
being human beings.
I proceed as if loving and caring for animals and plants and the Earth is
the test of our spiritual intentions.
I regard play and fun and humor as not diversions from "serious" spiritual
work, but rather being at the center of it.
There are more, but I'll stop for now. What about you? What are the
practical ways you carry on the work of loving Goddess?
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"You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the
society you grew up in."
- Eliezer Yudkowsky
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Some people put their faith in religion or science or political ideologies.
English novelist J.G. Ballard placed his faith elsewhere: in the imagination.
"I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world," he wrote,
"to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend
death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist
the confidences of madmen."
How do you use the power of imagination to remake the world?
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"The criteria for success: you are free, you live in the present moment,
you are useful to the people around you, and you feel love for all
humanity."
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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"May a good vision catch me
May a benevolent vision take hold of me, and move me
May a deep and full vision come over me, and burst open around me
May a luminous vision inform me, enfold me.
May I awaken into the story that surrounds,
May I awaken into the beautiful story.
May the wondrous story find me;
May the wildness that makes beauty arise between two lovers
arise beautifully between my body and the body of this land,
between my flesh and the flesh of this earth,
here and now,
on this day,
May I taste something sacred."
—David Abram (Writer/Activist/Ecologist),
http://www.wildethics.org/dabram.html
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"Modern post-industrial societies tend to produce un-sane populations --
multitudes of people who are unbalanced in their adaptation to the
destructive stress of daily existence. One of the symptoms of this un-
sanity is the loss of contact between the waking ego and the depths of
the self, a contact that requires involvement in dream experiences and
information.
"Cultures generally resist change, and modern materialist societies are no
different in this respect. Devaluation of dreaming and other spiritually
efficacious experiences is part of the foundation of 'false consciousness'
required by capitalist/materialist political economies.
"Materialist cultures require that the focus of awareness be upon the
material conditions of life and away from involvement with the inner being
which is the only road to spiritual maturation."
- Charles D. Laughlin, "Communing with the Gods: Consciousness, Culture
and the Dreaming Brain" - http://tinyurl.com/moeah6v
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
The surprisingly simple way Utah solved chronic homelessness and saved
millions
http://tinyurl.com/k5cqpnv
The owner of a credit card processing business in Seattle is raising his
employees' minimum wage to $70,000 by cutting his own salary. "The
market rate for me as a C.E.O. compared to a regular person is ridiculous,
it's absurd," he said.
http://tinyurl.com/l3pd89v
"Empathy isn't just something that happens to us -- a meteor shower of
synapses firing across the brain -- it's also a choice we make: to pay
attention, to extend ourselves. It's made of exertion, that dowdier cousin
of impulse.
"Sometimes we care for another because we know we should, or
because it's asked for, but this doesn't make our caring hollow. The act of
choosing simply means we've committed ourselves to a set of behaviors
greater than the sum of our individual inclinations: I will listen to his
sadness, even when I'm deep in my own.
- Leslie Jamison, "The Empathy Exams": http://tinyurl.com/njwww5d
(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 30
Copyright 2015 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): eBay is a multi-billion-dollar e-commerce
business that has been around for almost 20 years. But it had an
inauspicious beginning. The first item ever sold on the service was a
broken laser pointer. Even though the laser pointer didn't work, and the
seller informed the buyer it didn't work, it brought in $14.83. This story
might be a useful metaphor for your imminent future, Taurus. While I have
faith in the vigor of the long-term trends you are or will soon be setting in
motion, your initial steps may be a bit iffy.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Poetically speaking, it's time to purify your
world of all insanities, profanities, and inanities. It's a perfect moment for
that once-in-a-blue-moon Scour-a-Thon, when you have a mandate to
purge all clunkiness, junkiness, and gunkiness from your midst. And as you
flush away the unease of your hypocrisies and discrepancies, as you
dispense with any tendency you might have to make way too much sense,
remember that evil is allergic to laughter. Humor is one of the most
effective psychospiritual cleansers ever.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): I was in the checkout line at Whole Foods.
The shopper ahead of me had piled her groceries on the conveyor belt,
and it was her turn to be rung up. "How are you doing?" she said
cheerfully to the cashier, a crabby-looking hipster whom I happened to
know is a Cancerian poet and lead singer in a local rock band. "Oh, I am
living my dream," he replied. I guessed he was being sarcastic, although I
didn't know for sure. In any case, I had a flash of intuition that his answer
should be your mantra in the coming weeks. It's time to redouble your
commitment to living your dream! Say it 20 times in a row right now: "I
am living my dream."
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): As I awoke this morning, I remembered the dream
I'd just had. In the dream, I had written a horoscope for you. Here's what
it said: "The Kentucky Derby is a famous horse race that takes place on
the first Saturday of every May. It's called 'The Run for the Roses'
because one of the prizes that goes to the winning horse and jockey is a
garland of 554 roses. I suspect that your life may soon bring you an odd
treasure like that, Leo. Will it be a good thing, or too much of a good
thing? Will it be useful or just kind of weird? Beautiful or a bit ridiculous?
The answers to those questions may depend in part on your willingness to
adjust your expectations."
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Don't calm down. Don't retreat into your
sanctuary and relax into protective comfort. If you have faith and remain
committed to the messy experiment you have stirred up, the stress and
agitation you're dealing with will ripen into vitality and excitement. I'm not
exaggerating, my dear explorer. You're on the verge of tapping into the
catalytic beauty and rejuvenating truth that lurk beneath the frustration.
You're close to unlocking the deeper ambitions that are trapped inside the
surface-level wishes.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): American author Stephen Crane wrote his
celebrated Civil War novel *The Red Badge of Courage* in ten days.
Composer George Frideric Handel polished off his famous oratorio
*Messiah* in a mere 24 days, and Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky
produced his novel *The Gambler* in 16 days. On the other hand, Junot
Díaz, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel *The Brief Wondrous Life of
Oscar Wao,* needed ten years to finish it. As for you, Libra, I think this is
-- and should be! -- a phase more like Díaz's than the other three
creators'. Go slowly. Be super extra thorough. What you're working on
can't be rushed.
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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.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to
http://RealAstrology.com.
Register and/or log in through the main page.
You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888.
The cost is $6 per sign on the Web (discounts available for bulk
purchases), or $1.99 per minute by phone.
The Expanded Audio Horoscopes work on most smart phones and tablets.
"The best part about your audio horoscopes is that they pat me on the
head and kick me in the ass at the same time." - Rita L., San Diego
"Your audio oracles go beyond helping me find the truth -- they inspire
me to find the WILD truth." - Patrick K., Montreal
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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In her book *A Natural History of the
Senses,* Diane Ackerman describes a medieval knight who asked his lady
for a strand of her pubic hair: a symbol of her life force. The lady agreed.
He placed the talisman in a locket that he wore around his neck, confident
that it would protect him and consecrate him in the course of the rough
adventures ahead. I recommend that you consider a similar tack in the
coming weeks, Scorpio. As you head toward your turning point, arm
yourself with a personal blessing from someone you love. Success is most
likely if you tincture your fierce determination with magical tenderness.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "An escalator can never break," mused
comedian Mitch Hedberg. "It can only become stairs. You should never
see an 'Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order' sign, just 'Escalator Is
Temporarily Stairs.'" I think a similar principle applies to you, Sagittarius. If
we were to try to evaluate your current situation with conventional
wisdom, we might say that part of your usual array of capacities is not
functioning at its usual level. But if we adopted a perspective like
Hedberg's, we could rightly say that this part of you is simply serving its
purpose in a different way.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I've got a tough assignment for you. It
won't be easy, but I think you're ready to do a good job. Here it is: Learn
to be totally at home with your body. Figure out what you need to do to
feel unconditional love for your physical form. To get started on this
noble and sacred task, practice feeling compassion for your so-called
imperfections. I also suggest you cast a love spell on yourself every night,
using a red candle, a mirror, and your favorite creamy beverage. It may
also help to go down to the playground and swing on the swings, make
loud animal sounds, or engage in unusually uninhibited sex. Do you have
any other ideas?
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When Aquarian media mogul Oprah Winfrey
was born, "Oprah" was not what she was called. Her birth certificate says
she is "Orpah," a name her aunt borrowed from a character who appears
in the biblical *Book of Ruth.* As Oprah grew up, her friends and relatives
had trouble pronouncing "Orpah," and often turned it into "Oprah." The
distorted form eventually stuck. But if I were her, I would consider
revisiting that old twist sometime soon, maybe even restoring "Orpah."
For you Aquarians, it's a favorable time to investigate original intentions
or explore primal meanings or play around with the earliest archetypes.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): What I propose is that you scan your
memories and identify everyone who has ever tried to limit your options
or dampen your enthusiasm or crush your freedom. Take a piece of paper
and write down a list of the times someone insinuated that you will
forever be stuck in a shrunken possibility, or made a prediction about
what you will supposedly never be capable of, or said you had a problem
that was permanently beyond your ability to solve. Once you've compiled
all the constricting ideas about yourself that other people have tried to
saddle you with, burn that piece of paper and declare yourself exempt
from their curses. In the days after you do this ritual, all of life will
conspire with you to expand your freedom.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Chris Moneymaker was employed as an
accountant in Tennessee. On a whim, he paid $39 to enter an online
poker tournament. Although he knew a lot about the game, he had never
competed professionally. Nevertheless, he won the tournament. As his
award, he received no money, but rather an invitation to participate in the
annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Can you guess the storybook
ending? The rookie triumphed over 838 pros, taking home $2.5 million. I
don't foresee anything quite as spectacular for you, Aries, but there may
be similar elements in your saga. For example, a modest investment on
your part could make you eligible for a chance to earn much more. Here's
another possible plot twist: You could generate luck for yourself by
ramping up a skill that has until now been a hobby.
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Homework: What's the decision you agonize about? The commitment you
can never make? Tell all at FreeWillAstrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2015 Rob Brezsny
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