Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
May 6, 2015
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/1GWRG8V
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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 is an excerpt.
THE BLESSINGS OF CHANGE
One of life's great bounties is its changeableness, which ensures that
boredom will never last very long. You may underestimate the intensity of
your longing for continual transformation, but the universe doesn't.
That's why it provides you with the boundless entertainment of your
ever-shifting story. That's why it is always revising the challenges it sends
your way, providing your curious soul with a rich variety of unpredictable
teachings.
Neuroscientists have turned up evidence that suggests you love this
aspect of the universe's behavior. They say that you are literally addicted
to learning. At the moment when you grasp a lesson you've been
grappling with, your brain experiences a rush of a natural opium-like
chemical, boosting your pleasure levels. You crave this experience. You
thrive on it.
So the universe is built in such a way as to discourage boredom. It does
this not just by generating an endless stream of interesting novelty, and
not only by giving you an instinctive lust to keep learning, but also by
making available an abundance of ways to break free of your habitual
thoughts. You can go to school, travel, read, listen to experts, converse
with people who think differently from you, and absorb the works of
creative artists. You can replenish and stretch your mind through
exercise, sex, psychotherapy, spiritual practices, and self-expression. You
can take drugs and medicines that alter your perspectives.
And here's the best part of this excellent news: Every method that exists
for expanding your consciousness is more lavishly available right now than
it has been at any previous time in history.
Never before have there been so many schools, educational programs,
workshops, and enrichment courses. Virtually any subject or skill you want
to study, you can. You don't even have to leave your home to do it. The
number of online classes is steadily mounting.
Travel is easier and faster than ever before. A few days from now, you
could be white-water rafting along the Franklin River in Tasmania, or riding
on "the train at the end of the world" in Tierra del Fuego, or observing
Golden Bamboo lemurs in the rainforest of southeastern Madagascar. If
you're on a budget, you can jet to exotic locales for free as an air courier,
or you can travel cheaply as an eco-tourist, enjoying the natural pleasures
of distant climes without demanding luxurious accommodations or
expensive night life.
Let's talk about the Internet's role in helping the universe discourage
boredom. Remember, it's still very early in the evolution of this budding
global brain. But already it provides you with instant access to a
substantial amount of all the information, images, and music ever created.
And in another few years, the sheer entirety of the human mind's riches
will be spread before you like a gargantuan feast. It's not yet true that
every book ever written and every song ever recorded and every film ever
made are accessible online, but it will be true sooner rather than later.
Today, without leaving your chair or spending any money, you can enjoy
Kandinsky's painting "Improvisation No. 30" or archives of the Krazy Kat
comic strips. You can listen to a Vivaldi concerto or a Black Sabbath
heavy metal anthem, and you can read the history of the Peloponnesian
War or the myths of the Tlingit Indians. You can hear Martin Luther King's
"I Have a Dream" speech or watch a short film of the Three Stooges
throwing pies in the faces of high society matrons or pore over every
poem Emily Dickinson ever wrote.
For many of us, few freshly minted glories are more glorious than the
Internet's prodigious gift of song. Thanks to the magic of electronic file
transfer, there has never before been so much great music available, and
from so many different cultures and genres, and so cheaply.
Enhancing this blessing has been the recent revolution in recording
technology, which has made it possible for musicians all over the world to
record their compositions at low cost. We not only have much better
access to all kinds of music, but have far more new music to enjoy as
well.
One further development has pushed our relationship with music into the
realm of crazy goodness: portable MP3 players that allow us to listen to
the burgeoning abundance of tunes anywhere and anytime we want . . . .
TO READ THE REST OF THIS, go here: http://bit.ly/ChangeBlessing
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"Remember, we are all affecting the world every moment, whether we
mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we are so
deeply interconnected with one another. Working on our own
consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any
moment, and being love is a supreme creative act."
- Ram Dass
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"Make visible what, without you, might have never been seen."
- Robert Bresson
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The poet Kabir says:
Friend, hope for the Guest while you are alive.
Jump into experience while you are alive!
Think . . . and think . . . while you are alive.
What you call "salvation" belongs to the time
before death.
If you don't break your ropes while you're alive,
do you think
ghosts will do it after?
The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic
just because the body is rotten --
that is all fantasy.
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now,
you will simply end up with an apartment
in the City of Death.
If you make love with the divine now, in the next life
you will have the face of satisfied desire.
So plunge into the truth, find out who the Teacher is,
believe in the Great Sound!
Kabir says this: When the Guest is being searched for,
it is the intensity of the longing for the Guest
that does all the work.
Look at me, and you will see a slave of that intensity.
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- Kabir, translated and rendered by Robert Bly
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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:
Research shows:
1. Exercising compassion stimulates the same pleasure centers associated
with the drive for food, water and sex.
2. Practicing compassion with intention has a positive physiological effect
on the body. It can lower blood pressure, boost your immune response
and increase your calmness.
3. Not only are we hard-wired to be kind, but it is essential for the
survival of our species.
4. Recognizing common fears or vulnerabilities rather than differences --
be it with a difficult friend, an abrasive colleague or a noisy neighbor --
calms the nervous system, boosting feelings of contentment and self
worth.
More: http://tinyurl.com/n2m3t2t
The Most Effective Anti-Poverty Program In America?
http://tinyurl.com/m8up3h5
From the annals of pronoiac history:
In 1946 six brilliant young women programmed the first all-electronic,
programmable computer, the ENIAC, a project run by the U.S. Army in
Philadelphia as part of a secret World War II project.
http://eniacprogrammers.org/documentary/
(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 May 7
Copyright 2015 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Here's one of the best things you can do for
your mental and physical health: Withdraw your attention from the life
that lies behind you, and be excited about the life that stretches ahead of
you. Forget about the past, and get wildly inventive as you imagine the
interesting future you will create for yourself. Forgive everyone who has
offended you, and fantasize about the fun adventures you'll go on, the
inspiring plans you'll carry out, and the invigorating lessons you hope to
learn.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the children's book *The Little Engine That
Could,* a little blue engine volunteers to pull a long chain of train cars up
a steep hill, even though it's not confident it has the power to do so. As
it strains to haul the heavy weight, it recites a mantra to give itself hope:
"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." The story ends happily. The little
blue engine reaches the top of the hill with its many cars in tow, and is
able to glide down the rest of the way. As you deal with your own
challenge, Gemini, I recommend that you use an even more forceful
incantation. Chant this: "I know I can, I know I can, I know I can."
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Here's a confession: I have taken a vow to
foster beauty, truth, love, justice, equality, tolerance, creativity,
playfulness, and hope. To do this work is one of my life goals. I approach
it with the devotion of a monk and the rigor of a warrior. Does that mean
I ignore difficulty and suffering and cruelty? Of course not. I'm trying to
diminish the power of those problems, so I sure as hell better know a lot
about them. On the other hand, my main focus is on redemption and
exaltation. I prefer not to describe in detail the world's poisons, but rather
to provide an antidote for them. Even if you don't normally share my
approach, Cancerian, I invite you to try it for the next two weeks. The
astrological time is right.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The hill where I take my late afternoon hikes is
teeming with the six-petaled purple wildflower known as the elegant
cluster-lily. Every one of them -- and there are hundreds -- lean hard in
the direction of the sun in the west. Should I deride them as conformists
that follow the law of the pack? Should I ridicule them for their blind
devotion? Or should I more sensibly regard them as having a healthy
instinct to gravitate toward the life-giving light? I'll go with the latter
theory. In that spirit, Leo, I urge you to ignore the opinions of others as
you turn strongly toward the sources that provide you with essential
nourishment.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Am I reading the astrological omens correctly?
I hope so. From what I can tell, you have been flying under the radar and
over the rainbow. You have been exploiting the loopholes in the big bad
system and enjoying some rather daring experiments with liberation. At
this point in the adventure, you may be worried that your lucky streak
can't continue much longer. I'm here to tell you that it can. It will. It must.
I predict that your detail-loving intelligence will paradoxically guide you to
expand your possibilities even further.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to the three science fiction films
collectively known as *The Matrix,* we humans suffer from a fundamental
delusion. What we think is real life is actually a sophisticated computer
simulation. Intelligent machines have created this dream world to keep us
in suspended animation while they harvest our energy to fuel their
civilization. Now as far as I can tell, this scenario isn't literally true. But it
is an apt metaphor for how many of us seem to be half-asleep or under a
spell, lost in our addiction to the simulated world created by technology. I
bring this to your attention, Libra, because now is a favorable time to
diminish the hold that the metaphorical Matrix has on you. What can you
do to at least partially escape your bondage? (Hint: A little more contact
with nature could do the trick.)
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YOU'VE ALWAYS GOT MORE HELP AVAILABLE THAN YOU IMAGINE
What do you want to be when you grow up? Is it possible that you will
eventually develop beautiful capacities and sublime understandings that
you can't even imagine right now?
I might be able to help you move in the direction of becoming more of the
person you were born to be.
Tune in to my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
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. Each forecast is 4-5 minutes
long.
The Expanded Audio Horoscopes work on most smart phones and tablets.
"Your Expanded Audio Horoscopes provide me with the Rest of the Story.
I'm not necessarily a believer in the scientific accuracy of astrology, but I
do think you've got a lot of practical wisdom to impart."
- M. Tennenbaum, New York
"No one knows more about me than me. But you're right up there near
the top of the list of people who do understand something about how I
tick. How is that possible?"
- R. Goren, Albuquerque
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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the coming weeks, you may be as alluring
and intriguing and tempting as you have been in a long time. I suggest
you capitalize on this advantage. Proceed as if you do indeed have the
power to attract more of the emotional riches you desire. Assume that
you are primed to learn new secrets about the arts of intimacy, and that
these secrets will make you even smarter and more soulful than you
already are. Cultivate your ability to be the kind of trusted ally and
imaginative lover who creates successful relationships.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Physicist Frank Wilczek won a Nobel
Prize for his research into quarks, the tiny particles that compose protons
and neutrons. The guy is breathtakingly smart. Here's one of his operating
principles: "If you don't make mistakes, you're not working on hard
enough problems. And that's a big mistake." Let's enshrine his advice as
your meditation, Sagittarius. I think you're strong enough and brave
enough to go hunting for some new super-rich dilemmas. Yes, they may
lead you to commit some booboos. But they will also stretch your
intelligence beyond its previous limits, giving you a more vigorous
understanding of the way the world works.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In 1934, Capricorn baseball player Dizzy
Dean was named the Most Valuable Player after winning 30 games. It was
a feat that no National League pitcher has repeated ever since. After
Dean retired, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Never shy about
acknowledging his own prowess, he declared that "if you can do it, it ain't
bragging." It is in this spirit that I invite you to freely expound on your
talents and accomplishments in the coming week. You won't be boasting.
You will simply be providing information. And that will ultimately result in
you being offered an interesting new opportunity or two.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): There has rarely been a better time than
now to refine the art of being your own mommy or daddy. You're finally
ready to take over from the parental voices in your head and assume full
responsibility for raising yourself the rest of the way. What do you want
to be when you grow up? You may feel a giddy sense of freedom as it
becomes clear that the only authority who has the right to answer that
question is you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The universe has always played tricks on you.
Some have been so perplexing that you've barely understood the joke.
Others have been amusing but not particularly educational. Now I sense a
new trend in the works, however. I suspect that the universe's pranks are
becoming more comprehensible. They may have already begun to contain
hints of kindness. What's the meaning of this lovely turn of events?
Maybe you have finally discharged a very old karmic debt. It's also
conceivable that your sense of humor has matured so much that you're
able to laugh at some of the crazier plot twists. Here's another possibility:
You are cashing in on the wisdom you were compelled to develop over the
years as you dealt with the universe's tricks.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Benedictine monks observe the Latin motto
*Laborare est Orare.* The 19th-century abbot Maurus Wolter interpreted
these words to mean "work is worship" or "work is prayer." He was trying
to impress upon his fellow monks that the work they did was not a
grudging distraction from their service to God, but rather at the heart of
their devotion. To do their tasks with love was a way to express gratitude
for having been blessed with the gift of life. I propose that you
experiment with this approach in the coming weeks, even if your version
is more secular. What would it be like to feel contentment with and
appreciation for the duties you have been allotted?
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Homework: No one can make you feel any emotion unless you agree to
feel it. You are the sovereign of what happens inside you. Explain why at
FreeWillAstrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2015 Rob Brezsny
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