Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
July 29, 2015
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/1JqVt1C
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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.
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LOVE TIPS
Love thrives when neither partner takes things personally, so cultivate a
devotion to forgiveness and divest yourself of the urge to blame.
Love is a game in which the rules keep changing, so be crafty and
improvisational as you stay alert for each unexpected twist of fate.
Love enmeshes you in your partner's unique set of karmic complications,
so make sure you're very interested in his or her problems.
Love is a laboratory where you can uncover secrets about yourself that
have previously been hidden, so be ravenously curious.
Love is never a perfect match of totally compatible saints, so don't let
sterile fantasies seduce you away from flawed but fecund realities.
Love is not a low-maintenance machine, so work hard on cultivating its
unpredictable organic wonders.
Love is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of DreamWorks or Disney, so don't
let your romantic story be infected by the entertainment industry's
simplistic, sentimental myths about intimate relationships.
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INVITATION TO LOVE THE RIDDLES
I invite you to study the brazen contradictions . . .
and draw inspiration from the crazy-making incongruities . . .
and marvel at the mysterious ambiguities . . .
and give your compassionate attention to the slippery paradoxes . . .
and say lusty prayers of gratitude for the contradictions, incongruities,
ambiguities, and paradoxes that are making you so much wiser and
deeper and kinder and cuter.
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LET'S MAKE MORALITY FUN
Are you turned off by the authoritarian, libido-mistrusting perversity of
the right-wing moral code, but equally reluctant to embrace the atheism
embedded in the left wing's code of goodness?
Are you hungry for a value system rooted in beauty, love, pleasure, and
liberation instead of order, control, politeness, and fear, but allergic to the
sophistry of the New Age?
Are you apathetic toward the saccharine goodness evangelized by
sentimental, superstitious fanatics, but equally bored by the intellectuals
who worship at the empty-hearted shrine of scientific materialism?
It may be time for you to whip up your very own moral code. If you do,
you might want to keep the following guidelines in mind:
1. A moral code becomes immoral unless it can thrive without a devil and
enemy.
2. A moral code grows ugly unless it prescribes good-natured rebellion
against automaton-like behavior offered in its support.
3. A moral code becomes murderous unless it's built on a love for the
fact that EVERYTHING CHANGES ALL THE TIME, and unless it perpetually
adjusts its reasons for being true.
4. A moral code will corrupt its users unless it ensures that their primary
motivation for being good is because it's fun.
5. A moral code deadens the soul of everyone it touches unless it has a
built-in sense of humor.
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TYPES OF LOVE?
The ancient Greeks had a variety of names for different kinds of love.
Here are some, according to Lindsay Swope in her review of Richard
Idemon's book "Through the Looking Glass."
1. "Epithemia" is the basic need to touch and be touched. Our closest
approximation is "horniness," though epithemia is not so much a sexual
feeling as a sensual one.
2. "Philia" is friendship. It includes the need to admire and respect your
friends as a reflection of yourself—like in high school, where you want to
hang out with the cool kids because that means you're cool too.
3. "Eros" isn't sexual in the way we usually think, but is more about the
emotional gratification that comes from merging souls.
4. "Agape" is a mature, utterly free expression of love that has no
possessiveness. It means wanting the best for another person even if it
doesn't advance your self-interest.
I invite you to coin some additional new words for other kinds of love.
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"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can
change," said psychologist Carl Rogers.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
The city of Melbourne assigned trees email addresses so citizens could
report problems. Instead, people wrote thousands of love letters to their
favorite trees.
http://tinyurl.com/oto3v6c
New CO2 recycler captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turns
it back into fuel.
http://tinyurl.com/pnrgkg2
Global poverty rates have been cut in half since 1981.
http://tinyurl.com/ofcm8pn
(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 July 30
Copyright 2015 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I expect you to be in a state of constant birth for
the next three weeks. Awakening and activation will come naturally. Your
drive to blossom and create may be irresistible, bordering on unruly. Does
that sound overwhelming? I don't think it will be a problem as long as you
cultivate a mood of amazed amusement about it. (P.S. This upsurge is a
healthy response to the dissolution that preceded it.)
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Expiration dates loom. Fond adieus and last
laughs and final hurrahs are on tap. Unfinished business is begging you to
give it your smartest attention while there's still time to finish it with
elegance and grace. So here's my advice for you, my on-the-verge friend:
Don't save any of your tricks, ingenuity, or enthusiasm for later. This *is*
the later you've been saving them for. You are more ready than you
realize to try what has always seemed improbable or inconceivable before
now. Here's my promise: If you handle these endings with righteous
decisiveness, you will ensure bright beginnings in the weeks after your
birthday.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A company called Evil Supply sells a satirical
poster that contains the following quote: "Be the villain you were born to
be. Stop waiting for someone to come along and corrupt you. Succumb to
the darkness yourself." The text in the advertisement for this product
adds, "Follow your nightmares . . . Plot your own nefarious path."
Although this counsel is slightly funny to me, I'm too moral and upright to
recommend it to you -- even now, when I think there would be value in
you being less nice and polite and agreeable than you usually are. So I'll
tinker with Evil Supply's message to create more suitable advice: "For the
greater good, follow your naughty bliss. Be a leader with a wild
imagination. Nudge everyone out of their numbing routines. Sow
benevolent mischief that energizes your team."
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "Every time you resist acting on your anger
and instead restore yourself to calm, it gets easier," writes psychologist
Laura Markham in *Psychology Today.* In fact, neurologists claim that by
using your willpower in this way, "you're actually rewiring your brain." And
so the more you practice, the less likely it is that you will be addled by
rage in the future. I see the coming weeks as an especially favorable time
for you to do this work, Scorpio. Keeping a part of your anger alive is
good, of course -- sometimes you need its energy to motivate
constructive change. But you would benefit from culling the excess.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Much of the action in the world's novels
takes place inside buildings, according to author Robert Bringhurst. But
characters in older Russian literature are an exception, he says. They are
always out in the forests, traveling and rambling. In accordance with
astrological omens, I suggest that you draw inspiration from the Russians'
example in the coming days. As often and as long as you can, put yourself
in locations where the sky is overhead. Nature is the preferred setting,
but even urban spots are good. Your luck, wisdom, and courage are likely
to increase in direct proportion to how much time you spend outdoors.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Has a beloved teacher disappointed you?
Are there inspirational figures about whom you feel conflicted because
they don't live up to all of your high standards? Have you become
alienated from a person who gave you a blessing but later expressed a
flaw you find hard to overlook? Now would be an excellent time to seek
healing for rifts like these. Outright forgiveness is one option. You could
also work on deepening your appreciation for how complicated and
paradoxical everyone is. One more suggestion: Meditate on how your
longing for what's perfect might be an enemy of your ability to benefit
from what's merely good.
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LOVE YOUR LIFE! How's your fight for freedom going? Are you making
progress in liberating yourself from your unconscious obsessions, bad
habits, and conditioned responses? Are you turning out to be the hero of
your own life?
For assistance and inspiration, tune in to my EXPANDED AUDIO
HOROSCOPES.
These forecasts are different in tone and format from the written
horoscopes you read here in the newsletter. They're longer and more
leisurely in tone. They tend to bring out more of the patient counselor in
me, and have a bit less of the poet.
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.
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"Your audio horoscopes help me love myself better, and I mean that in a
non-narcissistic way."
-Deva P., Indianapolis
"I'm really grateful for the way you pick up my telepathic requests and
answer them in your expanded audio 'scopes."
-Marion H., Birmingham, AL
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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): French and Italian readers may have no
problem with this horoscope. But Americans, Canadians, Brits, and
Aussies might be offended, even grossed out. Why? Because my analysis
of the astrological omens compels me to conclude that "moist" is a
central theme for you right now. And research has shown that many
speakers of the English language find the sound of the word "moist"
equivalent to hearing fingernails scratching a chalkboard. If you are one of
those people, I apologize. But the fact is, you will go astray unless you
stay metaphorically moist. You need to cultivate an attitude that is damp
but not sodden; dewy but not soggy; sensitive and responsive and lyrical,
but not overwrought or weepy or histrionic.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Which signs of the zodiac are the most
expert sleepers? Who best appreciates the healing power of slumber and
feels the least shame about taking naps? Which of the twelve astrological
tribes are most inclined to study the art of snoozing and use their
knowledge to get the highest quality renewal from their time in bed? My
usual answer to these questions would be Taurus and Cancer, but I'm
hoping you Pisceans will vie for the top spot in the coming weeks. It's a
very favorable time for you to increase your mastery of this supreme
form of self-care.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): "I am very much in love with no one in
particular," says actor Ezra Miller. His statement would make sense
coming out of your mouth right about now. So would this one: "I am very
much in love with almost everyone I encounter." Or this one: "I am very
much in love with the wind and moon and hills and rain and rivers." Is this
going to be a problem? How will you deal with your overwhelming urge to
overflow? Will you break people's hearts and provoke uproars everywhere
you go, or will you rouse delight and bestow blessings? As long as you
take yourself lightly, I foresee delight and blessings.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In her io9.com article on untranslatable words,
Esther Inglis-Arkell defines the Chinese term *wei-wu-wei* as "conscious
non-action . . . a deliberate, and principled, decision to do nothing
whatsoever, and to do it for a particular reason." In my astrological
opinion, the coming days would be a favorable time to explore and
experiment with this approach. I think you will reap wondrous benefits if
you slow down and rest in the embrace of a pregnant pause. The
mysteries of silence and emptiness will be rich resources.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "I always liked side-paths, little dark back-alleys
behind the main road -- there one finds adventures and surprises, and
precious metal in the dirt." The character named Dmitri Karamazov makes
that statement in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel *The Brothers Karamazov.*
And now I'm thinking that you might like to claim his attitude as your
own. Just for a while, you understand. Not forever. The magic of the side
paths and back-alleys may last for no more than a few weeks, and then
gradually fade. But in the meantime, the experiences you uncover there
could be fun and educational. I do have one question for you, though:
What do you think Dmitri meant by "precious metal in the dirt"? Money?
Gold? Jewelry? Was he speaking metaphorically? I'm sure you'll find out.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): "Sometimes the road less traveled is less
traveled for a reason," says comedian Jerry Seinfeld. His implication is
that rejecting traditional strategies and conventional wisdom doesn't
always lead to success. As a professional rebel myself, I find it painful to
agree even a little bit with that idea. But I do think it's applicable to your
life right now. For the foreseeable future, compulsive nonconformity is
likely to yield mediocrity. Putting too much emphasis on being unique
rather than on being right might distract you from the truth. My advice:
Stick to the road more traveled.
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Homework: Express gratitude for the enemy who has taught you the
most. FreeWillAstrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2015 Rob Brezsny
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