Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
October 14, 2015
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Se a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/1ZwqDva
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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.
Being a devotee of pronoia doesn't mean you will never have another
difficult or painful experience. It doesn't obligate you to pretend that
everything is perfectly right with the world. You don't have to cover your
eyes whenever you come into proximity to a daily newspaper.
On the other hand, we're not going to waste our valuable space or your
precious energy by giving more than equal time to stories of tragedy,
failure, and tumult. They get far more than their fair share of attention
everywhere else. Future historians might even conclude that our age
suffered from a collective obsessive-compulsive disorder: the pathological
need to repetitively seek out reasons for how bad life is.
Still, we feel the need to push a bit further in our acknowledgment of all
the confusing evils of the world. It's hard to satisfy the paranoid cynics!
Unless we demonstrate that we have some mastery of their ideology,
they'll dismiss us as intellectual pussies. They will need proof that we're
familiar with the data they favor.
Our Homeopathic Medicine Spells make it harder for the paranoids to
dismiss us pronoiacs as naive optimists. They're designed to recognize
the evils of the world, but in a controlled manner that prevents them from
poisoning you. In this way, we can also practice what we preach,
subverting any tendencies we might have toward fanaticism and
unilateralism.
Each Homeopathic Medicine Spell consists of a contained space within
which lies a recitation of Very Bad Things. The border around each space
is a magical seal that we consecrated during a ritual invocation of the
Cackling Goddess Who Eternally Creates Us Anew. Inspired through
communion with Her fierce jokes, we also surrounded each seal with good
mojo in the form of word charms and talismanic symbols.
As you gaze at the Homeopathic Medicine Spells, you'll be building up
your protection against the dangers named inside the contained space.
You'll also get intuitions about how to dissolve the pop nihilistic toxins
within you that resonate with those dangers.
See the Spell: http://bit.ly/12nhPt1
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There is no God. God is dead. God is a drug for people who aren't very
smart. God is an illusion sold to dupes by money-hungry religions. God is a
right-wing conspiracy. God is an infantile fantasy favored by superstitious
cowards who can't face life's existential meaninglessness.
JUST KIDDING! The truth is, anyone who says he knows what God is or
isn't, doesn't really know.
Now read Adolfo Quezada's prayer, then confess what you don't know
about God. "God of the Wild, you are different from what I expected. I
cannot predict you. You are too free to be captured for the sake of my
understanding. I can't find you in the sentimentalism of religion. You are
everywhere I least expect to find you. You are not the force that saves
me from the pain of living; you are the force that brings me life even in
the midst of pain."
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What if the Creator is like the poet Rainer Maria Rilke's God: "like a
webbing made of a hundred roots, that drink in silence"? What if the
Source of All Life inhabits both the dark and the light, heals with strange
splendor as much as with sweet insight, is hermaphroditic and
omnisexual?
What if the Source loves to give you riddles that push you past the
boundaries of your understanding, forcing you to change the ways you
think about everything? What if, as Rusty Morrison speculates in Poetry
Flash, "the sublime can only be glimpsed by pressing through fear's
boundary, beyond one's previous conceptions of the beautiful"?
Close your eyes and imagine you can sense the presence of this tender,
marvelous, difficult, entertaining intelligence.
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One goal of meditation is to empty the mind of its obsessively generated
thoughts, habitual rationalizations, and addictive images. Alas, much of
the media functions as a reverse meditation machine. Not only does it stir
up your own mental clatter, it also floods you with the seething surge of
other people's private pandemoniums.
Furthermore, it delivers this rattling racket with entertaining words and
brilliant color and crystalline sound, driving it as deeply into your psyche
as your own flotsam.
What might heal the effects of the media's reverse meditations? How
about a day-long fast from all media once a month -- not just from
Facebook, but the thousands of other sources that channel the
collective's monkey mind?
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Increasing numbers of people are able to cultivate a chronic, low-grade
ecstasy that never fully dissipates. This altered state often sensitizes
their perceptions to the presence of subtle miracles that are hidden from
others people. For these "everyday ecstatics," extraordinary stimulation
and peak experiences are not necessary to sustain the constant flow of
bliss . . .
[Read the rest of this exposé here: http://bit.ly/zC3r67]
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"We tend to associate the energy of intent with complicated or
profoundly meaningful actions that require our full attention and effort in
order to succeed. For example, walking a tightrope, taking a test, and
taking a vow are all tasks that call us to be fully present and single-
minded.
"However, intent can also be applied to everyday events, like eating
breakfast or going to work. In fact, everything we do benefits from the
presence of intent, which has the power to transform seemingly mundane
tasks into profound experiences. You only have to try it to find out.
"From the moment we wake up, we can apply intent to our situation by
simply saying to ourselves, 'I am aware that I am now awake.' We can use
this simple tool throughout our day, saying, 'I am aware that I am driving
to work.' 'I am aware that I am making dinner.' Or even, 'I am aware that I
am breathing.'
"As we acknowledge what we are doing in these moments, we come alive
to our bodies and to the world, owning our actions instead of habitually
performing them. We may realize how often we act without intention and
how this disengages us from reality. Applying the energy of intent to
even one task a day has the power to transform our lives. Just imagine
what would happen if we were able to apply that power to our entire
day."
- By Madisyn Taylor of Daily Om, http://dailyom.com/
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
From the upcoming book, "The Great Surge: The Ascent of the
Developing World," by Steven Radelet:
"We live today at a time of great progress for the global poor. Never
before have so many people, in so many developing countries, made so
much progress. Most Americans believe the opposite: that the majority of
developing countries are hopelessly mired in deep poverty, led by inept
dictators, and living with pervasive famine, widespread disease, constant
violence, and little hope for change.
"But in fact a major transformation is underway -- and has been for two
decades now. Since the early 1990s more than 700 million people have
been lifted out of extreme poverty, six million fewer children die every
year from disease, tens of millions more girls are in school, millions more
people have access to clean water, and democracy -- often fragile and
imperfect -- has become the norm in developing countries around the
world."
http://tinyurl.com/phv4a8a
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Many people living in Africa need electricity, but don't have it. Luckily,
something of a solar power revolution is afoot in Africa, triggering a wave
of innovation from solar energy entrepreneurs.
http://tinyurl.com/pcq49r2
(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 October 15
Copyright 2015 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Many astronomers believe that our universe
began with the Big Bang. An inconceivably condensed speck of matter
exploded, eventually expanding into thousands of billions of stars. It must
have been a noisy event, right? Actually, no. Astronomers estimate that
the roar of the primal eruption was just 120 decibels -- less than the
volume of a live rock concert. I suspect that you are also on the verge of
your own personal Big Bang, Libra. It, too, will be relatively quiet for the
amount of energy it unleashes.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): For now, you are excused from further work
on the impossible tasks that have been grinding you down. You may take
a break from the unsolvable riddles and cease your exhaustive efforts.
And if you would also like to distance yourself from the farcical jokes the
universe has been playing, go right ahead. To help enforce this transition,
I hereby authorize you to enjoy a time of feasting and frolicking, which will
serve as an antidote to your baffling trials. And I hereby declare that you
have been as successful at weathering these trials as you could possibly
be, even if the concrete proof of that is not yet entirely visible.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): One afternoon in September, I was
hiking along a familiar path in the woods. As I passed my favorite
grandmother oak, I spied a thick, six-foot-long snake loitering on the trail
in front of me. In hundreds of previous visits, I had never before seen a
creature bigger than a mouse. The serpent's tail was hidden in the brush,
but its head looked more like a harmless gopher snake's than a dangerous
rattler's. I took the opportunity to sing it three songs. It stayed for the
duration, then slipped away after I finished. What a great omen! The next
day, I made a tough but liberating decision to leave behind a good part of
my life so as to focus more fully on a great part. With or without a snake
sighting, Sagittarius, I foresee a comparable breakthrough for you
sometime soon.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Canadian author Margaret Atwood has
finished a new manuscript. It's called *Scribbler Moon.* But it won't be
published as a book until the year 2114. Until then, it will be kept secret,
along with the texts of many other writers who are creating work for a
"Future Library." The project's director is conceptual artist Katie
Paterson, who sees it as a response to George Orwell's question, "How
could you communicate with the future?" With this as your inspiration,
Capricorn, try this exercise: Compose five messages you would you like to
deliver to the person you will be in 2025.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Every hour of your life, millions of new cells
are born to replace old cells that are dying. That's why many parts of
your body are composed of an entirely different collection of cells than
they were years ago. If you are 35, for example, you have replaced your
skeleton three times. Congratulations! Your creativity is spectacular, as is
your ability to transform yourself. Normally these instinctual talents aren't
nearly as available to you in your efforts to recreate and transform your
psyche, but they are now. In the coming months, you will have
extraordinary power to revamp and rejuvenate everything about yourself,
not just your physical organism.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The coming weeks will NOT be a favorable
time to seek out allies you don't even like that much or adventures that
provide thrills you have felt a thousand times before. But the near future
will be an excellent time to go on a quest for your personal version of the
Holy Grail, a magic carpet, the key to the kingdom, or an answer to the
Sphinx's riddle. In other words, Pisces, I advise you to channel your
yearning toward experiences that steep your heart with a sense of
wonder. Don't bother with anything that degrades, disappoints, or
desensitizes you.
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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.
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"Your expanded horoscopes get more personal and intimate with me than
some of my closest friends. Thanks for the loving reflections."
- Ari S., Ann Arbor, MI
"When I listen to your audio 'scopes, my free will lights up." - Alex D., Los
Angeles
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ARIES (March 21-April 19): Here's actor Bill Murray's advice about
relationships: "If you have someone that you think is The One, don't just
say, 'OK, let's pick a date. Let's get married.' Take that person and travel
around the world. Buy a plane ticket for the two of you to go to places
that are hard to go to and hard to get out of. And if, when you come
back, you're still in love with that person, get married at the airport." In
the coming weeks, Aries, I suggest you make comparable moves to test
and deepen your own closest alliances. See what it's like to get more
seriously and deliriously intimate.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Some firefighters use a wetter kind of water
than the rest of us. It contains a small amount of biodegradable foam that
makes it ten times more effective in dousing blazes. With this as your
cue, I suggest you work on making your emotions "wetter" than usual. By
that I mean the following: When your feelings arise, give them your
reverent attention. Marvel at how mysterious they are. Be grateful for
how much life force they endow you with. Whether they are relatively
"negative" or "positive," regard them as interesting revelations that
provide useful information and potential opportunities for growth.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): *Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell* is a BBC TV
min-series set in the early 19th century. It's the fictional story of a lone
wizard, Mr. Norrell, who seeks to revive the art of occult magic so as to
accomplish practical works, like helping the English navy in its war against
the French navy. Norrell is pleased to find an apprentice, Jonathan
Strange, and draws up a course of study for him. Norrell tells Strange that
the practice of magic is daunting, "but the study is a continual delight." If
you're interested in taking on a similar challenge, Gemini, it's available.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): We humans have put buttons on clothing for
seven millennia. But for a long time these small knobs and disks were
purely ornamental -- meant to add beauty but not serve any other
function. That changed in the 13th century, when our ancestors finally
got around to inventing buttonholes. Buttons could then serve an
additional purpose, providing a convenient way to fasten garments. I
foresee the possibility of a comparable evolution in your personal life,
Cancerian. You have an opening to dream up further uses for elements
that have previously been one-dimensional. Brainstorm about how you
might expand the value of familiar things.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): You would be wise to rediscover and revive your
primal innocence. If you can figure out how to shed a few shreds of your
sophistication and a few slivers of your excess dignity, you will literally
boost your intelligence. That's why I'm inviting you to explore the
kingdom of childhood, where you can encounter stimuli that will freshen
and sweeten your adulthood. Your upcoming schedule could include
jumping in mud puddles, attending parties with imaginary friends, having
uncivilized fun with wild toys, and drinking boisterously from fountains of
youth.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): While still a young man, Virgo author Leo
Tolstoy wrote that "I have not met one man who is morally as good as I
am." He lived by a strict creed. "Eat moderately" was one of his "rules of
life," along with "Walk for an hour every day." Others were equally stern:
"Go to bed no later than ten o'clock," "Only do one thing at a time," and
"Disallow flights of imagination unless necessary." He did provide himself
with wiggle room, however. One guideline allowed him to sleep two hours
during the day. Another specified that he could visit a brothel twice a
month. I'd love for you to be inspired by Tolstoy's approach, Virgo. Now
is a favorable time to revisit your own rules of life. As you refine and
recommit yourself to these fundamental disciplines, be sure to give
yourself enough slack.
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Homework: In what part of your life are you doing less than your best?
Why? FreeWillAstrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2015 Rob Brezsny
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