Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
January 6, 2016
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/1n1acZ1
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EXPLORE YOUR LONG-RANGE FUTURE
with my 3-Part EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for the Coming Year.
http://RealAstrology.com
Who do you want to become in 2016? Where do you want to go and
what do you want to do? My reports might stimulate and inspire your
meditations about the interesting possibilities.
This week, my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES feature Part 2 of my long-
range, in-depth explorations of your destiny in 2016.
Part 1 of your Beginning-of-the-Year Predictions, which I offered last
week, is also still available. Part 3 will be ready for you on January 12.
What will be the story of your life in 2016? How can you exert your free
will to create adventures that'll bring out the best in you, even as you
find graceful ways to cooperate with the tides of destiny?
To listen to your BIG PICTURE horoscopes online, go here:
http://www.RealAstrology.com
Register and/or log in through the main page, and then click on the link
"Long Range Prediction, Part 2"
You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888.
The cost is $6 per sign on the Web (discounts for the purchase of
multiple tokens), or $1.99 per minute by phone. Each forecast is 7-9
minutes long.
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P.S. You can also still access my Sneak-Peek at 2016. In these Expanded
Audio Horoscopes, I describe some major themes I think you'll be working
and playing with in 2016. After you register and/or log in at
http://RealAstrology.com, click on "Two Weeks Ago (Dec. 22, 2015)."
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THE BEST THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN 2015
Slate has created a compendium of the best things that happened each
day in 2015. Here are ten of the best:
1. Nigeria bans female genital mutilation.
2. HIV protection is effective in African women.
3. Hunger has become much less severe in the past 15 years.
4. States' juvenile prison populations drop.
5. Homelessness declined 11 percent in the U.S. from 2010 to 2015.
6. Reforestation effort in Ecuador breaks world record.
7. Africa has its first polio-free year.
8. New Ebola vaccine is highly effective.
9. Energy storage technology, which is crucial for solar power, is making
great progress.
10. People taking pre-exposure prophylaxis are staying HIV-free
See the best events of the other 355 days: http://tinyurl.com/qaa74jp
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SIX HOPEFUL BREAKTHROUGHS IN 2015
From the brilliant *Yes* magazine:
1. The world set ambitious goals for climate stabilization, and real
leadership came from the grassroots.
2. Black Lives Matters changed hearts, minds, and policing practices.
3. Bernie Sanders forced inequality and the power of Wall Street into the
national debate.
4. The politics of scapegoating ran short of scapegoats.
5. Americans reassessed the U.S. role abroad.
6. The United States began a turn away from a prison state.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/nwl9vpo
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AN ABUNDANCE OF GOOD NEWS
"There are fewer wars. Inter-state war has virtually disappeared. More
countries around the world are democratic; more provide basic services
like health care, clean water, and immunizations to their citizens; most
adhere to a basic set of global rules and norms, participate in international
institutions, and are integrated into an interdependent global economy."
http://tinyurl.com/pgaevfm
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THINGS ARE ACTUALLY GETTING BETTER, DESPITE WHAT THE MEDIA
WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE
"The news is a systematically misleading way to understand the world,"
Steven Pinker says.
"Wars are far less common and deadly than in the recent past, terrorism
is rare, and the European refugee crisis is nothing new.
"In the past five years alone, conflicts have ended in Chad, Peru, Iran,
India, Sri Lanka, India, and Angola, and if peace talks currently underway in
Colombia are a success, war will have vanished from the Western
hemisphere.
"Attacks of the kind that killed civilians in Paris, Ankara, California, Beirut
and Garissa in Kenya this year are big news because they are rare.
"Rampage shootings generate a huge amount of media publicity but
account for a relatively tiny number of deaths."
More: http://tinyurl.com/ouoxkv4
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THE U.S. IS SAFER THAN ANY MAJOR POWER HAS EVER BEEN
"When Americans look out at the world, they see a swarm of threats.
China seems resurgent and ambitious. Russia is aggressive. Iran menaces
our allies. Middle East nations we once relied on are collapsing in flames.
Latin American leaders sound steadily more anti-Yankee. Terror groups
capture territory and commit horrific atrocities. We fight Ebola with one
hand while fending off Central American children with the other.
"In fact, this world of threats is an illusion. The United States has no
potent enemies. We are not only safe, but safer than any big power has
been in all of modern history."
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/zmf6a2s
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OVERREACTION TO TERRORISM IS MUCH MORE DANGEROUS THAN
TERRORISM
"Why do otherwise intelligent people keep saying silly things, like, 'We are
probably in the most serious period of turmoil in our lifetime.'?
"Overreaction to terrorism is the true threat"
http://tinyurl.com/ocrm7tc
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SOURCES OF UNDER-REPORTED GOOD NEWS
http://reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning January 7
Copyright 2016 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com/horoscopes/
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In her poem "Tree," California poet Jane
Hirshfield speaks of a young redwood tree that's positioned next to a
house. Watch out! It grows fast -- as much as three feet per year.
"Already the first branch-tips brush at the window," Hirshfield writes.
"Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life." I suspect this will be an apt
metaphor for you in 2016. The expansion and proliferation you have
witnessed these past few months are likely to intensify. That's mostly
good, but may also require adjustments. How will you respond as
immensity taps at your life?
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Centuries ago, lettuce was a bitter, prickly
weed that no one ate. But ancient Egyptians guessed its potential, and
used selective breeding to gradually convert it into a tasty food. I see
2016 as a time when you could have a comparable success. Look around
at your life, and identify weed-like things that could, through your
transformative magic, be turned into valuable assets. The process may
take longer than a year, but you can set in motion an unstoppable
momentum that will ensure success.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Imagine that a beloved elder has been writing
down your life story in the form of a fairy tale. Your adventures aren't
rendered literally, as your waking mind might describe them, but rather
through dream-like scenes that have symbolic resonance. With this as our
template, I'll predict a key plot development of 2016: You will grow
increasingly curious about a "forbidden" door -- a door you have always
believed should not be opened. Your inquisitiveness will reach such an
intensity that you will consider locating the key for that door. If it's not
available, you may even think about breaking down the door.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1962. His novel *Of Mice and Men* helped win him the
award, but it required extra persistence. When he'd almost finished the
manuscript, he went out on a date with his wife. While they were gone,
his puppy Toby ripped his precious pages into confetti. As mad as he was,
he didn't punish the dog, but got busy on a rewrite. Later he considered
the possibility that Toby had served as a helpful literary critic. The new
edition of *Of Mice and Men* was Steinbeck's breakout book. I'm guessing
that in recent months you have received comparable assistance, Aries --
although you may not realize it was assistance until later this year.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Remember back to what your life was like
during the first nine months of 2004. I suspect that you fell just short of
fulfilling a dream. It's possible you were too young to have the power you
needed. Or maybe you were working on a project that turned out to be
pretty good but not great. Maybe you were pushing to create a new life
for yourself but weren't wise enough to make a complete breakthrough.
Almost 12 years later, you have returned to a similar phase in your long-
term cycle. You are better equipped to do what you couldn't quite do
before: create the masterpiece, finish the job, rise to the next level.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): To become a skillful singer, you must learn to
regulate your breath. You've got to take in more oxygen than usual for
extended periods, and do it in ways that facilitate rather than interfere
with the sounds coming out of your mouth. When you're beginning, it
feels weird to exert so much control over an instinctual impulse, which
previously you've done unconsciously. Later, you have to get beyond
your self-conscious discipline so you can reach a point where the proper
breathing happens easily and gracefully. Although you may not be working
to become a singer in 2016, Gemini, I think you will have comparable
challenges: 1. to make conscious an activity that has been unconscious;
2. to refine and cultivate that activity; 3. to allow your consciously-
crafted approach to become unselfconscious again.
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WHAT'S YOUR LONG-RANGE FUTURE?
Would you like some inspiration as you muse and wonder about your
upcoming adventures in 2016?
In this week's EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, I offer you Part Two of a
long-term, in-depth exploration of your destiny in the coming year.
Part Three will be available next week. Part One is still available.
To listen to your BIG PICTURE horoscopes online, go here:
http://www.RealAstrology.com
Register and/or log in through the main page, and then click on the link
"Long Range Prediction, Part 2"
You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888.
The cost is $6 per sign on the Web (discounts for the purchase of
multiple tokens), or $1.99 per minute by phone. Each forecast is 7-9
minutes long.
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CANCER (June 21-July 22): Ancient humans didn't "invent" fire, but
rather learned about it from nature and then figured out how to produce
it as needed. Ropes had a similar origin. Our ancestors employed long
vines made of tough fiber as primitive ropes, and eventually got the idea
to braid and knot the vines together for greater strength. This technology
was used to hunt, climb, pull, fasten, and carry. It was essential to the
development of civilization. I predict that 2016 will bring you
opportunities that have metaphorical resemblances to the early rope.
Your task will be to develop and embellish on what nature provides.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): British author Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) had
a day job with the postal service until he was in his fifties. For years he
awoke every morning at 5:30 and churned out 2,500 words before
heading to work. His goal was to write two or three novels a year, a pace
he came close to achieving. "A small daily task, if it really be daily," he
wrote in his autobiography, "will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules."
I recommend that you borrow from his strategy in 2016, Leo. Be regular
and disciplined and diligent as you practice the art of gradual, incremental
success.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Umbrellas shelter us from the rain, saving us
from the discomfort of getting soaked and the embarrassment of bad
hair. They also protect us from the blinding light and sweltering heat of
the sun. I'm very much in favor of these practical perks. But when
umbrellas appear in your nightly dreams, they may have a less positive
meaning. They can indicate an inclination to shield yourself from natural
forces, or to avoid direct contact with primal sensuality. I hope you won't
do much of that in 2016. In my opinion, you need a lot of face-to-face
encounters with life in its raw state. Symbolically speaking, this should be
a non-umbrella year.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Around the world, an average of 26 languages
go extinct every year. But it increasingly appears that Welsh will not be
one of them. It has enjoyed a revival in the past few decades. In Wales,
it's taught in many schools, appears on road signs, and is used in some
mobile phones and computers. Is there a comparable phenomenon in your
life, Libra? A tradition that can be revitalized and should be preserved? A
part of your heritage that may be useful to your future? A neglected
aspect of your birthright that deserves to be reclaimed? Make it happen
in 2016.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Fourteenth-century author Geoffrey Chaucer
produced a collection of stories known as *The Canterbury Tales.* It
became a seminal text of English literature even though he never finished
it. The most influential book ever written by theologian Thomas Aquinas
was a work he gave up on before it was completed. The artist
Michelangelo never found the time to put the final touches on numerous
sculptures and paintings. Why am I bringing this theme to your attention?
Because 2016 will be an excellent time to wrap up long-term projects
you've been working on -- and also to be at peace with abandoning those
you can't.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): A bottle of Chateau Cheval Blanc wine
from 1947 sold for $304,000. Three bottles of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild
1869 went for $233,000 apiece. The mystique about aged wine provokes
crazy behavior like that. But here's a more mundane fact: Most wine
deteriorates with age, and should be sold within a few years of being
bottled. I'm thinking about these things as I meditate on your long-term
future, Sagittarius. My guess is that your current labor of love will reach
full maturity in the next 18 to 20 months. This will be a time to bring all
your concentration and ingenuity to bear on making it as good as it can
be. By September of 2017, you will have ripened it as much as it can be
ripened.
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Write a one-page essay entitled "2016 Is the Year I Figure Out What I
Really Want." if you'd like to share it, send it to me at
Truthroostyer@gmail.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2016 Rob Brezsny
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