Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
February 3, 2016
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/1nZOkh6
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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 some inspirational quotes included in the book:
"Don't be concerned about being disloyal to your pain by being joyous."
- Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
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"I overcame myself, the sufferer; I carried my own ashes to the
mountains; I invented a brighter flame for myself. And behold, then this
ghost fled from me."
- Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufman
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"I don't care about someone being intelligent; any situation between
people, when they are really human with each other, produces
'intelligence.'"
- Susan Sontag
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"Magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means
to produce visible effects. Will, love, and imagination are magic powers
that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to
their fullest extent is a magician. Magic has but one dogma, namely, that
the seen is the measure of the unseen."
- W. Somerset Maugham
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"Know that joy is rarer, more difficult, and more beautiful than sadness.
Once you make this all-important discovery, you must embrace joy as a
moral obligation."
- Andre Gide
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"My idolatry: I've lusted after goodness. Wanting it here, now, absolutely,
increasingly."
- Susan Sontag
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"Only a shipwrecked person who has just escaped drowning could
understand the psychology of someone who breaks out in laughter just
because he is able to breathe."
- K_b_ Abe, "The Woman in the Dunes"
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"To cut through the charades of this world, to despise it, may be the aim
of great thinkers. My only goal in life is to be able to love this world, to
see it and myself and all beings with the eyes of love and admiration and
reverence."
– Hermann Hesse
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
A team of researchers from Yale University have some sweet news for
humanity: Most people are inherently good and kind-hearted, and it's the
mean girls and guys who deviate from the norm.
http://tinyurl.com/jnlecee
The African village where every house is a work of art.
http://tinyurl.com/lfmhfvp
New York sees a drop in crime.
http://tinyurl.com/zytahj7
(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They aren't advertisements,
and I get no kickbacks.)
Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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MEDITATIONS ON YOUR LONG-RANGE FUTURE
I've gathered together all the Free Will Astrology horoscopes that address
the far-reaching themes of your destiny in the coming months. Read a
compendium of your written horoscopes for 2016:
http://bit.ly/BigPicture2016
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If you like, you can also review the far-reaching horoscopes I wrote for
you back in early 2015. Did my projections for last year come to pass?
They're here: http://bit.ly/BigView2015
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning February 4
Copyright 2016 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com/horoscopes/
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You may sometimes be drawn to people or
places or ideas long before they can give you their gifts. Although you
sense their potential value, you might have to ripen before you'll be ready
to receive their full bounty. Here's how author Elias Canetti expressed it:
"There are books, that one has for twenty years without reading them,
that one always keeps at hand, yet one carefully refrains from reading
even a complete sentence. Then after twenty years, there comes a
moment when suddenly, as though under a high compulsion, one cannot
help taking in such a book from beginning to end, at one sitting: it is like a
revelation." I foresee a comparable transition happening for you, Aquarius.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The Leaning Tower of Pisa is eight stories
high, including its belfry, and tilts sideways at a four-degree angle. When
builders started construction back in 1173, they laid a weak foundation in
unstable soil, and the building has never stood straight since then. And
yet it is the most lucrative tourist attraction in the city of Pisa, and one
of the top ten in Italy. Its flaw is the source of its fame and glory. What's
the equivalent in your world, Pisces? Now is a favorable time to take new
or extra advantage of something you consider imperfect or blemished.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Bible's Book of Exodus tells the story of
the time Moses almost met God. "Show me your glory, please," the
prophet says to his deity, who's hiding. "You cannot see my face," God
replies, "but I will show you my back parts." That's good enough for
Moses. He agrees. I hope that you, too, will be satisfied with a
tantalizingly partial epiphany, Aries. I'm pretty sure that if you ask nicely,
you can get a glimpse of a splendor that's as meaningful to you as God
was to Moses. It may only be the "back parts," but that should still stir
you and enrich you.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The archaic English word "quaintrelle" refers
to a woman who treats her life as a work of art. She is passionate about
cultivating beauty and pleasure and wit in everything she is and does. But
she's not a narcissistic socialite. She's not a snooty slave to elitist notions
of style. Her aim is higher and sweeter: to be an impeccable, well-crafted
fount of inspiration and blessings. I propose that we resuscitate and tinker
with this term, and make it available to you. In 2016, you Tauruses of all
genders will be inclined to incorporate elements of the quaintrelle, and
you will also be skilled at doing so. If you have not yet dived in to this fun
work, start now!
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Sufi teacher (and Gemini) Idries Shah offered
this teaching: "They say that when Fortune knocks, you should open the
door. But why should you make Fortune knock, by keeping the door
shut?" Let's make this your featured meditation, Gemini. If there is
anywhere in your life where proverbial doors are shut -- either in the world
outside of you or the world inside of you -- unlock them and open them
wide. Make it easy for Fortune to reach you.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Many Cancerians harbor a chronic ache of
melancholy about what they're missing. The unavailable experience in
question could be an adventure they wish they were having or an absent
ally they long to be near or a goal they wish they had time to pursue.
That's the bad news. The good news is that you can harness the chronic
ache. In fact, it's your birthright as a Cancerian to do so. If you summon
the willpower to pull yourself up out of the melancholy, you can turn its
mild poison into a fuel that drives you to get at least some of what
you've been missing. Now is a favorable time to do just that.
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MAYBE JOY IS AN ESSENTIAL SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
Assume that your drive to experience pleasure and happiness isn't a
barrier to your spiritual growth, but is in fact essential to it. Proceed on
the hypothesis that cultivating joy can make you a more ethical and
compassionate person. Imagine that feeling good has something
important to teach you every day.
For inspiration in practicing this approach, tune in to your EXPANDED
AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the
current state of your destiny.
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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P.S. My long-range, big-picture audio horoscopes for the coming months
are still available. Register and/or log in through the main page, and then
access the horoscopes by clicking on "Long Range Prediction." (Choose
from Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.)
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"I always feel like I know myself better after listening to your audio
'scopes."
-June R., Austin, TX
"Your audio horoscopes calm me down when I'm too manic and pep me up
when I'm down."
-Arthur T., Cleveland, OH
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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): How will the next chapter of your story unfold? I
suspect there are two possible scenarios. In one version, the abundance
of choices overwhelms you. You get bogged down in an exciting but
debilitating muddle, and become frazzled, frenetic, and overwrought. In
the other possible scenario, you navigate your way through the lavish
freedom with finesse. Your intuition reveals exactly how to make good
use of the fertile contradictions. You're crafty, adaptable, and effective.
So which way will you go? How will the tale unfold? I think it's completely
up to you. Blind fate will have little to do with it. For best results, all you
have to do is stay in close touch with the shining vision of what you really
want.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "To hell with my suffering," wrote Arthur
Rimbaud in his poem "May Banners." I suggest you make that your mantra
for now. Anytime you feel a sour thought impinging on your perceptions,
say, "To hell with my suffering." And then immediately follow it up with an
expostulation from another Rimbaud poem, "It's all too beautiful." Be
ruthless about this, Virgo. If you sense an imminent outbreak of pettiness,
or if a critical voice in your head blurts out a curse, or if a pesky ghost
nags you, simply say, "To hell with my suffering," and then, "It's all too
beautiful." In this way, you can take advantage of the fact that you now
have more power over your emotional pain than usual.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): "I like people who unbalance me," says Irish
writer Colum McCann. Normally I wouldn't dream of encouraging you to
make the same declaration, Libra. My instinct is to help you do everything
necessary to maintain harmony. But now is one of those rare times when
you can thrive on what happens when you become a bit tilted or uneven
or irregular. That's because the influences that unbalance you will be the
same influences that tickle your fancy and charge your batteries and ring
your bell and sizzle your bacon.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The African Association was a 19th-century
British group dedicated to exploring West Africa. Its members hoped to
remedy Europeans' ignorance about the area's geography. In one of the
Association's most ambitious projects, it commissioned an adventurer
named Henry Nicholls to discover the origin and to chart the course of
the legendary Niger River. Nicholls and his crew set out by ship in their
quest, traveling north up a river that emptied into the Gulf of Guinea.
They didn't realize, and never figured out, that they were already on the
Niger River. I'm wondering if there's a comparable situation going on in
your life, Scorpio. You may be looking for something that you have
already found.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Richard P. Feynman was a brilliant
physicist who won a Nobel Prize in 1965 for his pioneering work in
quantum electrodynamics. He also played the bongo drums and was a
competent artist. But excessive pride was not a problem for him. "I'm
smart enough to know that I'm dumb," he testified. "The first principle is
that you must not fool yourself -- and you are the easiest person to fool."
I suggest you adopt him as your role model for the next two weeks,
Sagittarius. All of us need periodic reminders that we've got a lot to learn,
and this is your time. Be extra vigilant in protecting yourself from your
own misinformation and misdirection.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Food connoisseur Anthony Bourdain has a
TV show that enables him to travel the globe indulging in his love of
exotic cuisine. He takes his sensual delights seriously. In Charleston, South
Carolina, he was ecstatic to experience the flavorful bliss of soft-shell crab
with lemon pasta and shaved bottarga. "Frankly," he told his dining
companion, "I'd slit my best friend's throat for this." Bourdain was
exaggerating for comic effect, but I'm concerned you may actually feel
that strongly about the gratifications that are almost within your grasp. I
have no problem with you getting super-intense in pursuit of your
enjoyment. But please stop short of taking extreme measures. You know
why.
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Homework: Brag about your flaws and weaknesses and mistakes. Send
your boast to Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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Submissions sent to Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
or in response to "homework assignments" may be
published in a variety of formats at Rob Brezsny's discretion,
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2016 Rob Brezsny
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