Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
March 1, 2017
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/2lrVREL
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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.
It's reasonable and permissible to explode the past, misquote yourself,
create new gods and goddesses from scratch, believe in the opposite of
everything, forget the "important" fears that never came true, change
the meanings of your code words, misspell your own name, and rewrite
the epic twists of your myth.
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GRATITUDE FEST
Would you like to make yourself smarter and more beautiful? Are you
interested in increasing your capacity for ecstasy and improving your
health? Consider the possibility of celebrating regular Gratitude Fests.
During these orgies of appreciation, you could confer praise and respect
on the creatures, both human and otherwise, that have played seminal
roles in inspiring you to become yourself. You would devote yourself to
invoking and expressing thanks.
Who teaches and helps you? Who sees you for who you really are? Who
nudges you in the direction of your fuller destiny and awakens you to
your signature truths? Who loves you brilliantly?
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ACQUIRING GOOD PROBLEMS
Acquiring problems is a fundamental human need. It's as crucial to your
well-being as getting food, air, water, sleep, and love. You define yourself
-- indeed, you make yourself -- through the puzzling dilemmas you attract
and solve. The most creative people on the planet are those who frame
the biggest, hardest questions and then gather the resources necessary
to find the answers.
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IN LOVE WITH ???
"I was often in love with something or someone," wrote Polish poet
Czes_aw Mi_osz. "I would fall in love with a monkey made of rags. With a
plywood squirrel. With a botanical atlas. With an oriole. With a ferret. With
the forest one sees to the right when riding in a cart to Jaszuny. With
human beings whose names still move me."
I invite you to experiment with his approach to love. Make it a fun game:
See how often you can feel adoration for unexpected characters and
creatures. Be infatuated with curious objects . . . with snarky Internet
memes . . . with fleeting phenomena like storms and swirling flocks of
birds and candy spilled on the floor.
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"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary
project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends
limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find
yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties
and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater
person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be."
_ Patanjali
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HOW SOON IS NOW?
I like to complain and be outraged as much as the next aspiring
bodhisattva. I derive a not-so-taboo pleasure from railing against our new
Lord-of-the-Flies President and his snotty but lethal Trumpocalypse.
But I'm also passionate about crafting a new world that will bypass the
vortex of nonsense, that will render the institutionalized mayhem defunct.
I value Buckminster Fuller's perspective: "You never change things by
fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that
makes the existing model obsolete."
Another favorite counsel comes from sociologist David Cooperrider:
"Almost without exception, everything society has considered a social
advance has been prefigured first in some utopian writing."
And that's why I like to commune with idealistic yet practical futurists
who envision the best possible civilization we can create.
Now I'm happy to say that one of those rare Big Positive Thinkers is
offering a new blessing. With his book *How Soon is Now: From Personal
Initiation to Global Transformation,* Daniel Pinchbeck has secured his
place in my Hall of Fame of Positive and Practical Insurrectionaries.
The book is a manifesto. A call to zealous and compassionate action. A
well-thought-out and visionary formulization of effective tactics.
Thanks, Daniel!
available at Powells: http://tinyurl.com/zfg4qpf
available at Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/j8z6yr8
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Good news from http://tinyurl.com/j3rcmr9:
1. Say Goodbye to 40% of ocean plastics
2. The giant panda is no longer an endangered species
3. China announced plans to end the ivory trade
4. The US veteran homeless rate declined by 47% in the last 7 years
5. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge funded a medical breakthrough
6. China put a ban on certain coal mines
7. The manatee is longer on the endangered species list
8. The Colombian Government and FARC rebels signed a peace agreement
9. NASA Drone Juno flew 800 million miles
10. Canada protected 85% of the world's largest coastal temperate
rainforest
11. Measles has been eradicated from the Americas
12. Malawi saw its HIV rate drop by 67%
13. 20 countries created protected marine parks
14. Israel produces 55% of fresh water from the sea
15. Scientists developed an Ebola vaccine with a 100 percent success
rate
16. World hunger hit a 25-year low
17. Tiger populations are coming back again after 100 years
18. Einstein's theory of gravitational waves has been proven correct
19. Costa Rica's electrical grid can run on renewable energy
20. India planted 50 million trees in 24 hours
(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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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning March 2
Copyright 2017 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Your immediate future is too good to be true.
Or at least that's what you, with your famous self-doubt, might be
inclined to believe if I told you the truth about the favorable
developments that are in the works. Therefore, I have come up with some
fake anxieties to keep your worry reflex engaged so it won't sabotage the
real goodies. Beware of dirty limericks and invisible ladders and upside-
down rainbows and psychic bunny rabbits. Be on guard against
accountants wearing boxing gloves and clowns singing Broadway show
tunes in runaway shopping carts and celebrities telling you classified
secrets in your dreams.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I predict that you will have earned the title of
Master Composter no later than March 26. Not necessarily because you
will have packed your food scraps, wilted flowers, coffee grounds, and
shredded newspapers in, say, a deluxe dual-chamber tumbling compost
bin. But rather because you will have dealt efficiently with the rotting
emotions, tattered habits, decrepit melodramas, and trivial nonsense that
has accumulated; you will have worked hard to transform all that crap into
metaphorical fertilizer for your future growth. Time to get started!
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): It's a good time for you to wield your
emotional intelligence with leadership and flair. The people you care about
need more of your sensitive influence. Any posse or tribe you're part of
will benefit from your thoughtful intervention. So get out there and build
up the group morale, Taurus. Assert your healing ideals with panache.
Tamp down the insidious power of peer pressure and fashionable
nonsense. You have a mandate to wake up sleepy allies and activate the
dormant potential of collective efforts.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): If you were ever in your life going to be
awarded an honorary PhD from a top university, it would happen in the
next few weeks. If there were even a remote possibility that you would
someday be given one of those MacArthur Fellowship "genius" grants,
now would be the time. Likewise if you had any hopes of being selected
as one of "The World's Sexiest Chameleons" or "The Fastest, Sweetest
Talkers on Earth" or "The Planet's Most Virtuoso Vacillators," the moment
has arrived. And even if none of those things happen, I'm still pretty sure
that your reputation and status will be on the rise.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): You're wandering into places you've always
thought you should be wary of or skeptical about. Good for you! As long
as you protect your innocence, I encourage you to keep exploring. To my
delight, you have also been fantasizing about accomplishments that used
to be off-limits. Again, I say: Good for you! As long as you don't
overreach, I invite you to dream boldly, even brazenly. And since you
seem to be in the mood for big thinking, here are other revolutionary
activities to consider: dissolving nonessential wishes; transcending
shrunken expectations; escaping the boring past; busting irrelevant
taboos.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I did a good job of raising my daughter. She
turned out to be a thoughtful, intelligent adult with high integrity and
interesting skills. But I'm not sure my parenting would have been as
effective if I'd had more kids. I discussed this issue with Nathan, a guy I
know. His six offspring are all grown up, too. "How did you do it?" I asked
him. "Having just one child was a challenging job for me." "I'll tell you my
secret," Nathan told me. "I'm a bad father. I didn't work very hard on
raising my kids. And now they never let me forget it." In the coming
weeks and months, Leo, I recommend that you pursue my approach in
your chosen field, not Nathan's. Aim for high-quality intensity rather than
scattershot quantity.
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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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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In her poem "Not Anyone Who Says," Virgo
writer Mary Oliver looks down on people who declare, "I'm going to be
careful and smart in matters of love." She disparages the passion of
anyone who asserts, "I'm going to choose slowly." Instead she champions
those who are "chosen by something invisible and powerful and
uncontrollable and beautiful and possibly even unsuitable." Here's my
response: Her preferred formula sounds glamorous and dramatic and
romantic -- especially the powerful and beautiful part. But in practice it
rarely works out well -- maybe just ten percent of the time -- mostly
because of the uncontrollable and unsuitable part. And now is not one of
those times for you, Virgo. Be careful and smart in matters of love, and
choose slowly.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The poet Rainer Maria Rilke bemoaned the fact
that so many of us "squander our sorrows." Out of self-pity or lazy self-
indulgence, we wallow in memories of experiences that didn't turn out the
way we wished they would have. We paralyze ourselves with repetitions
of depleting thoughts. Here's an alternative to that approach: We could
use our sadness and frustrations to transform ourselves. We could treat
them as fuel to motivate our escape from what doesn't work, to inspire
our determination to rise above what demoralizes and demeans us. I
mention this, Libra, because now is an excellent time to do exactly that.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): It's time for the Bliss Blitz -- a new holiday
just for you Scorpios. To celebrate it properly, get as buoyant as you
dare; be greedy for euphoria; launch a sacred quest for pleasure. Ah, but
here's the big question: Can you handle this much relief and release? Are
you strong enough to open yourself to massive outbreaks of educational
delight and natural highs? Some of you may not be prepared. You may
prefer to remain ensconced in your protective sheath of cool cynicism.
But if you think you can bear the shock of unprecedented exaltation and
jubilation, then go ahead and risk it. Experiment with the unruly happiness
of the Bliss Blitz.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In his book *The Horologicon,* Mark
Forsyth gathered "obscure but necessary" words that he dug out of old
dictionaries. One of his discoveries is a perfect fit for you right now. It's
"snudge," a verb that means to walk around with a pensive look on your
face, appearing to be busy or in the midst of productive activity, when in
fact you're just goofing off. I recommend it for two reasons: 1. It's
important for your mental and physical health that you do a lot of
nothing; that you bless yourself with a healing supply of refreshing
emptiness. 2. It's important for your mental and physical health that you
do this on the sly as much as possible; that you avoid being judged or
criticized for it by others.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I wish your breakfast cereal came in boxes
decorated with Matisse and Picasso paintings. I wish songbirds would
greet you each morning with sweet tunes. I wish you'd see that you have
more power than you realize. I wish you knew how uniquely beautiful you
are. I wish you'd get intoxicated with the small miracles that are
happening all around you. I wish that when you made a bold move to
improve your life, everyone greeted it with curiosity and excitement. And
I wish you would let your imagination go half-wild with fascinating
fantasies during this, the Capricorn wishing season.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "You're a different human being to
everybody you meet," says novelist Chuck Palahniuk. Now is an excellent
time to contemplate the intricacies and implications of that amazing truth
-- and start taking better advantage of how much freedom it gives you.
Say the following statements out loud and see how they feel: 1. "My
identity isn't as narrowly circumscribed as I think it is." 2. "I know at least
200 people, so there must be at least 200 facets to my character." 3. "I
am too complicated to be completely comprehended by any one person."
4. "Consistency is overrated."
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Homework: What's the best surprise you could give yourself right now?
Testify at Freewillastrology.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
2017 Rob Brezsny
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