Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
June 14, 2017
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/2rpQZSC
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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.
SHADOW SCHOOL
You're a gorgeous mystery with a wild heart and a lofty purpose. But like
all of us, you also have a dark side -- a part of your psyche that snarls and
bites, that's unconscious and irrational, that is motivated by ill will or
twisted passions or instinctual fears.
It's your own personal portion of the world's sickness: a mess of
repressed longings, enervating wounds, ignorant delusions, and unripe
powers. You'd prefer to ignore it because it's unflattering or
uncomfortable or very different from what you imagine yourself to be.
If you acknowledge its existence at all (many of us don't), you might call
it the devil, your evil twin, your inner monster, or your personal demon.
Psychologist Carl Jung referred to it as the shadow. He regarded it as the
lead that the authentic alchemists of the Middle Ages sought to
transmute into gold.
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Astrologer Steven Forrest has a different name for the shadow: stuff.
"Work on your stuff," he says, "or your stuff will work on you." He means
that it will sabotage you if you're not aggressive about identifying,
negotiating with, and transforming it.
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The shadow is not inherently evil. If it is ignored or denied, it may become
monstrous to compensate. Only then is it likely to "demonically possess"
its owner, leading to compulsive, exaggerated, "evil" behavior.
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"The shadow, which is in conflict with the acknowledged values, cannot
be accepted as a negative part of one's own psyche and is therefore
projected -- that is, it is transferred to the outside world and experienced
as an outside object. It is combated, punished, and exterminated as 'the
alien out there' instead of being dealt with as one's own inner problem." --
Erich Neumann, *Depth Psychology and a New Ethic*
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The qualities in ourselves that we deny or dislike are often the very
qualities that we most bitterly complain about in other people. So for
instance, an old friend of mine named Mark had a special disgust for
friends who were unavailable to him when he really needed them. But I
was witness to him engaging in the same behavior three different times,
disappearing from the lives of his friends just when they needed him
most.
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"Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event,"
said Jung. If you disown a part of your personality, it'll materialize as an
unexpected detour.
Everyone who believes in the devil is the devil . . . .
TO READ THE REST OF "SHADOW SCHOOL," go here:
http://bit.ly/wGN3iM
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FREE YOUR BODY!
Free your body. Don't ruminate and agonize about it. Do it simply and
easily. LOVE YOUR BODY!
Be brave and forceful, gentle and graceful. Free your sublimely imperfect,
riotously intelligent body. Allow it to be itself in all of its mysterious glory.
Love your body exactly as it is.
Praise your body. Thank your body. Tell it you adore its uncanny majesty .
. . you yearn to learn more of its secrets . . . you promise to treat it as
your beloved ally.
Be in love with your body, no shame, no apology. Be in awe of your
body's unfathomable power to endlessly carry out the millions of chemical
reactions that keep you alive and thriving.
How can you not be overwhelmed with reverence for your hungry,
curious, resourceful, unpredictable body?
Study your body's magic. Exult in the blessings it bestows on you.
Celebrate and hone its fierce animal elegance.
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"I overcame myself, the sufferer; I carried my own ashes to the
mountains; I invented a brighter flame for myself."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
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Always keep 2 pieces of paper in your pockets. One says, "I am a speck of
dust;" the other, "The world was created for me."
- Rabbi Bunim
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Your radiance needs to be fed by other radiances.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Iceland became the first country to introduce legislation requiring
employers to prove they are paying men and women equally.
http://tinyurl.com/kqgoo8p
Breitbart News' number of advertisers has taken a nosedive to 26 from a
high of 242 just three months ago.
http://tinyurl.com/y9cyonm4
During the Holocaust, Polish doctors Eugene Lazowski and Stanis_aw
Matulewicz saved 8,000 Jews by creating a fake Typhus epidemic. The
Germans quarantined the area instead of risking outbreaks by sending
them to concentration camps.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Lazowski
(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 June 15
Copyright 2017 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Actress Marisa Berenson offers a line of anti-
aging products that contain an elixir made from the seeds of a desert
fruit known as prickly pear. The manufacturing process isn't easy. To
produce a quart of the potion requires 2,000 pounds of seeds. I see you
as having a metaphorically similar challenge in the coming weeks, Gemini.
To create a small amount of the precious stuff you want, I'm guessing
you'll have to gather a ton of raw materials. And there may be a desert-
like phenomena to deal with, as well.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): There are three kinds of habits: good, bad,
and neutral. Neutral habits are neither good nor bad but use up psychic
energy that might be better directed into cultivating good habits. Here
are some examples: a good habit is when you're disciplined about eating
healthy food; a bad habit is watching violent TV shows before going to
bed, thereby disturbing your sleep; a neutral habit might be doing Sudoku
puzzles. My challenge to you, Cancerian, is to dissolve one bad habit and
one neutral habit by replacing them with two new good habits. According
to my analysis of the astrological omens, cosmic forces will be on your
side as you make this effort.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "Dear Dr. Astrology: Good fortune has been
visiting me a lot lately. Many cool opportunities have come my way. Life is
consistently interesting. I've also made two unwise moves that
fortunately didn't bring bad results. Things often work out better for me
than I imagined they would! I'm grateful every day, but I feel like I should
somehow show even more appreciation. Any ideas? -Lucky Leo." Dear
Lucky: The smartest response to the abundance you have enjoyed is to
boost your generosity. Give out blessings. Dispense praise. Help people
access their potentials. Intensify your efforts to share your wealth.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Years ago, a fan of my work named Paul
emailed to ask me if I wanted to get together with him and his friend
when I visited New York. "Maybe you know her?" he wrote. "She's the
artist Cindy Sherman." Back then I had never heard of Cindy. But since
Paul was smart and funny, I agreed to meet. The three of us convened in
an elegant tea room for a boisterous conversation. A week later, when I
was back home and mentioned the event to a colleague, her eyes got big
and she shrieked, "You had tea with THE Cindy Sherman." She then
educated me on how successful and influential Cindy's photography has
been. I predict you will soon have a comparable experience, Virgo:
inadvertent contact with an intriguing presence. Hopefully, because I've
given you a heads up, you'll recognize what's happening as it occurs, and
take full advantage.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You'll never get access to the treasure that's
buried out under the cherry tree next to the ruined barn if you stay in
your command center and keep staring at the map instead of venturing
out to the barn. Likewise, a symbol of truth may be helpful in
experiencing deeper meaning, but it's not the same as communing with
the raw truth, and may even become a distraction from it. Let's consider
one further variation on the theme: The pictures in your mind's eye may
or may not have any connection with the world outside your brain. It's
especially important that you monitor their accuracy in the coming days.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go
gallivanting so heedlessly into the labyrinth. Or maybe it was. Who knows?
It's still too early to assess the value of your experiences in that
maddening but fascinating tangle. You may not yet be fully able to
distinguish the smoke and mirrors from the useful revelations. Which of
the riddles you've gathered will ultimately bring frustration and which will
lead you to wisdom? Here's one thing I do know for sure: If you want to
exit the labyrinth, an opportunity will soon appear.
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MAYBE JOY AND PLEASURE ARE ESSENTIAL SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
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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"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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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Over the years I've read numerous news
reports about people who have engaged in intimate relations with clunky
inanimate objects. One had sex with a bicycle. Another seduced a
sidewalk, and a third tried to make sweet love to a picnic table. I hope you
won't join their ranks in the coming weeks. Your longing is likely to be
extra intense, innovative, and even exotic, but I trust you will confine its
expression to unions with adult human beings who know what they're
getting into and who have consented to play. Here's an old English word
you might want to add to your vocabulary: "blissom." It means "to bleat
with sexual desire."
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Your life in the coming days should be low
on lightweight diversions and high in top-quality content. Does that sound
like fun? I hope so. I'd love to see you enjoy the hell out of yourself as
you cut the fluff and focus on the pith . . . as you efficiently get to the
hype-free heart of every matter and refuse to tolerate waffling or stalling.
So strip away the glossy excesses, my dear Capricorn. Skip a few steps if
that doesn't cause any envy. Expose the pretty lies, but then just work
around them; don't get bogged down in indulging in negative emotions
about them.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Inventor, architect, and author Buckminster
Fuller lived to the age of 87. For 63 of those years, he kept a detailed
scrapbook diary that documented every day of his life. It included his
reflections, correspondence, drawings, newspaper clippings, grocery bills,
and much other evidence of his unique story. I would love to see you
express yourself with that much disciplined ferocity during the next two
weeks. According to my astrological analysis, you're in a phase when you
have maximum power to create your life with vigorous ingenuity and to
show everyone exactly who you are.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You have a cosmic license to enjoy almost
too much sensual pleasure. In addition, you should feel free to do more of
what you love to do than you normally allow yourself. Be unapologetic
about surrounding yourself with flatterers and worshipers. Be
sumptuously lazy. Ask others to pick up the slack for you. Got all that?
It's just the first part of your oracle. Here's the rest: You have a cosmic
license to explore the kind of spiritual growth that's possible when you
feel happy and fulfilled. As you go through each day, expect life to bring
you exactly what you need to uplift you. Assume that the best service
you can offer your fellow humans is to be relaxed and content.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You have to admit that salt looks like sugar
and sugar resembles salt. This isn't usually a major problem, though.
Mistakenly sprinkling sugar on your food when you thought you were
adding salt won't hurt you, nor will putting salt in your coffee when you
assumed you were using sugar. But errors like these are inconvenient, and
they can wreck a meal. You may want to apply this lesson as a metaphor
in the coming days, Aries. Be alert for things that outwardly seem to be
alike but actually have different tastes and effects.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Here's a possible plan for the next ten days:
Program your smart phone to sound an alarm once every hour during the
entire time you're awake. Each time the bell or buzzer goes off, you will
vividly remember your life's main purpose. You will ask yourself whether
or not the activity you're engaged in at that specific moment is somehow
serving your life's main purpose. If it is, literally pat yourself on the back
and say to yourself, "Good job!" If it's not, say the following words: "I am
resolved to get into closer alignment with my soul's code -- the blueprint
of my destiny."
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Homework: Do a homemade ritual in which you vow to attract more
blessings into your life. Report results 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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