Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
November 8, 2017
+
See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/YouAreHealthy
+
A blessing: May the last two months of 2017 bring the plot twist you've
been wanting.
+
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.
"We should not think of our past as definitely settled, for we are not a
stone or a tree," wrote poet Czeslaw Milosz. "My past changes every
minute according to the meaning given it now, in this moment."
So, yes, you have the power to re-vision and reinterpret your past. Keep
the following question in mind as you go about your work: "How can I
recreate my history so as to make my willpower stronger, my love of life
more intense, and my future more interesting?"
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
THE FATHERING YOU NEED
A lot of people never got the mothering they needed in order to grow up
into the confident, secure lovers of life they have the potential to
become.
But even greater numbers suffer from a lack of smart fathering. And that
may be a deprivation that's important for you to address.
Was there anything missing in the guidance and mentoring you got from
your actual daddy? If so, I invite you to brainstorm about how you could
make up for it.
For starters, here's one idea: Is there any father figure out there who
could inspire you to become more of your own father figure?
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
FAKE REALITY
"Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash, and I'm happy to say I have no
grasp of it whatsoever."
- The Baron in the film *The Adventures of Baron Munchausen*
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
WANT TO GET YOUR CHART READ?
Do I give personal astrology readings? Although I love to, I'm not doing
them these days. In addition to writing "Free Will Astrology" and my
expanded audio horoscopes, I'm also working on new books and attending
to that high art referred to as "having a life." There's no time left over!
If you want your chart done, I recommend a colleague whose approach to
reading astrology charts closely matches my own. She's my wife, RO
LOUGHRAN. We've been enjoying regular conversations about astrology
since 1989! Her website's here: http://www.roloughran.com
Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and a high
degree of technical proficiency in horoscope interpretation. She is skilled
at exploring the mysteries of your life's purpose and nurturing your
connection with your own inner wisdom.
In addition to over 30 years of astrological experience, Ro has been a
licensed psychotherapist for 17 years. This enables her to integrate
psychological insight with the cosmological perspective that astrology
offers.
Ro is based in California, but can do phone consultations and otherwise
work with you regardless of geographic boundaries.
Check out Ro's website at http://www.roloughran.com
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
LIFE IS BOTH WRETCHED AND GLORIOUS
BY Pema Chödrön
"Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the
gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger
perspective, energizes us. We feel connected.
"But if that's all that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down
on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being
really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness
becomes tinged by craving and addiction.
"On the other hand, wretchedness–life's painful aspect–softens us up
considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there
for another person. When you are feeling a lot of grief, you can look right
into somebody's eyes because you feel you haven't got anything to lose–
you're just there.
"The wretchedness humbles us and softens us, but if we were only
wretched, we would all just go down the tubes. We'd be so depressed,
discouraged, and hopeless that we wouldn't have enough energy to eat
an apple.
"Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the
other softens us. They go together."
- Pema Chödrön, *Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living*
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
CAN THE IMAGINATION SAVE US?
by Susan Griffin
I heard the following story from a survivor of the holocaust: Along with
many others who are crowded into the bed of a large truck, the surrealist
poet Robert Desnos is being taken away from the barracks of the
concentration camp where he has been held prisoner. The mood is
somber; everyone knows the truck is headed for the gas chambers.
When the truck arrives at its destination, no one can speak at all; even
the guards fall silent. But this silence is soon interrupted by an energetic
man, Robert Desnos, who begins reading the palm of one of his fellow
prisoners.
Oh, he says, I see you have a very long lifeline. And you are going to have
three children. He is exuberant. And his excitement is contagious. First
one man, then another, offers up his hand, and Desnos predicts longevity,
more children, abundant joy.
As Desnos reads more palms, not only does the mood of the prisoners
change, but also the moods of the guards. How can one explain it?
Perhaps the element of surprise has planted a shadow of doubt in their
minds. They are in any case so disoriented by this sudden change of
mood among those they are about to kill that they are unable to go
through with the executions.
So all the men, along with Desnos, are packed back onto the truck and
taken back to the barracks. Desnos has saved his own life and the lives of
others by using his imagination.
This story poses a question in my mind. Can the imagination save us?
Robert Desnos was famous for his belief in the imagination. He believed it
could transform society. And what a wild leap this was, at the mouth of
the gas chambers, to imagine a long life! In his mind he simply stepped
outside the world as it was created by the SS.
Full story by Susan Griffin: http://tinyurl.com/yder25lt
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
All those below are from
https://www.celebratesmallvictories.com/archives/
1. Every day, the list of powerful men being called out and held
accountable for sexual harassment and assault grows.
2. In a win for animal rights, New York banned elephant performances in
entertainment, including circuses and parades.
3. With help from Tesla and their solar powered panels and batteries,
electricity has returned to a children's hospital in Puerto Rico.
4. Bloomberg Philanthropies is donating $64 million dollars help the Sierra
Club's campaign to close two-thirds of U.S coal-fired plants by 2020.
5. With pressure from the CFA and Earthjustice, the Consumer Product
Safety Commission voted to outlaw toxic chemicals often found in baby
products.
6. New York City's Board of Elections is facing consequences for illegally
purging more than 100,000 voters, and has agreed to restore these
voting rights and prevent similar actions in the future.
7. The League of Women Voters and the Texas State Conference of the
NAACP won a lawsuit protecting voter data from Trump's bogus voter
fraud commission.
8. A Dallas school district unanimously voted to change the names of four
schools previously named after Confederate generals. (Thanks, Jami!)
9. After a racist attack on a local high school student, hundreds of people
in a small town in Nevada took part in a Love Walk to support his family.
More like this at https://www.celebratesmallvictories.com/archives
(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.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning November 9
Copyright 2017 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Remember the time, all those years ago,
when the angels appeared to you on the playground and showed you how
and why to kiss the sky? I predict that a comparable visitation will arrive
soon. And do you recall the dreamy sequence in adolescence when you
first plumbed the sublime mysteries of sex? You're as ripe as you were
then, primed to unlock more of nature's wild secrets. Maybe at no other
time in many years, in fact, have you been in quite so favorable a position
to explore paradise right here on earth.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As a courtesy to your mental health, I
minimize your exposure to meaningless trivia. In fact, I generally try to
keep you focused instead on enlightening explorations. But in this
horoscope, in accordance with astrological omens, I'm giving you a
temporary, short-term license to go slumming. What shenanigans is your
ex up to lately, anyway? Would your old friend the bankrupt coke addict
like to party with you? Just for laughs, should you revisit the dead-end
fantasy that always makes you crazy? There is a good possibility that
exposing yourself to bad influences like those I just named could have a
tonic effect on you, Sagittarius. You might get so thoroughly disgusted
by them that you'll never again allow them to corrupt your devotion to
the righteous groove, to the path with heart.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the coming months it will be crucial to
carefully monitor the effects you're having on the world. Your personal
actions will rarely be merely personal; they may have consequences for
people you don't know as well as those you're close to. The ripples you
send out in all directions won't always look dramatic, but you shouldn't let
that delude you about the influence you're having. If I had to give 2018 a
title with you in mind, it might be "The Year of Maximum Social Impact."
And it all starts soon.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The punk ethic is rebellious. It transgresses
conventional wisdom through "a cynical absurdity that's redeemed by
being hilarious." So says author Brian Doherty. In the hippie approach, on
the other hand, the prevailing belief is "love is all you need." It seeks a
"manic togetherness and all-encompassing acceptance that are all sweet
and no sour -- inspiring but also soft and gelatinous." Ah, but what
happens when punk and hippie merge? Doherty says that each moderates
the extreme of the other, yielding a tough-minded lust for life that's both
skeptical and celebratory. I bring this to your attention, Aquarius, because
the punk-plus-hippie blend is a perfect attitude for you to cultivate in the
coming weeks.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I'm falling in love with the way you have been
falling in love with exciting possibilities that you once thought were
impossible. Oh, baby. Please go further. Thrilling chills surge through me
whenever you get that ravenous glint in your mind's eye. I can almost
hear you thinking, "Maybe those dreams aren't so impossible, after all.
Maybe I can heal myself and change myself enough to pursue them in
earnest. Maybe I can learn success strategies that were previously beyond
my power to imagine."
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Adriana Martinez and Octavio Guillen got
engaged to be married when they were both 15 years old. But they kept
delaying a more complete unification for 67 years. At last, when they
were 82, they celebrated their wedding and pledged their vows to each
other. Are there comparable situations in your life, Aries? The coming
months will be a favorable time to make deeper commitments. At least
some of your reasons for harboring ambivalence will become irrelevant.
You'll grow in your ability to thrive on the creative challenges that come
from intriguing collaborations and highly focused togetherness.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
YOU NEED MAGIC EVERY DAY
Every day, you have to wade through a relentless surge of soul-less facts.
The experience tends to shut down your sense of wonder.
Every day, you're over-exposed to cynical narratives that have been
sucked free of delight and mystery. That's why you have to make such
strenuous efforts to keep your world enchanted.
I like to think I can contribute to the sacred cause of feeding your sense
of wonder and enchantment. In fact, that's one of my prime motivations
for offering you the free weekly horoscopes you read in this newsletter.
If you ever want more of that good stuff, and think it's worth paying for,
please consider trying out my 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.
+
"Your Expanded Audio Horoscopes seem to have the effect of activating
my inner teacher. Thanks!" - Eleanor A., Toronto
"Your expanded audio horoscopes are the next best thing to actually
having you here next to me to remind me who I really am." - Alyssa R.,
Des Moines, Iowa
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I had pimples when I was a teenager. They're
gone now, although I still have a few pockmarks on my face as souvenirs.
In retrospect, I feel gratitude for them. They ensured that in my early
years of dating and seeking romance, I would never be able to attract
women solely on the basis of my physical appearance. I was compelled to
cultivate a wide variety of masculine wiles. I swear that at least half of my
motivation to get smarter and become a good listener came from my
desire for love. Do you have comparable stories to tell, Taurus? Now is an
excellent time to give thanks for what once may have seemed to be a
liability or problem.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The next two weeks will be one of the best
times ever to ask provocative, probing questions. In fact, I invite you to
be as curious and receptive as you've been since you were four years old.
When you talk with people, express curiosity more often than you make
assertions. Be focused on finding out what you've been missing, what
you've been numb to. When you wake up each morning, use a felt-tip
marker to draw a question mark on your forearm. To get you in the mood
for this fun project, here are sample queries from poet Pablo Neruda's
*Book of Questions*: "Who ordered me to tear down the doors of my own
pride? Did I finally find myself in the place where they lost me? Whom can
I ask what I came to make happen in this world? Is it true our desires must
be watered with dew? What did the rubies say standing before the juice
of the pomegranates?"
CANCER (June 21-July 22): "Things to say when in love," according to
Zimbabwe poet Tapiwa Mugabe: "I will put the galaxy in your hair. Your
kisses are a mouthful of firewater. I have never seen a more beautiful
horizon than when you close your eyes. I have never seen a more
beautiful dawn than when you open your eyes." I hope these words inspire
you to improvise further outpourings of adoration. You're in a phase when
expressing your sweet reverence and tender respect for the people you
care about will boost you physical health, your emotional wealth, and your
spiritual resiiience.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Are you working on solving the right problem? Or
are you being distracted by a lesser dilemma, perhaps consumed in
dealing with an issue that's mostly irrelevant to your long-term goals? I
honestly don't know the answers to those questions, but I am quite sure
it's important that you meditate on them. Everything good that can
unfold for you in 2018 will require you to focus on what matters most --
and not get sidetracked by peripheral issues or vague wishes. Now is an
excellent time to set your unshakable intentions.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Every one of us experiences loneliness. We all
go through periods when we feel isolated and misunderstood and
unappreciated. That's the bad news, Virgo. The good news is that the
coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to make loneliness less of a
problem. I urge you to brainstorm and meditate about how to do that.
Here are some crazy ideas to get you started. 1. Nurture ongoing
connections with the spirits of beloved people who have died. 2. Imagine
having conversations with your guardian angel or spirit guide. 3. Make a
deal with a "partner in loneliness": a person you pray or sing with
whenever either of you feels bereft. 4. Write messages to your Future
Self or Past Self. 5. Communicate with animals.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The drive for absolute perfection could
undermine your ability to create what's very good and just right. Please
don't make that mistake in the coming weeks. Likewise, refrain from
demanding utter purity, pristine precision, or immaculate virtue. To learn
the lessons you need to know and launch the trends you can capitalize on
in 2018, all that's necessary is to give your best. You don't have to hit
the bull's eye with every arrow you shoot -- or even *any* arrow you
shoot. Simply hitting the target will be fine in the early going.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Homework: If you could change your astrological sign, what would you
change it to and why? Write: FreeWillAstrology.com.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NEED TO CHANGE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS?
To join or leave the email list for this newsletter, or to change the address
where you receive it, go to:
http://www.freewillastrology.com/newsletter/
Once you join, check these points to ensure you'll actually receive the
newsletter:
1. Add my address, televisionary@comcast.net, to your address book so
that the newsletter won't be treated as spam and filtered out.
2. Adjust your spam filter so it doesn't treat my address as spam.
3. Tell your company's IT group to let my address pass through any
filtering software they have set up.
4. If my newsletters don't reach your inbox, look in your "Bulk Mail" or
"Junk Mail" folder.
5. Problems could originate with your email provider. It may be using a
"content filter" that prevents my newsletter from reaching you. If you
suspect that's true, complain. Tell your email provider to stop blocking
my newsletter.
P.S. I totally respect your privacy. I'll never sell or give away your address
to anyone.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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,
including but not limited to newsletters, books, the Free Will
Astrology column, and Free Will Astrology website. We reserve
the right to edit submissions for length, style, and content.
Requests for anonymity will be honored. We are not responsible for
unsolicited submission of any creative material.
Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2017 Rob Brezsny
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++