Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
May 29, 2019
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: https://bit.ly/YouBlessLife
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A thousand years from today, everyone you know will be long dead and
forgotten. There’ll be nothing left of the life you love, no evidence that you
ever walked this planet. That, at least, is what the fundamentalist
materialists would have you believe.
But suppose the truth is very different? What if in fact every little thing
you do subtly alters the course of history? What if your day-to-day
decisions can actually help determine how the human species navigates its
way through the epic turning point we’re living through?
And finally, what if you will be alive in a thousand years, reincarnated
into a fresh body and in possession of at least some of the memories of the
person you were back in this era? Reincarnation is a taboo theory among
fundamentalist materialists, but it won't always be so.
These are my hypotheses. These are my prophecies. That’s why I say: Live
as if your soul is eternal.
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Everyone influences the world in some way. No matter how powerless we
may feel, each of us is a creator who continually churns out energy that
bends and shapes our world and the people in it.
What is the signature of your effect? How do you change the environments
you pass through? What magic, for good or ill, do you perform in the daily
rhythm of your life?
I invite you to take inventory—and to fix any discrepancies between the
mark you ideally want to make and your actual impact.
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DO NOT BE DAUNTED
Do not be daunted by the insurmountability of the world’s grief. Do justly,
now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to
complete the work but neither are you free to abandon it.
— The Talmud
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I AM BUSY
I am busy
today and tomorrow
and next week
and for as long as it takes
struggling to change
the way my eyes work,
learning to peel away
the memories that
make me blind
to the science light of the fairies
and the dark love sparks
firing in our brains
and the luminous dreams
of PARADISE NOW
shrouded in my blood and yours.
I want to see all those things!
I want you to see all those things!
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Today and always
I am fidgeting
finagling
finessing
as I kill off
the dull decayed shock
that blocks me
from finding and speaking
the magic words
that got lost
inside my old misunderstanding
of death.
I don't misunderstand any more!
But it's taking me
longer than I thought
to fix the glitch.
Hard work!
Unwavering effort!
I'm fighting,
exultant and relentless,
to dismantle the buffers
that make me half-deaf
to the hum of the planets
and the thrum of the rivers
and the music of your ripe longing.
I am grappling and scrapping
with my self-appointed censors—
LET GO, IDIOTS!—
so I can hear again
the pre-verbal prayers
chanted to me in the crib
by the helpers
with kaleidoscope lyrics
woven in their wings.
I am yearning and pleading
for the animals to teach me
the mysteries of their ordeals and joys
in their own language,
not mine.
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Now and forever
I am frantic
to disgorge the machine stories
that trick my empathy
into falling asleep
with their fake blood and explosions
with their digitally rendered sobs
and pretend suffering.
Because OF COURSE!!!
I want to sear
the real sobs and suffering,
the true blood and explosions,
into my blasphemous quest
for reverent justice
my rowdy, rumbling quest
for sacred justice
not just for myself
but for all seekers
of the gods' everlasting lust wonder.
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MUSCULAR COMPASSION
Tsültrim Allione writes: "I was at a lunch with the Dalai Lama and five
Buddhist teachers at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. We were sitting in a
charming room with white carpets and many windows. The food was a
delightful, fragrant, vegetarian Indian meal. There were lovely flower
arrangements on the table.
"We were discussing sexual misconduct among Western Buddhist
teachers. A woman Buddhist from California brought up someone who was
using his students for his own sexual needs. One woman said, ‘We are
working with him with compassion, trying to get him to understand his
motives for exploiting female students and to help him change his actions.’
"The Dalai Lama slammed his fist on the table, saying loudly, ‘Compassion
is fine, but it has to stop! And those doing it should be exposed!’ All the
serving plates on the table jumped, the water glasses tipped precariously,
and I almost choked on the bite of saffron rice in my mouth.
"Suddenly I saw him as a fierce manifestation of compassion and realized
that this clarity did not mean that the Dalai Lama had moved away from
compassion. Rather, he was bringing compassion and manifesting it as
decisive fierceness. His magnetism was glowing like a fire.
"I will always remember that day, because it was such a good teaching on
compassion and precision. Compassion is not a wishy-washy ‘anything
goes’ approach. Compassion can say a fierce no!"
- Tsültrim Allione, from her book *Wisdom Rising*
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THE VALUE OF ENCHANTMENT
"If I had the influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over
the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in
the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last
throughout life, an unfailing antidote against the boredom and
disenchantment of later years, sterile preoccupations with things that are
artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength."
—Rachel Carson, *The Sense of Wonder*
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Sources of GOOD news:
Yes magazine: https://yesmagazine.org/
Good News Network: https://goodnewsnetwork.org/
Celebrate Small Victories:
https://celebratesmallvictories.com/archives/
Reddit Uplifting News: https://reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews
Heroic Stories: http://heroicstories.com/
(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 May 30
Copyright 2019 by Rob Brezsny
https://FreeWillAstrology.com/horoscopes/
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Has a part of you become too timid, docile,
or prosaic? Is there an aspect of your beautiful soul that is partially
muzzled, submissive, or housebroken? If so, now is a favorable time to
seek an antidote. But listen closely: the cure isn't to become chaotic,
turbulent, and out of control. It would be counterproductive to resort to
berserk mayhem. Here's a better way: be primal, lush, and exciting. Be
wildly playful and unpredictably humorous and alluringly intriguing. Try
experiments that rouse your rowdy sweetness, your unkempt elegance,
your brazen joy, and your sensual intelligence.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I prefer live theater over movies. The glossy
flawlessness of films, accomplished by machines that assemble and polish,
is less emotionally rich than the direct impact of live performers'
unmediated voices and bodies and emotions. Their evocative imperfections
move me in ways that glossy flawlessness can't. Even if you're not like
me, Gemini, I invite you to experiment with my approach for a while—not
just in the entertainment you choose, but in all areas of your life. As
much as possible, get your experience raw and unfiltered.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): I've got a message for you from Cancerian
poet Tyler Knott Gregson. Please read it every day for the next 15 days,
including when you first wake up and right before sleep. Here it is:
"Promise me you will not spend so much time treading water and trying to
keep your head above the waves that you forget, truly forget, how much
you have always loved to swim."
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In 2003, a group of thieves in Antwerp, Belgium
pulled off the biggest jewelry heist in history. To steal the diamonds, gold,
and other gems, together worth more than $100 million, they had to
outsmart security guards, a seismic sensor, a protective magnetic field,
Doppler radar, infrared detectors, and a lock. I mention this, Leo, because
I suspect that in the coming weeks you will have a comparable ability to
insinuate yourself into the presence of previously inaccessible treasures
and secrets and codes. You'll be able to penetrate barriers that have kept
you shut off from valuable things. (P.S. But I hope that unlike the
Antwerp thieves, you'll use your superpowers in an ethical manner.)
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the northeast corner of Spain, bordering
France, is an area known as Catalonia. With its own culture and language,
it has a long history of seeking complete autonomy. On four occasions it
has declared itself to be independent from Spain. The most recent time was
in 2017, when 92 percent of the Catalans who voted expressed the desire
to be free of Spain's rule. Alas, none of the rebellions have succeeded. In
the latest instance, no other nation on Earth recognized Catalonia's claim
to be an independent republic. In contrast to its frustrated attempts, your
own personal quest to seek greater independence could make real progress
in the coming months. For best results, formulate a clear intention and
define the precise nature of the sovereignty you seek. Write it down!
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A Libran blogger named OceanAlgorithms
wrote, "I'm simultaneously wishing I were a naturalist whose specialty is
finding undiscovered species in well-explored places; and a skateboarding
mathematician meditating on an almost-impossible-to-solve equation as I
practice my skateboard tricks; and a fierce forest witch who casts spells
on nature-despoilers; and a gothic heroine with twelve suitors; and the
sexiest cat that ever lived." I love how freewheeling and wide-ranging
OceanAlgorithms is with her imaginative fantasies. In light of current
astrological omens, I encourage you to do the same. Give yourself
permission to dream and scheme extravagantly.
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ARE YOU THE HERO OF YOUR OWN LIFE?
"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that
station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." So begins
Charles Dickens' novel *David Copperfield*.
I'd like to inspire you to write a story of your own that begins like that.
That's why I provide these free horoscopes for you.
If you'd ever like even more assistance from me, tune into your
EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE, which I create for you each week. They're
four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.
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.
To buy and listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to
https://freewillastrology.sparkns.com
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The cost is $6 per sign on the On the Web. (Discounts are available for
bulk purchases.) You can also access them for $1.99 per minute by
phone.Each forecast is 4-5 minutes long.
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"Your long-range audio horoscopes encouraged me to think bigger about
my life. As I listened, I could feel my shrunken expectations melting
away."
—Therese Pembroke, San Diego
"I love the soothing kindness of your long-range audio horoscopes. I also
love their invigorating encouragement and surprising inspiration!"
—Franny Kaiser, Minneapolis
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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Geologists aren't exactly sure why, but
almost six million years ago, the Strait of Gibraltar closed up. As a result,
the Mediterranean Sea was cut off from the Atlantic Ocean, and within a
thousand years, it had mostly disappeared. Fast forward 600,000 years.
Again, geologists don't understand how it happened, but a flood broke
through the barrier, allowing the ocean to flow back into the
Mediterranean basin and restore it to its previous status as a sea. I
propose that we invoke that replenishment as a holy symbol for the
process you're engaged in: a replenishment of your dried-out waters.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I invite you to meditate on this proposal
from freelance writer Radha Marcum: "The spiritual definition of love is
that when you look at the person you love, it makes you love yourself
more." I hope there's a lot of that kind of action going on for you in the
next four weeks. According to my assessment of life's secret currents, all
of creation will be conspiring to intensify and deepen your love for
yourself by intensifying and deepening your love for other people.
Cooperate with that conspiracy, please!
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Is there a creature on earth that's more
annoying than the mosquito? I've never heard anyone gaze upon one of the
pesky monsters sucking blood out of her arm and say, "Aw, what a cute
little bug." And yet every year there is a town in Russia that holds a jokey
three-day celebration in honor of the mosquito. The people who live in
Berezniki even stage a "most delicious" competition, in which people
allow themselves to be pricked by mosquitoes for twenty minutes, with an
award going to whomever accumulates the most bites. I highly approve of
the spirit of this approach for your own use in the coming weeks,
Capricorn. If you have fun with the things that bother you, I bet they
won't bother you as much.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): It's the Forever Season, Aquarius. You have
a poetic license to act as if your body will live for a hundred years and
your soul will live for all eternity. You are authorized to believe that in
the coming decades you will grow steadily wiser, kinder, happier, and
wilder. During the Forever Season, you may have dreams like flying over
a waterfall at sunset, or finding the lost magic you were promised before
you were born, or discovering the key to a healing you feared would
always elude you. As you careen through this unpredictable grace period,
your understanding of reality may expand dramatically. I bet you'll get
practical epiphanies about how to express yourself with greater
effectiveness.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A musical historian from Cambridge
University decided it would be amusing to perform forgotten songs that
were written in the Rhineland a thousand years ago. His research wasn't
easy, because musical notation was different back then. But he ultimately
reconstructed the tunes in ways that he felt were 80 percent faithful to
the originals. He and other musicians subsequently performed and
recorded them. I propose a somewhat comparable assignment for you in
the coming weeks, Pisces. You will benefit, I believe, from trying to
recover the truth about events that occurred a long time ago and/or by
trying to revivify old beauty that has new relevance.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the coming weeks it will make good sense
for you to travel down winding paths replete with interesting twists and
provocative turns. The zigzags you'll be inspired to pursue won't be
inconvenient or inefficient, but rather will be instrumental in obtaining
the healing you need. To honor and celebrate this oddly lucky phase, I'll
quote parts of "Flying Crooked," a poem by Robert Graves. "The butterfly
will never master the art of flying straight, yet has a just sense of how
not to fly: He lurches here and here by guess and God and hope and
hopelessness. Even the acrobatic swift has not his flying-crooked gift."
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Homework. Finish this sentence: "The one thing that really keeps me from
being myself is _______." Testify at Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2019 Rob Brezsny
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