Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
October 30, 2019
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: https://bit.ly/YourHolyTruths
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People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. When I look at
a sunset, I don't find myself saying, "Soften the orange a bit on the right
hand corner." I don't try to control a sunset. I watch with awe as it
unfolds.
_ Carl R. Rogers
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CHANGING OUR MEMORIES
"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?"
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THE LOVE AFFAIR WITH LIFE
The great affair, the love affair with life, is to live as variously as
possible, to groom one's curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred,
climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sunstruck hills every day.
—Diane Ackerman
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I'm an Earth ecstatic, and my creed is simple: All life is sacred, life loves
life, and we are capable of improving our behavior toward one another.
—Diane Ackerman
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"Ecstasy is what everyone craves—not love or sex, but a hot-blooded,
soaring intensity, in which being alive is a joy and a thrill. That
enravishment doesn't give meaning to life, and yet without it life seems
meaningless.
—Diane Ackerman
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CITIZEN OF DARK TIMES
Agenda in a time of fear: Be not afraid.
When things go wrong, do right.
Set out by the half-light of the seeker.
For the well-lit problem begins to heal.
Learn tropism toward the difficult.
We have not arrived to explain, but to sing.
Young idealism ripens into an ethical life.
Prune back regret to let faith grow.
When you hit rock bottom, dig farther down.
Grief is the seed of singing, shame the seed of song.
Keep seeing what you are not saying.
Plunder your reticence.
Songbird guards a twig, its only weapon a song.
—Kim Stafford
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CHANGING OUR MINDS
Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
—George Bernard Shaw
The person who never alters their opinion is like standing water, and
breeds reptiles of the mind.
—William Blake
Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's
mind.
—W. Somerset Maugham
The snake that can't cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are
prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. With consistency a
great soul has simply nothing to do.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself; I am large —
I contain multitudes.
—Walt Whitman
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CHANGING OUR SHADOWS
Let's explode memories
and leap out of
yesterday's shadows,
lucid as they may be
Let's unanticipate the future
and answer all the torturous riddles
with deliriously simple YESes
Let's break the sky mirrors
and unsing the national anthems
and refuse the fake medicine
Let's change into light
that can neither be killed nor predicted
Let's forget every dance move
unless we learned it
in last night's dreams
Let's get invaded
by the only sunbeams
that know our true names
and let's be feasted on
by images erupting
from the center of the Earth
We will prevail
over our former glories
We will vanquish
the stories
that believe in us
more than we believe in them
No river will be able
to tell us who we are
No wind will have the power
to trap us with promises
No love will survive
unless it's reinvented right now
No reverence
will have any right
to enchant us
unless we feel it
in our bodies
for the very first time
—by me
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REGENERATING OUR SOULS
Here's an excerpt of a letter I wrote to America's richest woman, Oprah
Winfrey.
"Dear Oprah," I began. "Please buy up all the Pizza Huts and convert them
into a network of Menstrual Huts. Create 10,000 or 100,000 local
neighborhood sanctuaries where women can retreat while they're in the
throes of their monthly appointment with dying and purification—or any
time they need a break from the tyranny of the clock.
"Let the men come, too. They need sabbaticals. We're all desperate for a
regular chance to drop out of the crazy-making grind, to find respite from
civilizations' crimes against the rhythms of sleep and love and play.
"Men may actually need the Menstrual Huts even more than women. They
mistakenly imagine that they can drive themselves on and on and on. Their
poor bodies don't have a built-in menstrual mechanism to cyclically slow
them down. And so they mostly never stop to peer into the heart of their
own darkness. Which is why so many of them tend to find evil everywhere
else except in themselves, and fight it everywhere else except in
themselves.
"Just a theory to consider: If men got a chance to have periodic
breakdowns and negotiate in a safe place with the toxic feelings that just
naturally build up inside everyone over time, maybe they wouldn't wreak
so much havoc out in the world. Maybe Menstrual Huts would save the
world."
My letter to Oprah went on for two more pages, but you get the gist. She
has not yet responded to my plea.
In the meantime, I suggest that anyone who's interested create their own
local Moon Lodges and Menstrual Huts. Here's a list of self-inquiries that
could help to guide the time in the sanctuary.
1. What feelings and intuitions have you been trying to ignore lately?
2. Which parts of your life are overdue for death?
3. What messages has life been trying to convey to you but which you've
chosen to ignore?
4. What red herrings, straw men, and scapegoats have you chased after
obsessively in order to avoid dissolving your most well-rationalized
delusions?
5. What unripe parts of yourself are you most ashamed or fearful of? How
can you give those parts more ingenious love?
6. What parts of yourself have the least integrity and don't act in harmony
with what you regard as your highest values? How can you bring them
into alignment with your true desires?
7. Is it possible that in repressing things about yourself that you don't
like, you have also disowned potentially strong and beautiful aspects of
yourself? What are they?
8. Are those really flaws that are bugging you about the people whose
destinies are entwined with yours, or just incompletely developed
talents? Are those really flaws that are bugging you about yourself, or
merely incompletely developed talents?
9. Some people try to deny their portion of the world's darkness and
project it onto individuals or groups they dislike. Others acknowledge its
power so readily that they allow themselves to be overwhelmed by it. We
believe in taking an in-between position, accepting it as an unworked gift
that can serve our liberation. Where do you stand?
10. It's easy to see fanaticism, rigidity, and intolerance in other people,
but harder to acknowledge them in yourself. Do you dare?
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SACRED UPROAR
If you'd maybe like to see me perform my pagan revival show "Sacred
Uproar," but aren't sure whether you want to commit to an entire
evening, here's a ten-minute sample:
https://tinyurl.com/RevivalShow
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May sound and light
not rise up and appear as enemies,
may I know all sound as my own sound,
may I know all light as my own light,
may I spontaneously know all phenomena as myself,
may I realize original nature,
not fabricated by mind,
emptynaked awareness.
—John Giorno
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Bacteria contradict Darwin: "Survival of the friendliest" outweighs
"survival of the fittest" for groups of bacteria. Bacteria make space for
one another and sacrifice properties if it benefits the bacterial
community as a whole.
https://tinyurl.com/y3rckvpf
CEO Who Cut His Own Salary Gives New Employees Immediate $10K Raise,
with $30K to Follow: https://tinyurl.com/y2tu5x9q
What Baltimore Gets Right about Urban Trees. While other cities plant
trees, Baltimore has focused on monitoring and maintaining the ones it
already has—and is one of the few cities whose urban forest is expanding.
https://tinyurl.com/y3nokzwt
(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 October 31
Copyright 2019 by Rob Brezsny
https://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In his novel *Zone One*, Scorpio author
Colson Whitehead writes, "A monster is a person who has stopped
pretending." He means it in the worst sense possible: the emergence of the
ugly beast who had been hiding behind social niceties. But I'm going to
twist his meme for my own purposes. I propose that when you stop
pretending and shed fake politeness, you may indeed resemble an ugly
monster—but only temporarily. After the suppressed stuff gets free rein
to yammer, it will relax and recede—and you will feel so cleansed and
relieved that you'll naturally be able to express more of your monumental
beauty. Halloween costume suggestion: your beautiful, fully exorcised
monster.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "I am glad that I paid so little attention
to good advice," testified poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. "Had I abided by it, I
might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes." This is
excellent advice for you. I suspect you're in the midst of either
committing or learning from a valuable mistake. It's best if you don't
interrupt yourself! Halloween costume suggestion: the personification or
embodiment of your valuable mistake.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Cleopatra was an ancient Egyptian queen
who ruled for 21 years. She was probably a Capricorn. All you need to
know about her modern reputation is that Kim Kardashian portrayed her
as a sultry seductress in a photo spread in a fashion magazine. But the
facts are that Cleopatra was a well-educated, multilingual political leader
with strategic cunning. Among her many skills were poetry, philosophy,
and mathematics. I propose we make the REAL Cleopatra your role model.
Now is an excellent time to correct people's misunderstandings about
you—and show people who you truly are. Halloween costume suggestion:
your actual authentic self.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Around the eleventh hour of the eleventh
day of the eleventh month, the eleventh sign of the zodiac, Aquarius, will
be capable of strenuous feats; will have the power to achieve a success
that surpasses past successes; will be authorized to attempt a brave act of
transcendence that renders a long-standing limitation irrelevant. As for
the eleven days and eleven hours before that magic hour, the eleventh sign
of the zodiac will be smart to engage in fierce meditation and thorough
preparation for the magic hour. And as for the eleven days and eleven
hours afterward, the eleventh sign should expend all possible effort to
capitalize on the semi-miraculous breakthrough. Halloween costume
suggestion: eleven.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Author Robert Musil made a surprising
declaration: "A number of flawed individuals can often add up to a brilliant
social unit." I propose we make that one of your mottoes for the coming
months. I think you have the potential to be a flawed but inspiring
individual who'll serve as a dynamic force in assembling and nurturing a
brilliant social unit. So let me ask you: what would be your dream-come-
true of a brilliant social unit that is a fertile influence on you and
everyone else in the unit? Halloween costume suggestion: ringleader,
mastermind, orchestrator, or general.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Do you have any skill in fulfilling the
wishes and answering the prayers of your allies? Have you developed a
capacity to tune in to what people want even when they themselves aren't
sure of what they want? Do you sometimes have a knack for offering just
the right gesture at the right time to help people do what they haven't been
able to do under their own power? If you possess any of those aptitudes,
now is an excellent time to put them in play. More than usual, you are
needed as a catalyst, a transformer, an inspirational influence. Halloween
costume suggestion: angel, fairy godmother, genie, benefactor.
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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 create a story of your own that begins with
similar words. That's why I provide these free horoscopes for you.
If you'd ever enjoy getting 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.
To buy and listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to
https://freewillastrology.sparkns.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888.
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The cost is $6 per sign. (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 Expanded Audio Horoscopes provide me with the Rest of the Story.
I'm not necessarily a believer in the scientific accuracy of astrology, but I
do think you've got a lot of practical wisdom to impart."
- M. Tennenbaum, New York
"No one knows more about me than me. But you're right up there near the
top of the list of people who do understand something about how I tick. How
is that possible?"
- R. Goren, Albuquerque
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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Amy Tan describes the magic
moment when her muse appears and takes command: "I sense a subtle
shift, a nudge to move over, and everything cracks open, the writing is
freed, the language is full, resources are plentiful, ideas pour forth, and
to be frank, some of these ideas surprise me. It seems as though the
universe is my friend and is helping me write, its hand over mine." Even
if you're not a creative artist, Taurus, I suspect you'll be offered intense
visitations from a muse in the coming days. If you make yourself alert for
and receptive to these potential blessings, you'll feel like you're being
guided and fueled by a higher power. Halloween costume suggestion: your
muse.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): More than a century ago, author Anton
Chekhov wrote, "If many remedies are prescribed for an illness, you may
be certain that the illness has no cure." Decades later, I wrote, "If you're
frantically trying to heal yourself with a random flurry of half-assed
remedies, you'll never cure what ails you. But if you sit still in a safe
place and ask your inner genius to identify the one or two things you need
to do to heal, you will find the cure." Halloween costume suggestion:
physician, nurse, shaman, healer.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian artist Marc Chagall
(1887–1985) was a playful visionary and a pioneer of modernism. He
appealed to sophisticates despite being described as a dreamy, eccentric
outsider who invented his own visual language. In the 1950s, Picasso
observed that Chagall was one of the only painters who "understood what
color really is." In 2017, one of Chagall's paintings sold for $28.5
million. What was the secret to his success? "If I create from the heart,
nearly everything works," he testified. "If from the head, almost nothing."
Your current assignment, Cancerian, is to authorize your heart to rule
everything you do. Halloween costume suggestion: a heart.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The Dead Sea, on the border of Jordan and Israel,
is far saltier than the ocean. No fish or frogs live in it. But here and there
on the lake's bottom are springs that exude fresh water. They support
large, diverse communities of microbes. It's hard for divers to get down
there and study the life forms, though. The water's so saline, they tend to
float. So they carry 90 pounds of ballast that enables them to sink to the
sea floor. I urge you to get inspired by all this, Leo. What would be the
metaphorical equivalent for you of descending into the lower depths so as
to research unexplored sources of vitality and excitement? Halloween
costume suggestions: diver, spelunker, archaeologist.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "We have stripped all things of their mystery
and luminosity," lamented psychologist Carl Jung. "Nothing is holy any
longer." In accordance with current astrological omens, Virgo, your
assignment is to rebel against that mournful state of affairs. I hope you
will devote some of your fine intelligence to restoring mystery and
luminosity to the world in which you dwell. I hope you will find and create
holiness that's worthy of your reverence and awe. Halloween costume
suggestion: mage, priestess, poet, enchantrix, witch, alchemist,
sacramentalist.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): "One language is never enough," says a Pashto
proverb. How could it be, right? Each language has a specific structure
and a finite vocabulary that limit its power to describe and understand the
world. I think the same is true for religion: one is never enough. Why
confine yourself to a single set of theories about spiritual matters when
more will enable you to enlarge and deepen your perspective? With this
in mind, Libra, I invite you to regard November as "One Is Never Enough
Month" for you. Assume you need more of everything. Halloween costume
suggestion: a bilingual Jewish Santa Claus; a pagan Sufi Buddha who
intones prayers in three different languages.
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Homework: "Be homesick for wild knowing," wrote Clarissa Pinkola Estés.
Try that out. Report results to 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
2019 Rob Brezsny
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