Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
April 8, 2020
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: https://bit.ly/LoveTests
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Anne Lamott writes: When a lot of things start going wrong all at once, it
is to protect something big and lovely that is trying to get itself born—and
that this something needs for you to be distracted so that it can be born as
perfectly as possible.
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My Expanded Audio Horoscopes offer suggestions about how you might
make best use of your time as you navigate your way through our Shared
Healing Crisis: https://FreeWillAstrology.com/horoscopes/audio
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MAYBE. MAYBE NOT.
There was once a poor farmer who could afford to own just one horse. He
cared well for the animal, but one summer night, the horse escaped
through a weak fence and ran away.
When his neighbors discovered what had happened, they visited to offer
their condolences. "What bad luck!" they exclaimed. The farmer replied,
"Maybe. Maybe not."
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A week later, the fugitive horse sauntered back to the homestead,
accompanied by six wild horses. The farmer and his son managed to corral
all of them. Again the neighbors descended. "What great luck!" they
exclaimed. "Maybe," the farmer replied. "Maybe not."
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Soon the farmer's son began the work of taming the new arrivals. While
attempting to ride the roan stallion, he was thrown to the ground and half-
trampled. His leg was badly broken. The neighbors came to investigate.
"What terrible luck!" they exclaimed. The farmer replied, "Maybe. Maybe
not."
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The next day, soldiers visited the farmer's village. Strife had recently
broken out between two warlords, and one of them had come to conscript
all the local young men. Though every other son was commandeered, the
farmer's boy was exempted because of his injury. The neighbors gathered
again. "What fantastic luck!" they exclaimed.
"Maybe," the farmer said. "Maybe not."
-Source: an old Taoist folktale
See the TORNADO RAINBOW: https://tinyurl.com/wq98ggj
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LOVING THE LUMINOUS NOTHINGNESS
Guidelines for Loving the Catalytic Abyss at the Heart of the Luminous
Nothingness
• Empty yourself out gladly and completely
• With blithe daring, lower your expectations all the way down to the Zero
Point of Unexpected Healing
• Cheerfully surrender every remnant of delusional hope that might blunt
your brazen courage
• With jaunty nonchalance, assume that since you have nothing to lose,
you might as well channel your pure soul wisdom from the dark, fertile
depths
• Open a howling welcome in your heart for the messy, unpredictable
mystery of life exactly as it is
• Say "Fuck yes!" to the confounding and regenerative beauty of ambiguity
and paradox
• Free yourself to recognize the strange truth of every person and every
situation on their own terms
• Regularly unleash this triumphant and celebratory proclamation: "I
don't know—and that's one of my superpowers!"
• Redefine and reclaim what it means to be wild
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OUR IGNORANCE AND COMPLACENCY ARE DYING
"Apocalypse does not point to a fiery Armageddon but to the fact that our
ignorance and our complacency are coming to an end.
"Our divided, schizophrenic worldview, with no mythology adequate to
coordinate our conscious and unconscious — that is what is coming to an
end.
"The exclusivism of there being only one way in which we can be saved,
the idea that there is a single religious group that is in sole possession of
the truth — that is the world as we know it that must pass away.
"What is the kingdom? It lies in our realization of the ubiquity of the
divine presence in our neighbors, in our enemies, in all of us."
- Joseph Campbell, "Thou Art That"
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NORMAL HUMAN RESPONSES: NOT TO BE PATHOLOGIZED
Sarah Mariann Martland
Normal human responses to a global pandemic that do not need to be
pathologized or treated as abnormal:
• Food and eating challenges & difficulties
• Resurgence of compulsive or addictive behaviors
• Obsessive or intrusive thoughts, memories or fears
• GeneraliZed fear, anxiety, panic & overwhelm
• Depression, dissociation, shutdown, freeze, hopelessness
• Feelings of abandonment or loneliness or isolation
• Sense of loss of control or powerlessness. Feeling confused
• Anxiety around money, shelter, food, and other survival needs
• Past traumas being triggered, activated or re-experienced
• Health anxiety heightened (about COVID-19 and otherwise)
• Feeling unheard or unseen amidst the flood of stories
• Feeling like existing chronic needs are being ignored
• Thoughts and feelings about death and dying
• New and old grief surfacing
• Feelings of anger, irritation and frustration
• Caring for everyone to own detriment. Compassion fatigue
• Feeling exhausted, fatigued, unmotivated, lethargic
• Hyper-focus, surges of energy, keeping 'doing' to distract
• Immune system depleted, other illnesses starting, chronic flares
(list not exhaustive)
AND if you do need support with any of it, that's okay too.
—by Sarah Mariann Martland
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WHAT TO BE GRATEFUL FOR
A friend named Pat Bradley has compiled a list of things she’s grateful for:
I give thanks for STORY. The stories we create, the dreams we make real.
Shared stories, vulnerable stories, human stories. Stories that define us,
change us. Even our body tells us a story through the language of
symptoms. Life is an ever-evolving story.
We are all authors of our own unique story. Here is to our creations!! Be
proud of your story!!! Listen carefully to the stories of others. Story is a
gift of self. THaNk yOU stOrY!!!
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I am grateful for ATTENTION. There is so much out there vying for our
attention, that often it feels like we are surrounded by advertisements,
billboards of the actual or virtual kind. Facebook is the perfect example of
the "look at me, pick me, pick me."
So it is a rare gift to attend to what is right there before us at any given
moment. And a precious bit of humanity to sit with another soul and be
there, undistracted and fully engaged in what is being conveyed. May you
have such moments. Today I am thankful for ATTENTION.
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I am thankful for SONG. I am reminded of the Maidu’s idea that everything
has a song, a vibratory signature. Our song is the sum of all the vibratory
patterns of our organs and our emotions – our
rhythm.
When we find another song that resonates with us, it not only is uplifting
but truly healing! Go out and give your own special song to the world. I
give thanks for SONG!
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I give thanks to PORTALS. The gatekeepers. Those moments of discernment
of what to keep in, what to let go. Those doors we unlock within ourselves
to reveal the shadow we do not want to face. I give thanks for the courage to
turn and knock on the doors of our greatest fears.
I give thanks to those who have given me the gift of welcoming me into
their vulnerable places with trust and with love. I thank the portal
between the seen and the unseen, the known and the unknown. Today I am
thankful for PORTALS.
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I am thankful for MYSTERY. That thing that enshrouds us and binds us –
the viscera of all life. I know I am lost when I do not recognize the wonder
around me and use that compass to return to mystery. Quiet and abiding
vision to bring it all back into my field of awareness. Thank you MYSTERY.
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I am grateful for my being alive. No matter what comes my way, I am
constantly learning and graced with many gifts. Breathe in, inspiration,
gather all that is offered. Breathe out to clear and cleanse in readiness for
whatever is next. Today I am grateful for the gift of a life. I shall try my
best to live it well.
—By Pat Bradley
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TIGER-ENHANCED PROTECTION
Went shopping for key necessities with my new tiger-enhanced protective
head-gear:
https://tinyurl.com/rv73o2x
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SURVIVORS
At 101 years of age, Naomi Replansky, a poet and labor activist, has
survived the Spanish Flu, the Depression, World War II, and the
Holocaust. Her 95-year-old wife, Eva Kollisch, missed the flu, but
experienced the rest. https://tinyurl.com/ur44yj9
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GOOD NEWS FROM OUR SHARED GLOBAL HEALING CRISIS
Sikhs Around the World Are Sending Thousands of Donated Meals to Elderly
and People in Self-Isolation
https://tinyurl.com/rjvkygc
Isolated Art Lovers Are Recreating Masterpieces Using Everyday
Objects—and the Results Are Amazing
https://tinyurl.com/qnuv4hr
NBA Players Recovered From COVID-19 Are Donating Plasma to Clinical
Trials Helping Sick Patients
https://tinyurl.com/vcx9wtd
This Diligent Dog Has Been Delivering Groceries, Meals, and Mail to
Senior Neighbor in Quarantine
https://tinyurl.com/vwqe8hu
Russia Sends Cargo Plane of Medical Supplies to US: ‘There is no
alternative to working together’
https://tinyurl.com/w9cwyfp
These Restaurants Are Giving Away Free Food and Coffee to Hospital
Staffers Fighting COVID-19
https://tinyurl.com/yx5pyakw
After the UK Told James Dyson It Needed 10,000 Ventilators, He Invented
One in Just 10 Days—And is Donating 5,000
https://tinyurl.com/uq4yt8s
Jimmy Fallon Asks Twitter to Change Movie Titles Into Quarantine
Editions and the List is Hilarious
https://tinyurl.com/s684b7u
Irish Researchers Have Developed Hospital Robot That Uses UV Light to
Kill Viruses, Bacteria, and Germs
https://tinyurl.com/v73b3x7
Hotels Are Opening Up Free Rooms to Healthcare Workers Battling the
COVID-19 Outbreaks
https://tinyurl.com/rh6t9mg
New England Patriots Send its Team Jet to Deliver 1.2 Million N95 Masks
From China to Boston and NYC Hospitals
https://tinyurl.com/rt3fd8v
Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning April 9
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
https://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Moses did forty years' worth of hard work
in behalf of his people, delivering them out of slavery in Egypt. Yet God
didn't allow him to enter into the Promised Land. Why? At the end of his
travails, he made a minor mistake that angered God beyond reason. Petty?
Harsh? Very much so. I'm happy to say that your fate will be very
different from Moses'. Some months from now, when your labors bring
you to the brink of your own personal version of the Promised Land, not
even a small error will prevent you from entering and enjoying it. And
what you do in the coming weeks will help ensure that later success.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Built in the third century B.C., the Colossus
of Rhodes was a monumental statue of the Greek sun god. It stood in the
harbor of the island of Rhodes, and was called one of the Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World. Alas: An earthquake struck the area 54 years after it
was finished, knocking it over and smashing it into fragments. Three
centuries later, many of the chunks still lay scattered around the harbor.
I offer this as a teaching story, Taurus. If there are any old psychological
ruins lying around in your psyche, I encourage you to conduct an
imaginary ritual in which you visualize throwing those ruins into a big
bonfire. Clear the slate for the new beginnings that will be available once
the COVID-19 crisis has settled down.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "Argue with anything else," writes author
Philip Pullman, "but don't argue with your own nature." Amen! That's
always good advice for you Geminis, and it will be especially crucial in the
coming weeks. A certain amount of disputation and challenging dialogue
with other people will be healthy for you, even an effective way to get
clarity and advance your aims. (Don't overdo it, of course.) But you must
promise never to quarrel with or criticize your own nature. You should
aim at being a radiant bastion of inner harmony and a powerhouse of self-
love. Do whatever's necessary to coax all your different aspects to work
together in sweet unity.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Like many Cancerians, painter Marc Chagall
cultivated an intimate relationship with his dreams and fantasies. His
fellow artist Pablo Picasso remarked, "When Chagall paints, you do not
know if he is asleep or awake. Somewhere or other inside his head there
must be an angel." Being a Crab myself, I know how essential it is for us
to be in close connection with reverie and the imagination. Every now and
then, though, there come occasions when the demands of the material
world need our extra, focused attention—when our dreamy tendencies need
to be rigorously harnessed in behalf of pragmatism. Now is one of those
times.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is there an influence you're ready to outgrow,
Leo? Are there teachers who have given you all they have to offer, and now
you need to go in search of new founts of inspiration and education? Have
you squeezed all possible value out of certain bright ideas and clever
theories that no longer serve you? Are you finished with old sources of
excitement that have lost their excitement? These are the kinds of
questions I encourage you to ask yourself in the coming weeks. It'll be a
favorable time to celebrate the joyful art of liberation—to graduate from
what might have been true once upon a time, and prepare for the wide-
open future after the COVID-19 crisis has mellowed.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your words of power in the coming days are
simple: deep, low, down, below, dig, dive, and descend. I invite you to
meditate on all the ways you can make them work for you as metaphors
and use them to activate interesting, nourishing feelings. There'll be very
little worth exploring on the surface of life in the coming weeks, Virgo.
All the hottest action and most valuable lessons will be blooming in the
fertile darkness.
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OUR COLLABORATION
I really do feel that you're with me as I create the weekly horoscopes you
read here in my newsletter.
In a sense, you're my assistant.
Our telepathic connection is utterly palpable and practical.
The hopes and questions you project my way stream into my higher mind,
coloring my psychic environment and enriching my desire to give you
exactly what you need.
If you ever want more inspiration generated in that same collaborative
spirit — beyond the horoscopes you read on my website and in the
newspapers — keep in mind that every week I also offer EXPANDED AUDIO
HOROSCOPES for you.
They're extended meditations on the current state of your destiny.
These days the EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES are offering suggestions
about how you might make best use of your time as you navigate your way
through our Shared Healing Crisis:
https://FreeWillAstrology.com/horoscopes/audio
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Before the COVID-19 crisis arrived, were you
ensconced in roles that were good fits for your specific temperament and
set of talents? Did you occupy niches that brought out the best in you and
enabled you to offer your best gifts? Were there places that you
experienced as power spots—where you felt at home in the world and at
peace with your destiny? Once you've meditated on those questions for a
while, Libra, I'll ask you to shift gears: Meditate on how you'd like to
answer similar questions about your life in the future. Once this crazy
time has passed, what roles will be good fits for you? What niches will
bring out the best in you? What will be your power spots?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "Fen" is a word that's not used much these
days. It means a marsh or a boggy lowland. Decades ago, Scorpio poet
Marianne Moore used it in a short poem. She wrote, "If you will tell me
why the fen appears impassable, I will tell you why I think that I can
cross it if I try." In my opinion, that's an apt battle cry for you right now.
You shouldn't be upset if people tell you that certain things are impossible
for you to do. You should be grateful! Their discouragement will rile up
your deep intelligence and inspire you to figure out how you can indeed do
those things.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "Goodness alone is never enough," wrote
author Robert A. Heinlein. "A hard, cold wisdom is required for goodness
to accomplish good. Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil." I
think that's an interesting thought for you to consider during the coming
weeks, Sagittarius. If you want your care and compassion to be effective,
you'll have to synergize them with tough intelligence. You may even need
to be a bit ferocious as you strive to ensure that your worthy intentions
succeed and the people you love get what they need.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Are there any ways in which you have
been wishy-washy in standing up for what you believe in? Have you shied
away from declaring your true thoughts and feelings about important
issues that affect you and the people you care about? Have you
compromised your commitment to authenticity and integrity for the sake
of your ambition or financial gain? In asking you these questions, I am not
implying that the answers are yes. But if in fact you have engaged in even
a small amount of any of those behaviors, now is an excellent time to make
corrections. As much as possible, Capricorn, focus on being trustworthy
and transparent.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Physicist Edward Teller believed there is
no such thing as "exact science." And in his view, that's a good thing.
"Science has always been full of mistakes," he said. But he added that
they're mostly "good mistakes," motivating scientists to push closer
toward the truth. Each new mistake is a better mistake than the last, and
explains the available evidence with more accuracy. I suspect that you've
been going through a similar process in your personal life, Aquarius. And
I predict that the good mistakes you've recently made will prove to be
useful in the long run.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Few astrologers would say that you
Pisceans are masters of the obvious or connoisseurs of simplicity. You're
not typically renowned for efficiency or celebrated for directness. Your
strength is more likely to be rooted in your emotional riches, your ability
to create and appreciate beauty, your power to generate big dreams, and
your lyrical perspective on life. So my oracle for you this time may be a
bit surprising. I predict that in the coming weeks, your classic attributes
will be very useful when applied to well-grounded, down-to-earth
activities. Your deep feelings and robust imagination can be indispensable
assets in your hard work on the nuts and bolts.
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Homework: Rilke said, "If the Angel comes, it will be because you have
convinced her, not by tears, but by your humble resolve to always be a
beginner." Any comments? FreeWillAstrology.com
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2020 Rob Brezsny
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