Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
May 5, 2021
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See a pretty version of this newsletter:
https://bit.ly/CompassionateLustForLife
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It always makes me proud to love the world; hate’s so easy compared.
—Jack Kerouac
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The closer you get to real matter, rock air fire and wood, the more
spiritual the world is.
—Jack Kerouac
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IT'S BAD LUCK TO BE SUPERSTITIOUS
Review in painstaking detail the history of your life,
honoring every moment as if you were conducting
a benevolent Judgment Day.
Forgive yourself of every mistake except one.
Create a royal crown for yourself
out of a shower cap, rubber bands, and light bulbs.
Think of the last place on Earth you'd ever want to visit,
and visualize yourself having fun there.
Steal lint from dryers in laundromats
and use it to make animal sculptures for someone you admire.
Fantasize you're the child of divine parents
who abandoned you when you were two days old,
but who will soon be coming back to reunite with you.
Meditate on how one of the symbols of plenitude in Nepal is a mongoose
vomiting jewels.
Once a year on the night before your birthday,
say these words into a mirror: "It's bad luck to be superstitious."
Start a club whose purpose is to produce an archive
of controversial jokes and obscene limericks about beauty, truth, and
love.
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Below are excerpts from an interview I did with the brilliant Amanda
Yates Garcia, author of the book *Initiated: Memoir of a Witch*:
https://tinyurl.com/3n4vyhtx
Listen to our conversation here:
https://tinyurl.com/BeautifulJustice
CULTIVATING GRACE
Grace is a mystery, isn't it? It's not always something we can logically
figure out. But I believe there is a way we can cultivate grace, and that is
to commune with the Goddess.
We commune with the source of life, and affirm unceasingly that we want
to be in close personal association with the source of all life.
We want to be with her. We want to speak with her. We want to be
inspired by her. We want to be motivated by her.
We want to be able to channel her ideas of what we can be doing in the
world. We want to be able to channel that in the purest way so that we're a
vehicle for her.
And we're in alignment with her idea of what our highest destiny should
be.
In that sense, we can to a degree at least—although it's always
mysterious—we can cultivate grace and blessings that come from the
highest source. Beyond our ego, beyond our conscious understanding,
beyond what we can perceive with our five senses.
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An important part of the request, or the prayer, or the invocation of the
Goddess' intimate presence, is to affirm that whatever she chooses to give
us will be of good to other people, will be of some use to other people.
That's the missing link: We affirm that we want her energy to fill us and
inform us so that we can give our gifts better and to be of greater service
to other people. I think that delights her and makes her all the more
intensely likely to deliver the exact blessings that are necessary to any
particular situation.
These are among my statements from an interview I did with the brilliant
Amanda Yates Garcia, author of the book *Initiated: Memoir of a Witch*:
https://tinyurl.com/3n4vyhtx
Listen to our conversation here:
https://tinyurl.com/BeautifulJustice
Amanda Yates Garcia is here:
https://instagram.com/oracleofla/
Amanda Yates Garcia is also here:
https://facebook.com/oracle.of.LA
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More of my words from the interview with Amanda Yates Garcia:
A lot of people in our culture are smart intellectually, but not very smart
emotionally. The emotional intelligence is just not very highly valued.
And it's related to how women are devalued. It's not just of course that
women are the only ones who have emotional intelligence, but they're
more likely to be emotionally intelligent than men.
So the devaluation of the feminine is related to the devaluation of the
power of the emotions, of the wisdom of the emotions.
One of my great crusades is to champion the value of ripening our
emotional understanding, of using our emotional understanding to enrich
our relationships, and to enrich our understanding of how the world
works.
Just one example: It's great to have an intellectual understanding of the
Goddess and the source of all life beyond the material world, but it's
another thing to have an emotional connection to the Goddess, and to
cultivate that intimate up-close deeply felt contact and communion with
her.
Luckily for me, I was born under the sign of Cancer, and I think that gives
me a predilection for valuing the felt sense and championing the felt sense.
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If we look at the history of the God Mars, originally he was a protector of
the fields and protector of women and children. This was at a time in
ancient Rome when most men were farmers.
But as Rome became an empire and more and more farmers became
soldiers, the role of Mars shifted to be more warlike, and militant, and
warrior-like.
But the original role of Mars, the central archetype of manliness, was to
be a protector of women, and children, and nature.
Mars as a protector of the natural world and women and children: I would
like to resurrect that archetype of Mars.
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In my felt philosophy of life, Goddess is literally recreating the world
every moment. She didn't create the world once upon a time 4.6 billion
years ago and stop.
She's here now, recreating it all the time.
So each moment is new and unpredictable. And that can be scary, but it can
be a liberation.
Thich Nhat Hanh said, "The bad news is that everything is impermanent.
The good news is that everything is impermanent."
What he meant by that: The good news is that we can keep recreating
things anew, too. We don't have to be bound by what happened once upon a
time or yesterday. We really do at least potentially have the power to be
like the Goddess, be like the river, and be ever flowing.
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When we talk about happiness, it's about what has meaning to you.
Happiness isn't necessarily about having all the money you want, although
it can be related to that. In its purest form, happiness is that you're living
a life with meaning or you're having experiences that satisfy your quest
for meaning.
Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl said this clearly: A sense of meaning is
the most important thing in life. That's what sustains people throughout
their lives: the sense that their life has a meaning or that any particular
experience has a meaning.
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My happiness comes from the fact that I know my happiness is
meaningless unless I'm working in some way to foster the happiness of
others.
I also think my happiness thrives to the degree that I'm not just manly,
but also womanly; in other words, to the degree that I incorporate what I
understand to be the divine feminine principle and bring it into my life in
really practical ways.
So that means valuing emotional intelligence, listening well, not being a
know-it-all, being willing to be humble and empty, and curious and
expressing care and compassion.
And not just thinking those things, but every day questioning how can I do
this anew, afresh? How can I do this better than I did it before?
I feel equally manly and womanly. And for those aspects to be working
together in me seems to be key to my ability to enjoy life.
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All of the above is from an interview I did with Amanda Yates Garcia,
author of the book *Initiated: Memoir of a Witch*. Listen to our
conversation here:
https://tinyurl.com/BeautifulJustice
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SHADOW WORK
The alchemists said the magic formula for enlightenment was "Visita
Inferiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem," or "Seek out
the lower reaches of the earth, perfect them, and you will find the hidden
stone"—the treasured philosopher's stone.
In other words: Engage the shadowy parts of yourself, refine them, and
you'll awaken your dormant divinity.
MORE: https://tinyurl.com/yn6bhr8d
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"If you're really listening, if you're awake to the poignant beauty of the
world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact, your heart is made to break;
its purpose is to burst open again and again so that it can hold ever-¬more
wonders."
—Andrew Harvey
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"The miracle of the psyche's ways is that even if you are halfhearted,
irreverent, didn't mean to, didn't really hope to, don't want to, feel
unworthy to, aren't ready for it, you will accidentally stumble upon
treasure anyway."
—Clarissa Pinkola Estes
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I invite you to write an essay on "What I Swear I'll Never Do Again as Long
as I Live—Unless I Can Get Away With It Next Time."
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THANKS by W. S. Merwin
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
standing by the windows looking out
in our directions
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
—W. S. Merwin
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SCIENCE AND THE FAIRIES
With science, Mothra, and the fairies together, we are unbeatable:
https://tinyurl.com/4hj3fsuu
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MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
Listen to and download the music of my band WORLD ENTERTAINMENT
WAR for free: https://freewillastrology.com/music
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The story of the band WORLD ENTERTAINMENT WAR is provided in my
book "The Televisionary Oracle": https://bit.ly/Televisionary
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There's a whole lot more of my other music here:
https://soundcloud.com/sacreduproar
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Here's a review of my band WORLD ENTERTAINMENT WAR's album on
Amazon: "You often hear people refer to 'lost' albums. Albums that were
fantastic but were ahead of their time or not properly supported by the
record label or was simply missed at their release. 'World Entertainment
War' is just such an album.
"WEW were a San Francisco group led by Rob Brezsny, a writer probably
best known for his Freewill Astrology column. The band were the cream of
the crop of musicians from the Bay Area in the early '90s.
"This album, the band's self titled debut, was released by MCA records.
MCA (better known for country artists) obviously had no idea what to do
with something this original and unique.
"The best way I can describe 'World Entertainment War' is 'Alternative
'90s metaphysical metapolitical tribal dance rock.' Bowie meets Prince
meets Talking Heads meets Bootsy Collins at a New Age bookstore Grand
Opening party.
"Strong, danceable rhythms, thought provoking lyics, Brezsny trades lead
vocals with Darby Gould who wails and purrs throughout with sass, sex
and style. The entire band is explosive.
"Even now, almost 27 years (REALLY?!) later the album sounds fresh,
vibrant and unique. The best word I've ever heard from someone I've
exposed to this album is "Brazen". For a debut album from an unknown
band? It's remarkable.
"Producer and Engineer Marc Senasac, who has worked with a diverse
group of artists in his career (Digital Underground, En Vogue and heavy
metal band Exodus, among others) created a nearly magical soundscape
here.
"Layers and layers of sounds that never ceases to give new gifts with each
listen. (Faux) Radio transmissions, answering machine messages and
loudspeaker announcements all weave throughout the album to great
effect.
"The band released the album twice. This was the first release. A few
years later it was re-released as "Give Too Much" with a revamped track
lineup and a few additional songs.
"FOR ME this original release is tighter and more powerful than the redux
but both are powerful statements of intent that make the lack of additional
releases quite depressing.
"I've been evangelizing this album for years and I'm shocked I've never
thought to review it on Amazon before. If you like dance pop, political
rock, social commentary, wry humor and witty lyrics or just want to
hear one of the great unsung albums of the 20th Century you should hear
this.
"Strong words? Yes, but as a music fan for more than 45 years I mean
every word. In a perfect world this would have been a Number 1 album
and Rob Brezsny would be a household name. Fork out the pittance this CD
costs.
"You won't find it on streaming services and you'll never hear anything
this good for this little money again.
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The *Detroit Metro Times* called World Entertainment War, "cheerfully
anarchist, socially conscious, warmly humanist, charmingly goofy, and
sternly pop,"
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Another review of my band on Amazon: "Of all the crimes that record
companies have ever been guilty of, their mothballing of World
Entertainment War's debut album and career may the worst.
"This is, quite simply, the best CD I've ever listened to. It is a stunning,
unified, well-conceived and well-written piece of work performed with
phenomenal musicianship.
"Mark Senasac's production and engineering (he was their live sound guy,
as well) is wonderful. Bass players especially ought to check out Daniel
Lewis' fretless work - yes, it is ALL fretless and he is truly one of the
greats."
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Another review on Amazon: "I had the pleasure of seeing this band live
many times in San Francisco & I still consider them one of the best bands
I've ever heard. Or, as I tell my friends, the best band you've never heard
of.
"I've been a musician for over 35 years, I've played with a dozen or so
rock bands on hundreds of stages & recorded several albums. I've been a
record producer & managed an independent record label ... I know amazing
talent when I see (& hear) it ... & this band had incredibly amazing talent.
"It was truly a shame that a major label signed them & then released their
debut album with no promotion whatsoever. Unfortunately that was what
labels were doing at the time, the same thing happened to Psychefunkapus,
another great SF band.
"As much as I love a wide variety of other bands & musicians, if I were
stuck on a deserted island & could have only one band to listen to, it would
be World Entertainment War.
"After the band broke up Darby Gould (their main female singer) went on
to sing with Jefferson Starship (or just Starship), taking the place of
Grace Slick. Their lead singer, Rob Brezsny, writes Free Will Astrology &
has published three books to date."
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Here's me and my band on Youtube:
https://tinyurl.com/ddywn6ww
https://tinyurl.com/2s92jd2au
https://tinyurl.com/2k59c8zd
https://tinyurl.com/4cbun42y
https://tinyurl.com/2shadf4c
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Researchers Find They Can Weaken Fear Memories, a Discovery That
Could Help Treat Trauma
https://tinyurl.com/5d96ncff
Resurrecting an Ancient Fabric More Precious Than Silk That Hasn’t Been
Spun for Centuries
https://tinyurl.com/fds73v35
Female Entrepreneurs Tend Community Gardens While Growing Their
Small Businesses, Too
https://tinyurl.com/5rwe84v4
Doctors Thought He Would Never Walk or Talk, Watch His Reaction to
Getting Accepted to College
https://tinyurl.com/pcznewhx
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For a lot more pronoiac resources and ideas, read my book *Pronoia Is the
Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You
with Blessings*
Available at Bookshop.org: https://tinyurl.com/548hp8y8
Available at Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaBN
Available at Amazon: https://bit.ly/Pronoia
A free preview of the book is available here:
https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaPreview
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Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning May 6
Copyright 2021 by Rob Brezsny
https://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus poet Vera Pavlova writes, "Why is
the word yes so brief? It should be the longest, the hardest, so that you
could not decide in an instant to say it, so that upon reflection you could
stop in the middle of saying it." I suppose it makes sense for her to
express such an attitude, given the fact that she never had a happy
experience until she was 20 years old, and that furthermore, this
happiness was "unbearable." (She confessed these sad truths in an
interview.) But I hope you won't adopt her hard-edged skepticism toward
YES anytime soon, Taurus. In my view, it's time for you to become a
connoisseur of YES, a brave explorer of the bright mysteries of YES, an
exuberant perpetrator of YES.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In indigenous cultures from West Africa to
Finland to China, folklore describes foxes as crafty tricksters with
magical powers. Sometimes they're thought of as perpetrators of pranks,
but more often they are considered helpful messengers or intelligent
allies. I propose that you regard the fox as your spirit creature for the
foreseeable future. I think you will benefit from the influence of your
inner fox—the wild part of you that is ingenious, cunning, and
resourceful.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): "The universe conspires in your favor,"
writes author Neale Donald Welsch. "It consistently places before you the
right and perfect people, circumstances, and situations with which to
answer life’s only question: 'Who are you?'" In my book *Pronoia Is the
Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You
with Blessings*, I say much the same thing, although I mention two
further questions that life regularly asks, which are: 1. What can you do
next to liberate yourself from some of your suffering? 2. What can you do
next to reduce the suffering of others, even by a little? As you enter a
phase when you'll get ample cosmic help in diminishing suffering and
defining who you are, I hope you meditate on these questions every day.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The poet Anne Sexton wrote a letter to a
Benedictine monk whose real identity she kept secret from the rest of us.
She told him, "There are a few great souls in my life. They are not many.
They are few. You are one." In this spirit, Leo, and in accordance with
astrological omens, I invite you to take an inventory of the great souls in
your life: the people you admire and respect and learn from and feel
grateful for; people with high integrity and noble intentions; people who
are generous with their precious gifts. When you've compiled your list, I
encourage you to do as Sexton did: Express your appreciation; perhaps
even send no-strings-attached gifts. Doing these things will have a
profoundly healing effect on you.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "It’s a temptation for any intelligent person to
try to murder the primitive, emotive, appetitive self," writes author
Donna Tartt. "But that is a mistake. Because it is dangerous to ignore the
existence of the irrational." I'm sending this message out to you, Virgo,
because in the coming weeks it will be crucial for you to honor the parts
of your life that can't be managed through rational thought alone. I suggest
you have sacred fun as you exult in the mysterious, welcome the
numinous, explore the wildness within you, unrepress big feelings you've
buried, and marvel adoringly about your deepest yearnings.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Science writer Sharman Apt Russell provides
counsel that I think you should consider adopting in the coming days. The
psychospiritual healing you require probably won't be available through
the normal means, so some version of her proposal may be useful: "We
may need to be cured by flowers. We may need to strip naked and let the
petals fall on our shoulders, down our bellies, against our thighs. We may
need to lie naked in fields of wildflowers. We may need to walk naked
through beauty. We may need to walk naked through color. We may need to
walk naked through scent."
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WHY IS IT CALLED "FREE WILL" ASTROLOGY?
It's called Free Will Astrology because my goal is to create horoscopes that
nurture your free will!
Contrary to what some horoscope fans believe, there's no such thing as
predestination. Fate is a tricky phenomenon that keeps changing its mind
about where it wants to go. The stars may impel, as the astrological saying
goes, but they don't compel.
That's why I've never really considered myself a fortuneteller. I prefer to
think that my greatest service is as a psychic intelligence agent, helping
you expose the hidden patterns and unconscious forces that may be
affecting your life without your knowledge.
If I "predict" anything, it's not so much the future as the unknown part of
the present.
And if you ever want more than the 'scopes you're reading here, keep in
mind that I also create EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They're
four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to
https://freewillastrology.sparkns.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
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"I always feel like I know myself better after listening to your audio
'scopes."
—June Roseville, Austin, TX
"Your audio horoscopes calm me down when I'm too manic and pep me up
when I'm down."
—Arthur Trachten, Cleveland, OH
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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): As Scorpio author Margaret Atwood reminds
us, "Water is not a solid wall; it will not stop you. But water always goes
where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it."
According to my reading of the astrological omens, being like water will
be an excellent strategy for you to embrace during the coming weeks.
"Water is patient," Atwood continues. "Dripping water wears away a
stone. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle,
go around it. Water does."
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In a letter to a friend in 1856,
Sagittarian poet Emily Dickinson confessed she was feeling
discombobulated because of a recent move to a new home. She hoped she
would soon regain her bearings. "I am out with lanterns, looking for
myself," she quipped, adding that she couldn't help laughing at her
disorientation. She signed the letter "From your mad Emilie,"
intentionally misspelling her own name. I'd love it if you approached your
current doubt and uncertainty with a similar light-heartedness and poise.
(PS: Soon after writing this letter, Dickinson began her career as a poet
in earnest, reading extensively and finishing an average of one poem every
day for many years.)
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Now is a favorable time to celebrate both
life's changeableness and your own. The way we are all constantly called
on to adjust to unceasing transformations can sometimes be a wearying
chore, but I suspect it could be at least interesting and possibly even
exhilarating for you in the coming weeks. For inspiration, study this
message from the "Welcome to Night Vale" podcast: "You are never the
same twice, and much of your unhappiness comes from trying to pretend
that you are. Accept that you are different each day, and do so joyfully,
recognizing it for the gift it is. Work within the desires and goals of the
person you are currently, until you aren’t that person anymore."
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author Toni Morrison described
two varieties of loneliness. The first "is a loneliness that can be rocked.
Arms crossed, knees drawn up; holding, holding on, this motion smooths
and contains the rocker." The second "is a loneliness that roams. No
rocking can hold it down. It is alive, on its own." Neither kind is better or
worse, of course, and both are sometimes necessary as a strategy for self-
renewal—as a means for deepening and fine-tuning one's relationship with
oneself. I recommend either or both for you in the coming weeks.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): England's Prince Charles requires his valet
to iron his shoelaces and put toothpaste on his toothbrush and wash all of
his clothes by hand. I could conceivably interpret the current astrological
omens to mean that you should pursue similar behavior in the coming
weeks. I could, but I won't. Instead, I will suggest that you solicit help
about truly important matters, not meaningless trivia like shoelace
ironing. For example, I urge you to ask for the support you need as you
build bridges, seek harmony, and make interesting connections.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Created by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th
century, the *Mona Lisa* is one of the world's most famous paintings. It's
hanging in the Louvre museum in Paris. In that same museum is a less
renowned version of the Mona Lisa. It depicts the same woman, but she's
unclothed. Made by da Vinci's student, it was probably inspired by a now-
lost nude Mona Lisa painted by the master himself. Renaissance artists
commonly created "heavenly" and "vulgar" versions of the same subject. I
suggest that in the coming weeks you opt for the "vulgar" Mona Lisa, not
the "heavenly" one, as your metaphor of power. Favor what's earthy, raw,
and unadorned over what's spectacular, idealized, and polished.
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Homework. The Dream of the Month Club wants to hear about your best
nightly dreams. Truthrooster@gmail.com
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P.S. I totally respect your privacy. I'll never sell or give away your
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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,
including but not limited to newsletters, books, the Free Will
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Requests for anonymity will be honored. We are not responsible for
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2021 Rob Brezsny
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