Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
April 1, 2020
FreeWillAstrology.com
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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 Global Crisis: FreeWillAstrology.com/horoscopes/audio
BRIEF EXCERPT: During this sequestered phase, this transition period, you may have more time than usual to think about the big picture of your destiny . . . to meditate on where exactly you are in the story of your life . . . to brainstorm about what will be the best use of your time and energy when the crisis has calmed down.
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THE VALUE OF SOME ORDEALS
In 1963, the authoritarian government of the Soviet Union decided that feisty, rebellious young poet Joseph Brodsky was not making sufficient contributions to society.
He was sentenced to exile in an unheated farmhouse without plumbing north of the Arctic Circle, where his job was to break rocks and shovel manure.
Those 18 months turned out to be wonderful for him. Every night he spent hours reading great poetry, learning English, and honing his craft.
It was a key phase of a career that eventually won him a Nobel Prize for Literature.
Do you have a comparable opportunity in the works?
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THE SEA MAY BE REBORN IN YOU
To those of you
who can't hear the sea
today,
to those of you
who are cooped up,
confined,
locked away—
Your muses may arrive,
addressing your shrouded hearts,
transmitting the starry echoes of the wave,
the soft crackle of foam and sand,
the rustling sparkle of salt,
the grey songs of the sea-birds
and the sea may be reborn in you,
throbbing, dying,
throbbing, dying
throbbing
—my adaptation of a Neruda poem
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STAY HOME!
The taverns are full of gadabouts making merry this eve. And though I may press my face against the window like an urchin at a confectioner's, I am tempted not by the sweetmeats within. A dram in exchange for the pox is an ill bargain indeed.
— from the diary of London-based Samuel Pepys during the Great Plague of 1665
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DON'T GIVE UP YOUR SOCIAL DISTANCING
Epidemiologist Jonathan Smith writes: We are in the infancy of this epidemic’s trajectory. That means even with these measures we will see cases and deaths continue to rise in the coming weeks.
This may lead some people to think that the social distancing measures are not working. But the fact is, they are working. They may feel futile. They aren’t. You will feel discouraged. But this is normal epidemic trajectory.
We need everyone to hold the line as the epidemic inevitably gets worse.
Stay strong and with solidarity knowing with absolute certainty that what you are doing is saving lives, even as people begin getting sick and dying. You may feel like giving in. Don’t.
Read the short essay: tinyurl.com/sxls5tf
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YOUR HOROSCOPE
by Rob Obvious
ARIES: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
TAURUS: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
GEMINI: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
CANCER: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
LEO: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
VIRGO: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
LIBRA: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
SCORPIO: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
SAGITTARIUS: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
CAPRICORN: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
AQUARIUS: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
PISCES: You'll be spending a lot of time in your home. (At least you should be!)
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MAKING FRIENDS WITH YOUR INNER DEMONS?
During your extended extra time at home, it might be a good time to get better acquainted with your inner demons. Check out this cartoon:
tinyurl.com/DemonsPlayNice
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A CHARM AGAINST THE LANGUAGE OF POLITICS
Say over and over the names of things,
the clean nouns: weeping birch, bloodstone, tanager,
Banshee damask rose. Read field guides, atlases,
gravestones.
At the store, bless each apple by kind:
McIntosh, Winesap, Delicious, Jonathan.
Enunciate the vegetables and herbs: okra, calendula.
Go deeper into the terms of some small landscape:
spiders, for example. Then, after a speech on
compromising the environment for technology,
recite the tough, silky structure of webs:
tropical stick, ladder web, mesh web, filmy dome, funnel,
trap door. When you have compared the candidates’ slippery
platforms, chant the spiders: comb footed, round headed,
garden cross, feather legged, ogre faced, black widow.
Remember that most short verbs are ethical: hatch, grow,
spin, trap, eat. Dig deep, pronounce clearly, pull the words
in over your head. Hole up
for the duration.
~ Veronica Patterson
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SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER!
Alternative newsweeklies like the "Stranger" in Seattle and the "Austin Chronicle" in Texas and the "City Pages" in Minneapolis have published my syndicated column "Free Will Astrology" for years.
I'm profoundly grateful for their support of my work! Because of them, I've been able to reach a large audience with my writing, and have earned a decent living.
In the wake of our Shared Global Crisis, these fine publications are suffering financially. All the businesses in town are closed! And so of course they're not advertising in the newspapers.
I know that any help I can offer them now will be modest, but at least it's something: I've told all of them that they can publish Free Will Astrology for free during the month of April.
It's a financial loss for me, but hopefully it will help them stay healthy and thriving.
Here's the story of Seattle's "Stranger": tinyurl.com/u3yppfr
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GARUDA AND THE VIRUS
I know it's "only" metaphorical, symbolic, mythical, psycho-spiritual, and magickal, but I and my 3.78 trillion allies in the astral realm just exhorted and invoked the god Garuda to curtail the coronavirus.
View Garuda: tinyurl.com/ruhmawk
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IN A CRISIS
Listen here to my song "In a Crisis": tinyurl.com/s7hfq3u
Here are some of the lyrics:
In a crisis we cut away
What we don't need anymore
In the good times we fight our way
We fight our way inside
In a crisis we cut away
What we don't need anymore
In the good times we find our way
We find our way back home
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
14 Stories of Good news Amidst the Pandemic:
Shelter Animals Are Being Taken Home in Droves as Hundreds of People Volunteer to Foster Pets
tinyurl.com/rdeaoqc
Across Canada, Scaremongering Becomes ‘Caremongering’ as Citizens Help Each Other In Challenging Times
tinyurl.com/unnn7d7
Homeless People From California to France Are Being Given Emergency Shelter During COVID-19 Response
tinyurl.com/vf2lfph
JOANN Stores are Handing Out Free Fabric Supplies at Curbside to Anyone Sewing Face Masks at Home
tinyurl.com/szqgfbc
Neighborhood Comes Together for Hilarious Dino-Themed Social Distancing Parade
tinyurl.com/shv66cq
People Are Now Stocking Little Free Libraries With Toilet Paper and Food for Neighbors in Need
tinyurl.com/tfntkes
After Couple Publishes 3D-Printing Guide for Face Masks, Hundreds of Volunteers Start Making Them for Free
tinyurl.com/taq6rj9
Chinese Company Ships Crates of Masks to Italy Covered in Italian Poetry: We Are ‘Leaves of the Same Tree’
tinyurl.com/rjwe36p
Jimmy Fallon Asks Twitter to Describe Their Quarantine in Six Words—and the Results Are Hilarious
tinyurl.com/wsbptp8
TV Medical Dramas Are Donating All Their Gowns, Gloves, and Masks to Real Hospitals Fighting COVID-19
tinyurl.com/rr7f747
Businesses Are Giving Away All Their Excess Toilet Paper to People in Need During COVID-19 Shutdowns
tinyurl.com/syckroe
After Rediscovering Warehouse Treasure Trove of 50,000 Face Masks, IKEA Donates Them All to Hospital
tinyurl.com/rkousef
Great Things to Do at Home While Quarantined: Let’s Be Pandemic-Positive
tinyurl.com/qqzgq59
Corner Store Owner Gives Away More Than $6,000 in Free Goods to Seniors Preparing for Quarantines
tinyurl.com/vt3wkpz
(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 April 2
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
"If all the world's a stage, where the hell is the teleprompter," asks aphorist Sami Feiring. In my astrological opinion, you Aries are the least likely of all the signs to identify with that perspective. While everyone else might wish they could be better prepared for the nonstop improvisational tests of everyday life, most of you tend to prefer what I call the "naked spontaneity" approach. If you were indeed given the chance to use a teleprompter, you'd probably ignore it. Everything I just said is especially and intensely true for you right now.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
When Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian author Knut Hamsun was 25 years old, a doctor told him that the tuberculosis he had contracted would kill him within three months. But in fact, Hamsun lived 67 more years, till the age of 92. I suspect there's an equally erroneous prophecy or unwarranted expectation impacting your life right now. A certain process or phenomenon that seems to be nearing an end may in fact reinvent or resurrect itself, going on to last for quite some time. I suggest you clear away any misapprehensions you or others might have about it.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
I invite you to remember what you were thinking and feeling around your birthday in 2019. Were there specific goals you hoped to accomplish between then and your birthday in 2020? Were there bad old habits you aimed to dissolve and good new habits you proposed to instigate? Was there a lingering wound you aspired to heal or a debilitating memory you longed to conquer? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to take inventory of your progress in projects like those. And if you find that you have achieved less than you had hoped, I trust you will dedicate yourself to playing catch-up in the weeks between now and your birthday. You may be amazed at how much ground you can cover.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
I can't swim. Why? There was a good reason when I was a kid: I'm allergic to chlorine, and my mom wouldn't let me take swimming lessons at the local chlorine-treated pool. Since then, the failure to learn is inexcusable, and I'm embarrassed about it. Is there an equivalent phenomenon in your life, my fellow Cancerian? The coming weeks might be an excellent time to meditate on how to correct the problem. As for me, I'm studying two helpful Youtube videos that will enable me to give myself solo self-administered swim lessons at the lake when the weather is warmer and the coronavirus crisis has passed.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Is William Shakespeare the greatest author who ever lived? French philosopher Voltaire didn't think so, calling him "an amiable barbarian." Russian superstar author Leo Tolstoy claimed The Bard had "a complete absence of aesthetic feeling." England's first Poet Laureate John Dryden called Shakespeare's language "scarcely intelligible." T. E. Lawrence, a.k.a Lawrence of Arabia, declared The Bard had a second-rate mind. Lord Byron said, "Shakespeare's name stands too absurdly high and will go down." His contemporary, the poet and playwright Ben Johnson, asserted that he "never had six lines together without a fault." I offer these cheeky views to encourage you Leos to enjoy your own idol-toppling and authority-questioning activities in the coming weeks. You have license to be an irrepressible iconoclast.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo-born Jack Ma is China's richest person and one of the world's most powerful businessmen. He co-founded Alibaba, the Chinese version of Amazon.com. He likes his employees to work hard, but also thinks they should cultivate a healthy balance between work and life. In his opinion, they should have sex six times a week, or 312 times a year. Some observers have suggested that's too much—especially if you labor 12 hours a day, six days a week, as Jack Ma prefers—but it may not be excessive for you Virgos. The coming months could be a very erotic time. But please practice safe sex in every way imaginable.
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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 extended meditations on the current state of your destiny.
Lately I have been creating Special Editions of these horoscopes, offering suggestions about how you might best use your time during the coronavirus crisis.
To buy and listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to 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 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 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
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
How hard are you willing to work on your most important relationships? How might your life change for the better if you gave them your most potent resourcefulness and panache? The next eight weeks will be a favorable time for you to attend to these matters, Libra. During this fertile time, you will have unprecedented power to reinvigorate togetherness with imaginative innovations. I propose you undertake the following task: Treat your intimate alliances as creative art projects that warrant your supreme ingenuity.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
"I make mistakes," confessed author Jean Kerr. "I’ll be the second to admit it." She was making a joke, contrasting her tepid sense of responsibility with the humbler and more common version of the idiom, which is "I make mistakes; I'll be the first to admit it." In the coming weeks, I'll be fine if you merely match her mild level of apology—just as long as you do indeed acknowledge some culpability in what has gone amiss or awry or off-kilter. One way or another, you need to be involved in atonement and correction—for your own sake.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
If you have been thinking of adopting a child or getting pregnant with a new child, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to enter a new phase of rumination about that possibility. If you've been dreaming off and on about a big project that could activate your dormant creative powers and captivate your imagination for a long time to come, now would be a perfect moment to get more practical about it. If you have fantasized about finding a new role that would allow you to express even more of your beauty and intelligence, you have arrived at a fertile phase to move to the next stage of that fantasy.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
I suggest you make room in your life for a time of sacred rejuvenation. Here are activities you might try: Recall your favorite events of the past. Reconnect with your roots. Research your genetic heritage. Send prayers to your ancestors, and ask them to converse with you in your dreams. Have fun feeling what it must have been like when you were in your mother's womb. Get a phone consultation with a past life regression therapist who can help you recover scenes from your previous incarnations. Feel reverence and gratitude for traditions that are still meaningful to you. Reaffirm your core values—the principles that serve as your lodestar. And here's the number one task I recommend: Find a place of refuge in your imagination and memories; use your power of visualization to create an inner sanctuary.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Are we just being poetic and fanciful when we say that wonder is a survival skill? Not according to the editors who assembled the collection of essays gathered in a book called *Wonder and Other Survival Skills*. They propose that a capacity to feel awe and reverence can help us to be vital and vigorous; that an appreciation for marvelous things makes us smart and resilient; that it's in our selfish interests to develop a humble longing for sublime beauty and an attraction to sacred experiences. The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to dive deep into these healing pleasures, dear Aquarius.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
For decades, the city of Sacramento, California suffered from severe floods when the Sacramento and American Rivers overflowed their banks. Residents authorized a series of measures to prevent these disasters, culminating in the construction of a 59,000-acre floodplain that solved the problem. According to my analysis, the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to plan an equally systematic transformation. It could address a big ongoing problem like Sacramento's floods, or it could be a strategy for reorganizing and recreating your life so as to gloriously serve your long-term dreams.
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HOMEWORK:
It's a good time to think about Shadow Blessings: tinyurl.com/ShadowBlessings
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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 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 2020 Rob Brezsny
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