Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter May 19, 2021

 Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
 May 19, 2021
 FreeWillAstrology.com

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Invitation: Go inward and contact the wisest source you know—call it your higher self, your holy guardian angel, Goddess or God, the genius of nature, or your strongest intelligence. Then pose this inquiry: What do I need to become aware of that I wouldn't even know to ask about?

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CYNICISM ISN'T BRAVE

Many people today believe that cynicism requires courage. Actually, cynicism is the height of cowardice. It is innocence and open-heartedness that requires the true courage—however often we are hurt as a result of it.
 
—Erica Jong

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YOUR WOUNDS MAY BE HEALING GRADUALLY

Veterans of war who've been wounded by shrapnel often find that years later, some of the metal fragments eventually migrate to the surface and pop out of their skin.

The moral of the story: The body may take a long time to purify itself of toxins.

The same is true about your psyche. It might not be able to easily and quickly get rid of the poisons it has absorbed, but you should never give up hoping it will find a way.

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NOT INTERESTED IN POLITICS?

Novelist and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn departed this life in 1998, but she articulated a message that's important for us to hear.

She wrote, "People often say, with pride, 'I’m not interested in politics.' They might as well say, 'I’m not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future or any future.'"

Gelhorn added, "If we mean to keep control over our world and lives, we must be interested in politics."

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HUNGRY FOR FREEDOM

It's a free country. We're free to desecrate nature and live without any thought for our fellow creatures and adamantly believe every borrowed idea that settled into our heads when we were coming of age or when we were full of anger.

We're free to scarf down pesticide-laden junk food and memorize Ford truck jingles and vote for old white straight male millionaires.

On the other hand, we're also free to go on jubilant picnics in the wilderness using sustainable dishware and cleaning up after ourselves.

We're free to formulate master plans to achieve our own precious dreams in ways that will also serve our fellow creatures and bestow blessings on our descendants.

We're free to radically revise our philosophy of life every once in a while to account for the ever-changing contours of our own destiny and the ever-evolving urgencies of our shared culture and history.

We're free—FREE!!!!—to care dearly about what foods we put in your body and keep expanding our acceptance of other humans exactly as they are and meditate daily on what we could do to refine and deepen the ways we express love.

I bring these thoughts to our attention because I hope to encourage us to become connoisseurs of freedom and masters of the art of liberation.

Hypothesis: To serve our emancipatory ambitions most effectively, we are primarily motivated by the desire to give our gifts and express our love.

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YOUR SHADOW FEELS A DEEP AFFECTION

You're older than yourself. Your shadow feels a deep affection for you. You know how to mock charisma. You invent ever-new zodiacs. You never use your pain to show off. Genius! Prodigy!

You pray for things you don't want just to keep your sorcery clean and sweet. Feral paradises relax you. You never steal -- you only change the owners' names. You never hate, since that would kill all your jokes. Virtuoso! Maestro!

You know the best places not to hide. You ask trees questions. You burn black flags in the war of pot versus pan. You are the highest, most spiritual greed -- the mushroom light of gratitude. You know the violent tenderness when everything is named. Gifted! Unique!

Black is the only halo that fits you. Ruthless compassion is your favorite disguise. Joy without payment keeps you safe and dangerous at the same time, which is how you love it. Transition-Master! Eternal Transformer!

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WHERE IS MAGIC?

I hope you can obtain the Avatar Elixir stashed in the golden obelisk in the underground fortress beneath the glass mountain. It will allow you to produce the "triple-helix" energy that will give you the power to cross freely back and forth through the gateway between universes.

Then wild creatures will seek out your influence. Rivers and winds will become your allies. The cells of your body will communicate with you clearly and joyfully. Every star in the sky will shine directly on you.

And if for some reason you're not able to get your hands on that Avatar Elixir, you may be able to achieve similar results by drinking a bottle of beer stashed in the lower left rear section of the beverage cooler at a convenience store within five miles of your home.

Magic might be wherever you think it is.

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EVERY CELL IN YOUR PERTFECT ANIMAL BODY

Congratulations. Every cell in your perfect animal body is beginning to purr with luminous gratitude for the enormity of the riches you endlessly receive.

You are becoming aware that each of your heart's beats originates as a gift of love directly from the Goddess herself.

Any residues of hatred that had been tainting your libido are leaving you for good.

You are becoming telepathically linked to the world's entire host of secret teachers, pacifist warriors, philosopher clowns, and bodhisattvas disguised as convenience store clerks.

In other words, you're on the verge of détente with your evil twin. And you're ready to submit to a multiple-choice test, which goes like this:

How does it make you feel when I urge you to confess profound secrets to people who are not particularly interested? Does it make you want to:

a. cultivate a healthy erotic desire for a person you'd normally never be attracted to in a million years;

b. stop helping your friends glamorize their pain;
        
c. imitate a hurricane in the act of extinguishing a forest fire;
        
d. visualize Buddha or Mother Teresa at the moment of orgasm;
        
e. steal something that's already yours.

The right answer, of course, is any answer you thought was correct. Congratulations. You're even smarter than you knew.
 

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

Rubber Made From Dandelions is Making Tires More Sustainable – Truly a Wondrous Plant.
tinyurl.com/abu4me9r

The Quest for Rare Wood is Endangering Forests. Now We Can Just 3D-Print Replicas Made from Wood Waste Instead.
tinyurl.com/vn2xfx6m

Kids Have Been Reading Longer, More Difficult Books in Lockdown, and It’s Boosting Moods.
tinyurl.com/y5esefc7

Mirrored Illusion Creates Never-Ending ‘Palace’ of Books Inside Beautiful New Bookstore.
tinyurl.com/5dmkpper

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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: tinyurl.com/548hp8y8

Available at Barnes & Noble: tinyurl.com/PronoiaBN

Available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia

A free preview of the book is available here: 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 20

Copyright 2021 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

Here's a public service announcement for you Geminis from the planet and god Mercury: You’re under no obligation to be the same person you were three years ago, or six months ago, or last week—or even five minutes ago, for that matter. Mercury furthermore wants you to know that you have been authorized to begin a period of improvisation and experimentation, hopefully guided by a single overriding directive: what feels most fun and interesting to you. In the coming weeks it will be more important to create yourself anew than to know precisely who you are.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

As a Zen Buddhist priest for 47 years, Kōshō Uchiyama was knowledgeable about the power that illusions can wield over our imaginations. "If we're not careful," he said, "we are apt to grant ultimate value to something we've just made up in our heads." I won't tell you the examples from my own life that prove his point, because they're too embarrassing. And I'm happy to report that I don't think you're anywhere near granting ultimate value to something you've just made up in your head. But I do advise you to be on the lookout for milder versions of that phenomenon.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

Leo-born professor Sibelan Forrester is an expert on charms, spells, and incantations in Russian folklore. She wrote, "An empty place where no one can see or hear what one says is the proper locus for working magic." Spells often start with these words, she added: “I rise up, saying a blessing. I go out, crossing myself, and I go to an open field.” Whether or not you have Russian heritage, Leo, I see the immediate future as being a good time for you to perform magic in an open field with no one else around. What might be the intention of your magic? How about something like this: “I ask my guides and ancestors to help me offer my most inspired largesse so as to serve the health and inspiration and liberation of the people whose lives I touch.”

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

Spiritual author Stephen Russell wrote, "Don’t mask or deny your vulnerability: It is your greatest asset." That's an exaggeration, in my opinion. Vulnerability is a greater asset than your intelligence, compassion, and creativity? Not in my view. But I do recognize the high value of vulnerability, especially for you Virgos during the next three weeks. "Be vulnerable," Russell continues. "Quake and shake in your boots with it. The new bounty and beauty that are coming to you, in the form of people, situations, and things, can only come to you when you are vulnerable—open."

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

My friend Jenny's Swedish grandmother used to say to her on a semi-regular basis, "Åh tänk om vi vore korkade, vi skulle vara så lyckliga," meaning, "If only we were stupid, we would be so happy." In the coming weeks, I am asking you to disprove that folk wisdom. According to my analysis of the astrological potentials, now is a favorable time for you to explore ways in which your intelligence might enhance and deepen your enjoyment of life. Your motto should be: "The smarter we are, the happier we will be.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

Sometime soon I invite you to speak a message similar to what poet Kenneth Rexroth once delivered to a special person in his life. He wrote, "Your tongue thrums and moves / Into me, and I become / Hollow and blaze with / Whirling light, like the inside / Of a vast expanding pearl." Do you know anyone who might be receptive to hearing such lyrical praise? If not, create a fantasy character in your imagination to whom you can say it. On the other hand, maybe you do know a real person who would appreciate an earthier, less poetical tribute. If so, please convey it; something akin to this: "Your influence on me amplifies my ability to be my best self." Now is a perfect time to honor and extol and reward those who move you and excite you.
 

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OUR COLLABORATION

I really do feel that you're here with me as I create these horoscopes. 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're reading here -- keep in mind that every week I also offer EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. 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 listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to RealAstrology.com

Register and/or log in through the main page.

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The cost is $6 per sign online. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.)

You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888. The cost is $1.99 per minute. Each forecast is 4-5 minutes long.

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"I almost always come away from listening to your audio horoscopes with greater clarity about what's best for me to give my attention to next."
—Jada Washington, New York

"I love how your audio horoscopes stimulate my idealism and also help me think about the practical actions I can take to support my idealism."
—Rita Mashner, Tampa
 

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Author Aldous Huxley said, "I can sympathize with people’s pains, but not with their pleasures. There is something curiously boring about somebody else’s happiness." To that I reply, "Other people's pleasure and happiness bored you? Maybe you were suffering from raging narcissism and an addiction to cynicism." In any case, Sagittarius, I hope you won't be like Huxley in the next few weeks. I believe you could glean useful insights and derive personal benefits from knowing about and appreciating the joys of others.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Capricorn businessman Howard Hughes (1905–1976) had great success early in his life. Working as a film director and aviation pioneer, he became a wealthy philanthropist. But as he aged, he became increasingly eccentric and reclusive. For the last 10 years of his life, he lived in expensive hotels, where he placed strict and often absurd demands on the hotel staff. For example, if he called on room service to bring him a meal that included peas, he would measure the peas with a ruler, and send back any he deemed too big. I do hope that you Capricorns will also have an intense focus on mastering the details in the coming weeks—but not as intense or misguided as that nonsensical obsession.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Aquarian author Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was famous and popular. Audiences packed the halls where he did public lectures and readings. His favorite way to prepare for these evening events was to spend the day drinking a pint of champagne, as well as generous servings of rum, cream, and sherry with eggs beaten into the mix. I don't have a problem with that—whatever works, right?—but I suggest a different approach for your upcoming appointments with greater visibility and prominence. Like what? How about sexy meditations on the gratitude you feel for your expanding possibilities? How about fun fantasies focusing on how you'll use your increased clout?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

In his upcoming book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, John Koenig proposes that we begin using "monachopsis," a word he coined. He defines it as follows: "the feeling of being out of place, as maladapted to your surroundings as a seal on a beach—lumbering, clumsy, easily distracted, huddled in the company of other misfits, unable to recognize the ambient roar of your intended habitat, in which you’d be fluidly, brilliantly, effortlessly at home." Even if you have spent too much time lately experiencing monachopsis, my dear, I predict this malaise will soon dissipate and give way to an extended phase of being fluidly, brilliantly, effortlessly at home.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

Aries playwright Samuel Beckett wrote the play Waiting for Godot. At one point in the tale, the character named Estragon suggests it might be possible, even desirable, to "dance first and think afterwards." In response, the character named Pozzo says, "By all means, nothing simpler. It’s the natural order." With that in mind, and in accordance with astrological omens, I am going to encourage you to dance first and think afterwards as much as possible in the coming weeks. In my opinion, your ability to analyze and reason will thrive to the degree that you encourage your body to engage in enjoyable free-form play. Your power to make good decisions will grow as you take really good care of your physical organism and give it an abundance of pleasure and release.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

As you enter a phase when gradual, incremental progress is the best progress possible, I offer you the concluding lines of Taurus poet Adrienne Rich's poem "From a Survivor": "not as a leap, but a succession of brief, amazing movements, each one making possible the next." I especially want to call your attention to the fact that the small steps can be "brief, amazing movements." Don't underestimate the power of minor, subtle, regular breakthroughs.
 

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HOMEWORK:

Tell me your three most brilliant and useful opinions. Go to FreeWillAstrology.com

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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright 2021 Rob Brezsny

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