Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter April 15, 2009

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
APRIL 15, 2009
FreeWillAstrology.com

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The Giver of Stars

Hold your soul open for my welcoming.
Let the quiet of your spirit bathe me
With its clear and rippled coolness,
That, loose-limbed and weary, I find rest,
Outstretched upon your peace, as on a bed of ivory.

Let the flickering flame of your soul play all about me,
That into my limbs may come the keenness of fire,
The life and joy of tongues of flame,
And, going out from you, tightly strung and in tune,
I may rouse the blear-eyed world,
And pour into it the beauty which you have begotten.

- Amy Lowell, Sword Blades & Poppy Seeds
tinyurl.com/c3sqjd

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

I DARE YOU NOT TO LET YOURSELF GET BRAINWASHED BY THE PROPAGATORS OF DOOM AND GLOOM
You've got to admit that at least 30 percent of what happens is good news
www.goodnewsnetwork.org

SOMETHING WONDERFUL HAPPENED
Five Modern Miracles
tinyurl.com/aw5okn

BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO QUESTION THE AUTHORITY OF THE FEAR-MONGERS
When all the economic news you read is gloomy, you're getting a distorted picture of reality. Try these to supplement your fact-finding mission.
goodnewseconomist.com
positiveeconomicnews.com

(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They are not advertisements, and I get no kickbacks.)

Please tell me your own personal nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES.

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To buy my book,
PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings

go here: tinyurl.com/qaj62

or here: tinyurl.com/3dsx6q

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning April 16

Copyright 2009 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

One of the casualties of the recession has been grooming and primping. Many people are devoting less time and money to maintaining their appearance at peak levels. Make-up sales are down, and I've definitely been seeing more unkempt -- or should I say raw and unadorned? -- people lately. If you've been considering the possibility of cutting back on your own preening, Aries, now would be a good time to experiment. Why? For one thing, your natural attractiveness is especially strong these days. For another, you're entering a phase when you'll need people's approval less than usual. There's also the fact that anything you do to simplify your life will be a tonic for your mental health.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

Artist Amy Marx makes gorgeous paintings of tornadoes. She's your role model for the coming weeks, Taurus. I hope that she will inspire you to use your chaos productively . . . to welcome elemental energy as raw material for your efforts to beautify your world. Are you up to the challenge? I think you are, although you may have to expand your attitude toward certain phenomena that seem disruptive. (See Marx's tornadoes here: tinyurl.com/78xg63.)

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

"I'm having a very good crisis," financier George Soros said recently. The global economic turmoil that has brought such stress for so many other people has earned him millions of dollars. That's no accident: A couple of years ago, Soros foresaw the approaching upheaval and made a raft of smart adjustments in anticipation. I predict that you will have your own very good crisis in the next few weeks, Gemini -- especially if you set aside some time now to plan all the ways you might be able to capitalize on the upcoming challenges.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

What I'd really like to see you do in the coming weeks is party harder and party smarter than usual. In my astrological opinion, you're most likely to attract life's maximum generosity by shedding some of your social inhibitions and cultivating the pleasures of free-form networking. Believe me, I know how important it is for you to maintain the kind of strict boundaries that protect you from being overly influenced by other people. It's what keeps you in close touch with your intuition. But for the foreseeable future, I think you'll thrive on the unexpected blessings that come from giving yourself to the intelligence of the crowd.

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If you'd like to get an idea of what my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES are like, tune in to my free podcast "Fear Versus Intuition."

It's here: tinyurl.com/cwmssb

"Fear Versus Intuition" is a meditation about the difference between your fearful fantasies and your authentic, accurate intuitions. My approach there has a close resemblance to the style of my weekly pay-for-view offerings.

Find out more about the EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES at RealAstrology.com.

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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

Some celebrities have hired ghostwriters to communicate for them via Twitter. In a recent tweet from rapper 50 Cent, actually sent by his operative Chris Romero, his fans were told that "My ambition leads me through a tunnel that never ends." I hope you won't follow 50 Cent's lead in the coming weeks, Leo -- either in the sense of hiring a ghost-Twitterer or in the sense of following your ambition down a tunnel that never ends. In my astrological opinion, you need to work on eliminating middlemen and go-betweens as you pursue your ambition through sunlit fields that lift your spirit.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

I give thanks for the dented rusty brown and grey 1967 Chevy pick-up truck that my neighbor parks askew on the shoulder of the road a few blocks from my house. Its messy appeal helps snap me back to sanity when my own perfectionism threatens to de-soul me, or when all the shiny, sleek, polished things of the world are on the verge of hypnotizing me into believing that they alone should be considered attractive. Are there equivalent icons in your life, Virgo? Funky, unwieldy, anomalous things that are sublime in their own way? I suspect you'll benefit from their influence more than usual in the coming days.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

Cracked.com ran an article on "5 Things You Think Will Make You Happy (But Won't)." Here's a hint about what those things are: fame, wealth, beauty, genius, and power. You might want to go and read the essay at tinyurl.com/d974te. Even if you don't entirely agree with its points, it should inspire you to get more realistic about what specifically does increase your levels of well-being. It happens to be an excellent phase of your astrological cycle to home in on the surprising and idiosyncratic truths about what helps you feel like you belong here on this planet.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

In Salmon Rushdie's book The Enchantress of Florence, an exasperated ally of the manipulative 16th-century politician Machiavelli tells him, "It's your curse to see the world too f------ clearly, and without a shred of kindness." Some of you Scorpios suffer from a milder version of the same curse, and judging from the astrological omens, I'd say that right now you're especially susceptible to the problems it can create. I do think there's a way out for you, however; there's a shift you can make to turn the curse into a blessing. Here's what you have to do: See the world as f------ clearly as you dare, but with a dose of compassion added. Then your shrewd perceptiveness will heal you and energize you. You may even spawn minor miracles by penetrating to the slippery truths hiding beneath the superficial appearances.

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LISTEN TO AN EXPANDED HOROSCOPE

In addition to the horoscopes that you're reading here, I create more in-depth audio horoscopes for your inspiration. Find out more at RealAstrology.com.

The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

"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

"When I listen to your audio 'scopes, my free will lights up."
- Alex D., Los Angeles

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

If intelligent extraterrestrial beings arrived on planet Earth and asked for a meeting, who would we send forth to serve as our ambassador? Believe it or not, the favorite choice, as determined in an Internet poll, was heavy metal musician and TV personality Ozzy Osbourne. Although he wouldn't be my own top candidate, I could see how a Sagittarian pioneer like Osbourne would make sense. Your tribe is especially adept right now at facilitating unprecedented combinations. If anyone could successfully compare apples and oranges, it would be you. If anyone could explain to an anthropologist from Mars the deeper meaning of Paris Hilton and the Octo-mom and the American government's purchase of toxic assets, it would be you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

At the risk of endangering her own safety, a Capricorn woman I know intervened to protect a 14-year-old neighbor girl who was being beaten on the porch by her father. Another one of my Capricorn acquaintances informed her boss that she was offended by a certain unethical practice she'd discovered the company engaged in. You may not summon such extreme courage in the coming week, but I bet you'll get close to it. It's the Season of Fierce Integrity for you -- a time to dig deeper as you demonstrate your intensely practical commitment to your core values.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

I actually kind of hope that your brain is in major overload right now. I hope that you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the new information you've absorbed, and that your imagination is a blur of wheels within wheels within wheels spinning at top speeds. In fact I'll go so far as to say that if this is the case, you're definitely on the right track. You're doing what's necessary to prepare for rebuilding your foundation in May. And if for some reason there are no wheels within wheels within wheels spinning at top speeds -- if your mind is as empty and clear as a cloudless blue sky in Montana -- then you're probably doing something wrong. So get out there and start stuffing it with new ideas, radical theories, crazy speculations, wild guesses, and raw perceptions.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

"I'm beginning to understand myself," said jazz pianist Dave Brubeck. "But it would have been great to be able to understand myself when I was 20 rather than when I was 82." While this might sound discouraging, it's actually a prelude to some very good news: You now have extraordinary power to dramatically deepen your self-knowledge. Between now and May 20, you might even be able to extract insights into your own mysteries that would normally only be available to an 82-year-old.

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HOMEWORK:

Do you know how to turn one of your liabilities into an asset? I think you do. Prove it. Testify about your success by going to FreeWillAstrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."

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WANT TO GET YOUR CHART DONE?

I'm not doing personal charts, but I highly recommend my astrological colleague, RO LOUGHRAN. Her approach closely matches my own. In our many discussions about astrology over the years, we've had a major influence on each other's work.

Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and a high degree of technical proficiency in horoscope interpretation; she is skilled at exploring the mysteries of your life's purpose and nurturing your connection with your own inner wisdom.

Ro is based in California, but can do phone consultations and otherwise work with you regardless of geographic boundaries.

Ro's website is at YourSoulJourney.com

She can also be reached at roloughran@comcast.net

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Submissions sent to the Free Will Astrology Weekly 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 such submissions for length, style, and content. Requests for anonymity will be honored with submissions; otherwise, reader names, screen names, or initials will be used. Please be sure to note your preference when sending to us. We are not responsible for unsolicited submission of any creative material.

Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright 2009 Rob Brezsny

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