Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter December 16, 2009

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
DECEMBER 16, 2009
FreeWillAstrology.com

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"Do you remember the song you sang on the last day of your childhood? What ignorance do you deserve to be forgiven for? How might you express gratitude for your most interesting problem? What could you do to you love your body better?"
- PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia

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The revised and expanded version of my book PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA is available at Amazon: tinyurl.com/lxpnyt

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Lots of people I like and admire are not big fans of "God" -- or at least the fake "God" that the fundamentalists hallucinate about. In an effort to whip up a new, improved Divine Wow untainted by bigotry and delusion, I wrote a piece for my book entitled "Re-branding God." An excerpt is below. You can read it in its entirety here: bit.ly/8Nd0M5

RE-BRANDING GOD

1. Philosopher Robert Anton Wilson proposed that the single greatest contribution to world peace would come from there being over six billion different religions -- a unique spiritual path for each person on the planet. The Beauty and Truth Lab urges you to get started on doing your part to make this happen. What will your religion be called? What rituals will you perform? Write down your three core tenets.

2. You'll also need a new name for the Creator. "God" and "Goddess" have been so overused and abused that most of us are numb to them. And given the spiritual opportunities that will open up for you as you explore pronoia, you can't afford to have an impaired sensitivity toward the Great Mystery.

Here's an idea to stimulate your search: The Russian word for God is "Bog." The Basques call the Supreme Being "Jingo." To purge your psychic dockets of built-up fixations about deity, you might try singing improvisational prayers to "Jingo Bog."

Here are a few other fresh names to inspire you:
Blooming HaHa
Divine Wow
Whirl-Zap-Gush
Sublime Cackler
Chthonic Riddler

3. Since ancient times, China has hosted three religions: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Many Chinese people have cobbled together a melange of beliefs gathered from all three. This is different from the Western way, which is to be faithful to one religion or another, never mixing and matching.

But that's changing in certain enclaves in North America, where growing numbers of seekers are adopting the Chinese approach. They borrow elements from a variety of spiritual traditions to create a personalized path. Religious historians call this syncretism.

As you meditate on conjuring up your own unique mode of worship, think of the good parts you'd like to steal from other religions.

4. Most religions designate a special class of people -- priests, rabbis, ayatollahs -- to oversee official communications with the Source. This has led to a prevailing assumption, even among those who don't follow an established faith, that we can't initiate a divine conversation without the aid of a professional class of trained mediators. Among some sects of the ancient gnostics, in contrast, everyone was regarded as a potential prophet who could experience epiphanies worthy of becoming part of the ever-evolving doctrine.

The equivalent today would be if the Bible were regarded as an unfinished text to which every Christian or Jew might be eligible to add new content.

As you create your own spiritual path, experiment with this do-it-yourself approach. What might you do to eliminate the middleman and commune directly with the Source?

READ THE REST HERE: bit.ly/8Nd0M5

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A number of people who listen to my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES have asked me if I'll be doing my annual three-part forecast for the coming year.

The answer is yes.

Part One of my PREVIEW OF 2009 will be available on Tuesday, December 29.

Part Two will be available on Tuesday, January 5.

Part Three will be available on Tuesday, January 12.

Of course you can always listen to this week's Expanded Audio Horoscopes as well.

Find them here: RealAstrology.com

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

GENEROSITY IS COOL, HIP, AND AWESOME
Survival of the Kindest
Researchers challenge the idea that human beings are wired to be selfish. "As Darwin long ago surmised, sympathy is our strongest instinct."
bit.ly/7DCfZo

NO, THE SCIENTISTS DON'T HAVE EVERYTHING FIGURED OUT YET
The Mysterious Hexagram on Saturn
bit.ly/5frecl
bit.ly/5tW93l

PEOPLE UNKNOWN TO YOU ARE WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES TO CREATE A BETTER WORLD
12 Deadly Diseases Cured in the 20th Century
bit.ly/4P63iY

GIVE YOURSELF A BOOSTER SHOT OF OPTIMISM
An archive of all the pronoia resources collected in this newsletter over the years
pronoiaresources.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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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning December 17

Copyright 2009 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

I hope you will get more sleep in 2010. And eat better food, too. And embark on some regimen like meditation that will reduce your stress levels. In general, Sagittarius, I hope you will learn a lot more about what makes your body function at optimum levels, and I hope you will diligently apply what you learn. That doesn't mean I think you should be an obsequiously well-behaved pillar of the community. On the contrary, what I'm envisioning is that by taking better care of yourself you will make yourself strong enough to run wilder and freer.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Even if you don't plan to go to school in 2010, I suggest you make plans to further your education. Your current levels of knowledge and skill may be quite impressive, but they simply won't be enough to keep you growing and adapting forever. Eventually, you're going to need to learn more. And the coming months will be a perfect time, from an astrological perspective, to get that process underway. Here are a few questions to jumpstart your meditations: What ignorance do you find yourself having to increasingly hide? What subjects captivate your imagination and tantalize your future self? What skills and know-how do your competitors have that you don't?

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Imagine that money is not just the literal cash and checks you give and receive, but that it is also an invisible force of nature like gravity or electromagnetism. Then imagine that it's possible for this primal energy to be favorably disposed toward you -- that on some occasions its rhythms may be more closely aligned with your personal needs. Can you picture that, Aquarius? I hope so, because there is a sense in which this seeming fantasy will be an actuality for you during much of 2010. How well you're able to capitalize will depend in part on how high you keep your integrity levels. Are you prepared to be more impeccably ethical, fair, and honest than you've ever been?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

Have you been toiling away earnestly at the exhausting homework that life has dumped on you this past year? Have you kept the faith even when you've been fooled and confused? Have you applied yourself with a pure heart to the maddening details and puzzling riddles you've been asked to master? If you've been less than conscientious at doing these tasks, the next two months will bring you a series of tricky final exams. But if you have been doing your due diligence, then you're on the brink of graduating from boring old problems that you have been studying and studying and studying for a long time. Do we dare hope that you will soon be free of a history that has repeated itself ad nauseam? Yes, I think we do dare.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

I don't understand why the astronomers responsible for naming new-found objects are so devoid of flair. Here's a prime example: They found a blazar, or blazing quasi-stellar object, in a faraway galaxy. It's powered by a supermassive black hole that's 10 billion times larger than our sun. Why did they give this fantastic oddity the crushingly boring name "Q0906+6930"? Couldn't they have called it something like "Queen Anastasia" or "Blessed Quasimodo" or "Gastromopolopolis"? I trust you won't be as lazy in your approach to all the exotic discoveries you're going to be making in 2010, Aries. Start getting your imagination in top shape. Make sure it's primed and ready for your upcoming walkabout to the far reaches of reality.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

Scientists say that pretty much everywhere you go on this planet, you are always within three feet of a spider. That will be an especially useful and colorful truth for you to keep in mind during 2010. Hopefully it'll inspire you to take maximum advantage of your own spider-like potentials. It's going to be web-spinning time, Taurus: an excellent phase in your long-term life cycle to weave an extended network -- with you at the hub -- that will help you catch an abundance of the resources you need.

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LISTEN TO AN EXPANDED HOROSCOPE

In addition to the horoscopes 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.

"I don't much believe in astrology. But that doesn't seem to get in the way of me deriving a whole lot of benefits from your expanded audio horoscopes."
- A. Arrosto, Indianapolis

"You have an amazing aptitude for cutting through the lies I tell myself. Thanks for the gentle shocks."
- T. Preneris, Toronto

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GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

I don't normally recommend that you worry too much about what others think of you. In 2010, however, you could benefit from thinking about that subject more than usual. Judging from the astrological omens, I suspect that you'll be able to correct misunderstandings that have negatively affected your reputation. You might even have the power to shift people's images of you so that they're in relatively close alignment with the truth about who you actually are. Here's the best news: You may be more popular than you've ever been.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

I'm hoping that you will get out more in 2010. And I mean way out. Far out. Not just out to the unexplored hotspots on the other side of town (although that would be good), but also out to marvelous sanctuaries on the other side of paradise. Not just out to the parts of the human zoo where you feel right at home, but also out to places in the urban wilderness where you'll encounter human types previously unknown to you. In conclusion, traveler, let me ask you this: What was the most kaleidoscopic trip you've ever taken? Consider the possibility of surpassing it in the next 12 months.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

One of the 20th century's greatest scientific minds was Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Planck. He knew that in his field, like most others, ingenious innovation doesn't automatically rise to the top. The advancement of good new ideas is hampered by the conservatism and careerism of scientists. "A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light," he wrote, "but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." In 2010, Leo, there'll be a similar principle at work in your sphere. Influences that have been impeding the emergence of excellence will burn out, dissipate, or lose their mojo. As a result, you'll be able to express and take advantage of innovations that have previously been quashed.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

Twenty-two percent of American rightwing fundamentalists believe that Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ. On the other hand, 73 percent of the people who read my horoscopes think that if there were such a thing as an Anti-Christ, he would be an American rightwing fundamentalist. But I'd like to discourage speculations like that among the Virgo tribe in 2010. According to my reading of the omens, you should take at least a year off from getting worked up about your version of the devil. Whoever you demonize, just let them alone for a while. Whatever you tend to fault as the cause of the world's problems, give your blame mechanism a rest. As much as possible, create for yourself an Enemy-Free Zone.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

I'm hoping that 2010 will be the year you do whatever it takes to fall more deeply in love with the work you do. I'd like to see you reshape the job you have so that it better suits your soul's imperatives. If that's not possible, consider looking for or even creating a new job. The cosmos will be conspiring to help you accomplish this. Both hidden and not-so-hidden helpers will be nudging you to earn your livelihood in ways that serve your highest ideals and make you feel at peace with your destiny.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

"It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is a jazz tune composed in 1931 by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills. In accordance with your long-term astrological omens, I propose that we make that song title your motto in 2010 -- the standard you'll keep referring to as you evaluate which experiences you want to pursue and which you don't. Please proceed on the assumption that you should share your life energy primarily with people and situations that make your soul sing and tingle and swing.

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HOMEWORK:

Create a title that captures the essence of what you hope to accomplish in 2010, like "The Year I Figure Out What I Really Want" or "The Year I Become a Modest Super-Hero." Go to FreeWillAstrology.com and click 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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