Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter February 24, 2010

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
FEBRUARY 24, 2010
FreeWillAstrology.com

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Do you promise to push hard to get better and smarter, grow your devotion to the truth, fuel your commitment to beauty, refine your emotions, hone your dreams, wrestle with your shadow, purge your ignorance, and soften your heart -- even as you always accept yourself for exactly who you are, with all of your so-called foibles and wobbles?

Do you pledge to wake yourself up, never hold back, have nothing to lose, go all the way, kiss the stormy sky, be the hero of your own story, ask for everything you need and give everything you have, take yourself to the river when it's time to go to the river, and take yourself to the mountaintop when it's time to go to the mountaintop?

- PRONOIA

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The revised and expanded version of my book PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA is available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia

I invite you to deepen and intensify your commitment to the most important person in your life -- you. One way to further that sacred cause is to get married to yourself. In my book, I've created a text you can refer to as you perform the wedding. Or you can use my text for inspiration as you create your own version.

Below is an excerpt. To read the whole text, go here: bit.ly/IMeWed

I ME WED

Let's begin by telling a simple truth: You will probably never create a resilient, invigorating bond with the lush accomplice of your dreams until you master the art of loving yourself ingeniously. A wedding ritual that joins you to yourself could catalyze an uncanny shift in your personal mojo that would attract a fresh, hot consort into your life, or else awaken the sleeping potential of a simmering alliance you have now.

If you're feeling brave, try speaking the following words aloud:

"I am no longer looking for the perfect partner.
I am my own perfect partner."

Say it even stronger:

"I am no longer looking for the perfect partner
to salve all my wounds
and fix all my mix-ups
and bridge all my chasms.
I am no longer looking for the perfect partner
because I am my own perfect partner."

TO READ THE REST OF "I ME WED," go here: bit.ly/IMeWed

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

WHAT IF YOU COULD REDUCE YOUR LEVELS OF SHAME BY, SAY, EVEN 30%?
Juices of Mortal Glory
A pronoiac view of shame from the poet Robert Hass
Warning: This poem may offend some people who feel shame about their juices of mortal glory
tinyurl.com/yzytrdc

WE'RE CLOSER TO EACH OTHER THAN WE KNOW
Our Brains Were Built For Feeling Each Other's Pain
tinyurl.com/yg96mhu

DON'T YOU PREFER GOOD SHOCKS TO BAD ONES?
12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World
tinyurl.com/m9ue7d

(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 February 25

Copyright 2010 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

If you were going to launch a career as a rap artist any time soon, I'd suggest that maybe you use the alias "Big Try" as your stage name. If you were planning to convert to an exotic religious path and get a new spiritual name, I'd recommend something like "Bringit Harder" or "Pushit Stronger." If you were about to join an activist group that fights for a righteous cause, and you wanted a new nickname to mark your transformation, I'd urge you to consider a tag like "Radical" or "Prime" or "Ultra." And even if you're not doing any of the above, I hope you'll carry out some ritual of transition to intensify your commitment to your life's vital dreams.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

"Everything is complicated," wrote poet Wallace Stevens. "If that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore." I hope you will choose his wisdom to serve as your guiding light in the coming weeks. It is high time, in my astrological opinion, for you to shed any resentment you might feel for the fact that life is a crazy tangle of mystifying and interesting stories. Celebrate it, Aries! Revel in it. Fall down on your knees and give holy thanks for it. And by the way, here's a big secret: To the extent that you do glory in the complications, the complications will enlighten you, amuse you, and enrich you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

This is one time when you can be both the river and the bridge. In fact, I strongly suggest that you make every effort to be both the river and the bridge. I'll leave it up to you to interpret how this metaphor applies to your life, but here's a clue to get you started. Be a force of nature that flows vigorously along even as you also provide a refuge for those who want to be close to your energy but are not yet ready to be inside it and flow along with it.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

Almost exactly ten years from now, you will be blessed with an eruption of personal power that's so crafty and so practical that you will be able to visualize a solution to a problem that has stumped you for a long time. It may take you months to actually carry out that solution in its entirety, but all the while you will have the luxury of feeling perfect certainty about what must be done. And you know what the weird thing is, Gemini? Something very similar is in the works for the next few weeks: an eruption of crafty, practical power that will help you materialize the key to solving an old dilemma, hopefully followed by months of carrying out your lucid plan.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

Last night I had a dream in which I was addressing a crowd of thousands of Cancerians in a large stadium. I was referring to them as dolphins rather than as crabs. "I say unto you, my fellow dolphins," I proclaimed (I myself was born June 23), "that you have been given a sacred assignment by the great gods of time themselves. And that assignment is to master the art of Timeology." When I awoke from the dream, I was awash with feelings of deep relaxation and ease, although I wasn't sure why. I had never before heard that word "timeology," so I googled it. Here's how the Urban Dictionary defined it: "spending time doing what you want to do, not accomplishing anything major but also not wasting time." It so happens that this prescription is well-suited to our current astrological omens. I suggest that you and I be as playful as dolphins.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

In an episode of the animated TV sci-fi series Futurama, we get to see inside the headquarters of Romanticorp, where "love research" is being done. One of the experiments involves robots delivering various pick-up lines to actual women. The line that works best is "My two favorite things are commitment and changing myself." I recommend that you make that your own catchphrase, Leo -- not just this week but for the foreseeable future. The entire year of 2010 will be an excellent time to deepen your commitments and transform yourself, and the weeks ahead will bring unprecedented opportunities to intensify those efforts.

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IF YOU WANT MORE FREE WILL ASTROLOGY,
TRY THE EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES

The horoscopes you read in this newsletter may be plenty for your needs. But if you'd like to experience more of my thoughts about your current situation, you might want to try my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're 4 to 5 minute meditations on the state of your life and where you're going.

Sign in and access them here: RealAstrology.com

If you like you can get both a reading about the days ahead and a long-term rumination on your destiny in 2010.

The weekly forecasts are also available by phone: 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers," advises a passage in the Bible, "for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." While that's always good counsel, it's especially apt for you in the coming days. I believe you will come into contact with people who can provide you with valuable teaching and healing, even if they're disguised as baristas or pet shampooers or TV repairmen -- and even if this will be the one and only time they will provide you with teaching and healing.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

Metaphorically speaking, you have recently begun crossing the water in a dream boat that has a small leak. If you keep going, it's possible you will reach the far side before sinking. But that's uncertain. And even if you were able to remain afloat the entire way, the shakiness of the situation would probably fill you with anxiety. My suggestion, then, is to head back to where you started and fix the leak.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

Some Scorpios bring out the worst in people. Other Scorpios draw out the best. Then there are those members of your tribe who sometimes bring out the worst in their fellow humans and other times bring out the best. Where do you fit in this spectrum? Regardless of your position up until now, I'm betting that in the coming months you'll be moving in the direction of bringing out more of the best. And it all begins now. To get the process underway, think of five people you care about, and visualize the wonderful futures that it might be possible for them to create for themselves.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

More than a few fairy tales feature the theme of characters who accidentally find a treasure. They're not searching for treasure, don't feel worthy of it, and aren't fully prepared for it. They may initially not even know what they're looking at, and see it as preposterous or abnormal or disquieting. Who could blame them if they ran away from the treasure? In order to recognize and claim it, they might have to shed a number of their assumptions about the way the world works. And they might have to clear up a discrepancy between their unconscious longings and their conscious intentions.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Everyone alive has some kind of learning disability. I know brilliant physicists who are dumb about poetry. There are fact-loving journalists whose brains freeze when they're invited to consider the ambiguous truths of astrology. My friend John suffers from dyslexia, while I myself am incapable of mastering the mysteries of economics. What's your blind spot, Capricorn? What's your own personal learning disability? Whatever it is, this would be an excellent time, astrologically speaking, to work with it. For the next few months, you will be able to call on what you need in order to diminish its power to limit you.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

"We cannot change anything until we accept it," said psychologist Carl Jung. "Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses." Make that your hypothesis, Aquarius, and then conduct the following experiment. First, choose some situation you would like to transform. Next, open your heart to it with all the love and compassion you can muster. Go beyond merely tolerating it with a resigned disappointment. Work your way into a frame of mind in which you completely understand and sympathize with why it is the way it is. Imagine a scenario in which you could live your life with equanimity if the situation in question never changed. Finally, awash in this grace, meditate on how you might be able to actually help it evolve into something new.

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HOMEWORK:

What are you doing to get ready for 2012? Read my suggestions at bit.ly/2012now, then tell me your own at Truthrooster@gmail.com.

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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 2010 Rob Brezsny

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