Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
AUGUST 18, 2010
FreeWillAstrology.com
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There's a new release from the soundtrack for my book PRONOIA
IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA.
It's called "The Universe Is Made of Stories"
You can access it here: bit.ly/MadeofStories
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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
and also at Powells: bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
Here's an excerpt:
THE MYSTERY OF YOUR THIRST
Imagine this scene. You're really thirsty -- so dehydrated that
you're feeling faint. Yet here's the weird thing: You're walking
along the bank of a wide river that's so clear you could see the
bottom if you looked.
But you're not looking. In fact, you seem oblivious to the surging
force of nature just a few yards away.
Is it invisible to you? Are you so preoccupied with your suffering
that you're blind to the very source that would end your suffering?
Up ahead you see a man. As you approach, you realize he's holding
a bottle of water. You run to him and beg him to let you drink.
He readily agrees. Gratefully, you guzzle the precious liquid,
then thank him profusely.
As you walk away, he calls after you, "By the way, there's
a lot more water over there," and he points to the river.
Do you hear him? If you hear him, do you believe him? Or do you
keep walking, hoping to find another person with another bottle
somewhere up ahead?
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
OPTIMISM IS ONE OF THE MOST TABOO, REBELLIOUS ACTS
Good News Can Change Your Life
tinyurl.com/2g9usd8
ARE THE HATERS LOSING THEIR SPUNK?
California Hate Crimes Drop 21%
tinyurl.com/277x2z6
AN ARCHETYPAL IMAGE OF PRONOIA
Collaboration of Lightning and Rainbow
tinyurl.com/254rkhv
tinyurl.com/2f3vpqu
tinyurl.com/2wavawd
REPORTS OF BEAUTIFUL TRUTHS ARE ACCUMULATING
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 August 19
Copyright 2010 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
"Ever upstream from myself," wrote Belgian poet Edmond
Vandercammen. "I advance, implore and pursue myself."
I suggest you adopt that attitude, Virgo. Assume that your best
self is sailing along at a rapid clip, somewhere in the distance
ahead of you, and it's your job to catch up. Your highest form
of expression is eluding you, but you're hunting it down. The
most beautiful possible embodiment of all your potentials is surging
toward the future, and it's your fun job to close the gap between
you and unite with it.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
In one possible scenario I could foresee for you in the coming
week, you're sweaty and tearful, enmeshed in an extreme state
that causes an internal blockage to dissolve. The sweat is purgative,
the tears are cathartic, and you're riding a wave of relief and
release that clears out a backlog of emotional congestion. In
a second possible future, I could see you as supernaturally relaxed
and exuberant, periodically laughing so hard that you break up
an internal blockage. The calm is purgative, the laughter is cathartic,
and you're riding a wave of relief and release that clears out
a backlog of emotional congestion. Which scenario would you prefer?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Last June, comedian Stephen Colbert reported that President Obama's
big TV address to Americans about the Gulf catastrophe was a failure
because it went over the heads of too many people. Language experts
who analyzed Obama's speech determined that it was written at
a tenth-grade level -- too professorial, scolded Colbert. I wonder
what he would say about the horoscopes I compose, which are designed
for readers who enjoy thinking metaphorically and have a high
degree of emotional intelligence. In the coming week, Scorpio,
I suggest that you take the approach that Obama and I use rather
than the one Colbert (farcically) recommended. Don't talk down
to your audience or pander to the lowest common denominator. Raise
everyone up with your appeals.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
My favorite baseball player Tim Lincecum told San Francisco
magazine: "I think you either get in the canoe with your
oar and control the boat, or get into it and let the current take
you. I'm kind of in between. I want to be able to enjoy the ride
but don't want to be swept away by it. I don't want to be overwhelmed;
I want to see what's going on." Whether you are customarily
the type of person who controls the boat or the type who enjoys
drifting dreamily along, I suggest you take Lincecum's in-between
approach for now. Be half in charge and half surrendered.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The poet Jean Perrin dreamed "of marrying the dawn with
the light of the moon," and I invite you to do the same.
The darkness you've been immersed in will leave you soon. As it
does, please don't forsake the pale, moon-like radiance that has
provided you with a bit of guidance and consolation. Rather, bring
along what it has taught you as you head into the far brighter
phase you're entering. In other words, retain some of the wisdom
the dim light has compelled you to learn.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
I know two people in their 80s who have accomplished a sensational
long-running creative art project: They've been happily married
for 65 years. The amount of reinvention they've had to dream up
in order to keep loving each other is so profound that it confounds
the imagination. How could they possibly have continued to stay
closely interwoven through all the changes each of them has gone
through as they've aged? During the fascinating relationship tests
that will be coming your way in the weeks ahead, Aquarius, I'd
love for you to summon some of their dogged ingenuity and tenacious
collaborative skills. In fact, I predict you will be able to do
just that.
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YOU NEED MAGIC EVERY DAY
Every day, you have to wade through a relentless surge of soul-less
facts. The experience tends to shut down your sense of wonder.
Every day, you're over-exposed to narratives that have been sucked
free of delight and mystery. That's why you have to make such
strenuous efforts to keep your world enchanted.
I like to think I can contribute to the sacred cause of feeding
your sense of wonder and enchantment. In fact, that's one of my
prime motivations for offering you the free weekly horoscopes
you read in this newsletter.
If you ever want more of that good stuff, and think it's worth
paying for, please consider trying out my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES.
They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of
your destiny.
Go here to access them: RealAstrology.com
You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888
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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
For the last 20 years, I've worn just one brand of shoes -- all-black
Converse high-top sneakers. I've had them on them at weddings
and while jogging, at my daughter's high school graduation and
while performing at my shows. Am I too set in my ways? Definitely.
In any case, Pisces, don't be like me. Whatever your version of
covering your feet with nothing but black Converse high-top sneakers
may be, the upcoming weeks will be an excellent time to change
your ways. Break out and branch out! Try something new about how
you present yourself -- the equivalent of me switching over to
suede moccasins or snakeskin cowboy boots.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In the 18th century, the French Academy laid down rules about
the differences between professional and amateur paintings. For
example, it was decreed that true artists must create a "licked
surface," hiding all evidence of their brushstrokes. The
illusion was more convincing that way; viewers could sink their
attention fully into the image without being distracted by thoughts
about the artist's process. When the Impressionists barged into
the scene in the 1870s, one of their rebellions against convention
was to reject the licked surface. By making some of their brushstrokes
visible, they declared they weren't interested in upholding the
artifice. They wanted their audience to get involved in their
subjective interpretation of the scene that was portrayed. In
the coming week, Aries, I encourage you to be like the Impressionists.
Forget about trying to present a licked surface. Reveal the inner
workings that are whirling and humming behind your eyes.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
If your home is like a museum, a staid assemblage of fine memories,
I suggest you shake things up a bit. If your imagination is filled
with tape loops that keep running storylines you've heard a thousand
times before, shake things up a bit. If your daily actions are
so thoroughly possessed by the anesthetizing demons of habit that
you can't recall your last creative innovation, shake things up
a bit. On the other hand, there's no need for blame. Don't berate
yourself for your sluggishness. It was an inevitable byproduct
of your efforts to solidify and stabilize your life. Just slip
into a more playful mode and enjoy a bout of experimentation.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Maybe you know a person like my friend Joanna. She's bright but
terse, open-minded but not chatty. Like an inscrutable Buddha,
she watches everything closely and churns her thoughts carefully.
Silence is her ally. Now and then, though, when moved by an inner
prompting that has nothing to do with drinking wine, she will
suddenly erupt with a torrent of sweet talk and pithy observations
and wild explorations. I predict that for you, Gemini, the entire
world -- even the parts of it that are not usually very forthcoming
-- will soon resemble Joanna when she's overflowing.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
This would be an excellent time for you to get aggressively inventive
about your education. It wouldn't be too crazy, in my opinion,
to launch your own school, with you as the only student. You could
design your own course curriculum for the coming years. Decide
who your teachers will be. Think about where you can get the stuff
you'll need to expand your mind, enhance your skills, and just
plain increase your intelligence. You could call your center of
higher learning the University of Wily Exuberance or the Academy
of Astonishing Grace or the Institute of Getting Down to Business.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
For the people of Finland, the word sisu describes a
quality they regard as integral to their national character. It
refers to a courageous strength of will that can be sustained
for a long time -- a staunch ferocity that refuses to be defeated.
We all could use more of that good stuff, not only to weather
our personal ordeals but also to stay plucky in the face of the
world's lunacy. The coming weeks will be an especially good time
for you to build up your reserves of sisu, Leo. How?
Start by taking inventory of all the resources and allies and
skills you have at your disposal.
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HOMEWORK:
Whether or not we believe in gods, we all worship something.
What idea, person, thing, or emotion do you bow down to? Go to
Freewillastrology.com
and click "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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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2010 Rob Brezsny
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