Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
APRIL 20, 2011
FreeWillAstrology.com
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I'm giving away free 50 copies of my Karmic Credit Card. If you'd
like one, send me a self-addressed stamped envelope that's big
enough to hold the card -- it's 6 inches by 4.25 inches. Use this
address: P.O. Box 150628, San Rafael, CA 94915. The first 50 people
to mail in their request will get a card.
If you want to see what the Karmic Credit Card looks like, or
download a digital image of it, here are the links:
Front of the card: bit.ly/gaTEui
Back of the card: bit.ly/fySheX
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The piece below is excerpted from my book
PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA
available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
ECSTATIC STUDY GUIDE
Strategies for plying a chronic, low-key, blissful union with
everything you're not
1. Many life processes unfold outside of your conscious awareness:
your body digesting your food and circulating your blood; trees
using carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to synthesize their
nourishment; microorganisms in the soil beneath your feet endlessly
toiling to create humus. You don't perceive any of these things
directly; they're invisible to you.
Tune in to this vitalizing alchemy. Use your X-ray vision and
sub-sonic hearing and psychic smelling. See if you can absorb
by osmosis some of the euphoria of the trees as they soak in the
sunlight from above and water from below.
2. "The really important kind of freedom," said David
Foster Wallace, "involves attention and awareness and discipline,
and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice
for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day."
Is that an interesting kind of freedom to you? Can you imagine
any scenario in which practicing it would crack you open and pour
you into an ecstatic state?
3. Study the following rant, which Beauty and Truth Lab operatives
put on flyers and tacked up on laundromat bulletin boards all
over San Francisco:
"The Doctrine of Original Sin? We spit on it. We reject
it. We renounce it and forget it and annihilate it from reality.
In its place we embrace the Doctrine of Original Fun. This reformulation
asserts that it is our birthright to commune with regular doses
of curious beauty and tricky truth and insurrectionary love. A
robust, heroic joy is even now roaring through us, bringing us
good ideas about how to apply the metaphor of ingenious foreplay
to everything we do. We will not waste this euphoric deluge on
any of the million and one numbing little diversions that pass
for pleasure among the ecstasy-starved pursuers of mediocre joy.
Rather, we will remain ever alert for the call of primordial delight."
4. In certain Native American traditions, the hole was a symbol
for the female organ through which souls enter this realm. In
American scientific lore, a wormhole is a backdoor shortcut between
two places in space separated by an astronomical distance. In
my personal mythos, those are my two favorite nuances in the archetype
of the hole.
When I was a kid I loved to fantasize that I'd obtained a magic
hole like the one Bugs Bunny had in the comic books. It was a
portable hole that Bugs could take with him everywhere and apply
to any barrier he needed to slip through. Once he even managed
to slap it up against the sky, giving him access to another dimension
where the whole world was inside him, not outside. (Or was that
a dream I had?)
What would you do with your portable magic hole?
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE SOBER-MINDED OPPRESSORS
Funniest women on the planet?
tinyurl.com/4tm48kl
CAST YOUR LOT WITH THOSE WHO IMAGINE REDEMPTION
2012: Time for a Change is Daniel Pinchbeck's film. It
presents an alternate view of the numinous transformations ahead.
"Rather than breakdown and barbarism, 2012 will herald the
birth of a regenerative planetary culture, where collaboration
replaces competition, where exploration of psyche and spirit becomes
the new cutting edge, replacing the sterile materialism that has
pushed our world to the brink."
bit.ly/foC5On
I DARE YOU TO IMAGINE HOW LIFE MIGHT IMPROVE
Fixing the free market. How co-ops -- businesses in which the
employees are also the owners of the company -- merge economic
growth with social goals.
tinyurl.com/29womu8
EXPAND YOUR MIND EVERTY DAY, PLEASE
Pretty pictures from the edge of reality
tinyurl.com/6a6mega
(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 April 21
Copyright 2011 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
In his book on intuition, psychologist David G. Myers defines
it as "the capacity for direct knowledge and immediate insight,
without any observation or reason." Another expert on the
subject, Malcolm Gladwell, describes intuition as the "power
of thinking without thinking." Both authors encourage us
to cultivate this undersung way of grasping our raw experience.
But Myers also warns us of the perils of intuition if it's untempered
by logic and analysis. It can lead us down rabbit holes where
we lose track of the difference between our fantasies and the
real world. It can cause us to mistake our fears for accurate
ESP or get lost in a maze of self-fulfilling prophecies. I bring
all of this to your attention, Taurus, because the coming weeks
will be an excellent time for you to hone and purify your intuition.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
One of the most impressive elements of the Egyptian uprising
in January and February came after it was all over. Eighteen days
of street protests created a huge mess in Cairo's Tahrir Square
and the surrounding area. When Hosni Mubarak finally resigned
and reforms began percolating, thousands of demonstrators returned
with brooms and rubber gloves and garbage bags to set the place
back in order. I urge you to follow a similar sequence in the
coming weeks, Gemini. Agitate for change; rebel against the stale
status quo; fight corruption and ignorance; and once your work
has led to at least a partial success, clean up after yourself.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
"Sometimes nature seems more beautiful than strictly necessary,"
said physicist Steven Weinberg as he admired a hackberry tree
stoked with blue jays, yellowthroated vireos, and a red cardinal.
You may find yourself thinking similar thoughts in the coming
week, Cancerian. From what I can tell, life is primed to flood
you with simple glories and exotic revelations, with signs of
eternal splendor and hints of sublime meaning, with natural wonders
and civilization's more interesting gifts.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
I became an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church when
I was 19 years old. Since then I have officiated at numerous baptisms,
initiations, weddings (including marrying people to themselves),
divorces, renamings, housewarmings, ghost-banishings, and the
taking of primal vows. In all my years of facilitating these ceremonies,
I've rarely seen a better time than right now for you Leos to
seek a cathartic rite of passage. You may even be tempted to try
several. I recommend you do no more than two, however. Are you
ready to break a taboo or smash an addiction? Renounce a delusion
or pledge your devotion or leap to the next level?
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
It would be an excellent time for you to acquire the Zombie
Apocalypse Preparedness Kit, a package of goodies prepared by
domestic expert Martha Stewart. I say this not because a Zombie
Apocalypse is looming, or any other kind of apocalypse for that
matter. Rather, the kit's presence in your life might encourage
you to make fun of your fears. And that would be a perfect way
to cooperate with the current cosmic tendencies, which are conspiring
to diminish the inhibitions that your anxieties hold in place.
Remember one of the key rules in the game of life: Humor dissipates
worry.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Eighty years ago, an explorer who visited the Maori of New Zealand
found they had such good eyesight that many were able to detect
Jupiter's four largest moons with their naked eyes. That's the
kind of vision you could have in the coming days, Libra -- metaphorically
speaking, at least. The astrological omens say you have the potential
to see further and deeper into any part of reality you choose
to focus on. Inner truths that have been hidden from you are ready
to be plucked by your penetrating probes. For best results, cleanse
your thoughts of expectations. Perceive what's actually there,
not what you want or don't want to be there.
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EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES GO FURTHER
In addition to the horoscopes that come to you in this newsletter,
I create more in-depth audio horoscopes for your inspiration.
I think of them as my love letters to you. They're $6 if you access
them on the Web, or $1.99 per minute over the phone.
Try them at RealAstrology.com.
They're available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.
"Your audio horoscopes help me love myself better, and I
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- Deva P., Indianapolis
"I'm really grateful for the way you pick up my telepathic
requests and answer them in your expanded audio 'scopes."
- Marion H., Birmingham, AL
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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
You really should ventilate your house periodically, even when
the weather's cool. The air indoors gets stale; you need to flush
it out and welcome in some fresh stuff. In my astrological opinion,
it's especially important for you to do this right now. So please
consider opening all the windows for a while and inviting the
breezes to blow through. In addition to its practical value for
your respiratory system, it could serve as a ritual that gently
blows the dusty crud out of your mind, thereby improving the circulation
in your thoughts and emotions and fantasies.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
What do you like most about work? What are the pleasurable experiences
that happen for you when you're engaged in demanding tasks that
require you to be focused, competent, and principled? I think
it's important for you to identify those hard-earned joys and
then brainstorm about what you can do to expand and intensify
them. You're in a phase of your long-term cycle when you can make
a lot of headway toward transforming your job situation so it
serves you better.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The next phase of your life will be an excellent time to unbreak
your heart. Here's what I mean by that: You will have extra power
to dissolve any pain that still lingers from the romantic disappointments
of the past. You'll be able to summon acute insights into how
to dismantle the sodden and unnecessary defenses you built to
protect yourself from loss and humiliation. You will find it easier
than ever before to forgive and forget any close companion who
hurt you. So get out there, Capricorn, and launch the joyful process
of restoring your love muscles to their original potency.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
"Search For Self Called Off After 38 Years," read the
headline in The Onion. "I always thought that if
I kept searching and exploring, I'd discover who I truly was,"
the report began, quoting 38-year-old Andrew Speth. "Well,
I looked deep into the innermost recesses of my soul, and you
know what I found? An empty, windowless room the size of an aircraft
hangar. From now on, if anybody needs me, I'll be sprawled out
on my couch drinking black-cherry soda and watching Law &
Order like everybody else." I wonder if Speth is an Aquarius?
Many of my Aquarian acquaintances seem to have hit a dead end
recently in their quest to fulfill the ancient maxim "Know
thyself." If you're like that, please hang on. The floodgates
of self-discovery will open soon.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Odds are high that you know very little about Africa. Can you
name even 20 of its more than 50 countries? Are you aware that
its land mass is bigger than Europe, China, and the U.S. combined?
Did you realize that about 2,000 languages are spoken by the people
living there? I bring this up, Pisces, because from an astrological
perspective it's an excellent time for you to fill the gaps in
your education about Africa -- or any other subject about which
you are deeply uninformed. Don't get overwhelmed by this assignment,
though. Choose maybe three areas of ignorance that you will concentrate
on in the coming weeks.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Now comes one of the supreme tests that most every Aries must
periodically face: Will you live up to your promises? Will you
follow through on your rousing start? Will you continue to stay
passionately committed once the fiery infatuation stage evolves
into the earthy foundation-building stage? Here's a secret to
succeeding at this test: You can't just try to force yourself
to "be good" and do the right thing. Nor does it work
to use shame or guilt to motivate yourself. Somehow you've got
to marshal pure, raw excitement for the gritty detail work to
come. You've got to fall in love with the task of actually fleshing
out your dreams.
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HOMEWORK:
Though sometimes it's impossible to do the right thing, doing
the half-right thing may be a viable option. Give an example from
your own life: freewillastrology.com
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2011 Rob Brezsny
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