Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
SEPTEMBER 7, 2011
FreeWillAstrology.com
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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
RECEPTIVITY REMEDIES, Part 1
To achieve what the Zen Buddhists call "beginner's mind,"
you dispense with all preconceptions and enter each situation
as if seeing it for the first time.
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities,"
wrote Shunryu Suzuki in his book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind,
"but in the expert's there are few."
As much as I love beginner's mind, though, I advocate an additional
discipline: cultivating a beginner's heart. That means approaching
every encounter imbued with a freshly invoked wave of love that
is as pure as if you're feeling it for the first time.
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To be the best pronoiac explorer you can be, I suggest you adopt
an outlook that combines the rigorous objectivity of a scientist,
the "beginner's mind" of Zen Buddhism, the "beginner's
heart" of pronoia, and the compassionate friendliness of
the Dalai Lama.
Blend a scrupulously dispassionate curiosity with a skepticism
driven by expansiveness, not spleen.
To pull this off, you'll have to be willing to regularly suspend
your brilliant theories about the way the world works. Accept
with good humor the possibility that what you've learned in the
past may not be a reliable guide to understanding the fresh phenomenon
that's right in front of you.
Be suspicious of your biases, even the rational and benevolent
ones. Open your heart as you strip away the interpretations that
your emotions might be inclined to impose.
"Before we can receive the unbiased truth about anything,"
wrote my teacher Ann Davies, "we have to be ready to ignore
what we would like to be true."
At the same time, don't turn into a hard-ass, poker-faced robot.
Keep your feelings moist and receptive. Remember your natural
affection for all of creation. Enjoy the power of tender sympathy
as it drives you to probe for the unimaginable revelations of
every new moment.
"Before we can receive the entire truth about anything,"
said Ann Davies, "we have to love it."
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
THE MOST PRACTICAL PRONOIACS OF ALL?
The permaculture movement is growing
tinyurl.com/3g7prar
PRONOIA WORKING IN SECRET INSIDE YOU
Life is conspiring to protect you
tinyurl.com/3m58xuf
NOW AND THEN IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO ACKNOLWEDGE OUR SUCCESSES
Just another incredible human accomplishment
i.imgur.com/57kdo.jpg
(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 September 8
Copyright 2011 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
"Wheel of Fortune" is a TV game show in which players
vie to guess a mystery phrase that is revealed letter by letter.
On one episode not too long ago, a highly intuitive contestant
solved the puzzle even though just one letter had been unveiled.
The winning answer was "I've got a good feeling about this."
From what I can tell, Virgo, you've got a similar aptitude these
days -- an ability to foresee how things are ultimately going
to develop simply by extrapolating from a few clues. I encourage
you to make liberal use of your temporary superpower. (P.S. I've
got a good feeling about this.)
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
You have about 100 billion neurons in your brain. That also happens
to be the approximate number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Coincidence? I think not. As the mystic dictum reminds us, "As
above, so below." The macrocosm and microcosm are mirrors
of each other. Everything that happens on a collective level has
an intimately personal impact. The better you know yourself, the
more likely you are to understand how the world works -- and vice
versa. I urge you to be alert for concrete evidence of this principle,
Libra. Your week will be successful if you make it your background
meditation.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
"By the year 2021, the complete gratification of sexual
desires will be as easy and stress-free as drinking a glass of
water." That was one of 25 prophecies delivered to me by
a polite, well-spoken madman I met on a July morning in a cafe
in Earls Court, London back in 1990. Sixteen of his other predictions
have come true so far (like "America will have a black president
by 2010," "You will become a famous astrologer,"
"60-year-old women will be able to give birth"), so
I'm thinking that the one about easy sexual gratification could
turn out to be accurate as well. Until then, Scorpio, you may
sometimes have to deal with periodic struggles in getting your
needs met. Having said that, though, I'm happy to announce that
the coming weeks are shaping up as one of your closest approximations
to the supposed 2021 levels of erotic bliss.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
The beauty contests in Saudi Arabia don't judge women on the
basis of their physical appearance. A recent winner, Aya Ali al-Mulla,
was crowned "Queen of Beautiful Morals" without ever
revealing the face and form shrouded beneath her black head-to-toe
garment. Instead, her excellence emerged during a series of psychological
and social tests that evaluated her strength of character and
service to family and society. I'd like to borrow this idea and
apply it to you. According to my analysis of the astrological
omens, you could and should be a paragon of moral beauty in the
coming week -- a shining example and inspiration to all the other
signs of the zodiac.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Filip Marinovich calls his poetry book And If You Don't Go
Crazy I'll Meet You Here Tomorrow. I'm borrowing that title
for this horoscope. So here goes: If you don't go crazy in the
coming days, Capricorn, I'll meet you here again next week. To
be clear: There is an excellent chance you will be able to keep
our appointment. The astrological omens suggest you'll call on
reserves of wisdom that haven't been accessible before, and that
alone could prevent you from a brush with lunacy. You're also
primed to be nimble in your dealings with paradoxes, which, again,
should keep you from descending into fairy-tale-style madness.
But even if you do take a partial detour into the land of kooky,
I think it will have an oddly healing effect on you. See you next
time!
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
There's no better way to inform you of your task right now than
to cite Hexagram 18 of the I Ching, the ancient Chinese book of
divination. The title of the oracle is "Work on What Has
Been Spoiled." Here's an interpretation by the I Ching's
translator Richard Wilhelm, with a little help from me: "What
has been spoiled through human mistakes can be made good again
through human work. It is not immutable fate that has caused the
state of corruption, but rather the abuse of human freedom. Toil
that is done to correct the situation bodes well, because it is
in harmony with cosmic potentials. Success depends on diligent
deliberation followed by vigorous action."
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ADVICE YOU CAN USE TO CHANGE YOURSELF IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR SOUL'S CODE
In addition to the horoscopes that you read here, I create additional
in-depth audio horoscopes for your inspiration.
They're not repeats or elaborations of the stuff you find here,
but entirely fresh explorations of your astrological omens, designed
to help you tune in to your soul's code.
Try them at RealAstrology.com.
They're available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.
They're $6 if you access them on the Web, or $1.99 per minute
over the phone.
"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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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Breaking the rules could be a boon for your closest relationships
if it's done out of deep caring and not out of anger or boredom.
Can you commit to that high standard, Pisces? I hope so, because
it's prime time to shake up and reinvigorate stale concepts about
togetherness. You will never know how much more interesting your
intimate alliances can be unless you put that vivacious imagination
of yours to work. Would you be willing to buy tickets for a joint
excursion to the frontier? Go hunting for surprises that recalibrate
the dynamic between you and yours? Take a collaborative risk you'd
never want to face alone?
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
"Don't be angry with the rain," counseled author Vladimir
Nabokov. "It simply does not know how to fall upward."
In the coming week, I advise you to apply that principle to a
host of phenomena, Aries. Don't get all knotted up about any force
of nature that insists on being itself, and don't waste your time
trying to figure out how to disobey the law of gravity. It's fine
if you find it amusing to go against the flow, but don't expect
the flow to follow you in your rebellion.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Where will you be in the latter half of 2016? What will you be
doing? Now would be an excellent time to fantasize and meditate
about questions like those. You're likely to have a good bit of
intuitive foresight in the coming days -- some ability to discern
the embryonic patterns swirling in the mists. But even more importantly,
you will have extra power to dream up potent visions for your
best possible future and plant them as seeds in the fertile bed
of your subconscious mind.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
I believe you're close to getting permanent immunity from hell,
Gemini. Take it as a metaphor if you like, but consider the possibility
that there may soon come a time when you will never again be susceptible
to getting dragged into the bottomless pit. You will receive the
equivalent of a "Get out of jail free" card that forever
guarantees you exemption from the worst of the nightmare realms.
Please note: I'm not saying you will be forever free of all suffering.
But if you simply keep doing the smart things you've been doing
lately, you will tap into a reservoir of stabilizing poise so
strong that "the devil" will have no further claim on
your soul.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
In "The Blood," an episode of the TV show "Seinfeld,"
George tries to go for "the Trifecta": eating a pastrami
sandwich and watching TV while having sex. His girlfriend isn't
pleased about it, though, so the triple-intense pleasure doesn't
materialize in the way George had hoped. But something akin to
this scenario could very well work for you in the coming week,
Cancerian. You will have a knack for stirring up more fun and
pleasure that usual through the inventive use of multitasking.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
In Wiccan circles, a "familiar" is a supernatural entity
or magic animal that serves as a spirit ally. Some witches regard
their cats as their familiars. In Philip Pullman's His Dark
Materials trilogy of fantasy books, the "daemon"
(very different from a "demon") plays a similar role:
a shapeshifting creature that embodies a person's soul. This would
be an excellent time for you to develop a closer relationship
with a familiar or daemon or any other uncanny helper, Leo. You
have more hidden power at your disposal than you realize, and
it's a propitious time to call on it.
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HOMEWORK:
Imagine you overhear a whispered conversation that changes your
life for the better. What would it be about? Testify at Freewillastrology.com.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2011 Rob Brezsny
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