Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter June 11, 2014

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
JUNE 11, 2014
FreeWillAstrology.com

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Tip Jar for Me: bit.ly/TipsforRob

Sign up for daily horoscopes via text message: bit.ly/Sunbursts

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My book
PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA
is available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: bit.ly/PronoiaPowells

Here's an excerpt:

PRONOIA'S VILLAINS

According to Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, Judas was actually a more exalted hero than Jesus. He unselfishly volunteered to perform the all­important villain's role in the resurrection saga, knowing he'd be reviled forever. It was a dirty job that only a supremely egoless saint could have done. Jesus suffered, true, but enjoyed glory and adoration as a result.

Let's apply this way of thinking to the task of understanding the role that seemingly bad people play in pronoia.

Interesting narratives play an essential role in the universal conspiracy to give us exactly what we need. All of us crave drama. We love to be beguiled by twists of fate that unfold the stories of our lives in unpredictable ways. Just as Judas played a key role in advancing the tale of Christ's quest, villains and con men and clowns may be crucial to the entertainment value of our personal journeys.

Try this: Imagine the people you fear and dislike as pivotal characters in a fascinating and ultimately redemptive plot that will take years or even lifetimes for the Divine Wow to elaborate.

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There is another reason to love our enemies: They force us to become smarter. The riddles they thrust in front of us sharpen our wits and sculpt our souls.

Try this: Act as if your adversaries are great teachers. Thank them for how crucial they've been in your education.

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Consider one more possibility: that the people who seem to slow us down and hold us back are actually preventing things from happening too fast.

Imagine that the evolution of your life or our culture is like a pregnancy: It needs to reach its full term. Just as a child isn't ready to be born after five months of gestation, the New Earth we're creating has to ripen in its own time. The recalcitrant reactionaries who resist the inevitable birth are simply making sure that the far-seeing revolutionaries don't conjure the future too suddenly. They serve the greater good.

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BE YOUR OWN SAVIOR

Some Christians believe Jesus will come back to fix this corrupt world. Certain Jewish sects propose that the messiah will soon appear on Earth for the first time. Among Muslims, many predict the legendary Twelfth Imam will return and bring salvation to humanity.

In India, devotees of Vishnu expect the avatar Kalki to arrive on the scene and carry out a series of miraculous redemptions. Even Buddhists prophesy Maitreya, the chosen one who will establish universal peace.

My divinations foretell a very different scenario. I suspect that the whole point of our spectacularly confounding moment in history is that each of us must become our own savior. And if we hope to accomplish that, relying on our best amateur efforts, we will have to stop waiting around for a supposed professional to do our work for us.

Franz Kafka had a view that's not necessarily mutually exclusive with mine: "The messiah will come when we don't need him anymore."

Let's also consider the evidence offered by William Blake, as quoted in Poets and God by David L. Edwards: "Jesus Christ is the only God. And so am I. And so are you."

One more clue, this time from Deepak Chopra: "Every person is a God in embryo. Its only desire is to be born."

- bit.ly/Pronoia

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I invite you to write down brief descriptions of the five most pleasurable moments you've ever experienced in your life. Let your imagination dwell lovingly on these memories for, say, 20 minutes. And keep them close to the surface of your awareness in the next three days.

If you ever catch yourself slipping into a negative train of thought, interrupt it immediately and compel yourself to fantasize about those Big Five Ecstatic Moments.

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What were you doing a year ago today? Check out my horoscopes for this time of year in 2013 and see if my oracle was applicable to what you were going through: bit.ly/11VpfRn

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

Acupuncture, Yoga, and Massage: Not Just for Rich People
From Oakland to Brooklyn, practitioners of holistic health care are working to make their services affordable for all.
tinyurl.com/kuf3exw

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How the Real Teens Behind "The Fault in Our Stars" Are Bringing Empathy to the Internet
They call themselves "nerdfighters" and they're unlike any movement you've seen before.
tinyurl.com/qh4j943

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That Book About Inequality That's Sold Out of Bookstores? Here's What It Means for 2016
The popularity of Piketty's book should be a wake-up call for politicians. If inequality sells in the stores, it will sell at the polls as well.
tinyurl.com/kwzkzeo

(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 June 12

Copyright 2014 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

Your brain absorbs about 11 million pieces of information every second, but is consciously aware of less than .001 percent of all that richness. Or at least that's usually the case. Having analyzed your astrological omens, I suspect that you might soon jack that figure up as high as .01 percent -- a ten-fold increase! Do you think you can handle that much raw input? Are you amenable to being so acutely perceptive? How will you respond if the world is a ten times more vivid than usual? I'm pretty confident. I suspect you won't become a bug-eyed maniac freaking out on the intensity, but rather will be a soulful, wonder-filled explorer in love with the intensity.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

You have a strong, intricate understanding of where you have come from. The old days and old ways continue to feed you with their mysterious poignancy. You don't love every one of your past experiences, but you love ruminating about them and feeling the way they changed you. Until the day you die many years from now, your history will keep evolving, providing an endless stream of new teachings. And yet at this particular moment in your destiny, Cancerian, I think your most important task is to focus on where you are going to. That's why I urge you to temporarily forget everything you think you know about your past and instead concentrate on getting excited about the future.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

In 1928, Bobby Pearce won a gold medal in rowing at the Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. An unforeseen event almost sabotaged his victory. As he rowed his boat along the Sloten Canal, a family of ducks swam leisurely from shore to shore directly across his path. He stopped to let them pass, allowing an opponent who was already ahead of him to gain an even bigger advantage. Yet he ultimately won the race, rowing with such vigor after the duck incident that he finished well ahead of his challenger. I foresee a comparable sequence in your life, Leo. Being thoughtful and expressing compassion may seem to slow you down, but in the end that won't hinder you from achieving your goal -- and may even help.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

In one of her "Twenty-One Love Poems," Adrienne Rich talks about her old self in the third person. "The woman who cherished / her suffering is dead. I am her descendant. / I love the scar tissue she handed on to me, / but I want to go from here with you / fighting the temptation to make a career of pain." With your approval, Virgo, I'd like to make that passage one of your keynotes in the coming months. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will have an excellent opportunity to declare your independence from an affliction you've been addicted to. Are you willing to say goodbye to one of your signature forms of suffering?

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

"You should be interviewing roses not people," says a character in Anne Carson's book The Autobiography Of Red. That's sound poetic advice for you in the coming days, Libra. More than you can imagine, you will benefit from being receptive to and learning from non-human sources: roses, cats, dogs, spiders, horses, songbirds, butterflies, trees, rivers, the wind, the moon, and any other intelligences that make themselves available to you. I'm not saying you should ignore the revelations offered by people. But your emphasis should be on gathering in wisdom from life forces that don't communicate with words.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

William Shockley was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who co-invented the transistor. He also helped launch the revolution in information technology, and has been called "the man who brought silicon to Silicon Valley." Time magazine named him one of the hundred most influential people of the 20th century. On the other hand, Shockley became a controversial advocate of eugenics, which damaged his reputation, led many to consider him a racist, and played a role in his estrangement from his friends and family. I suspect that you will have to deal with at least one Shockley-type phenomenon in the coming weeks, Scorpio. Will you overlook the bad stuff in order to take advantage of the good? Should you?

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FEELING JOYOUS STIMULATES YOUR COMPASSION?

Assume that your drive to experience pleasure isn't a barrier to your spiritual growth, but is in fact essential to it. Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating joy can make you a more ethical and compassionate person. Imagine that feeling good has something important to teach you every day.

For inspiration in practicing this approach, tune in to your Expanded Audio Horoscopes. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny. The cost is $6 per reading, with a discount for multiple purchases.

Go here to register and/or sign in: RealAstrology.com

They're available on your tablets and smart phones as well as your computers.

You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888

"I always feel like I know myself better after listening to your audio 'scopes."
- June R., Austin, TX

"Your audio horoscopes calm me down when I'm too manic and pep me up when I'm down."
- Arthur T., Cleveland, OH

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Novelist Herman Melville wrote that in order to create art, "unlike things must meet and mate." Like what? "Sad patience" and "joyous energies," for example; both of them are necessary, he said. "Instinct and study" are crucial ingredients, as well as humility and pride, audacity and reverence, and "a flame to melt" and a "wind to freeze." Based on my interpretation of the astrological omens, Sagittarius, I believe you will soon need to meld opposites like these as you shape that supreme work of art -- your life.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Haggis is a Scottish pudding. According to the gourmet food encyclopedia Larousse Gastronomique, it has "an excellent nutty texture and delicious savory flavor." And yet, to be honest, its ingredients don't sound promising. To make it, you gather the lungs, liver, small intestine, and heart of a sheep, put all of that stuff inside the stomach of the sheep along with oatmeal, onions, salt, and suet, and then simmer the whole mess for three hours. I'm guessing that your work in the coming week may have a certain metaphorical resemblance to making haggis, Capricorn. The process could a bit icky, but the result should be pretty tasty.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Almost a hundred years ago, world-famous comedian Charlie Chaplin decided to take part in a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest in San Francisco. He did his best to imitate himself, but it wasn't good enough. He didn't come close to winning. But I think you would have a different fate if you entered a comparable competition in the coming weeks. There's no question in my mind that you would be crowned as the person who most resembles you. Maybe more than ever before, you are completely yourself. You look like your true self, you feel like your true self, and you are acting like your true self. Congratulations! It's hard work to be so authentic.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease," said French philosopher Francois-Marie Voltaire. That principle will be useful for you to invoke in the coming weeks. You definitely need to be cured, although the "disease" you are suffering from is primarily psychospiritual rather than strictly physical. Your task will be to flood yourself with fun adventures, engaging stories, and playtime diversions so that nature can heal you without the interference of your worries and kibitzing.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

In its quest for nectar, a hummingbird sips from a thousand flowers every day. As it flaps its wings 70 times a second, zipping from meal to meal, it can fly sideways, backward, or forward. If it so desires, it can also hover or glide upside-down. It remembers every flower it visits, and knows how long it will take before each flower will produce a new batch of nectar. To some Spanish speakers, hummingbirds are known as joyas voladoras, or "flying jewels." Now take everything I've just said, Aries, and use it as a metaphor for who you can be in the coming week.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

In 1947, the impossibly wealthy Duke of Windsor went shopping in Paris to buy a gift for his wife, the Duchess. She already had everything she wanted, so he decided to get creative. He commissioned the luxury-goods manufacturer Hermes to build her a high-fashion black leather wheelbarrow. I am not urging you to acquire something like that for yourself, Taurus. But I do like it as a symbol for what you need in your life right now: a blend of elegance and usefulness, of playful beauty and practical value, of artistry and hard work.

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HOMEWORK:

Imagine your future self has sent a message to you back through time. What is it? Write: uaregod@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 2014 Rob Brezsny

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