Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter February 25, 2015

 Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
 February 25, 2015
 FreeWillAstrology.com

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My most recent book is PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA

The hard-copy edition is for sale here:
Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
Powells: bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
Barnes & Noble: bit.ly/PronoiaBN

The e-book edition is available as an ePub directly from me at: bit.ly/eePronoia

Below are excerpts from the book.

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I invite you to meditate on the relentlessness of your yearning for love. Recognize the fact that your eternal longing will never leave you in peace. Accept that it will forever delight you, torment you, inspire you, and bewilder you -- whether you are alone or in the throes of a complicated relationship.

Understand that your desire for love will just keep coming and coming and coming, keeping you slightly off-balance and pushing you to constantly revise your ideas about who you are.

Now read this declaration from the poet Rilke and claim it as your own: "My blood is alive with many voices that tell me I am made of longing."

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There are thousand of things in the world that provide you with only mediocre nourishment; the influences that deeply enrich you with their blessings are much smaller in number.

To say it another way: You derive a bare amount of inspiration and teaching from the great majority of people, songs, images, words, stories, environments, and sights; whereas you draw life-sustaining illumination and spirit-ennobling motivation from just a precious few.

I invite you to identify that special minority, and take aggressive steps to be in ongoing communion with it.

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Feel free to steal all or parts of this personal ad for your own purposes:

SACRED AGENT SEEKS FREAKY CONSORT
Tired of both boringly nice goodie-goodies and menacing lunatics trying to pass off their pathologies as "sexy"? I'm the happy medium: a straddler of the mysterious edge where bliss and struggle overlap, where the difference between light and dark just ain't that simple. I feel too deeply to pretend that every question has a correct answer. I cry too easily and love too much.

And you? Are you smart enough to be guided by your sacred dreams of transgression? Are you free enough to surrender over and over again to the waters of life? If you've got the courage, I've got the secrets. I'll be your wild-eyed, smart-mouthed, spread-eagled muse if you'll be mine.

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Here's another personal ad for you:

MY EYES REMIND YOU WHERE YOU CAME FROM.
Uncork me, angel. Unfurl me. Release me and restore me and unleash me. Not because I can't do it myself. Not because I'm just another narcissism-addict jonesing for a quick fix.

On the contrary. I'm the most self-sufficient self-starter I've ever met. It's from my position of strength that I aspire to whip up spectacular synergies in tandem with your holy rolling reverberations.

So keep in mind that I'm here to uncork you and unfurl you and release you and restore you and unleash you, too. That's the art of the game that stretches out before us in all directions. That's the beauty of the gritty reality that's disguised as a glittery fantasy. As you bless my risks and massage my unconsciousness and save my soul, I'll always vice your versa.

P.S. My last fortune cookie said, "You need nothing and want everything."

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Here's the Robert Bly poem that inspired the benediction I gave Geminis in a recent Free Will Astrology horoscope:

THE THIRD BODY

A man and a woman sit near each other, and they do not long
at this moment to be older, or younger, nor born
in any other nation, or time, or place.

They are content to be where they are, talking or not talking.

Their breaths together feed someone whom we do not know.

The man sees the way his fingers move;
he sees her hands close around a book she hands to him.

They obey a third body they have in common.

They have made a promise to love that body.

Age may come, parting may come, death will come.

A man and woman sit near each other;
as they breathe they feed someone we do not know,
someone we know of, whom we have never seen.

~ Robert Bly, from "Loving a Woman in Two Worlds"

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The wildly disciplined, aggressively sensitive, ironically sincere, blasphemously reverent unbelievers shall inherit the earth by making sacred jokes through revolution.

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Are you in quest of an Intimate Ally? A Soul Friend? A Wild Confidante?

Check out Matchmaker.com via Free Will Astrology's link: bit.ly/SoulMatch

Look for a Co-Pilot, Co-Conspirator, or Collaborator . . . an Agent to represent you or a Disciple to worship you . . . a Secret Sharer who'll listen better than anyone or an Amazing Accomplice with whom you can practice the Art of Liberation.

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

All of this week's Pronoaic Resources are from the marvelous Yes magazine: yesmagazine.org

"From Warrior Cops to Community Police: A Former Chief on How We Can Turn Back the Tide of Militarization. Police in America belong to the people -- not the other way around. Former Seattle police Chief Norm Stamper on how we can turn war zone occupiers back into friendly neighborhood officers."
tinyurl.com/oq377ul

"Deep in the Amazon, a Tiny Tribe Is Beating Big Oil. The people of Sarayaku are a leading force in 21st century indigenous resistance, engaging the western world politically, legally, and philosophically."
tinyurl.com/lhmruwy

"Portugal Cut Addiction Rates in Half by Connecting Drug Users With Communities Instead of Jailing Them. Fifteen years ago, the Portuguese had one of the worst drug problems in Europe. So they decriminalized drugs, took money out of prisons, put it into holistic rehabilitation, and found that human connection is the antidote to addiction."
tinyurl.com/o9hu8eg

(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 26

Copyright 2015 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

The British rock band the Animals released their gritty, growly song "The House of the Rising Sun" in 1964. It reached the top of the pop music charts in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Australia, and was a hit with critics. Rolling Stone magazine ultimately ranked it as the 122nd greatest song of all time. And yet it took the Animals just 15 minutes to record. They did it in one take. That's the kind of beginner's luck and spontaneous flow I foresee you having in the coming weeks, Pisces. What's the best way for you to channel all that soulful mojo?

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

Lately your life reminds me of the action film Speed, starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. In that story, a criminal has rigged a passenger bus to explode if its speed drops below 50 miles per hour. In your story, you seem to be acting as if you, too, will self-destruct if you stop moving at a frantic pace. I'm here to tell you that nothing bad will happen if you slow down. Just the opposite, in fact. As you clear your schedule of its excessive things-to-do, as you leisurely explore the wonders of doing nothing in particular, I bet you will experience a soothing flood of healing pleasure.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

One of the most dazzling moves a ballet dancer can do is the fouetté en tournant. The term is French for "whipped turning." As she executes a 360-degree turn, the dancer spins around on the tip of one foot. Meanwhile, her other foot thrusts outward and then bends in, bringing her toes to touch the knee of her supporting leg. Can you imagine a dancer doing this 32 consecutive times? That's what the best do. It takes extensive practice and requires a high degree of concentration and discipline. Paradoxically, it expresses breathtaking freedom and exuberance. You may not be a prima ballerina, Taurus, but in your own field there must be an equivalent to the fouetté en tournant. Now is an excellent time for you to take a vow and make plans to master that skill. What will you need to do?

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

If you're a martial artist and you want to inject extra energy into an aggressive move, you might utter a percussive shout that sounds like "eee-yah!" or "hyaah!" or "aiyah!" The Japanese term for this sound is kiai. The sonic boost is most effective if it originates deep in your diaphragm rather than from your throat. Even if you're not a martial artist, Gemini, I suggest that in the coming weeks you have fun trying out this boisterous style of yelling. It may help you summon the extra power and confidence you'll need to successfully wrestle with all the interesting challenges ahead of you.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

The prolific and popular French novelist Aurore Dupin was better known by her pseudonym George Sand. Few 19th-century women matched her rowdy behavior. She wore men's clothes, smoked cigars, was a staunch feminist, and frequented social venues where only men were normally allowed. Yet she was also a doting mother to her two children, and loved to garden, make jam, and do needlework. Among her numerous lovers were the writers Alfred de Musset, Jules Sandeau, and Prosper Mérimée, as well as composer Frederic Chopin and actress Marie Dorval. Her preferred work schedule was midnight to 6 a.m., and she often slept until 3 p.m. "What a brave man she was," said Russian author Ivan Turgenev, "and what a good woman." Her astrological sign? The same as you and me. She's feisty proof that not all of us Crabs are conventional fuddy-duddies. In the coming weeks, she's our inspirational role model.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

It seems you've slipped into a time warp. Is that bad? I don't think so. Your adventures there may twist and tweak a warped part of your psyche in such a way that it gets healed. At the very least, I bet your visit to the time warp will reverse the effects of an old folly and correct a problem caused by your past sins. (By the way, when I use the word "sin," I mean "being lax about following your dreams.") There's only one potential problem that could come out of all this: Some people in your life could misinterpret what's happening. To prevent that, communicate crisply every step of the way.

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I'D LIKE TO ASSIST YOU AS YOU RE-GENIUS YOURSELF

Although we are all born geniuses, the grind of day-to-day living tends to de-genius us. That's the bad news. The good news is that you have the power to re-genius yourself.

For inspiration, tune in to your Expanded Audio Horoscopes. They're my 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

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

REMEMBER:

You came into this world as a radiant bundle of exuberant riddles. You slipped into this dimension as a shimmering burst of spiral hallelujahs. You blasted into this realm as a lush explosion of ecstatic gratitude. And it is your birthright to fulfill those promises.

I'm not pandering to your egotism by telling you these things. When I say, "Be yourself," I don't mean you should be the self that wants to win every game and use up every resource and stand alone at the end of time on top of a Mt. Everest-sized pile of pretty garbage.

When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the self that says "Thank you!" to the wild irises and the windy rain and the people who grow your food.

When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the rebel creator who's longing to make the whole universe your home and sanctuary.

When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the dissident bodhisattva who's joyfully struggling to germinate the seeds of divine love that are packed inside every moment.

When I say, "Be yourself," I mean the spiritual freedom fighter who's scrambling and finagling and conspiring to relieve your fellow messiahs from their suffering and shower them with rowdy blessings.

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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

In English and French versions of the word game Scrabble, the letter z is worth ten points. In Italian, it's eight points. But in the Polish variant of Scrabble, you score just one point by using z. That letter is rarely used in the other three languages, but is common in Polish. Keep this general principle in mind as you assess the value of the things you have to offer. You will be able to make more headway and have greater impact in situations where your particular beauty and power and skills are in short supply.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

"Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won't have to make them all your yourself." So said Alfred Sheinwold in his book about the card game known as bridge. I think this is excellent advice for the game of life, as well. And it should be extra pertinent for you in the coming weeks, because people in your vicinity will be making gaffes and wrong turns that are useful for you to study. In the future, you'll be wise to avoid perpetrating similar messes yourself.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

"Love her but leave her wild," advised a graffiti artist who published his thoughts on a wall next to the mirror in a public restroom I visited. Another guerrilla philosopher had added a comment below: "That's a nice sentiment, but how can anyone retain wildness in a society that puts so many demands on us in exchange for money to live?" Since I happened to have a felt-tip pen with me, I scrawled a response to the question posed in the second comment: "Be in nature every day. Move your body a lot. Remember and work with your dreams. Be playful. Have good sex. Infuse any little thing you do with a creative twist. Hang out with animals. Eat with your fingers. Sing regularly." And that's also my message for you, Scorpio, during this phase when it's so crucial for you to nurture your wildness.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

"Don't worry, even if things get heavy, we'll all float on." So sings Modest Mouse's vocalist Isaac Brock on the band's song "Float On." I recommend you try that approach yourself, Sagittarius. Things will no doubt get heavy in the coming days. But if you float on, the heaviness will be a good, rich, soulful heaviness. It'll be a purifying heaviness that purges any glib or shallow influences that are in your vicinity. It'll be a healing heaviness that gives you just the kind of graceful gravitas you will need.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

"What I look for in a friend is someone who's different from me," says science fiction novelist Samuel Delany. "The more different the person is, the more I'll learn from him. The more he'll come up with surprising takes on ideas and things and situations." What about you, Capricorn? What are the qualities in a friend that help you thrive? Now is a perfect time to take an inventory. I sense that although there are potential new allies wandering in your vicinity, they will actually become part of your life only if you adjust and update your attitudes about the influences you value most.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

At the turn of the 19th century, Russian laborers constructed thousands of miles of railroad tracks from the western part of the country eastward to Siberia. The hardest part of the job was blasting tunnels through the mountains that were in the way. I reckon you're at a comparable point in your work, Aquarius. It's time to smash gaping holes through obstacles. Don't scrimp or apologize. Clear the way for the future.

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HOMEWORK:

Homework: True or false: You can't get what you want from another person until you're able to give it to yourself. Explain why or why not.
FreeWillAstrology.com

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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 2015 Rob Brezsny

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