Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter September 16, 2015

 Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
 September 16, 2015
 FreeWillAstrology.com

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On Friday, September 18 at 5:15, I will be performing my pagan revival show SACRED UPROAR. The place is the Symbiosis Gathering, a fantastic outdoor festival in Oakdale, CA.

SACRED UPROAR is based on material from my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia. During the show, I sing and talk and chant. There's a mix of healing, entertainment, ritual, and teaching. Now and then, I like to encourage people in the crowd to sing along with me, kirtan-style.

Main page for info about the festival: symbiosisgathering.com
My page: bit.ly/1i5kep7

You can listen to and get free downloads of songs and spoken-word pieces from SACRED UPROAR:

Glory in the Highest:
bit.ly/yBmWBg

This Is a Perfect Moment:
bit.ly/PerfectionNow

World Kiss
bit.ly/tlUzBZ

Re-Genius Yourself
bit.ly/zCJAoH

and many more tunes from SACRED UPROAR at:
bit.ly/sacreduproar

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

Below are excerpts.

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1. Expect nothing, but ask for everything.

2. Gently but gleefully smash an unnecessary personal taboo.

3. Jump for joy and click your heels together in a building that has always felt oppressive.

4. Buck tradition with wit and compassion, not wrath and cynicism.

5. Refuse to occupy the old, worn-out niches, especially the ones you have trapped yourself in for the sake of peace and harmony.

6. Carry two gifts with you at all times in case you run into any fresh beauties who aren't lost in their own heads.

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"I tell you the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people." - Vincent van Gogh

"Everything I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything exists, only because I love." - Leo Tolstoy

"Until you have loved, you cannot become yourself." - Emily Dickinson

"Love imperfectly. Be a love idiot. Let yourself forget any love ideal." - Sark

"For one human being to love another is the most difficult task. It is the work for which all other work is mere preparation." - Rainer Maria Rilke, Translated by Stephen Mitchell

"If you do not love too much, you do not love enough." - Blaise Pascal

"Love is everything it's cracked up to be. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more." - Erica Jong

"Fall in love over and over again every day. Love your family, your neighbors, your enemies, and yourself. And don't stop with humans. Love animals, plants, stones, even galaxies." - Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

"To love is to tilt with the lightning, two bodies routed by a single honey's sweet." - Pablo Neruda

"The most vital right is the right to love and be loved." - Emma Goldman

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The Beauty and Truth Lab researchers' sunny dispositions are made possible in part by the mantra, "I don't know." It's an unparalleled source of power, a declaration of independence from the pressure to have an opinion about every single subject.

It's fun to say. Try it: "I don't know."

Let go of the drive to have it all figured out: "I don't know."

Proclaim the only truth you can be totally sure of: "I don't know."

Empty your mind and lift your heart: "I don't know."

Use it as a battle cry, a joyous affirmation of your oneness with the Great Mystery: "I don't know."

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Do you have an unconscious belief that the forces of evil are loud, vigorous, and strong, while good is quiet, gentle, and passive? Gather evidence that contradicts this irrational prejudice.

Are you secretly suspicious of joy because you think it's inevitably rooted in wishful thinking and a willful ignorance about the true nature of reality? Expose these suspicions as superstitions that aren't grounded in any objective data you can actually prove.

Do you fear that when you're in the presence of love and beauty you tend to become softheaded, whereas you're likely to feel smart and powerful when you're sneering at the ugliness around you? As an antidote, for a given amount of time, say a week or a month or a year, act as if the following hypothesis were true: that you're more likely to grow smarter when you're in the presence of love and beauty.

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"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."
- Helen Keller

"Sit quietly and listen with only one purpose: to allow the other person to express himself and find relief from his suffering." - Thich Nhat Hạnh

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

The decline in coal has brought a net growth in jobs. The solar, wind and natural gas industries have created four times the number of jobs that were lost in the coal industry between 2008 and 2012.
tinyurl.com/ne8z594

Cyndi Lauper Opens Shelter for Homeless LGBT Youth. True Colors Residence will be first facility of its kind in New York City.
tinyurl.com/3ljxady

Jordan has a population of 6 million, but have taken in 1.5 million refugees. All with little protest or mass global coverage.
tinyurl.com/pnatg28

(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 17

Copyright 2015 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

Some people express pride in gross ways. When you hear their overbearing brags, you know it's a sign that they are not really confident in themselves. They overdo the vanity because they're trying to compensate for their feelings of inadequacy. In the coming weeks, I expect you to express a more lovable kind of self-glorification. It won't be inflated or arrogant, but will instead be measured and reasonable. If you swagger a bit, you will do it with humor and style, not narcissism and superiority. Thank you in advance for your service to humanity. The world needs more of this benign kind of egotism.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

The rooster is your power animal. Be like him. Scrutinize the horizon for the metaphorical dawn that is coming, and be ready to herald its appearance with a triumphant wake-up call. On the other hand, the rooster is also your affliction animal. Don't be like him. I would hate for you to imitate the way he handles himself in a fight, which is to keep fussing and squabbling far beyond the point when he should let it all go. In conclusion, Libra, act like a rooster but also don't act like a rooster. Give up the protracted struggle so you can devote yourself to the more pertinent task, which is to celebrate the return of the primal heat and light.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

Since you seem to enjoy making life so complicated and intense for yourself, you may be glad to learn that the current astrological omens favor that development. My reading of the astrological omens suggests that you're about to dive deep into rich mysteries that could drive you half-crazy. I suspect that you will be agitated and animated by your encounters with ecstatic torment and difficult bliss. Bon voyage! Have fun! Soon I expect to see miniature violet bonfires gleaming in your bedroom eyes, and unnamable emotions rippling through your unfathomable face, and unprecedented words of wild wisdom spilling from your smart mouth.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

The Adamites were devotees of an ancient Christian sect that practiced sacred nudism. One of their central premises: How could anyone possibly know God while wearing clothes? I am not necessarily recommending that you make their practice a permanent part of your spiritual repertoire, but I think you might find value in it during the coming weeks. Your erotic and transcendent yearnings will be rising to a crescendo at the same time. You will have the chance to explore states where horniness and holiness overlap. Lusty prayers? Reverent sex? Ecstatic illumination?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

One of your key themes in the coming weeks is "grace." I suggest that you cultivate it, seek it out, expect it, and treasure it. To prepare for this fun work, study all of the meanings of "grace" below. At least two of them, and possibly all, should and can be an active part of your life. 1. Elegance or beauty of form, movement, or proportion; seemingly effortless charm or fluidity. 2. Favor or goodwill; a disposition to be generous or helpful. 3. Mercy, forgiveness, charity. 4. A temporary exemption or immunity; a reprieve. 5. A sense of fitness or propriety. 6. A prayer of blessing or thanks said before a meal. 7. An unmerited divine gift offered out of love.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Be good, but not necessarily well-behaved. Be extra exuberant and free, but not irresponsible. Be lavish and ardent and even rowdy, but not decadent. Why? What's the occasion? Well, you have more-or-less finished paying off one of your karmic debts. You have conquered or at least outwitted a twist from your past that had been sapping your mojo. As a reward for doing your duty with such diligence, you have earned a respite from some of the more boring aspects of reality. And so now you have a mandate to gather up the intelligent pleasure you missed when you were acting like a beast of burden.

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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 cynical 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.

To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to RealAstrology.com.

Register and/or log in through the main page.

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

The cost is $6 per sign on the Web (discounts available for bulk purchases), or $1.99 per minute by phone.

The Expanded Audio Horoscopes work on most smart phones and tablets.

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"Your Expanded Audio Horoscopes seem to have the effect of activating my inner teacher. Thanks!" - Eleanor A., Toronto

"Your expanded audio horoscopes are the next best thing to actually having you here next to me to remind me who I really am." - Alyssa R., Des Moines, Iowa

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

"I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love." That's the mantra that Frank O'Hara intoned in his poem "Meditations in an Emergency," and now I'm inviting you to adopt a modified version of it. Here's how I would change it for your use in the coming months: "I am the least difficult of passion artists. All I want is to give and receive boundless, healthy, interesting love." To be frank, I don't think O'Hara's simple and innocent declaration will work for you. You really do need to add my recommended nuances in order to ripen your soul's code and be aligned with cosmic rhythms.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

I won't go so far as to say that you are surrounded by unhinged maniacs whose incoherence is matched only by their self-delusion. That would probably be too extreme. But I do suspect that at least some of the characters in the game you're playing are not operating at their full potential. For now, it's best not to confront them and demand that they act with more grace. The wiser strategy might be to avoid being swept up in their agitation as you take good care of yourself. If you are patient and stay centered, I bet you will eventually get a chance to work your magic.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

Many of the heroes in fairy tales survive and thrive because of the magical gifts they are given. Benefactors show up, often unexpectedly, to provide them with marvels -- a spinning wheel that can weave a cloak of invisibility, perhaps, or winged shoes that give them the power of flight, or a charmed cauldron that brews a healing potion. But there is an important caveat. The heroes rarely receive their boons out of sheer luck. They have previously performed kind deeds or unselfish acts in order to earn the right to be blessed. According to my analysis, Taurus, the coming weeks will be prime time for you to make yourself worthy of gifts you will need later on.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

We humans need nourishing stories almost as much as we require healthy food, clean air, pure water, and authentic love. And yet many of us get far less than our minimum daily requirement of nourishing stories. Instead, we are barraged with nihilistic narratives that wallow in misery and woe. If we want a break from that onslaught, our main other choices are sentimental fantasies and empty-hearted trivia. That's the bad news. But here's the good news: Now is a favorable time for you to seek remedies for this problem. That's why I'm urging you to hunt down redemptive chronicles that furnish your soul with gritty delight. Find parables and sagas and tales that fire up your creative imagination and embolden your lust for life.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

Now is an excellent time to close the gap between the Real You and the image of yourself that you display to the world. I know of two ways to accomplish this. You can tinker with the Real You so that it's more like the image you display. Or else you can change the image you display so that it is a more accurate rendition of the Real You. Both strategies may be effective. However you go about it, Cancerian, I suggest you make it your goal to shrink the amount of pretending you do.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

Born under the sign of Leo, Marcel Duchamp was an influential artist whose early work prefigured surrealism. In 1917, he submitted an unusual piece to a group exhibition in New York. It was a plain old porcelain urinal, but he titled it Fountain, and insisted it was a genuine work of art. In that spirit, I am putting my seal of approval on the messy melodrama you are in the process of managing. Henceforth, this melodrama shall also be known as a work of art, and its title will be "Purification." (Or would you prefer "Expurgation" or "Redemption"?) If you finish the job with the panache you have at your disposal, it will forevermore qualify as a soul-jiggling masterpiece.

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HOMEWORK:

What's your favorite method for overcoming the inertia of the past? 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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