Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
October 3, 2018
FreeWillAstrology.com
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I love creating a collection of twelve horoscopes each week for my readers. The Good Times newspaper in Santa Cruz, California published my first batch in January 1978, and I would love to keep writing them until at least January of 2038.
In order to live up to that challenge with integrity, I will have to continue doing what I have been doing since January 1978: relentlessly reinvent the way I create them. When I look back at the horoscopes I composed in 1978 and 1985 and 1992 and 2000 and 2008, I am amazed at how different they are from the way I approach my craft now. I could swear it was another person who wrote them.
And that's how it should be. It's good evidence that I'm living up to my ideal of how to be a creative artist. Experimenting with endless revision. Being willing to dispense with the old formulas, even those that have worked pretty well, so as to welcome the surprises life offers. Killing off the old ways so that new ways can emerge.
That's not just a sound strategy for me to pursue as a creative writer. It's also a cornerstone of my plan to master the art of being a human being. The blunt fact is that life has an extreme fondness for change. The Creator likes to keep things moving right along.
So if I hope to cooperate and even collaborate with the Primal Flux, I have to be adept at transformation. I have to celebrate the central formula of Hermetic magick: "Dissolution is the secret of the Great Work." Breaking down psychological fixations is an indispensable spiritual discipline, says the wisdom of the ages. Killing off one's illusions is a prime duty of a devotee of magick.
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WANT TO GET YOUR ASTROLOGICAL CHART READ?
If you want your personal chart done, I recommend a colleague whose approach to reading astrology charts closely matches my own. She's my wife, RO LOUGHRAN. She's at www.roloughran.com.
Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and technical proficiency in horoscope interpretation. She is skilled at exploring the mysteries of your life's purpose and nurturing your connection with your own inner wisdom.
In addition to over 30 years of astrological experience, Ro has been a licensed psychotherapist for 17 years. She integrates psychological insight with astrology's cosmological perspective.
Ro is based in California, but can do phone consultations and otherwise work with you regardless of geographic boundaries.
Check out Ro's website at www.roloughran.com
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THE MIDDLE PATH
Don't pretend you can't see the messy darkness. Admit to its presence. Accept its reality. But don't get tangled up in it, either.
Gaze into the abyss so as to educate yourself about its nature, but don't become entranced by its hypnotic power.
Scheme to reclaim your power from soul-sucking influences. But don't turn the process into a blood-and-thunder showdown that wreaks epic chaos.
You may be amazed at how much protection and relaxation you can generate for yourself simply by being a poised lover of life who is free of melodramatic reactions.
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GRATITUDE
I'm grateful that, after an early life of being silenced, sometimes violently, I grew up to have a voice, circumstances that will always bind me to the rights of the voiceless.
—Rebecca Solnit
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I was very poor for a number of years—a real starving artist—and when I finally emerged from poverty, I never lost my empathy for those whose lack of money forces them to the margins. I'm grateful for my time of indigence.
—Me
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THE INTELLIGENCE OF LOVE
"Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized.
"Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true."
— Holocaust survivor, Viktor E. Frankl, "Man’s Search for Meaning"
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PRONOIA IS FUELED BY . . .
Pronoia is fueled by a drive to cultivate happiness and a determination to practice an aggressive form of gratitude that systematically identifies the things that are working well. But it is not a soothing diversion meant for timid Pollyannas strung out on optimistic delusions. It's not a feel-good New Age fantasy used to deny the harsh facts about existence. Those of us who perceive the world pronoiacally refuse to be polite shills for sentimental hopefulness.
On the contrary, we build our optimism not through a repression of
difficulty, but rather a vigorous engagement with it. We understand that the best way to attract blessings is to grapple with the knottiest enigmas.
Each fresh puzzle is a potential source of future bliss—an exciting
teaching that may usher us to our next breakthrough.
Do you want to be a pronoiac player? Blend anarchistic rebelliousness with open-hearted exuberance. Root your insurrectionary fervor in expansive joy instead of withering hatred. Enjoy saying "no!" but don't make it the wellspring of your vitality. Be fueled by blood-red yeses that rip against the grain of comfortable ugliness.
More: bit.ly/W8Iian
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PRONOIAC TESTIMONY
I see disaster everywhere; I also see generosity and resistance everywhere.
—Rebecca Solnit
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MY HERO
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is my hero. May her epic courage catalyze a turning point in the inevitable dismantling of rape culture and the rigorous healing of toxic masculinity.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
How to Cut Poverty Now.
tinyurl.com/y7beg8kv
What a Society Designed for Well-Being Looks Like.
tinyurl.com/yar4ddhn
Why We Need to Stop Saying “Man Up.” This outdated, gender-specific, and illogical phrase is disrespectful and avoids the real issue.
tinyurl.com/y9e4n2h6
(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They aren’t advertisements, and I get no kickbacks.)
Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES: Truthrooster@gmail.com.
Read old but still useful archives of Pronoia Resources: pronoiaresources.com
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning October 4
Copyright 2018 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Libran astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson offers this observation: "When you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. [But] the most successful people in life recognize that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation." I think Tyson's simple wisdom is exactly what you need to hear right now, Libra. You're primed for a breakthrough in your ability to create your own fate.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Japanese entrepreneur Hiroki Terai has created a business that offers crying therapy. His clients watch short videos specially formulated to make them weep. A professional helper is on hand to gently wipe their tears away and provide comforting words. "Tears have relaxing and healing effects," says an Okinawan musician who works as one of the helpers. Hiroki Terai adds, "It has been said that one drop of tear has the effect of relieving stress for a week." I wish there were a service like this near where you live, Scorpio. The next two weeks will be a perfect time to relieve pent-up worry and sadness and anxiety through cathartic rituals like crying. What other strategies might work for you?
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Fling out friendly feelers! Sling out interesting invitations! Figure out how to get noticed for all the right reasons! Make yourself so interesting that no one can resist your proposals! Use your spunky riddle-solving powers to help ease your tribe's anxieties. Risk looking odd if that will make you smarter! Plunk yourself down in pivotal places where vitality is welling up! Send out telepathic beams that say, "I'm ready for sweet adventure. I'm ready for invigorating transformation!"
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
"Someone spoke to me last night, told me the truth," writes poet Doeianne Laux. "I knew I should make myself get up, write it down, but it was late, and I was exhausted from working. Now I remember only the flavor." I offer these thoughts, Capricorn, in the hope that they'll help you avoid Laux's mistake. I'm quite sure that crucial insights and revelations will be coming your way, and I want you to do whatever's necessary to completely capture them so you can study and meditate on them at length.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
As a young man, Aquarian poet Louis Dudek struck up a correspondence with renowned poet Ezra Pound, who was 32 years older. Dudek "admired him immensely," and "loved him for the joy and the luminosity" of his poetry, but also resented him "for being so magnificent." With a mix of mischief and adulation, Dudek wrote a poem to his hero. It included these lines: "For Christ's sake, you didn't invent sunlight. There was sun dazzle before you. But you talk as if you made light or discovered it." I hope his frisky tone might inspire you to try something similar with your own idols. It would be healthy to be more playful and lighthearted about anything or anyone you take too seriously or give enormous power to.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
In his book Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis writes, "Holy places are dark places. It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood." In that spirit, and in accordance with astrological omens, I suggest you seek out dark holy places that evoke wonder and reverence, even awe. Hopefully, you will be inspired thereby to bring new beauty into your life. You'll be purged of trivial concerns and become receptive to a fresh promise from your future life.
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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.
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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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ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Electra is an action-packed story written by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles. It features epic characters taking drastic action in response to extreme events. In contrast to that text is Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time, which draws from the sensitive author's experiences growing up, coming of age, and falling in love, all the while in quest for meaning and beauty. Author Virginia Woolfe compared the two works, writing, "In six pages of Proust we can find more complicated and varied emotions than in the whole of the Electra." In accordance with astrological omens, I recommend that you specialize in the Proustian mode rather than the Sophoclean. Your feelings in the next five weeks could be as rich and interesting and educational as they have been in a long time. Honor them!
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Researchers in Maryland have created a new building material with a strength-to-weight ratio that's eight times better than steel. It's an effective insulator, and in some forms can be bent and folded. Best of all, it's biodegradable and cost-effective. The stuff is called nanowood, and is derived from lightweight, fast-growing trees like balsa. I propose that we make it your main metaphor for the foreseeable future. Why? Because I think you're primed to locate or create your own version of a flexible, durable, robust building block.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
The U.S. Secretary of Defense paid an official visit to Indonesia early this year. The government arranged for him to observe soldiers as they demonstrated how tough and well-trained they were. Some of the troops shimmied through broken glass, demolished bricks with their heads, walked through fire, and bit heads off snakes. I hope you won't try stunts like that in the coming weeks, Gemini. It will be a favorable time for you show off your skills and make strong impressions. You'll be wise to impress important people with how creative and resourceful you are. But there's no need to try too hard or resort to exaggeration.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
i confess that i have a fuzzy self-image. With odd regularity, i don't seem to know exactly what or who i am. For example, i sometimes think i'm so nice and polite that i need to toughen up. But on other occasions i feel my views are so outrageous and controversial that i should tone myself down. Which is true? Often, i even neglect to capitalize the word "i." You have probably experienced some of this fuzziness, my fellow Cancerian. But you're now in a favorable phase to cultivate a more definitive self-image. Here's a helpful tip: We Cancerians have a natural talent for inspiring people to love us. This ability will come in especially handy as we work on making an enduring upgrade from i to I. Our allies' support and feedback will fuel our inner efforts to clarify our identity.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
"I am a little afraid of love, it makes me rather stupid." So said author Simone de Beauvoir in a letter she wrote to her lover, Nelson Algren. I'm happy to let you know, Leo, that during the next twelve months, love is likely to have the opposite effect on you. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, it will tend to make you smarter and more perceptive. To the degree that you expand your capacity for love, you will become more resilient and a better decision-maker. As you get the chance to express love with utmost skill and artistry, you will awaken dormant potentials and boost your personal power.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Your theme in the coming weeks is the art of attending to details. But wait! I said "the art." That means attending to details with panache, not with overly meticulous fussing. For inspiration, meditate on St. Francis Xavier's advice, "Be great in little things." And let's take his thought a step further with a quote from author Richard Shivers: "Be great in little things, and you will be given opportunity to do big things." Novelist Tom Robbins provides us with one more nuance: "When we accept small wonders, we qualify ourselves to imagine great wonders."
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HOMEWORK:
At what moment in your life were you closest to being perfectly content? Recreate the conditions that prevailed then. Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.
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Submissions sent to Rob Brezsny's Astrology 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 submissions for length, style, and content. Requests for anonymity will be honored. We are not responsible for unsolicited submission of any creative material.
Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright 2018 Rob Brezsny
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