Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter November 28, 2018

 Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
 November 28, 2018
 FreeWillAstrology.com

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PRAYER

I pray that all those who, like me, have been lucky enough to receive a multitude of life's blessings

might express humble gratitude for their good fortune

by summoning maximum levels of empathetic passion and compassionate zeal

and campaigning for justice and sanctuary and beauty and love and financial security and health care

for those who are less privileged than we are

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HALLOWED BE THY NAMES

Our mother who art underfoot,
hallowed be thy names.
Thy seasons come, thy will be done,
within us as around us.

Thank you for our daily bread, our water, our air
and our lives and so much beauty;

lead us not into selfish craving and the destructions
that are the hungers of the glutted,
but deliver us from wanton consumption
of thy vast but finite bounty.

For thine is the only sphere of life we know,
and the power and the glory, forever and ever.
Amen

Mother's Prayer, adapted by Rebecca Solnit

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PRACTICAL MAGICK

Adapted from Aleister Crowley and Jonathan Zap:

1. Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.

2. Every intentional act is a Magickal Act.

3. A person who is doing her True Will has the rhythm of the Universe to assist her.

4. Every force in the Universe is capable of being transformed into any other kind of force by using suitable Magick. There is thus an inexhaustible supply of any particular kind of force that we may need.

5. A person may attract to herself any force of the Universe by making herself a fit receptacle for it, establishing a connection with it, and arranging conditions so that its nature compels it to flow toward her.

6. A person's sense of herself as separate from, and opposed to, the Universe is a bar to her conducting its currents. It insulates her.

7. The most important preliminary to any Magickal operation is to make sure that its object is not only harmonious with, but necessary to, your Great Work.

Experiment: Say this to demons and trolls: "I am a monster of love and goodness who will defeat all threats to my integrity."

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YOUR ILLUSIONS

Some of your illusions seeped into you before you learned to talk. Others sneaked into you later, while you were busy figuring out how to become yourself. Eventually, you even made conscious choices to adopt certain illusions because they provided you with comfort and consolation.

There's no need to be ashamed of this. It's a natural part of being a human being.

Now here's the good news: You have the power to shed at least some of your illusions in ways that don't shatter your foundations.

To begin the process, declare this intention at noon every Sunday for the next six months: "I am calling on all the power I have at my disposal, both conscious and unconscious, to dissolve my illusions."

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LOVING THE CHANGES?

Whether you're a fan of a monotheistic God or a pluralistic
Goddess, you've undoubtedly noticed a deeply rooted quirk about
the Divine Temperament: an extreme fondness for change. The
Creator really likes to keep things moving right along.

Earlier in my life, I bore a grudge against this incorrigible
inclination. But after repeatedly having my karma crumpled for
resisting it, I realized I'd better get used to it. In recent years,
I've come a long way in retraining myself to be cheerfully
cooperative with the primal flux.

As a reward, the Cackling Goddess (my current favorite name for
the Sublime Mystery) has blessed me with a relentless series of opportunities to prove how well I've  learned my lesson. She just keeps throwing changes my way, daring me to adjust with as much skill and grace as I can muster.

And you?

   
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CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations. Every cell in your perfect animal body is beginning to purr with luminous gratitude for the enormity of the riches you endlessly receive.

You are becoming aware that each of your heart's beats originates as a gift of love directly from the Goddess herself.

Any residues of hatred that had been tainting your libido are leaving you for good.

You are becoming telepathically linked to the world's entire host of secret teachers, pacifist warriors, philosopher clowns, and bodhisattvas disguised as convenience store clerks.

In other words, you're on the verge of détente with your evil twin. And you're ready to submit to a multiple-choice test, which goes like this:

How does it make you feel when I urge you to confess profound secrets to people who are not particularly interested? Does it make you want to:

a. cultivate a healthy erotic desire for a person you'd normally never be attracted to in a million years;

b. stop helping your friends glamorize their pain;
        
c. imitate a hurricane in the act of extinguishing a forest fire;
        
d. visualize Buddha or Mother Teresa at the moment of orgasm;
        
e. steal something that's already yours.

The right answer, of course, is any answer you thought was correct. Congratulations. You're even smarter than you knew.
 

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

Nadia Murad Basee Taha and Denis Mukwege were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict? tinyurl.com/y9yut8ht

France Is The First Country To Ban All Five Bee-Killing Pesticides
tinyurl.com/y99lpetg

What a Society Designed for Well-Being Looks Like. Economic justice goes a long way toward improving mental health up and down the socioeconomic ladder.
tinyurl.com/yar4ddhn

(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.
 

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
 Week beginning November 29

Copyright 2018 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
 

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Blackjack is a card game popular in gambling casinos. In the eternal struggle to improve the odds of winning big money, some blackjack players work in teams. One teammate secretly counts the cards as they're dealt and assesses what cards are likely to come up next. Another teammate gets subtle signals from his card-counting buddy and makes the bets. A casino in Windsor, Ontario pressed charges against one blackjack team, complaining that this tactic was deceptive and dishonest. But the court decided in the team's favor, ruling that the players weren't cheating but simply using smart strategy. In the spirit of these blackjack teams, Sagittarius, and in accordance with astrological omens, I urge you to better your odds in a "game" of your choice by using strategy that is almost as good as cheating but isn't actually cheating.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

What has become of the metaphorical seeds you planted during the weeks after your last birthday? Have your intentions flourished? Have your dreams blossomed? Have your talents matured? Have your naive questions evolved into more penetrating questions? Be honest and kind as you answer these inquiries. Be thoughtful and big-hearted as you take inventory of your ability to follow through on your promises to yourself. If people are quizzical about how much attention you're giving yourself as you take stock, inform them that your astrologer has told you that December is Love Yourself Better Month.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

If you want to play the drinking game called Possum, you and your friends climb up into a tree with a case of beer and start drinking. As time goes by, people get so hammered they fall out of the tree. The winner is the last one left in the tree. I hope you won't engage in this form of recreation anytime soon—nor in any other activity that even vaguely resembles it. The coming weeks should be a time of calling on favors, claiming your rewards, collecting your blessings, and graduating to the next level. I trust your policy will be: no trivial pursuits, no wasted efforts, no silly stunts.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

In his song "Happy Talk," Academy Award-winning lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II offered this advice: "You gotta have a dream. If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?" Where do you stand in this regard, Pisces? Do you in fact have a vivid, clearly defined dream? And have you developed a strategy for making that dream come true? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to home in on what you really want and hone your scheme for manifesting it. (P.S. Keep in mind Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's idea: "A goal without a plan is just a wish.")

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

Every year the bird known as the Arctic tern experiences two summers and enjoys more daylight than any other animal. That's because it regularly makes a long-distance journey from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again. Let's designate this hardy traveler as your inspirational creature for the next eleven months. May it help animate you to experiment with brave jaunts that broaden and deepen your views of the world. I don't necessarily mean you should literally do the equivalent of circumnavigating the planet. Your expansive adventures might take place mostly in inner realms or closer to home.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

When the American Civil War began in 1861, the United States fractured. Four years later, the union was technically restored when the northern states defeated the southern states. At that time, African American slavery became illegal everywhere for the first time since the country's birth decades earlier. But there was a catch. The southern states soon enacted laws that mandated racial segregation and ensured that African Americans continued to suffer systematic disadvantages. Is there a comparable issue in your personal life? Did you at sometime in the past try to fix an untenable situation only to have it sneak back in a less severe but still debilitating form? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to finish the reforms; to enforce a thorough and permanent correction.
 

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ASTROLOGY FOR YOUR SOUL

Astrology  is  not  a  science.  It's  an  elegant  system  of  symbols,  an  art   form with  a  special  capacity  to  feed  your  soul  and  educate  your  imagination.  When  used  with  integrity,  it  engenders  poetic  approaches  for  deepening  your  connection  to  life's  great  mysteries,  not  predictions  of  literal  events.

It's  meant  to  open  your  mind  to  the  mythic  patterns  that  underlie  the  surface-level  interpretations  of  what  you're  all  about,  not  compete  with  scientists'  logical  analyses  of  why  things  are  the  way  they  are.

ASTROLOGY  IS  NOT  A  SCIENCE!  Nor  is  depth  psychology,  mythology,  dream  interpretation,  or  poetry.  It  makes  as  much  sense  to  criticize  astrology  for  not  being  scientific  as  it  does  to  deride  a  Kandinsky  painting  because  it  isn't  the  binomial  theorem.  We  need  both:  the  mytho-poetic  and  the  logically  analytical.

If you ever want more information and inspiration generated in this spirit -- beyond the horoscopes you're reading here -- keep in mind that every week I also offer EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

These forecasts are different in tone and format from the written horoscopes you read here in the newsletter. They're longer and more leisurely in tone. They tend to bring out more of the patient counselor in me, and have a bit less of the poet.

To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to freewillastrology.sparkns.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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GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

Does an elusive giant creature with a long neck inhabit the waters of Loch Ness in northern Scotland? Alleged sightings have been reported since 1933. Most scientists dismiss the possibility that "Nessie" actually exists, but there are photos, films, and videos that provide tantalizing evidence. A government-funded Scottish organization has prepared contingency plans just in case the beast does make an unambiguous appearance. In that spirit, and in accordance with astrological omens, I recommend that you prepare yourself for the arrival in your life of intriguing anomalies and fun mysteries. Like Nessie, they're nothing to worry about, but you'll be better able to deal gracefully with them if you're not totally taken by surprise.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

Does moss really "eat" rocks, as Cancerian author Elizabeth Gilbert attests in her novel The Signature of All Things? Marine chemist Martin Johnson says yes. Moss really does break down and release elements in solid stone. Gilbert adds, "Given enough time, a colony of moss can turn a cliff into gravel, and turn that gravel into topsoil." Furthermore, this hardy plant can grow virtually everywhere: in the tropics and frozen wastes, on tree bark and roofing slate, on sloth fur and snail shells. I propose that we make moss your personal symbol of power for now, Cancerian. Be as indomitable, resourceful, and resilient as moss.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

Let's shout out a big "THANKS!" and "HALLELUJAH!" to the enzymes in our bodies. These catalytic proteins do an amazing job of converting the food we eat into available energy. Without them, our cells would take forever to turn any particular meal into the power we need to walk, talk, and think. I bring this marvel to your attention, Leo, because now is a favorable time to look for and locate metaphorical equivalents of enzymes: influences and resources that will aid and expedite your ability to live the life you want to live.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

"Every dreamer knows that it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you've never been to, perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground," writes author Judith Thurman. I'm guessing you will experience this feeling in the coming weeks. What does it mean if you do? It may be your deep psyche's way of nudging you to find an energizing new sanctuary. Or perhaps it means you should search for fresh ways to feel peaceful and well-grounded. Maybe it's a prod to push you outside your existing comfort zone so you can expand your comfort zone.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

Venice, Italy consists of 118 small islands that rise from a shallow lagoon. A network of 443 bridges keeps them all connected. But Venice isn't the world champion of bridges. The American city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania holds that title, with 446. I nominate these two places to be your inspirational symbols in the coming weeks. It's time for you build new metaphorical bridges and take good care of your existing metaphorical bridges.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

To aid and support your navigation through this pragmatic phase of your astrological cycle, I have gathered counsel from three productive pragmatists. First is author Helen Keller. She said she wanted to accomplish great and noble things, but her "chief duty" was "to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble." Second, author George Orwell believed that "to see what is in front of one's nose" requires never-ending diligence. Finally, author Pearl S. Buck testified that she didn't wait around until she was in the right mood before beginning her work. Instead, she invoked her willpower to summon the necessary motivation.
 

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HOMEWORK:

Hug yourself as you tell yourself your biggest secret.

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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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