Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
February 26, 2020
FreeWillAstrology.com
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I feel like if I were to get another tattoo, it would probably be "stubborn, stubborn, stubborn gladness."
—Elizabeth Gilbert
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MY GIFT PAGE
If you enjoy reading my free horoscopes and free newsletter, or if you like listening to my free music, I invite you to make a contribution to support my work.
Visit my Gift Page — paypal.me/GiftsForRob — and contribute via the "Friends and Family" option.
No pressure, though! Whether or not you donate, I will continue to give away free stuff. And I understand that some of you don't have enough money yourself, and it wouldn't make sense for you to give some to me.
Do you know about all of my free stuff? Here's a list:
My Instagram page:
www.instagram.com/rob.brezsny._.truthrooster
My Twitter page:
twitter.com/FreeWillAstro
My music page:
soundcloud.com/sacreduproar
More free music:
freewillastrology.com/music/listen
My website:
FreeWillAstrology.com
Excerpts from my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: tinyurl.com/FreePronoia
My entire book The Televisionary Oracle: freewillastrology.com/books/oracle
Videos of my performances:
tinyurl.com/RobVideos
and
tinyurl.com/RobAtSymbiosis
My Tumblr page:
freewillastrology.tumblr.com/archive
At the end of each year, I write a series of long-range, big-picture horoscopes for the coming year—previews of the issues you'll face and the opportunities coming your way:
bit.ly/2020BigPicture
Here's a list of all the free stuff I give away:
bit.ly/GiftsOfMyCreations
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FREE YOUR BODY!
Free your body. Don't ruminate and agonize about it. Do it simply and easily. LOVE YOUR BODY!
Be brave and forceful, gentle and graceful. Free your sublimely imperfect, riotously intelligent body. Allow it to be itself in all of its mysterious glory. Love your body exactly as it is.
Praise your body. Thank your body. Tell it you adore its uncanny majesty . . . you yearn to learn more of its secrets . . . you promise to treat it as your beloved ally.
Be in love with your body, no shame, no apology. Be in awe of your body's unfathomable power to endlessly carry out the millions of chemical reactions that keep you alive and thriving.
How can you not be overwhelmed with reverence for your hungry, curious, resourceful, unpredictable body?
Study your body's magic. Exult in the blessings it bestows on you. Celebrate and hone its fierce animal elegance.
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CELEBRATION OF LIFE
My father died recently after a long and successful life. His wife of many decades (my mom), along with his four children and their four daughters, gathered to celebrate his life.
Of the many reasons I am grateful for him: The tender and respectful and generous way he consistently treated my mother—as well as other women—was crucial in influencing me to become a devoted feminist at an early age.
My commitment to healing toxic gender roles and building emotionally intelligent new models of relationship are central to my life, and my dad played a key role in helping me develop that part of my soul's code.
More words and photos about this are here: tinyurl.com/GoodLifeCelebration
(In the photo, I'm the one on the far left.)
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BEING KIND IS GOOD FOR YOU
Research shows:
1. Exercising compassion stimulates the same pleasure centers associated with the drive for food, water and sex.
2. Practicing compassion with intention has a positive physiological effect on the body. It can lower blood pressure, boost your immune response and increase your calmness.
3. Not only are we hard-wired to be kind, but it is essential for the survival of our species.
4. Recognizing common fears or vulnerabilities rather than differences -- be it with a difficult friend, an abrasive colleague or a noisy neighbor -- calms the nervous system, boosting feelings of contentment and self worth.
More: tinyurl.com/n2m3t2t
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JOYFUL REBELLION. Tending to my sanity and being in service to the world require me to be in a chronic state of rebellion.
But here's an important caveat: While the rebellion can and should be partially fueled by anger at the injustices of misogyny, plutocracy, racism, militarism, jingoism, and transphobia, it must be primarily motivated by love and joy and the desire to bestow blessings.
A healthy proportion, at least for me, seems to be 15% rage, indignation, and complaint, and 85% compassion, celebration, and lust for life.
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YOU FLOWER AND FLEX
Above willow trees healing from false warmth.
under star jelly and floating spiders,
under golden frogs raining from the sky—
who knows how?—
you flash and fly
Amid swollen joys,
exploded hopes,
and night chimes.
amid prayer stones,
amid cloud-scriptures,
with the pregnant mist from the west
and the spree-fucking wind,
you flare and flow
Deeper, older,
between the borrowed morning light
and its protectors,
between the hidden salamanders
that give names to the earth
and the songbirds
that only sing when necessary,
you flicker and flourish
Newer than the bone and sinew
yet to be predicted,
more valuable than the gold
buried too deep to retrieve,
stronger than the blood
that renews itself every winter,
you flower and flex
—by me
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THE MORE SPECIFIC YOUR GOALS, THE BETTER
"Having very broad and abstract goals may maintain and exacerbate depression. Goals that are not specific are more ambiguous and, therefore, harder to visualize. If goals are hard to visualize it may result in reduced expectation of realizing them which in turn results in lower motivation to try and achieve them."
- Researchers at the institute of Health, Psychology, and Society
More: tinyurl.com/nv6jdqq
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Born Kind? Researchers Prove Altruism Begins In Infancy
tinyurl.com/qkevmk9
Empathy-based political canvassing is a proven way to change voters' minds.
tinyurl.com/vabgc8m
Doing Good is Good Business. Stories about generating clean energy while making money.
tinyurl.com/sv6p7jq
(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 February 27
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
If you're like most of us, you harbor desires for experiences that might be gratifying in some ways but draining in others. If you're like most of us, you may on occasion get attached to situations that are mildly interesting, but divert you from situations that could be amazingly interesting and enriching. The good news, Pisces, is that you are now in a phase when you have maximum power to wean yourself from these wasteful tendencies. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to identify your two or three most important and exciting longings—and take a sacred oath to devote yourself to them above all other wishes and hopes.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
You may sometimes reach a point where you worry that conditions are not exactly right to pursue your dreams or fulfill your holy quest. Does that describe your current situation? If so, I invite you to draw inspiration from Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), who's regarded as one of history's foremost novelists. Here's how one observer described Cervantes during the time he was working on his masterpiece, the novel titled Don Quixote: "shabby, obscure, disreputable, pursued by debts, with only a noisy tenement room to work in." Cervantes dealt with imperfect conditions just fine.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
"True success is figuring out your life and career so you never have to be around jerks," says Taurus filmmaker, actor, and author John Waters. I trust that you have been intensely cultivating that kind of success in the last few weeks, Taurus—and that you will climax this wondrous accomplishment with a flourish during the next few weeks. You're on the verge of achieving a new level of mastery in the art of immersing yourself in environments that bring out the best in you.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
I would love for you to become more powerful, Gemini—not necessarily in the sense of influencing the lives of others, but rather in the sense of managing your own affairs with relaxed confidence and crisp competence. What comes to mind when I urge you to expand your self-command and embolden your ambition? Is there an adventure you could initiate that would bring out more of the swashbuckler in you?
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
For my Cancerian readers in the Southern Hemisphere, this oracle will be in righteous alignment with the natural flow of the seasons. That's because February is the hottest, laziest, most spacious time of year in that part of the world—a logical moment to take a lavish break from the daily rhythm and escape on a vacation or pilgrimage designed to provide relaxation and renewal. Which is exactly what I'm advising for all of the earth's Cancerians, including those in the Northern Hemisphere. So for those of you above the equator, I urge you to consider thinking like those below the equator. If you can't get away, make a blanket fort in your home and pretend. Or read a book that takes you on an imaginary journey. Or hang out at an exotic sanctuary in your hometown.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Leo author Walter Scott (1771–1832) was a pioneer in the genre of the historical novel. His stories were set in various eras of the Scottish past. In those pre-telephone and pre-Internet days, research was a demanding task. Scott traveled widely to gather tales from keepers of the oral tradition. In accordance with current astrological omens, Leo, I recommend that you draw inspiration from Scott's old-fashioned approach. Seek out direct contact with the past. Put yourself in the physical presence of storytellers and elders. Get first-hand knowledge about historical events that will inspire your thoughts about the future of your life story.
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WHY IS IT CALLED "FREE WILL" ASTROLOGY?
It's called Free Will Astrology because my goal is to create horoscopes that nurture your free will.
Contrary to what some horoscope fans believe, there's no such thing as predestination. Fate is a tricky sucker that keeps changing its mind about where it wants to go. The stars may impel, as the astrological saying goes, but they don't compel.
That's why I've never considered myself a fortuneteller. I prefer to think that my greatest service is as a psychic intelligence agent, helping you explore the hidden patterns and unconscious forces that may be affecting your life without your full knowledge.
If I "predict" anything, it's not so much the future as the unknown part of the present.
And if you ever want more than the 'scopes you're reading here, keep in mind that I also create EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.
To buy and listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to freewillastrology.sparkns.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
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The cost is $6 per sign on the On the Web. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.) You can also access them for $1.99 per minute by phone. Each forecast is 4-5 minutes long.
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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Over a period of 40 years, the artist Rembrandt (1606–1663) gazed into a mirror as he created more than ninety self-portraits—about ten percent of his total work. Why? Art scholars don't have a definitive answer. Some think he did self-portraits because they sold well. Others say that because he worked so slowly, he himself was the only person he could get to model for long periods. Still others believe this was his way of cultivating self-knowledge, equivalent to an author writing an autobiography. In the coming weeks, I highly recommend that you engage in your personal equivalent of extended mirror-gazing. It's a favorable time to understand yourself better.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
From author Don DeLillo's many literary works, I've gathered five quotes to serve as your guideposts in the coming weeks. These observations are all in synchronistic alignment with your current needs. 1. Sometimes a thing that's hard is hard because you're doing it wrong. 2. You have to break through the structure of your own stonework habit just to make yourself listen. 3. Something is always happening, even on the quietest days and deep into the night, if you stand a while and look. 4. The world is full of abandoned meanings. In the commonplace, I find unexpected themes and intensities. 5. What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
"I remember a time when a cabbage could sell itself just by being a cabbage," wrote Scorpio author Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944). "Nowadays it’s no good being a cabbage—unless you have an agent and pay him a commission." He was making the point that for us humans, it's not enough to simply become good at a skill and express that skill; we need to hire a publicist or marketing wizard or distributor to make sure the world knows about our offerings. Generally, I agree with Giradoux's assessment. But I think that right now it applies to you only minimally. The coming weeks will be one of those rare times when your interestingness will shine so brightly, it will naturally attract its deserved attention. Your motto, from industrialist Henry J. Kaiser: "When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt."
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
When he was 29 years old, Sagittarian composer Ludwig Beethoven published his String Quartet, Op. 18, No. 4. Most scholars believe that the piece was an assemblage of older material he had created as a young man. A similar approach might work well for you in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. I invite you to consider the possibility of repurposing tricks and ideas that weren't quite ripe when you first used them. Recycling yourself makes good sense.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Are there parts of your life that seem to undermine other parts of your life? Do you wish there was greater harmony between your heart and your head, between your giving and your taking, between your past and your future? Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could infuse your cautiousness with the wildness of your secret self? I bring these questions to your attention, Capricorn, because I suspect you're primed to address them with a surge of innovative energy. Here's my prediction: Healing will come as you juxtapose apparent opposites and unite elements that have previously been unconnected.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
When he was 19, the young poet Robert Graves joined the British army to fight in World War I. Two years later, the Times of London newspaper reported that he had been killed at the Battle of the Somme in France. But it wasn't true. Graves was very much alive, and continued to be for another 69 years. During that time, he wrote 55 books of poetry, 18 novels, and 55 other books. I'm going to be bold and predict that this story can serve as an apt metaphor for your destiny in the coming weeks and months. Some dream or situation or influence that you believed to be gone will in fact have a very long second life filled with interesting developments.
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HOMEWORK:
Try to identify which aspect of your life needs healing more than any other aspect. 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 2020 Rob Brezsny
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