Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
April 15, 2020
FreeWillAstrology.com
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One night recently night I dreamed that I had caught the virus. It hadn't made me sick—rather was like a psychedelic drug that had profoundly altered my consciousness.
I was under its spell. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, but neither was it pleasant; not light or sweet or "fun," but very demanding and consuming. I was grateful for the chance to raise my courage in response to its relentless teachings.
To succeed at this initiation—and it did feel like an initiation administered by tribal elders—I had to work very hard to keep monitoring and registering the new ways of understanding reality that were surging into my awareness.
I periodically told myself, "Stay awake and alert as you live through this ceremony of transformation."
A certain feminine elder I respect appeared now and then to offer comments and support. At one point she said, "The center of the world is changing location."
PS: This is an abbreviated version of my dream. If you'd like to read the full version, go here: tinyurl.com/CenterIsChanging
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A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WITH FEAR
My Expanded Audio Horoscopes offer suggestions about how you might make best use of fear and worry as you navigate your way through our Shared Healing Crisis: FreeWillAstrology.com/horoscopes/audio
Excerpt: Now is one of those times when at least some fear is valuable—because it motivates us to do what's necessary to stay safe; to protect ourselves and others.
But I also want to let you know that the coming weeks will be a favorable time to diminish and downplay your everyday fears about other matters in your life—not the concerns activated by the virus, but rather the chronic anxieties you routinely have carried around with you.
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I SENT MY DAUGHTER 22 BOXES OF TRISCUITS
My daughter Zoe and her boyfriend Mario and their roommate Joel live in Brooklyn, at the virus epicenter. As part of my therapy to quell my worries, I've been arranging for various online stores to send them supplies of comfort food.
My zealotry has inspired their creativity—as we can see in the photo, showing the performance art installation piece Joel created on their living room floor, using the 22 boxes of Triscuit crackers I sent.
I approve of this artful response! And the humor of it helps take the edge off my sheepishness about being so extravagant in my fatherly concern.
View the photo here: tinyurl.com/TriscuitHenge
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OUR SHIFTING TIDES
I like it best when the creek that runs near my home is wide and abundant. It gets that way at high tide, when the moon shepherds in a surge of water from the bay. As I gaze out at the swollen cascade, I feel full and fertile; everything's right with the world.
Inevitably, though, the tide goes out and the flow turns meek and narrow. Then my mood is less likely to soar. A slight melancholy may creep in.
But I've learned to love that state, too -- to derive a poignant joy from surveying the muddy banks where the water once ran.
From a distance the mud looks like a wet black desert, but if you get up close you'll see it's covered with tiny furrows, pits, and bulges. This is evidence that many small creatures live there. The hungry ducks and egrets know exactly where to look to find them.
PS: I know it's only a matter of time before the tide shifts and the cascade returns.
See the photo: tinyurl.com/TidalFeelings
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SACRED ACTIVISM
I had the good fortune of being asked to do an interview with the brilliant Amanda Yates Garcia, author of the book Initiated: Memoir of a Witch.
Listen to our conversation here: tinyurl.com/BeautifulJustice
Here's what I wrote about Amanda Yates Garcia as I prepared for our interview:
It's rare I find colleagues with whom I am aligned in so many different perspectives: sacred political activism; psychospiritual commitment to dealing with the darkness as well as reveling in the light; moral integrity based on an unselfish celebratory love of and care for all creatures; valuing the mandates of the soul over the demands of the ego; regarding beauty and joy as essential ingredients in a well-lived life.
Amanda Yates Garcia is one of those colleagues! Speaking in behalf of all of creation, I say thanks for your service to the greater good, Amanda!
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Here's what Amanda Yates Garcia wrote in response to my testimony about her:
"Rob, you inspire me in your decades' long pursuit of love; service to the Goddess; stewardship of nature; cultivation of curiosity; allegiance to truth, justice and kindness; devotion to joy . . .
"your humble acknowledgment of struggle and the deep wounds in our culture; amplification of the voices of those who are most impacted by the injustice of our culture; and your effortless commitment to your Bodhisattva vow.
"You give me hope and you always have, and you do so for so many. I am grateful you're in this world."
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TODAY IS BLURSDAY THE FORTYTEENTH OF MAPRILAY
In the country of Bhutan, astrologers have played an important official role. Before each year begins, the king's favorite stargarzers determine the least and most cosmically propitious dates coming up in the next twelve months. The calendar may then be altered accordingly.
If April looks not-so-good from the astrologers' point of view, for instance, it might be eliminated altogether, whereupon May will be observed twice.
Borrowing from their tradition, we are skipping both April and May in this cycle, and instead instituting the new leap-month of Maprilay.
For those who have lost track, today is Blursday the fortyteenth of Maprilay.
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THINGS TO DO IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE
Dan Albergotti
Measure the walls. Count the ribs. Notch the long days.
Look up for blue sky through the spout. Make small fires
with the broken hulls of fishing boats. Practice smoke signals.
Call old friends, and listen for echoes of distant voices.
Organize your calendar. Dream of the beach. Look each way
for the dim glow of light. Work on your reports. Review
each of your life’s ten million choices. Endure moments
of self-loathing. Find the evidence of those before you.
Destroy it. Try to be very quiet, and listen for the sound
of gears and moving water. Listen for the sound of your heart.
Be thankful that you are here, swallowed with all hope,
where you can rest and wait. Be nostalgic. Think of all
the things you did and could have done. Remember
treading water in the center of the still night sea, your toes
pointing again and again down, down into the black depths.
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"WILD GEESE" ADAPTED FOR THE PANDEMIC
Adrie Kusserow was inspired by Mary Oliver's poem "Wild Geese" to write a coronavirus version of that poem:
You do not have to become totally zen,
You do not have to use this isolation to make your marriage better,
your body slimmer, your children more creative.
You do not have to “maximize its benefits”
By using this time to work even more,
write the bestselling Corona Diaries,
Or preach the gospel of ZOOM.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body unlearn
everything capitalism has taught you,
(That you are nothing if not productive,
That consumption equals happiness,
That the most important unit is the single self.
That you are at your best when you resemble an efficient machine).
Tell me about your fictions, the ones you’ve been sold,
the ones you sheepishly sell others,
and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world as we know it is crumbling.
Meanwhile the virus is moving over the hills,
suburbs, cities, farms and trailer parks.
Meanwhile The News barks at you, harsh and addicting,
Until the push of the remote leaves a dead quiet behind,
a loneliness that hums as the heart anchors.
Meanwhile a new paradigm is composing itself in our minds,
Could birth at any moment if we clear some space
From the same tired hegemonies.
Remember, you are allowed to be still as the white birch,
Stunned by what you see,
Uselessly shedding your coils of paper skins
Because it gives you something to do.
Meanwhile, on top of everything else you are facing,
Do not let capitalism co-opt this moment,
laying its whistles and train tracks across your weary heart.
Even if your life looks nothing like the Sabbath,
Your stress boa-constricting your chest.
Know that your antsy kids, your terror, your shifting moods,
Your need for a drink have every right to be here,
And are no less sacred than a yoga class.
Whoever you are, no matter how broken,
the world still has a place for you, calls to you over and over
announcing your place as legit, as forgiven,
even if you fail and fail and fail again.
remind yourself over and over,
all the swells and storms that run through your long tired body
all have their place here, now in this world.
It is your birthright to be held
deeply, warmly in the family of things,
not one cell left in the cold.
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READY TO IMAGINE ANOTHER WORLD
Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew.
This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.
We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.
—Arundhati Roy
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Good news during the Pandemic from GoodNewsNetwork.org:
College Student Has Been Sewing Free Face Masks For Communicating With Hearing-Impaired Folks
tinyurl.com/sq3a7yj
Man Uses His Savings to Fill Up Gas Tanks For Dozens of Nurses Heading to Nearby Hospital
tinyurl.com/vq4r4t5
6-Month Suspension on U.S. Federal Student Loan Payments Now in Effect During COVID Outbreaks
tinyurl.com/umz2gqc
Trillions of Dollars Now Being Leveraged to Protect the Earth, Thanks to World’s Largest Asset Manager
tinyurl.com/rh9n7sf
How to be Happier During COVID: Decades of Science Shows That Gratitude, Love, and Connection Can Save Your Life
tinyurl.com/ra9uo8z
16-Year-Old Has Been Using His Flying Lessons to Deliver Medical Supplies to Rural Hospitals Fighting COVID
tinyurl.com/vfylczs
Look Inside This Mini Art Gallery That a Bored Couple in Quarantine Made for Their Pet Gerbils
tinyurl.com/qra2c2f
Photographer Has Been Taking Free Family ‘Porchtraits’ to Capture Sweet Silver Linings During Social Distancing
tinyurl.com/v6wmgg3
Himalayan Mountaintops Visible for the First Time in 30 Years as Air Pollution Continues to Plummet in India
tinyurl.com/s79b3lf
Tyler Perry Picks Up the Tab for All Groceries Purchased During Senior Shopping Hour at 73 Supermarkets
tinyurl.com/umqy3nl
Avi Schiffmann, the 17-year-old from Mercer Island, Washington who built the now-popular ncov2019.live website that tracks coronavirus numbers, turned down an $8 million offer to place ads on the site
The Army Corps of Engineers and other organizers have been turning convention centers into field hospitals with speed and efficiency
Due to the lockdown, Los Angeles has the cleanest air of any major city in the world for the first time
(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 April 16
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Aries artist Vincent van Gogh got started on his life's work relatively late. At ages 25 and 26 he made failed attempts to train as a pastor and serve as a missionary. He didn't launch his art career in earnest until he was 27. During the next ten years, he created 860 paintings —an average of 1.7 every week—as well as over 1,200 additional works of art. For comparison, the prolific painter Salvador Dali made 1,500 paintings in 61 years. During the coming twelve months, Aries, you could achieve a van Gogh-like level of productiveness in your own chosen field—especially if you lay the foundations now, during our stay-at-home phase.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Most authors do their writing while sitting on chairs in front of desks. But long before there were standing desks, poet Rainer Maria Rilke and children's author Lewis Carroll wrote their books while standing up. Novelist Henry James had eight desks, but typically paced between them as he dictated his thoughts to a secretary. And then there have been weirdoes like poet Robert Lowell and novelist Truman Capote. They attended to their craft as they lay in their bed. I suggest you draw inspiration from those two in the coming weeks. It'll be a favorable time to accomplish masterpieces of work and play while in the prone position.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
While sleeping, most of us have over a thousand dreams every year. Many are hard to remember and not worth remembering. But a beloved few can be life-changers. They have the potential to trigger epiphanies that transform our destinies for the better. In my astrological opinion, you are now in a phase when such dreams are more likely than usual. That's why I invite you to keep a pen and notebook by your bed so as to capture them. For inspiration, read this testimony from Jasper Johns, whom some call America's "foremost living artist": "One night I dreamed that I painted a large American flag, and the next morning I got up and I went out and bought the materials to begin it." (Painting flags ultimately became one of Johns' specialties.)
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939) was a renowned author who wrote The Good Soldier, a novel that has been called "one of the 100 greatest novels of all time." Yet another very famous author, Henry James (1843–1916), was so eager to escape hanging out with Ford that he once concealed himself behind a tree so as to not be seen. You have astrological permission to engage in comparable strategies during the coming weeks. It won't be a time when you should force yourself to endure boring, meaningless, and unproductive tasks.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
I hope that during the coronavirus crisis you have been entertaining wild truths and pondering the liberations you will initiate when the emergency has passed. I trust you have been pushing your imagination beyond its borders and wandering into the nooks and crannies of your psyche that you were previously hesitant to explore. Am I correct in my assumptions, Leo? Have you been wandering outside your comfort zone and discovering clues about how, when things return to normal, you can add spice and flair to your rhythm?
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
I like this quote by the author Jake Remington: "Fate whispers to the warrior, 'You cannot withstand the storm.' The warrior whispers back, 'I am the storm.'" Although this passage is more melodramatic than necessary for your needs in the coming weeks, I think it might be good medicine that will help you prevail over the turbulence of the coronavirus crisis. Getting yourself into a storm-like mood could provide you with the personal power necessary to be unflappable and authoritative. You should also remember that a storm is not inherently bad. It may be akin to a catharsis or orgasm that relieves the tension and clears the air.
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OUR COLLABORATION
I really do feel that you're with me as I create the weekly horoscopes. In a sense, you're my assistant. Our telepathic connection is utterly palpable and practical. The hopes and questions you project my way stream into my higher mind, coloring my psychic environment and enriching my desire to give you exactly what you need.
If you want more inspiration generated in that same collaborative spirit, keep in mind that I also offer EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're longer meditations on the current state of your destiny. RealAstrology.com
Lately I've been addressing your personal story in the context of the coronavirus. I've discussed ways that you might make best use of your time as we navigate our way through our Shared Global Crisis.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to RealAstrology.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
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The cost is $6 per sign. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.) You at can also access them for $1.99 per minute by phone: 1-877-873-4888.
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"I always feel like I know myself better after listening to your audio 'scopes."
—June R., Austin, TX
"Your audio horoscopes calm me down when I'm too manic and pep me up when I'm down."
—Arthur T., Cleveland, OH
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Libran rapper and activist Talib Kweli says, "You have to know when to be arrogant. You have to know when to be humble. You have to know when to be hard and you have to know when to be soft." You Librans tend to be skilled in this artful approach to life: activating and applying the appropriate attitude as is necessary for each new situation. And I'm happy to report that your capacity for having just the right touch at the right time will be a crucial asset in the coming weeks. Trust your intuition to guide you through every subtle shift of emphasis.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Scorpio artist Marie Laurencin (1883–1956) enjoyed a colorful fate. One of the few female Cubist painters, she was a prominent figure in the Parisian avant-garde. She was also the muse and romantic partner of renowned poet Guillaume Apollinaire. But there came a turning point when she abandoned her relationship with Apollinaire. "I was twenty-five and he was sleeping with all the women," she said, "and at twenty-five you don’t stand for that, even from a poet." Is there a comparable situation in your life, Scorpio? A role you relish but that also takes a toll? Now is a favorable time to re-evaluate it. I'm not telling you what you should decide, only that you should think hard about it.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Sagittarian sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1596–1680) was a prodigious, inventive creator. One scholar wrote, "What Shakespeare is to drama, Bernini may be to sculpture." He designed and built public squares, fountains, and buildings, many in Rome, which embodied his great skills as both sculptor and architect. Unlike many brilliant artists alive today, Bernini was deeply religious. Every night for 40 years, he walked from his home to pay a devotional visit to the Church of the Gesù. According to my reading of the astrological factors, now would be an excellent time for you to engage in reverential rituals like those—but without leaving your home, of course. Use this social-distancing time to draw reinvigoration from holy places within you or in your memory.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
As I understand the current chapter of your life story, you have been doing the unspectacular but yeoman work of recharging your spiritual batteries. Although you may have outwardly appeared to be quiet and still, you have in fact been generating and storing up concentrated reserves of inner power. Because of the coronavirus crisis, it's not yet time to tap into those impressive reserves and start channeling them into a series of dynamic practical actions. But it is time to formulate the practical actions you will take when the emergency has passed.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Aquarian poet Jacques Prévert offered a variation on the famous Christian supplication known as the Lord's Prayer. The original version begins, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." But Prévert's variation says, "Our father who art in heaven: Stay there." Being an atheist, he had no need for the help and support of a paternal deity. I understand his feeling. I tend to favor the Goddess myself. But for you Aquarians right now, even if you're allergic to talk of a divine presence, I'll recommend that you seek out generous and inspiring masculine influences. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will benefit from influences that resemble good fathering.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
How skillful are you in expressing what you want? Wait. Let me back up and reformulate that. How skillful are you in knowing what you want and expressing the truth about what you want to the people who might ultimately be able to give it to you or help you get it? This is the most important question for you to meditate on in the coming weeks. If you find that you're fuzzy about what you want or hazy about asking for what you want, correct the problems.
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HOMEWORK:
For three days, uphold your highest ideal in every little way you can imagine. Report results 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 2020 Rob Brezsny
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