Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter August 26, 2020

 Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
 August 26, 2020
 FreeWillAstrology.com

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Be tastefully crazy and gracefully racy.

Walk sleek and lithe like a supernatural champion.

Think chunky and sing funky.

Dream upside-down and breathe inside-out.

Laugh incorrectly and change everything you look at.

Be a wonder-plucker and a thunder-sucker.

Expunge guilt with a tender vengeance and erase shame like a legendary joker.

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THE ANGEL OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP

Imagine that the merger of you and your best ally has created a third thing that hovers near you, protecting and guiding the two of you. Call this third thing an angel. Or call it the soul of your connection or the inspirational force of your relationship. Or call it the special work the two of you can accomplish together. And let this magical presence be the third point of your love triangle.

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HISTORY OF PRONOIA

My book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings is the only tome that has ever been written about the subject of pronoia. But other authors have worked a bit with the concept.

In his novella Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, J.D. Salinger wrote about pronoia without using the term. "Oh, God," one of his characters says, "if I’m anything by a clinical name, I’m a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.”

The actual term "pronoia" was coined in 1976 by Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow, who defined it as "the suspicion that the universe is a conspiracy on your behalf."

Another early contributor to the concept was psychologist Fraser Clark, founder of the Zippies. In the 1990s he referred to pronoia as "the sneaking hunch that others are conspiring behind your back to help you." Once you have contracted this benevolent virus, he said, the symptoms include "sudden attacks of optimism and outbreaks of goodwill."

Neither Terence McKenna or Robert Anton Wilson ever invoked the word "pronoia" as far as I know, but they both added nuance to the concept. McKenna said, "I believe reality is a marvelous joke staged for my edification and amusement, and everybody is working very hard to make me happy."

Wilson offered advice about the proper way to rehearse a devotion to pronoia: "You should view the world as a conspiracy run by a very closely-knit group of nearly omnipotent people, and you should think of those people as yourself and your friends."

Without using the term "pronoia," Paulo Cuelho added to its meaning: "Know what you want and all the universe conspires to help you achieve it."

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The book is available at Barnes & Noble: tinyurl.com/PronoiaBN

Also available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia

A free preview of the book is available here: tinyurl.com/PronoiaPreview

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OUR BODIES ARE WILD

Gary Snyder says: "Our bodies are wild. The involuntary quick turn of the head at a shout, the vertigo at looking off a precipice, the heart-in-the-throat in a moment of danger, the catch of the breath, the quiet moments relaxing, staring, reflecting -- are universal responses of this mammal body.
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"The body does not require the intercession of some conscious intellect to make it breathe, to keep the heart beating. It is to a great extent self-regulating, it is a life of its own.
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"Sensation and perception do not exactly come from outside, and unremitting thought and image-flow are not exactly outside. The world is our consciousness, and it surrounds us. There are more things in the mind, in the imagination, than ‘you’ can keep track of -- thoughts, memories, images, angers, delights, rise unbidden.
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"The depths of the mind, the unconscious, are our inner wilderness areas, and that is where a bobcat is right now. I do not mean personal bobcats in personal psyches -- the bobcat that roams from dream to dream.
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"The conscious agenda-planning ego occupies a very tiny territory, a little cubicle somewhere near the gate, keeping track of some of what goes in and out (and sometimes making expansionist plots), and the rest takes care of itself. The body is, so to speak, in the mind. They are both wild."
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- Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild

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ONE KIND OF FREEDOM

No one will ever understand you. Realizing this is freedom.
— Byron Katie

More: tinyurl.com/y44aobfc

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TELEVISIONARY

You may not have heard me sing lately. If you miss that other version of me, here’s “Televisionary,” a tune I created with my band: bit.ly/2dzWtau

Hear the rest of my music: soundcloud.com/sacreduproar

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80% BELIEVER

Readers of my horoscope column "Free Will Astrology" are sometimes surprised when I say I only believe in astrology about 80 percent. "You're a quack?!" they cry. Not at all, I explain. I've been a passionate student of the ancient art for years. About the time my over-educated young brain was on the verge of desertification, crazy wisdom showed up in the guise of astrology, moistening my soul just in time to save it.

"But what about the other 20 percent?" they press on. "Are you saying your horoscopes are only partially true?"

I assure them that my doubt proves my love. By cultivating a tender, cheerful skepticism, I inoculate myself against the virus of fanaticism. This ensures that astrology will be a supple tool in my hands, an adaptable art form, and not a rigid, explain-it-all dogma that over-literalizes and distorts the mysteries it seeks to illuminate.

Read the rest of this essay: bit.ly/167qJ3j

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STORYTELLING OR OPINION-MONGERING?

Filmmaker Ken Burns says one of the things that alarms him most at this moment in culture is that so many people are eager to express their opinions and so few are interested in telling stories.
 

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

How to Love People You Don’t Like
tinyurl.com/ybflwndd

Feeling Stressed? Iceland is Broadcasting People’s Yells of Frustration to Their Scenic Wilderness
tinyurl.com/y6a6j92s

2 Million People in India Gather to Plant 20 Million Trees Along the River Ganges – All While Social-Distancing
tinyurl.com/y4b5m5cl

More Good News Sources:

yesmagazine.org

goodnewsnetwork.org

reasonstobecheerful.world

celebratesmallvictories.com/archives/

reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews

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For a lot more pronoiac resources and ideas, read my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings

Available at Barnes & Noble: tinyurl.com/PronoiaBN

Available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia

A free preview of the book is available here: tinyurl.com/PronoiaPreview
 

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
 Week beginning August 27

Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
 

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

"Self-love is also remembering to let others love you. Come out of hiding." Poet Irisa Yardenah wrote that advice, and now I'm passing it on to you, just in time for a phase when you will benefit from it most. I mean, it's always good counsel for you to Virgos to heed. But it will be especially crucial in the coming weeks, when you'll have extra potential to bloom in response to love. And one of the best ways to ensure this extra potential is fulfilled is to make yourself thoroughly available to be appreciated, understood, and cared for.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

Libran poet Wallace Stevens wrote that if you want to be original, you must "have the courage to be an amateur." I agree! And that's an important theme for you right now, since you're entering a phase when your original ideas will be crucial to your growth. So listen up, Libra: If you want to stimulate your creatively to the max, adopt the fresh-eyed attitude of a rookie or a novice. Forget what you think you know about everything. Make yourself as innocently curious and eager as possible. Your imaginative insights and innovations will flow in abundance to the degree that you free yourself from the obligation to be serious and sober and professional. And keep in mind that Stevens said you need courage to act this way.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

"As idiotic as optimism can sometimes seem, it has a weird habit of paying off," writes author Michael Lewis. According to my analysis, the coming weeks will provide you with ample evidence that proves his hypothesis—on one condition, that is: You will have to cultivate and express a thoughtful kind of optimism. Is that possible? Do you have the audacity to maintain intelligent buoyancy and discerning positivity, even in the face of those who might try to gaslight you into feeling stupid for being buoyant and positive? I think you do.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Author Rebecca Solnit writes, "The things we want are transformative, and we don’t know or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation." Her statement is especially apropos for you right now. The experiences you're yearning for will indeed change you significantly if you get them—even though those changes will be different from what your conscious mind thinks they'll be. But don't worry. Your higher self—the eternal part of you that knows just what you need—is fully aware of the beneficial transformations that will come your way when you get what you yearn for.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

At age 22, future pioneer of science Isaac Newton got his college degree just as the Great Plague peaked in 1665. As a safety precaution, he proceeded to quarantine himself for many months. During that time of being sealed away, he made spectacular discoveries about optics, gravity, and calculus—in dramatic contrast to his years as a student, when his work had been relatively undistinguished. I'm not predicting that your experience of the 2020 pandemic will prove to be as fruitful as those of your fellow Capricorn, Isaac Newton. But of all the signs in the zodiac, I do think your output could be most Newton-like. And the coming weeks will be a good time for you to redouble your efforts to generate redemption amidst the chaos.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

The rapper named Viper has released over 1,000 albums. In 2014 alone, he created 347. His most popular work is You'll Cowards Don't Even Smoke Crack, which has received over three million views on Youtube. According to The Chicago Reader, one of Viper's most appealing features is his "blatant disregard for grammar." I should also mention that he regards himself as the second Christ, and uses the nickname "Black Jesus." So what does any of this have to do with you? Well, I'm recommending that you be as prolific, in your own field, as he is in his. I'm also inviting you to experiment with having a fun-loving disregard for grammar and other non-critical rules. And I would love to see you temporarily adopt some of his over-the-top braggadocio.
 

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EXTRA BONUS SUPPORT

Factual information and reasonable thinking alone are not sufficient to guide you through life’s labyrinthine tests. You need and deserve regular deliveries of uncanny revelation.

One of your inalienable rights as a human being should therefore be to receive mysteriously useful omens on a regular basis. In this spirit, I offer you the free weekly horoscopes you read here.

If you ever want more, and think it's worth paying for, try my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny and where you're headed.

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 online. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.)

You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888. The cost is $1.99 per minute. Each forecast is 4-5 minutes long.

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"Your audio horoscopes help me love myself better, and I mean that in a non-narcissistic way."
—Deva Paramaus, Indianapolis

"I'm really grateful for the way you pick up my telepathic requests and answer them in your expanded audio 'scopes."
—Marion Houseman, Birmingham, AL

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

"If you don't ask the right question, every answer seems wrong," says singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco. I suspect you may have experienced a version of that predicament in recent weeks, Pisces. That's the bad news. The good news is that I expect you will finally formulate the right questions very soon. They will most likely be quite different from the wrong and irrelevant questions you've been posing. In fact, the best way to find the revelatory questions will be to renounce and dismiss all the questions you have been asking up until now.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

Aries author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes, "Some stuff can be fixed, some stuff can’t be. Deciding which is which is part of maturing." I offer this meditation as your assignment in the coming weeks, Aries. You are in a phase when you'll be wise to make various corrections and adjustments. But you should keep in mind that you don't have unlimited time and energy to do so. And that's OK, because some glitches can't be repaired and others aren't fully worthy of your passionate intensity. You really should choose to focus on the few specific acts of mending and healing that will serve you best in the long run.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

"There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice," wrote author F. Scott Fitzgerald. This is true even between the same two people in an intimate alliance with each other. The love that you and your spouse or friend or close relative or collaborator exchanged a month ago isn't the same as it is now. It can't be identical, because then it wouldn't be vibrant, robust love, which needs to ceaselessly transform in order to be vibrant and robust. This is always true, of course, but will be an especially potent meditation for you during the next four weeks.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

As a professional writer, novelist Thomas Wolfe trained himself to have keen perceptions that enabled him to penetrate below surface appearances. And yet he wrote, "I have to see a thing a thousand times before I see it once." In other words, it was hard even for him, a highly trained observer, to get a deep and accurate read of what was going on. It required a long time and many attempts—and rarely occurred for him on the first look. Even if you're not a writer, Gemini, I recommend his approach for you in the coming weeks. You will attune yourself to current cosmic rhythms—and thus be more likely to receive their full help and blessings—if you deepen and refine the way you use your senses.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

It's sometimes tempting for you to seek stability and safety by remaining just the way you are. When life pushes you to jump in and enjoy its wild ride, you may imagine it's wise to refrain—to retreat to your sanctuary and cultivate the strength that comes from being staunch and steadfast and solid. Sometimes that approach does indeed work for you. I'm not implying it's wrong or bad. But in the coming weeks, I think your strategy should be different. The advice I'll offer you comes from Cancerian author and aviator Anne Morrow Lindbergh: "Only in growth, reform, and change, paradoxically enough, is true security to be found."

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

"To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work," says author Sister Mary Lauretta. Have you been making progress in accomplishing that goal, Leo? According to my astrological analysis, fate has been offering and will continue to offer you the chance to either find work that you'll love better than the work you're doing, or else discover how to feel more love and excitement for your existing work. Why not intensify your efforts to cooperate with fate?
 

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HOMEWORK:

What is the single thing you could actually change about your life that would give you a great sense of accomplishment? 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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