Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
September 30, 2020
FreeWillAstrology.com
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Dear Readers
You've been so extraordinarily kind to me lately! Thank you for your generous donations and beautiful notes!
Here's the backstory: In my last newsletter, I spoke of how the alternative weekly newspapers have been paying me to publish "Free Will Astrology" for many years. That has been my main way of earning a living.
But since the pandemic began, many of those newspapers have suffering financially.
In response, I allowed them to publish my horoscopes for free for three months, and then, since July, have given them the option of paying what they could afford.
About one-third of the papers have returned to paying me at their previous level; about a third have paid half; about a third are still publishing the column for free.
This means, of course, that my income has been substantially reduced.
In response, many of you readers stepped forward to send me actual money. I've been amazed at your largesse! So many of you have also written me messages to express how much you love my work. I've been touched by the deep feelings you've conveyed.
At the risk of asking too much, I will remind you of the ways you can contribute to me:
1. Visit my Gift Page — paypal.me/GiftsForRob — and contribute to me now and then via the "Friends and Family" option.
2. Commit to offering me a regular donation through my Patreon page at Patreon.com/FreeWillAstrology
3. Send checks or cash to me at P.O. Box 4400, San Rafael, CA 94913.
4. Buy my Expanded Audio Horoscopes and/or Daily Text Message Horoscopes. Go here: RealAstrology.com
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P.S.: No pressure, though! 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.
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BLESS YOURSELF
You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings.
— Elizabeth Gilbert
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THE DOOR YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO OPEN
If there is one door in the castle you have been told not to go through," writes novelist Anne Lamott, "you must. Otherwise, you'll just be rearranging furniture in rooms you've already been in."
Is it perhaps your time to slip through that forbidden door? The experiences that await you on the other side may not be everything you have always needed, but they could at least be everything you need next.
Besides, it's not like the taboo against penetrating into the unknown place makes much sense any more. The biggest risk you take by breaking the spell is the possibility of losing a fear you've grown addicted to.
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VOWS
I invite you to speak these vows out loud:
"As long as I live, I vow to die and be reborn, die and be reborn, die and be reborn, over and over again, forever reinventing myself.
"I promise to be stronger than hate, wetter than water, deeper than the abyss, and wilder than the sun.
"I pledge to remember that I am not only a sweating, half-asleep, excitable, bumbling jumble of desires, but that I am also an immortal four-dimensional messiah in continuous telepathic touch with all of creation.
"I vow to love and honor my highs and my lows my yeses and noes, my give and my take, the life I wish I had and the life I actually have.
"I promise to push hard to get better and smarter, grow my devotion to the truth, fuel my commitment to beauty, refine my emotions, hone my dreams, wrestle with my shadow, purge my ignorance, and soften my heart -- even as I always accept myself for exactly who I am, with all of my so-called foibles and wobbles."
"I pledge to wake myself up, never hold back, have nothing to lose, go all the way, kiss the stormy sky, be the hero of my own story, ask for everything I need and give everything I have, take myself to the river when it's time to go to the river, and take myself to the mountaintop when it's time to go to the mountaintop."
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RECEPTIVITY REMEDIES
Alert, relaxed listening is the radical act at the heart of our pronoiac practice.
Curiosity is our primal state of awareness.
Wise innocence is a trick we aspire to master.
Open-hearted skepticism is the light in our eyes.
More: bit.ly/1KDBQST
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GOOD PROBLEMS
Conventional wisdom implies that the best problems are those that place you under duress. There's supposedly no gain without pain. Stress is allegedly an incomparable spur for calling on resources that have been previously unavailable or dormant. Nietzsche's aphorism, "That which doesn't kill me makes me stronger," has achieved the status of a maxim.
There's a bit of truth in that perspective. But it's clear that stress also accompanies many mediocre problems that have little power to make us smarter. Pain frequently generates no gain. We're all prone to become habituated, even addicted, to nagging vexations that go on and on without rousing any of our sleeping genius.
There is, furthermore, another class of difficulty—let's call it the delightful dilemma—that neither feeds on angst nor generates it. On the contrary, it's fun and invigorating, and usually blooms when you're feeling a profound sense of being at home in the world. The problem of writing my books is a good example. I have abundant fun handling the perplexing challenges with which they confront me.
Imagine a life in which at least half of your quandaries match this profile. Act as if you're most likely to attract useful problems when joy is your predominant mood. Consider the possibility that being in unsettling circumstances may shrink your capacity to dream up the riddles you need most; that maybe it's hard to ask the best questions when you're preoccupied fighting rearguard battles against boring or demeaning annoyances that have plagued you for many moons.
Prediction: As an aspiring lover of pronoia, you will have a growing knack for gravitating toward wilder, wetter, more interesting problems. More and more, you will be drawn to the kind of gain that doesn't require pain. You'll be so alive and awake that you'll cheerfully push yourself out of your comfort zone in the direction of your personal frontier well before you're forced to do so by fate's kicks in the ass.
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WHERE THE SPIRITUAL MEETS THE PRACTICAL
"How does my spiritual practice and daily life serve the earth? How does my spiritual practice and daily life affect the poorest third of humanity? How will my spiritual practice and daily life affect the generations to come in the future?"
~ Starhawk
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IN SERVICE TO THE LIBERATED IMAGINATION
My horoscopes are not rooted in or justified by any belief system, doctrine, fairy tale, authoritative teacher, elaborate secret joke, mystical wishing, well-rationalized bias, or rebellion against science. My horoscopes are fueled by poetry and in service to the liberated imagination.
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THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF MY BOOK *PRONOIA* AND THE REVISED EDITION
I published the original version of MY BOOK Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings in 2005. For my next big writing project, I might have chosen to write a sequel. But instead I opted to fatten up the first edition.
The Revised and Expanded edition of PRONOIA, which came out four years later, is MUCH fatter. It has 55% brand new extra material, or 92 more pages and 63,000 additional words -- the size of a whole new book.
There are 17 totally new pieces. It also has amplified and intensified versions of many of the central pieces of the original book, including "This Is a Perfect Moment," "Glory in the Highest," "World Kiss," and "I Me Wed," the ceremony for you to use if you want to marry yourself.
I got especially pumped up and carried away while revising "Glory in the Highest," which is a manifesto celebrating the everyday miracles we take for granted, the uncanny powers we possess, the small joys that occur so routinely we forget how much they mean to us, and the steady flow of benefits bestowed on us by people we know and don’t know.
In the new edition of the book, "Glory in the Highest" is eight times longer than in the original. Read it: tinyurl.com/yxpvw23j. Hear a short version of it: bit.ly/highestglory
The Revised and Expanded edition of PRONOIA also has 14 brand new Sacred Advertisements. Don't worry -- if you're new to PRONOIA -- the Sacred Ads aren't real ads. Here's an example:
"This perfect moment is brought to you by the imaginary lightning bolts you can shoot out the ends of your fingers anytime you want to."
Like the 2005 edition, the revised and expanded PRONOIA has an abundance of space for you to write and scrawl and draw your responses to what you read. It's designed to make you my collaborator as we conspire together to incite the Great Awakening.
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The book is 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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MY DAILY HOROSCOPES
Some people don't know that I write daily horoscopes, available as text messages sent to your cell or smart phone.
They're shorter than the weekly 'scopes, but on the other hand they're more frequent -- every day of the week.
My weekly horoscopes are free, but the dailies cost about 67 cents a day if you sign up for a subscription.
If you think you might enjoy getting regular bursts of inspiration from me to illuminate your adventures, check them out.
Go to RealAstrology.com Register or log in. On the new page, click on "Subscribe / Renew" under "Daily Text Message Horoscopes" in the right-hand column.
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ALL I EVER WANTED
All I ever wanted in life was to make a difference, conquer the universe, travel the world, meet interesting people, find the missing link, fight the good fight, live for the moment, seize each day, make a fortune, know what really matters, end world hunger, vanquish the dragon, be super popular but too cool to care, be master of my own fate, embrace my destiny, feel as much as I can feel, give too much, and love everything.
—Tatsuya Ishida
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
5 Great Things We Should Never Forget About Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
tinyurl.com/yy33kzo3
Women are better at expressing emotions, right? It's not that simple. P.S.: Deeper listening is the key to healthier, more engaged lives.
tinyurl.com/hp2wftt
18 Amazing Street Murals In Detroit.
tinyurl.com/nzru2wy
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For a lot more pronoiac resources and ideas, read my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole Wolrd 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
(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 October 1
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
In her high school yearbook, Libra-born Sigourney Weaver arranged to have this caption beneath her official photo: "Please, God, please, don't let me be normal!" Since then, she has had a long and acclaimed career as an actor in movies. ScreenPrism.com calls her a pioneer of female action heroes. Among her many exotic roles: a fierce warrior who defeats monstrous aliens; an exobiologist working with indigenous people on the moon of a distant planet in the 22nd century; and a naturalist who lives with mountain gorillas in Rwanda. If you have ever had comparable fantasies about transcending normalcy, Libra, now would be a good time to indulge those fantasies—and begin cooking up plans to make them come true.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Scorpio-born Prince Charles has been heir to the British throne for 68 years. That's an eternity to be patiently on hold for his big chance to serve as king. His mother Queen Elizabeth just keeps going on and on, living her very long life, ensuring that Charles remains second-in-command. But I suspect that many Scorpios who have been awaiting their turn will finally graduate to the next step in the coming weeks and months. Will Charles be one of them? Will you? To increase your chances, here's a tip: Meditate on how to be of even greater devotion to the ideals you love to serve.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Inventor Buckminster Fuller was a visionary who loved to imagine ideas and objects no one had ever dreamed of before. One of his mottoes was, “There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” I recommend that you spend quality time in the coming weeks meditating on butterfly-like things you'd love to have as part of your future—things that may resemble caterpillars in the early going. Your homework is to envision three such innovations that could be in your world by October 1, 2021.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
During World War II, Hollywood filmmakers decided it would be a good idea to create stories based on graphic current events: for example, American Marines waging pitched battles against Japanese soldiers on South Pacific islands. But audiences were cool to that approach. They preferred comedies and musicals with "no message, no mission, no misfortune." In the coming weeks, I advise you to resist any temptation you might have to engage in a similar disregard of current events. In my opinion, your mental health requires you to be extra discerning and well-informed about politics—and so does the future of your personal destiny.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
"Pretending is imagined possibility," observes actor Meryl Streep. "Pretending is a very valuable life skill and we do it all the time." In other words, fantasizing about events that may never happen is just one way we use our mind's eye. We also wield our imaginations to envision scenarios that we actually want to create in our real lives. In fact, that's the first step in actualizing those scenarios: to play around with picturing them; to pretend they will one day be a literal part of our world. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to supercharge the generative aspect of your imagination. I encourage you to be especially vivid and intense as you visualize in detail the future you want.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
"My own soul must be a bright invisible green," wrote author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Novelist Tom Robbins suggested that we visualize the soul as "a cross between a wolf howl, a photon, and a dribble of dark molasses." Nobel Prize-winning poet Wislawa Szymborska observed, "Joy and sorrow aren’t two different feelings" for the soul. Poet Emily Dickinson thought that the soul "should always stand ajar"—just in case an ecstatic experience or rousing epiphany might be lurking in the vicinity. In the coming weeks, Pisces, I invite you to enjoy your own lively meditations on the nature of your soul. You're in a phase when such an exploration can yield interesting results.
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EXTRA BONUS SUPPORT
Since I put all my heart and soul into the written horoscopes I send out in this newsletter, they're pretty nutritious. You may never need any of the other stuff I create.
But if you ever do crave an added boost, you may want to sample my Expanded Audio Horoscopes. They're different in tone and intent than the written scopes, imbued with a little more of the psychologist in me, and a little less of the poet.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to 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 expanded horoscopes get more personal and intimate with me than some of my closest friends. Thanks for the loving reflections."
—Ari Schlectman., Ann Arbor, MI
"When I listen to your audio 'scopes, my free will lights up."
—Alex Denares., Los Angeles
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ARIES (March 21-April 19):
"I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself," wrote 16th-century author Pietro Aretino. By January 2021, Aries, I would love for you to have earned the right to make a similar statement: "I am, indeed, a royal sovereign, because I know how to rule myself." Here's the most important point: The robust power and clout you have the potential to summon has nothing to do with power and clout over other people—only over yourself. Homework: Meditate on what it means to be the imperial boss and supreme monarch of your own fate.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
"The basic principle of spiritual life is that our problems become the very place to discover wisdom and love." Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield made that brilliant observation. It's always worth meditating on, but it's an especially potent message for you during the first three weeks of October 2020. In my view, now is a highly favorable time for you to extract uplifting lessons by dealing forthrightly with your knottiest dilemmas. I suspect that these lessons could prove useful for the rest of your long life.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
"My business is to love," wrote poet Emily Dickinson. I invite you to adopt this motto for the next three weeks. It's an excellent time to intensify your commitment to expressing compassion, empathy, and tenderness. To do so will not only bring healing to certain allies who need it; it will also make you smarter. I mean that literally. Your actual intelligence will expand and deepen as you look for and capitalize on opportunities to bestow blessings. (P.S. Dickinson also wrote, "My business is to sing." I recommend you experiment with that mandate, as well.)
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
"I’m the diamond in the dirt, that ain’t been found," sings Cancerian rapper Curtis Jackson, also known as 50 Cent. "I’m the underground king and I ain’t been crowned," he adds. My reading of the astrological omens suggests that a phenomenon like that is going on in your life right now. There's something unknown about you that deserves and needs to be known. You're not getting the full credit and acknowledgment you've earned through your soulful accomplishments. I hereby authorize you to take action! Address this oversight. Rise up and correct it.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
The author bell hooks (who doesn't capitalize her name) has spent years as a professor in American universities. Adaptability has been a key strategy in her efforts to educate her students. She writes, "One of the things that we must do as teachers is twirl around and around, and find out what works with the situation that we're in." That's excellent advice for you right now—in whatever field you're in. Old reliable formulas are irrelevant, in my astrological opinion. Strategies that have guided you in the past may not apply to the current scenarios. Your best bet is to twirl around and around as you experiment to find out what works.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
“Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have,” says motivational speaker Robert Holden. Hallelujah and amen! Ain't that the truth! Which is why it's so crucial to periodically take a thorough inventory of your relationship with yourself. And guess what, Virgo: Now would be a perfect time to do so. Even more than that: During your inventory, if you discover ways in which you treat yourself unkindly or carelessly, you can generate tremendous healing energy by working to fix the glitches. The coming weeks could bring pivotal transformations in your bonds with others if you're brave enough to make pivotal transformations in your bonds with yourself.
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HOMEWORK:
Make up a song that cheers you up and inspires your excitement about the future. It doesn't have to be perfect. 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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