Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
December 9, 2020
FreeWillAstrology.com
+
You don’t have to be anything you don’t want to be.
You don’t have to live up to anyone’s expectations.
There’s no need to strive for a kind of perfection that’s not very interesting to you.
You don’t have to believe in ideas that make you sad or tormented.
You don’t have to feel emotions that others try to manipulate you into feeling.
You are free to be who you want to be.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
TRUE LIFE
"True life is lived when tiny changes occur," said Leo Tolstoy.
I agree. It's rare for us to undergo rapid, dramatic transformations in short periods of time.
That's why it's delusional to be forever pining for some big magic intervention that will fix everything.
The best way to alter our course is slowly and gradually, by conscientiously revamping our responses to the small daily details.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
CHAMPIONING THE DIVINE FEMININE
Here are practical ways I carry on the work of championing and embodying the Divine Feminine:
I regard relationship as a crucible for spiritual work.
I think of the practical expression of kindness and compassion and ethical behavior as an essential spiritual practice.
I assume that a crucial element of spiritual practice is the consciousness and compassion we bring to the sometimes chaotic and messy details of being human beings.
I proceed as if loving and caring for animals and plants and the Earth is the test of our spiritual intentions.
I regard play and fun and humor as not diversions from "serious" spiritual work, but rather being at the center of it.
There are more, but I'll stop for now. What about you? What are the practical ways you carry on the work of loving Goddess?
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
WHAT NOURISHES YOU EMOTIONALLY AND SPIRITUALLY?
I'm not talking about what entertains you or flatters you or takes your mind off your problems.
I'm referring to the influences that make you stronger and the people who see you for who you really are and the situations that teach you life-long lessons.
I mean the beauty that replenishes your psyche and the symbols that consistently restore your balance and the memories that keep feeding your ability to rise to each new challenge.
I invite you to take inventory of these precious assets. And then make a special point of nurturing them back.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
SUBSCRIBE !
Tell your friends and family: Subscribing to this free weekly newsletter is a good way to ensure that they see the Free Will Astrology horoscopes every week, and right on time. Subscribe here: bit.ly/AstroRSS
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
HOORAY FOR OUR STORIES
"Having 'a sense of self' means possessing a set of stories about who we are," according to William Kittredge in his book The Nature of Generosity.
He says there are two basic types of stories: The first is "cautionary tales, which warn us" and therefore protect us. The second consists of "celebratory" tales, which we use to heal and calm ourselves.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
HOW TO INTERPRET OMENS
All omens should be interpreted favorably—as revelations about how to solve our riddles, perpetrate liberation, avoid trouble, ease suffering, find redemption, and perform tricky maneuvers that enable us to slip free of our mind-forged manacles and guess the deeper meanings behind our experiences.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
PHENOMENA THAT INSPIRE WONDER
What are mirabilia? They're phenomena that inspire wonder, winsome curiosities, small marvels, eccentric enchantments. Here are a few:
* The National Center for Atmospheric Research reports that the average cloud is the same weight as 100 elephants.
* The average river requires a million years to move a grain of sand 100 miles.
* With every dawn, when first light penetrates the sea, many seahorse colonies perform a dance to the sun.
* A seven-year-old Minnesota boy received patent number 6,368,227 for a new method of swinging on a swing.
* Clown fish can alter their gender as their social status rises.
* In the Hindu epic the Mahabharata, the hero and heroine fall in love without ever gazing upon each other, simply by hearing tales about each other's good deeds.
* Twelve percent of the population believes that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.
* The closest modern relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex may be the chicken.
* Kind people are more likely than mean people to yawn when someone near them does.
* Singing Gregorian chants can cure dyslexia.
* All the gold ever mined could be molded into a 60-foot bust of your mom.
* The moon smells like exploded firecrackers.
* The most frequently shoplifted book in America is the Bible.
* Black sheep have a better sense of smell than white sheep.
* There are about 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body. Every square inch of your body has an average of 32 million bacteria on it.
* French author and statesman André Malraux observed that Jesus Christ was the only anarchist who ever really succeeded.
* In his book The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead, physicist Frank J. Tipler offers what he says is scientific proof that every human being who has ever lived will be resurrected from the dead at the end of time.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
TAKING A BREAK FROM THE COLLECTIVE'S MONKEY MIND
One goal of meditation is to empty the mind of its obsessively generated thoughts, habitual rationalizations, and addictive images.
Alas, much of the media functions as a reverse meditation machine. Not only does it stir up your own mental clatter, it also floods you with the seething surge of other people's private pandemoniums.
Furthermore, it delivers this rattling racket with entertaining words and brilliant color and crystalline sound, driving it as deeply into your psyche as your own flotsam.
What might heal the effects of the media's reverse meditations? How about a day-long fast from all media once a month -- not just from Facebook and Instagram and Twitter, but the thousands of other sources that channel the collective's monkey mind?
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
tinyurl.com/mq7s9sq
In praise of the brave people who do good acts that they risk being demonized for. "Contemptible heroes" often suffer terrible isolation for standing up for what's right.
tinyurl.com/yy3hw5ty
A Happy Life or a Meaningful One: Do We Really Need to Choose Between Them?
tinyurl.com/pcw64jw
+
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
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning December 10
Copyright 2020 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
I'm envisioning a scene in which you're sitting on a chair at a kitchen table. At the center of the table is a white vase holding 18 long-stemmed red roses. The rest of the table's surface is filled with piles of money, which you have just unloaded from five mysterious suitcases you found at your front door. All of that cash is yours, having been given to you no-strings-attached by an anonymous donor. You're in joyful shock as you contemplate the implications of this miraculous gift. Your imagination floods with fantasies about how different your life can become. Now, Sagittarius, I invite you to dream up at least three further wonderfully positive fantasies involving good financial luck. That's the medicine you need right now.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Boisterous Capricorn novelist Patricia Highsmith (1921–1995) once made the following New Year's Eve Toast: "To all the devils, lusts, passions, greeds, envies, loves, hates, strange desires, enemies ghostly and real, the army of memories, with which I do battle—may they never give me peace." Right now I suspect you may be tempted to make a similar toast. As crazy-making as your current challenges are, they are entertaining and growth-inducing. You may even have become a bit addicted to them. But in the interests of your long-term sanity, I will ask you to cut back on your "enjoyment" of all this uproar. Please consider a retreat into an intense self-nurturing phase.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In the French city of Strasbourg, there's a wine cellar built in the year 1395. Among its treasures is a barrel filled with 450 liters of wine that was originally produced in 1472. According to legend, this ancient beverage has been tasted on just three occasions. The last time was to celebrate the French army's liberation of Strasbourg from German occupation in 1944. If I had the power, I would propose serving it to you Aquarians in honor of your tribe's heroic efforts to survive—and even thrive—during the ordeals of 2020. I'm predicting that life in 2021 will have more grace and progress because of how you have dealt with this year's challenges.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
There are too many authorities, experts, know-it-alls, and arrogant ideologues trying to tell us all what to do and how to do it. Fortunately, the cosmic rhythms are now aligned in such a way as to help you free yourself from those despots and bullies. Here's more good news: Cosmic rhythms are also aligned to free you from the nagging voice in your own head that harass you with fearful fantasies and threaten you with punishment if you aren't perfect.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
According to Taoist scholar Chad Hansen, "Western philosophers have endlessly analyzed and dissected a cluster of terms thought to be central to our thinking," such as truth, beauty, reason, knowledge, belief, mind, and goodness. But he reports that they've never turned their attention to a central concept of Chinese philosophy: the Tao, which might be defined as the natural, unpredictable flow of life's ever-changing rhythms. I think that you Aries people, more than any other sign of the zodiac, have the greatest potential to cultivate an intuitive sense of how to align yourselves vigorously with the Tao. And you're in prime time to do just that.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
What's the cause of the rumbling at the core of your soul? How do we explain the smoke and steam that are rising from the lower depths? From what I can discern, the fire down below and the water down below are interacting to produce an almost supernatural state of volatile yet numinous grace. This is a good thing! You may soon begin having visions of eerie loveliness and earth-shaking peace. The clarity that will eventually emerge may at first seem dark, but if you maintain your poise it will bloom like a thousand moons.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MAYBE JOY AND BLISS ARE CATALYTIC SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
Assume that pleasure and happiness doesn't interfere with your spiritual growth, but may in fact stimulate it.
Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating delight and wonder might make you a more ethical and compassionate person.
Imagine that feeling good has something important to teach you every day.
For inspiration in practicing this approach, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to RealAstrology.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
+
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.
+
"I don't much believe in astrology. But that doesn't seem to get in the way of me deriving a whole lot of benefits from your expanded audio horoscopes."
—A. Arrosto, Indianapolis
"You have an amazing aptitude for cutting through the lies I tell myself. Thanks for the gentle shocks."
—T. Preneris, Toronto
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Author and student Raquel Isabelle de Alderete writes wittily about her paradoxical desires and contradictory qualities. In accordance with current astrological omens, I encourage you to ruminate about your own. For inspiration, read her testimony: "I want to be untouchably beautiful but I also don’t want to care about how I look. I want to be at the top of my class but I also just want to do as best as I can without driving myself to the edge. I want to be a mystery that’s open to everybody. A romantic that never falls in love. Both the bird and the cat."
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
What would it take for you to muster just a bit more courage so as to change what needs to be changed? How could you summon the extra excitement and willpower necessary to finally make progress on a dilemma that has stumped you? I'm happy to inform you that cosmic rhythms will soon be shifting in such a way as to make these breakthroughs more possible. For best results, shed any tendencies you might have to feel sorry for yourself or to believe you're powerless.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Novelist Tom Robbins says you have the power to change how you perceive the world. You can change reality—and how reality responds to you—by the way you look at it and interpret it. This counsel is especially useful for you right now, Leo. You have an unparalleled opportunity to reconfigure the way you apprehend things, and thereby transform the world you live in. So I suggest you set your intention. Vow that for the next two weeks, every experience will bring you a fresh invitation to find out something you didn't know before.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was re-elected in 2019. During his campaign, the Virgo-born politician arranged to be photographed while wearing the saffron robes of a Hindu priest and meditating in an austere Himalayan cave. Why did he do it? To appeal to religious voters. But later it was revealed that the "cave" was in a cozy retreat center that provides regular meals, electricity, phone service, and attentive attendants. It will be crucial for you to shun this type of fakery in 2021, Virgo. Your success will depend on you being as authentic, genuine, and honest as you can possibly be. Now is an excellent time to set your intention and start getting yourself in that pure frame of mind.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
When author Ernest Hemingway was working on the manuscript for his novel A Farewell to Arms, he asked his colleague F. Scott Fitzgerald to offer critique. Fitzgerald obliged with a ten-page analysis that advised a different ending, among other suggestions. Hemingway wasn't pleased. "Kiss my ass," he wrote back to Fitzgerald. I suggest a different approach for you, Libra. In my view, now is a good time to solicit feedback and mirroring from trusted allies. What do they think and how do they feel about the current state of your life and work? If they do respond, take at least some of it to heart.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Mistletoe is a parasite that grows on trees, weakening them. On the other hand, it has been a sacred plant in European tradition. People once thought it conferred magical protection. It was called "all-heal" and regarded as a medicine that could cure numerous illnesses. Even today, it's used in Europe as a remedy for colon cancer. And of course mistletoe is also an icon meant to encourage kissing. After studying your astrological potentials, I'm proposing that mistletoe serve as one of your symbolic power objects in the coming months. Why? Because I suspect that you will regularly deal with potencies and energies that could potentially be either problematic or regenerative. You'll have to be alert to ensure that they express primarily as healing agents.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HOMEWORK:
What's the one thing you don't have that would help you make the biggest improvement in your life? FreeWillAstrology.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
