Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
"Lust globally, make love locally."
-graffiti on the wall
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February 8, 2006
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http://www.freewillastrology.com
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I'll be speaking at COPPERFELD'S bookstore in Santa Rosa, California this
Thursday, February 9. Details below.
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EXPLORE THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE
with my Expanded Audio Horoscopes for the Coming Year
How can you best cooperate with the opportunities and challenges that
2006 will bring you? What are the blessings that life is likely to offer you
as a spur to your growth? Would you like some inspiration as you survey
your destiny from the mountaintop perspective?
To access my IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM AUDIO FORECASTS FOR YOUR LIFE IN
2006, go here:
http://snipurl.com/krjm
Click on your astrological sign, then choose either part 1, part 2, or part 3
of my BIG PICTURE look at your future--or even all three parts, if you're
feeling adventurous.
You can also choose to listen to my short-range outlook for the coming
week.
The Expanded Audio Horoscopes cost $6 apiece if you access them on
the Web via RealAudio.
You can also hear them over the phone for $1.99 per minute.
From the United States, call
1-900-950-7700
or
1-877-873-4888.
If you live in Canada, call
1-888-499-4425.
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Here's my upcoming public appearance:
COPPERFIELD'S Bookstore
Thursday, February 9
7:00 PM
Montgomery Village
2316 Montgomery Dr.
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
(707) 578-8938
http://copperfields.booksense.com
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Here's an excerpt from my book
"PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings"
available at http://snipurl.com/krjj
or find out more at http://www.freewillastrology.com
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DEVOTIONAL PRONOIA THERAPY
Experiments and exercises in becoming a gracefully probing, erotically
funny, shockingly friendly Master of Orgasmic Empathy
1. Ruminate about the sublime prototypes that might be hidden within
the longings you're not so proud of. Dream of the noble purposes that lie
beneath the plaintive cries of your heart. Write about them here.
2. Assume that your capacity for experiencing pleasure is not a barrier to
your spiritual growth, but is in fact essential to it. What would you do
differently from what you do now?
3. Force yourself to think a kind thought about someone you don't like.
Next, try an even harder task: Force yourself to think a kind thought
about someone who doesn't like you.
4. Robin Norwood's self-help book *Women Who Love Too Much* deals
with a theme that has gotten a lot of play in recent decades: If you're too
generous to someone who doesn't appreciate it and at the expense of
your own needs, you can make yourself sick.
An alternative perspective comes from French philosopher Blaise Pascal,
who said, "When one does not love too much, one does not love enough."
He was primarily addressing psychologically healthy altruists, but it's a
good ideal for pronoia lovers to keep in mind.
Decide whether you need to move more in the direction of Norwood's or
Pascal's advice. Develop a game plan to carry out your resolve, then take
action.
5. Everyone deserves a place to live, good food and water, comfortable
clothes, fulfilling work, decent health care, and an intimate relationship
with a provocative muse. The muse need not be an actual person, but
might be an animal ally, a familiar spirit, a guardian angel, or an
autonomous part of one's own brain.
Do you have one? If not, use all your ingenuity to get one. If you're
already blessed with a muse, upgrade your relationship. Demand more
high-quality prods and inspiration, and in return offer more daring acts of
love and generosity. If your muse is unwilling to undertake a deeper
collaboration with you, hand him or her a pink slip and enlist a more
enthusiastic candidate.
6. Compose and cast a love spell on yourself.
7. Pick out three strangers you aren't attracted to and who seem lonely
and dull. Discreetly discover their names and addresses, maybe by
following them home, then coming back later to steal the junk mail from
their mailbox. Write them each a two-page love letter and sign it "Your
Secret Admirer."
8. "Love is being stupid together," said French poet Paul Valéry. While
there's an element of truth to that, it's too corny and decadent for my
tastes. I prefer to focus on a more interesting truth, which is this: Real
love is being smart together. If you weave your destiny together with
another's, he or she should catalyze your sleeping potentials, sharpen
your perceptions, and boost both your emotional and analytical
intelligence. Your relationship becomes a crucible in which you deepen
your understanding of the way the world works.
Give an example of your closest approach to this model in your own life.
Then formulate a vow in which you promise you'll do what's necessary to
more fully embody the principle "love is being smart together."
9. Some men believe they'll never find romantic happiness unless they
hook up with a woman who resembles a supermodel or celebrity. Their
libidos were imprinted at a tender age by our culture's narrow definition
of what constitutes female beauty. They steer clear of many fine women
who don't fit their ideal.
The addiction to a physical type is not confined to hetero men, though.
Some straight women, for instance, wouldn't think of dating a bald, short
guy, no matter how interesting he is.
In addition to these extremes, there are many people of every sexual
persuasion who imagine that their attraction to the physical appearance
of a potential partner is the single most important gauge of compatibility.
This delusion is the most common cause of people leaping into
relationships that go bad.
The good news is that anyone can outgrow their instinctual yearning for a
particular physical type, thereby becoming available for union with all of
the more perfect partners who previously didn't look quite right.
What's the state of your relationship with this riddle? Describe how you
might ripen it; speculate on how you can move it to the next level of
pronoiac maturity.
10. The Doctrine of Original Sin? I spit on it. I reject it. I renounce it and
annihilate it from reality. In its place I offer the Doctrine of Original Fun.
This reformulation of the truth asserts that we are all born with a
mandate to have as much liberating joy as possible. Present three
arguments of pieces of evidence in support of the Doctrine of Original
Fun.
11. Describe to your best companion a detailed vision of his or her best
possible future.
12. "Man in his present state has as much desire to urinate as he has to
make vows to Artemis," says Edward Dahlberg in *The Sorrows of
Priapus.* In other words, most modern humans have no relationship with
wild female deities, nor would they ever conceive of a reason why that
might be fun or inspiring. But some of us know that Artemis is not dead,
is not just a figment of the archaic Greek mind. She is a living archetype
of wild but nurturing female energy. Goddess of the ever-changing moon,
strong protectress of the undomesticated soul, she gives sanctuary to all
who prize liberated fertility. Make a vow to her.
13. You understand that you can never own love, right? No matter how
much someone adores you today, no matter how much you adore
someone, you can't force that unique state of grace to keep its shape
forever. It will inevitably evolve or mutate, perhaps into a different version
of tender caring, but maybe not. From there it will continue to change,
either into yet another version of interesting affection, or who knows
what else?
Describe how you could get the hang of putting this tricky wisdom into
practice.
14. Norman Mailer has described marriage as "an excretory relationship, in
which you take all the crap you hide from the world and dump it on the
person closest to you. But the proviso is that you have to be willing to
take theirs."
Describe how you might work in a way opposite to Mailer's; that is
to say, train yourself to call up all the beauty you hide from the world and
offer it to the person closest to you.
15. If you're heterosexual, imagine what it would be like to be
homosexual. If you're homosexual, visualize yourself as a heterosexual. If
you're an androgynous bisexual nymphomaniac, try being celibate. You
get the picture: Escape your sexual imprint.
16. Get Steve Penny's booklet, *How to Have Great Laughing Sex,*
available at 7960 B Soquel Drive #77, Aptos, CA 95003. Try the
exercises, then write your own booklet called How to Have Great Laughing
Sex.
17. What could you do to to make your tenderness and carnality flow
from the same refined reflex? How might you strive to adore every
creature, every plant, every rock in the world with the same excitement
that you bestow upon the lover who excites you most? What prayers will
you unleash at the height of your orgasmic fervor to propitiate the
healing and success of people in need?
18. Write the following on a piece of paper and keep it under your pillow.
"I, [put your name here], do solemnly swear on this day [put date here]
that I will devote myself for a period of seven days to learning my most
important desire. No other thought will be more uppermost in my mind.
No other concern will divert me from tracking down every clue that might
assist me in my drive to ascertain the one experience in this world that
deserves my brilliant passion above all others."
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To read other pieces from my book, go here:
http://snipurl.com/l9o3
or
http://freewillastrology.com/beauty/beauty.main145.shtml
To buy the book, use the links to Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble,
which are on my homepage at http://www.freewillastrology.com
Or cut and paste the direct links below:
AMAZON
http://snipurl.com/krjj
BARNES & NOBLE
http://snipurl.com/krjn
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OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:
SONG
"King without a Crown" by Matisyahu
BOOK
*Cosmos and Psyche* by Richard Tarnas
WEB
Reality Carnival
http://www.realitycarnival.com
CD
*Room Noises* by Eisley
PLACE
Getty Museum
Los Angeles, CA
(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They're not advertisements,
and I get no kickbacks.)
Please tell me your own personal nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning February 9
Copyright 2006 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Happy Valentine Daze, Aries! As I meditated
on what advice would be most likely to energize your love life, I thought
of what Clarissa Pinkola Estes said in her book *Women Who Run With the
Wolves.* "The desire to force love to live only in its most positive form,"
she wrote, "is what causes love ultimately to fall over dead." She
obviously doesn't mean you should seek negativity on purpose. Rather,
you should freely acknowledge that even the most sublime intimacy has a
dark side. As long as you welcome love's difficulties, it will remain vital.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Happy Valentine Daze, Taurus! After
extensive meditation about what advice would be most useful for your
love life in 2006, I rejected this observation by The Simpsons' creator
Matt Groening: "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then
suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels
come." Do not, under any circumstances, make those your words to live
by. Instead, consider the following counsel from Norman Mailer: "Love
asks us that we be a little braver than is comfortable, a little more
generous, a little more flexible. It means living on the edge more than we
care to."
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Happy Valentine Daze, Gemini! After strenuous
meditation about what advice would be most likely to energize your love
life, I decided on some wisdom from journalist Mignon McLaughlin. "The
hardest-learned lesson," she wrote, "is that people have only their kind of
love to give, not our kind." I hope her perspective liberates you to enjoy
what love actually is, rather than to always be pining for what it could or
should be.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): "Love at first sight may be a matter of
instinctively recognizing someone who will allow you to continue in
comfortingly familiar--and often destructive--patterns learned in
childhood." So said Salon.com's Lisa Zeidner in her review of Maggie
Scarf's book *Intimate Partners.* Make that idea your watchword in the
coming weeks. Let it be the beacon that guides you away from the
sentimental illusions about romance that you may still be drawn to. After
all, there are few things that undermine authentic love more than infantile
wishes and naive fantasies. Happy Valentine Daze, Cancerian!
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Welcome to Free Will Astrology's annual
"Swimsuit Issue." We do it differently than other publications. *Sports
Illustrated,* for instance, fills its pages with photos of barely-clothed
female models, whereas we provide verbal stimuli to help you get your
fantasy life tuned up for the season of naked fun, which begins any
minute for you Leos. The first image we'd like to evoke in your mind's eye
is of you lounging in a swimsuit on an otherwise deserted tropical beach
with an attractive member of your favorite gender (or three of them if
you're in an expansive mood). Visualize him or her or them engaging in
some behavior that simultaneously rouses your lust, your tenderness, and
your compassion. See them carrying out a series of acts that not only
thrills you sensually but also moves you to happy tears and causes you to
overflow with spiritual contentment. Keep fantasizing for at least 15
minutes. Happy Valentine's Day, Leo!
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Happy Valentine Daze, Virgo! To begin our
meditation on romance, let's consider psychologist Carl Jung's words:
"People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing
their own soul." Do you fit that description? Have you ever employed
tortured logic to explain to yourself why you're not following your heart's
promptings? In the past year, did you take a detour that has led you
further and further away from your true home? Are you engaging in
evasive measures in order to keep yourself from seeing the open secret
about love that's right in front of you? I'm just asking, Virgo, not
accusing. Only you know the correct answers.
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To access my IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM AUDIO FORECASTS FOR YOUR LIFE IN
2006, go here:
http://snipurl.com/krjm
Click on your astrological sign, then choose either part 1, part 2, or part 3
of my BIG PICTURE look at your future--or even all three parts, if you're
feeling adventurous.
You can also choose to listen to my short-range outlook for the coming
week.
The Expanded Audio Horoscopes cost $6 apiece if you access them on
the Web via RealAudio.
You can also hear them over the phone for $1.99 per minute.
From the United States, call
1-900-950-7700
or
1-877-873-4888.
If you live in Canada, call
1-888-499-4425.
**********************************************
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Happy Valentine Daze, Libra! After an extensive
search for the wisdom that would be most likely to energize your love life,
I found the perfect advice. It comes to you courtesy of psychologist
James Hillman: "For a relationship to stay alive, love alone is not enough.
Without imagination, love stales into sentiment, duty, boredom.
Relationships fail not because we have stopped loving but because we
first stopped imagining." How will you act on this excellent counsel?
Maybe you could take you and your closest ally to a sanctuary you've
never dreamed you'd go to in a thousand years. Or do an exercise in
which you ask each other questions you've never broached before. Or
devise an experiment in which the two of you get to face an unfamiliar
challenge together.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Happy Valentine Daze, Scorpio! To begin our
meditation on love, let's turn our attention to Abhishek Parikh, an Indian
man who claims to be the reincarnation of a very special woman. In his
present life as well as in his last one, he believes he has served as the wife
of the snake god Naagraaj. To perform his wifely duties, he sometimes
transforms into a female snake himself, though he always returns to his
male human form. I bring this up, Scorpio, because I think that you
yourself have the potential of getting intimate with a snake god or snake
goddess in the coming weeks. My gut instinct tells me so, and so does my
analysis of the astrological omens. You don't have to become the deity's
full-time wife or husband; being a part-time companion or apprentice will
be just fine.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Happy Valentine Daze, Sagittarius! The
more animal noises you make during the season of love, the better you're
going to feel and the more successful you're likely to be. The astrological
omens indicate that cosmic rhythms will tend to align in your favor if you
express a whole range of primal feelings with moans, growls, cackling, and
other non-verbal sounds. P.S. If you *don't* pursue this agenda with
conscious intent, beastly behavior might possess you at inappropriate
times, such as lion-like super-yawns in the middle of a meeting or
uncontrollable yapping when you're suddenly overcome by territorial
instincts.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Happy Valentine Daze, Capricorn! To begin
our meditation on love, let's turn our attention to your appearance. I think
you owe a huge debt of gratitude to the fact that you don't have the
face and body of a dazzling supermodel or gorgeous hunk. The
temptation to rely on your physical attractiveness at the expense of
developing your character would be virtually irresistible. In the coming
days, this fact will bring you a fresh batch of benefits, including a subtle
breakthrough in your romantic life. Here's your quote of the week, from
Katharine Hepburn: "It is the plain women who know about love. The
beautiful women are too busy being fascinating."
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Happy Valentine Daze, Aquarius! The English
novelist Julia Pardoe expressed an idea that would be useful for you to
integrate into your thoughts about love in 2006. "In each human heart
are a tiger, a pig, a donkey, and a nightingale," she wrote. "Diversity of
character is due to their unequal activity." Why is this important for you
to contemplate? In the coming weeks, I believe, you will have an
unprecedented chance to bring the tiger and nightingale aspects to the
forefront of both your own heart and the hearts of those whose
affections mean most to you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Happy Valentine Daze, Pisces! Borrowing the
words of poet Pablo Neruda, I've prepared a love note for you to use as
your own. Feel free to give these words to the person whose destiny
needs to be woven more closely together with yours. *I love you between
shadow and soul. I love you as the plant that hasn't bloomed yet, and
carries hidden within itself the light of flowers. I love you without knowing
how, or when, or from where. Because of you, the dense fragrance that
rises from the earth lives in my body, rioting with hunger for the eternity
of our victorious kisses.*
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HOMEWORK:
Name the one thing you could change about yourself that would improve
your love life. Testify by going to http://www.freewillastrology.com and
clicking on "Email Rob."
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WANT TO GET YOUR CHART DONE?
I'm not doing charts these days. In addition to writing my weekly column
and expanded audio horoscopes, I'm also working on a CD and promoting
my new book.
But I can recommend a colleague whose astro-aesthetics closely match
my own. She's RO LOUGHRAN.
Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and a high
degree of technical proficiency in horoscope interpretation; she is skilled
at exploring the mysteries of your life's purpose and nurturing your
connection with your own inner wisdom.
Ro is based in California, but can do phone consultations and otherwise
work with you regardless of geographic boundaries.
Ro's website is at
http://www.astrology-psychotherapy.com/
She can also be reached at roloughran@comcast.net
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To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, or to change the address
where you receive it, go to:
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If my emails don't reach your inbox, you should also look in your "Bulk
Mail" or "Junk Mail" folder.
I totally respect your privacy. I'll never sell or give away your address to
anyone.
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Submissions sent to the Free Will Astrology Weekly Newsletter
or in response to "homework assignments" may be
published in a variety of formats at Rob Brezsny's discretion,
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Astrology column, and Free Will Astrology website. We reserve
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Please be sure to note your preference when sending to us. We
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material.
Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2006 Rob Brezsny
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