Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
"There is a great insight which our culture is deliberately designed to
suppress, distort, and ignore: that Nature is a minded entity; that Nature
is not simply the random flight of atoms through electromagnetic fields;
that Nature is not the empty, despiritualized lumpen matter that we
inherit from modern physics. But it is instead a kind of intelligence, a kind
of mind."
—Terence McKenna, http://www.deoxy.org/mckenna.htm
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May 24, 2006
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http://www.freewillastrology.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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YOU'RE A PROPHET
With the authority vested in me by the little voice in my head, I'm pleased
to give you permission to add another job title to your résumé: prophet.
Am I being ironic? Only partially. The truth is, you generate numerous
predictions every day. The source is your imagination, which tirelessly
churns out visions of what you'll be doing in the future. The featured
oracle of the moment may be as simple as a psychic impression of
yourself devouring a fudge brownie in an hour or as monumental as a
fantasy of building your dream home in Hawaii.
Your imagination is a treasure when it spins out scenarios that are aligned
with your deepest desires. Indeed, it's an indispensable tool in creating
the life you want; it's what you use to form images of the conditions
you'd like to inhabit and the objects you hope to wield. Nothing manifests
on the material plane unless it first exists as a mental picture.
But for most of us, the imagination is as much a curse as a blessing.
You're just as likely to use it to conjure up premonitions that are at odds
with your conscious values. Fearful fantasies regularly pop up, many
disguising themselves as rational thoughts and genuine intuitions. They
may hijack your psychic energy, directing it to exhaust itself in dead-end
meditations.
Meanwhile, ill-suited longings are also lurking in your unconscious mind,
impelling you to want things that aren't good for you and that you don't
really need. Anytime you surrender to their allure, your imagination is
practicing a form of black magic.
These are the imagination's unsavory aspects, which Zen Buddhists
describe as the chatter of the "monkey mind." If you can stop locating
your sense of self in the endless surge of its slapdash fantasies, only then
might you be able to be here now and want what you actually have.
But whether your imagination is in service to your noble desires or in the
thrall of compulsive fears and inappropriate yearnings, there is one
commonality: Its prophecies can be pretty accurate. Many of your visions
of the future do come to pass. The situations you expect to occur and
the experiences you rehearse and dwell on are often reflected back to you
as events that confirm your expectations.
Does that mean our mental projections create the future? Let's consider
that possibility. What if it's at least partially true that what we expect will
happen does tend to materialize? Here's the logical conclusion: It's
downright stupid and self-destructive to keep infecting our imaginations
with pictures of loss and failure, doom and gloom, fear and loathing. The
far more sensible approach is to expect blessings.
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To read other news and features 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:
FILM
"The Greater Circulation" by Antero Alli
Friday May 26th at 8pm
Artist Television Access, 992 Valencia, San Francisco
http://www.verticalpool.com/tgc1.html
MEDIA BOYCOTT
http://www.pledgebank.com/nomedia
Pledge to return to the primordial silence
NEWS
"Report: World's Nuclear Arsenal 'Pretty Much' Accounted For"
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29474
MUSIC
The aria from Bach's "Goldberg Variations," performed by Murray Perahia
(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 May 25
Copyright 2006 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week of May 25
© Copyright 2006 Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): "Donald Rumsfeld never listens to anything
except the voices inside his own head," wrote *San Francisco Chronicle*
columnist Jon Carroll. While this is an unfortunate situation, given the fact
that the U.S. Secretary of Defense has so much power over others, it is
not all that uncommon. Many people rarely consult any opinions besides
those that originate in their own imaginations. And from time to time, all
of us get temporarily hypnotized by the rants of the little voices in our
heads. You're especially at risk for that to happen in the near future,
Aries. There are two things you can do to ensure it doesn't. First,
cultivate an ironic distance toward those inner voices. Evaluate what they
say with rigorous objectivity. Second, listen really hard to people who are
both thoughtful and humble.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Surveys show that 21 percent of the
population say they're "regularly bored out of their minds." If those
surveys included astrological data in their research, I bet they'd find that
among Tauruses who suffer bouts of boredom, 85 percent are most
susceptible to that state during the end of May and the first half of June.
That's why I encourage you to make dramatic efforts to keep yourself
stimulated and amused in the coming days. Don't fall prey to the lowest
common denominator of plain old ordinary fate. Use your imagination to
fill your schedule with novelty, intrigue, learning experiences, and high
adventure.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest
of your life, or do you want to change the world?" That's the question
asked by Marc Hedlund in the intro to his "Proverbs for Entrepreneurs"
(http://snipurl.com/ndlv). Since you're experiencing new opportunities to
bring more of the entrepreneurial spirit into your life and work, I thought
I'd offer you a few of his suggestions. (1) Pay attention to any idea that
won't leave you alone. (2) Give people what they really need, not
necessarily what they say they need. (3) If you keep your brilliant ideas
secret for fear they'll be stolen, people will hide their brilliant ideas from
you. (4) Great things are made by people who share a passion, not by
partners who have been talked into it.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Every one of us has at some time in the past
created a monstrous thing--a terrible relationship, a big mistake in
judgment, or a wrong move that damaged our credibility, integrity, or
income. According to my reading of the astrological omens, it's a perfect
time for you to atone for your own personal monstrosity--to make
amends, seek forgiveness, and fix what's possible to correct. I also urge
you to analyze the unconscious patterns that led you to act in such a
distorted way. Any hard-won understandings you gain now will serve as
beacons that'll help prevent you from veering so far off course again.
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AUDIO LOVE LETTERS
In addition to the horoscopes that come to you in this newsletter, I create
more in-depth audio horoscopes for your inspiration. I think of them as
my love letters to you. They're $6 if you access them on the Web, or
$1.99 per minute over the phone.
For Web access, go here:
http://www.relationshipnetwork.com/horo/index.asp?client_id=50700
From the United States, call
1-900-950-7700
or if you prefer to pay by credit card
1-877-873-4888
If you live in Canada, call 1-888-499-4425 to purchase a Block of Time
with your credit card.
"Your expanded astrology thingees help me remember who I really am." -
Gareth N., Toronto
"I never knew it was possible to get my butt kicked and my head patted
at the same time -- until I listened to you, Rob." -Kristi P., Portland, OR
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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Author and peace activist Anne Herbert coined
the suggestion, "Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of
beauty." Recently I found myself driving behind a battered blue truck with
a bumper sticker that had a variation on that advice: "Commit random
acts of beautiful coolness." Now, just in time for your Season of Ingenious
Compassion, Leo, I have borrowed from them both to create an oracle
that's in perfect alignment with your astrological omens: *Commit random
acts of the coolest kindness and most intriguing beauty you can dream
up.*
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Have you heard of the Lorax, the fuzzy yellow
hero of the Dr. Seuss story? When a greedy factory owner moves into his
idyllic little paradise and begins despoiling the forest, the Lorax complains
on its behalf, saying, "I speak for the trees, because the trees have no
tongues." Be like the Lorax, Virgo. Stand up for those who are too meek
or weak or inarticulate to defend their own interests. It's the right thing
to do, and besides, by doing so you will make connections that generate
lucky breaks for you.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): William Vollman is an author who travels the
world in search of crazy experiences to write about. In the course of his
adventures, he has lived with prostitutes in Cambodia, hung out with rebel
insurgents in Afghanistan, and almost died on two occasions, once while
stuck in the Arctic's frozen wastes and once when caught in a crossfire in
Bosnia. Despite having lived the equivalent of ten lifetimes, however, he's
not jaded. Reviewing his work in *The New York Review of Books,* Michael
Wood says Vollman has "seen it all but he still hasn't lost his innocence."
Your assignment right now is to achieve a Vollman-esque state of open-
minded freshness as you seek out adventures that are as feisty (though
not as risky) as Vollman's. It's time for you to cultivate what Zen
practitioners call beginner's mind.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): According to mythologist Michael Meade, real
warriors are those who are experts at avoiding violence. They know how
to prevent the escalation of conflict. They're skilled at resolving problems
before they explode. In fact, Meade says, war breaks out only when there
are no authentic warriors involved in the situation. In this spirit, Scorpio, I
exhort you to cultivate your skills as a warrior. You can be instrumental in
dispersing the brewing tension well before it erupts into a brawl.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In 2005, a band called the Mountain
Goats released the album *The Sunset Tree.* They dedicated it "to young
men and women anywhere who live with people who abuse them." In this
spirit, I'm dedicating your horoscope to those of who promise to sever
your connection to people who abuse you and to those of you who vow
to never again tolerate a relationship with anyone who treats you with
chronic disrespect. The next eight weeks will be prime time for you to ask
for more good magic from all your intimate alliances.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Twice a year you enter a short-lived phase
in your astrological cycle when tough challenges are the best gifts you
can possibly receive. This is one of those times. To honor this richly
disconcerting moment, I offer you three gems from sages who
understood how to get the most out of their trials. Psychologist C.G.
Jung: "We need difficulties; they are necessary for our health." French
diplomat Jean Monnet: "If you have a problem you cannot solve, enlarge
the context." Albert Einstein: "We can't solve problems by using the same
kind of thinking we used when we created them."
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Your power animal is the queen bee, which
lays up to 2,000 eggs a day in the spring. Like her, you are stupendously
fertile. In fact, you're capable of so much creative expression that it could
take months for you to ripen all the new life that you're now spawning.
Just because you have this potential, however, doesn't guarantee that
you will use it well or completely. There's a first important step you can
take to help ensure that you do: Treat yourself with the same care and
reverence and optimism you would a woman who's nine months pregnant.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Sri Lankan-born overachiever Suresh Joachim
has a fascinating hobby: He attempts outlandish feats that get him
written up in the Guinness Book of World Records. Among his many
successes, he's the current champion in the category of marathon TV
watching. Given your current astrological omens, Pisces, you could exceed
his mark of 70 consecutive hours. You have the potential to achieve
miraculous levels of laziness. It's my duty to inform you, however, that
this same tendency could be directed in more constructive directions,
even if you're less likely to be cited for them in the Guinness book. For
example, your capacity for breakthrough meditation is at a peak. With a
few hours of intense prayer and self-examination, you could dissolve
complexes that have plagued you for many moons. You also possess the
ability to achieve marvelous states of relaxed stillness that will fill you
with expansive new understandings of the way life really works.
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HOMEWORK:
What name would you choose for yourself if you couldn't have the one
you do now? 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.yoursouljourney.com/
She can also be reached at roloughran@comcast.net
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anyone.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2006 Rob Brezsny
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