Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you
will call it fate."
- Carl Jung.
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September 13, 2006
http://www.freewillastrology.com
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ROB'S UPCOMING PUBLIC APPEARANCES
Inside Story Time
Thursday, September 21st, 7 - 9 pm
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell Street (@ Van Ness)
San Francisco, CA
http://www.insidestorytime.com/
Rob will do 20 minutes, sharing the night with four great authors:
Peter Beagle, Judy Budnitz, Charlie Anders, and Sona Avakian
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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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SUBTERRANEAN PRONOIA THERAPY
Experiments and exercises in becoming a rebelliously kind, affably
unpredictable, insanely poised Master of Supernal Mischief.
1. "I have not used my darkness well," mourns poet Stanley Moss in his
book Asleep in the Garden. He's right about that. His forays into the realm
of shadows rarely lead to redemption.
"One fine day/ I shall fall down ... in a prison of anger," he moans in one
poem. "In this country I planted not one seed," he announces elsewhere.
Other samples: "vomit is the speech of the soul"; "We die misinformed";
"How goes a life? Something like the ocean/ building dead coral."
But enough. Let's not indulge Moss in his profligacy. Instead, we'll appoint
him to be your anti-role model: an example of what you don't want to
become. May he inspire you to regard your sorrows and failures as
sources of disguised treasure; as raw materials that will fuel future
breakthroughs. Now write a poem or story in which you use your darkness
well.
2. Acquire a hand puppet, preferably a funky old-fashioned one from a
thrift store, but any one will do. Give the puppet a name and wear it on
your hand wherever you go for several days. In a voice different from
your normal one, make this ally speak the "shadow truths" of every
situation you encounter: the dicey subtexts everyone is shy about
acknowledging, the layers of truth that lie beneath the surface, the
agreed-upon illusions that cloud everyone's perceptual abilities.
3. All of us are eminently fallible nobodies. We're crammed with delusions
and base emotions. We give ourselves more slack than we give anyone
else, and we're brilliant at justifying our irrational biases with seemingly
logical explanations. Yet it's equally true that every one of us is a
magnificently enigmatic creation unlike any other in the history of the
world. We're stars with vast potential, gods and goddesses in the making.
Dramatize this paradox. Tomorrow, buy and wear ugly, threadbare clothes
from the same thrift store where you got your hand puppet. Eat the
cheapest junk food possible and do the most menial tasks you can find.
The next day, attire yourself in your best clothes, wear a crown or
diadem, and treat yourself to an expensive gourmet meal. Enjoy a
massage, a pedicure, and other luxuries that require people to wait on
you. On the third day, switch back and forth between the previous two
days' modes every couple of hours. As you do, cultivate a passionate
indifference to the question of whether you are ultimately an unimportant
nobody or a captivating hero.
4. Is it possible that in trying to repress some of the things about yourself
that you don't like, you have also disowned potentially strong and
beautiful aspects of yourself? What are they?
5. Inventor Thomas Edison came up with a lot of ideas that went
nowhere. While trying to develop the perfect battery, his unsuccessful
experiments were comically legion. "I have not failed," he mused. "I've
just found 10,000 ways that won't work." There are other ways in which
he didn't match the profile we usually associate with genius. He rarely had
a dramatic breakthrough out of the blue, for instance. Most often, he
tinkered and fussed until he discovered some new useful thing. Of his
1,093 patents, some were inventions he purposefully set about to create,
but most he simply stumbled upon.
Describe an area of your life where you've discovered 10,000 ways that
don't work.
6. Chantepleure is a word that means "to sing and weep simultaneously."
Think of a memory that moves you to do just that.
7. For the 2001 Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, artist David
Best constructed the "Mausoleum: Temple of Tears." Made from wooden
pieces of dinosaur puzzles, this pagoda-like sanctuary took him weeks to
perfect. Pilgrims who visited it were encouraged to write prayers on the
walls, mourning dead loved ones and exorcising adversaries who had
passed over. At the end of the festival, Best hosted a mass ritual of grief
and burned his masterpiece to ash.
Draw inspiration from Best's project. Create a talisman or ritual tool out
of whimsical junk, use it a while to catalyze a catharsis, then destroy it or
throw it away.
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To read other news and features from my book, go here:
http://snipurl.com/l9o3
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:
ART BY POOR FOLKS
The Quilts of Gee's Bend
http://www.quiltsofgeesbend.com/quilts/
SPIRITUAL KICK IN THE ASS
"Spiritualized Selfishness Is Still Petty Self-Centeredness" by Pardeep
Singh
http://tinyurl.com/grsc8
OVERTHROWING THE SOUR, CRIPPLED MASS HALLUCINATION THAT IS
MISTAKENLY CALLED REALITY
Fravia's Reality Cracking Lab
"How to see some light through the Slavemaster's smoke"
http://tinyurl.com/k595k
(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 September 14
Copyright 2006 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): According to the theory known as Ducharme's
Precept, "Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment." I
bet you'll soon be living proof of that, Aries. An offer or invitation will
come your way in a maddeningly inconvenient way. You'll be tempted to
invoke excuses about why you cannot possibly take advantage of it right
now. But I hope that instead you leap at the chance with a full and even
greedy heart. As annoying as the circumstances might seem, they're
exactly what you need in order to bring out the best in you.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): As I meditated on your horoscope, I was
driving a rented Ford Taurus 90 mph south on California's I-5. "Give me
omens about what Tauruses need to hear," I asked the Fates. Moments
later, a red Infiniti car whizzed by me on the right. The aroma of pig
manure from a nearby farm pervaded the air. On the CD player, devotional
musician Krishna Das launched a hair-raising hymn to the Goddess. Orange
brush strokes appeared in the dusky sky over scissor-shaped mountain
peaks, making me feel as if nature had painted a gorgeous canvas for my
personal enjoyment. Here's how I interpret this lush symbolic offering: As
you're gliding along, a message from eternity will speed by you from an
unexpected direction. Fertility will be abundant in your life even though it
may be pungent. You'll have rousing contact with a boisterous, masculine
form of spirituality. Nature will offer you a gift--a beautiful secret just for
you.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Of all the objects in the world that are made of
22-karat gold, a bathtub in Japan is the biggest. Weighing in at over 300
pounds, it's in the Funabara Hotel a hundred miles south of Tokyo. I
suggest you regard it as your personal symbol of power in the coming
week, Gemini. It will remind you to stay true to your task, which is to
cleanse yourself extravagantly as you purge your heart of all motivations
that aren't pure gold.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Those of us born under the sign of Cancer the
Crab are sometimes pathologically self-sufficient. We can dole out love in
abundance but be conflicted about asking for and accepting the love we
need. Keep that warning in mind as you meditate on the following advice:
It's high time to love yourself more and better--to experiment with new
strategies for taking care of yourself, nurturing your creativity, and
providing yourself with pleasure. Just don't let this honorable work blind
you to the gifts that other people want to bless you with.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Every year 1.5 million Turkish students take a
day-long college entrance exam. It's a grueling maze of complicated yet
often inane questions--an absurd attempt to quantify intelligence with a
one-size-fits-all standard of measurement. Three quarters of all students
fail, and thus face the prospect of unemployment in a country where only
higher education guarantees a decent job. This year a lone rebel rose up
in defiance against the oppressive tradition. Sefa Boyar announced he'd
strive to give the wrong answer to every question on the multiple-choice
test. Naturally, he had to study hard to make sure he wouldn't
accidentally get a few right answers. Be inspired by Boyar, Leo. Resist or
subvert the soul-shrinking hocus-pocus of a bunch of humans acting like
machines. Unlike Boyar, do it in a way that enhances your chance to
achieve success on your own terms.
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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. 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.
"You told me the truth when no one else in my life would." -Darren H.,
Minneapolis
"Your wake-up calls keep me from getting stale." -Arris T., Aspen, CO
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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): There was one main reason why America's
founding fathers gave Thomas Jefferson, not Benjamin Franklin, the job of
composing the Declaration of Independence in 1776. They were afraid
that Franklin, a compulsive teaser and trickster, would slip jokes into the
document. In my opinion, we Americans would have been better served if
Franklin had been chosen and allowed to mess around. After all, even the
most profound commitments and weighty situations benefit from the
leavening power of humor. Keep that in mind during the oh-so-serious
games that are ahead for you, Virgo.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): "The time has come to declare the war on
terror over," wrote James Fallows in September's *The Atlantic.* "Al-
Qaeda's mistakes, and our successes, have sharply reduced the terrorist
network's ability to harm the United States. Its threat now rests less on
what it can do itself than on what it can trick, tempt, or goad us into
doing. Its destiny is no longer in its own hands." In a similar way, Libra,
one of your personal enemies has mostly lost the power to hurt you. Its
remaining threat resides in what it can trick, tempt, or goad you into
doing. To say safe and sane, all you have to do is refuse to get sucked in
by your weakened enemy's ruses.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In his book *Making Sex: Body and Gender
from the Greeks to Freud ,* historian Thomas Lacquer suggests that the
clitoris may have been unknown to male anatomists until 1559. In that
year, Renaldus Columbus, a professor at the University of Padua in Italy,
announced his discovery of the "seat of woman's delight," and declared
his right to name it the "sweetness of Venus." I predict that you will soon
ferret out and begin to share in a treasure that, while not quite as
momentous as Columbus', will nonetheless fill you with glee--even if its
value has always been known to its original finders.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): According to visionary astrologer Elias
Lonsdale, the age-old war between good and evil is over. His shocking
conclusion: Evil lost. It will take a while for its malignant dominance to ebb
away, and the transition time may bring apparent setbacks, but already
the momentum has shifted. The forces of good are in ascendancy, and
will steadily build a new order in the coming decades. Is Lonsdale's
perspective true? I personally don't have the wisdom to be able to
confirm or deny it. But I do know this: The age-old war between good and
evil *within you* is over, and evil lost. From now on, the forces of beauty,
truth, love, and justice will grow in power.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): When playing the card game known as
bridge, you're fortunate if you're dealt no cards of any particular suit. It
allows you to use the trump suit to win tricks. There's an analogous
situation in your life right now, Capricorn. A *lack* of a certain resource
can work to your advantage. It will allow you to be a free agent, an X-
factor, a wild card. You'll be able to capitalize on loopholes that aren't
normally available to you. Luck will come to you through what you're
missing.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Last May, workers cleaning up garbage on
Britain's highest mountain made a startling find. There at the top of Mt.
Ben Nevis was a piano. How did it get there? Three years earlier, hikers in
Indiana's Yellowwood State Forest stumbled upon an equally inexplicable
anomaly: a massive boulder lodged in the topmost branches of an 80-
foot-tall chestnut tree. These are your metaphors of the week, Aquarius. I
bet that you too will find seemingly out-of-place things in high places.
Don't dismiss them with a flick of your rational mind. Give them a chance
to change your thinking about the nature of reality.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Millard Fillmore was President of the United
States from 1850 to 1853. He was the last holder of that office who was
neither a Democrat nor Republican. Let's make him a symbol of freedom
from the rigged con game that is America's two-party political system, as
well as an inspiring image for those of you who aspire to rise above
*every* either-or dichotomy. Fillmore will be your mascot as you declare
your independence from the dualistic ways of thinking that threaten to
ensnare you. He'll be an emblem that rouses you to transcend the
simplistic arguments spewed by fanatical devotees of the Us Versus Them
racket. Escape the vise, Pisces.
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HOMEWORK:
Imagine you only have 50 years left to live. What's the main dream you
want to accomplish in each of your remaining five decades? Testify by
going to http://www.freewillastrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."
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THE BEST DREAM WORKER I'VE EVER KNOWN
If you've ever had an intuition that maybe you'd like to delve deeper into
your dreams, I recommend Jonathan Zap. He's the best dream worker I
know.
Highly intuitive, schooled in the wisdom of archetypes, and really smart,
Jonathan has helped me crack the codes of some of my major dreams. His
cost is quite reasonable, too. I exuberantly recommend his services.
(He's not even paying me to say this. I'm simply motivated by the desire
to share his treasure with my readers.)
You can reach Jonathan at jonathanzap@hotmail.com
His homepage is at:
http://www.zaporacle.com/
Info about his dream work and other services are at:
http://www.zaporacle.com/textpattern/shop
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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
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2006 Rob Brezsny
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