Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter
"Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river that carries
me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the
tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire."
- Jorge Luis Borges
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November 22, 2006
My EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES are available for you at
http://RealAstrology.com
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The piece below is excerpted from my book
"PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings"
available at http://tinyurl.com/qaj62
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
You can buy the book here:
AMAZON
http://snipurl.com/krjj
BARNES & NOBLE
http://snipurl.com/krjn
POWELLS
http://snipurl.com/123ln
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OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:
"OPEN SOURCE" RELIGION
Read the sermon on the virtues of disorganized religion, by Professor
Toylit
http://www.eblips.net/?p=234
FILM
*I Know I'm Not Alone: A Musician's Search for the Human Costs of War*
by Michael Franti
http://www.iknowimnotalone.com/
BOOK
*Anarchic Harmony: Spirituality Through Social Disobedience*
by William J, Murray
(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 November 23
Copyright 2006 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I suspect you'll be a genius of awkwardness in
the coming week, Aries. What that means is that you'll have a knack for
doing the half-right thing at the half-right time--and yet that's exactly
what'll be necessary in order to bring about unexpected outcomes that
are in everyone's best interests. In the short run you may make a perfect
mess, but I bet that will ultimately add more beauty and intrigue to the
big picture.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Dear Grandma and Grandpa of the Taurus this
horoscope has been prepared for: I'm hoping you will bring your helpful
influence to bear on our little darling's dilemma. I know that in your own
past you once had to navigate your way through complications similar to
those that Taurus is now facing. So even if you have died and are in spirit
form, please bestow your advice and encouragement, whether that's
delivered by phone, via telepathy, in dreams, or in person. One more
thing: Please don't let your wise blessing get tainted by any lingering
disapproval you might be harboring about the path our beloved Taurus
has chosen. This is a time for your smart love, not your judgment.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the language of archetypal psychology, the
term *hierosgamos* means "sacred marriage." It may refer to a literal
coming together of two people whose bond is a gift to God. Their love for
each other serves as an inspiration to their community and galvanizes
them both to express their wildest beauty. Because their union is
dedicated to a higher cause beyond their personal happiness, they strive
with ingenious devotion to transmute the dark, unripe aspects of their
own nature. The term *hierosgamos* also has a bigger meaning, beyond
the enlightened relationship of two intelligent people. It may refer to any
merger of opposites that's precipitated through divine grace and that
unleashes surprising healing in all directions. In the coming weeks, Gemini,
you are a prime candidate to experience at least a metaphorical version of
*hierosgamos.*
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My EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES are weekly spoken-word reports on
your destiny. They're three to four minutes long, and are available at
http://realastrology.com. The cost is $6 per reading, or $20 if you buy
four readings, and $60 if you buy 16 readings.
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or
1-900-950-7700 for $1.99 per minute.
My DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES are short, sweet bursts of
illumination delivered seven days a week to your cell phone or other
mobile device. You can sign up for them at http://realastrology.com. The
cost is $6.99 per week (billed monthly), or $4.99 per week (billed
monthly) if you choose to automatically renew your account.
* * *
CANCER (June 21-July 22): "A quiet evening alone with friends can be an
ecstatic experience for Cancerians," say Gary Goldschneider and Joost
Elffers in their book *The Secret Language of Birthdays.* "Yet many born
under this sign have strange aspects to their personalities which must be
periodically revealed in public." I suspect this description will be
particularly apt in the coming weeks. You may feel an irresistible urge to
express your eccentricities to a bigger audience. My advice is to make
definite plans to unveil the most interesting versions of your oddness at
times and places of your choosing. That way it won't unexpectedly pop
out half-cocked when it might cause embarrassment.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "The lover knows much more about absolute good
and universal beauty than any logician or theologian," wrote philosopher
George Santayana. I agree with him. That's why, as I analyze the
astrological omens, I can confidently predict that you will have the right
to claim all of the following titles in the coming weeks: the Beguiler with
the Most Enticing Ideals, the Moral Authority with the Most Trustworthy
Allure, and the Charmer with the Most Ethical Temptations.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel," a wicked
stepmother convinces her husband that the only way the two of them will
survive poverty and starvation is to take his children deep into the woods
and abandon them. That way there'll be two fewer mouths to feed. The
kids overhear the plan, and as the adults lead them into the middle of
nowhere, Hansel, the son, surreptitiously leaves a trail of white stones.
This allows him and his sister Gretel to find their way back home later. The
stepmom is chagrined. A few weeks thereafter, she once again convinces
her spouse to leave the children in the wastes. This time Hansel drops
breadcrumbs to mark the path, but they're eaten by birds and the kids
have no way to get back. Moral of the story: When you get sucked away
from your source, leave clues that are more like stones, not crumbs.
Alternative moral of the story: Don't return to a source that doesn't want
you there.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): "The ancient Greeks knew that learning comes
from playing," writes Roger von Oech in his book *A Whack on the Side of
the Head: How You Can Be More Creative.* Their word for education,
*paideia,* he says, was close to their word for play, *paidia.* Your next
assignment, Libra, is right in line with this theme. First, identify the
teachings that will be most important for you to master in 2007. Second,
figure out how to include play as a major component of your learning
process.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You know those fuel-delivery planes capable
of pumping gas into a larger plane that's already aloft? I think you'd
benefit from enlisting the services of their metaphorical equivalent in the
coming week. Given how high and fast you're soaring, it would be a shame
for you to have to come all the way down to earth to fill up your tank.
And yet it's clear to me that one way or another, you're going to have to
replenish your supply of propellant.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "Whether we are on the threshold of a
Golden Age or on the brink of a global cataclysm that will extinguish our
civilization is not only unknowable, but undecided," said Edward Cornish,
President of the World Future Society. I bet that in the past year you've
had comparable fantasies about the fate of your own personal destiny,
Sagittarius. At times, it must have seemed as if you were teetering on the
brink of a sulfurous abyss that was within shouting distance of the yellow
brick road to paradise. Talk about conflicting emotions! But now that
crazy-making chapter of your life story is coming to an end. No more
teetering for you. No more inhaling noxious fumes from the infernal
regions. I believe you have already been offered or will soon be offered an
escort to the beginning of the yellow brick road. Let's hope you're not so
addicted to the fascinating glamour of your pain that you turn down the
escort.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "The problem, if you love it," said Jiddu
Krishnamurti, "is as beautiful as the sunset." He did not mean this
ironically, nor was he indulging in sentimental wish-fulfillment. He was one
of the toughest-minded spiritual teachers ever born. As you slip into a
phase when your problems are especially gorgeous and entertaining,
Capricorn, I urge you to remind yourself of his wise thought at least five
times a day. Here's a second nugget for you to chew on often. It's a
lyrical, hard-assed Zen proverb: "The obstacle *is* the path."
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Your assignment in the coming weeks,
Aquarius, is to become a coordinator of synchronicity and director of
synergy in all the environments where you hang out. To begin, remind
yourself of what those terms mean. Synchronicity is the wonderfully
spooky feeling that comes when two or more events occur in a way that
might superficially seem to be mere coincidence, but that is actually a
sign of a deeper underlying pattern that transcends rational
understanding. Synergy is when two power sources collaborate on a
surprisingly energetic creation in which the whole is greater than the sum
of the parts. (For more ideas on synchronicity and synergy, go to
http://tinyurl.com/d2jqb and http://tinyurl.com/mows3.)
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If you want to be in perfect alignment with
the astrological omens, you will live your life in the coming weeks with a
restless confidence that bigger is better. You'll risk going over the top,
digging too deep, and stretching your limits beyond the comfort level. I
suspect you'll even begin to resonate with the description once applied to
Hong Kong by its last governor: "sparkling, noisy, argumentative,
handsome, cluttered, exotic, international--all the things a great city
should be."
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HOMEWORK:
Are you ready for an orgy of gratitude? Identify at least 10 of your best
blessings; more is better. Tell me all about it by going to
http://www.RealAstrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2006 Rob Brezsny
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