Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
June 13, 2012
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My book
*PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA*
is available at Amazon: http://bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: http://bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
Here are excerpts:
LETTERS TO THE BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB, Part 3
DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: I've wrestled all my life with fear. But
lately it's been even worse than usual. My personal demons seem to be
winning, or at least getting the better of the fight. I think it's related to
the fact that when I caught wind of the idea of pronoia, I started working
hard to lose all my illusions. Now I'm thinking maybe that was a mistake.
Perhaps I needed my illusions to keep the demons at bay? - Crybaby
DEAR CRYBABY: Hang on. This is the toughest part of your struggle. It
may seem that the illusions you dissolved were the main barriers
safeguarding you from your demons. But what's more likely is that those
illusions were food for your demons. Very soon now the demons will have
devoured the last of their fuel and will start to starve. If they don't die
off, they will at least fly away in search of other nourishment.
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DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: Two months ago I met the first person
with whom I am completely psychic. We fell deeply in love, of course. But
it turned out that neither of us was ready or able to fulfill the potential of
our connection because we are nowhere near as profoundly in love with
ourselves as we are with each other. The good news is that through my
love for him, I have intensified my desire to learn to love myself. The bad
news is that we can't really be together as fate intended until we upgrade
our self-love. Can you offer any consolation? - Lucky Yet Unlucky in Love
Dear Lucky: We appreciate your sage caution, but also offer this
alternative view from actress Tallulah Bankhead: "If I had to live my life
again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner."
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DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: Lately I've been practicing an evangelical
kind of pronoia. In addition to proceeding as if the universe is conspiring
to help me, I'm extending that assumption to my fellow planeteers. I'm
meeting people and visualizing realistically wonderful futures for them,
filled with interesting opportunities or at least fertile riddles.
For instance, yesterday I saw a morose woman staring blankly into space
at Starbucks as if she were the loneliest person ever born. I visualized her
falling into a deeply engaging conversation with a new friend, and feeling
emboldened by that encounter to be proactive about seeking out people
who stimulate her. Two days ago I saw an unruly kid acting crazy at the
grocery store. I visualized for him a future of uncompromising
individualism creating unique approaches to old problems.
This evangelical push is a real stretch sometimes. (It's a challenge to
visualize a positive future for, say, a homeless panhandler.) But I like how
it makes me feel. Maybe it's no coincidence that my physical health has
markedly improved recently. And it seems to be making me more highly
attuned to the sometimes subtle blessings that life does bring into my
vicinity -- blessings I might have missed in the past. -Architect of
Empathy
DEAR ARCHITECT: At the Beauty and Truth Lab, we work on the
hypothesis that all of us are affecting each other all the time, either by
direct contact, via telepathic contagion, or through the culture we co-
create. If even 25 percent of that hypothesis is true, why not be a
beacon of blessings, constantly broadcasting images that promote health
and well-being? People just might live up to our expectations, just as
easily as they can live down to them. Plus, as you noted, it has a tonic
effect on the one who acts as a beacon of blessings.
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DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: You asked us readers this question: "The
spiritual teacher A. H. Almaas believes that a genuinely creative act is
always motivated by generosity. If that's true, how do you explain all the
ego-obsessed 'geniuses' who treat everyone like dirt even as they churn
out their supposedly brilliant art?"
Here's my answer: Those aren't really geniuses, and what they make isn't
really brilliant art! It may be popular art, and it may earn a lot of money
for the fake geniuses, but it's not brilliant. The truth is, many of the
richest and most famous artists are those patronized for their ability to
fetishize, glamorize, and trivialize our cultural pain. You can apply the
same statement to supposed geniuses who apply their talent to the
pharmaceutical industry or nuclear weapons. Creative and intellectual
energy applied to cruelty, domination, and meanness is always stupid.
The true geniuses recognize that cooperation is a stronger evolutionary
force than competition. They know that the only appropriate application
for intelligence is to find ways to make us all feel stupendously good as
much as possible. - Malian
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DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: My mom calls me fat but feeds me pork
rinds. My strongest supporter is a person I want to wrap up like a mummy,
shove into a canoe, and push into the middle of the lake. My exuberant
imagination has taken me hostage, violating its own principles. I'm so
ambivalent and indecisive about everything that even my addictive nature
can't figure out what to be addicted to. I'd embrace my contradictions if I
could, but they've got me surrounded like a pink-haired, cross-dressing
SWAT team frothed up on multiple espressos. Can you point me in the
direction of the pronoiac exit from this circus-like hell? - Crazy Crank
DEAR CRAZY CRANK: We detect a lot of wit and style in your meditations.
Maybe that's the purpose of the limbo you're in: It's an opportunity to
build your skill at being lively and feisty and smart no matter what your
outer circumstances are.
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My book *THE TELEVISIONARY ORACLE* has been reprinted:
http://bit.ly/Televisionary
Read a review: http://bit.ly/wGpd0t
Here's an excerpt of that review:
"Visualize an even goofier Tom Robbins or a Douglas Adams turning his
efforts away from outer space into inner space.
"Imagine a slap-happy Kurt Vonnegut reeking of optimism or a Robert
Anton Wilson with a spiritual agenda rather than a paranoia-pushing
political one.
"After adjusting their attitudes accordingly, take all four of these snarky
wordsmiths and fuse them together lovingly, tossing in healthy amounts
of counter-propaganda and post-New Age mysticism.
"The end result of this mixture should produce an author that, if not a
perfect portrait of Rob Brezsny, bears more than a passing resemblance
to everyone's favorite alternative astrologer."
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Steal a song from the soundtrack for *THE TELEVISIONARY ORACLE*:
http://bit.ly/xfBe4J
"When all the fossil fuels disappeared
it was hard for the first few years"
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
POETRY SNEAKS INTO THE MAINSTREAM
In all the news media, from mainstream to alternative, there is only one
source I know of that regularly calls on poets to add their flavors: the PBS
News Hour. This is largely due to the influence of my old friend Jeff
Brown, who is one of main journalists there. Check out the News Hour
poetry page:
http://tinyurl.com/yt8unm
PRONOIA IS NOT JUST ABOUT BEING NICE
The Importance of being playful
http://tinyurl.com/6pjqvle
LET'S EXPERIMENT WITH SACRED DESECRATION
Moss Graffiti Makes Eco-Friendly Street Art
http://tinyurl.com/d6a9zl9
(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They are 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 June 14
Copyright 2012 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Do you remember what you were doing
between July 2000 and June 2001? Think back. Did anything happen
then that felt like a wild jumpstart, or a series of epiphanies, or a
benevolent form of shock therapy? Were you forcibly dislodged from a rut
by an adversary who eventually became an ally? Did you wake up from a
sleepy trance you didn't even know you had been in? I'm guessing that at
least some of those experiences will be returning in the coming months,
but on a higher octave this time.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Author Steven Covey describes your "circle of
concern" as everything you're concerned with or worried about. Your
"circle of influence," on the other hand, is anything that's within your
ability to change right now. For example, you may have general long-term
questions or anxieties about the future of your health. That's your circle
of concern. But your circle of influence contains specific actions you can
take to affect your health today, like eating good food, getting enough
sleep, and doing exercise. What I'm seeing for you, Cancerian, is that the
coming weeks will be an excellent time to spend less time in your circle of
concern and more in your circle of influence. Stop fantasizing about what
may or may not happen, and simply take charge of the details that will
make a difference.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): There's a wild zoo about two hours northwest of
Seattle. After paying your fee, you can drive your car through acres of
land where large animals are allowed to roam free. When I took the tour, I
stopped my rented Dodge Stratus by the side of the road to get a better
look at a humongous buffalo with a humped back and a long woolly beard.
It lumbered over to where I was parked and for the next five minutes
thoroughly licked my windshield with its enormous purple tongue. My
head was just inches away from its primal power, and yet I was safe and
relaxed and perfectly amused. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a
comparable experience sometime soon, Leo.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the Biblical book of Genesis, Jacob had a
dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder that went up to
heaven. I recommend that you try to incubate a similar dream, or else do
some meditations in which you visualize that scene. It would help prime
your psyche for one of this week's top assignments, which is to be
adaptable as you go back and forth between very high places and very
low places. Heaven and earth need to be better connected. So do the
faraway and the close-at-hand, as well as the ideal and the practical. And
you're the right person for the job.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Thomas Edison said something to the effect
that a person who is thoroughly satisfied is probably a failure. I guess he
meant that if you're not always pushing to make your life better, you
must not have very high standards or passionate goals. While I can see
the large grains of truth in that theory, I don't think it applies in all cases -
- like for you right now, for instance. During the upcoming grace period, it
will make sense for you to be perfectly content with the state of your life
just as it is. To do so won't make you lazy and complacent. Just the
opposite, in fact: It will charge your psychic batteries and create a
reservoir of motivational energy for the second half of 2012.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Twenty-four-year-old actress Annalynne
McCord has risen up in rebellion against what she calls "Hollywood's
perfection requirement." Lately she has been brazenly appearing in public
without any make-up on. She has even encouraged paparazzi to snap
photos of her in her natural state. "I'm not perfect," she says, "and that's
okay with me." I nominate her to be your role model in the coming weeks,
Scorpio. You will be able to stir up useful blessings for yourself by being
loyal to the raw truth. You can gain power by not hiding anything. (And
yes, I realize that last statement is in conflict with the core Scorpionic
philosophy.) Here's my guarantee: It'll be fun to be free of unrealistic
images and showy deceptions.
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Free Will Astrology's
EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
feature suggestions on how to become more yourself
and liberate yourself from your suffering
Register and/or sign in at http://RealAstrology.com.
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888.
"Your Expanded Audio Horoscopes seem to have the effect of activating
my inner teacher. Thanks!" - Eleanor A., Toronto
"When I listen to your audio 'scopes, my free will lights up." - Alex D., Los
Angeles
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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Nineteenth-century Russian novelist Ivan
Turgenev once called his fellow novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky a "pimple on
the face of literature." But more than a hundred years after that crude
dismissal, Dostoyevsky is a much more highly regarded and influential
writer than Turgenev. Use this as inspiration, Sagittarius, if you have to
deal with anyone's judgmental appraisals of you in the coming days. Their
opinions will say more about them than about you. Refresh your
understanding of the phenomenon of "projection," in which people
superimpose their fantasies and delusions on realities they don't see
clearly.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Take a few deep breaths. It's important
not to get overly worked up about your recent diversion from the Truth
and the Way. I mean it's not like you sold heroin to high school students
or dumped toxic waste into a mountain stream, right? It's true that
you've incurred a minor karmic debt that will ultimately have to be repaid.
And yes, you've been reminded that you can't allow yourself to lower
your standards even slightly. But I doubt any of it will matter in five years
-- especially if you atone now. So please go ahead and give yourself a
spanking, make a definitive plan to correct your error, and start cruising in
the direction of the next chapter of your life story.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Have you ever tried to drink from a fire
hose? The sheer amount and force of the water shooting out the end
makes it hard to actually get any moisture in your mouth, let alone enjoy
the process. On the other hand, it is kind of entertaining, and it does
provide a lot of material to tell funny stories about later on. But are those
good enough reasons to go ahead and do it? I say no. That's why I advise
you, metaphorically speaking, to draw your sustenance from a more
contained flow in the coming week. Cultivate a relationship with a
resource that gives you what you really need.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The coming week will be an excellent time to
declare your independence from anything that depresses you, obsesses
you, or oppresses you. You will attract help from unexpected sources if
you take that brave action. At the same time, it'll be a perfect moment to
declare your interdependence with anything that fires up your
imagination, stirs up smart hope, or fills you with a desire to create
masterpieces. Be adventurous as you dream about blending your energies
with the very best influences.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): It's time for your right hand to find out what
your left hand has been doing lately, and vice versa. They've been
attending to their separate agendas for a while, and now it would be wise
to have them work together more closely. As they get reacquainted, a bit
of friction would be understandable. You may have to serve as a
mediator. Try to get them to play nicely with each other for a while
before jumping in to the negotiations about how best they can cooperate
in the future. And be very firm with them: no slapping or fighting allowed.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Some relationships that you call "friendships"
may be little more than useful connections or status boosters or
affiliations that enhance your power and influence. There's no shame in
that. But it's also a smart idea to make sure that at least some of your
alliances are rooted primarily in pure affection. You need to exchange
energy with people who don't serve your ambitions so much as they feed
your soul. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to cultivate
friendships like that. Take good care of those you have, and be alert for
the possibility of starting a new one.
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Homework: What do you know or do that no one else in the world has a
clue about? Tell all! Go to FreeWillAstrology.com and click on "Email Rob."
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2012 Rob Brezsny
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