Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
November 1, 2017
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See a pretty version of this newsletter: http://bit.ly/YourLifeIsEpic
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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
Below are excerpts.
The concept of pronoia proposes the hypothesis that life is a vast and
intricate conspiracy designed to keep us well supplied with blessings.
What kind of blessings?
Ten million dollars, a gorgeous physique, a perfect marriage, a luxurious
home, and high status? Maybe.
But just as likely:
interesting surprises,
dizzying adventures,
gifts you hardly know what to do with,
challenges that dare you to free yourself from the debilitating aspects of
your suffering,
and conundrums that dare you to get smarter.
Novelist William Vollman referred to the latter types of blessings when he
said that "the most important and enjoyable thing in life is doing
something that's a complicated, tricky problem for you that you don't
know how to solve."
The Christian writer C. S. Lewis once said: "I thank God that He hasn't
given me all the things I've prayed for, because as I look back now I
realize it would have been disastrous to have received some of them."
Pronoia provides the boons and prods your soul needs, not necessarily
those your ego craves.
Pronoia doesn't promise uninterrupted progress forever. It's not a slick
commercial for a perfect summer daythat never ends.
Grace emerges in the ebb and flow, not just the flow. The waning reveals
a different kind of blessing than the waxing.
But whether it's our time to ferment in the valley of shadows or rise up
singing in the sun-splashed meadow, fresh power to transform ourselves
is always on the way.
Our suffering won't last, nor will our triumph.
Without fail, life will deliver the creative energy we need to change into
the new thing we must become.
Pronoia works because there is a Divine Being who comprises the entire
universe.
When I say, "Life is a conspiracy to shower us with blessings," I
understand that this Divine Being is the Chief Architect, Builder, and
Manager of the conspiracy.
She oversees the evolution of 500 billion galaxies and every single thing
in them, yet is also available as an intimate companion and daily advisor
to each one of us humans.
Some lovers of pronoia don't like this part of my rap. They want pronoia
to be free of anything that smacks of God. Atheism works better for
them. That's OK with me. No hard feelings.
Other lovers of pronoia don't appreciate me referring to the Creator as
"She." They either want to stick with the pronoun that has been used for
hundreds of years, or else don't want any gender associations
whatsoever. That's OK with me. No hard feelings.
The Maker of the conspiracy constantly tinkers, always keeping the big,
14-billion-year-long picture in mind and moving in the direction of ultimate
blessings for all concerned.
But the Maker also loves getting help from us. To the degree that we co-
conspire, the inevitable blessings ripen more lyrically and in greater
fullness.
Pronoia asks us to be awake to the shifting conditions of the Wild Divine's
ever-fresh creation. It encourages us to be quite happy about regularly
divesting ourselves of the beliefs and theories that guided us yesterday
so that we can see clearly what's right in front of us today.
As much as we might be dismayed by the actions of our political leaders
pronoia says that toppling any particular junta, clique, or elite is irrelevant
unless we overthrow the sour, puckered mass hallucinationthat is
mistakenly called "reality" including the part of that hallucination we
foster in ourselves.
The revolution begins at home. If you overthrow yourself again and again,
you might earn the right to help overthrow the rest of us.
Pronoia will change your past if you let it. It's the language you study at
night in your dreams, the open secret of how to live forever, the Last
Judgment transformed into a daily gift.
Pronoia is a gnostic art: Everyone is potentially a visionary capable of
revealing more of its mysteries.
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GENUINE LISTENING
"Genuine listening requires that you willingly bear witness to what
someone else needs to say while simultaneously sparing them of your own
solution, defense, dismissal, alternative reality, rebuttal, counterpoint,
comparable story or more extreme example.
This kind of listening is a very 'active' part to play in a conversation. You
have to believe for those moments that none of the things you might say
could possibly be as valuable as hearing someone out.
You may need to employ every ounce of your strength of character to
actually pay attention and not butt-in with your own bit. That kind of
attention paid to another is powerful medicine."
~ Gil Hedley, *Integral Anatomy*
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BESTOWING BLESSING
You don't have to be a highly evolved paragon of enlightenment in order
to ease suffering and bestow blessings.
- Caroline Myss
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PURIFICATION
You could say this: "I no longer want to be a compost heap for sickening
images."
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Saving an owl.
https://i.imgur.com/DtVes3o.gifv
Meet the Playwrights Bringing Social Justice to the Stage
These women are helping audiences empathize with issues in a way that a
book or an article can't.
http://tinyurl.com/yckw5wax
The Woman Aiming to Get 50 Million Americans Into the Worker-Owner
Economy. And she has a plan to do it.
http://tinyurl.com/ybkgcs3l
(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They aren't advertisements,
and I get no kickbacks.)
Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning November 2
Copyright 2017 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the early stages of Johnny Cash's
development as a musician, his mother hired a coach to give him singing
lessons. But after a few meetings, the teacher counseled him to quit.
Johnny's style was so unique, the seasoned pro thought it better not to
tamper with his natural sound. I hesitate to offer you comparable advice,
Scorpio. I'm a big believer in the value of enhancing one's innate talents
with training and education. On the other hand, my assessment of your
destiny between now and October 2018 impels me to offer a suggestion:
It may be useful for you to give some credence to the perspective of
Johnny Cash's voice coach. Make sure you guard and revere your
distinctiveness.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I used to nurture a grudge against Tony
Pastorini. He was the high school math teacher who kicked me out of the
extracurricular Calculus Club because my proofs were too "intuitive and
unorthodox." The shock of his rejection drove me away from a subject I
had been passionate about. Eventually, though, I came to realize what a
good deed he had done. It would have been a mistake for me to keep
specializing in math -- I was destined to study literature and psychology
and mythology -- but it took Pastorini to correct my course. Now,
Sagittarius, I invite you to make a similar shift of attitude. What debt of
gratitude do you owe a person you have thought of as a source of
frustration or obstruction?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the lore of ancient Greek mythology, the
god Prometheus stole fire from his fellow deities and sneakily gave it to
us humans. Before our patron provided us with this natural treasure, we
poor creatures had no access to it. As I gaze out at your possibilities in
the coming months, Capricorn, I foresee you having Promethean
inclinations. Your ability to bestow blessings and spread benevolence and
do good deeds will be at a peak. Unlike Prometheus, however, I don't
expect you'll get into trouble for your generosity. Just the opposite!
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Here's a parable you may find useful. An
armchair explorer is unexpectedly given a chance to embark on an
adventure she has only read and dreamed about. But she hesitates on the
brink of seizing her opportunity. She asks herself, "Do I really want to risk
having ragged reality corrupt the beautiful fantasy I've built up in my
mind's eye?" In the end she takes the gamble. She embarks on the
adventure. And ragged reality does in fact partially corrupt her beautiful
fantasy. But it also brings her unexpected lessons that partially enhance
the beautiful fantasy.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): "A game of chess is usually a fairy tale of
1001 blunders," said chess grandmaster Savielly Tartakower, a Pisces. "It
is a struggle against one's own errors," he added. "The winner of the
game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake." I think this is
excellent counsel during the current phase of your astrological cycle,
Pisces. It's time to risk bold moves, because even if they're partly or
wholly mistaken, they will ultimately put you in a good position to
succeed in the long run. Here's a further point for your consideration.
Remember the philosopher Rene Descartes' famous dictum, "Cogito ergo
sum"? It's Latin for "I think, therefore I am." Tartakower countered this
with, "Erro ergo sum," which is "I err, therefore I am."
ARIES (March 21-April 19): America's Civil War ended in 1865. A veteran
from that conflict later produced a daughter, Irene Triplett, who is still
alive today and collecting his pension. In the coming months, I foresee
you being able to take advantage of a comparable phenomenon, although
it may be more metaphorical. Blessings from bygone times, perhaps even
from the distant past, will be available to you. But you'll have to be alert
and know where to look. So now might be a good time to learn more
about your ancestors, ruminate exuberantly about your own history,
study the lives of your dead heroes, and maybe even tune in to your
previous incarnations.
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MY OTHER HOROSCOPES
Factual information and reasonable thinking alone are not sufficient to
guide you through life's labyrinthine tests. You need and deserve regular
deliveries of uncanny revelation.
One of your inalienable rights as a human being should therefore be to
receive mysteriously useful omens on a regular basis. In this spirit, I offer
you the free weekly horoscopes you read here.
If you ever want more, and think it's worth paying for, try my EXPANDED
AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the
current state of your destiny and where you're headed.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to
http://RealAstrology.com.
Register and/or log in through the main page.
You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888.
The cost is $6 per sign on the Web (discounts available for bulk
purchases), or $1.99 per minute by phone.
The Expanded Audio Horoscopes work on most smart phones and tablets.
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"The best part about your audio horoscopes is that they pat me on the
head and kick me in the ass at the same time." - Rita L., San Diego
"Your audio oracles go beyond helping me find the truth -- they inspire
me to find the WILD truth." - Patrick K., Montreal
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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "I wasn't in the market to buy a Day-Glo
plastic fish from a street vendor," testified a witty guy named Jef on
Facebook, "but that's exactly what I did. The seller said he found it in
someone's trash. He wanted fifty cents for it, but I talked him up to a
dollar. The best part is the expression on the fish's face. It's from Edvard
Munch's *The Scream.*" I bring this testimony to your attention, Taurus,
because I feel it's good role-modeling for you. In the coming days, I bet
you won't know exactly what you're looking for until you find it. This prize
may not be highly valued by anyone else but you. And it will amuse you
and be of use to you in just the right ways.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Where are Chinese gooseberries grown? In New
Zealand. What is a camel's hair brush made of? Squirrel fur. When England
and France waged their Hundred Years' War, how long did it last? 116
years. When do Russians celebrate their October Revolution? In
November. Trick answers like these are likely to be a recurring theme for
you in the coming weeks, Gemini. That's why I advise you to NOT be a
Master of the Obvious.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In accordance with the astrological omens, I
recommend you indulge in any or all of the following exercises. 1.
Dedicate an entire day to performing acts of love. 2. Buy yourself flowers,
sing yourself a song, and tell yourself a story about why you're so
beautiful. 3. Explain your deeply-felt opinion with so much passion and
logic that you change the mind of a person who had previously disagreed
with you. 4. Make a pilgrimage to a sacred spot you want to be influenced
by. 5. Buy a drink for everyone in a bar or cafe.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "Dear Rob: I saw a photo of you recently, and I
realized that you have a scar on your face. I hope you don't mind me
telling you it resembles an ancient Mayan hieroglyph that means 'Builder
of Bridges for Those Who Are Seeking Home.' Did you know this? If so, do
you think it's an accurate title for what you do? - Renegade Leo Scholar."
Dear Scholar: Thanks for your observation. I don't know if I fully deserve
the title "Builder of Bridges for Those Who Are Seeking Home," but it
does describe the role I'm hoping to play for Leos. The coming weeks will
be an excellent time for your tribe to clarify and cultivate your notion of
home.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Author Clarissa Pinkola Estés encourages us to
purge any tendencies we might have to think of ourselves as hounded
animals, angry, wounded victims, leaky vessels aching to be filled, or
broken creatures yearning for rescue. It so happens that now is a perfect
time for you to perform this purgation. You have maximum power to
revise your self-image so that it resounds with more poise, self-
sufficiency, and sovereignty.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I used to scoff at people who play the lottery.
The chance of winning big is almost nil. Why not invest one's hopes in
more pragmatic schemes to generate money? But my opinion softened a
bit when the planet Jupiter made a lucky transit to an aspect in my
personal horoscope. It really did seem like my chances of winning the
lottery were unusually high. I started dreaming about the educational
amusements I'd pursue if I got a huge influx of cash. I opened my mind to
expansive future possibilities that I had previously been closed to. So even
though I didn't actually get a windfall during this favorable financial phase,
I was glad I'd entertained the fantasy. In alignment with current
astrological omens, Libra, here's the moral of the story for you: Meditate
on what educational amusements you'd seek if you had more money.
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Homework: Meditate on death not as the end of physical life, but as a
metaphor for shedding what's outworn. In that light, what's the best
death you've experienced? Freewillastrology.com
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Submissions sent to Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
or in response to "homework assignments" may be
published in a variety of formats at Rob Brezsny's discretion,
including but not limited to newsletters, books, the Free Will
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2017 Rob Brezsny
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