Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
August 8, 2018
+
See a pretty version of this newsletter: https://bit.ly/YouLoveYourStory
+
LIGHTLY
Aldous Huxley was the renowned 20th-century intellectual who wrote the
book *Brave New World*, a dystopian vision of the future. Later in his life
he came to regret one thing: how "preposterously serious" he had been
when he was younger.
"There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet," he ruminated,
"trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That's why
you must walk so lightly. Lightly, my darling . . . Learn to do everything
lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you're feeling deeply."
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
EXPERIMENT: Be scarier than your fears. If an anxious thought pops into
your mind, bare your teeth and growl, "Get out of here or I will rip you to
shreds!" If a demon visits you in a nightly dream, chase after it with a
torch and sword, screaming "Begone, foul spirit, or I will burn your mangy
ass!"
Don't tolerate bullying in any form, whether it comes from a critical little
voice in your head or from supposedly nice people who are trying to guilt-
trip you. "I am a brave conqueror who cannot be intimidated!" is what you
could say, or "I am a monster of love and goodness who will defeat all
threats to my integrity!
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
WHY MERCURY RETROGRADE IS A GOOD THING
Mercury is retrograde until August 18. Astrologer Donna Cunningham tells
us why this is a good thing, and gives us suggestions on how to take
maximum advantage of its unique opportunities.
https://tinyurl.com/yc5k45x5
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
WHERE'S THE MAGIC?
Interviewer: "Rob, if life is such a miraculous web of magic, why is it that
most of us don't feel that way so much of the time?"
Hear my response in this 11-minute interview:
https://bit.ly/2v0sXC8
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
HIDING
By David Whyte:
HIDING is a way of staying alive. Hiding is a way of holding ourselves until
we are ready to come into the light. Even hiding the truth from ourselves
can be a way to come to what we need in our own necessary time. Hiding
is one of the brilliant and virtuoso practices of almost every part of the
natural world: the protective quiet of an icy northern landscape, the held
bud of a future summer rose, the snow bound internal pulse of the
hibernating bear.
Hiding is underestimated. We are hidden by life in our mother's womb
until we grow and ready ourselves for our first appearance in the lighted
world; to appear too early in that world is to find ourselves with the
immediate necessity for outside intensive care.
Hiding done properly is the internal faithful promise for a proper future
emergence, as embryos, as children or even as emerging adults in retreat
from the names that have caught us and imprisoned us, often in ways
where we have been too easily seen and too easily named.
We live in a time of the dissected soul, the immediate disclosure; our
thoughts, imaginings and longings exposed to the light too much, too
early and too often, our best qualities squeezed too soon into a world
already awash with too easily articulated ideas that oppress our sense of
self and our sense of others.
What is real is almost always to begin with, hidden, and does not want to
be understood by the part of our mind that mistakenly thinks it knows
what is happening. What is precious inside us does not care to be known
by the mind in ways that diminish its presence.
Hiding is an act of freedom from the misunderstanding of others,
especially in the enclosing world of oppressive secret government and
private entities, attempting to name us, to anticipate us, to leave us with
no place to hide and grow in ways unmanaged by a creeping necessity for
absolute naming, absolute tracking and absolute control.
Hiding is a bid for independence, from others, from mistaken ideas we
have about our selves, from an oppressive and mistaken wish to keep us
completely safe, completely ministered to, and therefore completely
managed.
Hiding is creative, necessary and beautifully subversive of outside
interference and control. Hiding leaves life to itself, to become more of
itself. Hiding is the radical independence necessary for our emergence into
the light of a proper human future.
Excerpted from 'HIDING' in "CONSOLATIONS: The Solace, Nourishment and
Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words"
- 2015 © David Whyte:
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
WRONG FOR YOU IN JUST THE RIGHT WAY
"We're all seeking that special person who is right for us. But if you've
been through enough relationships, you begin to suspect there's no right
person, just different flavors of wrong.
"Why is this? Because you yourself are wrong in some way, and you seek
out partners who are wrong in some complementary way. But it takes a
lot of living to grow fully into your own wrongness. And it isn't until you
finally run up against your deepest demons, your unsolvable problems—
the ones that make you truly who you are—that we're ready to find a
lifelong mate.
"Only then do you finally know what you're looking for. You're looking for
the wrong person. But not just any wrong person: the right wrong
person—someone you lovingly gaze upon and think, 'This is the problem I
want to have.'
"'I will find that special person who is wrong for me in just the right way.'"
- Andrew Boyd, *Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to
Everything in the Universe*
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse
Global Warming.
https://tinyurl.com/y99kchwg
Young People Are Registering to Vote in Huge Numbers, New Study Finds.
In some battleground states, 18-to-29-year-olds now make up a far
greater percentage of new registrants.
https://tinyurl.com/ybgd2vfr
Artist Adds Brilliant Twist to Classic Works of Art: Replacing White Men
With Black Women.
https://tinyurl.com/ybkl4ekh
(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.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning August 9
Copyright 2018 by Rob Brezsny
http://www.freewillastrology.com/horoscopes/
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): You probably gaze at the sky enough to realize
when there's a full moon. But you may not monitor the heavenly cycles
closely enough to tune in to the new moon, that phase each month when
the lunar orb is invisible. We astrologers regard it as a ripe time to
formulate fresh intentions. We understand it to be a propitious moment
to plant metaphorical seeds for the desires you want to fulfill in the
coming four weeks. When this phenomenon happens during the
astrological month of Leo, the potency is intensified for you. Your next
appointment with this holiday is August 10th and 11th.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In her poem "Dogfish," Virgo poet Mary Oliver
writes, "I wanted the past to go away, I wanted to leave it." Why?
Because she wanted her life "to open like a hinge, like a wing." I'm happy
to tell you, Virgo, that you now have more power than usual to make your
past go away. I'm also pleased to speculate that as you perform this
service for yourself, you'll be skillful enough to preserve the parts of your
past that inspire you, even as you shrink and neutralize memories that
drain you. In response to this good work, I bet your life will open like a
hinge, like a wing -- no later than your birthday, and most likely before
that.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran fashion writer Diana Vreeland (1903-
1989) championed the beauty of the strong nose. She didn't approve of
women wanting to look like "piglets and kittens." If she were alive today,
she'd be pleased that nose jobs in the U.S. have declined 43 percent since
2000. According to journalist Madeleine Schwartz writing in *Garage*
magazine, historians of rhinoplasty say there has been a revival of
appreciation for the distinctive character revealed in an unaltered nose. I
propose, Libra, that in accordance with current astrological omens, we
extrapolate some even bigger inspiration from that marvelous fact. The
coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to celebrate and honor and
express pride in your idiosyncratic natural magnificence.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "Maybe happiness is this: not feeling like you
should be elsewhere, doing something else, being someone else." This
definition, articulated by author Isaac Asimov, will be an excellent fit for
you between now and September 20. I suspect you'll be unusually likely
to feel at peace with yourself and at home in the world. I don't mean to
imply that every event will make you cheerful and calm. What I'm saying is
that you will have an extraordinary capacity to make clear decisions based
on accurate appraisals of what's best for you. (P.S.: Here's another tip
from author Albert Camus: "If there is a sin against life, it consists
perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and
in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.")
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I've compiled a list of new blessings you
need and deserve during the next 14 months. To the best of my ability, I
will assist you to procure them. Here they are: a practical freedom song
and a mature love song; an exciting plaything and a renaissance of
innocence; an evocative new symbol that helps mobilize your evolving
desires; escape from the influence of a pest you no longer want to answer
to; insights about how to close the gap between the richest and poorest
parts of yourself; and the cutting of a knot that has hindered you for
years.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "It has become clear to me that I must
either find a willing nurturer to cuddle and nuzzle and whisper sweet
truths with me for six hours or else seek sumptuous solace through the
aid of eight shots of whiskey." My Capricorn friend Tammuz confided that
message to me. I wouldn't be surprised if you were feeling a comparable
tug. According to my assessment of the Capricorn zeitgeist, you acutely
need the revelations that would become available to you through altered
states of emotional intelligence. A lavish whoosh of alcohol might do the
trick, but a more reliable and effective method would be through
immersions in intricate, affectionate intimacy.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ARE YOU THE HERO OF YOUR OWN LIFE?
"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that
station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." So begins
Charles Dickens' novel *David Copperfield*.
I'd like to inspire you to write a story of your own that begins like that.
That's why I provide you with my free horoscopes.
If you'd ever like even more assistance from me, tune into your
EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, which I create for you each week.
They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your
destiny.
These forecasts are different in tone and format from the written
horoscopes you read here in the newsletter. They're longer and more
leisurely in tone. They bring out more of the patient counselor in me, and
have a bit less of the poet.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to
https://freewillastrology.sparkns.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 are available for bulk
purchases), or $1.99 per minute by phone.
+
"Your Expanded Audio Horoscopes seem to have the effect of activating
my inner teacher. Thanks!" - Eleanor A., Toronto
"Your expanded audio horoscopes are the next best thing to actually
having you here next to me to remind me who I really am." - Alyssa R.,
Des Moines, Iowa
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Not even five percent of the world's
population lives in a complete democracy. Congratulations to Norway,
Canada, Australia, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, New Zealand,
Switzerland, and Sweden. Sadly, three countries where my column is
published -- the U.S., Italy, and France -- are categorized as "flawed
democracies." Yet they're far better than the authoritarian regimes in
China and Russia. (Source: *The Economist*.) I offer this public service
announcement as a prelude to your homework assignment. According to
my astrological analysis, you will personally benefit from working to bring
more democracy into your personal sphere. How can you ensure that
people you care about feel equal to you, and have confidence that you
will listen to and consider their needs, and believe they have a strong say
in shaping your shared experiences?
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Mystic poet Kabir wrote, "The flower blooms
for the fruit: when the fruit comes, the flower withers." He was invoking a
metaphor to describe his spiritual practice and reward. The hard inner
work he did to identify himself with God was the blooming flower that
eventually made way for the fruit. The fruit was his conscious, deeply felt
union with God. I see this scenario as applicable to your life, Pisces. Should
you feel sadness about the flower's withering? It's fine to do so. But the
important thing is that you now have the fruit. Celebrate it! Enjoy it!
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Palestinian American writer Susan Abulhawa
writes that in the Arab world, to say a mere "thank you" is regarded as
spiritless and ungenerous. The point of communicating gratitude is to
light up with lively and expressive emotions that respond in kind to the
kindness bestowed. For instance, a recipient may exclaim, "May Allah
bless the hands that give me this blessing," or "Beauty is in the eyes that
find me beautiful." In accordance with current astrological omens, I
propose that you experiment with this approach. Be specific in your
praise. Be exact in your appreciation. Acknowledge the unique mood and
meaning of each rich exchange.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): According to my analysis of the astrological
omens, you need this advice from mythologist Joseph Campbell: "Your
sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again." He says it's
"a rescue land . . . some field of action where there is a spring of ambrosia
-- a joy that comes from inside, not something external that puts joy into
you -- a place that lets you experience your own will and your own
intention and your own wish." Do you have such a place, Taurus? If not,
now is a great time to find one. If you do, now is a great time to go there
for a spell and renew the hell out of yourself.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): When he was 20 years old, future U.S.
President Thomas Jefferson had an awkward encounter with a young
woman who piqued his interest. He was embarrassed by the gracelessness
he displayed. For two days afterward, he endured a terrible headache. We
might speculate that it was a psychosomatic reaction. I bring this up
because I'm wondering if your emotions are also trying to send coded
messages to you via your body. Are you aware of unusual symptoms or
mysterious sensations? See if you can trace them back to their source in
your soul.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): There's a zone in your psyche where
selfishness overlaps generosity, where the line between being emotionally
manipulative and gracefully magnanimous almost disappears. With both
hope and trepidation for the people in your life, I advise you to hang out
in that grey area for now. Yes, it's a risk. You could end up finessing
people mostly for your own good and making them think it's mostly for
their own good. But the more likely outcome is that you will employ
ethical abracadabra to bring out the best in others, even as you get what
you want, too.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Homework: If you could make money from doing exactly what you love to
do, what would it be? Testify at Freewillastrology.com.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NEED TO CHANGE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS?
To join or leave the email list for this newsletter, or to change the address
where you receive it, go to:
http://www.freewillastrology.com/newsletter/
Once you join, check these points to ensure you'll actually receive the
newsletter:
1. Add my address, televisionary@comcast.net, to your address book so
that the newsletter won't be treated as spam and filtered out.
2. Adjust your spam filter so it doesn't treat my address as spam.
3. Tell your company's IT group to let my address pass through any
filtering software they have set up.
4. If my newsletters don't reach your inbox, look in your "Bulk Mail" or
"Junk Mail" folder.
5. Problems could originate with your email provider. It may be using a
"content filter" that prevents my newsletter from reaching you. If you
suspect that's true, complain. Tell your email provider to stop blocking
my newsletter.
P.S. I totally respect your privacy. I'll never sell or give away your address
to anyone.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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
Astrology column, and Free Will Astrology website. We reserve
the right to edit submissions for length, style, and content.
Requests for anonymity will be honored. We are not responsible for
unsolicited submission of any creative material.
Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2018 Rob Brezsny
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++