Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
August 21, 2019
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See a pretty version of this newsletter:
https://bit.ly/YourGoldenLove
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Turns out your life purpose isn't supposed to be as small and
silent and accommodating as possible! Good to know!
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MY BOOK *PRONOIA* GOT QUOTED BY MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson posted an extensive
quote from my book *Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia* on
her Facebook page: https://tinyurl.com/WilliamsonPronoia
Here's the piece that Marianne Williamson quoted:
https://tinyurl.com/BeautyAndTruthTaboo
On this page you'll find links to a lot of other material from my
book that you can read for free:
https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaForFree
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GRACE EMERGES IN THE EBB AND FLOW
Pronoia doesn’t promise uninterrupted progress forever. It’s not
a slick commercial for a perfect summer day that 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.
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PLOT TWISTS THAT DON'T RELY ON CONFLICT
Ursula K. Le Guin writes: "Modernist manuals of writing often
conflate story with conflict. This reductionism reflects a culture
that inflates aggression and competition while cultivating
ignorance of other behavioral options.
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"No narrative of any complexity can be built on or reduced to a
single element. Conflict is one kind of behavior. There are
others, equally important in any human life, such as relating,
finding, losing, bearing, discovering, parting, changing.
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"Change is the universal aspect of all these sources of story.
Story is something moving, something happening, something or
somebody changing."
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This book contains a host of short stories that escape the
Nihilistic Netflixization of storytelling and hew to Le Guin's
parameters: https://tinyurl.com/yyvchxee
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A LITTLE BUT NOT A LOT
Experiment: keep checking yourself for irrelevant, self-
perpetuating negativity and bitterness.
A certain degree of negativity and bitterness is sensible, even
necessary. You can't stay healthy without cultivating a medicinal
dose of the stuff.
But it's in your interests to cultivate just the amount you need,
no more.
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HOW TO HAVE A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
The teacher Rudolf Steiner had a devotee who complained that
after years of meditating and studying sacred texts he had not
yet had a spiritual experience.
Steiner asked him if he'd noticed the face of the conductor on
the train on which they were riding. The man said no. Steiner
replied, "Then you just missed a spiritual experience."
My interpretation: You can expedite and intensify your
education about spiritual matters by noticing the beauty and
holiness in the most mundane things.
Also, this: Every event that happens is an opportunity to
meditate.
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YOU'RE IN SACRED SPACE RIGHT NOW
No matter what comes along, we’re always standing at the
center of the world in the middle of sacred space, and
everything that comes into that circle and exists with us there
has come to teach us what we need to know.
—Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape
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INSIDE INFORMATION
"What you seek is seeking you."
Rumi
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THE END OF SPIRITUALITY by Jeff Foster
My yoga mat has disappeared into the ground under my feet.
My ashram has become the coffee counter, a bad joke
exchanged with the barista, a friendly smile creeping over a
frozen face, and the whole world willing us along.
My temple is the shopping mall, the dentist’s waiting room, the
empty meadow in the morning with its soft yellow light and
virginal air.
My guru is the incubating roar in the belly, the melancholy of
the evening and the hope and despair of raw existence itself.
Nothing needs to be added.
My enlightenment is the ordinary moment, this mundane
experience drenched in the sweet nectar of my own attention.
My origin is the breath and the breath is my destination.
My lineage is the hungry cat greeting me on my evening walk,
ambling beside me awhile, rubbing her fur against my shin, her
fur soft like the cashmere blanket grandma used to wrap
around us as the nights came in early, fur becoming skin, and
the cat nonchalantly moving on to peruse a discarded sandwich
wrapper, and me walking on.
My spirituality is deep in the earth; it is in the mud, the heat,
the bowels, the awkward and the inconvenient, the cry for
mother and the courage to penetrate unexplored regions of the
psyche. It is the yearning for home and the happily exhausted
return.
My bliss is nothing the mind could ever grasp, not in a billion
years of searching.
My joy is simple, like those who have lived a full life and are
ready to die.
I lie down in the meadow, my backpack my pillow, my hands
entering into the silky, sticky grass, my entire life reduced to a
single thought and memory and momentary vision, and then
that is gone too, and I am gone with it all, replaced by the
meadow itself, its soft yellow light and its clean invigorating air,
its hope and its promise, its fullness and its mercy.
Do not look for me. You will not find me here, or recognise me
if you do. I am invisible because I have become all that is seen
and all that is known and unknown still.
I do not practice spirituality. I have been destroyed,
deconstructed, de-boned and born again, reconstituted as man,
formless as form. I have been recreated inseparable from this
ordinariness, resurrected with the birds belly laughing on the
electric wires at dawn.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Rapper Akon has brought solar electricity to over 1 million
Africans, and counting.
https://tinyurl.com/y3zql3oq
Fish recorded singing dawn chorus on reefs.
https://tinyurl.com/ju9fj96
Nancy Hopkins, the Amgen Professor of Biology emerita at MIT,
is winding down an extraordinary career in which she made
important contributions to molecular biology and helped
catalogue the genes required for a fertilized egg to develop into
higher organisms. Along the way, she took a courageous stand
against gender bias in academic science at MIT and beyond.
Hopkins not only instigated an investigation that grew into the
landmark 1999 report on the status of women at MIT, but she
devoted time to making sure it got results.
https://tinyurl.com/y5vbnx8b
(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 August 22
Copyright 2019 by Rob Brezsny
https://FreeWillAstrology.com/horoscopes/
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Yisrael Kristal was a Polish Jew born
under the sign of Virgo in 1903. His father was a scholar of the
Torah, and he began studying Judaism and learning Hebrew at
age three. He lived a long life and had many adventures,
working as a candle-maker and a candy-maker. When the Red
Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945, Kristal
emerged as one of the survivors. He went on to live to the age
of 113. Because of the chaos of World War I, he had never
gotten to do his bar mitzvah when he'd turned thirteen. So he
did it much later, in his old age. I foresee a comparable event
coming up soon in your life, Virgo. You will claim a reward or
observe a milestone or collect a blessing you weren't able to
enjoy earlier.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Sailors have used compasses to
navigate since the eleventh century. But that tool wasn't enough
to guide them. A thorough knowledge of the night sky's stars
was a crucial aid. Skill at reading the ever-changing ocean
currents always proved valuable. Another helpful trick was to
take birds on the ships as collaborators. While at sea, if the
birds flew off and returned, the sailors knew there was no land
close by. If the birds didn't return, chances were good that land
was near. I bring this to your attention, Libra, because I think
it's an excellent time to gather a number of different
navigational tools for your upcoming quest. One won't be
enough.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): What do you want from the allies
who aren't your lovers? What feelings do you most enjoy while
you're in the company of your interesting, non-romantic
companions? For instance, maybe you like to be respected and
appreciated. Or perhaps what's most important to you is to
experience the fun of being challenged and stimulated. Maybe
your favorite feeling is the spirit of collaboration and
comradeship. Or maybe all of the above. In any case, Scorpio, I
urge you to get clear about what you want—and then make it
your priority to foster it. In the coming weeks, you'll have the
power to generate an abundance of your favorite kind of non-
sexual togetherness.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As the CEO of the clothes
company Zappos, Sagittarius entrepreneur Tony Hsieh is worth
almost a billion dollars. If he chose, he could live in a mansion
by the sea. Yet his home is a 200-square-foot, $48,000 trailer
in Las Vegas, where he also keeps his pet alpaca. To be clear,
he owns the entire trailer park, which consists of 30 other
trailers, all of which are immaculate hotbeds of high-tech media
technology where interesting people live. He loves the
community he has created, which is more important to him than
status and privilege. "For me, experiences are more meaningful
than stuff," he says. "I have way more experiences here." I'd
love to see you reaffirm your commitment to priorities like his in
the coming weeks, Sagittarius. It'll be a favorable time to do so.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Medical researcher Jonas Salk
developed a successful polio vaccine, so he had a strong
rational mind. Here's how he described his relationship with his
non-rational way of knowing. He said, "It is always with
excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my
intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea. I work with it
and rely on it. It's my partner." I bring this up, Capricorn,
because the coming weeks will be a favorable time to celebrate
and cultivate your own intuition. You may generate amazing
results as you learn to trust it more and figure out how to
deepen your relationship with it.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian environmentalist Edward
Abbey once formulated a concise list of his requirements for
living well. "One must be reasonable in one's demands on life,"
he wrote. "For myself, all that I ask is: 1. accurate information;
2. coherent knowledge; 3. deep understanding; 4. infinite loving
wisdom; 5. no more kidney stones, please." According to my
analysis of the astrological omens, now would be an excellent
time for you to create your own tally of the Five Crucial
Provisions. Be bold and precise as you inform life about your
needs.
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OUR COLLABORATION
I really do feel that you're here with me as I create these
horoscopes. In a sense, you're my assistant. Our telepathic
connection is utterly palpable and practical. The hopes and
questions you project my way stream into my higher mind,
coloring my psychic environment and enriching my desire to give
you what you need.
If you ever want more inspiration generated in that same
collaborative spirit -- beyond the horoscopes you're reading
here -- keep in mind that every week I also offer EXPANDED
AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. 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.
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 On the Web. (Discounts are
available for bulk purchases.) You can also access them for
$1.99 per minute by phone
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"Your Expanded Audio Horoscopes provide me with the Rest of
the Story. I'm not necessarily a believer in the scientific accuracy
of astrology, but I do think you've got a lot of practical wisdom
to impart."
- M. Tennenbaum, New York
"No one knows more about me than me. But you're right up
there near the top of the list of people who do understand
something about how I tick. How is that possible?"
- R. Goren, Albuquerque
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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): "We may be surprised at whom God
sends to answer our prayers," wrote author Janette Oke. I
suspect that observation will apply to you in the coming weeks.
If you're an atheist or agnostic, I'll rephrase her formulation for
you: "We may be surprised at whom Life sends to answer our
entreaties." There's only one important thing you have to do to
cooperate with this experience: set aside your expectations
about how help and blessings might appear.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): It's not cost-efficient to recycle
plastic. Sorting and processing the used materials to make
them available for fresh stuff is at least as expensive as
creating new plastic items from scratch. On the other hand,
sending used plastic to a recycling center makes it far less likely
that it will end up in the oceans and waterways, harming living
creatures. So in this case, the short-term financial argument in
favor of recycling is insubstantial, whereas the moral argument
is strong. I invite you to apply a similar perspective to your
upcoming decisions.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): African American slaves suffered
many horrendous deprivations. For example, it was illegal for
them to learn to read. Their oppressors feared that educated
slaves would be better equipped to agitate for freedom, and
took extreme measures to keep them illiterate. Frederick
Douglass was one slave who managed to beat the ban. As he
secretly mastered the art of reading and writing, he came upon
literature that ultimately emboldened him to escape his
"owners" and flee to safety. He became one of the nineteenth
century's most powerful abolitionists, producing reams of
influential writing and speeches. I propose that we make
Douglass your inspiring role model for the coming months. I
think you're ready to break the hold of a certain curse—and go
on to achieve a gritty success that the curse had prevented you
from accomplishing.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): For twenty-five years, businessman
Don Thompson worked for the McDonald's fast food company,
including three years as its CEO. During that time, he oversaw
the sale and consumption of millions of hamburgers. But in
2015, he left McDonald's and became part of Beyond Meat, a
company that sells vegan alternatives to meat. I could see you
undergoing an equally dramatic shift in the coming months,
Gemini: a transition into a new role that resembles but is also
very different from a role you've been playing. I urge you to
step up your fantasies about what that change might entail.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): "The learning process is something
you can incite, literally incite, like a riot," wrote author Audre
Lorde. As an astrologer I would add this nuance: although what
Lourde says is true, some phases of your life are more
favorable than others to seek deep and rapid education. For
example, the coming weeks will bring you especially rich
teachings if you incite the learning process now.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The American idiom "stay in your lane"
has come to mean "mind your own business," and usually has a
pejorative sense. But I'd like to expand it and soften it for your
use in the coming weeks. Let's define it as meaning "stick to
what you're good at and know about" or "don't try to operate
outside your area of expertise" or "express yourself in ways that
you have earned the right to do." Author Zadie Smith says that
this is good advice for writers. "You have to work out what it is
you can't do, obscure it, and focus on what works," she attests.
Apply that counsel to your own sphere or field, Leo.
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Poet Muriel Rukeyser said, "The world is made of stories, not
atoms." I'd add, "You are made of stories, too." What's your
favorite story that you're made of? 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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Requests for anonymity will be honored. We are not responsible
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2019 Rob Brezsny
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