Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter October 21, 2009

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
OCTOBER 21, 2009
FreeWillAstrology.com

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"It is eternity now; I am in the midst of it. It is about me in the sunshine; I am in it, as the butterfly in the light-laden air. Nothing has to come; it is now. Now is eternity; now is immortal life."
- Richard Jefferies

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The revised and expanded version of my book PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA is now available.

Order it here:

Amazon: tinyurl.com/lxpnyt

Barnes and Noble: tinyurl.com/kkadtb

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Below is an excerpt of a piece from the new book, "World Kiss." I'm not sending you the whole thing because it contains controversial words that might not make it through your spam filters -- the new censorship!

To read the whole thing, go here: tinyurl.com/yl8vh46

WORLD KISS

All of creation is alive and conscious, and all of creation deserves our burning, churning, yearning love. All of it. Not just the people and creatures and things that we personally find beautiful and helpful and interesting. But everything. All of creation.

If we want to become the gorgeous geniuses we were born to be, if we want to give back as many blessings as we are given, we've got to be in love with every single part of the Goddess's extravagant masterpiece.

[taboo references here have been excised]

With this in mind, I invite you to perform the ritual of the World Kiss. To do the World Kiss, conjure up your most expansive feelings of tenderness -- like what you might experience when you're infatuated with a lover or when you gaze into the eyes of your newborn
baby for the first time -- and then blow kisses to all of creation.

Blow kisses to the oak trees and sparrows and elephants and weeds. Blow kisses to the wind and rain and rocks and machines. Blow kisses to the gardens and jails, the cars and toys, the politicians and saints, the girls and the boys and every gender in between.

And with each World Kiss you bestow, keep uppermost in your emotions a mood of blasphemous reverence and ********* compassion. And remember that it's not enough simply to perform the outer gesture; you've got to have a heart-on in each of your seven chakras.

READ THE REST OF "WORLD KISS" HERE: tinyurl.com/yl8vh46

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My band World Entertainment War is playing a show in Fairfax, California, and we would love you to bring your gorgeous self to the proceedings. It happens Saturday night, October 24.

Buy tickets here: bit.ly/XBB6D

Find out about the band and download free tunes here: tinyurl.com/yeona8

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

PRONOIA MEANS YOU DON'T HAVE TO STAY WHERE YOU ARE
Get High Now
gethighnow.com

PRONOIA MEANS FEAR ISN'T AS NATURAL AS YOU MAY BELIEVE
Culture of Fear
tinyurl.com/5rptz5
"Our propensity to panic about everything from child abductions to mobile phones does not come from the fact that modern life contains more risks than ever before -- on the level of everyday reality, the opposite is the case."

LIFE CAN'T STOP FLOWERING
"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night." - Rainer Maria Rilke
tinyurl.com/yjmqf3z

(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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Check out my new Facebook page: tinyurl.com/nkay2n

Sign up for the RSS feed of this newsletter: freewillastrology.com/newsletter

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning October 22

Copyright 2009 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

The astrological vibes suggest that you open yourself wide, try everything, and give freely. I urge you to adapt as your motto an exhortation that once came out of the mouth of the seven-year-old cartoon character Dennis the Menace: "Hey! Wake up! Let's go everywhere and do everything!" More than any other phase in many moons, Scorpio, this is your moment to make YES your battle cry. The world is asking you to be bigger than the old you, wilder than five blood oaths put together, and as strong as the full moon rising over a mountain.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

The average middle class person alive today has more goodies than the kings and queens of times past. In fact, even during this time of economic retrenchment, most of us have a higher standard of living than 99 percent of all the humans who've ever walked the planet. In pointing this out, I don't mean to discount the suffering of those who've lost their jobs and homes. But I think it's helpful to keep our collective deprivations in perspective. Similarly, I like to remember that no matter how much our personal trials may test us, they are more bearable than, say, the tribulations of the generation that lived through the Great Depression and World War II. Keep this in mind, Sagittarius. As you wander in the limbo between the end of one chapter of your life story and the beginning of the next chapter, it'll really help to stay conscious of how blessed you are. Halloween costume suggestion: a saint tending to the needs of the dispossessed and underprivileged.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

It's prime time for intense and momentous social events. Of the gatherings you may attend, I hope you'll find at least one that fits the following descriptions: 1. a warm fluidic web of catalytic energy where you awaken to new possibilities about how to create close alliances; 2. a sweet, jangly uproar where you encounter a strange attractor -- a freaky influence that makes the hair on the back of your neck rise and lights up the fertile parts of your imagination; 3. a sacred party where you get a novel vision of how to connect with the divine realms more viscerally. Halloween costume suggestion: something that incorporates a hub, wheel, or web.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

The members of the congregation at St. Peter-at-Gowts Church in Lincoln, England had a minor crisis a few years ago. For years, they had prayed to a very old stone sculpture they assumed was a likeness of the Virgin Mary. Then a nosy archaeologist came poking around and informed them that the figure was actually Arimanius, the god of the underworld in the ancient Mithraic religion. I encourage you to make sure you're not under a comparable misimpression, Aquarius. This is an excellent time, astrologically speaking, for you to seek the help of higher powers, but it's crucial that you direct your invocations to the right source.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

Some of history's worst tyrants have been terrified by kittens. Napoleon, Genghis Khan, and Mussolini all had ailurophobia, a morbid and irrational fear of domestic felines. Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar were also discombobulated by cats. I bring this up, Pisces, because it reminds me of a certain situation in your life. I'm betting that a pushy or domineering influence that distorts your emotions will soon be susceptible to being spooked by a seemingly harmless little thing. Maybe you could turn this into a permanent advantage. How skilled are you at purring?

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

"The clouds are the most fertile part of the sky," writes Guy Murchie in his book The Seven Mysteries of Life. Microbes with short life cycles live there in abundance, "eating, breathing, excreting, floating, swimming, competing, reproducing." Next time you look up at a puffy cumulus, see it as a large city that hosts a teeming host of living things. Speaking of invisible fecundity, let's turn our attention to you. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you are largely unaware of how much creative energy has been building up within you. Your homework is to tap into it and unleash it.

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LISTEN TO AN EXPANDED HOROSCOPE

Since I put all my heart and soul into the written horoscopes I send out in this newsletter, they're pretty nutritious. You may never need any of the other stuff I create.

But if you ever do crave an added boost, you may want to sample my Expanded Audio Horoscopes. They're different in tone and intent than the written scopes, imbued with a little more of the psychologist in me, and a little less of the poet.

Find out more at RealAstrology.com.

The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

"Your expanded horoscopes get more personal and intimate with me than some of my closest friends. Thanks for the loving reflections."
- Ari S., Ann Arbor, MI

"Your audio 'scopes have a knack for waking me up from whatever random dream has sneaked into my brain and rendered me half-blind."
- Teresa F., Boston, MA

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

My friend Alcea, the pagan priestess who leads group rituals, is a responsible sort who has humble respect for the power of the spirit realms. She thinks there can be value in seeking help from the beings who dwell on the other side of the veil, but you've got to be careful. They can be as clueless and misguided as the less evolved characters who live on the material plane. That's why Alcea is especially impeccable around this time of year, when the veil between the worlds is thinner and our dimension is more accessible to the spirits. Having said all that as a caveat, Taurus, I want to let you know that this would be an excellent time for you to call on the help of your most intelligent, interesting, and loving ancestors.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

"He who loves 50 people has 50 woes," said Buddha. "He who loves no one has no woes." Even if you agree with this sour observation, I urge you to override the warning it implies. Now, more than ever, you can and should attract rich benefits into your life by expanding the frontiers of your empathy -- even if it means you will feel the hurts of others more deeply. And what exactly are those rich benefits? Here's one: Getting close-up views of the ways people suffer will help you avoid suffering like that yourself in the future.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

In the film Postcards from the Edge the character played by Meryl Streep made a monumental declaration: "Instant gratification takes too long." I know exactly what she meant. Sometimes I wish I could have what I want before I have to endure even a moment of frustrated longing. I bring this up, my fellow Cancerian, because in the coming week we may get our yearnings satisfied before we fully express them. Of course, there could be a downside to this situation: Since the magic will be materializing so quickly, you'd better be very sure you really want what you even start to wish for.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

Cement is the most common human-made material in the world. Combined with water to make concrete, it is a fundamental ingredient in many buildings and roads. And yet no one knew its precise structure until recently. Then a group of scientists figured out that its strength comes not from its orderliness but rather from its messiness. At the atomic level, cement's molecules display both regular geometric patterns and areas of random variation. It's in these chaotic areas that water molecules bind with the cement, creating a structure that's both flexible and robust. This is the kind of foundation I urge you to work on in the coming weeks, Leo -- a configuration that will endure exactly because it has a lot of give.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

In my dream last night, the High Priestess from the Tarot deck came to life and gave me the following message: "Tell Virgos that when their deep hunger starts to stir, they should not eat from the bowl of delicious seeds. That meager meal would not satisfy their deep hunger. Rather, they should plant those seeds and let them grow up. The resulting harvest will satisfy their deep hunger."

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

It's an excellent time to see if you can remove some of the neurotic twitches from your erotic itches. For example, you could use all your ingenuity to talk yourself out of the silly guilt you feel for having a certain idiosyncratic desire -- a desire that, if acted out, would hurt no one, and that is therefore, by definition, healthy. Here's another possibility: You could invoke the full powers of your imagination as you free yourself from things that prevent you from experiencing maximum pleasure, like old wounds, simmering anger, rank egotism, and limiting beliefs.

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HOMEWORK:

Your assignment is to find, create, or arrange to be in the path of an experience that makes you cry for joy. Report results by going to FreeWillAstrology.com and clicking on "Email Rob."

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WANT TO GET YOUR CHART DONE?

I'm not doing personal charts, but I highly recommend my astrological colleague, RO LOUGHRAN. Her approach closely matches my own. In our many discussions about astrology over the years, we've had a major influence on each other's work.

Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and a high degree of technical proficiency in horoscope interpretation; she is skilled at exploring the mysteries of your life's purpose and nurturing your connection with your own inner wisdom.

Ro is based in California, but can do phone consultations and otherwise work with you regardless of geographic boundaries.

Ro's website is at YourSoulJourney.com

She can also be reached at roloughran@comcast.net

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Submissions sent to the Free Will Astrology Weekly 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 such submissions for length, style, and content. Requests for anonymity will be honored with submissions; otherwise, reader names, screen names, or initials will be used. Please be sure to note your preference when sending to us. We are not responsible for unsolicited submission of any creative material.

Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright 2009 Rob Brezsny

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