Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
DECEMBER 3, 2008
FreeWillAstrology.com
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"The more I examine the universe and the details of its
architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some
sense must have known we were coming."
- Freeman Dyson, pioneering physicist
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My book
PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:
How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings
is available for sale at
tinyurl.com/qaj62
Here's an excerpt:
THE RICH GET RICHER
"Dear Beauty and Truth Laboratory: Help! My old Buick's
transmission is dead, my credit cards are maxed, my kid's got
to see the dentist real bad, and the one-speed bike I ride everywhere
is about to collapse. I'm working two low-paying jobs already,
although I just applied for a more lucrative gig as a strip-club
dancer, only I'm having so much mysterious pain in my joints I'm
not sure how sexy my gyrations will be. Please clue me in to some
tricks that will help me keep a pronoiac attitude in the midst
of the mess that is my life. - Pickled"
Dear Pickled: Here's the first thing I want to tell you: Pronoia
does not assume that material comfort is a sign of divine favor.
The universe is an equal-opportunity provider, conspiring to shower
blessings on every one of us in the same abundance. But while
the blessings may come in the form of money and possessions, they're
just as likely to consist of other gifts that aren't as concrete.
Here's a hypothetical example. Let's say you have the gift of
feeling at home in the world no matter where you are. The universe
has determined that it's the exact skill you need in order to
fulfill the specific purpose you came to earth to carry out. Having
a prestigious job and big salary, on the other hand, might be
exactly what you don't need.
The question of what gifts are essential revolves around your
precise role in the universal conspiracy to perpetrate blessings.
The second meditation I'll offer you is a passage from the Gospel
of Matthew: "Whoever has, shall be given more and more, while
whoever has nothing, even what he has will be taken away from
him."
Pronoiac translation: Whatever you choose to focus your attention
on, you will get more of it. If you often think of everything
you lack and how sad you are that you don't have it, you will
tend to receive prolific evidence of how true that is. As you
obsess on all the ways your life is different from what you wish
it would be, you will become an expert in rousing feelings of
frustration and you will attract experiences that assist you in
rousing frustration.
If, on the other hand, you dwell on the good things you have
already had the privilege to experience, you will expand your
appreciation for their blessings, which in turn will amplify their
beneficent impact on your life. You will also magnetize yourself
to receive further good things, making it more likely that they
will be attracted into your sphere. At the very least, you will
get in the habit of enjoying yourself no matter what the outward
circumstances are.
Bear in mind that you are a great wizard. You can use your powers
to practice white magic on yourself instead of the other kind.
The most basic way to do that is to concentrate on naming, savoring,
and feeling gratitude for the blessings you do have - your love
for your kid, the pleasures of eating the food you like, the sight
of the sky at dusk, the entertaining drama of your unique fate.
Don't ignore the bad stuff, but make a point of celebrating the
beautiful stuff with all the exuberant devotion you can muster.
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To read news and features from my book, go here: tinyurl.com/lhwx2
You can buy the book here:
AMAZON
tinyurl.com/qaj62
POWELLS
tinyurl.com/3dsx6q
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OTHER PRONOIA RESOURCES:
EIGHT HOURS OF PURE PRONOIA IS YOURS FOR FREE EVERY NIGHT
The Secret History of Dreaming by Robert Moss
"Robert Moss's detective work has unearthed a 'secret history
of dreaming' that demonstrates how nighttime dreams, in concert
with coincidence and imagination, have resulted in artistic productions,
scientific discoveries, political turnarounds, spiritual breakthroughs,
and the course of human evolution itself. "
tinyurl.com/6b9o9c
mossdreams.com
ALMOST LIKE ROBIN HOOD
Rogue Philanthropist Gives Away Money with No Strings Attached
tinyurl.com/6aj35s
BENEVOLENT CHANGE DOESN'T ALWAYS HAVE TO COME THROUGH PUNISHMENT
"We've Cut Cigarette Smoking By Half and We Didn't Have To
Arrest 20 Million Americans To Do It"
Now about applying these lessons to develop an alternative to
the War on Drugs
tinyurl.com/65tfh3
(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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If you'd like to give your friends and loved ones holiday gifts
of my work without spending any money, here's what you can do:
1. Give them the URLs where I've posted about half of my most
recent book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia.
The links are here:
tinyurl.com/lhwx2
tinyurl.com/6bj8cf
2. Or go to the above links yourself, print out the pages, and
make them into a homemade version of my book.
3. Download mp3s of my eight podcasts and burn them onto a CD.
The URLs for those podcasts can be found here: tinyurl.com/5v9rxb
4. Give them the URL where I've posted the entirety of my second
book The Televisionary Oracle. Start here: tinyurl.com/6blklz
5. Download mp3s of my band's music and burn them onto a CD.
Most of the songs are here: tinyurl.com/5px7ke
All of the songs are here: tinyurl.com/yh5v7j
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning December 4
Copyright 2008 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
I got an invitation through MySpace to audition for an upcoming
production of the "Vagina Monologues." While I was honored
to be asked, I wasn't sure that the kind of audience members who
would come to see the "Vagina Monologues" would want
to hear me, a man, expound on the central topic. Upon reading
the fine print, however, I found out that the producers were indeed
seeking some male actors. The metaphorical moral of the story,
Sagittarius, is to be open to invitations, opportunities, and
requests that may at first seem odd, misdirected, or irrelevant.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
From 1987 to 2006, Alan Greenspan was Chairman of the U.S. Federal
Reserve and a major force in shaping the world's most powerful
economy. When the recent troubles hit, Congress called on him
to testify. With shocking humility, he confessed that there had
been a flaw in his model of reality. All those years he'd believed
that "free, competitive markets are by far the unrivaled
way to organize economies." Now he saw he was wrong. While
I'm sorry for the collective pain his mistaken ideas have unleashed,
I'm elated for him personally: How many 82-year-old men are open
to the possibility that their philosophy of life needs adjustment?
For that matter, how many people of any age are receptive to changing
their ideas about how the world works? I invite you to take your
inspiration from Greenspan, Capricorn. Be curious about how your
own major theories might need revision. Doing this heroic deed
will energize you with good karma and fresh mojo.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
What's the healthiest, holiest rebellion you could launch, Aquarius?
What would be the most constructive way to channel your longing
to live in a more perfect world? How might you overthrow the status
quo in ways that would so thoroughly enhance the greater good
that even the people bent on preserving the status quo would benefit?
Given the fact that you are in a phase when your trouble-making
skills are dovetailing very nicely with your ability to bestow
blessings, these are excellent questions for you to consider.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
A column in the Washington Post called "The Style
Invitational" has identified the "Top 10 New Religions."
I'm calling your attention to two that might be attractive to
you in the coming months, a time when you'll probably have urges
to transform and expand upon your spiritual practices. First,
there are the Oxymormons, who engage in polygamous monogamy. The
second group is the Salivationists. They speak in tongues like
some other sects, but they also speak in drool. A third option,
of course, is for you to whip up your own brand new, totally unique
religion using just the parts you really like from all of the
other traditions. However you do it, Pisces, I encourage you to
be playfully creative as you get more disciplined about your relationship
with the Divine Wow.
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LISTEN TO AN EXPANDED HOROSCOPE
In addition to the horoscopes you're reading here, I create more
in-depth audio horoscopes for your inspiration. Find out more
at RealAstrology.com.
To get an idea of what the audio 'scopes are like, tune in to
two of my free podcasts:
"Fear Versus Intuition": tinyurl.com/582k22
"You Are a Prophet": tinyurl.com/5dcedz
My approach there has a close resemblance to the style of my
weekly pay-for-view offerings.
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888
or 1-900-950-7700.
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ARIES (March 21-April 19):
The European Union has had rules banning the sale of ugly carrots
with knobby protrusions, cucumbers that are grossly curved, and
equally unaesthetic specimens of 24 other fruits and vegetables.
Recently that changed, however. The stiff standards were relaxed.
"It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away,
just because they are the 'wrong' shape," said the EU's commissioner
for agriculture. I suggest you make a metaphorically similar shift,
Aries. It's time for you to expand your capacity to welcome some
fine, useful things that happen to look a bit imperfect.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
In the Broadway play "Passing Strange," the narrator
praises the healing power of mysterious songs, saying: "You
know when the music goes right over your head, bypasses your mind,
and strengthens the part of you that's most beautiful?" That's
the kind of nourishment I encourage you to seek out in the coming
week, Taurus. You need soul-toning experiences that elude your
rational understanding -- encounters with wise animals, waking
dreams, unpredictable love, exotic music, and twilight whispers
that blissfully boggle your imagination.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
According to the imaginative reporters at the Weekly World
News, the devil doesn't sit by passively as people beseech
God for help and consolation. Using his own version of stealth
technology, the evil one "intercepts or jams" up to
one-third of all prayers on their way heavenward. Timid and fuzzy
prayers are the easiest for him to block. Just in case there's
a grain of truth in this claim, Gemini, take special measures
when you send out appeals for assistance in the coming days. You
need and deserve attention from higher powers, both the earthbound
and divine kind. To ensure that the devil (or one of his surrogates)
can't interfere, formulate your messages concisely and communicate
them with crisp confidence.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Lame-duck U.S. President George Bush is mostly dreaming of his
retirement these days, although he takes time out now and then
to create executive orders that undo environmental protections.
Barack Obama is planning hard for the monumental recovery he hopes
to lead when he assumes the presidency, but his time won't come
until January 20. Meanwhile, all the things that have been falling
apart under Bush's watch are continuing to fall apart, only bigger
and badder. Writes Josh Marshall in Talkingpointsmemo.com, "We're
paying mightily for having no captain at the helm at one of the
most perilous points in our recent national history." In
regard to your own personal life, Cancerian, please avoid acting
like America. Don't wait for some formal deadline before you make
your moves. Expedite the transition from the old order to the
new with the force of a thousand ecstatic activists.
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EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE
In addition to the horoscopes you're reading here, I create more
in-depth audio horoscopes for your inspiration. Find out more
at RealAstrology.com.
To get an idea of what the audio 'scopes are like, tune in to
two of my free podcasts:
"Fear Versus Intuition": tinyurl.com/582k22
"You Are a Prophet": tinyurl.com/5dcedz
My approach there has a close resemblance to the style of my
weekly pay-for-view offerings.
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888
or 1-900-950-7700.
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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
"It's better to be clumsy than clever," says an ancient
Chinese book called Poets' Jade Splinters, "better
plain than affected, better crude than weak, better eccentric
than vulgar." That's a good prescription for you to use in
the way you live your life in the coming days, Leo. Here's another
observation from the same text that should also be helpful: "Inspiration
enters at the border between hard work and laziness." That
suggests you've got to work hard and discipline yourself in order
to earn the right to inspiration, but often the inspiration flows
in when you're goofing off or giving yourself some slack. (Source:
tinyurl.com/5qu7fv)
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
In 1952, renowned modern composer John Cage created the infamous
"4'33"." It's a "song" that consists
of four minutes and 33 seconds of pure silence. Recently a San
Francisco performance artist, Jonathon Keats, did a remix of that
tune and made it available as a ring-tone. I'd love for you to
be inspired by those two geniuses in the coming week, Virgo. It'll
be an excellent time for you to come to a perfect stop, fill yourself
with stillness, and bask in the healing power of undiluted nothingness.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
I urge you not to Google the word "duh," Libra. If
you do, you'll mark yourself as a conformist trend-slave, joining
over 33 million people who have already done it before you. Furthermore,
you will be in danger of wasting the potential the cosmos is offering
you, which is to reap rich rewards by exploring brave new frontiers
on the edges of your awareness. So please be insanely curious
about stuff you've never heard of and people you've never met.
Research subjects that tantalize your imagination and stick your
nose in where it supposedly doesn't belong. But don't Google "duh."
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Researchers have determined that you've got longer than you imagine
to salvage food that has dropped on the floor. Bacteria don't
get a foothold and start growing on your pizza or muffin for at
least 30 seconds. Keep that in mind as an all-purpose metaphor
in the coming days, Scorpio. Anything that you fear has already
been spoiled or tainted may actually be possible to restore and
redeem. You probably have more time than you thought.
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HOMEWORK:
You know what to do and you know when to do it, but you've been
trying to hide that fact from yourself. Why? Testify 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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Will Astrology Weekly Newsletter
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2008 Rob Brezsny
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