Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
MARCH 3, 2010
FreeWillAstrology.com
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Imagine it's 30 years from now. You're looking back at the history
of your relationship with desire. There was a certain watershed
moment when you clearly saw that some of your desires were mediocre,
inferior, and wasteful, while others were pure, righteous, and
invigorating. Beginning then, you made it a life goal to purge
the former and cultivate the latter. Thereafter, you occasionally
wandered down dead ends trying to gratify yearnings that weren't
worthy of you, but usually you wielded your passions with discrimination,
dedicating them to serve the highest and most interesting good.
- PRONOIA
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The revised and expanded version of my book PRONOIA IS THE
ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA is available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
and also at Barnes & Noble: bit.ly/PronoiaBN
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Dear Free Will Astrology Community:
I've got two favors to ask of you. There's no pressure! If you
can't help, it's perfectly fine and I'll still love you.
My first favor: Buy the revised and expanded version of my book,
Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia.
Second favor: Write a review of the book (hopefully positive!)
on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Your favors could help me achieve my goal, which is to break
even on the book -- make back my manufacturing expenses -- by
2011. Let me tell you a bit more about the business of the book
so you can get a feel for what my unique position is.
Most writers have a simple deal with their publishing company.
The publisher pays to manufacture and distribute the book, and
the writer gets a very small royalty, usually from 7 to 10 percent
of the profit. Very few writers make much money in this arrangement,
but on the other hand they don't go into debt.
My relationship with my publisher is very different. I chose
to take advantage of a unique arrangement they offer to a few
selected writers. I agreed to pay for all the costs upfront, including
the manufacture of the books and most of the promotion. In return,
I get 74% of the profit from sales.
This was a risk, obviously, because it's a long haul to make
back the manufacturing expenses, which in the case of PRONOIA,
were over $21,000.
Creating the book was expensive for me in other ways, as well.
Because I wanted to create such a unique layout, I had to engage
the services of a professional book designer to help me execute
my schemes and dreams. I also paid a graphic artist to assist
me in carrying out some of my ideas for the many images that fill
the book.
In the end, getting the book ready to be sold online and in stores
set me back $30,000, which as you can imagine was a huge part
of all the money I've saved over the years.
I was willing to take the gamble because I regard PRONOIA
as a great book that has a very good chance of making back my
outlay of money and beyond. Since I get 74% of the profits --
a much higher rate than most writers -- the chances of me eventually
earning some money for the book are, I think, excellent.
But while sales have been pretty good since the book was released
in late September 2009, I've still got a long way to go before
hitting the break-even amount.
Of course, I'm not asking you to buy the book simply to help
me financially. I think that there's a good chance you'll get
a lot out of it!
And if you can't afford to buy the book, there are ways for you
to read a lot of it for free because I've put a good chunk of
it online. Here are the links:
Links to over 40 pieces from the book: bit.ly/BTLab
Here are a few more pieces: bit.ly/PronoiaExcerpts
The complete "Glory in the Highest," a centerpiece
of the new version: bit.ly/HighGlory
And you can peruse 20% of the book on Google Books: bit.ly/GooglePronoia
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
PRONOIA SAYS: THE FUTURE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT
Send a love letter to the future
loveletterstothefuture.com
PRONOIA IN THE ANIMAL KINGDDOM
The Ethical Dog
Altruism, tolerance, forgiveness, reciprocity and fairness, are
readily evident in the egalitarian way wolves and coyotes play
with one another.
tinyurl.com/yfthfxo
BARBARIC ACT OUTLAWED
Uganda Bans Female Circumcision
tinyurl.com/ykpplyo
(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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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning March 4
Copyright 2010 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
One of the best new bands of 2009 was the Girls. Spin
magazine selected their debut CD Album as the fifth best
album of the year. After touring for months and selling scads
of records, the band came back home to San Francisco in February
to do a sold-out show at the Great American Music Hall. For his
on-stage apparel, lead singer Christopher Owens wore baggy orange
flannel pajama bottoms and a rumpled green flannel shirt, proving
that his new-found fame had not rendered him self-important or
excessively dignified. I nominate Owens as your role model this
week, Pisces. I'd like to see you move on up toward the next level
in your chosen field of endeavor, even as you remain perfectly
comfortable, full of casual grace, and at home in your excellence.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
To place yourself in smooth alignment with planetary rhythms,
do conscientious work on the foundations of your life. Take extra
care of the people who take care of you. Make sure you have a
good supply of the various resources that keep you strong and
steady. Check to see if maybe you need to rev up your emotional
connection with the traditions you hold dear. But that's only
half your horoscope, Aries. Here's the rest: Invite your most
rambunctious playmates over for a raucous home-blessing ceremony.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Two-thirds of people surveyed said they would rather look good
than feel good. I hope you're not one of them. The ironic fact
of the matter is that if you put the emphasis on looking good
in the coming week -- creating favorable impressions, acting dishonest
in order to curry favor, wearing uncomfortable but attractive
clothes -- you will end up feeling sub-par and looking mediocre.
On the other hand, if you put the priority on feeling good --
treating your body like a beloved pet, seeking out encounters
that nurture your secret self, and hanging out in environments
that encourage you to relax -- you will look good and feel good.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
If you're bogged down in the trance of the humdrum routine,
astrology can open your mind and illuminate fascinating patterns
that have been invisible to you. It can reveal the big picture
of your life story, sweeping away the narrow ideas and shrunken
expectations you have about yourself. And it can purge your imagination
of its endless tape loops, awakening you to the power you have
to create your own destiny. But reliance on horoscopes can also
have downsides. If you're superstitious, it might make you even
more so. If you're prone to be passive, believing that life is
something that happens to you, it might further diminish your
willpower. That's why, as much as I love astrology, I'm wary of
its potential to deceive and lead astray. Is there anything comparable
in your world, Gemini? Something that feeds and inspires you,
but only if you're discerning about it? This is a good time to
ratchet up your discernment.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
I don't care whether you call it uncanny intuition or plain old
telepathy: In the next three weeks, you will have unusually abundant
access to that way of knowing. So please use it. Please call on
it. It could steer you away from twisty wastes of time that don't
serve your highest good. It might also allow you to ferret out
disguised or hiding opportunities. There's one catch: If you don't
believe in them, your psychic powers won't work as well as they
can. So I suggest you set aside any dogmatic skepticism you might
have about them and proceed on the hypothesis that they are very
real.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Let's poke around to see if we can stir up some good trouble,
Leo. The time is right. You're in need of a friendly disruption
or two. Fortunately, I'm sensing there's a forbidden temptation
that isn't so forbidden any longer . . . as well as a strange
attractor you might find inspiring and a volatile teaching that
would turn you inside-out in a good way. Are you willing to wander
into a previously off-limits area? Hey, look. There's one of those
mystery spots I was hinting about. I wonder what would happen
if you pressed that green button. Go ahead. Don't be . . . Gaaaahhhhh!
Unnhhh! Wha?! I mean WOW! That was very interesting.
Try it again!
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MAYBE YOU DON'T NEED MORE, MAYBE YOU DO
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
in this newsletter. If you ever want more, and think it's worth
paying for, try my daily text message 'scopes or my expanded audio
'scopes.
Go here to access them: RealAstrology.com
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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
You may be prone to overreaction. You could be on the verge of
uncorking an excessive response to a modest prompt. On a regular
basis, you should ask yourself: "Are the feelings rising
up in me truly appropriate for what's happening now? Or are they
mostly the eruption of material that I repressed in the past?"
I also encourage you to consider Hoare's Law of Large Problems,
which says that inside every large problem is a small problem
scrambling to get out. Be alert for the possibility that minor
adjustments will work better than epic struggles.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Temple Grandin is a successful autistic person. Diagnosed at
an early age, she nevertheless went on to earn a PhD in Animal
Science and became a bestselling author whose work has led to
notable improvements in the humane treatment of livestock. Although
she acknowledges that her autism has caused her problems, she
also believes it gives her abilities that non-autistic people
don't have. For example, her extreme sensitivity and extraordinary
visual memory are at the root of her unique insights into the
needs of animals. If there were an instant cure for her autism,
she says, she wouldn't take it. She's an advocate of neurodiversity.
Now here's my question for you, Libra: Do you have a supposed
weakness or disability that's actually an inherent part of one
of your special talents? Celebrate and cultivate it this week.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Self-help author Barbara De Angelis wrote a book that offers
to help us learn "how to make love all the time." Maybe
I'll read it someday, but right now I'm more interested in your
take on the subject. How would you make love -- not have sex,
but make love -- with your sandwich, with the music you listen
to, with a vase of flowers, with the familiar strangers sitting
in the cafe, with everything? Your expertise in this art is now
at a peak.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
It's not a good time to treat yourself like a beast of burden
or to swamp yourself with dark, heavy thoughts. You're extra sensitive,
Sagittarius -- as delicate and impressionable as a young poet
in love with a dream of paradise. You need heaping doses of sweetness
and unreasonable amounts of fluidic peace, smart listening, and
radical empathy. If you can't get people to buoy your spirits
and slip you delightful presents, do those things for yourself.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
In some of the newspapers that publish my horoscope column, my
carefully wrought text is buried in the back pages amidst a jabbering
hubbub of obscene advertisements for quasi-legal sexual services.
For readers with refined sensibilities, that's a problem. They
do their best to avert their eyes, narrowing their focus down
to a tight window. I think you'll be wise to adopt a similar approach
in the coming week, Capricorn. Only a small percentage of information
coming your way will be truly useful to you, and it may often
be embedded in a sparkly mess of distracting noise. Concentrate
hard on getting just the essentials that you want so you won't
be misinformed and worn out by the rest.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Do your own stunts, Aquarius. Don't commandeer a stunt double
to do them for you. Accept blame and claim credit that rightfully
belong to you. Don't scare up scapegoats or tolerate plagiarists.
It will also be a good idea to deliver your own messages and sing
your own songs and kick your own butt. No surrogates or stand-ins,
please. There's just no way, you see, for you to get to where
you need to go by having a substitute do the traveling for you.
Your only hope of claiming the reward that will be crucial for
the next chapter of your life story will be to do the work yourself.
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HOMEWORK:
What's the title of the story of your life? Tell me 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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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2010 Rob Brezsny
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