"Before we can receive the entire truth about anything," wrote my teacher Ann Davies, "we have to love it."
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DO ME A FAVOR, PLEASE?
Would you do me a favor, please? Would you do your friends and loved ones and the whole world a favor? Don’t pretend you're less powerful and beautiful than you are. Don't downplay or neglect the magic you have at your disposal. Don't act as if your unique genius is nothing special.
OK? Are you willing to grant us these small indulgences? Your specific talents, perspectives, and gifts are indispensable . The rest of us need you to be bold and brazen about expressing them.
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YOU HAVE ACCESS TO MORE LOVE THAN YOU REALIZE
Believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.
—Rainer Maria Rilke
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YES, YOU ARE VERY CREATIVE
"Human beings are in a state of creativity 24 hours a day," wrote Raoul Vaneigem in his book The Revolution of Everyday Life. "People usually associate creativity with works of art, but what are works of art alongside the creative energy displayed by everyone a thousand times a day?"
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YOU DON'T NEED TO KEEP ANYONE'S ILLUSIONS AFLOAT
You're hereby relieved of any responsibility you think you have to keep everyone's illusions afloat (including your own).
See how much fun you can have by telling the lush, pulsating, up-to-the-minute truth with kindness and elegance.
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FREE MIND, WILD HEART
To be the best pronoiac explorer you can be, I suggest you adopt an outlook that combines the rigorous objectivity of a scientist, the "beginner's mind" of Zen Buddhism, the "beginner's heart" of pronoia, and the compassionate friendliness of the Dalai Lama. Blend a scrupulously dispassionate curiosity with a skepticism driven by expansiveness, not spleen.
To pull this off, you'll have to be willing to regularly suspend your brilliant theories about the way the world works. Accept with good humor the possibility that what you've learned in the past may not be a reliable guide to understanding the fresh phenomenon that's right in front of you. Be suspicious of your biases, even the rational and benevolent ones. Open your heart as you strip away the interpretations that your emotions might be inclined to impose.
"Before we can receive the unbiased truth about anything," wrote my teacher Ann Davies, "we have to be ready to ignore what we would like to be true."
At the same time, don't turn into a hard-ass, poker-faced robot. Keep your feelings moist and receptive. Remember your natural affection for all of creation. Enjoy the power of tender sympathy as it drives you to probe for the unimaginable revelations of every new moment. "Before we can receive the entire truth about anything," said Ann Davies, "we have to love it."
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WHAT ARE YOUR HEALING POWERS?
Everyone in the world has the power to heal someone else. At one end of the spectrum are the doctors and shamans and therapists who can summon the means to cure lots of people. At the other end are individuals with the power to improve the health or smooth out the distortions in just one other person.
Where do you fit in this range?
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FRRREEEEEEE !!!!
I have made it possible for subscribers to my newsletter to pay a subscription fee to me for my newsletter, BUT ONLY IF THEY WANT TO AND CAN AFFORD TO!
I have offered my astrology newsletter free of charge for the past 20 years, and I will continue to do so for the next 20 years at least.
If, however, you are sufficiently prosperous and feel comfortable about donating money to me, I welcome it. Please know, though: I am TOTALLY FINE if you don't donate.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
The ‘Wizard of Paws’ Makes Prosthetics to Fit Any Animal – Lending a Human Hand of Compassion. https://tinyurl.com/73exm3yd
Stem-Cell Based ‘Cure’ for Type-1 Diabetes Draws Nearer, With FDA Trials Launched. https://tinyurl.com/26n65tj2
Blind For 15 Years She Now Has 20/20 Vision And Sees Her Grandchildren For the First Time. https://tinyurl.com/bz74v8tz
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For a lot more pronoiac resources and ideas, read my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings
Available at Bookshop.org: https://tinyurl.com/548hp8y8
Available at Powells: https://bit.ly/PowellsPronoia
Available at Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaBN
Available at Amazon: https://bit.ly/Pronoia
A free preview of the book is available here: https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaPreview
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Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES: Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning August 19
Copyright 2021 by Rob Brezsny
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Author Katherine Mansfield once told her friend Virginia Woolf, "You put me in touch with my own soul." I'm sorry Mansfield didn't previously have that precious connection, but I'm elated that Woolf helped her make it. In the coming weeks, I expect you will encounter an abundance of influences like Woolf: people and animals and places and experiences that can bring you into more intimate contact with your soul. I hope you take full advantage.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): At the age of 70, Libran novelist Magda Szabó mused, "I know now, what I didn't then, that affection can't always be expressed in calm, orderly, articulate ways; and that one cannot prescribe the form it should take for anyone else." In that spirit, Libra, and in accordance with astrological omens, I authorize you to express affection in lively, unruly, demonstrative ways. Give yourself permission to be playfully imaginative, exuberantly revelatory, and vivaciously animated as you show the people and animals you cherish the nature of your feelings for them.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Do you Scorpios lie to yourselves more than the other signs lie to themselves? Are you especially prone to undermine yourselves through self-deception? I don't think so. However, you might be among the signs most likely to mislead or beguile other people. (But here's a caveat: On some occasions, your trickery is in a good cause, because it serves the needs of the many, not just yourself.) In any case, dear Scorpio, I will ask you to minimize all such behavior during the next five weeks. I think your success will depend on you being exceptionally honest and genuine—both to yourself and to others.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "I like being broken," says Sagittarius actor Jamie Campbell Bower. "It means I can have chocolate for breakfast." I guess that when he feels down, he gives himself special permission to enjoy extra treats and privileges. According to my assessment of the astrological omens, you now have the right to give yourself similar permission—even though I don't expect you'll be broken or feeling down. Think of it as a reward for the brave work you've been doing lately. Enjoy this chocolatey grace period!
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) was a Jewish theologian born under the sign of Capricorn. He wrote, "Indifference to the sublime wonder of living is the root of sin." That's a different definition of sin from what we're used to! To be a moral person, Heschel believed, you must be in "radical amazement" about the glories of creation. I hope you will cultivate such an attitude in the coming weeks, Capricorn. It would be a mistake for you to numbly take things for granted. I dare you to cultivate as much awe, reverence, and adoration as you can muster.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): A blogger who calls herself Hopeful Melancholy wrote a message to her lover. She said, "My favorite sexual position is the one where you work on your paintings and I work on my book, but we're in the same room and occasionally smile at each other." You might want to consider trying experiments comparable to that one in the coming weeks, Aquarius. The time will be fertile for you and your dear allies to work side-by-side; to cheer each other on and lift each other up; to explore new ways of cultivating companionship and caring for each other.
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WHY IS IT CALLED "FREE WILL" ASTROLOGY?
It's called Free Will Astrology because my goal is to create horoscopes that nurture your free will.
Contrary to what some PEOPLE believe, there's no such thing as predestination. Fate is a tricky phenomenon that keeps changing its mind about where it wants to go. The stars may impel, as the astrological saying goes, but they don't compel.
That's why I've never considered myself a fortuneteller. My greatest service is as a psychic intelligence agent, helping you expose the hidden patterns and unconscious forces that may be affecting your life without your knowledge.
If I "predict" anything, it's not so much the future as the unknown part of the present.
And if you ever want more than the 'scopes you're reading here, keep in mind that I also create EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to https://RealAstrology.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
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The cost is $6 per sign online. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.)
You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888. The cost is $1.99 per minute. Each forecast is 4-5 minutes long.
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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Dick Dudley was a 17th-century swindler. Among his many victims was the Pope. Dudley offered an item for sale that he claimed was a divine relic: a piece of the beard of St. Peter, founder of the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope paid Dudley a small fortune for the treasure, and kissed it copiously. Only later did the full story emerge: The so-called beard was in fact a sex worker's pubic wig. I hope you don't get involved in switcheroos like that anytime soon, Pisces. Make sure that the goods or services you're receiving—and offering, for that matter—are exactly what they're supposed to be.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): A blogger who calls herself TheSaddestChorusGirlInTheWorld writes, "Having sex with someone is a big deal and involves a ton of vulnerability. And I think it's troubling and gross and unhealthy and, yes, dangerous that we pretend otherwise and encourage people to 'be mature' by compartmentalizing or completely eliminating their deeper emotions from their sexuality. And even worse, any other view is dismissed as prudish and invalid and unenlightened and restrictive." You may agree with everything TheSaddestChorusGirl says here. But if you haven't arrived at her conclusions, now is a good time to meditate on them. Why? Because your assignment in the coming weeks is to deepen and refine your relationship with your sexuality. Be extra reverent about your sensual longings. Ensure that your erotic activities serve your highest ideals and noblest goals.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The popular American TV sitcom 30 Rock produced 138 episodes in seven seasons. At the height of its success, it crammed an average of 9.57 jokes into every minute. Its comic richness derived in large part from multi-talented Taurus star Tina Fey, who created the show and played one of its main characters. She was also a writer and executive producer. I propose we make her your role model in the coming weeks. According to my projections, you're entering a charismatic, ebullient, and creative phase of your astrological cycle. It's time to be generous to the parts of your life that need big happy doses of release and liberation.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I got an email from a Gemini reader named Jaylah. She wrote, "Hi, not sure if you remember me, but in our past lives, you and I used to write sacred cuneiform texts on clay tablets while sitting across from each other in a cave in Mesopotamia 4,910 years ago. Your name was Nabu. Mine was Tashmetu. I was always a little jealous because you earned more money than I, but it didn't get in the way of our friendship. Anyway, if you ever want to catch up about the old days, give me a holler." I loved receiving this inquiry from a soul I may have known in a previous incarnation. And what she did by reaching out to me happens to be the perfect type of activity for you Geminis right now. Secrets of your history may be more available than usual. The past may have new stories to tell. A resource from yesteryear could prove valuable in the future.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian-born Franz Kafka was an interesting writer and a master of language. But even for him, it could be a challenge to convey what he really meant. He said, "I am constantly trying to communicate something incommunicable, to explain something inexplicable, to tell about something I only feel in my bones and which can only be experienced in those bones." Now here's the good news, as far as you're concerned, Cancerian: I suspect that in the coming weeks, you will have more power than usual to do exactly what Kafka aspired to do. You will be able to summon extra ease and grace in expressing your truths. I invite you to be a connoisseur of deep conversations.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "If we wait until we are ready, we will be waiting for the rest of our lives," declared novelist Lemony Snicket. This is good advice for you to heed right now. I really hope you avoid the temptation to wait around for the perfect moment before you begin. In my vision of your best approach, you will dive into the future without trying to have all your plans finalized and all your assets gathered. I expect you will acquire the rest of what you need once the process is underway.
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Homework: Describe what you're ever so thankful for. Newsletter@FreeWillAstrology.com
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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:
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P.S. I totally respect your privacy. I'll never sell or give away your address to anyone.
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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 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 2021 Rob Brezsny
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