Freedom Is in the Unknown

Love the Liberating Mysteries

Freedom is in the unknown. If you believe there is an unknown everywhere, in your own body, in your relationships with other people, in political institutions, in the universe, then you have maximum freedom.

—philosopher John C. Lilly

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REJOICE!

"I rejoice to live in such a splendidly disturbing time!" said Helen Keller. She was a smart activist who worked hard in behalf of women's equality, labor rights, anti-militarism, and a fair and just economic system.

Was she being sarcastic or satirical in saying she loved being alive during a time of upheaval?

Not at all. She derived excitement and vigor from critiquing injustice. Her lust for life soared as she lent her considerable energy to making life on earth more sustainable and enjoyable for more people.

I invite you to consider adopting her attitude: Generate personal power by taking practical action in behalf of your high ideals.

And have fun doing it!

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ENLIGHTENMENT IS INTIMACY WITH ALL THINGS

Should we imagine that "enlightenment" is a perfect and permanent realization of ultimate truth?

Is “enlightenment” a possession we can own?

Once we have acquired it, are we forever guaranteed to understand the nature of reality at the deepest levels?

My guess is that there's no such thing as this kind of "enlightenment."

Here's a version of "enlightenment" that appeals to me: a visceral sensation of feeling close to all living things, buoyed by an ever-renewing empathy.

(Art by Valerie Tsenov)

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"Holiness is an infinite compassion for others," wrote author and activist Olive Schreiner.

"The soul is awakened through service," said author Erica Jong.

I say the quest to align one's personal life with the highest good is at least as much about being in service to animals, the earth, and other humans as it is about attaining a transcendent level of awareness or grasping deep truths.

According to 16th-century Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria, the idea of "enlightenment" was not some individual personal goal to escape mortal limitations and gain knowledge, but a group process by humans to assist the Divine in bringing creation into alignment with the original plan—i.e. "on earth as it is in heaven. —Martha Jablonski Jones

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VISIONS OF UNBUYABLE WONDER
by me

I pray to the ancestors with their medicine stories
I pray to the descendants with their elixir riddles
I pray to the tale-tellers alive now
who subterfuge their way free
of the dead stories 
that numb and pound and sicken

I pray that they will reforge me
into a magnet
for visions of unbuyable wonder
and dreams of empathetic rapture
and fables from beyond the chemical brain

May they craft me
into a sweet and ferocious vessel for creation myths
that are alive with mist and smoke and whispers
unknown to the Internet

May they massage me
into a blissful mess of receptivity
so I can always detect
the dramas and comedies and parables
owned by the solar system
and copyrighted by eternity

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I pray to the chroniclers
who rebirth the killed history
of ignored geniuses
I pray to the narrators
who remember the stolen memories
of Indigenous superstars

I pray to the shadow journalists
who track down
the taboo conversations
that women and children
have explored
in the middle of the night
for the last four thousand years

I pray to the compassionate liars
who disinter insurrectionary enchantments
and restore their dazzling dark joy

May those agitators
and awakeners
and animators
mark me with signs
that my creature teachers
will recognize
in the propaganda-free future

May they infuse me
with resurrected confusions
that sensitize me
to the prematurely solved mysteries
that I need to crack open again

May they make it easy
for the panacea beasts,
the talking animals,
the earth's real gods,
to welcome me
as one of their own


—poem by me

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RECOGNIZING GREATNESS OF SOUL

“In myths and fairy tales, deities and other great spirits test the hearts of humans by showing up in various forms that disguise their divinity.

"They show up in robes, rags, silver sashes, or with muddy feet. They show up with skin like old wood, or in scales made of rose petal, as a frail child, as a lime-yellow old woman, as a man who cannot speak, or as an animal who can.

"The great powers are testing to see if humans have yet learned to recognize the greatness of soul in all its varying forms.”

―Clarissa Pinkola Estés

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Art by Shelby McQuilken

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RIGHTEOUS BLEND OF PRACTICAL LOVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE ANGER

How do we summon a righteous blend of practical love and constructive anger? 

How do we refrain from hating people even as we fight against the hatred and danger they have helped unleash? 

How do we cultivate cheerful buoyancy even as we neutralize the bigoted, autocratic poisons on the loose? 

How can we be both wrathful insurgents and exuberant lovers of life? 

How do we stay in a good yet unruly mood as we overthrow the mass hallucinations? 

In the face of global peril, how do we remain dedicated to building beauty and truth and justice and love even as we keep our imaginations wild and hungry and free? 

Can our struggle also be a form of play? 

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THE MARVELOUS WOMEN by Mohja Kahf

All women speak two languages:
the language of men
and the language of silent suffering.
Some women speak a third,
the language of queens.
They are marvelous
and they are my friends.

My friends give me poetry.
If it were not for them
I’d be a seamstress out of work.
They send me their dresses
and I sew together poems,
enormous sails for ocean journeys.

My marvelous friends, these women
who are elegant and fix engines,
who teach gynecology and literacy,
and work in jails and sing and sculpt
and paint the ninety-nine names,
who keep each other’s secrets
and pass on each other’s spirits
like small packets of leavening,

it is from you I fashion poetry.
I scoop up, in handfuls, glittering
sequins that fall from your bodies
as you fall in love, marry, divorce,
get custody, get cats, enter
supreme courts of justice,
argue with God.

You rescuers on galloping steeds
of the weak and the wounded–
Creatures of beauty and passion,
powerful workers in love–
you are the poems.
I am only your stenographer.
I am the hungry transcriber
of the conjuring recipes you hoard
in the chests of your great-grandmothers.

My marvelous friends—the women
of brilliance in my life,
who levitate my daughters,
you are a coat of many colors
in silk tie-dye so gossamer
it can be crumpled in one hand.
You houris, you mermaids, swimmers
in dangerous waters, defiers of sharks–

My marvelous friends,
thirsty Hagars and laughing Sarahs,
you eloquent radio Aishas,
Marys drinking the secret
milkshakes of heaven,
slinky Zuleikas of desire,
gay Walladas, Harriets
parting the sea, Esthers in the palace,
Penelopes of patient scheming,

you are the last hope of the shrinking women.
You are the last hand to the fallen knights
You are the only epics left in the world

Come with me, come with poetry
Jump on this wild chariot, hurry–

by Mohja Kahf

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Art by Shelby McQuilken

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THE LACK OF IMAGINATION AND EMPATHY IS DANGEROUS

People who base their political and philosophical opinions solely on their own personal life experience are dangerously deficient in their empathy and their ability to imagine the real lives of others.

Those who are unable and unwilling to conceive that others have different destinies than theirs, different problems and difficulties from theirs, are insulated by a poisonous form of privilege. (Not all privilege is poisonous.)

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Week beginning November 3

Copyright 2022 by Rob Brezsny

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "Fear is the raw material from which courage is manufactured," said author Martha Beck. "Without it, we wouldn't even know what it means to be brave." I love that quote—and I especially love it as a guiding meditation for you Scorpios right now. We usually think of fear as an unambiguously bad thing, a drain of our precious life force. But I suspect that for you, it will turn out to be useful in the coming days. You're going to find a way to transmute fear into boldness, bravery, and even badassery.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): For decades, the Canadian city of Sudbury hosted a robust mining industry. Deposits of nickel sulphide ore spawned a booming business. But these riches also brought terrible pollution. Sudbury's native vegetation was devastated. The land was stained with foul air produced by the smelting process. An effort to re-green the area began in the 1970s. Today, the air is among the cleanest in the province of Ontario. In the spirit of this transformation, I invite you to embark on a personal reclamation project. Now is a favorable time to detoxify and purify any parts of your life that have been spoiled or sullied.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The literal meaning of the ancient Greek word aigílips is "devoid of goats." It refers to a place on the earth that is so high and steep that not even sure-footed goats can climb it. There aren't many of those places. Similarly, there are very few metaphorical peaks that a determined Capricorn can't reach. One of your specialties is the power to master seemingly improbable and impassable heights. But here's an unexpected twist in your destiny: In the coming months, your forte will be a talent for going very far down and in. Your agility at ascending, for a change, will be useful in descending—for exploring the depths. Now is a good time to get started!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Evolved Aquarians are often blessed with unprecedented friendships and free-spirited intimacy and innovative alliances. People who align themselves with you may enjoy experimental collaborations they never imagined before engaging with you. They might be surprised at the creative potentials unleashed in them because of their synergy with you. In the coming weeks and months, you will have even more power than usual to generate such liaisons and connections. You might want to make a copy of this horoscope and use it as your calling card or business card.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I surveyed the history of literature to identify authors I consider highly intuitive. Piscean-born Anais Nin was my top choice. She used language with fluidity and lyricism. She lived a colorful, unpredictable life. No one better deserves the title of Intuition Champion. And yet she also had a discerning view of this faculty. She wrote, "I began to understand that there were times when I must question my intuition and separate it from my anxieties or fears. I must think, observe, question, seek facts and not trust blindly to my intuition." I admire her caution. And I suspect it was one reason her intuition was so potent. Your assignment, Pisces, is to apply her approach to your relationship with your intuition. The coming months will be a time when you can supercharge this key aspect of your intelligence and make it work for you better than it ever has before.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the coming weeks, I encourage you to work as hard as you have ever worked. Work smart, too. Work with flair and aplomb and relish. You now have a surprisingly fertile opportunity to reinvent how you do your work and how you feel about your work. To take maximum advantage of this potential breakthrough, you should inspire yourself to give more of your heart and soul to your work than you have previously imagined possible. (PS: By "work," I mean your job and any crucial activity that is both challenging and rewarding.)

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PRAYERS FOR YOU

An interviewer once asked me if there's any special ritual I do before writing my weekly horoscopes.

I told her that I say a prayer in which I affirm my desire to provide you with these three services:

1. that what I create will be of practical use to you;

2. that it will help you cultivate your relationship with your inner teacher;

3. that it will inspire you to tap into and use the substantial freedom you have to create the life you want.

If you ever want further inspiration generated in that spirit, check out my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope, go to https://RealAstrology.com

Register and/or log in through the main page.

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The cost is $7 per sign online. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.)

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Here's my weird suggestion, Taurus. Just for now, only for a week or two, experiment with dreaming about what you want but can't have. And just for now, only for a week or two, go in pursuit of what you want but can't have. I predict that these exercises in quixotic futility will generate an unexpected benefit. They will motivate you to dream true and strong and deep about what you do want and can have. They will intensify and focus you to pursue what you do want and can have.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Your most successful times in life usually come when all your various selves are involved. During these interludes, none of them is neglected or shunted to the outskirts. In my astrological opinion, you will be wise to ensure this scenario is in full play during the coming weeks. In fact, I recommend you throw a big Unity Party and invite all your various sub-personalities to come as they are. Have outrageous fun acting out the festivities. Set out a placemat and nametag on a table for each participant. Move around from seat to seat and speak from the heart on behalf of each one. Later, discuss a project you could all participate in creating.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A Cancerian reader named Joost Joring explained to me how he cultivates the art of being the best Cancerian he can be. He said, "I shape my psyche into a fortress, and I make people feel privileged when they are allowed inside. If I must sometimes instruct my allies to stay outside for a while, to camp out by the drawbridge as I work out my problems, I make sure they know they can still love me—and that I still love them." I appreciate Joost's perspective. As a Cancerian myself, I can attest to its value. But I will also note that in the coming weeks, you will reap some nice benefits from having less of a fortress mentality. In my astrological opinion, it's PARTY TIME!

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo poet Antonio Machado wrote, "I thought my fire was out, and I stirred the ashes. I burnt my fingers." I'm telling you this so you won't make the same mistake, Leo. Your energy may be a bit less radiant and fervent than usual right now, but that's only because you're in a recharging phase. Your deep reserves of fertility and power are regenerating. That's a good thing! Don't make the error of thinking it's a sign of reduced vitality. Don't overreact with a flurry of worry.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author Siegfried Sassoon became renowned for the poetry he wrote about being a soldier in World War I. Having witnessed carnage firsthand, he became adept at focusing on what was truly important. "As long as I can go on living a rich inner life," he wrote, "I have no cause for complaint, and I welcome anything which helps me to simplify my life, which seems to be more and more a process of eliminating inessentials!" I suggest we make Sassoon your inspirational role model for the next three weeks. What inessentials can you eliminate? What could you do to enhance your appreciation for all the everyday miracles that life offers you?

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You Libras have a talent that I consider a superpower: You can remove yourself from the heart of the chaos and deliver astute insights about how to tame the chaos. I like that about you. I have personally benefited from it on numerous occasions. But for the next few weeks, I will ask you to try something different. I'll encourage you to put an emphasis on practical action, however imperfect it might be, more than on in-depth analysis. This moment in the history of your universe requires a commitment to getting things done, even if they're untidy and incomplete. Here's your motto: "I improvise compromises in the midst of the interesting mess."

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Homework: Imagine you have taken a particular consciousness-altering drug. Imagine how it affects you. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright 2022 Rob Brezsny

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