Life Always Delivers the Creative Energy You Need

. . . to change into the new thing you must become

Life always delivers the creative energy you need to change into the new thing you must become.

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ALL DESIRES HAVE A SACRED ORIGIN

Psychologist Carl Jung said all desires have a sacred origin, no matter how odd they seem. Frustration and ignorance may cause them to twist into distorted caricatures, but it's possible to locate the beautiful source from which they arose.

In describing an addictive patient, Jung said: "His craving for alcohol was the equivalent on a low level of the spiritual thirst for wholeness, or as expressed in medieval language: the union with God."

With this in mind, ruminate about this question: What are the glorious prototypes behind the longings that confuse you or drain you?

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IF THERE IS ANY SUCH THING AS ENLIGHTENMENT . . .

If there is any such thing as enlightenment, it arises from empathy, sympathy, compassion, tenderness, and a quest to be in intimate connection with and in service to other beings.

Art by Valerie Tenov

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YOU BELONG TO YOURSELF

While you commune with us here at the Conspiracy to Commit Insurrectionary Beauty and Smart Love:

Your favorite phrase might be "flux gusto"

The colors of your soul might be sable, vermilion, ivory, and jade

Your special emotion might be skeptical faith

Your magic talisman might be a thousand-year-old Joshua tree whose flowers blossom just one night each year and can only be pollinated by the yucca moth

The garage sale item you most resemble might be an old but beautiful and sonorous accordion with a broken key

Your magic verbs are dig, descend, and disclose

Your sweet spot might be in between the true believers and the scoffing skeptics

You have a secret name that will be revealed to you very soon

You have fire in your blood and sea salt in your tears

Your vision of power is the red-tailed hawk soaring over the shopping mall

Your sacred fungus might be yeast and your soil of destiny might be peat moss

Your lucky number might be 3.14159265

Your lucky phobia might be arachibutyrophobia, or the fear of peanut butter adhering to the roof of your mouth

Your holiest pain might come from your yearning to change yourself in the exact way you'd like the world around you to change

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VOWS

I invite you to speak these vows out loud:

"As long as I live, I vow to die and be reborn, die and be reborn, die and be reborn, over and over again, forever reinventing myself.

"I promise to be stronger than hate, wetter than water, deeper than the abyss, and wilder than the sun.

"I pledge to remember that I am not only a sweating, half-asleep, excitable, bumbling jumble of desires, but that I am also an immortal four-dimensional messiah in continuous telepathic touch with all of creation.

"I vow to love and honor my highs and my lows my yeses and noes, my give and my take, the life I wish I had and the life I actually have.

"I promise to push hard to get better and smarter, grow my devotion to the truth, fuel my commitment to beauty, refine my emotions, hone my dreams, wrestle with my shadow, purge my ignorance, and soften my heart -- even as I always accept myself for exactly who I am, with all of my so-called foibles and wobbles."

Words by Marguerite Rigoglioso. Art by Cynthia Van Leeuwen

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LOVE DOESN'T HAVE TO MEAN LOSING FREEDOM

Love doesn't have to involve losing freedom. It could mean synergizing and deepening freedom with an ally who's as talented a liberationist as you.

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HOLY PLAYFUL FUNNY BLISS

The German word "selig" can mean "ecstatic," "blessed," or "holy." It implies that profound bliss can be a divine gift; that deep pleasure may generate or come from spiritual inspiration.

The English language doesn't have a term comparable to "selig," maybe because our culture regards sacred ecstasy with suspicion.

Religious people tend to believe that the blessed are those who are good and kind, certainly not those who are skilled at cultivating rapturous states of union with all of creation.

Many people who worship rationality, on the other hand, think of holy ecstasy as at best an irrelevant state, and at worst a nonproductive or deluded indulgence.

What would you have to do to place yourself in intimate alignment with the values embodied by the word "selig"?

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"They say a thing is holy if it makes you hold your tongue," muses a character in John Crowley's fantasy novel Engine Summer, speaking of the difference between his culture and another. "But we say a thing is holy if it makes you laugh."

Is your amused joy compatible with your yearning for the breakthroughs that make you feel at home in the world? Can your giddiness serve your reverence?

P.S. The English word "silly" comes from the German "selig."

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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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ANNIE DILLARD JUBILEE

"Nature seems to exult in abounding radicality, extremism, anarchy. If we were to judge nature by its common sense or likelihood, we wouldn't believe the world existed. In nature, improbabilities are the one stock in trade. The whole creation is one lunatic fringe . . . No claims of any and all revelations could be so far-fetched as a single giraffe."'

—Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

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"If the landscape reveals one certainty," wrote Annie Dillard, "it is that the extravagant gesture is the very stuff of creation. After the one extravagant gesture of creation in the first place, the universe has continued to deal exclusively in extravagances, flinging intricacies and colossi down aeons of emptiness, heaping profusions on profligacies with fresh vigor."

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Annie Dillard notes that there is only a tiny difference between the lifebloods of plants and animals. A molecule of chlorophyll contains 36 atoms of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon arrayed around an atom of magnesium, while a molecule of hemoglobin is exactly the same except for an atom of iron instead of magnesium.

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"I am not washed and beautiful, in control of a shining world in which everything fits," writes Annie Dillard, "but instead am wandering awed about on a splintered wreck I've come to care for, whose gnawed trees breathe a delicate air."

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In her book Teaching a Stone to Talk, Annie Dillard apologizes to God and Santa Claus and a nice but eccentric older woman named Miss White, whom she knew as a child. "I am sorry I ran from you," she writes to them. "I am still running from that knowledge, that eye, that love from which there is no refuge. For you meant only love, and love, and I felt only fear, and pain."

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"There is always an enormous temptation in all of life," writes Annie Dillard, "to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end . . . I won't have it. The world is wider than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright."

Mandarin duck, by Edoardo Mazzucco

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

Realtor Transforms Abandoned Properties into Tiny Home Villages That Give Permanent Housing to Chronic Homeless. https://tinyurl.com/478r6zy8

Rags-to-Riches Story Sees Human Compassion and Social Media Turn Homeless Painter into LA’s Next Big Artist. https://tinyurl.com/5btnuxsm

3 Women Found Out the Same Guy Was Cheating on Them. They Dumped Him and Took Epic Road Trip Together. https://tinyurl.com/c8ms4h2d

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For 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 12

Copyright 2021 by Rob Brezsny

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): According to Leo author Guy de Maupassant, "We are in the habit of using our eyes only with the memory of what people before us have thought about the things we are looking at." That's too bad. It causes us to miss a lot of life's richness. In fact, said de Maupassant, "There is an element of the unexplored in everything. The smallest thing contains a little of what is unknown." Your assignment in the next two weeks, Leo, is to take his thoughts to heart. In every experience, engage "with enough attention to find an aspect of it that no one has ever seen or spoken of." You are in a phase when you could discover and enjoy record-breaking levels of novelty.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Poet Brigit Pegeen Kelly wrote a poem I want you to know about. She described how, when she was a child, she stayed up all night picking peaches from her father's orchard by starlight. For hours, she climbed up and down the ladder. Her hands "twisted fruit" as if she "were entering a thousand doors." When the stars faded and morning arrived, her insides felt like "the stillness a bell possesses just after it has been rung." That's the kind of experience I wish for you in the coming days, Virgo. I know it can't be exactly the same. Can you imagine what the nearest equivalent might be? Make it happen!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Ancient Greek philosopher Plato mistrusted laughter, poetry, bright colors, and artists who used bright colors. All those soulful activities influenced people to be emotional, Plato thought, and therefore represented a threat to rational, orderly society. Wow! I'm glad I don't live in a culture descended from Plato! Oh, wait, I do. His writing is foundational to Western thought. One modern philosopher declared, "The European philosophical tradition consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." Anyway, I'm counseling you to rebel against Plato in the coming weeks. You especially need experiences that awaken and please and highlight your feelings. Contrary to Plato's fears, doing this will boost your intelligence and enhance your decision-making powers.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A biography of Nobel Prize-winning Scorpio author Albert Camus noted that he had two modes. They are summed up in the French words solidaire ("unity") and solitaire ("solitary"). When Camus was in a solidaire phase, he immersed himself in convivial engagement, enjoying the pleasures of socializing. But when he decided it was time to work hard on writing his books, he retreated into a monastic routine to marshal intense creativity. According to my astrological analysis, you Scorpios are currently in the solidaire phase of your rhythm. Enjoy it to the max! When might the next solitaire phase come? October could be such a time.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): During the 76 years since the end of World War II, Italy has had 69 different governments. That's a great deal of turnover! Is it a strength or weakness to have so many changes in leadership? On the one hand, such flexibility could be an asset; it might be wise to keep reinventing the power structure as circumstances shift. On the other hand, having so little continuity and stability may undermine confidence and generate stressful uncertainty. I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because you're entering a phase when you could be as changeable as Italy. Is that what you want? Would it serve you or undermine you? Make a conscious choice.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn actor Nicholas Browne testifies, "My heart is too full; it overflows onto everything I see. I am drowning in my own heart. I've plunged into the deepness of emotion, and I don't see any way back up. Still, I pray no one comes to save me." I'm guessing that his profound capacity to feel and express emotions serves Browne well in his craft. While I don't recommend such a deep immersion for you 24/7/365, I suspect you'll be wise to embark on such an excursion during the next three weeks. Have fun diving! How deep can you go?

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YOU NEED MAGIC EVERY DAY

Every day, you have to wade through a relentless surge of soul-less facts. The experience tends to shut down your sense of wonder.

Every day, you're over-exposed to cynical narratives sucked free of delight and mystery. That's why you have to make such strenuous efforts to keep your world enchanted.

I like to think I can contribute to the sacred cause of feeding your sense of wonder and enchantment. In fact, that's one of my prime motivations for offering you the free weekly horoscopes you read in this newsletter.

If you want more of that good stuff, and think it's worth paying for, consider 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 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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"I almost always come away from listening to your audio horoscopes with greater clarity about what's best for me to give my attention to next."

—Jada Washington, New York

"I love how your audio horoscopes stimulate my idealism and also help me think about the practical actions I can take to support my idealism."

—Rita Mashner, Tampa

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Art by Kathleen Lolley

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In accordance with current astrological omens, I'm calling on author Byron Katie to offer you a message. Is it infused with tough love or sweet encouragement? Both! Here's Katie: "When you realize that suffering and discomfort are the call to inquiry, you may actually begin to look forward to uncomfortable feelings. You may even experience them as friends coming to show you what you have not yet investigated thoroughly enough." Get ready to dive deeper than you've dared to go before, Aquarius. I guarantee you it will ultimately become fun and educational.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In August 1922, author Nikos Kazantzakis wrote this triumphant declaration: "All day today I've had the most gentle, quivering joy, because I'm beginning to heal. Consciously, happily, I feel that I am being born anew, that I am beginning once again to take possession of the light." On behalf of the cosmic powers-that-be, I authorize you to use these words as your own in the coming weeks. They capture transformations that are in the works for you. By speaking Kazantzakis's declarations aloud several times every day, you will ensure that his experience will be yours, too.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): "Consecrate" isn't a word you often encounter in intellectual circles. In my home country of America, many otherwise smart people spurn the possibility that we might want to make things sacred. And a lot of art aspires to do the opposite of consecration: strip the world of holiness and mock the urge to commune with sanctified experiences. But filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975) expressed a contradictory view. He wrote, "I am not interested in deconsecrating: that's a fashion I hate. I want to reconsecrate things as much as possible, I want to re-mythicize them." In accordance with astrological omens, Aries, I invite you to look for opportunities to do the same.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Anais Nin wrote, "I don't want worship. I want understanding." George Orwell said, "Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood." Poet Marina Tsvetaeva declared, "For as long as I can remember, I thought I wanted to be loved. Now I know: I don't need love, I need understanding." Here's what I'll add, Taurus: If you ask for understanding and seek it out, a wealth of it will be available to you in the coming weeks.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The English idiom "playing hard to get" means "pretending to be unavailable or uninterested so as to make oneself more attractive or desirable." Psychologists say this strategy often works, although it's crucial not to go too far and make your pursuer lose interest. Seventeenth-century philosopher Baltasar Gracián expressed the concept more philosophically. He said, "Leave people hungry. Even with physical thirst, good taste's trick is to stimulate it, not quench it. What's good, if sparse, is twice as good. A surfeit of pleasure is dangerous, for it occasions disdain even towards what's undisputedly excellent. Hard-won happiness is twice as enjoyable." I suggest you consider deploying these strategies, Gemini.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) sometimes worked alongside painter Claude Monet (1840–1926) at Monet's home. He sought the older man's guidance. Before their first session, Sargent realized there was no black among the paint colors Monet gave him to work with. What?! Monet didn't use black? Sargent was shocked. He couldn't imagine painting without it. And yet, he did fine without it. In fact, the apparent limitation compelled him to be creative in ways he hadn't previously imagined. What would be your metaphorical equivalent, Cancerian: a limitation that inspires?

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Homework. Name what you're most eager to change about your life. Newsletter@FreeWillAstrology.com

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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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