Loving Another Person Is Hard Work

. . . and the ultimate test of character

Sep 13, 2022

For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Joan Burnham

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Listen to A SPELL TO RE-GENIUS YOURSELF:

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Here’s an excerpt:

We are all born geniuses, but the grind of day-to-day living tends to de-genius us. That's the bad news. The good news is that you have the power to re-genius yourself.

Here’s a ritual you can use to jump-start the process.

In one sense each of us is an intriguing, intricately unique individual, justifiably proud of and in love with our own personal story. In another sense, we are all one body, descended from the same primordial mother and made of identical stuff — the calcium in all of our bones and the iron in all of our blood originally forged in a red giant star that died billions of years ago.

Now it's time to confess the truth about who you really are.

Gaze upward and stretch your arms out high. Say the following: "I am a genius."

And say this: "I am a lucky, plucky genius."

And say this: "I am a lucky, plucky, good-sucking genius."

Thank you for finally confessing the truth. It's about time you admitted that you are a miraculous work of art.

If you’d like to see A SPELL TO RE-GENIUS YOURSELF as a live performance, watch these videos:

A Spell to Re-Genius Yourself, Part One: https://tinyurl.com/ReGeniusPartOne

A Spell to Re-Genius Yourself, Part Two: https://tinyurl.com/ReGeniusPartTwo

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THE QUESTION OF MIRACLES

INTERVIEWER: You confuse me in the way that you praise rational thought and the scientific method, yet reserve the right to believe in astrology, angels, miracles, and other woo-woo.

ROB BREZSNY: Thousands of amazing, inexplicable, and even supernatural events occur every day. And yet most are unreported by the media. The few that are cited are ridiculed.

Why? Here's one possible reason: The people most likely to believe in wonders and marvels may be superstitious, uneducated, or prone to having a blind, literalist faith in their religions' myths.

Those who are least likely to believe in wonders and marvels are skilled at analytical thought, well-educated, and yet prone to having a blind, literalist faith in the ideology of materialism, which dogmatically asserts that the universe consists entirely of things that can be perceived by the five human senses or detected by instruments that scientists have thus far invented.

The media is largely composed of people from the second group. It's virtually impossible for them to admit to the possibility of events that elude the rational mind's explanations, let alone experience them.

If anyone from this group manages to escape peer pressure and cultivate a receptivity to the miraculous, it's because they have successfully fought against being demoralized by the unsophisticated way wonders and marvels are framed by the first group.

I try to be immune to the double-barreled ignorance. When I behold astonishing synchronicities and numinous breakthroughs that seem to violate natural law, I'm willing to consider the possibility that my understanding of natural law is too narrow.

And yet I also refrain from lapsing into irrational gullibility; I actively seek mundane explanations for apparent miracles.

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MERCURY IS RETROGRADE!!!!!!!!!!

Mercury is retrograde from September 9 through October 1.

Here’s what astrologer Peter Burns says: "During Mercury retrograde periods, we are likely to see astrologers from different persuasions offer apparently wise advice and warnings about mix-ups in communication, delays in transport and the like. But is this really good astrology?

"Ignoring for the moment the fact that there are always communication mix-ups and delays, sound astrological practice says that a Mercury retrograde period will only affect those whose charts indicate that they are predisposed to having communication mix-ups and delays during that period.

"Is everyone susceptible to the pitfalls of Mercury retrograde? It will depend a lot on the natal condition of Mercury, whether it is direct or retrograde, the condition of the 3rd house ruler and its relationship with other planets, the Moon’s relationship with Mercury and other factors. And some people are more susceptible at certain times in their life and for this we need to consider progressions etc. Transits alone may not do the job.

"If it were true that these retrograde periods affect everyone all at the same time then our lives would be simpler and much more predictable. But people’s lives are not so easy to predict. Although we hardly need astrological validation to demonstrate our individual uniqueness, the study of individual horoscopes makes it obvious.

"Communication mix-ups are more the norm than the exception. It is clarity and mutual understanding that is more remarkable.

"There is an expectation among some astrologers that mix-ups and delays will be especially prevalent when Mercury is retrograde. But how often do mix-ups and delays occur outside this period? It is important to objectively reference expectations against the real world.

"It is easy to copy and paste the same astrological advice for every Mercury retrograde period. It is the stuffing of countless astro sites.

"If everyone in the world resonated predictably to planetary transits, independent of their own chart, astrology would rule science. But it is not true, certainly not on an individual level. It makes more sense that retrograde periods affect us on the mundane collective level, but even at this level it takes a skilled practitioner to predict the where and when.

"Offering apparently wise astrological counsel to a group of unrelated individuals about the pitfalls of Mercury retrograde without reference to individual charts or the context of the bigger picture is not good practice in my opinion."

—By Peter Burns, who is at https://westernastrology.net/

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GETTING IN TOUCH WITH YOUR CREATIVITY

CONDUIT MAGAZINE: Rob, can you guide us in ways we might get more in touch with our creativity via some of your approach to the world?

ROB BREZSNY: The most important thing I can do as someone who aspires to be a creative person is to listen and to be receptive. And that entails cultivating the skill to tune in to all the different kinds of intelligence there are around us.

Not just the human intelligence, although that’s crucial, but also all the non-human intelligences: the animals, the plants, the spiritual intelligences. The wind, the rain, the sun. The critters that live within us. The cells, the bacteria.

I regard the entire world as crammed with all these kinds of intelligences. As a creator, my job is to be eternally curious, to be alert, to tune into what all these intelligences are telling me.

It’s potentially overwhelming if you take this practice seriously, so it's important for me to invoke discernment and formulate intentions: “What is it that I need to learn now?”

For instance, I’m working on a book about how the collapse of the ecosystem is impacting us personally – on a psychological level, on a psycho-spiritual level, not just how it’s causing changes in weather and shifts in climate.

As I do the research and writing for this book, there are lots of different questions that come up, and I formulate those questions and I present them to the creatures of the world, and I ask, “What do you have to tell me?”

It’s this blend of formulating intuition and cultivating curiosity and being a good listener that’s at the heart of my creative practice.

Read more of this interview: https://tinyurl.com/BrezsnyConduit

And Conduit magazine is here: https://www.conduit.org/

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GIFTS!

Since 1995, I've been offering my written horoscopes on the Internet for free. I love doing that. It's relaxing to be able to offer you my oracles without asking for anything in return. It's healthy for my soul.

But I also don't mind earning money from doing what I love to do. That's why I make it possible for you to bless me with donations. If you would like to contribute to me, please visit my Gift Page: https://paypal.me/GiftsForRob

When you are asked, “What’s this payment for?”

— respond with “gift”

and click the link for "Sending to a friend”

In addition to free written horoscopes, I also offer two o sources of astrological information that cost money: my Expanded Audio Horoscopes and Daily Text Message Horoscopes.

I love you just as much if you don't buy my extra stuff as if you do! But if you’d like the extra stuff, here's how to get it:

Go to https://RealAstrology.com. Register or log in. On the new page, you have two choices: Expanded Audio Horoscopes or Daily Text Message Horoscopes.

If you have any questions about how to access them, write to my tech support team at freewillcs@gmail.com

Other ways to offer your financial support:

* Commit to offering me a regular donation through my Patreon page at https://Patreon.com/FreeWillAstrology

* I have made it possible for subscribers to my newsletter to pay a subscription fee, BUT ONLY IF THEY WANT TO AND CAN AFFORD TO! It’s free for everyone who wants it free.

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Week beginning September 15

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It's impossible to be perfect. It's neither healthy nor productive to obsess on perfectionism. You know these things. You understand you can't afford to get bogged down in overthinking and overreaching and overpolishing. And when you are at your best, you sublimate such manic urges. You transform them into the elegant intention to clarify and refine and refresh. With grace and care, you express useful beauty instead of aiming for hyper-immaculate precision. I believe that in the coming weeks, dear Virgo, you will be a master of these services—skilled at performing them for yourself and others.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to Libran poet T. S. Eliot, "What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." Those are your guiding thoughts for the coming days, Libra. You're almost ready to start fresh; you're on the verge of being able to start planning your launch date or grand opening. Now all you have to do is create a big crisp emptiness where the next phase will have plenty of room to germinate. The best way to do that is to finish the old process as completely as possible.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Now and then, you slip into phases when you're poised on the brink of either self-damage or self-discovery. You wobble and lurch on the borderline where self-undoing vies with self-creation. Whenever this situation arises, here are key questions to ask yourself: Is there a strategy you can implement to ensure that you glide into self-discovery and self-creation? Is there a homing thought that will lure you away from the perverse temptations of self-damage and self-undoing? The answers to these queries are always yes—if you regard love as your top priority and if you serve the cause of love over every other consideration.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "Sometimes serendipity is just intention unmasked," said Sagittarian author Elizabeth Berg. I suspect her theory will be true for you in the coming weeks. You have done an adroit job of formulating your intentions and collecting the information you need to carry out your intentions. What may be best now is to relax your focus as you make room for life to respond to your diligent preparations. "I'm a great believer in luck," said my Uncle Ned. "I've found that the harder I work, the more luck I have." He was correct, but it's also true that luck sometimes surges your way when you've taken a break from your hard work.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Tips to get the most out of the next six weeks: 1. Be the cautiously optimistic voice of reason. Be the methodical motivator who prods and inspires. Organize as you uplift. Encourage others as you build efficiency. 2. Don't take other people's apparent stupidity or rudeness as personal affronts. Try to understand how the suffering they have endured may have led to their behavior. 3. Be your own father. Guide yourself as a wise and benevolent male elder would. 4. Seek new ways to experience euphoria and enchantment, with an emphasis on what pleasures will also make you healthier.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author Richard Ford has advice for writers: "Find what causes a commotion in your heart. Find a way to write about that." I will amend his counsel to apply to all of you non-writers, as well. By my reckoning, the coming weeks will be prime time to be gleefully honest as you identify what causes commotions in your heart. Why should you do that? Because it will lead you to the good decisions you need to make in the coming months. As you attend to this holy homework, I suggest you direct the following invitation to the universe: "Beguile me, mystify me, delight me, fascinate me, and rouse me to feel deep, delicious feelings."

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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 make strenuous efforts to keep your world enchanted.

I’d like to contribute to the sacred cause of feeding your sense of wonder and enchantment. That's a prime motivation for me in offering you the free weekly horoscopes in this newsletter.

If you want more of that good stuff, and think it's worth paying for, consider trying 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

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

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Meme is by MarianneWilliamson.Substack.com

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “I am lonely, yet not everybody will do," observed Piscean author Anaïs Nin. "Some people fill the gaps, and others emphasize my loneliness,” she concluded. According to my reading of the astrological omens, Pisces, it's your task right now to identify which people intensify your loneliness and which really do fill the gaps. And then devote yourself with extra care to cultivating your connections with the gap-fillers. Loneliness is sometimes a good thing—a state that helps you renew and deepen your communion with your deep self. But I don’t belief that’s your assignment these days. Instead, you'll be wise to experience intimacy that enriches your sense of feeling at home in the world. You'll thrive by consorting with allies who sweeten your love of life.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): My reader Monica Ballard has this advice for you Aries folks: "If you don’t vividly ask for and eagerly welcome the gifts the Universe has in store for you, you may have to settle for trinkets and baubles. So never settle." That's always useful counsel for you Rams. And in the coming weeks, you will be wise to heed it with extra intensity. Here's a good metaphor to spur you on: Don't fill up on junk snacks or glitzy hors d'oeuvres. Instead, hold out for gourmet feasts featuring healthy, delectable entrées.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I will remind you about a potential superpower that is your birthright to develop: You can help people to act in service to the deepest truths and strongest love. You can even teach them how to do it. Have you been ripening this talent in 2022? Have you been bringing it more to the forefront of your relationships? I hope so. The coming months will stir you to go further than ever before in expressing this gift. For best results, take a vow to nurture the deepest truths and strongest love in all your thoughts and dealings with others.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Your mind is sometimes a lush and beautiful maze that you get lost in. Is that a problem? Now and then it is, yes. But just as often, it's an entertaining blessing. As you wander around amidst the lavish finery, not quite sure of where you are or where you're going, you often make discoveries that rouse your half-dormant potentials. You luckily stumble into unforeseen insights you didn't realize you needed to know. I believe the description I just articulated fits your current ramble through the amazing maze. My advice: Don't be in a mad rush to escape. Allow this dizzying but dazzling expedition to offer you all its rich teachings.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): "Poetry is a life-cherishing force," said Pulitzer Prize-winner Mary Oliver, who published 33 volumes of poetry and read hundreds of other poets. Her statement isn’t true for everyone, of course. To reach the point where reading poetry provides our souls with nourishment, we may have to work hard to learn how to appreciate it. Some of us don’t have the leisure or temperament to do so. In any case, Cancerian, what are your life-cherishing forces? What influences inspire you to know and feel all that's most precious about your time on earth? Now would be an excellent time to ruminate on those treasures—and take steps to nurture them with tender ingenuity.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Please promise me you will respect and revere your glorious star power in the coming weeks. I feel it’s important, both to you and those whose lives you touch, that you exalt and exult in your access to your magnificence. For everyone’s benefit, you should play freely with the art of being majestic and regal and sovereign. To do this right, you must refrain from indulging in trivial wishes, passing fancies, and minor attractions. You must give yourself to what's stellar. You must serve your holiest longings, your riveting dreams, and your thrilling hopes.

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Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter

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