My New Book

Celebrating Our Wild and Sacred Earthy Selves in Jubilant Defiance of Disembodied Spirituality

My new book is:

Enlightenment for Rebels: Celebrating Our Wild and Sacred Earthly Selves in Jubilant Defiance of Disembodied Spirituality

In this reverently rowdy text, I propose versions of enlightenment that don’t require an escape from our world’s gorgeous pandemonium, but thrive on a wildly disciplined engagement with it.

Through an unpredictable weave of unruly stories and genre-fluid texts, I cross-pollinate exuberant activist passions with drug-free explorations of altered states.

I invite readers to have maximum fun as they experiment and improvise with imaginative spiritual practices. How can we cultivate wisdom that’s both grounded and ecstatic?

The book is available at all online stores, and you can get a 25% discount here: tinyurl.com/SacredEarthySelves

It’s also available here:

Bookshop: tinyurl.com/RebelEnlightenment

Barnes & Noble: tinyurl.com/JubilantDefiance

Amazon: tinyurl.com/EcstaticHealing

The ebook will be available in a few days.

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Grateful Immersion in the Glorious Human Mess: excerpt from the book

My family, allies, and I are allergic to spiritual teachers and teachings that coax people to disparage the core features that make us human. We’re not sure why their sprawling quagmire seems so tempting to multitudes of souls.

They claim that the body is a distraction and desire is an affliction? We say NOOOOOOO! They insist out feelings are traps, the ego is a dire hindrance, and our personal stories are obstructions to illumination? We say NEVER!!!!!

Sorrowful dismay wells up as we watch legions of tender aspirants guzzle this fake news as if it were sacrosanct wisdom.

Our love of life protests as our fellow wanderers try to extinguish their mortal magic in the name of escapist transcendence.

We are rattled as they neglect their own precious soul savvy and demean their majestic flesh. It’s tragic and heart-breaking!

Our alternatives are celebratory rhythms and rhymes that immerse us in the glories of flesh wisdom and creature consciousness.

Resolved: We crave and deserve spiritual approaches that honor all the magnificent human features named below.

• Feelings and physical sensations are sources of vigorous wisdom. They’re not erratic, banal burdens we must ignore and expunge to be free.

• Desires are holy fuel for our liberation and intelligence. They’re not toxic obstacles we need to abnegate and suppress.

• The ego is a crucial ally in our zeal to be vividly alive. It’s not an enemy to be demeaned and disowned, but a tool to be tuned and aligned with righteous purpose.

• Many (not all) of our stories and identities are essential to who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going. They’re not merely illusions to vanquish and shed, but evocative texts to honor and integrate.

• Our bodies are sacred vessels and sources of sublime savvy. They’re not distracting burdens but miraculous masterpieces.

• Our relationships are potentially at the evocative heart of our spiritual practice, not intrusive diversions.

• Earth is our beloved home, not a limbo or prison where we suffer and grieve in temporary exile from some supposedly better place.

• Our incarnation on this planet is an exalted gift, not a punishment or ordeal.

• Movement and sound are equally valid paths to illumination as stillness and silence.

• Our everyday lives are sources of rich opportunities for delight and discovery. They’re not burdensome trials rife with irrelevant, boring, and oppressive hindrances.

• Connection is just as key to spiritual deepening as solitude; community is as important as self-sufficiency; cooperation and empathy are crucial for growing our glistening sagacity.

• Play, humor, and creative expression are divine gifts that belong at the heart of our spiritual practice. They’re not irrelevancies or optional extras.

• Sexuality can be a pathway to divinely inspired transmutation. It shouldn’t be compulsively dismissed as an inconvenient bedevilment or vulgar need.

• Work may be an aid to spiritual practice rather than an obstructive vexation that interferes with our focus on our highest and noblest aims.

• Grief, rage, envy, and the difficult emotions are worthy teachers rather than sheerly problematic digressions and detours to be overcome.

• The endless changes that life brings us can be sources of interesting challenges, not doleful emblems of constant loss.

• Nightly dreams may be treasured wellsprings of guidance, not indecipherable tangents.

• Our ancestors and lineages, both biological and chosen, are sources of power and wisdom worth consulting and honoring. They’re not to be confined to sentimental and nostalgic musings.

• Some experiences may be so marvelously intense, unique, and potent that they become permanently inscribed in eternity—imprinted on the undying record of all that has ever been felt, witnessed, and loved. They’re not necessarily subject to utter dissolution and disappearance, but are kept alive in the deep memory of existence.

The book’s cover art is by Olaf Hajek.

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To hear the song WORLD KISS, whose text appears in the book, click here:

Here’s another excerpt from the new book:

Pleasure, Bliss, Ecstasy, and Gleeful Zest as Spiritual Fuel

Many spiritual systems the world has inherited regard pleasure, bliss, rapture, ecstasy, elation, and related super treasures as troublemaking distractions. The so-called “lower self” is greedy for such wasteful irrelevance, the saintly authorities say. “Begone foul deceivers!” they imply or declare outright.

How many zillions of us have been taught, often with dire and threatening tones, that feeling really good leads us away from life’s essential goals? Holiness and sanctity are likely to accumulate in us only if we shun the supposedly inferior temptation to bask in delight.

Of all the idiocies foisted on humanity, this one is among the most egregious. We are in danger of veering into apoplexy as we contemplate such a criminal delusion. We’ll try to be civil.

In both our extensive mythic explorations of dreamy truth and our scientific investigations of hard-core reality, we have gathered incontrovertible evidence that pleasure is a central necessity for any spiritual quest that actually works.

It’s a sensory instrument. A tuning fork. A feedback system. A way the body says, Yes, this. More of this. Keep headed in this direction. You’re getting closer to home.

We’re not talking about the jittery sugar-high of addiction or the perverse, jangly thrills that sabotage health.

We mean the rich, ennobling euphoria and exhilaration that arise during encounters with smart fun: inspiring us to love ourselves more, expanding our capacity to love others, leading us in the direction of our shining dreams, and helping us solve our knotty problems.

The eruptions of these life-giving nourishments might come through the stimulation of our senses, emotions, mind, or imagination. They don’t yank us away from the sacred. They are among the sacred’s favorite ways of snagging our attention. Evolution didn’t give us many reliable compasses, but these are among them.

Our comprehensive research reveals that when we feel genuinely good—not inflated or superior, but resoundingly buoyant—our ethics improve. We’re more patient and curious. Less brittle and defensive.

When we’re swooning or even just shimmering with delectation, we see other people more clearly. They’re not obstacles or mirrors of our lack, but fellow creatures doing their best with the weather systems inside them.

By contrast, chronic deprivation, especially when dressed up as virtue, tends to make people tight and pinched and resentful of anyone who looks like they’re enjoying themselves.

Self-denial doesn’t reliably produce saints. Often it just produces people who are very good at pretending they don’t want what they want.

Those who know how to feed themselves often have a super-capacity to give without keeping score. Their generosity leaks out sideways. There’s surplus.

Here’s our very-well proven hypothesis: Compassion grows less from being twisted up about suffering and more from inhabiting joie de vivre so fully that we want others to feel it too.

To read the rest of this article, go here: tinyurl.com/BlissIsSpiritualFuel

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Check out my Linktree, with links to other things I create: linktr.ee/robbrezsny

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

For the Week of September

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Master chefs say that diners first taste food with their eyes. The visual presentation is key to the whole experience. But the beauty must arise from craftsmanship rather than empty decoration. I believe you Virgos are in a phase when this is an important metaphor. Your outer style and inner substance are ready to become better collaborators. Some suggestions: Wear clothes that influence you to feel vividly alive. Relax your face and posture. Beautify your workspace. Polish your presentations. And please make sure the dazzling appearances reflect equally nourishing contents.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I just finished a delicate peace mission to the contested inner landscape where your nightmares have been causing a big ruckus. In response to my diplomacy, they have agreed to drop their weapons and release their captives. In exchange, they are asking you to sit with them for a while as they rant and sob, and maybe offer them a few kisses and affectionate embraces. Drawing on my long years of coaxing unruly spirits back into semi-sanity, I conclude that a key reason they turned so dramatic and extreme was that they have been starving for your attention. I am very sure that with just a little effort, you can tame their reckless restlessness.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You’re poised at a threshold between what’s comfortably familiar and excitingly possible. A certain reliable part of your life has served you well for a long time but is now ripe for evolution. The paradox is that letting go of a serviceable asset can feel more difficult than shedding what’s obviously harmful. So here’s the riddle I hope you will meditate on: What good old thing could you relinquish so as to attract and make room for a great new thing in your life?

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci filled his notebooks with sketches of machines that would not become practical until centuries later. Examples are the parachute, a helicopter‑like “aerial screw,” and an armored tank. Many of his designs were simply too advanced for the materials and engineering of his era. I suspect you may experience comparable moments of visionary thinking in the coming weeks and months, Sagittarius. To some people and even to yourself, your ideas might seem overly ambitious or ahead of their time. But please don’t dismiss them. Write down your inklings and let them cavort around in your imagination.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Sofia Kovalevskaya was born under the sign of Capricorn in 1850. Early in her life, she displayed mathematical brilliance. She longed to develop her talent, but women weren’t allowed to attend college in her native Russia. So she devised a workaround: a marriage of convenience with a man who helped her leave the country and gain the freedom to study in Germany. There she eventually became the first woman to earn a doctorate. Inspired by her example, I encourage you to consider creative strategies for obstacles that seem immovable. What indirect routes might lead you to your goals better than frontal assaults? Be willing to zigzag toward your destination.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Most of us have been cursed. The sources of the bad mojo have rarely been evil sorcerers who cast literal spells. Rather, they were harsh pronouncements about our worth or our future, spoken by people we loved or trusted. For example, when I was 20, my astrology teacher dropped an alarming verdict on me: “You will never be seen and appreciated for who you truly are.” That ugly decree became a jinx I spent years struggling with before I finally banished it. Do you carry a comparable hex, Aquarius? Maybe mommy or daddy proclaimed you would never amount to anything. Maybe an ex declared that you would never again find real love. Whatever it might have been, here’s the good news: You now have the power to at least partially dissolve that old scourge and glide into the future less burdened by it.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Ravens often cache shiny objects and interesting novelties that seem to possess no immediate practical value. They apparently delight in collecting intriguing possibilities. I recommend you channel your inner raven in the coming weeks, Pisces. Assemble an array of quirky treasures and raw materials without immediately deciding whether or why they might be useful. Like what? Like fun ideas, memorable quotations, odd facts, provocative images, curious fragments, and fascinating stories. In ways you can’t imagine yet, your playful cluster will inspire imaginative innovations and delightful breakthroughs.

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If you would like to support my work, consider:

buying my Expanded Audio. Horoscopes and Daily Horoscopes

which includes a long-term look at the coming months as well as a new shorter-term report about the coming days

and/or

becoming a paid subscriber to my Free Will Astrology Newsletter

and/or

donating at my Paypal site: paypal.com/paypalme/GiftsForRob

(contribute as Friends and Family)

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): Cheetahs are the fastest land animals, but they can maintain top tempo for only about 20-30 seconds before overheating. When they’re hunting, they usually get just one speedy dash to catch their prey. They must spend far more time stalking and positioning than running. The velocity is sensational, but their patient and prolonged strategy is even more essential. In the coming weeks, Aries, I urge you to be like the cheetah as you pursue want you need and want.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov said that true mastery means performing with complete intensity while making the movement appear effortless. Behind the grace lies years of disciplined practice. Is there an aptitude or practice you cultivate that fits this description, Taurus? I hope you’re ready to showcase it, flaunt it, and use it to your maximum benefit. It’s time to capitalize bountifully on skills at which you excel. Your well-deserved rewards are more likely to arrive than usual.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Dear Oracle: I have contracted a severe case of too-many-tabs-open. My brain has 19 windows running at once, and it’s hard for me to determine which thoughts are the truly important ones. Everything seems equally urgent and equally trifling. Any tips on how I can better figure out what actually matters the most? —Overstimulated Gemini.” Dear Overstimulated: The secret to fixing this dilemma is to consult your body. Focus your attention on your gut and ask it to send you sweet clues about which yearnings it resonates with most. Check in with your feet and seek their wise counsel about which direction they want to lead you. Pat yourself lovingly on the butt a few times and request its loving guidance about what will make you feel most grounded.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): For some people, laughter is like a spiritual practice. A lot of them are Leos, Aquarians, and Sagittarians. They crack up more often and for longer stretches than most, and they tend to howl at ironies everyone else takes too seriously. I bring this to your attention, dear Cancerian, because you’re in a time when you could and should laugh often in wild, liberating ways. I invite you to explore the weirder areas of your sense of humor and work earnestly to expand what you find funny. PS: There’s credible evidence that laughter can reduce stress physiology, ease anxiety, lift mood, strengthen social connection, and even raise pain tolerance.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The astronomer Johannes Kepler spent years trying to prove that planetary orbits were perfect circles because he believed the universe should behave that way. Once he abandoned his cherished assumption, he discovered the truth: The planets travel in ellipses. That revision transformed astronomy forever. With this in mind, Leo, I will ask you: Is there an elegant belief you have outgrown? A theory that was once fun and interesting but now limits your vision? The coming weeks will favor corrections. Changing your mind will show you that reality is even more interesting than you previously understood.

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