The "Blemish" May Be Essential to the Beauty

The “deviation” could be at the core of the strength

My new book is for sale: ASTROLOGY IS REAL: REVELATIONS FROM MY LIFE AS AN ORACLE.

It’s a book you don’t have to read sequentially from beginning to end. You can start anywhere and read here and there, trusting your intuition to find what you need. It’s full of short, sweet essays — some of which I am excerpting below.

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THE SPIRITUAL POWER OF PLEASURE

Proposed experiment: Assume your drive to experience pleasure isn’t a hindrance to your spiritual growth, but is essential to it.  

Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating joy can make you a more ethical and compassionate person.  

Research the possibility that when you feel good, you’re more generous spirited toward others. 

Imagine that delight has an interesting teaching for you every day. 

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Gary Snyder said it.

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BE ALERT FOR THE SUBTLE MIRACLES

How can we outwit and escape the numbing trance that everyday routine seems to foster? What can we do to stay alert to the subtle miracles and intriguing mysteries and numinous beauty that surround us on all sides?

Some possibilities:

1. Make it a daily practice to refresh the ways we perceive the world. Can you imagine what it would be like to change how you use your eyes?

2. Scan for opportunities to play and for creatures that like to play. Regularly test the hypothesis that playing is a prime strategy for liberation.

3. Assume that the entire world is a constantly changing source of oracular revelation that has meaning for us—perhaps a meaning we have never before realized or understood.

4. Experiment with what happens when we use empathy and intuition to imagine how animals and other people experience life.

5. Don't take things too seriously or too personally or too literally.

6. Expose ourselves to provocative myths and intriguing symbols. Seek out stories that bend and twist our beliefs. Be open to exploring events and phenomena that elude rational explanation.

7. Give our unconscious minds the message that we want to feel deeply.

8. Cultivate a willingness, eagerness, and receptivity to being surprised.

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Mary Oliver said it.

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SACRED TRAILS

It may turn out that the “blemish” is essential to the beauty.

The “deviation” could be at the core of the strength.

The “wrong turn” might be crucial to getting you back on the path with heart.

In light of the hypotheses above, here’s a good question to ask:

“How will the sacrifice I’m enduring make me available for an interesting assignment and unexpected fulfillment in the future?”

A robust affirmation: “Surrender will make me potent in waysI can’t imagine yet.”

A wise warning: Getting premature relief from the suffering might stop you from harvesting the suffering’s deepest lessons.

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My wishes for you:

• That your apparent breakdowns mutate into breakthroughs

• That each spiritual emergency spawns a soulful emergence

• That your scary trials lead to sacred trails

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We interrupt these essays to provide a brief TESTIMONIAL from a satisfied reader of ASTROLOGY IS REAL.

Author Jeff Greenwald writes: “I saw my therapist and began telling him about Rob’s book Astrology is Real. I said it is casting a good spell, a wisely loving intervention between myself and the way the world looks and behaves with and around me.

“I told my therapist that I seem luckier, happier, more at ease with the strange way my life is unfolding. As I talked, my eyes filled with tears.

“‘In a year of therapy, I’ve never seen you so moved,’ he said. ‘It sounds like the book is being received by you as what some might call a ‘direct transmission.’

“I agreed. ‘Yes. I’ve heard it called shaktipat — like what I received from Papaji while I was interviewing him in India ‘

“I’m especially admiring Rob’s superpower to reverse the negative effects typically associated with astrological habits (like dreading Mercury in Retrograde and moon void-of-course). That approach is so emblematic of the way he sees the world, and how he communicates the mind’s potential for growth, wisdom, even transformation.”

—Jeff Greenwald, author and photographer

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WISHES FOR YOU

I wish you torrents of ecstatic empathy and gleeful sympathy. May the planet Neptune conspire with you to rouse these bounties. 

I wish you fluidic, kaleidoscopic insights and “ah-ha!” epiphanies that lead to cathartic integrations. May the planet Mercury conspire with you to attract these exaltations. 

I wish you the ripening of lucky trends you’ve worked hard to earn, resulting in miracle cures that incite your generosity and spur adoration to flow your way. May the planet Venus conspire with you to galvanize these favors. 

I wish you rowdy rambling adventures that inspire you to weave together diverse threads of your destiny, empowering you to claim more of your fully synergized potency. May the planet Mars conspire with you to propel these blessings. 

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HOLY ATTENTION

Think of mindfulness as a form of "affectionate attention."

            —Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn

There is ecstasy in paying attention.

            ―Anne Lamott

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.

            —Simone Weil

It's almost as if the poets are offering a religion of noticing things, or a religion of paying attention.

            —Ada Limón

Attention is the beginning of devotion.

            —Mary Oliver

I use the word "attention" to express the idea of a just and loving gaze directed upon individual reality. I believe this to be the characteristic and proper mark of the active moral agent.

            —Iris Murdoch

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LOVE CUES AND CLUES: DECIPHERING LOVE

Love thrives when neither partner takes everything personally, so it’s wise for us to cultivate a talent for forgiveness and consistently question our urge to blame. 

Love is a game in which the rules keep changing, so it’s wise for us to be crafty and improvisational as we stay alert for each unexpected pivot of fate. 

Love enmeshes us in our partner’s unique set of karmic complications, so it’s wise to make sure we’re interested in their problems. 

Love is a laboratory where we can uncover hidden secrets about ourselves, so it’s wise to be experimentally curious. 

Love is never an idyllic match of perfectly compatible saints, so it’s wise not to let sterile fantasies seduce us away from flawed but fertile realities. 

Love is not a low-maintenance machine, so it’s wise for us to do regular detailed work on its unpredictable organic wonders. 

Love is not a subsidiary of DreamWorks or Disney, so it’s wise to keep our romantic stories from being infected by the entertainment industry’s simplistic, sentimental myths about intimate relationships. 

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Week of November 16

© Copyright 2023  Rob Brezsny

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Icelandic singer Bjork is a triple Scorpio, with sun, moon, and ascendant in your sign. Neptune is there, too, giving her even more Scorpionic intensity. It’s not surprising that she describes her daily practice like this: "I have to re-create the universe every morning when I wake up and kill it in the evening." In another quote, she places greater emphasis on the rebirth: "To wake up in the morning and actually find the day exciting is the biggest victory you can have." In accordance with current astrological omens, I invite you to exalt and celebrate the post-resurrection aspects of your life's work. It's time for you to shine and sparkle and shimmer and bedazzle.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I prophesy that what has been lost will be found. What was last may not catapult all the way into the first spot, but it might—and will at least be close to the first. Here are more zingers for you as you move into the climactic stages of the Season of Turnarounds and Switcheroos: A difficult test will boost your intelligence; a rut will be disrupted, freeing you to find a smooth new groove; an unsettling twist will ultimately bring you delightful support. To get the best out of the upcoming challenges, Sagittarius, welcome them as opportunities to expand your understanding of how the world works.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Many cultures throughout history have staged rites of passage to mark the transformation from childhood to puberty. In ancient Greece, for example, kids formally relinquished their toys, symbolizing the intention to move into a new phase of their destinies. In accordance with astrological omens, I want to tweak this custom for your use, Capricorn. I propose that you embrace your second childhood. Fantasize about how you might refurbish your innocence, curiosity, playfulness, and spontaneous joy. Then select an object that embodies a burdensome or unpleasant aspect of adulthood. Discard it. Find an object that signifies the fresh young spirit you’d like to awaken within you. Kiss it, sing to it, and keep it in a prominent place.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): For advice about money, I talk with a banker who sometimes analyzes financial trends using Tarot cards. To keep abreast of politics on the ground level, I consult with a courtesan who has a Ph.D. in political science and cultivates intimate relations with governmental leaders. For guidance about rowdy ethics and etiquette, I seek input from an activist singer in an all-women punk band. How about you, Aquarius? Now is a favorable time to take an inventory of your posse of teachers, helpers, and counselors. Make sure it’s serving you well and providing maximum inspiration and support. Hot tip: It may be time to add a new facilitator or two to your entourage.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Now and then, you glide through a phase I describe as Freedom from Cosmic Compulsion. During these grace periods, fate has a reduced role in shaping your destiny. Your past doesn’t have its typical power to limit you or entrance you. According to my astrological analysis, you are now enjoying such a chapter. That’s why I predict that an infertile status quo will soon crumble. A boring, inflexible rule will become irrelevant. These and other breakthrough developments will give you extra leeway to innovate and invent. You will have a big, bright emptiness to work and play around in.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In accordance with astrological omens, I would love you to experiment with blending the sacred and mundane. Bring your deep self into the daily routine and imbue ordinary rhythms with tender care. Here are a few fun rituals to get you in the groove: 1. Say prayers or chant ecstatic poems while you’re shopping. 2. Build a shrine in a parking lot. 3. Stir up an inspired epiphany while doing housework. 4. If you find yourself in a confusing or awkward situation, dance like a holy person to conjure a blessing. 5. Commune with the Divine Creator during crazy-good sex.

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SUPPORT

If you would like to support my work,

please consider

buying my new book Astrology Is Real

and/or

buying my Expanded Audio Horoscopes

and/or

becoming a paid subscriber to my Free Will Astrology Newsletter

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I’ve met many people who feel their love lives are jinxed. Often, they believe this nonsense because a creepy fortune-teller declared they will forever be denied a satisfying intimate relationship. I hate that! Any astrologer who delivers such crippling bewitchments should be outed as a charlatan. The good news for you, Taurus, is that you are in a grace period for all matters regarding romance, intimacy, and togetherness. If you have ever worried there is a curse, obstruction, or bad habit inhibiting your love life, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to free yourself from it.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini comedian Drew Carey says, "If I didn’t run from my fears, I wouldn’t get any exercise at all." Let's discuss his approach in relation to you. After analyzing the astrological omens, I believe that as 2023 draws to a close and 2024 unfolds, you will feel less and less motivated to run from your fears. In part, that's because you will face them with more courage and poise; they won't have the same power over you. In addition, I suspect your fears will become objectively less scary. They will be less likely to come to pass. More and more, your fine mind will see how they trick you into imagining they're more threatening than they truly are. Congratulations in advance, Gemini!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I would love to see you intensify your devotion to your masterpiece—however you understand “masterpiece.” It could be a work of art or an innovation in your job or business. It could be a new baby, an adopted pet, a redefinition of what family means, or an invigorated community. Might even be a beautiful alliance or enhanced connection with the divine or a refinement of the best gift you give the world. Life will conspire to help you in unexpected ways during the coming months if you rededicate yourself to this treasure.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Dear Sun, our one and only star: We love you and appreciate you! It’s amazing that you consume five million tons of yourself every second to generate the colossal energy you send in our direction. Thank you, beloved Sun! Is it OK with you if we think of you as a god? You are a superpowered genius of nourishment! And by the way, do you know who adores you the best? I’ll tell you: the Leo people here on Earth. They comprehend your grandeur and majesty better than anyone else. Would you consider giving them extra rewards in the coming weeks? They need and deserve a massive delivery of your bounty. Please fill them up with even more charisma, personal magnetism, vitality, and generosity of spirit than usual. I promise they will use it wisely.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo musician and actor Shirley Manson has a message for you. She testifies, "I say embrace the total geek in yourself and just enjoy it. Life is too short to be cool." This will be especially helpful and inspirational counsel for you in the coming months, dear Virgo. The wish to appear chic or trendy or hip should be so far down on your list of priorities that it drops off the list entirely. Your assignment is to be passionately devoted to your deepest truths, unique desires, and imaginative experiments.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): If you’re given a choice to advocate for either a dull, mediocre truth or a beautiful, invigorating truth, give your love to the latter. If you wonder whether you should ask a polite question that engenders harmony or a provocative question that pries loose agendas that have been half hidden, opt for the latter. If you feel nostalgic about an old tradition that stirs up little passion or fresh insight, let it go. Instead, dream up a new tradition that moves you emotionally and excites your mind.