The worst of times and the best of times

. . . the age of foolishness and the age of wisdom

Was 2022 a terrible year? In some ways, yes. 

But more accurately, as Charles Dickens said,  

It was the worst of times,
it was the best of times. 

it was the age of foolishness, 
it was the age of wisdom.

it was the epoch of belief, 
it was the epoch of incredulity. 

it was the season of darkness, 
it was the season of light.

it was the winter of despair,
it was the spring of hope.

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

EXPLORE YOUR LONG-RANGE FUTURE

with my 3-Part EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for the Coming Year.

https://RealAstrology.com

Who do you want to become in 2023? Where do you want to go and what do you want to do? My reports can stimulate and inspire your meditations about the interesting possibilities.

This week, my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES feature Part 2 of my long-range, in-depth explorations of your destiny in 2023.

Part 1 of your Beginning-of-the-Year Predictions, which I offered last week, is also still available. Part 3 will be ready for you on January 10.

What will be the story of your life in 2023? How can you exert your free will to create adventures that'll bring out the best in you, even as you find graceful ways to cooperate with the tides of destiny?

To listen to your BIG PICTURE horoscopes online, go here: https://RealAstrology.com

Register and/or log in through the main page, click "Play Readings", and then select "Part 2" of the "Long Term Prediction for 2023."

+

The cost for the Expanded Audio Horoscopes is $7 per sign if you purchase 7 tokens for $7. (You can get discounts for purchasing larger token packages.)

Each reading is 7 to 13 minutes long.

+

P.S. You can also still access my Sneak Peek at 2023. In these Expanded Audio Horoscopes, I describe some major themes I think you'll be working and playing with in 2023. For the Sneak Peek, click on "Two Weeks Ago (Dec 20, 2022)."

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

THE BEST OF TIMES

Future Crunch and The Progress Network say: "Unlikely as it may seem, 2022 was a year of uplifting human rights victories, extraordinary conservation wins, big milestones in global health and development, and an unprecedented acceleration in the clean energy transition.

"We won’t try convince you to take one side over the other in a debate about optimism and pessimism — the world is far too complex for that.

"Instead, our goal is to remind you that away from the headlines, millions of people from every corner of the planet are doing their best to solve the problems that can be solved, and are staying open-eyed and open-hearted even in the most difficult of circumstances.”

+

Here’s a wide array of good news from https://tinyurl.com/GoodNewsNow7:

# An estimated $60 billion in medical debt was removed from consumers’ credit reports.

# A national survey found that a large majority of voters and parents trust librarians, and oppose book bans.

# A new report found that if the current pace of wind and solar growth continues, the world will meet its climate targets.

# Ketanji Brown Jackson made history as the first Black woman ever to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.

# A team of engineers at Stanford developed solar panels that can generate electricity at night, too.

# The world’s largest wildlife overpass is being built over a California highway.

# After incarceration rates hit a 35-year low, Massachusetts is closing one of its two maximum security prisons.

# In a historic agreement, the U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams will now be paid equally.

# A Texas restaurant owner bought cases of baby formula and gave them away to his community for free.

# A “game-changer” for disaster relief settings, solar microgrids are helping keep Ukraine’s hospitals running.

# The number of independent bookstores is at its highest in years – with more diverse owners than ever.

# A new Lyme disease vaccine is now in the final phase of its clinical trial.

# France became the first country in the world to ban fossil fuel advertisements.

# Mary Peltola made history as the first woman and Alaska Native elected to represent the state in Congress.

# Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard just donated the entire $3 billion company to fight climate change.

# The world’s largest shipping container line is rerouting its fleet to protect endangered blue whales.

# President Biden pardoned thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession.

# Farmers started an “open source” seed initiative to combat monopolies and improve biodiversity.

# The Women of Iran are TIME’s 2022 Heroes of the Year.

# Maya Angelou became the first Black woman to be featured on a U.S. quarter.

# 10 countries created a conservation network that will speed up the protection of marine ecosystems critical to fighting climate change.

# Once-endangered humpback whales are growing in population globally thanks to conservation efforts.

# 523 acres of California redwood forest were returned to a group of Native American tribes.

# Up from just 2,000 in 2020, researchers counted nearly 250,000 monarch butterflies in California in 2021.

# The world surpassed 1 terawatt of installed solar energy capacity.

More on all these, as well as other stories of good news:

https://tinyurl.com/GoodNewsNow7

+

Here's an illustrated digest of more good news (https://tinyurl.com/GoodNewsNow1), including:

# "Pawternity Lave," or giving employees time off to care for new pets, is being recognized by more companies. Extra time off if employees adopt an animal from a shelter.

# A new California law requires grocery stores and food suppliers to donate all edible food to a food bank or food rescue.

# Astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann, of the Wailacki or the Round Valley Tribes, will be the first Native American woman to travel to space.

# A South African court has banned Shell Oil from searching for fossil fuels along the country's Wild Coast, a decision hailed as a "massive victory."

# Tokyo Metro announces it first fare increase in 28 years, with all the funds allotted for upgrades and maintenance aimed at improving disability access.

# Scotland becomes the first country to make tampons and other menstrual products available free of charge in public spaces in a bid to end period poverty.

+

The Top 12 Animal Good News Stories:

https://tinyurl.com/GoodNewsNow4

+

183 Ways the World Got Better in 2022:

https://tinyurl.com/GoodNewsNow11

+

Here are more instances of good news from https://tinyurl.com/GoodNewsNow9:

# It was a great year for global efforts to end capital punishment.

# Countries tackled discrimination against women on several fronts.

# Though abortion rights were weakened in the US, they were strengthened in many other countries.

# The US ended forced arbitration for survivors of workplace sexual assault and harassment — one of the country’s most significant workplace reforms in decades.

# Canada, France, New Zealand and Greece all officially banned conversion therapy this year, and Israel and India took their first steps towards formally outlawing it.

# Numerous countries passed laws to protect transgender people.

# Between 2012 and 2021 rates of violent victimization in the US (robbery and sexual, aggravated and simple assault) declined 37% and youth crime fell to its lowest level on record.

# Congress took its first significant act on gun safety in nearly three decades, 45 new gun safety laws were adopted in states, and 95% of gun-lobby-linked bills were blocked.

# In Indonesia's Raja Ampat Archipelago, fish populations have rebounded, coral is recovering and livelihoods for local communities have improved.

# Global mangrove loss has now stopped, and more than 42% of the world’s mangroves are now protected (up from 25% in 2012).

# In a milestone five decades in the making, the UN General Assembly declared access to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment to be a universal human right.

# There were some really big milestones for tropical disease prevention. For example, Guinea Worm inched closer to being the third-ever disease to be fully eradicated.

# Cancer death rates have fallen substantially in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan, and Rwanda.

# For the first time the proportion of smokers in the world has fallen. That's a hugely consequential shift that will save millions of lives.

# After three decades of inaction, the United States passed its first ever comprehensive climate bill in 2022, containing $369 billion in spending.

Read more about this good news, as well as many other items:

https://tinyurl.com/GoodNewsNow9

+

I urge you to SAVE THE GOOD NEWS I’M REPORTING HERE, and refer to it during the year anytime you watch the news and are tempted to think that the world is going to hell.

Here are sites than compile good news on an ongoing basis:

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

https://tinyurl.com/GoodNewsNow10

https://www.goodnet.org/good_news

https://yesmagazine.org

https://reasonstobecheerful.world

https://reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

150 Fascinating Stories from 2022: https://tinyurl.com/FascinatingStories

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

IS PRONOIA STILL WORTH WIELDING?

In 2005, I published the first edition of my book Pronoia Is the Antidote to Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings. In 2009, I published the revised and expanded edition, which has 55% additional new material beyond the first edition.

In 2022, I published an ebook of the book (https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaEbook) , with three new features.

Here's my meditation:

Is pronoia still a philosophy worth wielding? Can we justify its continued viability in an age when bigoted authoritarianism has hijacked so many imaginations?

Does it make logical or soulful sense to embrace crafty optimism and radical hope now that the climate crisis has degenerated into the climate emergency?

Do we dare celebrate anything at all in the face of the teeming mobs that proudly proclaim their support for the ever-more bloated malfeasance of patriarchy and plutocracy and militarism and science-phobia?

As I have contemplated these questions, my mission has been to embody humble objectivity. In the spirit of curiosity and discernment, which guide my practice of pronoia, I didn't want to automatically assume that my previous ideals should be my future ideals.

I even considered the possibility that maybe I should abandon my ebullient quest to propagate beauty and truth and justice and love—and surrender to the seemingly reasonable mandate of cynicism.

One set of evidence that influenced my ruminations is the cascade of progressive advances that have blossomed alongside the deterioration. The joyous upgrades are too numerous to list in their entirety, but I'll name a few.

• Same-sex marriage is now widely supported. Discrimination against gay people has declined precipitously.

• Breakthrough improvements in welcoming broader definitions of gender identity are far from complete, but they have generated significant shifts.

• Young people are extraordinarily liberal and progressive, to a degree that surpasses all previous generations.

• The traditional family, with its rigid gender roles and retrograde values, is in steep decline.

• More than half of newborn babies in the US are racial or ethnic minorities, as are the majority of K-12 students in public schools. And minorities are progressives’ strongest constituency.

• The #MeToo movement has been highly effective in checking sexual abuse and harassment.

• A robust majority of Americans wants the government to guarantee healthcare, is in favor of making immigration easier, and believes discrimination against Black people is still a big problem. Two-thirds of Americans express some support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

• There are well over a million organizations engaged in a global crusade to improve social justice, economic conditions, human rights, and environmental health. It thrives without centralized leadership, charismatic front people, or a fixed ideology.

• Author and activist Rebecca Solnit, a savvy critic of our era's sickness, nonetheless exults in "the tremendous human rights achievements" that have burgeoned: "not only in gaining rights but in redefining race, gender, sexuality, embodiment, spirituality and the idea of the good life."

+

For weeks, I meditated daily on my questions about the ongoing usefulness of pronoia. I shed all my assumptions and theories so I could embody the innocence of beginner's mind.

Here's what I concluded. No matter what the state of the world might be, it's my pragmatic job and my soul task to perpetrate regeneration and awakening and inspiration and liberation.

Borrowing from Charles Dickens, I proclaim it to be irrelevant whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, the season of light or the season of darkness, the spring of hope or the winter of despair. My goals are the same in all cases.

And the truth is, I can't possibly know in any absolute way how terrible or wonderful the collective state of affairs is—not now, not 20 years or a thousand years ago, not ever. I'm not smart enough to accomplish that unachievable understanding. Nor can I ever gather sufficient information to do so.

I'll go further. None of us has the capacity to foretell the fate of the world. Not psychics, not economic forecasters, not doomsayers, not trend analysts, not interdisciplinary futurists, not indigenous shamans. No one!

A strong case can be made that in the next 100 years, everything will collapse into a miserable dystopia. A strong case can also be made that we are evolving, albeit with a bumpy rhythm, in the direction of paradise. And there is not a single genius anywhere on the planet who has the wisdom to formulate an incontrovertible prediction.

“Whether we are on the threshold of a Golden Age or on the brink of a global cataclysm that will extinguish our civilization is not only unknowable, but undecided,” said the founder of the World Future Society.

Anyone who asserts they do know is cherry-picking evidence that rationalizes their emotional bent. The variables are chaotic and abundant and beyond our ken.

In light of the fact that no one knows nuthin', the eminently practical and sensible approach is to do all we can to create a Golden Age—not just for ourselves, since that wouldn't be a real Golden Age— but for every human and every creature on earth.

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

Art by Andrea Kowchs, http://www.andreakowch.com/

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

ACTIVISM NEEDS OPTIMISM

Now I'll bring in some helpers in to bolster and refine my thoughts.

First, here's one of my mentors, progressive historian Howard Zinn: "An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

"What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

"And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

+

Here's another one of my politically progressive mentors, Noam Chomsky: "Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume there is no hope, you guarantee there will be no hope."

+

Here's one of my heroes, whom I cited earlier, Rebecca Solnit: "Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency.

"Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal.

"To hope is to give yourself to the future—and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”

+

Another one of my heroes, author and activist Naomi Klein, tells a story about the time she traveled to Australia at the request of Aboriginal elders. They wanted her to know about their struggle to prevent white people from dumping radioactive wastes on their land.

Her hosts brought her to their beloved wilderness, where they camped under the stars. They showed her "secret sources of fresh water, plants used for bush medicines, hidden eucalyptus-lined rivers where the kangaroos come to drink."

After three days, Klein grew restless. When were they going to get down to business? "Before you can fight," she was told, "you have to know what you are fighting for."

+

Author and activist Helen Keller: "No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."

+

Author Rachel Pollack: "We cannot predict the results of healing, either our own or the world around us. We need to act for the sake of a redemption that will be a mystery until it unfolds before us."

+

Educator David L. Cooperrider: "Almost without exception, everything society has considered a social advance has been prefigured first in some utopian writing."

+

Sociologist Fred Polak: "The rise and fall of images of the future precede or accompany the rise and fall of cultures. As long as a society's image is positive and flourishing, the flower of culture is in full bloom. Once the image begins to decay and lose its vitality, the culture does not long survive."

+

Author and activist Rebecca Solnit again: "Hope locates itself in the premises that we don't know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. When you recognize uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes—you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others.

"Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists. Optimists think it will all be fine without our involvement; pessimists take the opposite position; both excuse themselves from acting.

"It’s the belief that what we do matters even though how and when it may matter, who and what it may impact, are not things we can know beforehand. We may not, in fact, know them afterward either, but they matter all the same, and history is full of people whose influence was most powerful after they were gone."

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Week beginning January 5

Copyright 2023 by Rob Brezsny

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “I’m homesick all the time," writes author Sarah Addison Allen. "I just don’t know where home is. There's this promise of happiness out there. I know it. I even feel it sometimes. But it’s like chasing the moon. Just when I think I have it, it disappears into the horizon.” If you have ever felt pangs like hers, Capricorn, I predict they will fade in 2023. That's because I expect you will clearly identify the feeling of home you want—and thereby make it possible to find and create the place, the land, and the community where you will experience a resounding peace and stability.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Storyteller Michael Meade tells us, "The ship is always off course. Anybody who sails knows that. Sailing is being off-course and correcting. That gives a sense of what life is about." I interpret Meade's words to mean that we are never in a perfect groove heading directly towards our goal. We are constantly deviating from the path we might wish we could follow with unfailing accuracy. That's not a bug in the system; it's a feature. And as long as we obsess on the idea that we're not where we should be, we are distracted from doing our real work. And the real work? The ceaseless corrections. I hope you will regard what I'm saying here as one of your core meditations in 2023, Aquarius.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A Chinese proverb tells us, "Great souls have wills. Feeble souls have wishes." I guess that's true in an abstract way. But in practical terms, most of us are a mix of both great and feeble. We have a modicum of willpower and a bundle of wishes. In 2023, though, you Pisceans could make dramatic moves to strengthen your willpower as you shed wimpy wishes. In my psychic vision of your destiny, I see you feeding metaphorical iron supplements to your resolve and determination.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): "My life was the best omelet you could make with a chainsaw," observed flamboyant author Thomas McGuane. That's a witty way to encapsulate his tumultuous destiny. There have been a few moments in 2022 when you might have been tempted to invoke a similar metaphor about your own evolving story. But the good news is that your most recent chainsaw-made omelet is finished and ready to eat. I think you'll find its taste is savory. And I believe it will nourish you for a long time. (Soon it will be time to start your next omelet, maybe without using the chainsaw this time!)

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): After meticulous research of 2023's astrological omens, I have come to a radical conclusion: You should tell the people who care for you that you'd like to be called by new pet names. I think you need to intensify their ability and willingness to view you as a sublime creature worthy of adoration. I don't necessarily recommend you use old standbys like "cutie," "honey," "darling," or "angel." I'm more in favor of unique and charismatic versions, something like "Jubilee" or "Zestie" or "Fantasmo" or "Yowie-Wowie." Have fun coming up with pet names that you are very fond of. The more, the better.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): If I could choose some fun and useful projects for you to master in 2023, they would include the following: 1. Be in constant competition with yourself to outdo past accomplishments. But at the same time, be extra compassionate toward yourself. 2. Borrow and steal other people's good ideas and use them with even better results than they would use them. 3. Acquire an emerald or two, or wear jewelry that features emeralds. 4. Increase your awareness of and appreciation for birds. 5. Don't be attracted to folks who aren't good for you just because they are unusual or interesting. 6. Upgrade your flirting so it's even more nuanced and amusing, while at the same time you make sure it never violates anyone's boundaries.

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

WHAT'S YOUR LONG-RANGE FUTURE?

Would you like some inspiration as you muse and wonder about your upcoming adventures in 2023?

In this week's EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, I offer you Part 2 of a long-term, in-depth exploration of your destiny in the coming year.

Part 3 will be available next week. Part 1 is still available.

To listen to your BIG PICTURE horoscopes online, go here: https://RealAstrology.com

Register and/or log in through the main page, and then click on the link "Long Term Prediction, Part 2"

+

The cost for the Expanded Audio Horoscopes is $7 per sign. (You can get discounts for multiple purchases.)

Each forecast is 7-13 minutes long.

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

CANCER (June 21-July 22): When she was young, Carolyn Forché was a conventional poet focused on family and childhood. But she transformed. Relocating to El Salvador during its civil war, she began to write about political trauma. Next, she lived in Lebanon during its civil war. She witnessed firsthand the tribulations of military violence and the imprisonment of activists. Her creative work increasingly illuminated questions of social justice. At age 72, she is now a renowned human rights advocate. In bringing her to your attention, I don't mean to suggest that you engage in an equally dramatic self-reinvention. But in 2023, I do recommend drawing on her as an inspirational role model. You will have great potential to discover deeper aspects of your life's purpose—and enhance your understanding of how to offer your best gifts.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Are the characters in Carlos Castañeda's books on shamanism fictional or real? It doesn't matter to me. I love the wisdom of his alleged teacher, Don Juan Matus. He said, "Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use." Don Juan's advice is perfect for you in the coming nine months, Leo. I hope you will tape a copy of his words on your bathroom mirror and read it at least once a week.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Teacher and author Byron Katie claims, "The voice within is what I'm married to. My lover is the place inside me where an honest yes and no come from." I happen to know that she has also been married for many years to a writer named Stephen Mitchell. So she has no problem being wed to both Mitchell and her inner voice. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to propose marriage to your own inner voice. The coming year will be a fabulous time to deepen your relationship with this crucial source of useful and sacred revelation

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche offered advice that is perfect for you in 2023. It's strenuous. It's demanding and daunting. If you take it to heart, you will have to perform little miracles you may not yet have the confidence to try. But I have faith in you, Libra. That's why I don't hesitate to provide you with Nietzsche's rant: "No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life. There may be countless trails and bridges and demigods who would gladly carry you across; but only at the price of pawning and forgoing yourself. There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk!"

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): How might you transform the effects of the limitations you've been dealing with? What could you do to make it work in your favor as 2023 unfolds? I encourage you to think about these question with daring and audacity. The more moxie you summon, the greater your luck will be in making the magic happen. Here's another riddle to wrestle with: What surrender or sacrifice could you initiate that might lead in unforeseen ways to a plucky breakthrough? I have a sense that's what will transpire as you weave your way through the coming months in quest of surprising opportunities.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian singer Tina Turner confided, "My greatest beauty secret is being happy with myself." I hope you will experiment with that formula in 2023. I believe the coming months will potentially be a time when you will be happier with yourself than you have ever been before—more at peace with your unique destiny, more accepting of your unripe qualities, more in love with your depths, and more committed to treating yourself with utmost care and respect. Therefore, if Tina Turner is accurate, 2023 will also be a year when your beauty will be ascendant.

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +

Homework: Visualize in intricate detail a breakthrough you would like to experience by July 2023. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  + +   +   +   +   +  +  +  +  +