Think with Our Hearts

. . . And Feel with Our Heads

MEDICINE CHARMS TO DERANGE THE SENSES AND GENERATE EVERYDAY ECSTASY

Think with our hearts and feel with our heads

Be hungry for truths in their wild states

Kick our own asses and wash our own brains

Act like we're crazy so we can get away with doing what's right

Love our enemies just in case our friends turn out to be jerks

Regularly identify our dumbest thoughts and destroy them

Change ourselves in the exact ways we want others to change

Conjure and define ever-changing insurrectionary versions of enlightenment

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EXPLORE THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE

with my MID-YEAR AUDIO PREVIEW of YOUR DESTINY

for the REST of 2024:

https://RealAstrology.com

This week my Expanded Audio Horoscopes explore themes that I suspect will be important for you during the coming months.

What areas of your life are likely to receive unexpected assistance and divine inspiration?

Where are you likely to find most success?

How can you best cooperate with the cosmic rhythms?

What questions should you be asking?

To listen to my IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM AUDIO FORECAST for YOUR LIFE during the next six months, go here, then register and/or sign in:

https://RealAstrology.com

After you log in through the main page, click on the link "Long-Term Forecast for Second Half of 2024."

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The Expanded Audio Horoscopes cost $7 apiece if you access them on the Web. There are discounts for the purchase of multiple reports.

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POP QUIZ

1. When a Diné baby laughs for the first time, everyone in the community celebrates. It's regarded as the moment when the child completes their transition from the spirit realm into the physical world.

The person who has provoked the baby's laughter is charged with planning the First Laugh Ceremony, a party to commemorate the magical event.

What tricks would you use to make a baby laugh?

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2. Dmitri Razumikhin is a character in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. His surname is derived from the Russian word for "reason."

At one point he makes a drunken speech that includes these observations: "It's by talking nonsense that one gets to the truth! Not one single truth has ever been arrived at without people first having talked a dozen reams of nonsense, even ten dozen reams of it."

Experiment with this hypothesis. Talk ten dozen reams of nonsense in your search for a new truth.

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3. "Genius is the ability to renew one's emotions in daily experience," said French painter Paul Cezanne.

What do you think he meant by that? Here's one interpretation: Many of us replay the same old emotions over and over again—even in response to experiences that are nothing like the past events when we felt those exact feelings. So a genius might be someone who generates a fresh emotion for each new adventure.

Here's another possible interpretation of Cezanne's remark: It can be hard to get excited about continually repeating the basic tasks of our regular routines day after day. But a genius might be someone who is skillful at doing just that.

Are you either or both of the two geniuses, according to Cezanne's definition?

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4. In his book The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human, literary scholar Jonathan Gottschall writes that the "average daydream is about fourteen seconds long and we have about two thousand of them per day." So during our waking ours we devote an average of seven hours and 46 minutes  to spinning out fantasies.

To that total, we should add the time we spend creating stories while we are sleeping. Over the course of eight hours, we have three to five dreams that last about 90 to 120 minutes.

In every 24-hour cycle, then, we spin out fantasies for an average of nine hours and 46 minutes, or about 41 percent of our lives.

Identify three recurring themes in the tales you tell.

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WHO WE ARE TOGETHER

We are swoons of buttery light the moon scatters on the creek mud at low tide, and we are the parade of five fiddler crabs who worship the luminous shadows

We are black trumpet mushrooms feasting on dead oak and beech leaves, and we love flinging millions of spores out on the genius wind

We are the midwife and doula collaborating to aerate a newborn’s fluid-filled lungs with rescue breaths

We are grasshoppers bounding like generous death eaters to devour a bee caught in an unraveled spider web

We are silver-haired bats warbling bliss songs as we careen free of our underworld cave, an abandoned uranium mine

We are the November dusk fog that a seven-year-old with chattering teeth gets lost in on the way home

We are midnight in late summer echoing with the hilarious yowls of coyotes convened amidst the eucalyptus trees

We are the glint of icicles drooping from a fungus-besieged pine tree, and we are the pine tree and the fungus, too

We are the dust cloud at the heart of the Milky Way, and we taste like raspberries and smell like rum

We are white-throated, white-bellied swifts that drink, eat, sleep, and copulate as we fly

We are a broken necklace of gold South Sea pearls fallen behind an antique dresser made from mahogany grown in the Yucatan

We are the aromas of parched central Nebraska loam as it's drenched with summer rain

We are a half-eaten jelly doughnut in the rusty dumpster behind the homeless shelter in Petaluma, and we are grazed with the pulp of a wormy tomato

We are the memories of the 61-year-old elephant dying of starvation because her last of six sets of teeth have worn down and can no longer chew

We are a clingstone peach on a tree, and we are perfectly ripe to eat right now

Why?

Because we are nimble with good cheer

Because we are in love with color and sound

Because we obeyed the orders of our raucous hearts

Because we changed and changed and changed
until we couldn't stop, didn't want to stop changing

And now we are alive everywhere and everywhen

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If you’d like to give me a gift for my birthday on June 23, consider encouraging your allies to sign up for my newsletter: https://Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 20

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I suspect you may have metaphorical resemblances to a lightning rod in the coming weeks. Just in case I’m right, I urge you not to stroll across open fields during thunderstorms. On the other hand, I recommend that you be fully available to receive bolts of inspiration and insight. Put yourself in the presence of fascinating events, intriguing people, and stirring art. Make yourself ready and eager for the marvelous.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "It's hard to get lost if you don't know where you're going," said experimental filmmaker Jim Jarmusch. He’s implying that there’s potential value in getting lost. Unexpected discoveries might arrive that contribute to the creative process. But that will only happen if you first have a clear vision of where you’re headed. Jarmusch’s movies benefit from this approach. They’re fun for me to watch because he knows exactly what he wants to create but is also willing to get lost and wander around in search of serendipitous inspirations. This is the approach I recommend for you in the coming weeks, dear Leo.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Does any person or institution own a part of you? Has anyone stolen some of your power? Does anyone insist that only they can give you what you need? If there are people who fit those descriptions, Virgo, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to fix the problems. According to my understanding of life’s rhythms, you can summon the ingenuity and strength to reclaim what rightfully belongs to you. You can recover any sovereignty and authority you may have surrendered or lost.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In ancient Greek myth, Sisyphus was a forlorn character punished by the gods. He was required to push a boulder from the bottom to the top of a hill. But each time he neared the peak, the big rock, which had been enchanted by the crabby god Zeus, slipped away and rolled back down the hill. The story says that Sisyphus had to do this for all eternity. If there have been even minor similarities between you and him, Libra, that will change in the coming months. I predict you will finally succeed—is this your fifth attempt?—in finishing a task or project that has, up until now, been frustrating.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Is it possible to reap spiritual epiphanies while having sex? Can intense physical pleasure be a meditation that provokes enlightened awareness? Can joy and bliss bring learning experiences as valuable as teachings that arise from suffering? Here are my answers to those three questions, Scorpio, especially for you during the next four weeks: yes, yes, and yes. My astrological ruminations tell me that you are primed to harvest divine favors as you quest for delight.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Your animal magnetism and charisma could be wildly potent in the coming weeks. I’m worried that as a result, you may be susceptible to narcissistic feelings of entitlement. You will be extra attractive, maybe even irresistible! But now that you have received my little warning, I hope you will avoid that fate. Instead, you will harness your personal charm to spread blessings everywhere you go. You will activate a generosity of spirit in yourself that awakens and inspires others. Do not underestimate the electrifying energy pouring out of you, Sagittarius. Vow to make it a healing medicine and not a chaotic disruptor.

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WHAT'S TO COME?

BRAINSTORM ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE

with my Expanded Audio Horoscopes for the Second Half of 2024:

https://RealAstrology.com

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

If you'd like a boost of inspiration to fuel you in your quest for beauty and truth and love and justice and meaning, tune in to my meditations on your long-term outlook.

Go here:

https://RealAstrology.com

After you register and/or log in through the main page, click on the link "Long-Term Forecast for Second Half of 2024."

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

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"Your big-picture audio horoscope was somehow both a balm for my soul and a call to action. How did you do that?" - David G., Coral Gables, FL

"Your big-picture horoscopes filled the gaps in my imagination. They woke up the fun plot twists that had been just on the tip of my ability to visualize." - Ani Kraft, Brattleboro, VT

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I’ve had thousands of crucial teachers. There would be no such thing as me without their life-changing influences. Among that vast array have been 28 teachers whose wisdom has been especially riveting. I feel gratitude for them every day. And among those 28 have been five geniuses who taught me so much so fast in a short period of time that I am still integrating their lessons. One of those is Capricorn storyteller and mythologist Michael Meade. I offer you these thoughts because I suspect you are close to getting a major download from a guide who can be for you what Meade has been for me. At the very least, you will engage with an educational source akin to my top 28.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In one of my previous lifetimes, I was a bricoleur—a collector and seller of junk who re-used the castaway stuff in new ways. That’s one reason why, during my current destiny, I am a passionate advocate for recycling, renewal, and redemption—both in the literal and metaphorical senses. I am tuned in to splendor that might be hidden within decay, treasures that are embedded in trash, and bliss that can be retrieved from pain. So I’m excited about your prospects in the coming weeks, Aquarius. If you so desire, you can specialize in my specialties.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Some people imagine that being creative means having nonstop spontaneous fun. They think it’s primarily exuberant, adventurous, and liberating. As a person who prizes imaginative artistry, I can testify that this description is accurate some of the time. But more often, the creative process involves meticulous organization and discipline, periods of trial-and-error experimentation, and plenty of doubt and uncertainty. It’s hard work that requires persistence and faith. Having said that, Pisces, I am happy to say you are now in a phase when the freewheeling aspects of creativity will be extra available. You’re more likely than usual to enjoy spontaneous fun while dreaming up novel ideas and fresh approaches. Channel this energy into an art form or simply into the way you live your life.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): I love being logical and reasonable! The scientific method is one of my favorite ways to understand how the world works. I am a big fan of trying to ascertain the objective facts about any situation I am in. However, I also love being intuitive and open to mystical perceptions. I don’t trust every one of my feelings as an infallible source of truth, but I rely on them a lot to guide my decisions. And I also believe that it’s sometimes impossible to figure out the objective facts. In the coming weeks, Aries, I suggest you give more weight than usual to the second set of perspectives I described. Don’t be crazily illogical, but proceed as if logic alone won’t provide the insights you need most.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In their book Your Symphony of Selves, Jordan Gruber and James Fadiman propose a refreshing theory about human nature. They say that each of us is a community of multiple selves. It’s perfectly natural and healthy for us to be an amalgam of various voices, each with distinctive needs and forms of expression. We should celebrate our multifaceted identity and honor the richness it affords us. According to my analysis of astrological omens, the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to exult in your own symphony of selves and make it a central feature of your self-understanding.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the second half of 2012 and the first half of 2013, you launched a journey that will finally culminate soon. What a long, strange, and interesting trip it has been! The innovations you activated during that time have mostly ripened, though not entirely. The hopes that arose in you have brought mixed results, but the predominant themes have been *entertaining lessons* and *soulful success*. I hope you will give yourself a congratulatory gift, dear Gemini. I hope you will luxuriate in a ritual celebration to commemorate your epic journey. The process hasn’t been perfect, but even the imperfections have been magical additions to your life story.

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