This Is a Perfect Moment

You and I are waking up

THIS IS A PERFECT MOMENT

It's a perfect moment for many reasons, but especially because you and I are waking up from our sleepwalking, thumb-sucking, dumb-clucking collusion with the masters of delusion and destruction.

Thanks to them, from whom the painful blessings flow, we are waking up.

Their wars and tortures,
their crimes against nature,
extinctions of species
their engineered diseases.

Their spying and lying
in the name of the father,
sterilizing seeds and
trademarking water.

Molestations of God,
celebrations of shame,
mangling our dreams and
defiling our names.

Their ruthless commercials
and blood-sucking hustles,
their endless rehearsals
for the end of the world.

Thanks to them, from whom the painful blessings flow, we are waking up.

Their painful blessings are cracking open more and more gashes in the sour and shrunken mass hallucination that is mistakenly called "reality." And through the fractures, ripe eternity is flooding in; news of our souls' true home is pouring in; our allies from the other side of the veil are swarming in, inspiring us to become smarter and wilder and kinder and trickier.

We are waking up.

+

As heaven and earth come together, as the dreamtime and daytime merge, we register the jolting and exhilarating fact that we are in charge -- you and I are in charge -- of imagining and discovering and animating a brash new world. Not in some distant time or faraway place, but right here and right now.

As we stand on this brink, as we dance on this verge, we cannot let the ruling fools of the dying world consummate their curses. We've got to rise up and fight their deranged logic; defy, resist, and prevent their tragic magic; uncork our sacred rage and supercharge it.

But overthrowing the psychopathic leaders is not enough. Protesting the well-dressed planet-rapers is not enough. We cannot afford to be consumed with our anger; cannot be obsessed and possessed by their danger.

Our mysterious animal bodies crave delight and fertility. Our ancient imaginations demand ever-fresh tastes of infinity.

In the new culture we are hatching, we need lusty compassion and euphoric duty, lyrical logic and insurrectionary beauty. In the new alliance we are mobilizing, we need radical curiosity and reverent pranks, voracious listening and altruistic banks.

+

In the new covenant that we are midwifing,
We will ridicule the cult of doom and gloom.
We will embrace the cause of zoom and bloom.
We will outfox the banality of evil and hate;
we will summon the chutzpah to praise and create.
No matter how upside-down it all may appear,
we will have no fear
because we know this big secret:

All of creation is conspiring to shower us with
catalytic blessings. Life is crazily in love with us
--brazenly and innocently in love with us.
Our destinies always bring us exactly what we need
to liberate us from our suffering.

+

The winds and the tides are on our side, forever and ever, amen. The birds and snakes are scheming to make us their sacred soul mates.

The sun and the moon and the stars remember our real names, and our ancestors pray for us while we're dreaming.

We have guardian angels and thousands of teachers
provocateurs with designs to unleash us
helpers and saviors we can't even imagine
brothers and sisters who want us to blossom

+

Thanks to them, from whom the blissful blessings flow, we are waking up.

The roads they pave us
the places they save us
the tomatoes they grow us
the rivers they flow us

Their mysterious stories
and morning glories
Their loaves and fishes
granting our wishes

The songs they sing us
The gifts they bring us
the secrets they show us
above and below us

Thanks to them, from whom the blissful blessings flow, we are waking up.

Breathe out the jive
Breathe in the love

Breathe out the history
Breathe in the mystery

Breathe out the grandiosity
Breathe in the generosity

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

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

WHAT WORKS FOR YOU?

What works well for you? Is there anything that enables you to feel at home in the world? I invite you to keep a running list of the ways that life delights you and helps you and energizes you.

Identify:

* everyday marvels and miracles you take for granted;

• all the abilities and capacities you possess;

• small joys that occur so routinely you neglect to register how much they mean to you;

• the steady flow of benefits and services bestowed on you by people you know and don't know;

• the pleasures that come as you take in impressions through your senses, enjoy your ever-shifting conscious awareness, and use your body to move and maneuver.

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

THE HISTORY OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH DESIRE

Imagine it's 30 years from now. You're looking back at the history of your relationship with desire. There was a certain watershed moment when you clearly saw that some of your desires were mediocre, inferior, and wasteful, while others were pure, righteous, and invigorating.

Beginning then, you made it a life goal to purge the former and cultivate the latter.

Thereafter, you occasionally wandered down dead ends trying to gratify yearnings that weren't worthy of you, but usually you wielded your passions with discrimination, dedicating them to serve the highest and most interesting good.

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

UNFUCKING THE WORLD

I renounce any denunciations I may have carelessly hurled toward our beautiful Earth and its inhabitant when I was under the sway of bad ideas, delusional attitudes, or unloving influences.

I invite you to do the same.

+

UNFUCK this. UNFUCK that. UNFUCK these and those.

UNFUCK all the stuff out there and in here.

UNFUCK the people, places, and situations that don't know they need to be UNFUCKED.

UNFUCK every little nuance and every big deal that would make life better for all of us if they were UNFUCKED.

UNFUCK the whole world.

+

The definition of UNFUCKWITHABLE: When you're so at peace with yourself and so at home wherever you go that no one can rile you up and knock you out of your groove.

Caveat: There is an important distinction between not giving a fuck about what people think of you and not giving a fuck about other people's feelings

+

I consulted my 117 spirit guides to ask if I should give a fuck.

Their unanimous response: "Fuck yes, you should give a fuck."

So I do.

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

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

SEEKING NECTAR

As a bee seeks nectar from all kind of flowers, seek teachings everywhere. Like a deer that finds a quiet place to graze, seek seclusion to digest all that you have gathered. Like a madman beyond all limits, go wherever you please and live like a lion completely free of all fear.

-- Ancient Tibetan text

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

MAY A GOOD VISION CATCH ME

May a good vision catch me

May a benevolent vision take hold of me,

and move me

May a deep and full vision come over me,

and burst open around me

May a luminous vision inform me, enfold me.

May I awaken into the story that surrounds,

May I awaken into the beautiful story.

May the wondrous story find me;

May the wildness that makes beauty arise between two lovers

arise beautifully between my body and the body of this land,

between my flesh and the flesh of this earth,

here and now,

on this day,

May I taste something sacred.

—David Abram

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

INTERVIEWS WITH ROB

Here's an audio interview with me by Justine Toms at New Dimensions: https://tinyurl.com/RobNewDimensions

+

Here's a video interview with me by an Italian journalist: https://tinyurl.com/InterviewRob

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

SIGN ON

I have made it possible for subscribers to my newsletter to pay a subscription fee to me for my newsletter, BUT ONLY IF THEY WANT TO AND CAN AFFORD TO!

I have offered my astrology newsletter free of charge for the past 22 years, and I will continue to do so for the next 22 years at least.

If, however, you are sufficiently prosperous and feel comfortable about donating money to me, I welcome it. Please know, though: I am TOTALLY FINE if you don't donate.

Sign up here: Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

+

P.S.: No pressure, though! I understand that some of you don't have enough money yourself, and it wouldn't make sense for you to give some to me.

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

MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

Psilocybin Microdosing Study Finds Improved Mental Health and Psychomotor Performance in Those 55 or Older. https://tinyurl.com/4vzwbbm9

Heroic Indiana Man, 25, Runs Into Burning Home to Save 5 Children Trapped Inside. https://tinyurl.com/5n8u3x4y

Want Fewer Abortions? Legalize Them. The countries with the lowest abortion rates have one thing in common: access to safe, affordable abortion. https://tinyurl.com/m3tnabye

Spain Is Making Its Trains Free. With an energy crisis looming, Spain is suspending train fares to encourage people to take transit instead of driving. https://tinyurl.com/3u6nbn9r

+

For a lot more pronoiac resources and ideas, read my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings

Available at Bookshop.org: https://tinyurl.com/548hp8y8

Available at Powells: https://bit.ly/PowellsPronoia

Available at Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaBN

Available at Amazon: https://bit.ly/Pronoia

A free preview of the book is available here: https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaPreview

+

Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES: Truthrooster@gmail.com.

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

Art by Joan Miró

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

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Week beginning August 4

Copyright 2022 by Rob Brezsny

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In the coming weeks, Leo, I urge you to always be confident that YOU ARE THE PARTY! Everywhere you go, bring the spirits of fun and revelry. Be educationally entertaining and entertainingly educational. Amuse yourself by making life more interesting for everyone. At the same time, be kind and humble, never arrogant or insensitive. A vital part of your assignment is to nourish and inspire others with your radiance and charm. That formula will ensure you get everything you need. I foresee bounty flowing your way! PS: Regularly reward your admirers and followers with your magnanimous Chesire-cat grin.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In my Astrological Book of Life, here's what I have inscribed about Virgos: You may not always find the perfect solution, but you are skilled at finding the best solution available. This will be an especially valuable knack in the coming weeks, both for yourself and others. I trust you will scan for practical but compassionate answers, even if they are partial. And I hope you will address at least some of everyone's needs, even if no one is completely satisfied. You can be the master of creative compromise that we all need. Thanks in advance for your excellent service!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Everyone knows that "balance" is a keyword for you Librans. However, there are many interpretations of what balance entails. Here's how I define it for you during the coming weeks: 1. an openness to consider several different ways to capitalize on an opportunity, but to ultimately choose just one way; 2. the ability to see and understand all sides of every story, while also knowing that for pragmatism's sake you must endorse a single version of the story; 3. the capacity to be both constructively critical and supportively sympathetic; 4. the facility to be welcoming and inviting while still maintaining healthy boundaries.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "Life is enchanting for me because I have so much control over what I think," my Scorpio friend Daria told me. "If I decide to flatter myself with comments about how attractive I am, I can do just that. If I would like to imagine a good fairy visiting me while I sleep and giving me a dream of having an orgasm with my lover while we fly over the Serengeti Plains, I can." I asked her about the times when worries gush forth unbidden from her subconscious mind and disturb her joy. She said, "I simply picture myself shoving those worries in a hole in the ground and blowing them up with an exploding rose." I bring Daria's mind-management expertise to your attention, Scorpio, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to raise your mastery over what you think.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): People might impatiently advise you to relax and settle down. Others might tell you to stop dreaming such big visions and formulating such adventurous plans. Still others might give you the side-eye because they imagine you are having too much fun and brainstorming too wildly and laughing too loudly. If you receive messages like those, give the complainers a copy of this horoscope. It will tell them that YOU WILL NOT COMPLY WITH ANY INHIBITING DIRECTIVES. Your astrologer, me, authorizes you to be as vast and venturesome and enterprising and spontaneous as you dare. In doing so, I am speaking on behalf of the cosmic rhythms. Your plucky audacity has been heavenly ordained.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In accordance with astrological omens, I hereby authorize you to worry, worry, and worry some more. Stew and simmer and ferment as you weigh all the options and mull the correct actions. But when the time is right, end your fretting with crisp decisiveness. Shake off any residual doubt that still clings to you. And then undertake robust action to transform the situation that provoked your righteous brooding. In my astrological opinion, what I have just described is your best plan for success in the coming days.

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

OUR COLLABORATION

I feel that you're here with me as I create these horoscopes. In a sense, you're my assistant. Our telepathic connection is utterly palpable and practical.

The hopes and questions you project my way stream into my higher mind, coloring my psychic environment and enriching my desire to give you exactly what you need.

If you ever want more inspiration generated in that same collaborative spirit -- beyond the horoscopes you're reading here -- keep in mind that every week I also offer EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you.

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

Register and/or log in through the main page.

+

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

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

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

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “I was looking for a love unlike my parents' love or my sister's love or the love on a foreign kitchen floor," writes Rebecca Dinerstein Knight in her novel The Sunlit Night. "I wanted to forgive my mother and father for their misery and find myself a light man who lived buoyantly and to be both his light and his dark." I offer you her thoughts, Aquarius, in the hope of inspiring you to expand and deepen your ideas about the love you want. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to revise and reinvigorate your definitions of intimacy and togetherness. You will have extra power to see new truths about how best to create maximum synergy and symbiosis.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Even raw and messy emotions can be understood as a form of light, crackling and bursting with energy," writes Jungian psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés. For example, "We can use the light of rage in a positive way, in order to see into places we cannot usually see." Likewise, confusion might be a healthy sign that a long-held misunderstanding is dissolving. Disappointment may herald the demise of an unrealistic expectation. So let's unleash a big cheer for raw and messy emotions, Pisces! I suspect they will soon be your gateway to clarity and renewal.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries poet Ada Limón advises us to notice and love "the music of the world." She says that praising and giving attention to the good things "are as important and necessary as witnessing and naming and holding the grief and sorrow that comes with being alive." This is always a crucial principle to keep in mind, but it will be extra essential for you in the coming weeks. Your ability to attract the influences and resources you need most will thrive if you focus on and celebrate the music of the world. PS: I encourage you to sing more than usual, too.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Here's my hope for you in the coming months: You will cultivate a specialty for connecting people and situations that need to be affiliated but aren't yet. You will regard your flair for blending as a gift you offer generously. Can you picture yourself doing that? I think it will be fun and will also benefit you in unexpected ways. So here's my proposed plan: Conspire to heal fragmentation and schisms. Unite heavenly and earthly things. Keep the far side and the near side in touch with each other. Never let the past forget about the future, and vice versa. One more thing, Taurus: Be gleefully imaginative as you mix and conjoin and combine.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In a play by Gemini philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, a character says, "Hell is other people." What did he mean by that? One interpretation is that our fellow humans always judge us, and their judgments rarely align with who we really are and who we imagine ourselves to be. Here's my solution for that problem: Choose allies and companions whose views of you match your own. Is that so hard? I suspect it will be easier than usual for you in the coming months, Gemini. Take advantage of life's natural tendency to connect you with cohorts who appreciate you. Be picky as you avoid the hell of other people.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The people most likely to succeed as entrepreneurs are those with a high degree of analytical intelligence. Right? Well, it's more complicated than that. Reasoning ability and problem-solving skills are key skills, but not as important as emotional intelligence: the power to understand and manage feelings. I mention this, Cancerian, because the coming months will be a favorable time to advance your ambitions by enhancing and expressing your emotional intelligence. Here's some reading to foster your powers:

1. tinyurl.com/EmotionSmarts 

2. tinyurl.com/SmartFeeler

3. tinyurl.com/WiseFeeler 

4. tinyurl.com/BrightFeeler

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

Homework: Ask for something you've never had the clarity or chutzpah to ask for until now. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

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

NEED TO CHANGE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS?

To join or leave the email list for this newsletter, or to change the address where you receive it, go to:

If my newsletters don't reach your inbox, look in your "Bulk Mail" or "Junk Mail" folder.

P.S. I totally respect your privacy. I'll never sell or give away your address to anyone.

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

Submissions sent to Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter or in response to "homework assignments" may be published in a variety of formats at Rob Brezsny's discretion, including but not limited to newsletters, books, the Free Will Astrology column, and Free Will Astrology website. We reserve the right to edit submissions for length, style, and content.

Requests for anonymity will be honored. We are not responsible for unsolicited submission of any creative material.

Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright 2022 Rob Brezsny

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