When Your Soul Is Ready
. . . You Will Do Exactly What You Need to Do
"There is a saying that when the student is ready, the teacher appears," writes genius author Clarissa Pinkola Estes.
But the magic of that formula may not unfold with smooth simplicity, she says: "The teacher comes when the soul, not the ego, is ready. The teacher comes when the soul calls, and thank goodness—for the ego is never fully ready."
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EXPLORE THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE
with my MID-YEAR AUDIO PREVIEW of YOUR DESTINY
for the REST of 2021:
This week my Expanded Audio Horoscopes explore themes that I suspect will be important for you during the next six 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:
After you log in through the main page, click on the link "Long Term Forecast for Second Half of 2021."
For phone access, call:
1-877-873-4888
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The Expanded Audio Horoscopes cost $6 apiece if you access them on the Web. There are discounts for the purchase of multiple reports.
They're also available for $1.99 per minute if you want them over the phone.
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Photo by Markus Stobbs
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SOFTEN THE ORANGE A LITTLE IN THE CORNER
"When I look at a sunset, I don't say, 'Soften the orange a little on the right hand corner, and put a bit more purple in the cloud color.'"
Psychologist Carl Rogers was describing the way he observed the world. "I don't try to control a sunset," he continued. "I watch it with awe."
He had a similar view about people. "One of the most satisfying experiences," he said, "is just fully to appreciate an individual in the same way I appreciate a sunset."
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IS RECEPTIVITY INTERESTING TO YOU?
"Receptivity is not a passive state. Nor is it a blank emptiness, waiting around for whatever happens to come along. In inviting you to cultivate receptivity, I don't mean you should become a lazy do-nothing bereft of goals, reacting blindly to whatever life throws in front of you.
Receptivity is a robust readiness to be surprised and moved, a vigorous intention to be awake to everything you can't control.
When you're receptive in the pronoiac style, you have strong ideas and a powerful will and an eagerness to disseminate your unique blessings, but you're also animated by the humble certainty that you have a lot to learn."
Art by Thaneeya McArdle
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BRAG THERAPY
Have you ever had permission to indulge in a marathon of braggadocio? Have you ever gotten an invitation to bluster on endlessly about your own charms without feeling even a touch of guilt or inhibition? I hereby grant you such a license right now.
When you're ready, carry out the exercise called Brag Therapy. Grab a good listener or a recording device, and boast extravagantly about yourself for at least 15 minutes. Expound in exhaustive detail why you're so wonderful and why the world would be a better place if everyone would just act more like you.
Don't be humble or cautious. Go too far. Heap extreme glory on yourself. Brazenly proclaim the spectacular qualities about you that no one has ever fully articulated or appreciated. Don't forget to extol the prodigious flaws and vices that make you so special.
What does this have to do with pronoia? When you audaciously identify your existing gifts, you set yourself up to become a magnet for even greater abundance. In fact, we recommend that you treat yourself to a Brag Therapy session regularly.
To spur your imagination, read an excerpt from the boast of Eric Baer, a participant in a Brag Therapy session I hosted in Milwaukee.
"I have opposable thumbs," Eric exulted. "I can read. I breathe all the way through the night even though I'm asleep. I have access to emporiums where I can choose from 25 different brands of toilet paper. I know how to turn food into energy. I live where knuckleheads run everything and yet nothing ever blows up."
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FRRREEEEEEE !!!!
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 20 years, and I will continue to do so for the next 20 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.
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PS: Your Free Will Astrology horoscopes are rooted in art, poetry, psychology, philosophy, myth, dreams, love, and a quest for social justice. As much as I love and respect science, they are NOT scientific.
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Photo: Royal starfish in Daytona Beach by Mark Walz
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IS IT BAD TO LIVE WITHOUT A HELL?
"Is it bad to live without a hell?" poet Pablo Neruda asks in The Book of Questions. Let's add these queries to his: Is it dangerous to live without the awakening force that an enemy provides? Is it naive to think you can achieve great success without the driving motivation that comes from thinking about ideas you hate?
Consider the issue from another angle. Dentists love tooth decay. Treating cavities provides them with a steady income. Likewise, exterminators are dependent on termites, lawyers need crime, and priests crave sinners. Lots of people have symbiotic connections with nasty stuff. In fact, isn't it true that most of us nurture our feelings for the things we love to despise and fear?
What's your favorite poison or adversary? Assume that your exposure to pronoia is changing you in ways that will require you to update your relationship with it. Speculate on how you'll go about this task.
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INDIVIDUALISM CAN BE FUN, HEALTHY, AND LIBERATING, BUT . . .
"The surest defense against evil is extreme individualism, originality of thinking, whimsicality, even eccentricity. Evil is a sucker for solidarity. It always goes for big numbers, for confident granite, for ideological purity, for drilled armies and balance sheets."
—Joseph Brodsky
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P.S. We should make sure we don't fall into the error of believing that individualism engenders narcissism, greed, selfishness, superiority complexes, and feelings of entitlement. The most individuated people I know are humbly aware of the interconnectedness of all things, and eager to give their gifts generously.
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TO WANDER ABOUT, LOOKING FOR SOMETHING
Science writer Lewis Thomas said that the English word "error" developed from a root meaning "to wander about, looking for something." That's why he liked Darwin's idea that error is the driving force in evolution.
"The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA," said Thomas. "Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music."
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Size Doesn’t Matter to a Dolphin Mom As She Adopts a Whale Calf. https://tinyurl.com/3kdvccp7
Spain’s Four-Day Work Week Is a Game Changer. Most experiments with four-day weeks have been motivated by corporate self-interest. That could be changing. https://tinyurl.com/3subt9bz
The Yurok Tribe Is Using California’s Carbon Offset Program to Buy Back Its Land. https://tinyurl.com/p9jtnck7
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For 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 Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaBN
Available at Amazon: https://bit.ly/Pronoia
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Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES: newsletter@freewillastrology.com
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning June 17
Copyright 2021 by Rob Brezsny
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "I remember wishing I could be boiled like water and made pure again," writes poet Jeffrey McDaniel. Judging from the current astrological omens, Gemini, I think you could be made reasonably pure again without having to endure an ordeal like being boiled like water. Do you have ideas about how to proceed? Here are mine: 1. Spend 15 minutes alone. With your eyes closed, sitting in a comfortable chair, forgive everyone who has hurt you. Do the best you can. Perfection isn't necessary. 2. Spend another 15 minutes alone, same deal. Forgive yourself of everything you've done that you think of as errors. Perfection isn't required. 3. Spend another 15 minutes alone. Imagine what it would be like to unconditionally love yourself exactly as you are. 4. Spend another 15 minutes alone. Remember ten amazing moments that you enjoyed between ages five and 13.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): On June 23, 1940, Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely to a family that already had 19 other children. During her childhood, she suffered from pneumonia, scarlet fever, polio, and infant paralysis. The latter two diseases damaged her left leg, and she wore a brace until she was 12 years old. Nevertheless, by the time she was in high school, she had become a very good athlete. Eventually she competed in the Olympics, where she won four medals and earned the title "the fastest woman in history." I propose that we name her your official role model for the rest of 2021. May she inspire you to overcome and transcend your own personal adversity.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo-born P. L. Travers wrote the children's books about Mary Poppins, a nanny with magical powers. She was thoroughly familiar with folklore, ancient myths, and the occult. The character of Mary Poppins, Travers said, was a version of the Mother Goddess. But in her writing process, she drew inspiration mainly from what she thought of as the vast dark nothingness. She wrote, "I’ve become convinced that the great treasure to possess is the unknown." To generate her tales, she listened to silence and emptiness. I recommend you emulate her approach as you create the next chapter of your life story.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo poet Melissa Broder writes, “Romantic obsession is my first language. I live in a world of fantasies, infatuations and love poems." I wouldn't normally authorize you to share her perspective, but I will now. The astrological omens suggest you have something important to learn from being more enamored and adoring than usual. If you say YES to the deluge of yearning, you'll gain access to a type of power that will prove very useful to you in the coming months.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran author Oscar Wilde disproved the misconception that Libras are wishy-washy, overly eager to compromise, and inclined to overthink everything. His writing had wit and flair, and his life was vivid and daring. He wrote, “There are moments when one has to choose between living one’s own life, fully, entirely, completely—or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands." I suspect that one of those pivotal moments will soon be coming up for you. Be Wilde-like!
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Philosopher Simone Weil wrote, “Only the light that falls continually from the sky gives a tree the energy to push powerful roots into the earth. The tree is actually rooted in the sky.” As you bolster your foundations in the coming months, as you deepen your roots, I hope you keep Weil's brilliant observation in mind. Like a tree, the nourishment that will help you grow the stamina and strength and structure you need will come as you turn to the brightest, warmest, highest sources of inspiration.
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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 2021:
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:
After you register and/or log in through the main page, click on the link "Long Term Forecast for Second Half of 2021."
Or for phone access, call:
1-877-873-4888
+
The cost is $6 per sign. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.) You can also access them for $1.99 per minute by phone.
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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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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): To be in groovy alignment with cosmic rhythms, you won't merely walk, and you certainly won't trudge. Rather you will saunter and ramble and promenade. You will strut and rove and prowl. Likewise, you won't just talk, and you certainly won't mutter or grumble. Instead you will banter, rhapsodize, improvise, beguile, and lyricize. Catch my drift? You won't simply laugh, but will chortle, cackle, and guffaw. In other words, Sagittarius, you are authorized to imbue everything you do with style, panache, and imagination.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Congratulations on being such a duty-bound, no-nonsense adult. May you continue to ply your dogged persistence and beast-of-burden attitude as long as it gets important tasks done, helps you feel useful, and doesn't make you sick. But if you do get tempted to depart from the sacrificial path anytime soon, please know that you will not offend any gods or demons. Nor will you incur a karmic debt. In fact, I believe you have cosmic clearance to dabble with lightheartedness for a while. You should feel free to experiment with fun and games that appeal to your sense of wonder.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no melancholy," wrote poet Charles Baudelaire. What?! That makes no sense. I'm aware of millions of beautiful things that aren't tinctured with melancholy. California's Mount Shasta in the late spring twilight, for example. New York City's Guggenheim Museum, a gorgeous gleaming building designed by genius architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The Marmore waterfalls in central Italy. The gardens of painter Claude Monet in Normandy, France. David Byrne's gloriously hopeful website. I mention this, Aquarius, because I expect life to bring you a flood of non-melancholic beauty in the coming days. Take advantage of this grace to replenish your trust in life.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean author César Aira praises the value of escaping one's memories. He writes, "Forgetting is like a great alchemy free of secrets, transforming everything to the present." I'd love to see you enjoy alchemy like that in the coming weeks, dear Pisces. It's a favorable time to lose at least some of the inhibitions and limitations you think you have to accept because of what happened in the past. As Aira says, forgetting "makes our lives into a visible and tangible thing we hold in our hands, with no folds left hidden in the past."
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries playwright Tennessee Williams was honest about the trickery he engaged in as he composed his entertaining masterpieces. "I don’t want realism," he exclaimed. "I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people." I fully support you, Aries, if you would like to make that your goal in the next three weeks. In my astrological opinion, you and the people in your life have more than a mild need for magic. Your ability to thrive depends on you all getting big doses of magic.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): On my wall is a poster that says, "Avoid the Tragic Magic Triad: taking things too personally, taking things too seriously, and taking things too literally." This advice doesn't refer to important matters, like my health or my ongoing fight against our culture's bigotry. I take those issues very personally, seriously, and literally. Rather the motto refers to trivial and transitory issues, like the new dent made in my car by a hit-and-run driver in the Whole Foods parking lot, or the bad review of my book on Amazon.com, or the $18 that a certain Etsy seller cheated me out of, or the joke about the size of my nose that some supposed friend made on Twitter. According to my reading of astrological omens, Taurus, you would benefit right now from meditating on things like these that you take too seriously, personally, and literally. Here's Don Miguel Ruiz: "There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally."
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Homework: My birthday's coming up. I welcome your blessings! newsletter@freewillastrology.com or PO Box 4399, San Rafael, CA 94913.
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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.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright 2021 Rob Brezsny
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