You are a fluid process, not a fixed thing
You are a fluid process, not a fixed thing
You're a continually changing constellation of potentialities
A person is a fluid process, not a fixed and static entity; a flowing river of change, not a block of solid material; a continually changing constellation of potentialities, not a fixed quantity of traits.
— Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person
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NEWS ABOUT MY AUDIO HOROSCOPES AND TEXT-MESSAGE HOROSCOPES
I love writing weekly horoscopes for you. I also love the fact that you can read them for free—and always have since I first started creating them many years ago.
Some people who enjoy my work are curious about this. How do I earn a living doing what I love to do if I simply give away my oracles?
The answer is that I also offer Expanded Audio Horoscopes and Daily Text-Message Horoscopes, and they cost money to use. Some people who draw inspiration from my free written horoscopes also choose to pay for my two other services. Hooray!
I plan to continue providing Expanded Audio Horoscopes and Daily Text-Message Horoscopes for years to come.
To make sure this proceeds with maximum grace, I am switching them over to be hosted on a system with higher tech than I've had access to before.
The transition happened this past weekend. I expect there will be a few hiccups as the new machinery gets fully comfortable. Please be patient with it and me!
Here's a detailed explanation of the new system: https://tinyurl.com/NewFWASystem
If you have any problems or questions at all, contact my kind and expert support team: freewillcs@gmail.com
And oh, by the way, I am also slightly raising the price—my first cost increase in 29 years! As always, there's a steep discount if you buy in bulk.
Access the Expanded Audio Horoscopes and Daily Text-Message Horoscopes here:
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ASTROLOGY FOR YOUR SOUL
Astrology is not a science. It's an elegant system of symbols, an art form with a special capacity to feed your soul and educate your imagination. When used with integrity, it doesn't predict literal events. Rather, it engenders imaginative and lyrical approaches for deepening your connection to life's great mysteries.
Astrology is not designed to compete with scientists' logical analyses of why things are the way they are. Rather, it's meant to open your mind to the mythic patterns that underlie the surface-level interpretations of what you're all about.
ASTROLOGY IS NOT A SCIENCE! Nor is story-telling, depth psychology, mythology, dream interpretation, or poetry. It makes as much sense to criticize astrology for not being scientific as it does to deride an Ursula K. Le Guin novel because it doesn't explicate and illustrate the quantum field theory of physics. We need both: mytho-poetic storytelling and logical analysis.
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WHY WE NEED A NEW KIND OF EDUCATION: IMAGINATION STUDIES
Philosopher Stephen T. Asma writes: "It is time to initiate Imagination Studies at every level of education, primary school through university.
"Studying the imagination – its creations, its processes (creativity), and its underlying cognitive structures – is the most exciting and accurate way to heal the terminal divide between the sciences and the humanities.
"But, more importantly, Imagination Studies, or imaginology, also promises to reunite the body and the mind, reintegrate emotion and reason, and tesselate facts and values."
READ THE REST: https://tinyurl.com/44vskeau
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HOW TO TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOUR IMAGINATION
I invite you to read this fine article on Imaginal Hygiene: https://tinyurl.com/ImaginalHygiene
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YOU ARE A PROPHET
Your imagination is the single most important asset you possess. It's your power to create mental pictures of things that don't exist yet and that you want to bring into being. It's the magic wand you use to shape your future.
And so in your own way, you are a prophet. You generate countless predictions every day. Your imagination is the source, tirelessly churning out images of what you will be doing later.
Read and/or hear the rest of this essay by me: https://tinyurl.com/YouProphet
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THE CHILD-LIKE FAITH IN REASON
John Gray: “Belief in human rationality requires a greater leap of faith than any religion.
"Believers in reason imagine that we can become much more rational than we have ever been, if only we want to be and try hard enough. This is itself thoroughly irrational.
"It’s an example of magical thinking, an expression of the belief in the omnipotence of human will that psychoanalysts identify as the fundamental infantile fantasy.”
—John Gray
More: https://tinyurl.com/onr7pze
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THE LANGUAGE OF THE IMAGINATION
Storyteller and mythologist Martin Shaw says: Stories with weight to them have what C.G. Jung terms "the lament of the dead," which in our frenetic culture we can no longer have time to hear.
Most indigenous cultures will tell you that this world belongs to the dead, that’s where we’re headed. So mythology for me involves a conversation with the dead, with what you might call ancestors.
Whatever we are facing now we need to have a root system embedded in weather patterns, the presences of animals, our dreams, and the ones who came before us. Myth is insistent that when there is a crisis, genius lives on the margins, not the center.
If we are constantly using the language of politics to combat the language of politics, at some point the soul grows weary and turns its head away because we are not allowing it into the conversation. And by denying soul we are ignoring what the Mexicans call the river beneath the river.
We’re not listening to the thoughts of the world. We’re only listening to our own neurosis and our own anxiety.
—All the above written by Martin Shaw
Read the entire interview with Martin Shaw here: https://tinyurl.com/z2evq6e
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BIOCENTRISM
Robert Lanza and Bob Berman write: The philosophy of biocentrism states that consciousness creates the universe; the universe does not create consciousness.
Biocentrism says biology is the fundamental science, not physics. Current theories of the physical world do not work, and can never be made to work, until they fully account for life and consciousness.
While physics is considered fundamental to the study of the universe, and chemistry fundamental to the study of life, biocentrism says that scientists must place biology before the other sciences to produce a theory of everything.
Seven principles of biocentrism.
1. What we perceive as reality is “a process that involves our consciousness.”
2. “Our external and internal perceptions are intertwined.”
3. The behavior of particles “is inextricably linked to the presence of an observer.”
4. Consciousness must exist, and without it “matter dwells in an undetermined state of probability.”
5. The laws, forces, and constants of the universe appear to be fine-tuned for life.
6. Space and time are not objects or things, but rather tools of our animal understanding.
7. We carry space and time around with us “like turtles with shells.”
—from Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe — by Robert Lanza and Bob Berman
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Man Wins 200 Million on the Lottery and Donates Almost All of It to Save the Earth. https://tinyurl.com/ycknse6j
New ‘Hometown Heroes Housing Program’ Helps Florida Teachers and First Responders Buy Their First Home. https://tinyurl.com/5626d72w
Adventurous Play Helps Boosts Children’s Mental Health, Research Says. https://tinyurl.com/ktpxat3b
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning June 2
Copyright 2022 by Rob Brezsny
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): A blogger named Sweetlikeacherry reminds us, "Some epiphanies are only possible when you put away your phone and go completely offline for a while." She adds that sometimes you also need to at least partially avoid your phone and the internet if you hope to incubate new visions of the future and unlock important discoveries in your creative work and summon your untamed genius. According to my astrological analysis, all these possibilities are especially likely and necessary for you in the coming weeks. I trust you will carry out the necessary liberations to take full advantage.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Poet Carolyn Kizer (1925–2014) won a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry. She was smart! But when she was young and still studying her craft in college, a professor objected to one of her poems. He said, "You have pigs in this poem; pigs are not poetic." Kizer was incensed at such ignorance. She testified, "I got up and walked out of that class and never went back." Judging from the astrological omens, I suspect you may have comparable showdowns headed your way. I advise you to be like Kizer. You are the only one who truly knows the proper subjects of your quest. No one else has the right or the insight to tell you what your work (or play) should be about.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo author James Baldwin said it wasn't often "that two people can laugh and make love, too—make love because they are laughing and laugh because they're making love. The love and the laughter come from the same place: but not many people go there." Your assignment, Leo, is to be the exception to Baldwin's rule during the coming weeks. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, there's a high possibility that interesting eros can converge with humorous fun in a glorious synergy. You will have a knack for conjuring up ribald encounters and jovial orgasms. Your intuition will guide you to shed the solemnity from your bliss and replace it with sunny, carefree cheer.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I'm worried you will over-indulge in your pursuit of perfection during the coming weeks. It's fine to be exquisitely skillful and masterful; I hope you do that. But if you get obsessed with flawlessness, you will risk undoing your good intentions. As an antidote, I offer you two pieces of advice. The first is from actor and activist Jane Fonda. She said, "We are not meant to be perfect; we are meant to be whole." The second counsel is from philosopher and psychologist William James, who wrote, "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence."
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Author Mustafa Mahmoud described the signs of love between two people: 1. feeling a comfortable familiarity; 2. having no urge or need to lie; 3. being natural, not trying to be different from who one is; 4. having little or no possibility of being embarrassed in front of the other person; 5. experiencing silence as delicious, not alienating; 6. enjoying the act of listening to the other person. I bring these pointers to your attention, Libra, because the coming months will be a favorable time to define and redefine your understandings about the signs of love. How do you feel about Mahmoud's ideas? Are there any more you would like to add?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "We do not love each other without changing each other," wrote author Madeleine L'Engle. Meditate on that gem, Scorpio. Now is a perfect time for you and your loved ones to acknowledge, honor, and celebrate the ways your love has changed each other. It may be true that some transformations have been less than ideal. If that's the case, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to correct those trends. As for the positive changes that you and your allies have stimulated in each other: I hope you will name them and pledge to keep doing more of that good work.
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MAYBE JOY AND BLISS ARE CATALYTIC SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
Assume that pleasure and happiness doesn't interfere with your spiritual growth, but may in fact stimulate it.
Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating delight and wonder might make you a more ethical and compassionate person.
Imagine that feeling good has something important to teach you every day.
For inspiration in practicing this approach, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. 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://freewillastrology.sparkns.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
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The cost is $7 per sign. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.)
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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "I always deserve the best treatment, because I never put up with any other," wrote Sagittarian novelist Jane Austen. Sagittarian politician Stacey Abrams said, "From the moment I enter a room, I am clear about how I intend to be treated and how I intend to engage." You'll be wise to cultivate those attitudes in the next seven weeks, Sagittarius. It's high time for you to raise your self-respect in ways that inspire others to elevate their appreciation and regard for you.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In 1963, Jim Munro and Alice Munro founded Munro's Books, a store in Victoria, British Columbia. After being on the job for a few months, Alice found she was not impressed with many of the products they sold. "I can write better books than this," she told Jim. Five years later, she published her first collection of short stories, Dance of the Happy Shades. Fourteen books later, she won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Will the coming months bring your equivalent of Alice Munro's pivotal resolution? I suspect they could.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "True love for whatever you are doing is the answer to everything," proclaimed performance artist Marina Abramovic. Amen to that righteous attitude! I hope you will embrace it in the coming weeks. I hope your heart and imagination will reveal all you need to know to bring tender fresh streams of true love to the essential activities of your life. Now is an excellent time to redefine the meaning of the word "love" so it applies to all your relationships and pursuits.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A homeless woman in a wheelchair stopped where I was sitting outside a café. She was pushing her belongings in a small shopping cart. "Would you like to go dancing?" she said to me. "There's a nearby park that has a great grassy dance floor." "Maybe another day," I told her. "My energy is low. I've had a lot of personal challenges lately." I'm sure the expression on my face was less-than-ebullient. "Cheer up, mister," she told me. "I'm psychic, and I can tell you for sure that you will live a long life and have many more fine adventures. I'll be in the park if you change your mind." My mood instantly brightened. "Thanks!" I yelled toward her as she rolled away. Now I predict that you, Pisces, will have comparable experiences in the coming days. Are you willing to welcome uplifting surprises?
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Who loves the truth better than you Aries people? Who has the greatest potential to speak the real story in every situation, even when it requires extra courage? Who has more fun than you in discovering and defining and expressing the raw facts? In my Book of Life, you Rams are radiant beacons of candor—the people I go to when I need accuracy and honesty. And all I'm saying here will be especially crucial in the coming weeks. The whole world needs concentrated doses of your authenticity. Now read this pep talk from Aries philosopher St. Catherine of Siena: "Let the truth be your delight; let it always be in your mouth, and proclaim it when it is needed. Proclaim it lovingly and to everyone, especially those you love with a special love—but with a certain congeniality."
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Before the 20th century, you couldn't buy a loaf of bread that was already sliced into thin pieces. Then in 1912, the American inventor Otto Frederick Rohwedder developed a slicing machine. But all his work, including the blueprints and the machine prototypes, was destroyed in a fire. He had to seek new funding and begin again. Sixteen years later, his innovation was finally ready for broad public use. Within five years, most of the bread in the US was sold sliced. What does this have to do with you? I am picking up an Otto Frederick Rohwedder vibe when I turn my visions to you, Taurus. I suspect that in the coming months, you, too, will fulfill a postponed dream.
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Homework: If there were a clone of you, what alternate life might they be living? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
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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 2022 Rob Brezsny
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