You know how to get the lightning-medicine

Trust yourself

Rob Brezsny

Feb 21, 2023

"No one can give you the lightning-medicine."

—the people who cannot give you the lightning-medicine

(as told by Darin Stevenson)

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I’m gearing up to publish my book ASTROLOGY IS REAL: REVELATIONS FROM MY LIFE AS A HOROSCOPE COLUMNIST.

It blends memoir, essays about astrology, and oracles for YOU, dear reader.

I’m serializing it on Substack for paid subscribers. It’s available as a bonus newsletter once a week, delivered Tuesday.

This week, Part Four is available.

Part One is here: https://tinyurl.com/RealAstrology1

Read Part Two: https://tinyurl.com/RealAstrology2

Read Part Three: https://tinyurl.com/RealAstrology3

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PRACTICAL STEPS TO SUPPORT FEMINISM

Here are practical steps that men can take to support feminism, as written by Pamela Clark at https://tinyurl.com/MenSupportFeminism.

* Do at least 50 percent of the housework.

* Do at least 50 percent of the emotional support work in your intimate relationships and friendships.

* Consume cultural products produced by women.

* When a woman tells you something is sexist, believe her.

* Educate yourself about sexual consent, and make sure there is clear, unambiguous communication of consent in your sexual relationships.

* Be responsible for contraception.

* If you have children, be an equal parent.

* Pay attention to and challenge informal instances of gender role enforcement.

* Be mindful of implicit and explicit gendered power differentials in your intimate and domestic relationships with women.

* Make sure that honesty and respect guide your romantic and sexual relationships with women.

* Don’t be an online bystander in the face of sexism.

* Don’t ogle or make comments about women.

* Ensure that some of your heroes and role models and teachers are women.

* Praise the virtues and accomplishments of women in your life to others.

* Know that acknowledging your own sexist opinions and the stereotypes that you hold is not enough. Do something about them.

* Befriend women.

* When in a romantic relationship, be responsible for events and special dates associated with your side of the family.

* Don’t police women’s appearance.

* Offer to accompany female friends if they have to walk home alone at night, or in a public space where they may be likely to feel unsafe.

* Inject feminism into your daily conversations with other men.

* If you have a tendency to behave inappropriately toward women when you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, do not consume drugs or alcohol.

* Be aware of the physical and emotional space you occupy, and don’t take up more space than you need.

* Walk the walk about income inequality.

* Get in the habit of treating your maleness as an unearned privilege that you have to actively work to cede rather than femaleness being an unearned disadvantage that women have to work to overcome.

* Self-identify as a feminist.

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Feminist politics aims to end domination, to free us to be who we are—to live lives where we love justice, where we can live in peace. Feminism is for everybody.

—author and activist bell hooks

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SUPPORTING WOMEN IN ART AND MUSIC

The justice-loving, rabble-rousing part of me has a passionate hobby: to identify how our profoundly misogynistic culture has suppressed and ignored the work of women artists, musicians, and writers.

Here's an example.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) had an older sister, Marianne (1751–1829), who was nicknamed Nannerl. During their childhoods, she was as much a musical prodigy as he.

Supervised by their father, they toured Europe doing performances together, playing harpsichord and an early version of the piano. Nannerl periodically got top billing, and some critics regarded her as the superior talent.

But tragedy struck when her parents ultimately decided it was unseemly for her, as a female, to continue her development as a genius. She was forcibly retired so that she could learn the arts of housekeeping and prepare for marriage and children.

Are her musical compositions available today? Not a single one. What has survived are letters to her from her famous brother, in which he praises those works.

Here’s another example of how our profoundly misogynistic culture has suppressed and ignored the work of women artists, musicians, and writers.

Jackson Pollock is regarded as a pioneer in the technique of drip painting. He didn't use an easel, but laid his canvases on the floor. Instead of manually applying paint with a brush, he poured the liquid colors out and then used his whole body to shape his creation, crawling and walking on it. Sometimes he'd employ trowels, sticks, pieces of glass, and other objects to further manipulate the paint.

This novel approach made Pollock famous. He was hailed as an innovative genius. But the truth is, he got inspired to pursue what became known as his signature style only after he saw an exhibit by the artist Janet Sobel, who was the real pioneer.

Why is Pollock treated as a superstar when in fact he copied Sobel? Let's cite the thoughts of art historian Anna C. Chave. She writes that after Pollock became renowned, he privately confessed that Sobel's work had made a potent impression on him when he saw it at Peggy Guggenheim's The Art of This Century gallery in 1946.

But publicly he steadfastly dismissed Sobel as a "housewife" and "amateur." This stratagem allowed him to cultivate and project the delusion that he was the authentic progenitor of the "drip technique."

P.S. After Janet Sobel's show in 1946—the exhibit that electrified Pollock—the "Mother of Abstract Expressionism" never had another until 2003.

More: https://tinyurl.com/JanetSobel

Homework: Are there any aspects of your life's work or play that have been ignored or smothered a la Janet Sobel? What might you do to ensure they will ultimately get their due? How could you garner the credit you deserved but haven't fully garnered?

Here's another example I've discovered during my research into the history of sexism in the art world.

Early this century, 500 British art experts voted to determine the most influential artwork of all time. Was it Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa or Michelangelo's David?

No. The winner was Fountain, the white porcelain urinal that French artist Marcel Duchamp mounted in a gallery show in 1917. "It reflects the idea that the creative process that goes into a work of art is the most important thing," said one of the voters, Simon Wilson. "The work itself can be made of anything and can take any form."

A central omission taints this tale, however. According to novelist and essayist Siri Hustvedt, there's ample evidence that Fountain was actually created by Dadaist poet and artist Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.

Why haven’t we heard of her, asks Hustvedt? How could sexism have perpetrated such a blinding erasure of her brilliance?

Unlike Duchamp, she wasn't a witty male conceptualist with staunch bonafides in the Old Boy Network of the art world.

In the words of Hustvedt, von Freytag-Loringhoven was "a wild woman who wore tin cans for a bra. She turned her body into Dada. In 1913, she picked a rusted ring off the street, a found object, and named it Enduring Ornament, a year before Duchamp’s first readymade."

Read more of the real story: https://tinyurl.com/SexistFountain

In 2018, the work of Algerian woman artist Baya Mahieddine (1931–1998) had its first-ever North American exhibition.

Earlier in her life, however, she had experienced a brief splash of notoriety with a show in Paris. Picasso and Matisse came and saw, drawing inspiration from the 16-year-old's "colorful, spontaneous and childlike compositions" (Jane Drinkard at TheCut.com).

But Mahieddine gave up painting from 1953 to 1963 to birth and care for six children, and remained largely unsung until the recent show restored a bit of her lost reputation.

Critics regard German pianist Robert Schumann (1810–1856) as a highly influential superstar composer of the Romantic Era.

Far less acclaimed is his wife Clara Schumann (1819–1896), who was a prolific composer, although her work was largely ignored until the 1970s.

In the words of musician and musical scholar David Larstein, she was also "one of the greatest pianists of her time or any time."

Plain old sexism and misogyny have played a prime role in minimizing her legacy. Other factors include the fact that as a mother of eight children, she had relatively little time to generate support and appreciation for her own work. And much of the extra time she did have, she devoted to promoting her husband's career.

Very few people saw the unprecedented work of Swedish painter Hilma af Klint (1862–1844) during her lifetime. That's too bad. Her inspired innovations in abstract art came years before the similar experiments of Wassily Kandisky, who's renowned as one of the 20th century's pioneers in abstract art.

Sexism and misogyny weren't the only factors in suppressing her emergence as a prominent influencer. But they were essential.

The unique creations of Hilma af Klint finally began to receive a taste of their proper acclaim with a show in Los Angeles in 1986. But full appreciation didn't arrive until a major exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2018-2019—74 years after her death.

In late 2019, the Baltimore Museum of Art announced it would acquire works exclusively from women artists in 2020.

Male art critic: "That's unfair to male artists."

Reasonable reply: Among the major permanent art collections in the U.S. and Europe, the work of women makes up five percent of the total.

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STILL A LOT OF CATCHING UP TO DO

I feel regular blasts of grief and rage because of the fact that older white men have run so much of the world for so long.

I’m not exaggerating. For me, it’s personal. Their manic grip on power, their profound and catastrophic misogyny, elicit more suffering in my deep psyche than any other predicament I encounter.

I know we can’t instantly heal and correct for the damage of this debilitating imbalance. But I think it’s reasonable to expect and predict that over the course of the next thirty years, women of all races will indeed come to wield at least 51 percent of the power in the world.

Most of us know that the vast majority of American women couldn’t vote until 1920.

Here’s a lesser-known fact: It was mostly impossible, then merely difficult, for women to hold political office in America from the inception of the nation until 1887. For the next 90-some years it was merely difficult.

Today, the situation is only marginally better. The US ranks 75th among the world's 193 nations in terms of the percentage of political offices held by women.

See https://tinyurl.com/PercentageofWomen

and https://tinyurl.com/AmericanWomenInPolitics

Here's a timeline for the first women holding political office in the US, courtesy of the Center for American Women and Politics: https://tinyurl.com/MilestonesForWomen

Here are the dates when women finally got the right to vote in other countries:

• Canada in 1917

• Britain (over age 30 in 1918, over 21 in 1928)

• Germany and Poland in 1918

• Austria and the Netherlands in 1919

• Spain in 1933

• France in 1944

• Italy in 1946

• Japan in 1946

• Greece in 1952

• Switzerland in 1971

• Brazil in 1932

• most Latin American countries in the 1940s, with the exception of Uruguay in 1917 and Paraguay in 1961

The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead, patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves.

If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem.

—author and activist bell hooks

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WHAT LIFE STORY WILL YOU CREATE FOR YOURSELF

Who do you want to become between now and January 2024? Where do you want to go and what do you want to do?

Listen to my 3-part EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES about your LONG-RANGE FUTURE.

Go to https://RealAstrology.com

Register and/or log in through the main page, click "Play Readings", and then select "Part 1" or “Part 2” or “Part 3” of the "Long Term Prediction for 2023."

These forecasts will be available for just a few more weeks.

Each of the three-part long-range reports is seven to 13 minutes long. The cost is $7 per report. There are discounts for the purchase of multiple reports.

P.S. You can also listen to a short-term Expanded Audio Horoscope for the coming week.

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Week beginning February 23

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Most of us are constantly skirmishing with time, doing our best to coax it or compel it to give us more slack. But lately, you Aquarians have slipped into a more intense conflict. And from what I’ve been able to determine, time is kicking your ass. What can you do to relieve the pressure? Maybe you could edit your priority list—eliminate two mildly interesting pursuits to make more room for a fascinating one. You might also consider reading a book to help you with time management and organizational strategies, like these: 1. Getting Things Done by David Allen. 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. 3. 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse. 4. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): "What is originality?" asked philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Here’s how he answered: "to see something that has no name as yet, and hence cannot be mentioned though it stares us all in the face." Got that, Pisces? I hope so, because your fun assignments in the coming days include the following: 1. to make a shimmering dream coalesce into a concrete reality; 2. to cause a figment of the imagination to materialize into a useful accessory; 3. to coax an unborn truth to sprout into a galvanizing insight.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Philosopher John O'Donohue wrote a prayer not so much to God as to Life. It's perfect for your needs right now. He said, "May my mind come alive today to the invisible geography that invites me to new frontiers, to break the dead shell of yesterdays, to risk being disturbed and changed." I think you will generate an interesting onrush of healing, Aries, if you break the dead shell of yesterdays and risk being disturbed and changed. The new frontier is calling to you. To respond with alacrity, you must shed some baggage.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Rightwing religious influencers are rambling amuck in the United States. In recent months, their repressive pressures have forced over 1,600 books to be banned in 138 school districts in 38 states. The forbidden books include some about heroes Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez, and Rosa Parks. With this appalling trend as a motivational force, I encourage you Tauruses to take inventory of any tendencies you might have to censor the information you expose yourself to. According to my reading of the astrological omens, now is an excellent time to pry open your mind to consider ideas and facts you have shut out. Be eager to get educated and inspired by stimuli outside your usual scope.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I think we can all agree that it’s really fun to fall in love. Those times when we feel a thrilling infatuation welling up within us are among the most pleasurable of all human experiences. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do it over and over again as the years go by? Just keep getting bowled over by fresh immersions in swooning adoration? Maybe we could drum up two or three bouts of mad love explosions every year. But alas, giving in to such a temptation might make it hard to build intimacy and trust with a committed, long-term partner. Here’s a possible alternative: Instead of getting smitten with an endless series of new paramours, we could get swept away by novel teachings, revelatory meditations, lovable animals, sublime art or music, amazing landscapes or sanctuaries, and exhilarating adventures. I hope you will be doing that in the coming weeks, Gemini.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The scientific method is an excellent approach for understanding reality. It's not the only one, and should not be used to the exclusion of other ways of knowing. But even if you're allergic to physics or never step into a chemistry lab, you are wise to use the scientific method in your daily life. The coming weeks will be an especially good time to enjoy its benefits. What would that mean, practically speaking? Set aside your subjective opinions and habitual responses. Instead, simply gather evidence. Treasure actual facts. Try to be as objective as you can in evaluating everything that happens. Be highly attuned to your feelings, but also be aware that they may not provide all facets of the truth.

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Listen to my song, “Are You Awake Yet?” sung by Jessica Rice:

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Hear more of my music: https://soundcloud.com/sacreduproar

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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is there anything in your psychological makeup that would help you do some detective work? How are your skills as a researcher? Are you willing to be cagey and strategic as you investigate what’s going on behind the scenes? If so, I invite you to carry out any or all of these four tasks in the coming weeks: 1. Try to become aware of shrouded half-truths. 2. Be alert for shadowy stuff lurking in bright, shiny environments. 3. Uncover secret agendas and unacknowledged evidence. 4. Explore stories and situations that no one else seems curious about.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The country of Nepal, which has strong Virgo qualities, is divided into seven provinces. One is simply called “Province No.1,” while the others are Sudurpashchim, Karnali, Gandaki, Lumbini, Bagmati, and Janakpur. I advise Nepal to give Province No. 1 a decent name very soon. I also recommend that you Virgos extend a similar outreach to some of the unnamed beauty in your sphere. Have fun with it. Give names to your phone, your computer, your bed, your hairdryer, and your lamps, as well as your favorite trees, houseplants, and clouds. You may find that the gift of naming helps make the world a more welcoming place with which you have a more intimate relationship. And that would be an artful response to current cosmic rhythms.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Are you aimless, impassive, and stuck, floundering as you try to preserve and maintain? Or are you fiercely and joyfully in quest of vigorous and dynamic success? What you do in the coming weeks will determine which of these two forks in your destiny will be your path for the rest of 2023. I'll be rooting for the second option. Here is a tip to help you be strong and bold. Learn the distinctions between your own soulful definition of success and the superficial, irrelevant, meaningless definitions of success that our culture celebrates. Then swear an oath to love, honor, and serve your soulful definition.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The next four weeks will be a time of germination, metaphorically analogous to the beginning of a pregnancy. The attitudes and feelings that predominate during this time will put a strong imprint on the seeds that will mature into full ripeness by late 2023. What do you want to give birth to in 40 weeks or so, Scorpio? Choose wisely! And make sure that in this early, impressionable part of the process, you provide your growing creations with positive, nurturing influences.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I recommend you set up Designated Arguing Summits (DAT). These will be short periods when you and your allies get disputes out in the open. Disagreements must be confined to these intervals. You are not allowed to squabble at any other time. Why do I make this recommendation? I believe that many positive accomplishments are possible for you in the coming weeks, and it would be counterproductive to expend more than the minimal necessary amount on sparring. Your glorious assignment: Be emotionally available and eager to embrace the budding opportunities.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Actor Judi Dench won an Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth in the film Shakespeare in Love—even though she was onscreen for just eight minutes. Beatrice Straight got an Oscar for her role in the movie Network, though she appeared for less than six minutes. I expect a similar phenomenon in your world, Capricorn. A seemingly small pivot will lead to a vivid turning point. A modest seed will sprout into a prismatic bloom. A cameo performance will generate long-term ripples. Be alert for the signs.

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