Cherish the world at the same time that you struggle to endure it

Be still, and the world is bound to turn herself inside out to entertain you. Everywhere you look, joyful noise is clanging to drown out quiet desperation.

—Barbara Kingsolver


+


WORLD KISS

All of creation is alive and conscious, and all of creation deserves our burning, churning, yearning love. All of it. Not just the people and creatures and things that we personally find beautiful and helpful and interesting. But everything. All of creation.

If we want to become the gorgeous geniuses we were born to be, if we want to give back as many blessings as we are given, we've got to be in love with every single part of the Goddess's extravagant masterpiece.

And so we can't possibly be mere heterosexuals. We can't possibly be mere homosexuals or bisexuals.

If we want to commune with the world the way the Goddess does, we've got to be Pantheosexuals -- we've got to be experts in the art of Polymorphous Omnidirectional Goddess Nuzzling. Anything less is a lie, an obscene limitation.

With this in mind, I invite you to perform the ritual of the World Kiss. To do the World Kiss, conjure up your most expansive feeling of tenderness -- like what you might experience when you're infatuated with a new lover -- and then blow kisses to all of creation.

Blow kisses to the oak trees and sparrows and elephants and weeds. Blow kisses to the wind and rain and rocks and machines. Blow kisses to the gardens and jails, the cars and the toys. the politicians and saints, to the girls and the boys and every gender in between.

And with each World Kiss you bestow, keep uppermost in your emotions a mood of irreverent adoration and horny compassion. And remember that it's not enough simply to perform the outer gesture; you've got to have a heart-on in each of your seven chakras . . .

Hear or read the rest of this spoken-word song: https://bit.ly/WorldKisses


+


I INVITE YOU

In 2020, I invite you to have an improbable quest playing at the edge of your imagination: a heroic task that provokes deep thoughts and noble passions even if it incites smoldering torment . . . an extravagant dream that's a bit farfetched but not entirely insane . . . a goal that stretches your possibilities and opens your mind . . . a wild hope whose pursuit makes you smarter and stronger even if you never fully accomplish it.


+

SO MUCH TO LOVE

There was so much to love, I could not love it all; I could not love it enough.

—Louise Biogan


+


ONE OF THE TOP FIVE ASTROLOGERS IN THE WORLD

"Core Spirit" has named me "One of the Top Five Astrologers in the World." The other four: Susan Miller, Michael Lutin, Liz Greene, and Oscar Cainer.

Here's what they say: "Rob Brezsny is one of the world's best astrologers. His website, Free Will Astrology contains some of the most accurate horoscopes we've ever read. He also serves up some of the best spoken word forecasts we've ever heard.

"Rob Brezsny has developed deep insight into the human experience and he always delivers seeds for contemplation that are just right for the astrological climate. His site is well laid out and the horoscope forecasts are available all on one page as well as on individual pages for each sign of the zodiac.

"In addition to the weekly horoscopes, he serves up a tremendous amount of other original content. Rob has gained the respect of his fellow astrologers for his excellent astrology readings."


Read more.


+


THE HEROIC TRICK OF DISPERSING FEAR

What is the Alchemical Secret of Secrets? The Great Work? The fulfillment of the Quest for the Grail? The possession of the Pearl of Great Price? It may be the heroic trick of dispersing fear: to be clear to experience life without the rumbling subtext of anxiety.

The longer I live, the more I’m convinced that’s at the core of EVERYONE’s struggle.

In my personal story, the cure is most possible as I approach having a relaxed capacity to viscerally perceive the presence of the Universal Consciousness at work in every action everywhere.

Not there yet, but making some progress!

And you? I'm genuinely curious about how you attend to this holy task. Let me know at Truthrooster@gmail.com


+


HOWLING TENDERNESS

What use is this howling tenderness?
—eighth-century Tamil poet Andal

Howling tenderness is useful because it has the power to shatter mysterious barriers that have been preventing us from exploring the frontiers of sacred intimacy.
—me


+


DEAR BEAUTY AND TRUTH LAB: The chemo treatments burned out all the math skills in my brain, which were already pretty meager. On the other hand, they awakened my ability to feel perfectly at ease while in the midst of paradoxical situations that everyone else finds maddening and uncomfortable.

The chemo also made me ridiculously tolerant of people's contradictions, sometimes even their hypocrisies, and freed me to enjoy life as an entertaining movie with lots of interesting plot twists rather than as a pitched battle between everything I like and everything I don't like. I guess I could say that my cancer helped turn me into a pronoiac!

- The Chaos Artist Formerly Known as Risa Kline


+


ADVICE TO MYSELF by Louise Erdrich

Leave the dishes.
Let the celery rot in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator
and an earthen scum harden on the kitchen floor.
Leave the black crumbs in the bottom of the toaster.

Throw the cracked bowl out and don't patch the cup.
Don't patch anything. Don't mend. Buy safety pins.
Don't even sew on a button.

Let the wind have its way, then the earth
that invades as dust and then the dead
foaming up in gray rolls underneath the couch.
Talk to them. Tell them they are welcome.

Don't keep all the pieces of the puzzles
or the doll's tiny shoes in pairs, don't worry
who uses whose toothbrush or if anything
matches, at all.

Except one word to another. Or a thought.
Pursue the authentic—decide first
what is authentic,
then go after it with all your heart.
Your heart, that place
you don't even think of cleaning out.
That closet stuffed with savage mementos.

Don't sort the paper clips
from screws from saved baby teeth
or worry if we're all eating cereal for dinner
again. Don't answer the telephone, ever,
or weep over anything at all that breaks.

Pink molds will grow within those sealed cartons
in the refrigerator. Accept new forms of life
and talk to the dead
who drift in through the screened windows, who collect
patiently on the tops of food jars and books.

Recycle the mail, don't read it,
don't read anything
except what destroys
the insulation between yourself and your experience
or what pulls down or what strikes at or what shatters
this ruse you call necessity.

- "Advice to Myself" by Louise Erdrich, from Original Fire: Selected and New Poems"


+


Remember that at any given moment there are a thousand things you can love.

- David Levithan


+


YOUR UNIQUE GENIUS

You are a genius. Maybe not in the same way that Einstein and Beethoven were, but still: You possess exceptional capacities that are absolutely unique. You're a masterpiece unlike any other that has ever lived in the history of the world.

Furthermore, the precise instructions you need to ripen into your genius have always been with you, even from the time before you were born. In the words of psychologist James Hillman, you have a soul's code.

You might also call it the special mission you came to Earth to carry out; the divine blueprint that contains the open secret of how to be perfectly, unpredictably yourself; the master plan that is your heart's deepest desire.

Would you like help in deciphering it? The Divine Intelligence Formerly Known as God is always on call, ready to help. It's your birthright to ask Her a specific question every day about what you need to do next to express your soul's code; it's also your birthright to receive a response.

The divine revelation may not be as unambiguous as a little voice in your head. It might appear in the form of a TV commercial, an odd dream, or an encounter with a stranger. It could be demanding and difficult, delivering information you'd rather not have to deal with. Or it might show up as a clear and simple feeling of knowing exactly what to do, and it could be easy and fun.

What's the most important question for you to ask today?


+


THE MOST ENJOYABLE THING

The most important and enjoyable thing in life is doing something that's a complicated, tricky problem for you that you don't know how to solve.

- William Vollman


+


THANKS FOR MAKING MY LIFE BETTER

Sometime in the next 24 hours, try saying this to someone (but only if you really mean it): "Thanks for making my life better."


+


HOW CAN YOU STAY STRONG?

How can you stay strong in your ability to fight off sickness and madness? You know the drill: Eat healthy food, sleep well, get physical exercise, minimize stress, give and receive love. But as an aspiring pronoiac, you have at your disposal other actions that can provide powerful boosts to your immune system. Here are examples:

Scheme to put yourself in the path of beautiful landscapes, buildings, art, and creatures.

Exercise your imagination regularly. Get in the habit of feeding your mind's eye images that fill you with wonder and vitality.

Eliminate uhs, you knows, I means, and other junk words from your speech. Avoid saying things you don't really mean and haven't thought out. Stop yourself when tempted to make scornful assertions about people.

Every night before you fall asleep, review the day's activities in your mind's eye. As if watching a movie about yourself, try to be calmly objective as you observe your memories from the previous 16 hours. Be especially alert for moments when you strayed from your purpose and didn't live up to your highest standards.

With a companion, sit in front of a turned-off TV as you make up a pronoiac story that features tricky benevolence, scintillating harmony, and amusing redemption. Speak this tale aloud or write it down.

Take on an additional job title, beautifier. Put it on your business card and do something every day to cultivate your skill. If you're a people person, bring grace and intrigue into your conversations; ask unexpected questions that provoke original thoughts. If you're an artist, leave samples of your finest work in public places. If you're a psychologist or sociologist, point out the institutions and relationships that are working really well. Whatever you do best, be alert for how you can refine it and offer it up to those who'll benefit from it.

If you're going through a phase when you feel you have nothing especially beautiful to offer, or if you think it would be self-indulgent to inject your own aesthetic into shared environments, turn for help to great artists and thinkers. Sneak O'Keeffe or Chagall prints onto unadorned walls in public places, for instance.

Memorize poems by Rilke and Hafiz, and slip them into your conversations when appropriate. Program your cell phone so that its ring is Vivaldi's Stabat Mater in C Minor. Scrawl passages from Annie Dillard's Teaching a Stone to Talk on the walls of public lavatories.


+


THE SPECIAL PERSON WHO IS JUST RIGHT FOR YOU

"We’re all seeking that special person who is right for us. But if you’ve been through enough relationships, you begin to suspect there’s no right person, just different flavors of wrong.

"Why is this? Because you yourself are wrong in some way, and you seek out partners who are wrong in some complementary way. But it takes a lot of living to grow fully into your own wrongness. And it isn’t until you finally run up against your deepest demons, your unsolvable problems—the ones that make you truly who you are—that we’re ready to find a lifelong mate.

"Only then do you finally know what you’re looking for. You’re looking for the wrong person. But not just any wrong person: the right wrong person—someone you lovingly gaze upon and think, 'This is the problem I want to have.'

"'I will find that special person who is wrong for me in just the right way.'"

- Andrew Boyd, "Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe"


+


WANT TO GET YOUR PERSONAL ASTROLOGICAL CHART READ?

If you want your personal chart done, I recommend a colleague whose approach to reading astrology charts closely matches my own. She's my wife, RO LOUGHRAN. Her website is here.

Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and technical proficiency in horoscope interpretation. She is skilled at exploring the mysteries of your life's purpose and nurturing your connection with your own inner wisdom.

In addition to over 30 years of astrological experience, Ro has been a licensed psychotherapist for 17 years. She integrates psychological insight with astrology's cosmological perspective.

Ro is based in California, but can do phone consultations and otherwise work with you regardless of geographic boundaries.

Check out Ro's website.


+


CREATIVE GENEROSITY

Spiritual teacher A.H. Almaas believes that a genuinely creative act is always motivated by generosity.

So then here's the question: If that's true, how do you explain all the ego-obsessed "geniuses" who treat everyone like dirt even as they churn out their supposedly brilliant art?

Here's my answer: Those are not authentic geniuses.

Genius is by nature benevolent. Definition of genius: those gifts in yourself that are of maximum use and benefit to others.


+


DEAR READERS: Some of you are curious about how I earn a living. You've noticed that I give away my horoscopes for free—and have done so for many years.

You appreciate the fact that my website isn't overrun with ads, that I provide numerous excerpts from my books for free, and that I rarely ask for money in my voluminous posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The fact is that I earn some money by syndicating my horoscopes in newspapers and by selling the books I've published.

I also produce two other kinds of horoscopes that are for sale: my weekly EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES and my daily TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES.

If you'd like to support my ability to thrive, please consider buying those other two horoscopes. Here's how you do it:

GO HERE .

Register or log in. On the new page, you have two choices: Expanded Audio Horoscopes or Daily Text Message Horoscopes.

If you have any questions about how to access them, write to my tech support team at freewillcs@gmail.com.

+

And if you would simply like to donate to me, please visit my Gift Page. Contribute via the "Friends and Family" option.