Last Week to Hear My Long-Range Audio Horoscopes

WHAT OPPORTUNITIES ARE AHEAD FOR YOU in the coming months?

There's just one week remaining to hear my MID-YEAR AUDIO PREVIEW of YOUR DESTINY for the REST of 2020.

My Expanded Audio Horoscopes explore themes that I suspect will be important for you during the next six months.

What new influences and experiences will be headed your way in the second half of 2020?

What fresh resources will you be able to draw on?

Would you like some inspiration as you imagine how to make best use of those influences and experiences and resources?

What questions should you be asking so as to create the best possible future for yourself?

To listen to your BIG PICTURE horoscopes online, GO HERE. Register and/or log in through the main page, and then click on the link "Long Term Forecast for Second Half of 2020."

You can also hear a short-term forecast for the week ahead by clicking on "This week (July 14, 2020)."

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The in-depth, long-range Expanded Audio horoscopes cost $6 apiece if you access them on the Web. (Discounts are available for multiple purchases.)

They're also available for $1.99 per minute if you want them over the phone. For phone access, call: 1-877-873-4888.





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ACTIVISM AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

Environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill once spent two years living in a redwood tree she named "Luna." Her goal was to save it from being cut down by a logging company.

Here's her manifesto: "I didn't climb the tree because I was angry at corporations and government; I climbed the tree because when I fell in love with the redwoods, I fell in love with the world. My feelings of connection drive me, not my anger and feelings of being disconnected."

On this July 4, I reaffirmed my goal to have my activism inspired by Julia Butterfly Hill: to cultivate activism as a spiritual practice that keeps me focused on the transformative power of love.

I will certainly fight and struggle against racism, militarism, misogyny, ecocide, oligarchy, homophobia and transphobia.

But I swear that at least 60% of my motivation will always be to express my love and care and empathy and compassion for all those humans and creatures who need and deserve justice.





MY FAVORITE TV SHOW EVER

I just finished watching my favorite TV show ever, Sense8.

Eight "Sensate" people in different parts of the world are connected with each other more than merely telepathically. Each is intimately linked to the minds and bodies of the other seven. They can share sensations and knowledge, and participate in each other's experiences even if they are physically far away. Every Sensate person inhabits all of the others while also being himself or herself.

Sense8 is unbashedly optimistic in its portrayal of gender multiplicity and a variety of sexual modes. It's the first TV show ever written and directed by two transgender creators and starring a transgender character played by a transgender actor.

Aside from those exhilarating nuances, no TV show has ever portrayed emotionally rich love between humans with so much joyous desire and intelligent delight.

Bonus: At the climax of the final episode, the trans woman Sensate named Nomi gets married to her cis gendered Black lesbian partner Amanita in a party on an upper level of the Eiffel Tower!

More info: More info





REVERENCE IS A HEALTHY EMOTION

Reverence is one of the most useful emotions. When you respectfully acknowledge the sublime beauty of something greater than yourself, you do yourself a big favor. You generate authentic humility and sincere gratitude, which are healthy for your body as well as your soul.

Please note that reverence is not solely the province of religious people. A biologist may venerate the scientific method. An atheist might experience a devout sense of awe toward geniuses who have bequeathed to us their brilliant ideas.

What about you? What excites your reverence? I invite you to explore the deeper mysteries of this altered state of consciousness.





DEAR EARTH

When I dream you, I dream everything I'm afraid of losing—the shadowy shimmer of the reef-building elkhorn corals in the Caribbean, the croaks of the precious few Sehuenca water frogs fading in their Bolivian freshwater marshes, the aroma of longleaf pine trees dying out in the southern Appalachians, the precious mud of the Los Cerritos wetlands encroached by seeping oil spills.

I call you by their names. I hear them in your songs. I pray to them through your ears. "Dear Earth I love as much as my birth, please resurrect our lives together."





STANDING STRONG AGAINST THE DANCE OF DEATH

Ieshia L. Evans, nurse and mother, stands strong and unbowed against the dance of death.





RAIN DANCE

Nigerian boy doing an exquisite dance in the rain on the mud:





THE FREEDOM TO LOVE EACH OTHER

Dear Rob: I follow your writing, and like a lot of it. But you seem to have gone off the rails and jumped the shark in your support of the dumb experts who advocate the lockdowns and mask-wearing and social-distancing as a way to allegedly foil the spread of the coronavirus. I thought you supported freedom. I thought your concept of "pronoia" was about liberating us from control and manipulation. Why do you support the government telling us what to do? —Confused in Tampa

Dear Confused: My approach to freedom derives its inspiration from the freedom to love and care for and protect and help other people and all the creatures of the earth. The lockdowns and mask-wearing and social-distancing serve the cause of cherishing life—thereby honoring and celebrating my freedom.

I don't mean to minimize the challenges of the lockdowns. Many of us are separated from loved ones and have lost our jobs or had our incomes reduced. Many of us feel alone and have faced dilemmas in our efforts to remedy non-COVID-19 health concerns.

But those are different issues from the minor inconvenience of having to wear protective masks in public and being careful to keep sufficient distance between ourselves and others. They're different from the very small problems of not being able to gather in groups at indoor dance parties, salons, and tattoo parlors.

Those modest constraints on our freedom enable us to express a far-more robust kind of freedom, which is the freedom to take care of each other, to ensure we do no harm.





BONOBOS AND US

Bonobo apes and humans share 98 percent of the same genes, leading some biologists to suggest that they, along with chimpanzees, should be reclassified as members of the human genus. While their gestures, postures, walk, and facial expressions have remarkable similarities to ours, however, their social behavior is quite different.

Bonobos live in a peaceful matriarchy characterized by egalitarian relationships. Power and status are of minimal concern. They build and maintain social rapport with frequent erotic exchanges of every variety. Homosexual contact is common.

"Bonobos use sex to appease, to bond, to make up after a fight, to ease tensions, to cement alliances," writes Natalie Angier in 'The New York Times.' Because it's their social glue, says primatologist Dr. Frans de Waal, author of 'Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape,' sex is casual and free of elaborate taboos. Unlike humans, bonobos are not obsessed with orgasm. Their reproductive rate is similar to that of other primates.

"All of this has relevance for understanding the roots of human nature," concludes Angier. "De Waal corrects the image of humanity's ancestors as driven by aggression, hierarchical machinations, hunting, warfare, and male dominance."

(Source: Natalie Angier, The New York Times)





A good way to become more fearless is to cultivate tenderness. As you expand your capacity to feel compassionate affection, you have less to be afraid of.

That's the opposite of conventional wisdom, which says you become brave by toughening up, by reinforcing your psychic armor.





OUR CAPACITY TO BE ASTONISHED

Let's cultivate our capacity to be astonished . . . to be thrilled by every subtle mystery that sneaks into our daily rhythm . . . to make ourselves fully available for the unexpected riddles that life is always setting in front of us.





REVERENT JUSTICE

I hereby appoint you a dissident bodhisattva in charge of overthrowing the sour and crippled mass hallucination that is mistakenly called "reality," and replacing it with an authentic reality built on the principles of insurrectionary beauty, ingenious love, voracious curiosity, ecstatic gratitude, and reverent justice.

(Any other principles you want to add?)





THROW A PARTY FOR ALL THE PEOPLE YOU ARE

Throw a party for all the people you've ever been and all the different selves who live within you. Invite the teenager who once seethed with frustrated potential and the four-year-old who loved nothing more than to play.

Include the hopeful complainer who stands in the shadows and dares you to ask for more, as well as the brave hero who comes out every now and then to attempt seemingly impossible feats of happiness.

Don't forget any of the various personalities who have contributed to making you who you are, even the "bad" ones. Celebrate your internal diversity. Marvel at how good you are at changing.

(For extra credit, you could also invite all the characters you've been in past incarnations, like the Balinese puppet-maker and the Nigerian herbalist and the Chinese midwife and the African savannah elephant.)





AND TO THE BEAUTY FOR WHICH THEY STAND

I pledge allegiance
to the birds
of the United States of America
—and to the sky through which they fly

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SAVED BY LOVE

"Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love."

—Reinhold Niebuhr





BIRTH BY FIRE

The seeds of the lodgepole pine and jack pine trees are so tightly compacted within their protective cones that they need flames to free them. It's only through the help of periodic conflagrations, then, that they're able to reproduce. Fire-dependent and fire-resistant, they can tolerate temperatures of 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit.





DO YOU REALLY NEED TO CHANGE THE SUNSET?

"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.'" Pioneering 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."





BREATHING FREE

The New York Times writes: Over the past decade, at least 70 people have died in police custody after saying the same words — “I can’t breathe.”

The dead ranged in age from 19 to 65. The majority of them had been stopped over nonviolent infractions, calls about suspicious behavior, or concerns about their mental health. More than half were Black.

Dozens of videos, court documents, autopsies, and police reports show a pattern of aggressive tactics that ignored prevailing safety precautions.

In some of the “I can’t breathe” cases, officers restrained detainees by the neck, hogtied them, shocked them with a Taser multiple times, or covered their heads with mesh hoods. Most frequently, officers pushed them face down on the ground and held them prone with their body weight.

P.S.: Only a small fraction of these murderous police have faced criminal charges, and almost none have been convicted.





CHAMPIONING AND EMBODYING SPIRITUALITY

Here are practical ways I carry on the work of championing and embodying spirituality:

I regard relationships as being a crucible for spiritual work.

I think of the practical expression of kindness and compassion and ethical behavior as an essential spiritual practice.

I assume that a crucial element of spiritual practice is the consciousness and compassion we bring to the sometimes chaotic and messy and shadowy details of being human beings.

I understand that loving and caring for animals and plants and the Earth is the test of our spiritual intentions.

I understand that working to dismantle racism, misogyny, militarism, plutocracy, economic injustice, and all forms of bigotry belongs at the heart of our sacred practice.

I regard play and fun and humor as not diversions from “serious” spiritual work, but rather being at the center of it.

What about you? What are the practical ways you carry on the work? TruthRooster@gmail.com





DIVERSITY IS OUR DELIGHTFUL FUTURE

“The plague of humanity is the fear and rejection of diversity: monotheism, monarchy, monogamy and, in our age, mono-medicine.

"The belief that there is only one right way to live, only one right way to regulate religious, political, sexual, medical affairs is the root cause of the greatest threat to humans: members of their own species, bent on ensuring their salvation, security, and sanity.”

—Thomas Szasz

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"As a culture, we have wandered into a state of prolonged neurosis because of the absence of a direct pipeline to the unconscious. As a result, we have fallen victim to priestcraft of every conceivable sort."

—Terence McKenna

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Why is it so hard for Westerners of the last two centuries to feel the intimate presence of the divine intelligences? Every other culture in the history of the world has had a more vital connection with the realm of spirit.

According to poet Gary Snyder, California's Yana Indians explained it this way: The gods have retreated to the volcanic recesses of Mt. Lassen, passing the time playing gambling games with magic sticks.

They're simply waiting for such a time when human beings will "reform themselves and become 'real people' that spirits might want to associate with once again."

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"Your body belongs to your ancestors, your parents, and future generations, and it also belongs to society and all other living beings. All of them have come together to bring about the presence of this body. Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos — the trees, the clouds, everything."

—Thich Nhat Hanh





LIBERATION MUSIC

Check out this glorious rendition of the song "Stand Up" (from the movie Harriet), with images from the Black freedom struggle. Sung by the grandchildren of Civil Rights legend Rev. Dr. Jesse Douglas.





GO BOTH WAYS

The image I posted here shows how I spent the first half of my birthday last week:

researching occult and hermetic resources about how best to foment a culture that is more thoroughly permeated with justice, broadmindedness, actual (not fake) beauty, and practical compassion.

The second half of my birthday was spent with a roundtable of very earthbound yet visionary activists who provided me with inspiration on the same subjects.

I'm at my best when I go both ways!

(The off-white suit and stetson hat I wore was provided by the spirit of Dziadzio Raymond, my Polish grandfather)





OUR SPIRITUAL DUTY

It's our spiritual duty to remember the African Americans who have been murdered by cops—to grieve them as our kin, to honor them, to invoke their tragic deaths as we apply pressure to prevent the police from perpetrating other such mayhem in the future.

Here's some of the story of Elijah McClain, killed by Aurora, Colorado police last August.