Rob Brezsny crop
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GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the 1960s, Gemini musician Brian Wilson began writing and recording bestselling songs with his band the Beach Boys. A seminal moment in his development happened while he was listening to his car radio in August 1963. A tune he had never heard before came on: “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes. Wilson was so excited he pulled over onto the shoulder of the road and stopped driving so he could devote his full attention to what he considered a shockingly beautiful work of art. “I started analyzing all the guitars, pianos, bass, drums, and percussion,” he told The New York Times. “Once I got all those learned, I knew how to produce records.” I suspect a pivotal moment like this could unfold for you in the coming weeks, Gemini. Be alert!
CANCER (June 21-July 22): My dear Cancerian, your soul is so rich and complicated, so many-splendored and mysterious, so fertile and generous. I’m amazed you can hold all the poignant marvels you contain. Isn’t it sometimes a struggle for you to avoid spilling over? Like a river at high tide during heavy rains? And yet every so often there come moments when you go blank; when your dense, luxuriant wonders go missing. That’s OK! It’s all part of the Great Mystery. You need these fallow phases. And I suspect that the present time might be such a time. If so, here’s a fragment of a poem by Cecilia Woloch to temporarily use as your motto: “I have nothing to offer you now save my own wild emptiness.”
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): America’s premier eventologist is Leo-born Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith. When she was going through a hard time in 1991, she resolved to buoy her spirits by creating cheerful, splashy new holidays. Since then she has filled the calendar with over 1,900 new occasions to celebrate. What a perfect way to express her radiant Leo energy! National Splurge Day on June 18 is one of Adrienne’s favorites: a time for revelers to be extra kind and generous to themselves. That’s a happy coincidence, because my analysis of the astrological omens suggests that this is a perfect activity for you to emphasize during the coming weeks.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.” Virgo poet Mary Oliver made that statement. It was perfectly reasonable for her, given her occupation, although a similar declaration might sound outlandish coming from a non-poet. Nonetheless, I’ll counsel you to inhabit that frame of mind at least part-time for the next two weeks. I think you’ll benefit in numerous ways from ingesting more than your minimum daily dose of beauty, wonder, enchantment, and astonishment.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran philosopher Michel Foucault articulated a unique definition of “criticism.” He said that it doesn’t dish out judgments or hand down sentences. Rather, it invigorates things by encouraging them, by identifying dormant potentials and hidden beauty. Paraphrasing and quoting Foucault, I’ll tell you that this alternate type of criticism ignites useful fires and sings to the grass as it grows. It looks for the lightning of possible storms, and coaxes codes from the sea foam. I hope you’ll practice this kind of “criticism” in the coming weeks, Libra—a criticism that doesn’t squelch enthusiasm and punish mistakes, but instead champions the life spirit and helps it ripen.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Help may be hovering nearby, but in an unrecognizable guise. Rumpled but rich opportunities will appear at the peripheries, though you may not immediately recognize their value. A mess that you might prefer to avoid looking at could be harboring a very healthy kind of trouble. My advice to you, therefore, is to drop your expectations. Be receptive to possibilities that have not been on your radar. Be willing to learn lessons you have neglected or disdained in the past.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As much as I love logic and champion rational thinking, I’m granting you a temporary exemption from their supremacy. To understand what’s transpiring in the coming weeks, and to respond with intelligence, you will have to transcend logic and reason. They will simply not be sufficient guides as you wrestle and dance with the Great Riddle that will be visiting. You will need to unleash the full power of your intuition. You must harness the wisdom of your body, and the information it reveals to you via physical sensations. You will benefit from remembering at least some of your nightly dreams, and inviting them to play on your consciousness throughout the day.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): For the sake of your emotional and spiritual health, you may need to temporarily withdraw or retreat from one or more of your alliances. But I recommend that you don’t do anything drastic or dramatic. Refrain from harsh words and sudden breaks. For now, seal yourself away from influences that are stirring up confusion so you can concentrate on reconnecting with your own deepest truths. Once you’ve done that for a while, you’ll be primed to find helpful clues about where to go next in managing your alliances.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I’ve got a list of do’s and don’t’s for you. Do play and have fun more than usual. But don’t indulge in naïve assumptions and infantile emotions that interfere with your ability to see the world as it really is. Do take aggressive action to heal any sense of abandonment you’re still carrying from the old days. But don’t poison yourself with feelings of blame toward the people who abandoned you. Do unleash wild flights of fantasy and marvelous speculations about seemingly impossible futures that maybe aren’t so impossible. But don’t get so fixated on wild fantasies and marvelous speculations that you neglect to embrace the subtle joys that are actually available to you right now.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “At times, so many memories trample my heart that it becomes impossible to know just what I’m feeling and why,” writes Piscean poet Mark Nepo. While that experience is familiar to everyone, it’s especially common for you Pisceans. That’s the bad news. But here’s the good news: in the coming weeks, your heart is unlikely to be trampled by your memories. Hence, you will have an excellent chance to know exactly what you’re feeling and why. The weight of the past will at least partially dissolve and you’ll be freer than usual to understand what’s true for you right now, without having to sort through confusing signals about who you used to be.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): We may not have to travel to other planets to find alien life. Instead of launching expensive missions to other planets, we could look for exotic creatures here on earth. Astrobiologist Mary Beth Wilhelm is doing just that. Her search has taken her to Chile’s Atacama Desert, whose terrain has resemblances to Mars. She’s looking for organisms like those that might have once thrived on the Red Planet. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to use this idea as a metaphor for your own life. Consider the possibility that you’ve been looking far and wide for an answer or resource that is actually close at hand.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Philosopher Martin Buber believed that some stories have the power to heal. That’s why he said we should actively seek out stories that have the power to heal. Buber’s disabled grandfather once told Buber a story about an adored teacher who loved to dance. As the grandfather told the story, he got so excited that he rose from his chair to imitate the teacher, and suddenly began to hop and dance around in the way his teacher did. From that time on, the grandfather was cured of his disability. What I wish for you in the coming weeks is that you will find stories like that.