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Free Will Astrology
horoscopes for week of August 31, 2017
Aries (March 21-April 19)
"We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems," said businessman Lee Iacocca. You are currently wrestling with an example of this phenomenon, Aries. The camouflage is well-rendered. To expose the opportunity hidden beneath the apparent dilemma, you may have to be more strategic and less straightforward than you usually are -- cagier and not as blunt. Can you manage that? I think so. Once you crack the riddle, taking advantage of the opportunity should be interesting.
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Take inventory of the extent that "No" dominates your life. Notice how often you say or think: 1. "That's not right." 2. "I don't like that." 3. "I don't agree with that." 4. "They don't like me." 5. "I'm not very good." 6. "That should be different from what it is." For help in retraining yourself to say "Yes!" at least 51% of the time, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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During my quest for advice that might be helpful to your love life, I gathered some further words of wisdom.
1. "There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." -Friedrich Nietzsche.
2. "Love is not about losing freedom; it's about sharing freedom with a partner who's as talented a liberationist as you." - my friend Sarah.
3. "I hunger for your sleek laugh and your hands the color of a furious harvest. I want to eat the sunbeams flaring in your beauty." - Pablo Neruda.
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Close your eyes and imagine this: You and a beloved ally get lost in an enchanted forest, discover a mysterious treasure, and find your way back to civilization just before dark. Now visualize this: You give a dear companion a photo of your face taken on every one of your birthdays, and the two of you spend hours talking about your evolution. Picture this: You and an exciting accomplice luxuriate in a sun-lit sanctuary surrounded by gourmet snacks as you listen to ecstatic music and bestow compliments on each other. These are examples of the kinds of experiments I invite you to try in the coming weeks. Dream up some more! Here's a keynote to inspire you: sacred fun.
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How's your fight for freedom going? Are you making progress in liberating yourself from your unconscious obsessions, bad habits, and conditioned responses? For assistance and inspiration, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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What advice would be useful for your love life? Not this observation by The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening: "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." Do not, under any circumstances, make those your words to live by.
Instead, consider the following counsel from Norman Mailer: "Love asks us that we be a little braver than is comfortable, a little more generous, a little more flexible. It means living on the edge more than we care to."
Gemini (May 21-June 20)
On its album Jefferson's Tree of Liberty, Jefferson Starship plays a song I co-wrote, "In a Crisis." On its album Deeper Space/Virgin Sky, the band covers another tune I co-wrote, "Dark Ages." Have I received a share of the record sales? Not a penny. Am I upset? Not at all. I'm glad the songs are being heard and enjoyed. I'm gratified that a world-famous, multi-platinum band chose to record them. I'm pleased my musical creations are appreciated. Now here's my question for you, Gemini: Has some good thing of yours been "borrowed"? Have you wielded a benevolent influence that hasn't been fully acknowledged? I suggest you consider adopting an approach like mine. It's prime time to adjust your thinking about how your gifts and talents have been used, applied, or translated.
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Assume that your drive to experience pleasure isn't a barrier to your spiritual growth, but is in fact essential to it. Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating joy can 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 HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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Clarissa Pinkola Estes said this in her book Women Who Run With the Wolves. "The desire to force love to live only in its most positive form," she wrote, "is what causes love ultimately to fall over dead." She obviously doesn't mean you should seek negativity on purpose. Rather, you should freely acknowledge that even the most sublime intimacy has a dark side. As long as you welcome love's difficulties, it will remain vital.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Author Roger von Oech tells us that creativity often involves "the ability to take something out of one context and put it into another so that it takes on new meanings." According to my analysis of the astrological omens, this strategy could and should be your specialty in the coming weeks. "The first person to look at an oyster and think food had this ability," says von Oech. "So did the first person to look at sheep intestines and think guitar strings. And so did the first person to look at a perfume vaporizer and think gasoline carburetor." Be on the lookout, Cancerian, for inventive substitutions and ingenious replacements.
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"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." So begins Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield. I'd like to inspire you to write a story of your own that begins like that. For help, tune into your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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You need love almost as much as you need food and drink. Not just any old kind of love, though: It has to be high-minded and mysterious, and neither sentimental nor tormented.
Hoping to steer you towards what you really need, I'm offering you the poetic words of Pablo Neruda. Say or write them to the person whose destiny needs to be woven more closely together with yours:
"Our love is like a well in the wilderness where time watches over the wandering lightning. Our sleep is a secret tunnel that leads to the scent of apples carried on the wind. When I hold you, I hold everything that is--swans, volcanoes, river rocks, maple trees drinking the fragrance of the moon, bread that the fire adores. In your life I see everything that lives."
Leo (July 23-August 22)
When famous socialite Nan Kempner was young, her mother took her shopping at Yves Saint Laurent's salon. Nan got fixated on a certain white satin suit, but her mean old mother refused to buy it for her. "You've already spent too much of your monthly allowance," mom said. But the resourceful girl came up with a successful gambit. She broke into sobs, and continued to cry nonstop until the store's clerks lowered the price to an amount she could afford. You know me, Leo: I don't usually recommend resorting to such extreme measures to get what you want. But now is one time when I am giving you a go-ahead to do just that.
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I invite you to keep a running list of all the ways life delights you and helps you and energizes you. Describe everyday miracles you take for granted . . . the uncanny powers you possess . . . the small joys that occur so routinely you forget how much they mean to you . . . the steady flow of benefits bestowed on you by people you know and don't know. What works for you? What makes you feel at home in the world? For inspiration in this noble effort, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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What advice might beautify and elevate your love life? The following insights might help.
1. "We are not the same person this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person." - W. Somerset Maugham.
2. "People often start by falling in love, and they go on for years without realizing that love must change into some other love which is unlike the original." - Iris Murdoch.
3. "Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new." - Ursula K. Le Guin.
4. "A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day." - Andre Maurois.
Virgo (August 23-September 22)
The computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the miraculous communication system that we know as the World Wide Web. When asked if he had any regrets about his pioneering work, he named just one. There was no need for him to have inserted the double slash -- "//" -- after the "http:" in web addresses. He's sorry that Internet users have had to type those irrelevant extra characters so many billions of times. Let this serve as a teaching story for you, Virgo. As you create innovations in the coming weeks, be mindful of how you shape the basic features. The details you include in the beginning may endure.
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All of creation loves you very much. Even now, people you know and people you don't know are collaborating to make sure you have all you need to make your next smart move. But are you willing to start loving life back with an equal intensity? The adoration it offers you has not exactly been unrequited, but there is room for you to be more demonstrative. For help in cultivating this approach, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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I want to remind you, in case you've somehow forgotten, that you'll never be able to bask in the love you want to receive from another person until you master the art of loving yourself with great skill and imagination. I'll go so far as to say that it's pointless to search for a perfect partner if you're not already your own perfect partner.
Here's what a wise Buddhist had to say about the subject: "You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, but that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anyone, deserve your love and affection."
Libra (September 23-October 22)
The sadness you feel might be the most fertile sadness you have felt in a long time. At least potentially, it has tremendous motivating power. You could respond to it by mobilizing changes that would dramatically diminish the sadness you feel in the coming years, and also make it less likely that sadness-provoking events will come your way. So I invite you to express gratitude for your current sadness. That's the crucial first step if you want to harness it to work wonders.
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What are the obvious secrets you can't quite see? How could you turn your challenges into daily gifts for yourself? For clues to mysteries like these, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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Borrowing the words of poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, I've prepared a love note for you to use as your own. Feel free to give it to the person whose destiny needs to be woven more closely together with yours. "I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out."
Scorpio (October 23-November 21)
"Don't hoot with the owls at night if you want to crow with the rooster in the morning," advised Miss Georgia during the Miss Teen USA Pageant. Although that's usually good counsel, it may not apply to you in the coming weeks. Why? Because your capacity for revelry will be at an all-time high, as will your ability to be energized rather than drained by your revelry. It seems you have a special temporary superpower that enables you both to have maximum fun and get a lot of work done.
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Grace emerges in the ebb and flow, not just the flow. The waning reveals a different blessing than the waxing. Where are you in the great cycle of your life? For inspiration in figuring it all out, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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What wisdom might energize your love life? here's some excellent advice, courtesy of psychologist James Hillman: "For a relationship to stay alive, love alone is not enough. Without imagination, love stales into sentiment, duty, boredom. Relationships fail not because we have stopped loving but because we first stopped imagining."
How will you act on this excellent counsel? Maybe you could take you and your closest ally to a sanctuary you've never dreamed you'd go to in a thousand years. Or do an exercise in which you ask each other questions you've never broached before. Or devise an experiment in which the two of you get to face an unfamiliar challenge together.
Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)
During this phase of your astrological cycle, it makes sense to express more leadership. If you're already a pretty good guide or role model, you will have the power to boost your benevolent influence to an even higher level. For inspiration, listen to educator Peter Drucker: "Leadership is not magnetic personality. That can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not 'making friends and influencing people.' That is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, raising a person's performance to a higher standard, building a personality beyond its normal limitations."
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Whether it's your time to ferment in the shadows or sing in the sun, fresh power to transform yourself is on the way. Life always delivers the creative energy you need to change into the new thing you must become. For more help in understanding it all, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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"Everyone carries with them at least one piece to someone else's puzzle." So wrote Lawrence Kushner in his book, Honey from the Rock.
In other words, you have in your possession certain clues to your loved ones' destinies -- secrets they haven't discovered themselves.
Wouldn't you love to hand over those clues -- to make a gift of the puzzle pieces that are most needed by the people you care about?
Search your depths for insights you've never communicated. Tell truths you haven't found a way to express before now. More than you know, you have the power to mobilize your companions' dreams.
Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
"One should always be a little improbable," said Oscar Wilde. That's advice I wouldn't normally give a Capricorn. You thrive on being grounded and straightforward. But I'm making an exception now. The astrological omens compel me. So what does it mean, exactly? How might you be "improbable"? Here are suggestions to get you started. 1. Be on the lookout for inspiring ways to surprise yourself. 2. Elude any warped expectations that people have of you. 3. Be willing to change your mind. Open yourself up to evidence that contradicts your theories and beliefs. 4. Use telepathy to contact Oscar Wilde in your dreams, and ask him to help you stir up some benevolent mischief or compassionate trouble.
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You can learn to be lucky. It's not a mystical force you're born with, but a habit you can develop. How? For starters, be open to new experiences, trust your gut wisdom, expect good fortune, see the bright side of challenging events, and master the art of maximizing serendipitous opportunities. For more help, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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You understand that you can never own love, right? No matter how much someone adores you today, no matter how much you adore someone, you can't force that unique state of grace to keep its shape forever. It will inevitably evolve or mutate, perhaps into a different version of tender caring, but maybe not.
From there it will continue to change, into either yet another version of interesting affection, or who knows what else?
Are you making any progress in getting the hang of this tricky wisdom?
Aquarius (January 20- February 18)
A modern Israeli woman named Shoshana Hadad got into trouble because of an event that occurred long before she was born. In 580 B.C., one of her male ancestors married a divorced woman, which at that time was regarded as a sin. Religious authorities decreed that as punishment, none of his descendants could ever wed a member of the Cohen tribe. But Hadad did just that, which prompted rabbis to declare her union with Masoud Cohen illegal. I bring this tale to your attention as a way to illustrate the possibility that you, too, may soon have to deal with the consequences of past events. But now that I have forewarned you, I expect you will act wisely, not rashly. You will pass a tricky test and resolve the old matter for good.
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Somewhere there's a treasure that has no value to anyone but you, and a secret that's meaningless to everyone except you, and a frontier that harbors a revelation only you would know how to exploit. Why not go in search of those things? For inspiration, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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Imagine that the merger of you and your best ally has created a third thing that hovers near you, protecting and guiding the two of you. Call this third thing an angel. Or call it the soul of your connection or the inspirational force of your relationship. Or call it the special work the two of you can accomplish together. And let this magical presence be the third point of your love triangle.
Pisces (February 19-March 20)
Want to live to be 100? Then be as boring as possible. That's the conclusion of longevity researchers, as reported by the Weekly World News. To ensure a maximum life span, you should do nothing that excites you. You should cultivate a neutral, blah personality, and never travel far from home. JUST KIDDING! I lied. The Weekly World News is in fact a famous purveyor of fake news. The truth, according to my analysis of the astrological omens, is that you should be less boring in the next seven weeks than you have ever been in your life. To do so will be superb for your health, your wealth, and your future.
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When they say "Be yourself," which self do they mean? Certainly not the self that wants to win every game and use up every resource and stand alone at the end of time on a mountain of pretty garbage. So which self is it? For guidance, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.
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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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As I meditated on what advice might purify and supercharge your love life, I got to thinking about a statement attributed to French poet Paul Valery. "Love is being stupid together," he said.
There's an element of truth to this notion, but it's too corny and degenerate for my tastes. I prefer to focus on a more interesting and complete truth, which is this: Real love is being smart together. If you weave your destiny together with another's, he or she should catalyze your sleeping potentials, sharpen your perceptions, and boost your IQ.
Your relationship should be a crucible in which you deepen your understanding of the way the world works. If you can't share your love with such a person, don't share your love with anyone.
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