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Taurus (April 20-May 20): Taurus poet Gary Snyder said, “Three-fourths of philosophy and literature is the talk of people trying to convince themselves that they really like the cage they were tricked into entering.” Personally, I think that many of us, not just philosophers and writers, do the same thing. Are you one of us? Your first assignment during the next four weeks will be to explore whether you do indeed tend to convince yourself that you like the cage you were tricked into entering. Your second assignment: If you find that you are in a cage, do everything you can to stop liking it. Third assignment: Use all your ingenuity, call on all the favors you’re owed, and conjure up the necessary magic so that you can flee the cage.
What is a horoscope? It sounds like a prediction, but in my view it is best considered a spiritual practice for the week, or longer if it is necessary.
How so, Sophie?
A spiritual practice, a real spiritual practice is a context. Or else it is just something you do… worthless, if you ask me.
In my work, the way to grow is through spiritual practices. For example, now that we are working on the driftwood capacity, the practice is to keep on placing your vantage point, without taking your ego, memories, mind, preferences with it, on different places, so you can 1. see things differently, the way other people see it, 2. to keep the capacity active after I activated it, if you are one of the precious few for whom I have.
Why is it spiritual? Because it deals with the spiritual dimension of you.
Every person has mental/intellectual, physical, and spiritual dimensions. Only people who are attending to all three, so they are on the same level, are people who feel joy, meaning, and a life worth living. If you are lopsided… no joy, no meaning, no life worth living experience.
Now, specifically about this week’s spiritual practice meant for Taurus, but suitable to all: It seems that society tries to convince us to settle for less, to be complacent, enjoy the little we have and strive for no more.
But most of us fell into a situation where we cannot grow. Where what we fell into cannot be made to work, It doesn’t matter whose fault it is… by the way.
I chose to learn architecture, and hung in there for a total of 22 years… pure hell. Lots of learning, but no joy, no self-expression.
Had I got this ‘reading’ then, I would have used it to free myself of the cage I got myself into… instead of waiting for ‘godot’ to create the opportunity for me, as I did. I eventually freed myself of that cage, and became something else, something I like more.
If you choose this spiritual practice to engage with, just know that it takes a lot of courage to upset the apple cart, but it is worth it.
In my humble opinion, there is hardly any person on the planet for whom this is not a situation that could make a huge difference… if they have courage.
A student of mine ‘fled’ her marriage and she has started to grow like she was supposed to. It can be profession, marriage, relationship, and probably more I can’t see.
You cannot become whole again if you insist on liking your prison.
I had a friend a few years ago who was struggling. His prison was his son who he had to drive to hockey tournaments all over the country, while he had a fragmented business life… his time wasn’t his own.
It takes a healthy dose of Self-ishness to say no… and he never did. Society prefers you to be a bird whose wings are clipped… I don’t, and I hope neither do you.
One of the things I am observing is that improvement, something becoming bearable from bad is where most people stop generating great.
There was a book I haven’t read, but the title seems to say it all: From Good To Great. In that book the author talks about businesses that stop generation at ‘good enough’ and never create a great company, a great product, a great experience for their customers or employees.
If life is about becoming your best you, and giving it away, then good enough won’t cut it. It will keep you, solidly, in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, the horizontal plane, in survival mode… always looking for something better, craving something better, eyeing something better, but never make a move for it, because giving up the good enough is scary.
This is the state of scarcity… not poverty. Poverty is good: it makes you move your ‘arse’… but good enough, unless you take on the spiritual practice of fleeing it, doesn’t.
And I think, judging from your behavior, this is where you live…
Gemini (May 21-June 20): “Your body is not a temple,” declared author and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. “It’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.” I half-agree with him. I’m deeply devoted to regarding the body as an amusement park. It should be a source of endless fun and enjoyment. We have the right—indeed, I’d say a duty—to wield our bodies in ways that immerse us in the mysteries and miracles of pleasure. But here’s where I disagree with Bourdain: I believe the body is also a temple that deserves our reverence and respect and protective tenderness. Your assignment in the coming weeks, Gemini, is to raise your commitment to treating your body as both an amusement park and a holy temple.
I totally disagree with Rob Brezsny on the interpretation of the celebrity chef’s sentence.
I disagree with Rob Brezsny a lot. He is a pansy… the kind of pansy the Jews were who walked into the gas chambers… without raising hell. I lost nearly everyone to the gas chambers, and I am still furious about the attitude Jews had: if you are good, god will help you, if you are good, other people will be good too… B.S.
If you help yourself, you helped yourself, and whether there is a god or not, is immaterial. You took care of yourself. Aggressively, purposefully, giving yourself what you need.
If I am not for me, who is for me?
If I am only for myself, who am I?
If not now when?
This is my ‘religion’… not the ‘religion’ that operates with rules… that makes people obedient sheep.
Twice a year my life is completely uprooted by the time-change.
It’s been proven that it saves no energy, that it is harmful, that it messes with people’s internal clock.
Humanity is already sleep deprived, and it takes at least a month to reset the internal clock…
But, of course, just like religion, the job of government is to turn you into sheep…
OK, back to Anthony Bourdain: your body is an amusement park.
Your body is going to be a lot like some of the rides, the scary ones… amusement in the face of fear, terror, pain, wanting to run. Amusement is not fun, or not really. For some little kids, maybe. Little kids want to experience more, all kinds of sh*t, but when you become more adult, you’d like a smooth ride… and your body doesn’t cooperate, or not for most of us. Mine definitely holding up the middle finger… lol… not funny.
So, you see, Rob Brezsny should do his own spiritual practice he addressed to Taurus, even if his Zodiac sign is Cancer. Because he is locked into this ‘spiritual’ California prison… that I find nauseating and harmful. He is one of those people who encourage people to decorate their prison and stay… in more ways than one.
Life, your body isn’t going to behave the way you like it: smooth ride all the way to heaven. No, it is going to be like an amusement park ride, rough, scary, and not smooth at all. Especially if you expect that what other people are eating is good for you… hah.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Early in his career, Cancerian painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875) sold only a few paintings. But eventually his luck improved. Once he was financially successful, he became very generous. He wielded his influence to get jobs for other artists, and mentored many artists, as well. Sometimes he added a few dabs of paint to the finished works of younger, struggling painters, then signed the canvases with his own name so that the works could more easily be sold. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to adopt your own version of Corot’s approach toward those around you who could benefit from your help and support. (P.S. It’s in your selfish interest to do so, although the reasons why may not be clear for a while.)
Here is a brilliant spiritual practice that teaches you to be the channel, instead of the black hole or the round receptacle we commonly call: the garbage bin.
When what you are getting, however you are getting it, stops with you and doesn’t get passed along, you are a black hole.
Counter to what you think, what you are getting isn’t benefit you either. It doesn’t warm you, it doesn’t make you happy, grow spiritually, doesn’t make you healthy, doesn’t make your life better.
Joy, happiness, spiritual growth, health, a good life comes from being like a channel. A channel through which all the good things pass… Just like a glass that you poured, let’s say milk into, retains some of the milk… you retain for yourself what you need from the blessing… not more. If you retain more than you need, then you engage is ‘desire to receive for the self alone’… what Kabbalah calls evil, and what I call stupid… Whatever you get and hold onto makes unable to get what is coming to you, because your cup is full…
You can’t hear what is being said, what is being offered. You can’t see what is available… because you are holding onto what you desired for the self alone with all your might.
Some of what you hold onto: you have been holding onto for almost as long as you’ve lived… your opinion, your meaning of what happened when you were young.
In the Playground this is the biggest challenge: until and unless you can let go of that… your life is stuck in the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
I have been activating the Driftwood capacity for those who can see the significance… and now, that I am writing this article, I can see that seeing may not be enough. I may need to activate another spiritual capacity: Letting go… We’ll see if that makes magic happen.
No extra charge… if you bought the Driftwood capacity activation
I don’t know if capacity activation is something you are ready for… Because unless you know how to use your spanking new capacity, it will turn off…
I am turning on the driftwood capacity only for my Playground participants, if they choose to pay, so they can start looking at their past incidents differently… It is slow going… Some have been telling the same story for 50 years or more…
But without looking at the painful incidents anew, differently, the conclusions remain the same… the ITCH remains the same, what they think they have to give themselves remains the same… and unsatisfying.
If you are not in the Playground, but would like to benefit from capacity activation, your path may be the Avatar State Activators, audio files that need to be played in the background. I even have one for driftwood… of course.
Given the linchpin position this capacity has to turn unhappy memories into neutral and maybe even pleasant, by simply looking at things differently, I think this is the most important capacity of all.
I have a 30 minute video explaining and attempting to activate the capacity from some seven years ago.
I have an avatar state audio that helps you keep the capacity alive, or slowly turn it on… if you attempt to use it often enough.
And I can activate the capacity for you.
If you buy it before Friday March 13, I’ll invite you to a live question and answer webinar where I’ll answer your specific questions and activate everyone on the live call again… A $100 value. It may be the first hour of our next Playground, for all I know…
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