Currently Obsessed With: Freewill Astrology

 

When I was little, I stayed with my grandparents in Virginia for an entire week every summer. My Nanny and Grandaddy (as I call my mom's parents) are my faves. Some of the best friends in my life.

As a kid, I putzed around the house with them, helped with kid-friendly recipes, read and colored and later designed and sewed clothing while at their home.

My Nanny is a hoot. She of the 19 inch waist mowing the lawn in hotpants got the smack down (not literal) from my Grandaddy back in the day. She taught Sunday school and had me read the daily Bible passage as well as my horoscope in her small town newspaper.

That habit has pretty much stuck. I still read my devotions (most days) and I still read my horoscope (most weeks)- I'm an Aries sun, moon and rising, apparently.

But sometimes horoscopes are really cheesy general statements that say you'll interact with a stranger in the coming month. Really? Is that the best they can do with the arrangements of the gaseous balls in the sky? Please. Give me more. And thank you.

At least a decade ago, however, I discovered Rob Brezny's Freewill Astrology.

A lot of kids raised in the evangelical South might be scared by horoscopes. Fortunately, free will vibes with my Protestant belief system. (Plus, the wise men followed stars...if that's not astrology, I don't know what is.)  And Rob's uncanny ability to link up pop culture, history and literary allusions with the omens of the stars into a multi-layered and beautiful foray into the creativity of the mind and the universe is worth reading whether or not you give a fig about his pronouncements.

For a self-proclaimed intellectual seeker like me, it's crack.*

And so after years of checking in on his weekly horoscopes for my sign and those of the people closest to me, I decided to splurge and go for the extended audio reading. It's five bucks.

Whoo boy! Let me tell you what I've been missing!!! Seriously. After you read this post, go listen to your own audio. It's ridonc. Here's why:

The audios come out every week.

And for some reason, Rob Brezny uses my lexicon. Words that have figured prominently in my journal, in my business plans, in my coaching sessions with clients as well as with my own coaches, are coming at me fast and furious from the lips of a man who's consulting the sky to give him some guidance on what to say.

Coincidence? Perhaps.

Frankly, though, he's not telling me that this constellation's position indicates I need to steer clear of a decision or that some star says stay home on Friday!

Nope. He's encouraging me to "be big, robust and vivid!"

He's warning against an addiction to rational thought and logic.**

In a week when I've been more than preoccupied by the concepts of potential, success, dreams and my prayers to God, he says "this is the week of the two fisted prayer."

Rob finishes this week out with a quote from the mystic Andrew Harvey:

“If you're really listening, if you're awake to the poignant beauty of the world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact, your heart is made to break; its purpose is to burst open again and again so that it can hold evermore wonders.”

Damn. That's good shit. It's terrifying and beautiful and a challenge and a birthright all at the same time.

ALL THIS FROM A HOROSCOPE PEOPLE.

And lest my fellow Christian friends fear for my salvation, the cool thing about Rob's take on horoscopes is that, for me, it turns me inward and Godward. Not away from the wisdom all around and within. Love that.

I used to be all over the online dating scene. One of my profile go-tos was a recap of the routine my Nanny encouraged. "I read the Bible and horoscopes daily."

A contradiction? Perhaps. But also a paradoxical fact that brings you into my world. One in which both the stars and the word of God have footing.

When trying to make decisions about our lives (both big and small), sometimes we want the stars, an omen, our intuition, the voice of God to tell us what the eff to do.

Sadly, many belief systems paint their approach (reading animal entrails anyone?) as the superior way.

As my dad always says, "God gave you a brain. Use it."

But I'm not above checking in with my friend at Freewill Astrology too.

*In a good way. Meaning it keeps me coming back for more. Isn't that what all good spiritual approaches do?

**  This is most excellent. At this time of year I have a desire to plan and strategize the coming year- the revenues, the launches, the travel- when instead I could be more in flow and in intuition.