x113x

“Though the seas threaten, they are merciful,” says Ferdinand, a character in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. “I have cursed them without cause.” Please consider the possibility that you could honestly make a similar declaration about some influence in your world. What’s wild but mostly beneficent? What’s primal in a way that draws you back to […]

Among medieval alchemists, there were some who tried to make a fortune by literally converting lead into gold. But the authentic practitioners of the art were interested in a subtler kind of experimentation: ripening and beautifying the shadowy aspects of their own psyches. That explains their motto: “For a tree’s branches to reach to heaven, […]

“Dear Rob Brezsny: I really didn’t like a recent horoscope you wrote for me. I’m a Leo, and although your oracle was sort of true, I didn’t want it to be true, and furthermore I didn’t want to lend my belief energy to help make it true. So I went hunting among the other signs, […]

In response to the recession, some companies have come up with an ingenious way to avoid raising prices: They reduce the amount of product they offer by shrinking the packaging. The makers of Skippy Peanut Butter, for instance, restructured the bottom of the jar so that only 16.3 ounces could fit inside instead of the […]

Ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras is known as “the father of numbers.” He taught that mathematics provides the ultimate truth about reality. His otherwise productive career went through a rough patch when one of his students found that the square root of two is an “irrational” number that can’t be expressed as a simple fraction. “Impossible!” […]

“One often meets one’s destiny on the road taken to avoid it,” says a French proverb. Sometimes, in fact, you can’t even get properly aligned with your highest potential unless you try to escape it. Only by seeking an alternate route are you led into the circumstances that ultimately activate the fullness of your gifts. […]

This would be a perfect week to practice writing love letters. It’s not yet a favorable time to actually send the love letters you compose, however. You need some work before you’ll be ready to produce the finished products. You’ve got to drain off the chatter that’s at the top of your head before you’ll […]

 In the past few weeks you have veered close to the edge of blissful triumph. From what I can tell, you averted total ecstatic breakthrough and fantastic raging success by only the narrowest of margins. If you don’t want to go all the way in the coming days — if you’d rather remain faithful to […]

Chris Farley was “a wrecking ball of joy,” according to one of his friends. The Saturday Night Live comedian loved to provoke merriment wherever he went, relentlessly shepherding the mood toward celebratory exuberance. I’m not saying you should try to ignite conviviality with that much ferocity in the coming days, Gemini. But I do think […]

“Here’s what I’m looking for,” said a personal classified I read online. “Someone who can tear me away from living inside my head . . . who sees things in me that I don’t see myself.” That’s exactly what I want for you right now, Scorpio. Whether this someone shows up in the form of […]