HAPPY BIRTHDAY Leo (Jul 23-Aug 22) A researcher at the University of Amsterdam developed software to read the emotions on faces. He used it to analyze the expression of the woman in Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, “The Mona Lisa.” The results suggest that she is 83 percent happy, nine percent disgusted, six percent fearful […]
Rob Brezsny
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cancer (Jun 21-Jul 22) “A poet must not cross an interval with a step when he can cross it with a leap.” That’s an English translation of an aphorism written by French author Joseph Joubert. Another way to say it might be, “A smart person isn’t drab and plodding as she bridges a […]
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cancer (Jun 21-Jul 22) When novelist John Irving begins a new book, his first task is to write the last line of the last page. Then he writes the second-to-last line. He continues to work backwards for a while until he has a clear understanding of the way his story will end. Right […]
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cancer (Jun 21-Jul 22) I am trying to be unfamiliar with what I am doing,” said composer John Cage in describing his creative process. That’s excellent counsel for you to meditate on, Cancerian. The less expertise and certainty you have about the rough magic you’re experimenting with, the more likely it is that […]
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cancer (Jun 21-Jul 22) In its early days, the band Depeche Mode had the infinitely boring name Composition of Sound. Humphrey Bogart’s and Ingrid Bergman’s classic 1942 film Casablanca was dangerously close to being called Everybody Come to Rick’s. And before Charles Dickens published his novel Bleak House, a scathing critique of the […]
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cancer (Jun 21-Jul 22) I’m getting itchy to see you blow your own cover. I would love you to come all the way out of your hiding place, even if just for awhile, and see what happens if you make full disclosures and brave displays. My hope is that you will close the […]
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Gemini (May 21-June 20) I think it’ll be better if you don’t engage in much sacrifice, compromise or surrender in the next two weeks. Normally they are valuable tools to have at your disposal, but for now they may tend to be counterproductive. Judging from the current astrological omens, I suspect you need […]
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Gemini (May 21-July 1) Nobel Prize-winning physicists Wolfgang Pauli and Niels Bohr were both amused at how counterintuitive their innovative theories seemed. Once Pauli was lecturing a group of eminent scientists about a radical new hypothesis. Bohr got out of his seat in the audience and walked up to the front to interrupt […]
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Gemini (May 21-July 1) You have successfully made the transition from brooding caterpillar to social butterfly. Soon you will be in your full, fluttery glory, never lingering too long with one thought, one friend or one identity. Some heavy-duty, level-headed stalwarts might wish you would be more earthy and anchored, but I don’t […]
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Gemini (May 21-July 1) “Endings to be useful must be inconclusive,” wrote science fiction novelist Samuel R. Delany. I endorse that theory for your use in the coming weeks. Interweave it with this advice from playwright Sam Shepard: “The temptation towards resolution, towards wrapping up the package, seems to me a terrible trap. […]
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Taurus (Apr 20-May 20) Renowned author George Bernard Shaw was secure in his feeling that he did good work. He didn’t need the recognition of others to validate his self-worth. The British prime minister offered him a knighthood, but he refused it. When he found out he had been awarded a Nobel Prize […]
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Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Taurus (Apr 20-May 20) Here’s one of the best things you can do for your mental and physical health: Withdraw your attention from the life that lies behind you, and be excited about the life that stretches ahead of you. Forget about the past, and get wildly inventive as you imagine the interesting […]
