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Prayer for You
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Q & A
Rapunzel Blavatsky Interviews Rob BrezsnyRAPUNZEL BLAVATSKY. You're known as the kingpin of horoscope columnists. Why, then, is your first book a burst of experimental poetry and your second book a "docu-fiction memoir"? Why not go for a best-selling astrology book? ROB BREZSNY. From a marketing perspective, I know it seems dumb not to follow up on the success of my astrology column with an astrology book. But I long ago pledged to honor the promptings of my crazy heart above all other motivations. And as much as I love writing "Free Will Astrology," the seat of my soul was utterly unambiguous in its passionate desire to conjure up The Televisionary Oracle. Ironically, this will probably turn out to be the best possible marketing technique. In the past I've found that I seem to be one of those weird people whose income increases in direct proportion to my commitment to having maximum fun. RAPUNZEL BLAVATSKY. Because you pack your column with doses of wry humor and wild imagery, some people think you don't take astrology seriously. ROB BREZSNY. On the contrary, I think my humor and imagery, along with my passion for crafting language free of cliches, demonstrate how much respect I have for astrology. With the intellectual vigor I apply to writing my oracles, I feel I've alerted many people to the possibility that astrology may have more credibility than its tabloid practitioners have afforded it. RAPUNZEL BLAVATSKY. You have said in the past that you believe in astrology "about 80 percent." What's up with the other 20 percent? ROB BREZSNY. I use the same 80-20 approach with every belief system that I love and benefit from: Qabala, science, paganism, transpersonal psychology, postmodern rationalism. I take what's useful from each, but am not so deluded as to think that any single system is the holy grail the quantum physicists call the "Theory of Everything." Total, unskeptical faith is the path of the fanatic and fundamentalist, and I aspire to be a rowdy philosophical anarchist, aflame with a passion for objectivity and committed to the truth that the truth is always mutating. RAPUNZEL BLAVATSKY.. But don't you risk playing the same role the tabloid astrologers do: enticing people to take on a superstitious approach to life and seducing them into believing their fate is determined by supernatural forces beyond the influence of their willpower? ROB BREZSNY. I call what I do predicting the present, not forecasting the future. My goal is to awaken my readers to the hidden agendas and unconscious forces that may be at work in their lives so that they can respond to the totality of what's happening instead of merely to superficial appearances. When I'm doing my job correctly, I also inspire people to realize how much power their own imaginations have to solve their problems and create their destinies. RAPUNZEL BLAVATSKY. Do you consider yourself a guru figure? How can you nurture your readers' ability to seize control of their own lives if they're busy attributing to you supernatural levels of charisma? ROB BREZSNY. I could of course be deluded about this, but I sincerely believe I infuse my horoscopes with abundant suggestions to be skeptical of me and to seek, above all, the guidance of one's own inner teacher. RAPUNZEL BLAVATSKY. How do you write your column? Do you use actual astrological data, or just go into a trance and let your imagination run wild? ROB BREZSNY. I do draw up a weekly chart for the sun and the moon and the major aspects of each sign. It's the framework within which I improvise. The artistic aspect of the work is harder to pin down. One of my guiding principles, though, is to treat each sign's horoscope as an intimate, personal love letter. Where do my inspirations come from? My dreams, letters from readers, overheard conversations, meditation, lots of reading in a wild variety of texts both sacred and profane, and the intensive cultivation of my own receptivity. I also rely on fact-finding missions I call whirlygigs. During these, I steep myself with the intention of attracting lessons I don't know I need, then meander the streets at random, going places I've never been and striking up conversations with strangers with whom I apparently have nothing in common. |
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© 1995-2008 -- Rob Brezsny. All rights reserved
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