Rob Brezsny (born 21 June...) is an American

astrologer Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

, author, and musician. His weekly

horoscope A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an ast ...

column "Free Will Astrology" – formerly "Real Astrology" – has been published since 1980, and by 2010 was syndicated in around 120 periodicals.

Career

Brezsny uses

first-person narrative A first-person narrative (also known as a first-person perspective, voice, point of view, etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view, using first-person grammar su ...

in his horoscope columns, as well as a more literary approach than conventional horoscopes use. He conceives of astrology not as a science but as "a poetic language of the soul", comparing it to "a Neruda poem, Kandinsky paintings or a Nick Cave song." The ''

Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne''; , ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...

'' described the column as "a blend of spontaneous poetry, feisty politics, and fanciful put-on", and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it "glib, hectoring, oblique", and said that it appeals primarily to urban professionals "who turn to it for irreverence as much as for insight." Brezsny is quoted as saying "I'm on a mission to save people from the genocide of the imagination," and told the ''Times'' that his "secret agenda" is "to be a poet who gets paid for writing poetry." Brezsny said "I predict the present. I don't believe in predicting the future." The head of the mainstream New York Astrology Center called Brezsny's column "silly".Parks, Brian (April 24, 1994
"What Do The Stars Say?"
''

'' In the 1970s and 1980s, Brezsny was a singer and songwriter for

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

bands such as Kamikaze Angel Slander and Tao Chemical, and then, in the early 1990s, for the band World Entertainment War, for whom Brezsny wrote the song "Dark Ages", which was later recorded by

Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight RIAA certification, gold or Music rec ...

for their 1995 album '' Deep Space / Virgin Sky''. Jefferson Starship also recorded the World Entertainment War song "In A Crisis" on their 2008 album '' Jefferson's Tree of Liberty''. Brezsny contributed to the writing and soundtrack of the 1995

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

'' The Drivetime''. Brezsny is author of the books ''Images Are Dangerous'' (1985); ''The Televisionary Oracle'' (2000), a novel; and a

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is "a focus on self-guided, in contrast to professionally guided, efforts to cope with life problems" —economically, physically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. When ...

book, ''Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings'' (2005), which derives its name from the concept of

pronoia The ''pronoia'' (plural ''pronoiai''; Greek: πρόνοια, meaning "care", "forethought" or "providence," from πρό, "before," and νόος, "mind") was a system of granting dedicated streams of state income to individuals and institutions i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brezsny, Rob Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American astrologers 21st-century astrologers American astrological writers American male non-fiction writers American male singer-songwriters World Entertainment War members