Rob Brezsny is an American

astrologer Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...

, author, and musician. His weekly horoscope 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 is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller, ...

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'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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 for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

bands such as Kamikaze Angel Slander and Tao Chemical, and then, in the early 1990s, for the band

World Entertainment War World Entertainment War was an American funk rock band, formed in 1986. They recorded four records before disbanding in 1993, and then played reunion concerts in 2000 and 2001, and again in 2009. The band describes itself as “a benevolent medi ...

, 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 gold or platinum-selling studio albu ...

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 ''Jefferson's Tree of Liberty'' is the tenth album by Jefferson Starship, released on September 2, 2008.[] It is the band's first studio album since 1999's ''Windows of Heaven''. The new album includes cover songs from Irish, American, English, ...

''. Brezsny contributed to the writing and soundtrack of the 1995

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

'' 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 self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...

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" or "forethought," from πρό, "before," and νόος, "mind") was a system of granting dedicated streams of state income to individuals and institutions in the late Byz ...

References

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