Rob Brezsny

{{Infobox writer

|name = Rob Brezsny

|image = Rob Brezsny.jpg

|imagesize = 187px

|caption =

|birth_date =

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|death_date =

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|occupation = Astrologer
Author
Musician

|networth =

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|website = {{URL|www.freewillastrology.com/}}

|nationality = American

}}

Rob Brezsny (born 21 June...){{Cite web |date=2015-04-15 |title=Rob Brezsny e il suo oroscopo Internazionale |url=https://astrobri.com/rob-brezsny-e-oroscopo-internazionale/ |access-date=2024-08-21 |language=it-IT}} is an American astrologer, 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.{{cite web

| url = http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/cover/rob-brezsny-on-god-media-and-why-we-re-better/article_a724c4fa-ce9a-5c71-ba83-330241bc67d7.html

| title = Rob Brezsny on God, media and why we're better off than you think

| author = Anderson, Mark C.

| work = Monterey County Weekly

| date = January 7, 2010

| access-date = July 16, 2018}}

Career

Brezsny uses first-person narrative in his horoscope columns, as well as a more literary approach than conventional horoscopes use.{{cite journal |last=Winn |first=Steven |title= Subversive Stargazer Rob Brezsny |journal= Utne Reader |issue= September/October 1997 |date=August 1, 1997 |url=https://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/subversive-stargazer-rob-brezsny-real-astrology }} 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."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/us/15zodiac.html|title=Horoscope Says: Zodiac Signs May Shift With Wobbling Earth|last=McKinley|first=Jesse|date=January 14, 2011|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 22, 2018}} The Utne Reader described the column as "a blend of spontaneous poetry, feisty politics, and fanciful put-on", and The New York Times 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) [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/24/style/what-do-the-stars-say.html "What Do The Stars Say?"] The New York Times

In the 1970s and 1980s, Brezsny was a singer and songwriter for Santa Cruz, California bands such as Kamikaze Angel Slander and Tao Chemical, and then, in the early 1990s, for the band World Entertainment War,{{Cite web|url=http://goodtimes.sc/santa-cruz-arts-entertainment/santa-cruz-music/world-war-ii/|title=World War II|last=Orion|first=Damon|date=October 21, 2009|website=Good Times Santa Cruz|publisher=Nuz, Inc|language=en-US|access-date=July 22, 2018}} for whom Brezsny wrote the song "Dark Ages", which was later recorded by Jefferson Starship for their 1995 album Deep Space / Virgin Sky.{{cite web

| url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/world-entertainment-war-mw0000264051

| title=World Entertainment War

| publisher=AllMusic

| access-date=July 19, 2018}}{{cite web

| url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/deep-space-virgin-sky-mw0000892576/credits

| title=Jefferson Starship "Deep Space/Virgin Sky" Credits

| publisher=AllMusic

| access-date=July 19, 2018}} Jefferson Starship also recorded the World Entertainment War song "In A Crisis" on their 2008 album Jefferson's Tree of Liberty.{{cite web

| url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/jeffersons-tree-of-liberty-mw0000795616

| title=Jefferson Starship "Jefferson's Tree of Liberty"

| publisher=AllMusic

| access-date=July 20, 2018}}

Brezsny contributed to the writing and soundtrack of the 1995 science fiction independent film The Drivetime.{{cite web| url=http://archive.bampfa.berkeley.edu/film/FN13178| title=Film Programs: Size Matters Part II: Feature-Length Experimental Video: The Drivetime| last=Seid | first=Steve |date=ndg | publisher=Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive | access-date=July 22, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723003839/https://archive.bampfa.berkeley.edu/film/FN13178 | archive-date=July 23, 2018 | url-status=dead}}

Brezsny is author of the books Images Are Dangerous (1985);{{cite book

| last = Brezsny

| first = Rob

| year = 1985

| title = Images Are Dangerous

| publisher = Jazz Press

| location = Santa Cruz, California

| isbn = 0937310220

}} The Televisionary Oracle (2000),{{cite book

| last = Brezsny

| first = Rob

| year = 2000

| title = The Televisionary Oracle

| publisher = Frog Books

| isbn = 1583940006

}} a novel;{{Cite web

| last = Templeton

| first = David

| title = Mining an Oracle

| work = MetroActive

| publisher = Metro Publishing, Inc.

| date = April 26, 2000

| url = http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/04.26.00/robbrezsny-0017.html

| access-date = May 23, 2008}} and a self-help book,[https://www.northatlanticbooks.com/shop/pronoia-is-the-antidote-for-paranoia-revised-and-expanded/ "Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia, Revised and Expanded"] North Atlantic Books 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.{{cite book

| last = Brezsny

| first = Rob

| year = 2005

| title = Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia

| pages = 4–6

| publisher = Frog Books

| isbn = 1-58394-123-1

}}{{Cite web

| last = Phelan

| first = Sarah

| title = Grave Encounter

| work = MetroActive