Well, the good news (for me) this week is that, according to Rob Brezsny�s Free Will Astrology report, I�m headed for success! Over the next twelve months, a �splendid failure� will lead me to a wonderful renaissance. Wow! Where do I sign up? It�s going to be tough, with all the splendid failures under my belt, to determine which one will lead me down the golden path, but I hope I�ll recognize it when the time comes. As a kid, I read C.S. Lewis� Chronicles of Narnia�those Christian books about witches and magic rings and time travel and violent hand-to-hand combat that my religious parents gave me as part of their plan to shield me from all exposure to secular culture. The Chronicles barely mention God at all, preferring to detail the drunken parties of wood nymphs, and werewolves hacked in two with broadswords, but devout parents for decades have been buying them for their kids because Jesus symbolically appears in the stories as a giant talking lion. The Narnia Chronicles are more engaging for kids than say, the Bible. For one, there�s no discussion of Hell or tiresome lamenting about crop failure. Instead, Aslan the talking Jesus lion, although he could exact righteous punishment with one swipe of a claw, simply affects a solemn expression and through the power of disappointment, prompts sinners to acknowledge transgressions and promise to try harder next time.

Aslan is always sending kids off on missions to retrieve lost princes or medallions, requiring the kids to be absent from home for what seems like months, and instructing them to follow a series of cryptic signs, which he never permits them to write down. The kids wander around like ants in a maze, meeting elves and invisible trolls, being abducted or enchanted, and struggling to recognize nebulous signs. They fear that if they fail, they will have to face giant weeping Aslan, who�ll shake his head and rue his error in trusting such idiots. In the end, of course, although the kids think they�ve missed all the signs, it turns out they�ve actually succeeded, and Aslan appears to say, �Good work, my children,� in an Obi-Wan kind of way. In the face of Aslan�s powerful wisdom, the kids break down and confess the mistakes they made along the way, but Aslan, revealing that he already knows all about it, rewards them with even more love, as if his greatest treasure is their self-awareness.

I am hoping that my signs (in the next, Breszny-dictated, twelve months) will be clear enough for me to recognize because I�m not sure that my failures, splendid or otherwise, are things I�m eager to revisit.

Star of the day. . .Rob Breszny