This is the day of the New Moon in Taurus, a sensuous time of reveling in the blooming spring (in the Northern hemisphere). Taurus is the sign of the patient gardener, one who is loyal and caring, and understands the long, slow cycles of growth and healing.
Given the complex times we live in, there is more to this New Moon than walking through fields of wildflowers. But this loving, supportive side of Taurus and the New Moon is genuine and worth embracing. This is the ground we come back to: The Earth is our home and offers us beauty and comfort and abundance.
Taurus is ruled by Venus, who’s just moved into Gemini. This newly-emerged evening star, Hesperus, the light of evening, may be stronger in Taurus but dances into Gemini on light, bright feet. The evening star is the loving face of Venus. After her time hidden under the beams of the Sun, she has things to tell us. Stories to share. Songs to sing. In Gemini, she offers her messages in showers of beautiful words and visions.
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The Sun and Moon at 21 Taurus sextile Neptune at 22 Pisces. Neptune sometimes causes fog and confusion, but in this connection to Taurus, who can be a bit stodgy and literal-minded, we feel the brush of magic. Neptune reminds us that each year’s spring renewal is a miracle worth celebrating, a time when deep forces with the Earth become visible.
Sun and Moon apply to trine Pluto, now retrograde in Capricorn. Taurus does not welcome change, preferring the stable and secure. Pluto’s presence is a supportive reminder that all life relies on it. Change is the only constant. In living systems, to remain stagnant is to die. Transformation may not always be comfortable but it is essential.
Sun and Moon are also within orb of a square to Jupiter, still hanging on to the intense, final degree of Aquarius. Here we begin to see the deeper face of this superficially comfortable New Moon. Jupiter is the Great Benefic, the luck-bringer. Once he moves into Pisces (in a few days), we’ll feel a flow of sweetness Jupiter could not share easily in these last two years of moving through Saturn’s signs.
At this New Moon, though, he reminds us that life is a vast and complex force. We revel in the Earth’s beauties but we do not control her, no matter how much we seek to. We have a place in the great web of life. That place is important and influential, but not decisive. We do not call the shots. The Earth does not dance to our tune.
Mars makes important aspects now that illuminate this. At 11 Cancer, he is currently ruled by the Moon. He’s also out of bounds which means he’s a bit out of control. Here we feel a lot of messy feelings we don’t like. Mars prefers to act. Move. Do something. Being awash in emotion is not comfortable and feels unhelpful and unnecessary.
With Mars here, we can feel peevish, discontented, irritable, and angry when we don’t get our needs met. The Earth is supposed to provide, right? I’m a decent person. I do my part. So where’s mine?
Mars sextiles Uranus, the engine of revolution currently at 11 Taurus. I mentioned Taurus doesn’t like change, remember? Yet Uranus is the irresistible force. Here we confront the limits of our control in the face of larger forces both as individuals and as a species.
There’s a whole narrative of dominion over the Earth that continues to fuel capitalist ideas that the Earth’s resources are ours to use as we like. This also sets up the edifice of hierarchical power relationships that goes back to the medieval Great Chain of Being with humans (naturally) at the top. Oh, wait, originally angels were at the top. But we’re modern now. We don’t believe in any of that spiritual stuff, at least not Monday through Friday, 9 to 5.
Yet here we are struggling to recover from a global pandemic. In many places around the world, things have improved. In others, tragically, they are out of control. The idea that we were going to be able to “get on top of this thing” quickly was dangerous and simply wrong.
We could retreat into seeing Nature as enemy, an inimical force actively trying to kill us. That’s another modern story especially strong here in the U.S.: The myth of the frontier. We are intrepid trailblazers subduing a hostile land. The riches we seek are ours for the taking. The harder we struggle to get them, the more they become our just rewards.
This is another wrong-headed and simply incorrect story. Apart from triggering a host of unplanned and unwelcome consequences, all the ones we now face in the forms of climate disruption and the destruction of ecosystems, this story also ignores the fact that all these conquered places had people in them already, cultures with vast and deep histories of understanding the natural systems where they lived and crafting lifeways that honored and partnered with those systems.
Mars in Cancer could react to Uranus in Taurus with resentment, a sense of grievance that things haven’t worked out as they were supposed to. It’s easy to feel run over by life right now, as though we’re mere pawns in a larger game that doesn’t care about us at all.
Mars is also squaring Chiron in Aries. This connection with the wounded healer archetype is a fascinating one in this context.
In one sense, of course, this square can simply set Mars off. Things aren’t working, I did my best, and I’m done. If we find ourselves in a place of irritation and anger today and for the next few days, see if you can place your situation in a much wider context.
This is easier said than done, of course. Sometimes there are absolutely clear and specific reasons for feeling upset. Right now, though, any irritation we feel can be amplified by the cumulative stress of the pandemic, the recognition that big, big things can happen that we do not control.
Chiron is not trying to trigger us just to piss us off though. This is a push to see something important. Yes, there is much to feel sad about. Yes, in some situations, despair can take over, at least for a time. And with Chiron, the healing is always within the wound.
An important gift of today’s New Moon in Taurus is the recognition that we do have a place in the circle of life. We are active participants in our ecosystems. We are part of Nature, part of the web of Life. We are not exiles. We are family.
To craft modern lifeways that preserve and support our health and well being, we need to accept our place as stewards of the health and well being of the Earth. We have the capacity to focus on understanding rather than control. We clearly see that control is not possible, not even desirable. Control is way beyond our pay grade.
Mars in Cancer can respond to limits with a kind of surly determination to have his own way. Or he could respond with relief. The relief of knowing we’re not alone. We’re not fighting against the entire rest of the universe to carve out our own lonely, isolated space. We’re part of something much bigger and older and wiser than we are.
We’re part of a family with branches we haven’t even met yet. There are stories we haven’t heard. Places we haven’t visited. Things we don’t know. And that’s OK. There is no requirement to know everything, be able to do everything. We’re invited to simply live. To tend to our places with care and steadfast loyalty. Which is exactly what a Taurus New Moon wants and offers.
Where do you find yourself today? What is your place? It’s not going to look exactly like anyone else’s place and that’s fine. It probably doesn’t look like the place you thought you wanted. That might be unsettling but is also fine. Look around you. Be where you are. Understand that while things might not be as you would like, you are not alone.
There are gifts here. There is support here. Life is good.
The astrological charts are my own. The images in this post include the title,
adapted from the world from space, a NASA photo,
and the following images:
the storm by Johannes Plenio,
a hare by Nathan Anderson, and
circles by Priscilla Du Preez