New Moon/solar Eclipse in Taurus: What do you really want?
New Moon/Solar Eclipse Saturday, April 30th
4:28 PM EDT/1:28PM PDT
at 10 degrees and 28 minutes of the sign of Taurus
The skies are busy, after a period of quiet, during the month of May. This weekend kicks off with a gorgeous New Moon that doubles as a solar eclipse. Both New Moons and solar eclipses are essentially about new beginnings, in this case they come gift wrapped in the sign of Taurus. If you have planets or significant points in your natal chart from 7-13 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius you are directly being impacted by this eclipse.
When I envision the essence of Taurus words like abundant, lush, fruitful, rich and plentiful come to mind. It’s almost like I can taste it - which is also Taurean. Sensual, embodied, the first of the earth signs, all of which are about making it real: Manifestation. Taurus likes things it can touch.
Taurus season takes place at the height of spring, everything is blooming with possibility. We are back to rich, lush, abundant, fecund. Taurus doesn’t rush in like Aries, it savors the moment. At its best it sensually feels the moment, embodies it and thus enjoys it.
Venus governs two signs: Taurus and Libra. The essence of the Taurus Venus is worship–we worship what we truly value and vow to maintain it. It is the true meaning of the word ‘husband’–to take care.
It’s time to fertilize those seeds we spoke about during last month’s Aries New Moon but because of the eclipse this weekend and Mercury stationing and turning retrograde on May 10th you want to hold them loosely and let them develop (bloom) on their own time. Both of these astrological events bring unexpected turn arounds and changes. (There is a second Lunar eclipse at the Full Moon on the 15th) The one thing I can guarantee is things will not go as planned. Holding things loosely can be a challenge for this particular energy. Taurus is about what we own, what we possess, the heart of desire. It is a fixed earth sign, which means that it can become very positional when it gets uncomfortable as it can go into survival mode: When threatened it becomes the original unmovable object, often burying its lushness, its abundance underground like a buried treasure.
A reminder we all have Taurus somewhere within our charts.
When threatened Taurus will resist true change more than almost any other sign. Because true change requires letting go of what it is holding onto (Objects as well as beliefs and opinions) and it likes owning things. They make it feel secure.
The trick to working with your Taurean energy is distinguishing what is truly of value: Ask yourself and explore "What do you really want?”
Getting to the core of what you really want, truly assessing that, is a very complex thing for many, if not most of us. While we might know there is never an external solution to an internal dilemma, it is still challenging when we have to let go of the unconscious expectations we have placed upon the outside world for fulfillment as feeling an embodied sense of satisfaction and completeness is an inside job. There is no perfect career, partner or place that will completely nourish our desires. In other words, where ever you go there you are. So, as we evolve we have to let go of the conscious and unconscious roles we have been playing that maintain our own fixed state. We have to be brave enough to let go of the familiar, the comfortable, to let go of the past. We have to be willing to not “know” ourselves but instead to discover who we are in this moment, to embrace how we are evolving. To actually welcome, rather than fear, this emerging unfamiliar part of ourselves. As Einstein stated the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. It is our own complicit behavior that has been keeping us in the very circumstances that are no longer fulfilling because we have outgrown them. Ironically, we have to be here now with what is, in particular with what is within us that is so very uncomfortable because it has outgrown the life we have been living. The life that was good, that felt like it was leading somewhere. And it was: To the moment you need to gracefully let it go as you evolve.
The image of the princess and the pea is springing to mind as I write this. this type of change, is like the pea layered under twenty mattresses. We may be able to barely feel it but it is just uncomfortable enough that we cannot rest. It is a persistent unease and we don’t even know what is causing it because we can’t yet consciously see it.
As I weave together the three astrological events mentioned above, a New Moon, a solar eclipse followed by a Mercury retrograde, here is how I am advising you approach this time of change, of transition over the next month:
The true superpower of any Mercury retrograde is about paying attention and listening. It is always, always an invitation to revaluate, to shift our perceptions. Mercury rules communication, and yet, we so often overlook that listening is an intrinsic part of that. It is the receptive part. Which is different from simply hearing: Listening requires that we be open. That we shift, even subtly, in response to what we are hearing. It requires that we are in active, responsive relationship with what we are hearing. That we stop resisting what we are persistently hearing. Dancing is a delightful embodied expression of this. Our body is responding to the rhythm of what we are hearing, we are literally moved by it.
This Mercury retrograde begins in Gemini, a sign that asks us to be curious, in a state of discovery and then backs down in to Taurus which bring us back to: What do you really want?
Remember, love, desire, is not logical, it is embodied. And that embodiment is a powerful force. You want to 'feel' this not think it.
Journal, take walks and talk with close friends, explore this territory over the next month (Well, until after June 3rd when Mercury stations direct). Be in motion. Don’t get too attached, too fixed, to any one path forward. Remember, Mercury has wings on his feet, he is in constant motion, he is the most changeable of the archetypes. He moves between worlds. The word mercurial, changeable, is his word. And if you feel compelled to rush into a specific position ask yourself “What is so threatening about being open and not leaping forward for just a bit longer?” Being open requires that we be vulnerable, even to ourselves and dreams that we have discarded because…they scare us, as they really matter. Thus all too often we rationalize why something won’t work. We’re too busy, too old, too poor, have too many responsibilities…the list goes on. But the truth usually is that we are scared and that makes us feel vulnerable which we find intolerable. So we in essence run away from the feeling. Through busyness, through drinking, through taking care of others rather than attending to ourselves, etc, etc.
Moving a vision into manifestation requires developing the spiritual and emotional muscle to hold it particularly when it is challenging. Saturn, who symbolically is in charge of time (and manifestation), is exalted in Libra, the other sign Venus rules. What this points us toward is how powerful it is we make time for what really matters to us, even when it seems impossible. What really matters to us is worth fighting for, worth rushing at with open arms, worth finding a way to make it work. And while that sounds glorious, it too can be scary. I get it. Personally. But this is the essence of what makes life glorious. Something truly to leap out of bed for first thing in the morning with an open heart.
Taurus season is lush, verdant, abundant…
