Wednesday, April 22, 2020

The Cosmic Story: Taurus New Moon 2020

The Cosmic Story: Taurus New Moon 2020

Creating the Future from Aries Primal Fire”

EarthRise ~ The Woman Clothed with the Sun


Happy Earth Day! Mother Earth is much happier now that we've just stopped. The air pollution is down and wildlife is taking advantage of our human isolation. On this 50th Anniversary of Earth Day (isn't it sad that we even need to have Earth Day rather than it being Earth Day everyday), let's all remember that the Earth is the only home we have. Is economic wealth worth losing that home?

I love that Earth Day takes place during Taurus, the first, fixed earth sign of the zodiac. And this year we are blessed. Wednesday's Taurus New Moon will be very different from other Taurus New Moons because it will be joined by Uranus, the planet of Awakening and Innovation. Usually the energy of the Taurus New Moon is sensual, calm and practical. But not this time. Watch for a surprise.

With Uranus' lightning bolt energizing this New Moon seed, we'll be stepping into the future in some way. Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune will also be challenging this New Moon to open us up to new ideas and visions, even if we all just want to find some peace and quiet in the beauty of Spring. We're challenged to let go of the old story and plant the seed of the new story.

Of course, the background to all this innovation is the pandemic the world is dealing with. And that goes back astrologically to the big Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto conjunction in Capricorn that we've been dealing with since January 12, 2020.

Astrology is so amazing because it gives us a cosmic perspective on what may happen in our world. Knowing that something big was going to happen this year, while not knowing exactly what form it would take, helped us prepare ourselves for the shock, and is helping us see the deeper meaning in what we're experiencing.

This potent conjunction symbolically informed us that the very structures of our society – our governments, our finances, our corporations, our institutions – were going to crumble under some form of stress. That those institutions which were no longer viable were not going to be able to handle the situation. And so it has proven to be. 
 
I keep thinking of a 60s musical – Stop the World, I Want to Get Off. That is what's happening right now. Oil prices have hit rock bottom. The institutions we've come to depend on are overwhelmed. Our world has stopped working. And that might be the best thing we could hope for. Because we are heading into an unknown future which needs us to reinvent almost all aspects of our common life.

Those corporations which we've fed by our consumerism have outsourced the ability to take care of our basic needs. Our food, our medicines, our resources are not easily available when they have to come from the other side of a shutdown world. We are discovering that we need a new system. And one that helps 'the people' and not corporate interests, like world leaders did in the 2009 financial crisis.

And whether we want to admit it or not, our 'death' mentality – our constant wars, our environmental degradation, the violence in our media, our wealth inequality which gives rise to our homeless populations, our starving people, our refugees – is coming back to haunt us. This pandemic has sent us to our rooms to make us face death.

The old patriarchal rules that shaped our behavior since childhood are also dissolving within each of us. We're being left alone to face our Shadows and re-discover our Inner Light. If we can work through those Shadows – are we good enough, pretty enough, wealthy enough, clever enough, determined enough – we can uncover the original light that came into the world at our birth. We can go back to that original blessing and build the future world on that.

That is the promise of this unique Taurus New Moon (Uranus hasn't been in Taurus since 1935-1942, during the New Deal). Perhaps this will be the opportunity we need to get the Green New Deal up and running. How can any of us want to go back to 'normal' after we've seen and experienced clear skies, clear water, quiet nature? As one young girl told her mom, 'We can't go back to normal. That would mean we haven't learned our lesson from this.” Out of the mouths of babes...

The Taurus New Moon occurs on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 – Earth Day – at 7:26pm PDT/ 10:26pm EDT and on Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 3:26am GMT.

Taurus New Moon April 22, 2020


The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 4* Taurus is: The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Just the message we need to help us envision the future rather than retreat to the past. Rainbows have always been symbolic of a bridge between Heaven and Earth, a promise of peace after the storm. When we see things from a higher, larger perspective, anything becomes possible. With this symbolic pot of gold, we can build a better future. Isn't that what we all long for? To create a better future for ourselves and the world? 

Amanda Curtis -- Long Island 

This year is the time to start. We each have the power within us to leave the old 'death' society we've been born into and together create a new, better version of the world. One where we work with and honor Mother Nature. Where no one is left behind. Where individuals, not corporations, decide what is best for life. Where creativity and kindness, community and partnership are the foundation stones of a new society that will stretch 2000 years into the future.

We are those foundation stones.

The Sabian symbol for Uranus at 7* Taurus is: The woman of Sumaria at the ancestral well. This symbol comes from a beautiful story about the Christ. Early in his ministry, Jesus comes upon a woman at a well from a tribe despised by the Jews. She is also unmarried, probably considered a prostitute and therefore an outcast in some ways. She would certainly be considered 'unworthy' by the leaders of both her tribe and the Jews. And yet because of her kindness in offering water to Jesus when he was thirsty, he reveals to her, for the first time to anyone, that he is the Messiah. Jesus came to replace an old tribal, patriarchal order with a new order based on Love. 

 

This Uranus calls to the Exiles and to those people and values our collective society has rejected and reviled. And it is especially the rejected and reviled feminine spirit within each of us that can receive this new spiritual, evolutionary and society-transforming vision of the future. The creative future descends first to that which has become chaos. And old order is never open to a new Revelation until it has accepted disorder in the name of that Power which subsumes all forms of order, i.e. Love. (An Astrological Mandala: Dane Rudhyar.)

Interesting that the Greek myth of the creation says that 'first there is chaos and then arose broad-bossomed Earth'. And when Uranus became all too much for our Momma Earth, she got Saturn to cut off his phallus, which birthed Aprhodite – Love and Wisdom of the Earth. The archetypal energy that rules this New Moon and Uranus.

Taurus is a fixed earth sign, the builder and container of the primal fire of Aries. Taurus asks: How does that fire want to manifest? We astrologers say that our soul's creative impulse starts in the house that Aries occupies in our natal chart. You might want to think about that. Where is that fire in you, and how does it want to manifest? 
 
Taurus embodies our values and self-worth, as well as the talents we have. They are the building blocks of what we manifest. Taurus values love and sensuality, peace and security, simplicity and even frugality when balanced. Most Taurus' are humble and modest and kind and compassionate. The interpretation of a materialistic Taurus who overdoes things is the most negative reading of Taurus, seeing greed and possessiveness as its hallmark as exemplified by the story of Midas and his Golden Touch.

But it is Taurus who sees the promise of the Garden of Eden – the simple, blissful life when we were connected to Mother Nature and all beings were at peace. The vision of spirit come to Earth. Where we appreciate beauty and serenity, comfort and connection. Taurus is ruled by Venus/Aphrodite after all. Love is always at the Center for Taurus. That's the true nature of Taurus. That's the image we can hold in our hearts as we imagine our Future this month. 

 

Venus is the archetypal power that energizes Taurus. Venus is now in Gemini, the sign of the mind and consciousness and is about to go retrograde in Gemini on May 12th – 13th at 22* Gemini back to 6* Gemini on June 24th – 25th. Gemini is the sign of curiosity and the search for knowledge. So Venus is going back to find some bit of knowledge that she left behind.

The Sabian symbol for Venus at 22* Gemini is: Dancing couples at a harvest festival. This image of couples dancing in a new yet old rhythm speaks to the need for us to unite our masculine and feminine energies as well as partnering up with men and women who can help us keep up the rhythm. A harvest festival means that we have grown something that can sustain us through the coming cycle. The dance encourages the need to embody our emotions and then use our mind to 'make it so'. 

 

Venus is an Evening Star now but will be moving between the Earth and the Sun when she retrogrades. Venus will disappear from the evening sky on May 28th and become a Morning Star on June 11th.

The Sabian symbol for Venus turning direct at 6* Gemini is: Night workmen drill amidst noise and confusion. This is what we are facing. We need to look it in the eye and name it for what it is. The noise and confusion of our modern life isn't all it's cracked up to be, is it? We need to think about what we really want and need, what we really love. That knowing will decide how to act to change the world.

So with the Taurus New Moon/ Uranus and Venus in Gemini, we are invited to imagine what the most beautiful, most ingenious, most interesting future for ourselves and the world might be. This is our playtime this year – things won't be really changing until next year. There will be lots of revising and reconsideration this year, so don't get stuck on one option or one point of view. This is the year to explore possibilities.

Venus and Mars are both in air signs, so they are open to conversing about these new possibilities. The issue is that the old ways are dying and these are the masculine yang aspects of our society. We have to let the the yang die so the yin, feminine energy can re-birth the world for us, as the divine Feminine always does. Mars is the dying and rising God, just as Venus is the Eternal Mother and Goddess of Life. So Venus and Mars are trying to work it all out. Mars in Aquarius helps us find our ideals and open to cosmic vision about what the masculine yang energy needs to do and become.


Venus and Mars

The other player in this situation is Mercury, which went regrade in Pisces for almost two months before heading into Aries on April 10th. Perhaps you've noticed that people have been expressing their opinions rather loudly (the strikes and also online) since then. Mercury, the messenger god and ruler of Gemini – and Venus and therefore an influence on the Taurus New Moon – loves a good fight when in Aries, either physically or verbally. Mercury in Aries is a brilliant planner, and is at its most positive when we use mental energy to start making plans for the future now. Don't waste time arguing with people – everybody thinks they're right. That's Mercury in Aries for you.

As astrologer Anne Ortelee so brilliantly reminds us, Mercury is giving us the message to pay attention to what's going on now as it comes up to its square to Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn. Because it will show us what we'll be dealing with in the second half of the year.

We're in for a rocky ride come this summer when Mars travels through Aries and retrogrades there, remaining in Aries for 6 months instead of 6 weeks. From the last days of June until January 2021, Mars will challenge us and the world as it keeps squaring Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn at the same time that it joins Eris, the Goddess of Discord in Aries. The second half of the year will be our test. Will we descend into fighting or will we take a stand for a new world, a better world?

It's also time to gather seeds and plant gardens, a great Taurus activity, because our food chain has been disrupted and there probably will be food shortages this summer. Just saying... Be cunning now and watch what's going on in the news, not in fear but to gather information (Venus in Gemini). We need to know what's going on so we're prepared for what's coming next.

Ask yourself, what is the creative solution that will help me grow? Remember, simplify and prepare for the future.

May you walk in the Light with gratitude and delight.
Cathy

Finisterre” by David Whyte

The road in the end taking the path the sun had taken,
into the western sea, and the moon rising behind you
as you stood where ground turned to ocean: no way
to your future now but the way your shadow could take,
walking before you across water, going where shadows go,
no way to make sense of a world that wouldn’t let you pass
except to call an end to the way you had come,
to take out each frayed letter you had brought
and light their illumined corners; and to read
them as they drifted on the western light;
to empty your bags; to sort this and to leave that;
to promise what you needed to promise all along,
and to abandon the shoes that had brought you here
right at the water’s edge, not because you had given up
but because now, you would find a different way to tread,
and because, through it all, part of you would still walk on,
no matter how, over the waves.



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