The Cosmic Story: Cancer New Moon, Venus Retrograde, Lammas

 

The Cosmic Story: Venus retrograde in Leo: 

Time to upgrade our Hearts.

Transformative Cancer New Moon

 

The rest of this summer, including the August 1^st cross-quarter holiday of Lammas, the first harvest, is under the influence of Venus’ retrograde in Leo. Venus is sinking lower in the evening sky as she finishes up her 9 ½ month journey as an Evening Star and will turn retrograde on July 22^nd at 29* Leo. Because of her retrograde, Venus will stay in Leo for 4 months, from June 6^th to October 8^th. Venus will join the Sun at 20+* Leo, when it starts a new Venus Star Point to begin its Morning Star journey.

Every 8 years, Venus’ orbit creates a 5-point star, a pentagram. For the coming years, the 5 points of this star will occur in Gemini, Capricorn, Leo, Aries and Scorpio (soon to move back into Libra). So Venus is tying together the energies of learning and communicating, of responsibility to the community, of our creative express, of our courage to be ourselves and of our psychological transformation. All qualities we need to upgrade for the personal and collective issues we face.

When a planet extends its stay in a sign due to its retrograde, we are energized to deal with the issues it raises. Venus helps us focus on our values, our relationships and listening to our body’s wisdom. On a more mundane level, our money issues want to be resolved. Our financial system is broken – Wall Street is basically gambling. Corporations are recording unprecedented profits and still getting government handouts. The wealthy pay less taxes than regular workers. Not the best security for anyone except the power brokers.

If you’re interested in learning more about Venus’ gifts to us, my book Aphrodite, Our Inner Venus will be out this August. It explores Aphrodite/Venus’ myths and dives deeply into the psychological aspects of her gifts of Beauty, Love, Sexuality, Relationships and Wholeness. This most important energy is the Initiator of Soul. 

 

 

 

This week the Lunar Nodes (signs where eclipses occur which point to our collective destiny) are changing from Taurus/Scorpio to Aries/Libra. For the past 19 months, we have moved from Scorpio South Node, letting go of our emotional trauma to North Node Taurus’ wealth of body wisdom, as well as listening to Earth’s evolutionary genius. Now we’re moving into 19 months of becoming more self-reliant (Aries North Node) and away from relationship co-dependency (Libra South Node).

That means that while Venus has been the ruling planet of the Taurus North Node for the past 19 months, Mars, the ruler of Scorpio, took a back seat. Now those roles will be reversed. The Mars-ruled Aries North Node will be taking the lead now, while Libra’s South Node ruler, Venus, steps back. During this retrograde, Venus does step back and reviews and revises her Leo attitude. What does that mean for us?

Venus retrograde is a time to re-evaluate how we’re living up to our values and our partnerships. Since Venus/Aphrodite deals with beauty, we’re being asked to consider if we need to meet some collective standard or if we’ll learn to see our own unique beauty. Since she deals with sexuality, we are asked if our sexual relationships are about power and manipulation or about the sacred quality of this most intimate experience. We’ll be asked to examine how we express our love to self and others. Love is not for the weak-heated. Love takes work! 

 

 

Leo is a fixed fire sign, giving us a big bonfire of warmth, generosity and fun. But it can also make us proud, overbearing and self-centered. Leo is the sign of the Sun, of the Heart and of the Child. With all that concentrated fire, we need to express ourselves in some creative way. How will Venus retrograde in Leo spark your creativity? Look to your Leo house to see where you’re being asked to re-wire your connections.

There’s some entitlement that goes along with Leo’s energies. It is, after all, the sign of the King and the Queen. Americans, especially some of the younger generations, have an entitlement issue. Our expectations often go beyond our means. But it’s also the baby boomers, with Pluto in Leo (1938 - 1958), who have raised those expectations. Nobody seems willing to sacrifice (to make sacred) for the greater good anymore.

With Venus retrograde in Leo, Venus will be transiting the baby boomers’ Pluto. Where do we need to evolve our creative expression for the good of all? It’s time for we baby boomers to grow up and become Elders. Where do we need to sacrifice for our children and our children’s children for the next 7 generations? The Uranus in Leo generation (1955 – 1962) will hopefully come up with some out-of-the-box ideas about how we can change things. Hopefully, our artists/musicians/storytellers will remember their archetypal purpose and take the lead to help that change come about.

Venus turns retrograde on the feast day of Mary Magdalene, the Sophia to Jesus’ Christ. Will we listen to our Sophia Wisdom? Will we remember that we are the Christ Spirit having a human experience? 

 

 

Venus turns retrograde conjunct the fixed royal star Regulus, in the heart of the Lion. This is a call for feminine leadership as the Goddess returns to birth a new Age. The Sabian symbol for Venus retrograde at 29* Leo is: A mermaid emerges from the ocean waves ready for rebirth in human form. The mermaid is one of Venus/Aphrodite’s manifestation. The mermaid symbolizes an intense feeling intuition that is still partially unconscious – it has no legs to stand on yet. This symbol indicates that those intuitions need to take form in 3D reality. Artists recognize this state of being, when their creative ideas need to take a form or else they disappear back into the collective unconscious to be picked up by someone else. What is the new feeling/intuition that wants to be birthed by you?

The Sun and Venus meet up on August 13^th at 20*Leo. The Sabian symbol is: American Indians perform a majestic ritual to the Sun. Like the Native Sun Dance, it is time for us to call on sustainable life-energies, sacrificing our ego desires for the greater good. This is the energy that will arise during Venus’ Morning Star phase. Will we create and sacrifice and help our tribe prosper?

Venus turns to direct motion on September 3^rd at 13* Leo. The Sabian symbol is: Old Sea-Captain rests in a neat little cottage by the sea. This is a reward for learning to move from outer experiences to inner soul realms. Venus is directing us inward, to grow our souls. That’s the only way we will truly learn to love ourselves so we can love our neighbors.

With the Lunar Nodes shifting signs in mid-July before Venus turns retrograde, we need to ask if we’ve learned our lessons. As we exit Venus-ruled North Node Taurus, have we done all we can to honor the Earth and our physical well-being? With record breaking temperatures recorded these past few weeks, will we step up and demand climate action from our leaders? Mother Earth is weeping rivers of tears, enduring hot-flashes and burning with rage at what we’ve done to her beautiful gift of life.

With our new Mars ruled North Node destiny, will we have the courage to stand up for our values and for our children? If not now, when? North Node Aries can help us find our sense of identity and sense of purpose. Look for where Aries lies in your chart. This is the original spark of creation that wants to take form in your life. Now is the time to embrace who you are, warts and all. With the South Node in Libra, we have to stop being wishy-washy, stop giving our power away to others, and stop wanting to keep things on the surface. These next 19 months will help us define ourselves and our relationships. If we can’t be truthful to those people we are closest to, what does that say about us? Aries NN will give you the courage to face the truth and stand up for it.

In this time of intensifying climate change and war-mongering, we all feel the underlying collective fear and anxiety. This is the challenge of the end of an Age. Can we let go of our consumerism and learn to live with less, sacrificing what’s unnecessary so we all create a better world? We can if we concentrate on who and what we love.

Cancer New Moon

The Cancer New Moon occurs on Monday July 17 at 11:31am PDT/ 2:31pm EDT/ 7:31pm GMT.

 

 

This intense New Moon only connects to all the outer planets, which means that it brings up more than personal issues. The outer planets – Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Eris – are transpersonal, meaning they effect all of us as a collective. The Sun and Moon in easy aspects to Uranus and Neptune indicate that we need to wake up to our dreams.

Monday’s Cancer New Moon is opposed by Pluto retrograde in Capricorn squaring the Aries/Libra nodes, with Eris, the warrior goddess, conjunct the North Node. Can we turn our collective attention to our home world and its healing, or will we continue to allow the elite their ‘winner take all’ attitude? The lines are very clear now in America – the wealthy and corporate interests own our leaders and are stopping the changes we need to make. They are using inconsequential ‘moral’ issues to keep people divided when we all agree that climate change and equality and freedom must be addressed. This opposition is squared by the nodes, indicating we have to re-examine how we see ourselves as part of a partnership with the rest of society. Are we a separate unit or are we all are connected?

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” as Spock said.

Interestingly, the personal planets are all aspected by the social planets, Jupiter and Saturn, as well as Uranus. Mercury in Leo squares Jupiter in Taurus, opening our minds to new solutions to Earth’s problems. Mars in Virgo is opposed to Saturn retrograde in Pisces, asking us to be of service to humanity and to Earth. Focus on the important stuff and don’t get distracted. Venus slowing down in Leo squares Uranus in Taurus, waking up our feminine leadership qualities that will be under consideration during Venus’ retrograde period.

Venus in Leo wants us look at ‘what we value’. Her wisdom says that Love is the important thing. Love for our family, for the Earth, for each other.

All we need is Love.

Blessing of the Lammas harvest for us all,

Cathy

The Cosmic Story: Venus retrograde in Capricorn 2021 - 2022

 

The Cosmic Story: Venus in Capricorn

Venus Retrograde in Capricorn Begins a New Venus Star Point

 

(Venus Star Points)

The Queen of Heaven Births A New Earth

Gifting our Talents to the World

The Power of Venus

Alice Bailey, the esoteric astrologer, wrote that the planet and power of Venus will become dominant in the Aquarian Age. 

 

Aphrodite as Queen of Heaven

 

While this newsletter discusses the astrology of the planet Venus, I want to also talk about the archetypal Venus, who is more fully embodied as the Greek Aphrodite. This Aphrodite/Venus generates the power of love, of human sexuality, of beauty and most especially for women, the power of our embodied feminine wisdom. It is this energetic Venus who can teach us how to integrate our individuality with group responsibility.

“In the Aquarian Age the power of ...Venus becomes dominant….Venus was the planet which we are told was responsible for the appearance of individualized consciousness in humanity...In the Aquarian Age, Venus will again have an analogous influence...of an expanded consciousness of group responsibility. (Alice Bailey: Esoteric Astrology)

I love the Night Sky. There’s always something new going on up there.

I’ve looked to the stars since I was a child, laying on my back, searching for the Big Dipper and ‘arcing’ to the bright star Arcturus from its tail. I also looked for Venus as the wishing star that sometimes appeared as the first star to glow in the evening sky. Star light, Star Bright. First star I see tonight. But it wasn’t until I began to study astrology that I paid attention to how She moved through the night sky. 

 

The first time I really bonded with Venus in the night sky was early Christmas morning (one of the perks of getting up at night with a new baby!) in 1970, when I saw her shining light spread out over the Bay outside my in-laws home. I couldn’t believe it at first. I was looking at the Star of Bethlehem! The cone-shaped light radiating in the dark sky. Her light so bright, shining on the Bay like moonlight!

I didn’t know that Venus’ light is sometimes as strong as moonlight. And because I just couldn’t stop looking at this magical sight, I watched with even more awe as a deep red balsamic crescent Moon rose up just before sunrise and sent a red ray of light out over the waters to join Venus’ silvery ray. What a blessing and gift. And on Christmas morning! How cool is that!

Next time I really paid specific attention to Venus’ journey in the sky was in June of 2004, when she crossed the face of the Sun. It was the first time in over 100 years that her orbit took her there. I was up by dawn, down at the town beach, and watched her passage with a couple who lent me their binoculars. I got to see the tiny black dot that was Venus, crossing over the face of the Sun as it rose. I felt myself embodying that experience. I felt I was seeing an image of The Woman Clothed with the Sun, a birthing of the solar Feminine returning as women’s wisdom. 

 

 

Venus crossing the face of the Sun

 

That 100 + year cycle is interesting because the crossing repeats itself, the second time after Venus’ 8 year cycle completes. As in 2004, Venus crossed over the face of the Sun again in June, 2012. She won’t do it again for another 100 years. This second time I was in the desert with my tribe and we watched it on the side of a building with a homemade viewer.

Venus began her latest 8 year cycle in June, 2020 as a (Gemini) Morning Star, then transformed into an (Aries) Evening Star in May 2021 and will once again become a (Capricorn) Morning Star in January 2022. This upcoming Venus retrograde starts on December 19, 2021 at 27* Capricorn and ends on January 29, 2022 at 12* Capricorn. Venus conjuncts the Sun on January 8, 2022, beginning the new Venus Capricorn star point at 19* Capricorn.

The Sabian symbol for Venus retrograde at 27* Capricorn is: Pilgrims climbing the steep steps leading to a mountain shrine. Venus wants us to aspire to a higher vision, one that includes the Future.

 

 

How many of us go on pilgrimage?

The Sabian symbol for Venus conjunct the Sun at 19* Capricorn is: A five year old child carrying a bag filled with groceries. This symbol asks us to assume social responsibilities that might seem too overwhelming for us. But they aren’t! 

 

Venus Conjunct the Sun at 19* Capricorn

 

The Sabian symbol for Venus turning direct at 12* Capricorn is: An illustrated lecture on natural science reveals little known aspects of life. Here Venus activates our ability to explore unfamiliar realms and explore the laws of Nature.

This whole series of Sabian symbols suggest that it’s time for our soul’s initiation into a deeper connection between Love and Desire, and a more grown-up, responsible attitude to life. It’s time to stop acting like we’re all teenagers without any responsibility for the conditions of life in our world.

The most important aspects Venus makes on this re-birth journey is to Pluto, the Sun, and Mars in Capricorn and to Eris in Aries. As Venus moves through Capricorn, She squares Eris, strengthening our will to follow our hearts and to be fierce defenders of our heart’s needs.

When Venus conjuncts Pluto, She invites us to re-define and re-design systems and structures that shape and condition our collective lives, honoring Earth’s wisdom and Nature’s organic systems. Since Uranus is in Venus’ sign of Taurus now, it’s important that we learn from Mother Earth’s creative genius as we restructure our global society to make it more sustainable, creative and free.

 

When Venus joins forces with Pluto, our values evolve, our heart space deepens and we see clearly who we are.  It is also a time to take back our own authority (Capricorn is all about authority!) and power as women.  So this next year is a time for us to exercise our personal authority instead of giving into the collective authority of patriarchy.

Venus conjuncts Pluto in Capricorn on December 11^th, and then for a second time when She’s retrograde on December 25^th, and a third and final time when direct again on March 3, 2022, this time joined by Mars. Venus and then Mars conjunct Pluto at 28* Capricorn – the degree of the U.S. Pluto in the 4^th of July birth chart. (So Americans will be feeling this grand conjunction big-time!) With Pluto connected to the Venus/Mars conjunction at 1* Aquarius on March 5-6, it feels like there’s a possibility for a deep psychic re-balancing of masculine and feminine energies within each of us and within the American psyche. Whatever happens, this is sure to be a deeply transformative Venus Cycle!

I love the Sabian symbol for the first two Venus/Pluto conjunctions at 26* Capricorn: A nature spirit dancing in the iridescent mist of a waterfall. Nature is alive with spirit and creativity. We all need to go dance!

 

 

With the solar transits of 2004 and 2012 , Venus announced her presence to the 21^st Century. If Alice Bailey is correct, then I hope Her presence grows in the coming years, both in the heavens and here on Earth. It would mean that Venus/Aphrodite can help us heal the divisions in our world, since Aphrodite’s power is to bring together ‘disparate’ things into a new wholeness. When we consciously acknowledge Her light and embody her wisdom, we help birth the Aquarian Age.

The Venus Cycle

In the past decade, astrologers have turned their attention to and written books about the Venus’ cycle (I’ll post at end of newsletter). Simply put, we can say there are 4 stages to her journey, involving both the Morning Star and Evening Star phase. Venus’ orbit also creates a 5-pointed star – a pentagram – in the sky, which repeats itself every 8 years. Below is a drawing of the energy lines the Venus cycle creates over a period of time. A cosmic rose!

This is the pattern Venus' orbit traces over 100s of years

 

How the 4-fold Venus cycle works:

Because Venus is closer to the Sun than we are, She doesn’t get very far away from it, from Earth’s point of view. Our orbits cause Venus to shift from Morning to Evening Star. To do this, She disappears two times as she joins up with the Sun.

When Venus retrogrades every 19 months, she passes between Earth and the Sun, transitioning from being an Evening Star to her new appearance as a Morning Star.

Nine months later, when her Morning Star phase is over, she is furthest from Earth and disappears behind the Sun for 50 days to later rise as an Evening Star.

During these next few weeks, Evening Star Venus will disappear from the western night sky into the Sun’s light on January 3, 2022. After 11 days, Venus will reappear out of the Sun’s glare as the Morning Star on January 14^th. 

 

For another in-depth look at this cycle, I recommend Melanie Reinhart’s newsletter. https://melaniereinhart.com/melanie/VenusRXCapricorn2.htm

While Melanie references the Sumerian myth of Inanna, I am going to look at another myth to expand on this Venus cycle.

Venus Retrograde and the Capricorn Reset

As astrologers, we look to Venus to symbolize relationships, love, money, value and self-worth. When Venus retrogrades, we take time to re-evaluate those things we value and our own worth. Venus elevates the feminine values of love, peace, cooperation, beauty, compassion, the Arts and community.

But of course, Venus, as planet and as Goddess, is so much more than those words can convey. Venus/Aphrodite is an archetypal energy that creates its own world-view. Each archetype or planet “...comprises a totality, a whole world with its preferences, each filling it with desires to fill, shape and illumine the world of human existence with its own spirit.” (Walter Otto)

 

 The Birth of Venus

 

The ancients gave their gods and goddesses forms that human could relate to, perhaps because the real message was, and is, ‘The goddesses and gods are within you.’ In working with Venus, we have to allow her to ‘live within us’ and teach us to know how to engage in relationships, how to show our love to others and to ourselves, how to find our self-worth through our talents, and to discern what’s really of value to us and how valuable we are to the world.

Embodying an archetypal energy fills us with a more meaningful life, one that has a different vision and goal from our collective vision of life. When we speak about the planet Venus in astrology, we’re talking about just such an archetypal energy, one that elevates us to a new, clearer vision of ourselves and each other. Walking in the world of Venus’ wise love and connection enables us to see the divine in each other and within ourselves. What a great lesson we’ve been given to learn.

 

 

Susan Seddon Boulet

 

Psyche's 4th task: The Underworld casket of Beauty

The myth I associate with Venus when She disappears from our skies is the Myth of Psyche and Eros. In this ancient myth, Psyche (Soul) marries Eros (divine desire), who was originally a primal god in early Greece (before patriarchy reduced him to a mischievous boy). But the marriage is unconscious until Psyche goes to Aphrodite and is initiated into higher consciousness by four tests of insight, trust, faith and courage that includes a journey to the Underworld to reclaim its beauty. When Psyche and Eros are reunited, they give birth to a daughter, Bliss.

At this moment in our history, perhaps we need to be initiated into the true meaning of Love.  Can we unite our soul with our divine desire?  Can we let Love open our eyes to each other so we can see in its light, without hate or rancor. Love is supposed to be a bridge between people, just as Venus and her associated metal, copper, are connectors. They connect disparate things, uniting them to work together.

Venus/Aphrodite brings together and reconciles what is ordinarily kept apart, not through fusion into one thing, but by valuing both sides. She bears the tension of opposites until a third, transcendent route appears. This is how She initiates a transformative consciousness in humanity.

Let's look at how this Love energy would manifest when Venus occupies Saturn-ruled Capricorn, a zodiac sign we usually associate with patriarchy (the rule of the fathers) and our society’s structures. Because of her retrograde, Venus is in the sign of Capricorn from November 5, 2021 until March 6, 2022 – 4 months. Venus usually moves through a sign in about 3 weeks! So Venus really wants us to bring this world-view of Love into society and into our governing institutions.

Older astrology texts suggest that Venus in Capricorn is loyal, serious and practical, a little shy but needing to love and care for their people. With this retrograde, it’s time to change the way we think about Venus there.

Another way to look at Venus/Aphrodite in Capricorn is to see how we can bring the Venus world-view of connection and love to our collective lives. Some astrologers are talking about Capricorn being ‘the council of Grandmothers’, a perspective of making responsible choices for the good of the whole. 

 

 

 

Before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin and other founding fathers went to learn about the Iroquois Confederacy, a group of six Native American tribes who had banded together to live in peace and equality, created by their union’s power. These tribes were rules by a Council of Grandmothers – those women past child-bearing age (our Crones!) who became Clan Mothers. While there was a power balance between women and men, the wisdom of the Mothers was acknowledge and these councils would select the chief (and they could get rid of him if he wasn’t doing a good job!), and rule on whether or not to go to war.

Perhaps this powerful Venus retrograde and Capricorn Star Point will usher in a time when grandmothers will step forward and bring their gifts and wisdom to their communities once again. We have to ask ourselves, What values are important for the future? What can we do now to support the future? That’s what Grandparents do – they can help shape the future because of their experience and wisdom. I personally wish that we could gather all our most wise Elders and ask them to take over governing us until we achieve a ‘more perfect union.’

Working with Venus’ archetypal energy

How can we work with this Venus retrograde energy? First, slow down and pay attention to what this energy feels like. Who do you want to connect to? What do you want to be doing? How are you nurturing yourself? What talents do you have that you want to share with a larger community? Where is Capricorn in your birth chart? Where is your natal Venus? They can give you clues about what you need to sit with.

The energy of Venus/Aphrodite isn’t just about personal relationships between partners, family and friends though. Venus’ energy is involved with what makes civilization worthwhile. The engagement of citizens in government, in education, in the arts, in the sciences, in commerce, in the healing arts and in all forms of exchange. Venus is connected to any form of interaction that brings beings and ideas together.

 

Aphrodite & the 9 Muses

 

In Capricorn, Venus connects us to our society, to our community and in fact, to anything we’re passionate about that we want to share with others. Venus/

Aphrodite is the goddess connected with the 9 Muses, those mythic figures that inspire human art, knowledge, science, music, dance, storytelling, poetry, healing and beauty. Venus in Capricorn asks us to look at our talents and our values and share them with society as a whole.

Venus was the goddess of the multi-talented courtesans down through the ages, those women who were strong enough to be the equal to, and often the seductresses of, powerful men. Women who embodied the creativity and sexuality of Venus, whose world-view and intelligence encompassed beauty, sexual freedom, art, creativity, embodied wisdom, and a broad understanding of the ways of the world. Courtesans set the tone for culture, art, beauty and fashion. *

Venus and women have been used by men for their own pleasures and as the dark shadow of their own desires. So often, Venus has had to hide behind a mask of compliance and obedience, but she always looks for her freedom to reclaim her own nature. She renews her virginity after she makes love, surrendering to her partner sexually but returning to herself and her own needs each time after.

Venus’ archetypal energy embodies our ability to create life and nurture it, as well as our role as the water of life (all the hero stories point to the fact that the men wanted to claim their feminine nature). As Joseph Campbell said, women don’t need to go on the hero’s journey because we already have what the male journey seeks – a connection to our souls, to our unique feminine purpose as queen of heaven and earth. 

 

 The Grail Castle ~ Edward Burne-Jones

 

Venus connects us to our power spots, the landscapes that refresh our souls. She guides us to take care of ourselves – to love ourselves enough to go out into nature to regenerate our spirits when our 3D reality gets us down. Her sacred space was a Garden of delight, and is still anywhere in nature that brings us spontaneous joy and freedom.

When Venus goes retrograde, She is closest to Earth and so we can integrate her energies more easily.  Venus’ journey through the heavens as 2022 begins can enrich us with love and a connection to Heaven, Earth and Pluto's Underworld. Will we make ourselves available to embody her Truth and her Wisdom?

We’ve been waiting to change the world but first we had to change ourselves. NOW is the time, though, when we have to go out into our communities with our art, our talents, our passion and purpose. We are here to create the future and so we have to take the long view of things. We might even have to sacrifice some of our comforts to create a better world. To do this, we have to live our new story. What will you do?

Bright Blessings at this Dark time of year.

Cathy

Check out Charles Eisenstein’s little allegory about how we are here to midwife the conscious evolution of Earth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XinVOpdcbVc

 

Books:

* Wisdom’s Daughters: How Women Can Change the World Cathy Pagano (describes the return of the Divine Feminine as Wisdom, as well as diving into the stories of Aphrodite as the embodiment of Feminine Wisdom).

Adam Gainsburg, TheLight of Venus (describes a more complex Venus cycle than the 4 points I mentioned).

Arielle Guttman, Venus Star Rising (describes the Venus Star Points – those times when Venus transitions to either a Morning Star or an Evening Star)

Liz Greene, Relating: An astrological guide to living with others on a small planet. (My first deep dive into Jungian astrological wisdom. Highly recommended for a psychological explanation of aspects of astrology.)

The Cosmic Story: Taurus New Moon 2021 -- Beauty and Hope

Taurus New Moon 2021

A Time to Dedicate Ourselves to Beauty and Hope

May is the blossoming time, so there is beauty all around us these days. The lilacs are blooming and their fragrance is intoxicating. The dogwoods, the cherry trees, the apple blossoms, the azaleas, and now the rhododendrons are coming out. The trees have their green leaves back. In just a short time, nature has come alive again.

Nature’s promise to all of us that life goes on. Mother Nature gives us hope.

Caroline Casey says that when we dedicate ourselves to beauty, we strengthen our frequencies, drawing our accomplices to us – those people who comprise our tribe. Those accomplices can be our people, but they can also be Nature spirits, animal guides, archetypes or god/desses. Ask them how you can help create a more beautiful world – perhaps you’ll have to negotiate terms – and then watch how it works out. Since we are facing an unknown future, instead of being afraid of it, why not allow mystery into our lives and see where it leads us! This is the role of the Virgin aspect of the Great Goddess, the part of us who is open to mystery.

It’s always amazed me at how ugly our society so often is – not just how we act, but also how we build things. Only in America would we come up with concrete blocks for buildings, for strip malls and row houses. Somehow with all the natural beauty in America, we so often create ugliness instead.

 

 

So if there’s one thing we can do on this Taurus New Moon, it is to create and enjoy beauty. And the best way to do it is with sympathetic magic – so go out and plant some flowers, feed the hummingbirds, walk by the ocean.

It’s important to understand that there is an unconscious story energized in some right wing - Christian sects that are driving the Trump Republicans. It is a story that says we are at the End Times so you better be following the rules. That’s why we’re seeing so many people willing to fight against racial and gender equality, climate change and our individual freedoms. They want the End Times to come and they think they’re making it happen. So perhaps it’s not just white supremacy on the rise, but also right-wing Christian supremacy. (obviously, I’m not talking about all Christians).

Somehow the struggles of people for individual freedom are not as important as following their rules. This comes from the odious idea that some people are chosen – which means that others are not. It is an idea that is central to all of our western religions. This overriding story makes people self-righteous about their own goodness and ready to throw the rest of us to the devil. We see it happening in all the states that are rushing to make laws restricting voting rights or a woman’s right to an abortion. 

 

 

To offset this unconscious belief, the world needs a better overriding story, one that captures everyone’s imagination, one that brings us into the future without the Us vs Them mentality. We need a uniting story that says we are all ONE on this beautiful planet, Earth. Perhaps if we listen, Mother Earth will tell us that story. Let’s hope our artists are listening.

Caroline also says that we can be back stage helpers: by interacting with archetypal and natural entities, by using our imaginations to foster good possible outcomes, we can be the invisible river that strengthens the new energy that’s being born over the objections of those in power.

As Jupiter moves out of Aquarius on May 13^th and into Pisces for a few months, we’ll move into a more fluid, imaginal state, ready to dream the desirable society that we envisioned while Jupiter was in Aquarius. Once Jupiter goes back into Aquarius in late July, we’ll fine-tune our vision for when Jupiter re-enters Pisces again in 2022. When Jupiter goes into Pisces next year, we can hope that our spiritual imagination will awaken. But we also have to watch out for religious fanaticism as well, since Jupiter expands what it touches. So ground in your spiritual practices now to prepare you for next year.

Taurus New Moon 2021

The Taurus New Moon occurres Tuesday, May 11^th at 11am Alaska time, 12 pm PDT/ 3pm EDT and 8pm GMT.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 22* Taurus is: White dove flying over troubled waters. This is a message from the Holy Spirit (Sophia) showing us the way to a new dispensation. The dove is a bird of love and peace, sacred to Aphrodite/Venus/ Mary – the divine Feminine. So this New Moon tells us to have hope, that the Divine Feminine will lead us out of troubling times. This is a call to women especially. The world needs us now!

 

 

This Taurus New Moon is supported by Pluto_rx in Capricorn, and both Neptune in Pisces and Mars in Cancer. If we want to deconstruct our society (Pluto) to make it more fair and equitable, we need our spiritual imagination to come online, and then we have to make sure that our concrete nurturing needs are met. Family and home should be the central concern of society – and it can be if we all open our spiritual eyes and make it so.

As we leave the Age of Pisces for the Aquarian Age, we have to leave behind the guilt, shame and suffering of Pisces, and turn our attention to being the best version of ourselves we can be. That means we have to be embodied and individuated – we have to become our essential Self. And then we have to band together to create a better world.

 

 

If any sign of the zodiac signified the Garden (of Eden, Paradise, Delight), it is Taurus.

A fixed Earth sign, Taurus is all about sensual delight – the beauty, tastes, touch, sounds and fragrances that feed the senses. Taurus says: indulge in your body, in life’s pleasures, in beauty and Nature. Learn what life is really about. The Piscean Age wanted us to ignore our body’s pleasure, seeing it as sinful. So many of the masculine religions think that we have to deny our lives here for a better ‘hereafter’. This is an attitude that needs adjusting!

Taurus embodies the fires of Aries, giving that fiery spark a form to experience life with. Taurus delights in the five senses, so take some time to enjoy life instead of hurrying through it. Get off the computer and go out into Nature. Stop and smell the lilacs!

Taurus is the sign where we engage with Nature’s bounty. Where we can connect (or re-connect) with Nature’s biosphere. Our proper place in creation. For we are meant to be stewards of the Earth. So let Nature enchant you into connecting with her and while she heals you, you are also healing her. This is humanity’s superpower – that we can choose to connect with the rest of the natural world in understanding and love.

I finally watched ‘A Social Dilemma’ after my son insisted – again – that I watch it. I knew, but didn’t know, how these people consciously made our social media addictive. So if you haven’t seen it already, please watch. And then disconnect from your devices as much as you can. Spend the same amount of time outside as you do on your computer.

With the Uranus in Taurus square to Saturn in Aquarius activated all year, this is a time for us to listen to Earth’s experimental creative genius in relationship to our technology. There are great strides already being made with bio-mimicry, allowing Nature to show us how things relate. But unless we want to become The Borg, we need to control our technology, or else it will (and already is) control us. While I use this technology sparingly (gladly remembering a time when we didn’t have it), I feel sad for the kids who are caught up in it. This is one of the things we Elders need to address – teaching the younger generation how to relate to each other in person!

Mercury went into his own sign of Gemini on May 3^rd and will stay in Gemini for longer than usual because it will retrograde in Gemini on May 29^th to June 22^nd, and will finally leave Gemini on July 11^th. Venus left Taurus on May 8^th and will stay in Gemini talking it up with Mercury until June 3^rd. So these two planets will get us talking and studying and conversing. And having fun!

My birthday week took over and I didn’t get much work done. So this is short and sweet.

Blessings on all of us,

Cathy

Blessing for the Senses

May your body be blessed.

May you realize that your body is a faithful

and beautiful friend of your soul.

And may you be peaceful and joyful

and recognize that your senses

are sacred thresholds.

May you realize that holiness is

mindful, gazing, feeling, hearing, and touching.

May your senses gather you and bring you home.

May your senses always enable you to

celebrate the universe and the mystery

and possibilities in your presence here.

May the Eros of the Earth bless you.

~ John O’Donohue ~

(Anam Cara)