Showing posts with label #Libra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #Libra. Show all posts

Friday, October 21, 2022

The Cosmic Story: Samhain, Eclipse Season and New Venus Star Point Part One

 

The Cosmic Story: Samhain, Eclipse Season

and New Venus Star Point

Part One


The Wheel of the Year: Samhain: Death Aspect of the Cycle of Life




As we enter the season of Samhain (October 31-- astrological Samhain at 15* Scorpio on November 7), we begin the six weeks of greatest darkness in the northern hemisphere before the rebirth of the Light at Winter Solstice. (I’m going to stick with the seasons in the North but I want to shout out to those of you down South to have a merry Beltane!)


We are entering the season of Death, with nature dying off and the light dimming. Westerners celebrate this season with celebrations of Halloween, The Day of the Dead, All Saints Day/All Souls Day. At Halloween, we begin to let go of our usual ‘ego-selves’ and take on imaginary ‘selves’ in an unconscious mirroring of the needs of the season – to let go of what is no longer viable – what is dead – and to begin to imagine the new life to come next year. Who will we dress up as?


Samhain is last gateway of the Wheel of the Year, the time to learn to become comfortable with darkness, to accept Death and change in our own lives. By accepting Death psychologically, we’ll begin to let go of our fear of DEATH. Otherwise, we will surely create even more death in the world. (Look at Putin – instead of letting go of what is no longer viable, he’s going all in on death and destruction. Scared, fearful, silly little man.)


We are a culture which fears Death. Most masculine cultures do. Made worse because Christianity made the afterlife a fearful thing of fire and damnation. Who is ‘saintly’ enough to make it to their heaven, especially if there’s only one chance to make it? Most people imagine going to purgatory or hell-- both places of fire and torment. Who came up with this religion? Who would worship a divine being that condemns most of us to one gruesome afterlife? And who condemned women as ‘evil’ ‘soulless’ and ‘the cause of death’. Sometimes I despair of the male religious imagination, which took the Goddess’ promise of continual death and rebirth and turned it into a nightmare of masculine linear thought of beginning, middle and the End. In refusing the gifts of feminine wisdom, these churchmen gifted us with FEAR of death instead of acceptance of life and death.

 

 
Elana Gibeault ~ Samhain


At Samhain, when the gates between life and death open and the souls of the departed sometimes return to comfort or confront us, we have the opportunity to face our loss and fears and let go of them. Life will have its way with us – but we get to make choices about how we meet it. We ourselves choose to make life a blessing or a curse. We don’t need to fear life. We just need to respect her and know how to meet her demands. Samhain demands a death.


This unconscious fear-based belief about death has given rise to a death culture – a history of warfare, death and destruction that is still being played out all over the world, but most symbolically in Ukraine. What will Putin accomplish with his war? More deaths. The threat of nuclear destruction? The end of all life? For what? His pride. His power. His legacy? This is the delusional state of the patriarchal mind, this unconscious fear of death, should not be running the world. For those of you old enough, Dr. Strangelove.

So how do we stop it? 

 

climate change 


First, by realizing deep down in our souls that our world is DYING. On multiple fronts – the environment is in crisis, with around 90% of the animal species dying out, with our waters poisoned by chemicals and pharmaceuticals, our air poisoned with too much CO2 as well as other hazardous chemicals, our food poisoned by hormones and chemicals which cause disease --- shall I go on? Then there’s the social, wealth, resources and gender inequality. And now – again – there is a renewed threat of NUCLEAR WAR.


The thing is, we can’t let these facts freeze us and leave us feeling powerless. There is a power in Mother Earth that can fill us and give us the power to accomplish what is needed. The issues facing us are our task, our purpose. It’s up to us to determine what kind of future this planet and our people will have. We are the grandmothers and grandfathers of the future. How will they remember us?


We can stop this craziness, and bring patriarchy down by not buying into it anymore. (I think women need to strike for 3 days all over the world – we’d stop the world, since we hold up more than our share of it.) At least we can look to something different to guide us. Let’s stop doing the same thing over and over again with the same results.


We need a guide. So let’s look to the ancient Mother Goddess for answers. 

 

Mother Earth


The problem of Death: The divine Feminine is tied to the Earth and her cycles, not some heavenly afterlife. Just as Spring brings new life, Summer growth and Autumn harvest, the last weeks of the year, when the darkness is greatest, bring us the lessons of Death. Which in turn, leads to Re-Birth at Winter Solstice. And the cyclical process begins anew. Mother Earth is a tidy mistress – we get recycled.


The truth is, Death is a needed and natural part of the life cycle. Without death, how can there be new Life? It is our souls which never die; they get recycled into new bodies and new experiences. It’s our individual egos that are afraid. (Pro-life people, you don’t seem to believe in souls, only bodies. A very one dimensional belief.) Patriarchy has tried to take control of this process and stop Death (keeping people alive past our expiration date for money), which is probably why the world is stuck in the Death aspect of the life cycle.


It’s especially important at this moment that we all learn to face Death without fear, because we’re also going through a big transformation of the world ages. The old world paradigm (patriarchy) is dying and a new world view is being birthed. But the old is ‘afraid’ to die and let the new vision come into being. As we can see, it’s not going down without its usually bullying response to its fear – a fight.


Because there is so much darkness and chaos in the world, the old is trying to maintain control all over the world, but the new energies of life are rising up. Young women in Iran and protesters in China and Russia are defying authority to demand their freedom. In the US, we are asked to reject a false narrative of lies and deception and conspiracy theories bankrolled by the wealthy to protect their power. Entertain this possibility: Perhaps they know about these conspiracies because they’re the ones doing the horrible things, hypocritically pointing the finger at others, just as perhaps Trump tried to cheat on the election and got outmaneuvered by voters. Could be.


Perhaps the lesson is to learn to make up our own minds about what we value. We stand on the brink of true freedom when we make our choices with our free will. It’s time to embrace our freedom, which includes everyone else’s freedom.


The way to begin this dying process for patriarchy is for each of us to let it die within ourselves. It doesn’t have to be a battle. Just a gentle farewell. A slow shedding of unnecessary waste. A turning away from being a consumer to being a citizen. Becoming a conscious co-creator of our world.


Ask yourself: How has capitalistic patriarchy colonized your beliefs, your values, your ideals and your needs? This season of Samhain is the time to shed your old skins so that your authentic light can shine through by Winter Solstice.


Part of the issue the world faces is the rapid development of technology in the last century, causing dramatic changes in our society. We are the forerunners of the Age of Aquarius, potentially a more technological and idealistic society. (think Star Trek! These stories always showed our future as one of equality, freedom, curiosity and unity, as opposed to Star Wars and others where most of the worlds are desert worlds full of junk, ruled over by despots.) It’s up to us to begin to understand what our technology is and what it can helpfully be used for. And what it shouldn’t be used for. It’s important to ween people off their constant use of technology and back into personal contacts and communication. We can find ways to use technology without destroying our humanity. We’ve gone overboard with our new toys, and now it’s time to re-balance.


We are entering unknown territory. Going where no one has gone before.


The Wise Crone and Death


We re-balance by re-connecting to the Divine Feminine energy of the cosmic laws of life and death. In ancient times, when the Mother Goddess was worshiped, people saw death as an intimate and important process of the life cycle. Just as the Divine Mother gives birth to us, she also takes life away when it is no longer sustainable. This is why women have been the caretakers of children and of the dying. The divine Feminine fosters caring, community and change, even in death.

 

 

This fear of death extends to our society’s disregard of older women, for the ancient Goddess often had 3 forms – the Maiden, the Mother/Lover, the Crone – the Creatrix, the Preserver and the Destroyer. The Crone was the aspect of the Goddess who understood and dealt with Death. So men feared her, and now fear death. Isn’t it interesting that it was the ancient gods that had to die to be reborn?


Men have to face their fear of death and surrender to the inevitable. That’s why a return of the Goddess and her natural laws can heal our fears. The Crone (which means crown), knows the wisdom of life and death. The Crone was the judge and lawmaker, since she understood what is necessary to promote life.


In facing death and facing fear, the Crone becomes the Maiden who creates the world again. It is all one cycle of life and death. And we are part of it, whether we know it or not. When we connect to the seasons and cycles, we make those times sacred and magic happens – the magic appropriate to the season’s needs.


Our modern culture loses a valuable resource when it devalues older women and our wisdom. All ancient cultures valued their elders, especially the grandmothers. It’s too bad that our ‘founding fathers’ left out the need for a council of grandmothers in our government, since they looked to the Iroquois’ Great Law of Peace for ideas on how to establish their experiment in freedom. The Native Council of Grandmothers decided if and when the tribes went to war and who could be chief. They were the Clan Mothers who held the people together. It would have been wiser to add this aspect of governance to our constitution instead of a Supreme Court that could be politicized by one group. The Grandmothers stood for all the people. Because they were the Mothers of the Tribe.

 

 
Grandmothers


We need our wise crones now more than ever. Christianity burned old women for their ‘evil eye’ – which was basically just a knowing look that saw how idiotic the men were acting. The male ego is often afraid of that disapproval. And so they suppressed the aspects of the divine Feminine that would call them on their s**t and only kept the loving and nurturing mother and spouse who they felt they could control.


So men’s fear of death and their fear of older women seem to go hand and hand. (of course there are men who are not like this, but in general, this has been the male attitude.) And yet the Wise Crone sets the moral standards of her clan and culture. The one who gave birth and gave nourishment, warmth, protection and survival skills to her children also created culture for those children. The Crone made moral and legal decisions for her people. The Church called these wise older women ‘witches’ and burned thousands of women over 5 centuries, wiping out the old pagan Goddess religions and its beliefs – that we belong to the Earth and its cycle of life and death, that sexuality and pleasure are sacred, that we are part of Nature, that women’s wisdom is more important than man’s knowledge.


With so many post-menopausal women alive today, we have a wealth of Crone wisdom to call on. Isn’t it time we did?


I’ve been re-reading a book from the late 80s The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom and Power, by Barbara G. Walker. It’s a powerful reminder of how the patriarchal religions have persecuted women’s religions and powers for thousands of years. And why it’s so important for women to reclaim our ancient purpose so we can bring a wise vision of life back to the world.


The second part of this Samhain newsletter will be out next week, where I’ll discuss the goddess Hekate and the upcoming total lunar eclipse in Taurus, conjunct Uranus – the planet of surprises – which occurs on the morning of the U.S. elections. Surprises are in store.


Venus Conjunct the Sun: New Venus-Star Cycle begins: October 22, 2022


Ever since we saw Venus cross the face of the Sun back in 2004 and 2012, astrologers have again been working with the Venus cycle, which makes a 5-pointed star in the heavens every 8 years as Venus moves from being a Morning Star to Evening Star and back to Morning Star.

 

The next Venus Star Loop – Capricorn/Libra/Leo January 2022 - August 2023 -  Cosmic*Intelligence*Agency
 


When Venus moves retrograde between the Earth and the Sun, she begins her Morning Star phase, which last occurred on January 8, 2022 19* Capricorn. Now she travels behind the Sun in her underworld journey (furthest away from Earth) and will conjunct the Sun tomorrow, October 22 at 29*27’ Libra. This is the first time Venus starts a cycle in her own sign in about 150 years. The last degree of a sign indicates it’s time to work out the issues of the sign.

 

 
Venus makes this pattern over years

 

Venus is the great connector – she teaches us about what we love and value, be it beauty, truth, a relationship, art and life itself. In Libra, Venus loves balance and harmony, truth and fairness, equality and justice. Beginning this new phase in her celestial journeys, Venus can help us take a stand for those things we hold dear. She elevates the divine feminine qualities that are so sorely needed in our society now. Love, connection, care, community. Let’s hope she restores diplomacy to the world instead of war.


This Venus/Sun conjunction is challenging Pluto in Capricorn to listen to her ideas and ideals. With Eris opposing Venus and squaring Pluto, we have to trust our heart wisdom. The divine feminine speaks to us through our hearts, minds and most especially through our imaginations. Change your perspective, change the world.

 


 


The Sabian symbol for Venus/Sun at 30* Libra is: Three mounds of knowledge on a philosopher's head. Dane Rudhyar states that philosophers are people who understand life and its issues. I would substitute (3) wise women and knowledgeable men. Three is the number of process – of something working its way to completion. This symbol urges us to understand life’s needs and find the wisdom to know what we need to do.


The Gene Key for this Venus/Sun conjunction is interesting in that it repeats the message. Gene Key for 30* Libra is Number 50 – Cosmic Order.


The shadow for this Gene Key is Corruption. But not just corruption of ourselves, and our political and religious leaders, but a corruption of data. The knowledge we’ve been raised on no longer serves our consciousness. It has cut us off from our natural wisdom and we suffer for it, because the data inspires our fears. This is what the South Node solar eclipse is about. (See below)


The Gift of this Gene Key is Equilibrium. This equilibrium comes from our own inner peace and security (since we were raised on fear and insecurity), and the recognition that our group, our nation, our world can come into equilibrium if each of us do. Each of us has to take responsibility for the gift we can contribute to society, creating a greater whole.


The Blessing of the 50th Gene Key is Harmony, which occurs when all elements in a system are in perfect and permanent resonance. We are creating this new society and vision now as we begin to reach a critical mass of change. If we ever accomplish this, we will become Conscious Earth.


If this is the potential that the new Venus Star Point will birth in the coming years, its energy will certainly help us create a better world for us all. So Mote It Be!


Saturn in Aquarius turns to direct motion seven hours after the Sun/Venus conjunction, slowing us down to really pay attention to what those values are for us and for the collective. We are at the last stage of the waning Saturn-Uranus square that began in 2021. We might see the outcome of this struggle between the Old vs the New with the upcoming Scorpio Solar Eclipse and Taurus Lunar Eclipse.


These two eclipses in Scorpio and Taurus confront us with the question of our Values – isn’t it time we really looked at ourselves and our lifestyle and recognized that it isn’t sustainable. Can we let go of the past and look to the future with curiosity and imagination? Isn’t it time to imagine a different way to live? A more balanced and simple way, with basic needs met and time for personal creative expression. Not life based on survival and fear, but enjoyment and commitment. Work that feeds the soul with purpose because it’s needed for life to prosper and grow.


The Sabian symbol for 19* Aquarius is: A forest fire quenched. Since we’re still in the tension of the Saturn/Uranus square between the old and the new, I would say this signifies the end of the craziness the old is trying to exert on the world. Let’s hope so!


Scorpio partial Solar Eclipse: October 25, 2022


The Scorpio New Moon solar eclipse occurs on Tuesday, October 25th at 3:49 am PDT/ 6:49am EDT and 11:49 am GMT.

 


 


This New Moon is conjunct Venus, who has just started her journey as an Evening Star of Wisdom, although still hidden from Earth’s sight until December 3, 2022.


The Gene Key is the same as the one for the Sun/Venus conjunction, Key 50. The theme is repeated with the Sabian Symbol. Equilibrium and Harmony.


The Sabian symbol for the Sun, Moon and Venus at 3* Scorpio is: A house raising party in a small village enlists the neighbors’ cooperation.


I’ve always loved this image – because it does take a village not only to raise a child but to make a home and community. With COVID and our dependence on technology to ‘reach out’, we are losing our community feeling. We have to let go of our isolation and re-connect with where we live. This is an image of both Equilibrium and Harmony, the gift and blessing of the 50th Key.


So what keeps us from doing that?


This intense partial solar eclipse on the New Moon in Scorpio is called a south node eclipse, meaning that like the south node’s shedding of old habits that are no longer viable, we need to shed our skins and let go of old trauma, lies, deceits and relationships that are toxic not only to us but to the world.


We humans have so much fear in us. It keeps us from cooperating. This eclipse says – why not drop the fear? What else can happen? We’re all in this together.


Scorpio doesn’t shy away from the taboos in our culture. Whether it’s sex, drugs and rock & roll, investments, taxes, and death, Scorpio deals with the things we usually don’t want to deal with, let alone look at. But this Autumn, we all have to face the music – it’s time to deal with our Shadows, both personally and collectively.


As we enter the dark of the year, it’s a perfect time to look at our shadows and see where we aren’t living aligned with our values. These Shadows are behavior patterns and ideas & beliefs that once protected us as children, but which no longer reflect or serve our needs. Once we face our wounds (which birth shadows), and name them, we can change things. The collective naming of our wounds has picked up speed over the past two years. Now it’s time to see if we can transform those shadows into the gold of awakened cultural consciousness.


Scorpio is the sign of emotional stagnation, a fixed water sign that holds onto emotional trauma. This thick dark soup is the result of experiences of death, terror and pain, causing us to feel mistrust, betrayal, resentment, fear, and hurt. These repressed emotions can give rise to power plays, deception and control issues.


This eclipse season heralds a time to take the lessons learned and put those emotions back into the Goddess’ cauldron of regeneration. They use up too much of our authentic energy and so no longer serve our life’s growth. This south node eclipse’s lesson is to let go of the past, learn its lessons, and let the natural dying process transform our consciousness.


Because the upcoming Taurus Full Moon total lunar eclipse is conjunct Uranus, the master of surprise and sudden change. More on the upcoming lunar eclipse in the second part of this newsletter. Be ready for much needed Surprises!


This solar eclipse is interesting, because a New Moon is a time of new beginnings, while this south node eclipse calls us to let go of something that needs to die. But since we can live in paradox, why not see that the new seed planted is for the old to leave without too much pain, while the new rejoices in the hope for the future.


The solar eclipse and Venus make an inconjunct to Jupiter retrograde at 0* Aries – the World Point. This marks a point of great world importance. An inconjunct is an energy of adjustment – like a scale trying to come into balance. What is needed is great delicacy in achieving that balance. Jupiter in Aries is daring and can often be reckless. Don’t let him be now! Our Scorpionic energies are concerned with inner decisions.


Mars in Gemini is slowing down to turn retrograde on October 30th. Ruling both Aries and Scorpio, perhaps he will slow down and think (Gemini) things through, seeing multiple ways to proceed.


The Saturn/Uranus square is still activated. But now direct Saturn in Aquarius forms an air grand trine with Mercury in Libra and Mars in Gemini (slowing down to turn retrograde Saturday, October 30th). This alignment could hopefully open up the ‘old’ (Saturn) to accepting new ideas (Mars/Mercury) without fear.


I think that’s enough for now! More next week in part Two of Samhain’s Cosmic Story.


Blessed Be!

Cathy

 


 

Fall Song


Another year gone, leaving everywhere
its rich spiced residues: vines, leaves,

the uneaten fruits crumbling damply
in the shadows, unmattering back

from the particular island
of this summer, this NOW, that now is nowhere

except underfoot, moldering
in that black subterranean castle

of unobservable mysteries - roots and sealed seeds
and the wanderings of water. This

I try to remember when time's measure
painfully chafes, for instance when autumn

flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing
to stay - how everything lives, shifting

from one bright vision to another, forever
in these momentary pastures.

 

~ Mary Oliver ~

 

(American Primitive)









Tuesday, April 19, 2022

The Cosmic Story: Late April Astrology, Earth Day, Taurus Solar Eclipse


The Cosmic Story --


Pink Full Moon 2022


Before we turn to the energies of May and Taurus, I want to recap what’s happening at the end of April. And of course, Earth Day on April 22nd.


The April 16th Libra/Aries (Pink) Full Moon was squared by Pluto in Capricorn, which is slowing down to turn retrograde on April 29th which makes its energy of death and rebirth/evolution even more powerful. This Full Moon was all about POWER and who welds it. In a perfect world, this would be about how we each use power to work with others, and includes self-empowerment (Aries Sun conjunct Eris, the warrior of the heart) as well as empowering others (Libra Moon). 

 


OR, as we’ve seen on the world stage in Ukraine, it is about how the old order uses power to dominate, kill and control others. It’s important to understand that this is the year when the OLD will try to take over and smash all that is new and free. In Russia, instead of excommunicating Putin for pursuing an unjust war, his Russian Orthodox patriarch, along with Putin’s buddies, condone this war: in reality, we embody the forces of good in the modern world because this clash is metaphysical…. We are on the side of good against the forces of absolute evil. This is truly a holy war that we’re waging, and we have to win it and of course we will because our cause is just. We have no other choice. Our cause is not only just, our cause is righteous and victory will certainly be ours.”


This ‘battle between good and evil’ is also being played out by the American religious right wing. They are working to take over our government on local, state and national levels, to bring us back to a ‘moral, Christian country’ where we’re not allowed to use contraception or have abortions and where we’re not allowed to talk about our individual rights. While my fellow astrologers have talked about last week’s Jupiter/Neptune conjunction in Pisces as a time a great spiritual awakenings and visions, they didn’t concentrate on the religious fanaticism that could – and did – arise with it. The Religions of the Book – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – all think that their God backs war and murder if it’s in their cause. Shame on them! This is the default setting for all of the wars fought in the last 2,000 years. These religions have become death religions instead of the life-giving ones they were meant to be.


These are the people who believe we’re living in the End Times (which in some ways we are, except not as they see it – we’re at the end of the Piscean Age and at the beginning of the Age of Aquarius). For them, the End Times is a time of being Chosen and of judgment and punishment – of the battle between Good and Evil. That’s also why they aren’t bothering with climate change because they actually believe that Jesus is going to rapture them away to heaven, so why take care of the Earth! (Also check out The Doomsday Clock – how scientists see nuclear and environmental threats in the world.)

 

 Lancelot crossing the sword bridge


We each are being called upon to walk the ‘sword bridge’ – that narrow blade that symbolizes the Mind and how we use it. Can we balance what is going on in the world with our own values and beliefs? Can we look at what is going on without falling into fear and despair? Can we think for ourselves and stand up for our values, even when it gets painful? (it’s the sword’s sharp edge Arthur’s knights had to walk on.)


I was listening to a climate podcast called Climate of Change with Cate Blanchette and Danny Kennedy where they quote Mary Robinson (who has her own podcast on climate change called Mothers of Invention) who quotes Desmond Tutu saying “We are prisoners of hope!”


Can we be prisoners of hopestaying positive in the face of seemingly hopeless circumstances.


While our individual work is to shine our light into this dark work, we are also called to action. What can you do to stand up for the Light? Start in your local communities and your state. Go to school committee or town council meetings and see who is running your town and what they want to do with your tax money. The only way we’re going to change our world for the better is to collaborate with like-minded people. Find your people and work together to bring about change from the ground up!

 


April 22, 2022 is Earth Day. With climate scientists chaining themselves to government buildings to protest the fact that governments are not taking climate change seriously, we the people need to step up the pressure. If governments can shift their economies to wartime needs as they did during WWII, why aren’t we being asked to sacrifice some of our personal habits for the good of the world? Why aren’t we transitioning to sustainable models of life that no longer include conspicuous consumption? Hint: Because our corporate overlords don’t want us to – they already own land that will keep them safe while the rest of us suffer the hardships of climate change.


I can’t get to Washington, D.C. for the climate protest on Saturday April 23rd, but I can gather my sisters to dance for Mother Earth – to dance in our hopes and blessings. Please take time on Friday to acknowledge and bless our beautiful, wounded planet and its people.


Now back to Pluto turning retrograde. 

 


On Friday, April 29th Pluto turns retrograde at 29* Capricorn and will back track to 26* Capricorn on October 8th. The Sabian symbol for 29* Capricorn is: A Woman reading tea leaves. This is a call for each of us to sharpen our intuition and vision. To see the archetypal energies at play in the world. Can we envision a better world?


This retrograde also means the U.S. Pluto return will be revisited. It was just after our first Pluto return hit on February 22, 2022 that Putin invaded Ukraine. While horrific, this invasion showed the world that America’s experiment with democracy did work. That the people of the world will fight for their freedom when under attack by the old order.


So with Pluto retrograde, each of us is asked to take a stand for our freedom. What are we willing to do to create a better world? A free world where each of us is valued? A world where we no longer seek to dominate and control others, but where each of us takes responsibility for ourselves as a member of a free community.


It might seem as if we are far from the horrific war in Ukraine, but here in America, as well as all over the world, the autocrats and corporations want to dominate us. As the old order dies, it is fighting back. So we have to start taking a stand for our values – that’s what this Taurus season with the lunar nodes in Taurus is all about.


Taurus Solar Eclipse April 30th


Partial Solar Eclipse

The Sun enters the sign of Taurus on the evening of April 19th here in the U.S. and on April 20th in the rest of the world.


As Aries is the Fire of Life, so Taurus takes that fire and makes something of it. Taurus is the builder of the zodiac, the energy that takes the fire of life and grounds it and grows it.


Taurus is the sign of embodied spirit.


Taurus is the Garden, the world of Nature that is beginning to blossom now in the northern hemisphere. The green force of Life here on Earth is awake and wants to grow into something of value and worth. Like its ruling planet Venus, Taurus wants to awaken our senses to the beauty and goodness of life.


Venus bestows beauty and truth on new life and asks us to value it. So during this season of Taurus, we’re asked to examine our values. Are we living by them or are they just ideas that we forget to manifest in our lives?


Venus is the Goddess of Love – and love takes work. As the poet Rilke says: There is scarcely anything more difficult than to love one another. That it is work, day labor, day labor, God knows there is no other word for it. … So whoever loves must try to act if he had a great work: he must be much alone and go into himself and collect himself and hold fast to himself; he must work; he must become something! (Rilke On Love and Other Difficulties)


If we love our world, our children and our people, then it is time to take up the work of Love. If we value love and connection, compassion and peace, we have to do the work. No matter how difficult. The future is counting on us!


The lunar nodes, which create eclipses, are moving through the signs of Taurus and Scorpio. With the south node in Scorpio, we have to leave the trauma, betrayals and emotional wounds behind us. They’re to teach us about life, but we tend to hold onto them rather than learn the lesson and let them go. Scorpio is the sign of shared values and I see it as the sign of psychological growth, because it’s the sign where other people impact our souls. So for the next year, our assignment is to let go of these old traumas and accept, as Caroline Casey says, our beautiful, dangerous assignments.


The north node in Taurus asks us to re-discover our own values, to honor Earth’s creative genius (lots of new technology for healing climate devastation is based on Earth’s natural systems), and to remember that we are temples of spirit. So we have to learn, once again, to honor our body, to own our instincts and intuitions, and to follow our heart’s desire, since Venus rules here. For too long, our patriarchal culture has either degraded love into pornography or elevated it to ridiculous romantic proportions.


Work on Love and see what you find.


The Taurus solar eclipse occurs on Saturday, April 30th (the beginning of Beltane) at 1:28 pm PDT/ 4:28 pm EDT/ 9:28pm GMT. This is a partial solar eclipse.

 



The Sabian symbol for this solar eclipse at 11* Taurus is: A woman watering flowers in her garden. This is a symbol of cultivation, the need to attend to what we want to manifest. And of course, it needs to be beautiful in all ways – sight, smell, touch, taste and sound. We need to pour our love into the life we want. But we have to pay attention!

 


Solar eclipses are extra powerful New Moons. The Moon and Sun come together in a sacred marriage, uniting our conscious self with our unconscious Self. What do we want to plant for this year? What will we take the time to water and cultivate? With the tumultuous energies of change this year, start with grounding into your home, your group, your family – this is not about your work in the world, but your work as a soul.


This solar eclipse New Moon is conjunct the North Node and Uranus in Taurus – opening us to new experiences of life. Uranus in Taurus aligns us with Earth’s creative genius, so expect the unexpected, allow yourself to be surprised by joy. And perhaps if your computer (Uranus) suddenly acts up, leave it inside and go out into Nature. That’s where all the juicy new ideas will come from.


Saturn and Vesta in Aquarius are squaring the nodes at this eclipse, so look at what goals are out of line with the needs of the present state of the world. Saturn transits test our maturity and our staying power, even as they slow things down and limit us in some way. Vesta says, let collective needs inspire your choices. (She the goddess of the village hearthfire.) What do we need to feel stable and secure in these turbulent times? Saturn in Aquarius says find your team, your tribe, your community and they will help you stay safe and secure, as well as work with you to bring in a better world. Aquarius is a group enterprise.


Since the Aries New Moon, we’ve switched from fire and air to earth and water energies. We have our Taurus lineup in earth, and we also have 4 planets in watery Pisces – Mars, Neptune, Venus and Jupiter. This energy in the collective unconscious can help us open our hearts to the real suffering in the world – perhaps suffering we ourselves aren’t experiencing.


With Venus and Jupiter exactly conjunct less than an hour after this eclipse, expect some blessings and spiritual insight into your life. Get out your paints and pencils, move your body and create ART to help you grow your Taurus seeds of life.


The Sabian symbol for Venus and Jupiter at 28* Pisces is: A fertile garden under the Full Moon reveals a variety of full grown vegetables. Here’s another image of gardening and harvest. This conjunction can bring us a big harvest and abundance. So watch for it.


At this New Moon, Mercury in Gemini is squaring the asteroid Juno, the goddess of relationships. What do we need to do about our relationships? Make them stronger? Let them go? Come clear on who you are (Chiron in Aries) and who they are and see how you can change the dynamics by talking to each other. Telling your truth is a necessity in a good relationship. Even better, write a letter – not an email – so partners can re-read what their ears couldn’t hear. We enter the Mercury retrograde shadow on April 24-25th getting ready for the Mercury retrograde starting on May 10th. More about that in the May newsletter.


As this Solar Eclipse occurs on the evening before Beltane, this is your chance to ground in the powerful energies of Spring with self-awareness, cooperation and joy. 

 

See you in May!