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)

The Cosmic Story: Scorpio-Taurus Full Moon 2021

 

The Cosmic Story: Scorpio/Taurus Full Moon 2021

Listen to things more often than beings.
Hear the voice of fire, hear the voice of water.
Listen in the wind to the sighing of the bush.
This is the ancestors breathing.

(Traditional from Senegal, translator unknown)

This week we celebrated our 51^st EARTH DAY. The chart for that first Earth Day was similar to today’s chart. The Sun, Saturn, Venus and Mercury were in Taurus with a Scorpio Full Moon joined by Jupiter Rx. And like today, Mars was in Gemini. This year’s chart has Sun, Venus and Mercury in Taurus, with Uranus instead of Saturn joining them, and we’re a few days away from our Scorpio Full Moon.

Taurus is the sign of our values, while Scorpio is the sign of our shared values. Why has it taken us 51 years to recognize how dependent we are on Mother Earth and her health? Why has it been so hard to get our leaders to recognize that their profits will be worthless if we let our life support system die? Perhaps we’ve finally reached the point where we take our relationship to Mother Earth seriously.

There is hope that we’re finally re-connecting to our place in Mother Earth’s biosphere now that Uranus is in Taurus. Even our rational sciences are acknowledging that everything here on our planet is alive and is conscious. We’re living within one vast conscious being – Mother Earth. It’s time for each of us to listen to her ancient wisdom if we’re going to heal ourselves and our world.

With Uranus in Taurus, we are awakening to Earth’s organic, creative wisdom. Gary Ferguson is a wilderness lover and the chapter headings in his wise book The Eight Master Lessons of Nature state the eternal, life-giving laws that Mother Earth has given her children.

1. Mystery: Wisdom begins when we embrace all we don’t know.

2. Life on Earth thrives because of a vast garden of connections.

3. The more kinds of life in the forest, the stronger that life becomes.

4. Healing the planet and ourselves means recovering the Divine Feminine.

5. Our animal relations make us happier and smarter.

6. We live on a planet with energy beyond measure, yet life doesn’t waste a drop.

7. After disaster and disruption, Nature teaches us the fine art of rising again.

8. Old Growth: The planet’s ELDERS can help us be better at Life.

Nature’s beauty holds every lesson we need to learn to live life fully. We just have to have the Will to do it. And to hold our elected leaders accountable for creating a more sustainable society for all of us to live in that honors Mother Earth and her mysterious ways.

One of the planetary energies that is especially strong now comes to us from the planet Venus, which is our sister planet. (C.S. Lewis wrote about this in his novel Perelandra.)

 

 Venus

Venus is in her Underworld phase – she disappeared as a Morning Star on the far side of the Sun on February 14^th and is invisible until around May 5^th – which is the astrological Beltane at 15* Taurus. When Venus emerges from the Underworld, she will become the Evening Star of Wisdom. And she will emerge in the earth sign of Taurus, so she will bless us with the wisdom to connect to our own earth – our body – as well as to our Mother Earth.

Venus is conjunct Black Moon Lilith on this Scorpio Full Moon. Black Moon Lilith is a point in space that forms the second foci of the Moon’s elliptical orbit, its apogee, which is the place where it is furthest from Earth.

As a centerpoint of the Moon’s orbit, Black Moon Lilith works in relationship to the Earth-Moon system and with the Sun. As a second center of reference, she gives a sense of rhythm to the Earth, taking the dynamics of relationship beyond the personal Moon-Venus energies into more subtle dimensions that are essential to our lives. For this reason, Black Moon Lilith has a strong impact on relationship dynamics. Representing the closest reach of the Moon to the Sun, she is also a reference point in our personal lives that brings us into relationship with the heart of our Sun-fueled experience on Earth, an emotional intelligence informed by the wisdom of earthy instinct.

M. Kelley Hunter, The Dark Goddess Lilith, The Mountain Astrologer, 1999.

Lilith was a Sumerian goddess and later Adam’s first wife, who demanded to be his equal. Because of her strength, she was kicked out of the Jewish Garden and turned into a demoness. What these patriarchs rejected was the ancient feminine wisdom of the body and of Earth. 

 

 Lilith

With both Venus and Black Moon Lilith in Taurus, we are invited back to the Garden to delight in our body’s wisdom and in Earth’s wisdom. This is when we get to have our say, speak our truth, stand up for what is life-giving. With these goddesses dancing with Uranus to awaken us to Earth’s wisdom, we get to envision what that might look like –an awakened Earth. This is the image of Lady Wisdom - A woman clothed with the Sun, standing on the Moon, crowned with Stars – that we saw in July 1969 when men took this picture of our precious planet from the Moon.

 

 

How synchronistic it is that the Sabian symbol for both Venus and BM Lilith at 16* Taurus is: An old teacher fails to interest his pupils in traditional knowledge. This image shows us the inadequacy of old intellectual knowledge in the face of our present crisis. And our two goddesses want to show us a new way to know, to learn and to grow. A sensual, earthy wisdom that can connect us all.

In my personal vision, I’d love to see all the women of the world, dancing in our beautiful bodies, stopping patriarchy’s wild rush toward death and destruction, just like the women in Aristophanes’ play Lysistrata, written in the year 411 B.C.E., in which women stage a sex strike to force men to stop the Peloponnesian War.

The female body holds its own wisdom that our world has rejected but which it needs desperately. So let the Divine Feminine speak to you and listen to the mystery of life within your own body. Mother Earth is counting on us!

Happy Earth Day – every day!

Scorpio Full Moon 2021

It was under the Full Moon of Taurus that the Buddha reached enlightenment – under the Bodhi Tree. It was Mother Earth – her tree, her Moon, her child – who guided and guarded him while he was tempted by the demons of men’s desires. Despite the fact that most patriarchal religions want to leave behind this earthly life for a more ‘heavenly’ one, we are here to learn our spiritual lessons. We have to stop thinking that we can escape to a ‘better world’ – be it heaven or Mars! We have to create that better world here on Earth – we have to see that the kingdom of heaven is right here, right now. And make it the Queendom of Earth – which is Taurus’ purpose.

You’ve probably noticed a shift in energy in the past few days. All those fiery Aries planets from the Aries New Moon wanted to take action, but now they’ve settled down to look around and see the beauty of Spring: we can’t help but notice the riot of colors and smells that delight our senses. We find we just want to take all that fire and shine it out like the Sun with gratitude and joy. Taurus says, let’s enjoy ourselves.

After all, it’s Spring and May. Nature is blossoming as the Sun warms Mother Earth and the Winds caresses her. Take a breath and ground yourself. Smile!

The Scorpio Full Moon occurs on Monday, April 26, 2021 at 7:32 pm Alaska time, 8:32pm PDT/11:32pm EDT and on Tuesday, April 27 at 4:32am GMT.

 

 

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 8* Taurus is: A sleigh on land uncovered with snow. This suggests that we have to use our imagination to prepare for future situations. And we have to use our knowledge and skill to anticipate future events that are tied to Earth’s natural rhythms.

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 8* Scorpio is: A calm lake bathed in Moonlight. This image suggests that when we calm our minds, we can receive divine inspiration and wisdom. It is through calming the watery realm of emotions that we can be enveloped in the illumination that the Light bestows.

 

 

Since the Taurus Sun is conjunct Uranus and they both oppose the Scorpio Moon, which isn’t the calmest Moon, we have to find our center and open to what wants to wake up in us. There is a surrender involved, because something has to die so something else can be born. Surrender to the unexpected!

The Sabian symbol for Uranus at 11* Taurus is: A woman watering flowers in her garden. Flowers have always symbolized different feelings and values. When we tend our emotional gardens, we are cultivating our ego responses to life. It will be interesting to see how we all deal with this meetup with Uranus. We’ll know how well we stay balanced as the Awakener disrupts our lives!

This Taurus-Scorpio opposition demands that we examine our values and those we share as a society. Taurus wants to build and create with the Aries fire, while Scorpio takes us down into the watery depths so we can release those values that are no longer viable and any emotional trauma that needs to be released, so we can emerge renewed and reborn.

With Uranus in the mix, we have to allow the disruption of our usual habits so we can change. Uranus can make us feel restless and dissatisfied with our old routines. Uranus transits can disrupt, change and renew whatever energies it connects with. Uranus’ ultimate goal is freedom – freedom to be your own unique Self. So with Uranus attuned to this Sun and Moon, we’ll get to shake off those patriarchal rules that no longer serve us or life.

Uranus can free us from our ‘boxes’ and open us to new possibilities because Uranus doesn’t allow us to stagnate. Whatever is hidden in those Scorpio depths will be shaken and stirred – so try to remain like the calm lake as we’re given a new freedom to do and be whatever we want to be.

Since I’m about to have Uranus conjunct my natal Sun over the next year, I’m waiting to see what shows up for this Full Moon to understand what I’m in for!

Squaring this Full Moon combination is Saturn in Aquarius, which wants to slow us down and make sure we have a structure to put into place once we shake off the old energies. The push-pull of this year’s Saturn-Uranus square involves our timing rhythms. The sudden rush of Uranus with the slow and steady beat of Saturn. It also reflects a tension between the old vs. the new, as we’re seeing in politics all over the world. This square between idealist Aquarius and grounded Taurus can also bring us erratic weather, tumbling power structures (along with Pluto in Capricorn), and civil unrest. It’s all there for us to see.

The Sabian symbol for Saturn at 13* Aquarius is: A barometer. A barometer measures air pressure, which means we can project what will happen in the future. It helps us anticipate future events. It’s also about timing. It is a good match to describe the Uranus-Saturn square.

Saturn asks this Full Moon – do we have everything we need to nurture and support this new life we’re opening to? Saturn likes to structure things. How do you give structure to sudden, dramatic changes? It looks like we’re all going to find out this year.

Saturn in Aquarius is about the group mind, so we need to ground in what new ideas want to be born now that can unite us, as we move forward into the future in a safe and secure way.

The Moon in Scorpio is hanging out by itself in this chart, so pay attention to your emotional motivations when you’re faced with any radical change. With a trine to Mars in Cancer as well as an out of sign trine to Jupiter, we can make those transformations that suit our soul. It’s time to release ancestral wounds so we can be free to develop our own unique stories.

Mars, still out-of-bounds, moved into Cancer on April 23^rd, bringing us out of our heads and into our hearts. I’ve found that Mars in Cancer is concerned for the well-being of the family and of the soul. Since Mars is our active, yang energy, you’ll find you want to spend time on self-care as well as putting in some time around the house, changing what needs to be changed.

Mars, which played a big role in the Saturn/Pluto conjunction last year, squaring the sensitive points in Capricorn as it retrograded in Aries, will oppose Pluto_rx in Capricorn on June 5^th. Will you stand up for your heart’s wisdom despite the powerful pull from Pluto? Will you stand up for Love and connection?

Pluto, our power player, is set to turn retrograde at 27* Capricorn on April 27, just after this Full Moon, so as it stations it’s extra powerful. Watch what happens around this time to see how it will affect you. Anyone with planets at 23-27* in the cardinal signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn will be most affected.

As always, there’s so much activity in the sky that you can get lost in it. The most important thing to do right now is to ground, enjoy the beauty of Spring and let your soul be your guide!

 

 

Bright Blessings as we approach Beltane. You can read all about it at The Bard’s Grove!

Cathy

 

 

In Praise of the Earth

Let us bless

The imagination of the Earth.

That knew early the patience

To harness the mind of time,

Waited for the seas to warm,

Ready to welcome the emergence

Of things dreaming of voyaging

Among the stillness of land.

And how light knew to nurse

The growth until the face of the Earth

Brightened beneath a vision of color.

When the ages of ice came

And sealed the Earth inside

An endless coma of cold,

The heart of the Earth held hope,

Storing fragments of memory,

Ready for the return of the sun.

Let us thank the Earth

That offers ground for home

And holds our feet firm

To walk in space open

To infinite galaxies.

Let us salute the silence

And certainty of mountains:

Their sublime stillness,

Their dream-filled hearts.

The wonder of a garden

Trusting the first warmth of spring

Until its black infinity of cells

Becomes charged with dream;

Then the silent, slow nurture

Of the seed's self, coaxing it

To trust the act of death.

The humility of the Earth

That transfigures all

That has fallen

Of outlived growth.

The kindness of the Earth,

Opening to receive

Our worn forms

Into the final stillness.

Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth

For all our sins against her:

For our violence and poisonings

Of her beauty.

Let us remember within us

The ancient clay,

Holding the memory of seasons,

The passion of the wind,

The fluency of water,

The warmth of fire,

The quiver-touch of the sun

And shadowed sureness of the moon.

That we may awaken,

To live to the full

The dream of the Earth

Who chose us to emerge

And incarnate its hidden night

In mind, spirit, and light.

~ John O'Donohue ~

(To Bless the Space Between Us)

The Cosmic Story: Aries New Moon 2021

 

The Cosmic Story: Aries New Moon 2021

The Fire of Creation 

Motherpeace Deck

In many ways, this Sunday’s Aries New Moon is another beginning of the astrological new year – another aspect of Spring Equinox. Now the Light and Dark will grow imbalanced until Summer Solstice/Winter Solstice.

Up North, the Light is returning.

Astrology is based on cycles. Such as the soli-lunar cycle of Sun and Moon. Astrology looks at the planetary cycles and tries to understand what happens when two planets connect to each other in different mathematical configurations. It also looks at how present cycles are related to past cycles.

This New Moon is connected to a few past cycles and planetary aspects, so we’ll be revisiting what happened in the past so we can move into the future.

Aries symbolizes the fire of Spirit descending upon us, giving us life, giving us the opportunity to start over, to begin again. Just as we’re energized by this fiery Spirit, Spirit wants to be expressed. Fire wants to burn! 

 

 

The paradox is that fire is both creative and destructive – it is up to us to shape something with the fire into the third, transformative state. (You can read more about the magic of Fire and its patrons at The Bard's Grove) We humans can use fire to both create consciousness as well as destroy life.

At this moment of cultural crisis and transformation, we’re each being asked by destiny to make our choice – will we create a new life here on Earth and heal ourselves and Mother Earth or will we continue to kill and destroy life?

This Aries New Moon will square the sensitive degrees of Capricorn where Saturn, Pluto, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury came together last year to such devastating effects. Now these archetypal energies have been regenerated (Pluto) and infused with hope and imagination (Neptune in Pisces). We have opportunities now with Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius to affect collective consciousness through our technology and our common visions.

The world is at a turning point. We can collapse back into a death culture that thrives on war and power, or we can emerge into a new world where peace and cooperation can set our energies flowing to heal Nature and re-create ourselves.

Will we use the pure fires of this powerful Aries New Moon to heal or destroy ourselves? Never doubt that our individual choices will unite and set the vision for our future.

Whatever you think of President Biden, he is setting a course to re-build America from the bottom up. This is a vision that helps people while it works towards climate accountability. Hopefully, COVID has given us a sense of sacrifice and community. Pluto says it’s time for us to take responsibility and sacrifice our time or money to create ‘a more perfect union’. (Abraham Lincoln) 

 

Like the new light of sunrise, Aries and Mars embody a pioneering energy, the same type of energy used to explore and later unfortunately dominate the New World. After people settling in America used this Mars energy to fight and conquer this wild, beautiful continent, their descendants focused that Mars energy on commercial enterprises and scientific and technological discoveries. It is the energy that America has thrived on. It is a young, eager, adventurous energy that made us a great power in the world.

Lately, though, we seem to have lost this pioneering spirit as a country. Perhaps turning away from it because we’ve seen and understood what its done to our Native peoples, to the land and to other countries. Or perhaps our relative wealth breeds contentment and sometimes laziness.

But this decline aligns with the fact that we’re at the end of America’s Pluto cycle (our power and our past), which runs from 2021 – 2024 and perfects (conjuncts natal Pluto) for the first time on February 20, 2022 (2/20/22).

As the cycle ends, a new one begins. What will we make of it? While Pluto works to destroy what is no longer viable, it also wants us to evolve and grow. Will our evolutionary track lead us to extinction? Or to new heights of human consciousness, compassion and wisdom? We have to work with Pluto on this one. As this archetypal energy of power and surrender is renewed, we the people will partake of it. Just like Americans engaged with it before we declared our independence in 1776.

This death and rebirth energy compels us to question ourselves and our values. What are our country’s values? What do we stand for? How do we value our natural and cultural resources? How do we value our people, who are all immigrants and therefore orphans who have been uprooted from their motherlands. What are we willing to fight to protect – people or things? How should our government be structured and should our collective government provide us with basic necessities for ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’? How should the country’s finances be organized – should the economy be the cultural center or just a tool when we put life at the center? What role does private business play in our country? What role do citizens play?

While Aries is about the individual Hero’s Journey, the truth is our whole world culture needs regenerating. So humanity is being called to the Hero’s Journey. 

 

Will we answer the call?

This is who we were born to be. This is what we were born to do.

Aries New Moon 2021

The Aries New Moon occurs on April 11, 2021 at 3:31pm Alaska time, 4:31pm PDT/ 7:31pm EDT and on April 12, 2021 at 12:31am GMT.

 

 

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 23* Aries is: A pregnant woman in a light summer dress. Besides being an image of fertility, pregnancy is an inner process. This New Moon is so juicy and full of potential. Summer is the time when the Earth is most fertile. Take this image with you as you plant your New Moon seeds in the dark. Watch for the slim crescent Moon on Tuesday. That’s the day to begin something new.

This Aries New Moon is comprised of a conjunction of 6 planetary bodies: Chiron, Mercury, Sun, Moon, Eris and Venus join energies to fill us with the courage and strength to be authentic, strategically engaging in the world in new ways. If we ask these archetypal energies to guide us, they can help us manifest what creative ideas we’ve been working with this past year.

We’ll need some guidance as this New Moon squares 23-24* Capricorn where the transformative conjunction of Pluto and Saturn happened last year on January 11, 2020. As well as to the degrees of the three Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions during 2020.

This Aries New Moon squares where the Capricorn New Moon on January 13, 2021 occurred. That New Moon was conjunct Pluto, hopefully helping us confront our fears. With this New Moon in a first quarter square to January’s New Moon, we get to move past our fears to a clearer vision of what’s needed. We are being asked to choose. That’s what free will is all about. The choices we make.

Since we are helping rebuild our society (sq to Pluto), we as citizens have the responsibility to find out what our government is doing. When we go to City or Town Council meetings, we have a voice in what happens in our local, state and national communities. If we all pay attention, we can help communities steer our way through these troubled waters. This is the time to make new commitments to transform the world. Just don’t settle on the exact form yet. Play with your options! Aries loves to play.

This Aries New Moon fire is fanned by Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in air signs, sparking new ideas and possibilities. With Saturn in the mix, we have to come up with good, solid ideas before we act on them.

Like the shifting, dancing flames, however, it isn’t time to settle in on one answer or way. That comes later on this Spring. Now is the time to dance with the flame and try out new shapes and patterns to see which one rings true for you.

 

With Venus and Mars dancing together in a cooperative, encouraging sextile, our values and our desires dance well together. Our values and what we love will become clear to our authentic Self. It’s time to brake free from patriarchy’s capitalistic spell controlling our desires.

Mars, which rules these Aries planets, is in Gemini and likes to play around with different ideas and information – so it’s a good time to do more research. With a creative trine to Jupiter in Aquarius, it’s a great time to talk with people and find out what they’re thinking about, which will help you consolidate your own ideas.

Communication is key here, especially since Mercury in Aries is in what’s called mutual reception with Mars in Gemini – they’re staying in each other’s home sign. Mars can be argumentative, so please try to listen before you speak. It’s about really hearing what others say before you respond.

We do have to watch out for Mars since he’s out-of-bounds – meaning he’s going to be a wild card energy, that refuses to play within the lines. Allow your thoughts and ideas to be outrageous if you want. You’ll be winnowing through them in the next month or so.

With Mars in Gemini and Jupiter in Aquarius closely supporting this New Moon, you’ll want to pick and choose which seeds to plant, since you might have an over-abundance of them.

 

 

Mars’ sister, Eris, warrior goddess of the Heart, mediates between this New Moon and Venus. She will insist that we listen to our hearts and our values (Venus) when we set our seed intentions – otherwise she’ll create dis-cord for going against our hearts’ desire.

Find your Aries house. Look at what sign and house your Mars occupies. These will tell you which road is right for you. Understand what underlying motives make you want to take action. With Mars in Gemini, first and foremost, you are going on an adventure of the mind (Georgia Stathis). Think of all those possibilities!

When Mars goes into Cancer on April 23^rd, the same day as Mercury conjuncts Uranus in Taurus, your emotional body will come online and you’ll know what direction to take.

Over the next week or so, Venus, the Sun and Mercury will square Pluto, helping us leave behind old habits and ideas that no longer serve us in our new story. You might run into some old power dynamics that you’ll have to deal with. Don’t react! Try to understand what’s going on and choose how you want to deal with it.

 

Venus moves into Taurus from April 14 – May 8. Things will feel more gentle and enjoyable. Venus is beginning her Evening Star phase as the Goddess of Love and Wisdom rather than her Morning Star phase as a Goddess of War and outer engagement.

All the planets are moving forward now until Pluto goes retrograde on April 27^th. So things might move forward rapidly now. Just go with the flow and see what happens.

The Sabian symbol for Pluto turning retrograde at 27* Capricorn is: Pilgrims climbing the steep steps leading to a mountain shrine.  It's time to go in search of higher consciousness.

Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Venus, Pluto and Pallas Athena are connecting to the Gemini/Sagittarius nodes. This bit of information from astrologer Anne Ortlee: when planets aspects the nodes like this watch for people to come into your life who will have an affect on you in some way. So see who you connect with in the next few weeks. They might be bringing you the help you need.

The Sky is ever changing and so are its energies. Try to keep up but be good to yourself. This is still a new and emerging energy we’re dealing with. Take care of it as you would a beloved child.

Blessings of the Spring to you all!

Cathy

I Want A Lot

You see, I want a lot.
Perhaps I want everything:
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.

So many live on and want nothing
and are raised to the rank of prince
by the slippery ease of their light judgments.

But what you love to see are faces
that so work and feel thirst....

You have not grown old, and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

(Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. By Robert Bly)