Insights for Taurus
Reminder: Astrology is a kind of sky writing which invites the muse. No two perceptions are exactly the same but any of us can find insight through the images if we look. These are mine, happily offered for you to reshape and fashion into something of your own. Follow the links, where you find them for further musings on the planetary aspects.
A Mercury Retrograde month: Get aligned here.
April 20
Sun enters Taurus: 04:13 AM EDT
Sun square Pluto
Lest we forget: Shift is happening everywhere. Taurus hates that. Taurus must have invented the dream of stability, predictability and things you can count on. However this stops short of the deeper meaning of this sign which is presence; the unshakable stability that lives at the core and takes all that happens in without changing or losing its ground. It seems that the N.I.M.B.Y.s days are over. The entire world is my back yard. And yours. And it’s changing faster than greased lightning. The Great Leonard reminded us that the cracks are how the light gets in. It helps to have an image in the mind.
Taurus, of course, is not the mind. It’s the body and includes the mind only as much as its thoughts arise from the body. Consider your own particular body and the way it draws upon the earth’s energies for sustenance. We don’t mine this energy for profit. We draw upon it and thereby affirm our earthiness. Go stand next to a tree and you will see.
Mercury goes retrograde tomorrow, asking us to look back so that we can look ahead. You can read more about this here. (Scroll down a bit.) As the Sun travels through the sign of Taurus this year it will engage with Saturn and Uranus as well as Mercury. Jupiter will join in later in May. There is no point in debating what, if anything is real. Taurus is more about exploring what it means to be embodied in a world where absolutely nothing lasts.
April 21
Mercury retrograde
Back in the day… when I learned astrology we were taught that if you wanted to understand Mercury retrograde you could just put ‘re’ in front of any word you like. If you play this game you will realize that there is no need to freak out when this happens. Nothing to hide from. Here is a partial list. I am sure you can make one of your own. Re-member, re-store, re-flect, re-do, re-turn, re-ssurect, re-call, re-pair, re-fuse, re-tire. Re-arrange, re-write, re-read, re-kindle, re-do. And of course, if you must, re-gret.
Given that Mercury is in the earthy sign of Taurus you might want to re-invigorate your garden or re-turn something you don’t really need. Re-vise your budget or re-member how good something felt.
Generally speaking they say that Mercury retrograde is good for writers and writing. It’s a time to dive deeply and bring back some treasure. And yes, if you are involved in something that requires detail, measure twice and cut once. Always good advice.
You can read more about it here.
April 23
Mars sextile Mercury (Rx)
What kind of action (Mars) might offer an opportunity (sextile) to help you find some solid ground (Taurus) and feel more secure in the year to come? Even if you can’t do it all today you could consider what might be re-quired (Mercury) to accomplish a little bit of grounding.
April 25
Sun sextile Saturn
Venus sextile Chiron
What good are feelings? What purpose could they possibly have, even if it’s a swamp in there where they reside? Make a list. It might include the simple understanding that whatever they are, feelings are always true. We feel what we feel which is not the same as acting them out. Knowing what you know about the importance of feelings you might offer a hand to someone whose feelings need a witness which is decidedly different than a fix.
April 27
Mars square Chiron
Our insecurities make us reactive to the insecurities of others. So we grab more than we need off the grocery shelf and we give less than we can afford to those whose insecurities far outweigh our own. Let’s be honest, to be human is to be insecure. To rise above doesn’t always help. Diving in and exploring our watery interior realm is where real change begins.
April 29
Mars sextile Uranus
If you look back to as recently as April 23 you get a sense of the capriciousness of planets. Mars sextile this, square that. Just like life. If you have been diving in and looking around at how you are made with an eye to figuring out what it’s good for you might be ready for the Aha! moment: Not exactly a solution to human insecurity but more like a creative, inventive hack.
May 1
Pluto stationery retrograde
Sun conjunct Mercury (Rx)
A day to make a stand at the most profoundly inner and paradoxical layer of existence; Be it science, mysticism, psychology or planting your garden. Easier said than done. To be honest, I am not sure what I even mean but there we have the image of Mercury cooking at the heart of the Sun where renewal begins and Pluto, guardian of the Underworld, standing still as an angel on the head of a pin. Given that nature only makes originals (consider your fingerprints) you may be the only one who is qualified to know what this means for you.
May 4
Venus square Neptune
Stillness at the heart allows us to navigate the chaotic circumference of the world around us. Maybe it’s just about having the courage to rest.
May 5
Full Moon: 14 degrees Scorpio: 01:34 PM EDT
Venus sextile Jupiter
All things considered there has never been a better time than now to accept the world and your part in it as is. Full Moons offer light in the darkness allowing us to avoid potholes and pitfalls. This one asks us to look behind from where we came if we want to have a sense of where we are going. Once we believed that it was enough to do this for ourselves alone. Times have changed. Mercury retrograde themes are strengthened by this Full Moon which is to say, as you look back over the last few years or maybe a lifetime you would do well to appreciate all the times you landed on your feet or did something right. We don’t get to do it over but we are learning all the time. As we step into the future (always) we could apply what we have learned. This is the application of our Earned Wisdom. If we have learned anything it might be that for something to be worthy it needs to be for the Good of All or at least the many.
May 7
Venus enters Cancer
There’s a million reasons to love your mother – the one who gave birth to you or the one who gives birth to us all. But who needs a reason to love the supremely creative power that gives us life? All the neurotic triggers and hooks aside, let us love our Mother. (Even if Mother’s Day is not until next week.)
May 9
Sun conjunct Uranus
Everything we think we own exists in concert with everything that ever was or will be created. The whole earth belongs to us as much as we belong to Her. We own what we love, if only for a time. The rest is just stuff. We hold on and we let go. Chaos and creation have always been a pair. The difference now is that we are aware of this tension unfolding right where we stand: Beneath our feet, above our heads and at the grocery store.
Planets are renewed in the heart of the Sun, (conjunction): the way a Phoenix rises from the ashes of its immolation. Inasmuch as these planetary pictures are meant for musing, how can you embrace the chaos?
PhoenixFire Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash
May 12
Mercury (Rx) sextile Saturn and Venus
You can only really be where you are at any given moment. Such are the wisdom teachings of many great traditions as well as just plain common sense. All awakenings occur in the here and the now. Be amazed but more importantly be present to the uses of love and healing wherever you find yourself. Everyone matters: the squirrel in your back yard, the bird in your front and the people everywhere. Nature is, has always been and will continue to be diverse.
May 13
Venus trines Saturn
On the verge of the unknown, the unknowable, call it the future, we drink deeply from the well of feeling within. In this way we experience the genuine web of connection of everything to everything.
May 14
Mercury stationery direct
Before you forge ahead, take a quick look back at what, if anything, you learned or have become aware of since April 21st when Mercury went retrograde. Looking back allows us to move ahead with confidence or at least willingness.
May 15
Mars trines Neptune
Spiritual warriors can be tricksters, tricking us into seeing the world from a different perspective. Worse is when tricksters pretend to be spiritual warriors. Discerning the difference is an initiation in its own right. To do this you have to trust yourself, your gut-level self; that inner part of you that knows what it knows and doesn’t need others to agree. In this world it is a radical act to trust oneself over and above the algorithm or the scam artist.
May 16
Jupiter enters Taurus
Big astrological news: More earth. Jupiter here could expand our desire to consume, to want, to grasp. Be on the lookout. Remember when everyone bought too much toilet paper? Scarcity mind is Taurus at its worst. A nobler and just as possible way to see this is to see the Earth as a living being, made of earth, air, fire and water, just like you. In fact we are made in the image of the Earth. With bones like mountains; breath like air; blood , sweat and tears the living waters; and spirit, a fire that burns with passion and the impulse to live the only life you can.
These first two weeks of Jupiter’s arrival will show us (by its aspects to Pluto and Mars) more ‘no’ than ‘yes. We are challenged personally and collectively to care passionately for what matters but to hold back on aggression. Restraint is the word.
May 17
Jupiter square Pluto
The gods are at odds with each other. The best laid plans seem useless in the face of the immediate here and now of things. This clash between ideal and real continues to upset our intentions. The fate of far too many lives and souls is at the mercy of a tight-fisted greed that no longer makes sense, if it ever did. Where does that leave us? We are not the greedy ones are we? We feel like pawns in the game. And so we are if we cannot fathom the complex powers that abide in our own depths. Time to dig right where you’re standing. A square like this, just two days before a New Moon suggests a time to hold the tension. Action will be more effective after the New Moon on the 19th.
May 18
Sun sextile Neptune
Take your part in the mad, mad, mad world. If you don’t know what that is take a nap, perchance to dream. Find the simplest manifestation of beauty that presents itself. This world and each of us living in it are powered by and connected to unseen forces. Call it the soul of nature. Soak it up. Take it in. It’s real.
May 19
New Moon: 28 degrees of Taurus: 11:53 AM EDT
Mercury sextile Saturn
Once again, as it does each and every month, no matter what the conditions here on Earth, the Moon is New. She glides into the heart of the Sun, the fire of renewal, and she says (if we have ears to hear) “Begin Again.” Make an intention based on things you can taste and touch. Matter is Mother. Mother is this world which our senses perceive (all 6 of them). We belong here for as long as we are here, even after. Get real. See if you can love yourself or someone or something enough to make it real.
Everything is possible when contained within the limits of matter. That’s the game. We will never sprout wings but we can fly.
May 20
Mars enters Leo
Mars opposite Pluto
Power: over others, empowerment from within. To light the way or to destroy the way of someone else. Special powers, magical powers, super powers. Power translated into action: Explosive, implosive. Why not for the good of all? Power + Action = Frustration when you add Jupiter to the mix tomorrow on the first day of Gemini.