Taurus Insights
April 19:
Sun enters Taurus: 3:55 PM EDT
Once there was a garden, beautiful and real: a wonder of cycles and seasons, ordinary miracles of Life giving birth to itself, abundant and above all a place where everyone belonged.
Sure there were predators and prey. Wild happenings, strong winds, mighty storms, earthquakes and lightning. A great and powerful round of existence.
Taurus remembers.
No bull!
Rumor has it we lost the garden on account of knowledge, on account of too much awareness of too many things that we weren’t supposed to know. But consider that actually it was never lost. We fell asleep. We entered a dream of ignorance and like deep dreamers, believed that we were awake. We cannot now and never could live outside the cycles of nature: birth, death, time and conditions. It is our ignorance, our dream that we are the crown of creation, that we can live apart from nature which deludes us into thinking that the garden is lost.
To sit and know that you are sitting. To taste and smell and touch, to hear and see the world is to awaken and know that here is the garden; not so much lost except in our dream of domination, a dream of loss and separation. On account of this terrible dream we have indeed neglected the very garden that feeds and cares for us.
During Taurus many Earthlings celebrate the garden: Earth, our home and native planet. Happy Earth Day, Earthling. You are not at 2 with nature, unless you are.
The Sun in Taurus will square Mars and Pluto, conjunct Uranus and sextile Saturn. You can follow along below.
Mars trine Neptune (also today)
Last time Mars made a trine to Neptune they were in water signs (January 12th) and we were hoping we had a good boat because it looked like things were about to get rough. And they did. Now it’s in fire signs as Mars completes the shadow of its retrograde journey. We have a fight on our hands. We are called to stand up and assert ourselves. Every vote counts.
April 20
Mercury sextile Pluto
Sun square Mars
Just in case you thought it would be easy to stand and be counted it, likely, isn’t. However clarity of mind is quite helpful if you take a moment to find it.
April 23
Sun square Pluto
These days when the Sun highlights the opposition of Mars and Pluto could be about rage and the festering implosion it causes when it isn’t expressed. No one likes to be bullied, it bends the mind and troubles the soul. A square demands awareness which fosters something other than festering rage. When we acknowledge the powerful frustrations that seem insurmountable we begin to realize that we have power too. There is always something to be done. Mars calls us to act. Pluto puts pressure on everything it comes into contact with. The kind of pressure that makes diamonds out of coal.
April 24
Venus conjunct Saturn
Get serious about what you value. And how value is aligned (or not) with the soul’s longing for beauty. What is beauty? Could it possibly be that we have mistaken images of beauty for beauty itself? Venus, still in the shadow of the retrograde (what a journey that was…) commands respect as she conjuncts Saturn. How do you align beauty with function? Why is it that patriarchy separated craft from art and relegated craft to the lesser realms as it mechanized the manufacturing of all that we use? How has our world lost its sacredness? Isn’t it up to each one of us to decide if we live in a temple, a garden or a trash heap?
April 26
Mercury leaves shadow of the retrograde
Mars opposite Pluto
Finding the strength to live through transformation, such as we are engaged in on our Big Blue Ball of a planet is less like Superman on the day before a New Moon, and more like the Four of Swords:
The knight retreats into a deep meditation, quieting the mind, relaxing the body, complete surrender to things as they are. He is not asleep. Awareness is All. He will know when it is time to take action, express his creativity, engage with others in powerful ways. Today is for stillness.
April 27
New Moon: 07* Taurus: 03:31 PM EDT
Whatever our individual desires may be it takes strength and courage to blow past the bullies and continue living on Planet Earth.
We are living in archetypal times. Has it always been like this? Is it a fight or a call to be here and now? A New Moon in Taurus isn’t about a fight. More about the discovery of how things feel, sound, look, taste and smell. Presence (not presents).
April 30
Venus enters Aries (again)
Venus continues to finish what she started with the recent retrograde. We have raked over, stood with, and debated our values as well as our worth. We have faced the bullies and their trade wars, their horrifying attempt to treat the world as if it is a business. A corporation only concerned with its bottom line. What’s wrong with this picture is obvious to anyone with a desire to live at peace on a beautiful planet. Morning star Venus in Aries encourages us to fight for beauty, peace and a livable planet. Or at least to live as if this is so. To assert our value, our values and to refuse the paradigm of civilization as a business.
May 2
Mars leaves the shadow of its retrograde
Venus conjunct Neptune
As Mars finishes with its period of descent and return (October till now) with a resounding opposition to Pluto you might consider how the challenges presented by living in this world have changed for you, for all of us, since October. What kind of strength and courage have you honed over the last 7 months and how that will support you in the challenges to come? Mars likes a good challenge.
Venus was conjunct Neptune on February 1st and March 27th in Pisces. This last conjunction (at the end of the shadow of the retro period) is in Aries. A different kettle of fish, to be sure. In Pisces our longings were for beauty and soul-making. In Aries we might just be longing for survival, wondering what resources we have going forward into an unstable world. We will have years to consider Neptune in Aries but here, at the beginning of its stay we might think about how to bring or offer our unique identity to the collective task of creating a new world. A new way of being. It is a lot to consider. Focus on the conundrum not the solution.
May 4
Pluto stationary retrograde
Pluto is a slow mover through the heavens. Stationing so close to an opposition with Mars suggests we are dealing with enormous and powerful energies which we cannot control. No surprise there. Pluto’s realm includes inevitable endings as well as the kinds of transformations which turn garbage into compost. We do not need to be in control of these powers. They are not ours to control. However we can align ourselves with them. She changes everything She touches. Everything she touches, changes. We often feel stations for a week or more before and after. It’s good to pause when you sense these energies and honor them. Less scary.
May 5
Mercury sextile Jupiter
Be curious, no matter what the conditions.
It’s Beltane; the exact mid-point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. How robust are your roots? What nutrients can you offer to the soil out of which you grow that you, like every living thing, can flourish and feed the world?
May 6
Venus sextile Pluto
Mercury conjunct Chiron
Go to the head of the class if you have been open, like Alice, to a world that gets ‘curiouser and curiouser’ all the time. Maybe you think you’re exhausted from hearing this, but every transformation creates an opportunity for someone. Might as well be you. Even if it’s not the opportunity you were anticipating.
May 10
Mercury enters Taurus
Like celestial clockwork, planets move through their courses. Down here we move with them if and when we align with their movements. It’s a choice, like remembering to drop your shoulders. Aligning with Mercury’s movements at this time encourages us to get grounded, be practical and know ‘how much’ and ‘what for’ before handing over our credit card. Common sense, being the sense we make of the world through our senses, has never been rarer – or more necessary.
May 12
Full Moon: 22* Scorpio: 12:55 PM EDT
Mercury square Pluto
If you find yourself at the intersection of Rock and Hard Place take a look around. What do you see? What do you sense without seeing? Use all of your senses today. It will open doors that seem locked, barred and impenetrable. Or not. It’s a mystery.
May 16
Venus leaves the shadow of the retrograde
All told the influence of the Venus retrograde started around January 28th and ends today. Of course the intensity of it was the actual retrograde period from March 1st – April 12th, with an extra intensity in the last week of March. A reflection on what appeared to have the most value over that time would be a good one on this day. Was it your health, your family, your business? Your pets, kids or parents? The list is long and it may not be just one thing. It may not be a thing at all. Perhaps Venus revealed the value of a loving heart or a peaceful mind, the need for a walk in the woods or an afternoon nap. There may be just one Venus but she talks to each of us in unique ways.
May 17
Sun conjunct Uranus
The war of tariffs continues to affect us all. The point of course has been to keep the world off kilter. A boxing match with a fleet footed trickster, a joker, who only wants to drive you crazy not necessarily knock you out. Of course, even jokers and tricksters get tired, misstep and knock themselves off kilter. Maybe it’s the only dance there is. Maybe there is a stillness at the center that draws from an unlimited source, that moves from the still point and so remains standing after the joker falls.
May 18
Mercury square Mars
Jupiter sextile Chiron
You could take it on the chin. Or you could remember the power of curiosity. You could learn, even as you dodge the hit, and in learning relax enough to enjoy the dance. It’s life, and life only that we are living.
May 20
Sun sextile Saturn
Today at 2:54 PM is actually the first day of Gemini. Just before that, the Sun, at the very last degree of Taurus (29th degree) makes a sextile to Saturn also at 29 degrees. 29 degrees of a sign is a mystery occurring after the end but before the beginning. Maybe we are exhausted from all the quantum leaps the world is making but the planets are not. Here is a reminder to acknowledge that we are in transition: the entire world not just the poor unfortunates. All of us, not just some of us. This is not a transition of either/or. We are not moving from one side of a polarity to the other. You might say we are transitioning from polarization itself to a dynamic call for integration. We are not standing on the threshold of taking sides. It’s more complicated or you might say mysterious than that. Being born and dying at the same time isn’t easy.