Taurus New Moon Letter

This time has felt like being a passenger of a run-away train destined to careen off its tracks; symbolic of an out-of-bounds Mars and the six new moons in a row at the Jupiterian 9th degree.

And now finally a moment of sobering up, perhaps with the realization that we can no longer ignore the fact that we are part of a larger ecosystem. When you tweak one area, you affect another like a ripple effect that moves both outward and inward. This ripple effect can work its way back to us in unexpected ways, the Saturnian laws of cause and effect mixed in with Uranian shocks.

As a society, we have been given the opportunity to integrate a higher truth; There are negative consequences of our current imbalances, where profits are worshiped as the highest ideal and often at the expense of our well-being. We have become too dependent on these larger institutions and it has directly impacted our relationship to this larger ecosystem.

Science has been chasing its tail trying to mitigate all of the symptoms of our imbalance, but it’s not addressing the root causes. And because profit has seeped its tentacles into every aspect of our lives, it has come at the expense of both the scientific and the spiritual. Everything has been steeped in money as the primary motivating factor and it’s threatening to take away the very empathy that makes us human.

This new moon is the first new moon that indicates a shift of focus. Since November, the repetition of the new moons between the 9th and 10th degrees have mirrored the bridge between Jupiter and Saturn; the collective tension we’ve been feeling as we’ve moved between the squares of these two planets; the final square perfecting in June, a day after Trump’s birthday.

This tension can be described as a desire for unbounded growth and optimism for the future versus a need for long term structure and stability. It’s not enough to dream big about what could be. At some point, we are confronted with the constraints of what is pragmatically possible in the present moment and in partnership with the other. 

After the last dramatic full moon in Libra, activating the current market instability and constitutional crisis, the death of Pope Francis as Saturn perfected a conjunction with the North Node in Pisces, and a final Mars-Pluto opposition on the day of his funeral, this New Moon promises a release. It finally shifts our focus from growth exploration toward transforming the security, stability, and long-term reliability of our current and future partnerships. 

This new moon between the 7th and 8th degrees of Taurus adds the flavor of Libra and Scorpio. We stand at a crossroads where our initiations during the first part of the year must be concretized or discarded. We must choose which direction to take, but we still have the opportunity to be creative about how we align ourselves with others toward the transformative nature of the future. 

This new moon also offers us a unique opportunity to connect with all different ways we manipulate situations to favor ourselves and how we often do unto others what we don't want done to ourselves. It’s time to flip the switch and see how this operates within. Seeing it releases its power. It can also help bring compassion and clarity to our seeing. 

Raven Kaldera calls this Taurus New Moon the Dryad Moon, where we struggle with our relationship to the Natural World: 

“This is not an easy Moon to be born under, at least in our modern times. If there is not enough Nature in the life of those born under the Dryad’s Moon something in their emotional nature withers and sets up a great yearning, which they may try to fill with other Taurus coping mechanisms of food, sex, and apathy. The only cure is spending significant periods of time interacting with the natural world, ideally in an untamed state."

This new moon also reminds me of this quote from Wendell Berry, a farmer, activist, and poet : 

“The idea was that when faced with abundance one should consume abundantly – an idea that has survived to become the basis of our present economy. It is neither natural nor civilized, and even from a ‘practical’ point of view it is to the last degree brutalizing and stupid.” 

Interestingly Wendell has his natal Uranus at the beginning of Taurus and so too Pope Francis. In fact Francis' natal Uranus is within 2 degrees of this new moon. Pope Francis, who died minutes away from Saturn perfecting a conjunction to the North Node, made his final Easter appearance merely hours before. A quote from his Easter message:

"On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!" 

He also said: 

"There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others" 

An American ideal, yes? His Sun and North Node sits in the United States Sibley chart's first house.

Revisiting the Saturn North Node Conjunction:

Looking at this chart with fresh eyes, I focused on Trump’s Midheaven coming to the Ascendent, but Vance has similar angles so it was also his Midheaven coming to the Ascendent. It was Vance who visited Pope Francis the day before he died. And it is Pope Francis’ Part of Fortune (Sun-Moon midpoint) that is the exact degree of this Ascendent.

That’s how the Universe keeps us on our toes: when we think we have everything figured out, it can throw us a curve ball. It makes perfect sense that this Pisces karmic cycle ending features the death of a prominent spiritual leader who made no secret he was in direct opposition to this administration’s treatment of refugees. His leadership was deeply connected to the core teachings of Jesus Christ who was a Shepard to both the poor and the outcast. Pope Francis had a Moon-Venus conjunction in early Aquarius and Vance has his Sun in early Leo, both in square to the upcoming New Moon. It’s demonstrative of the collective versus individual theme of the Aquarius-Leo archetype and we’ll continue to see these themes feature even after this final confrontation between Mars and Pluto. 

If you are interested in checking out the analysis of the last Mars-Pluto opposition and the New Moon chart placed in Washington DC, check out my New Moon Video: