April 22-23. 2020
7:25 PM PDT / 10:25 PM EDT / 2:25 AM GMT
3 Taurus 24
The Taurus New Moon is launching a new phase in relating to creature comforts and the physical world. And like so much these days, the phase is a break from the norm – and not entirely comfortable.
And Taurus is the home base of comfort. It’s the slowest, most planted energy in the zodiac, and its preference is to sink into a favorite, homey spot and slowly, languidly, unapologetically enjoy the sensual aspects of existence: The softness of a couch or pillow, or of natural fibers against the skin. The colors and aromas of flowers and herbs and other plants growing in a garden (and even the scent of dirt). The smells and flavors and textures of foods and beverages. The quiet pleasures of sitting in the sun, of listening to music, of holding a book, a remote, a warm hand or body.
A Taurus New Moon generally directs attention to the pleasures growing in our metaphoric garden and invites nibbling away. This sign wants what it wants in tangible form, preferably close enough to touch. And thus begins this Moon’s break from the norm.
This Moon’s energies weirdly reflect the challenges and disruptions of a global pandemic, from social distancing to layoffs to breaks in the distribution of supplies. Yet even if those were not our outer conditions, this would be an edgy, unsettling New Moon.
The main cause is the Moon’s closeness to Uranus. The Sun and Moon are in the sign that likes to stay put, and they are traveling with a force of radical, destabilizing change. Uranus is the ultimate disrupter, the liberator, the awakener, the rebel with or without a cause. He shakes things up, out in the world, and in perspectives and thinking. (He’s called the higher octave of Mercury, the messenger god and ruler of minds and communication.)
Uranus conjunct the New Moon is enlivening all those sensory experiences with nervous, somewhat unpleasant energy. It’s shooting off static electricity and zapping our grip. It’s making like a massage chair with the settings just a bit too high, and the controls evading our reach.
The conjunction is breaking us from the tried and true and opening us to different, unconventional, innovative alternatives. The combo is plenty explosive in its own right, but it’s got reinforcement. Adding to the imperative is a square to the New Moon from Saturn, lord of structure, order and responsibility. Rules will be broken, your internal ones as well as external constraints.
The Saturn/Uranus/Moon dance has the drama and utter lack of subtlety and grace of the body-slinging apache of mid -20th century fame. (Look it up). One likely result: finding offbeat or shocking ways around the constraints of social distancing. (Watch for growing rebellion, or growing and sudden loosening of restrictions). Watch, too, for more inventiveness from the performing arts and entertainment fields, which erupted with audience-building tactics as soon as shutdowns began.
This jittery moon dance could inspire technology-driven, futuristic responses to erratic availability of fresh food, such as aero-gardens or DIY hydroponic gardening. It could unleash push back against the established order, or against government action, or, conversely, force community-oriented responses from government and leaders.
And it will push each of us out of our comfort zones. Whatever we gravitated to before is no longer delivering the satisfaction we crave. It’s as if we are wearing an electrified collar, or living within an electrified fence, except that going outside the boundary isn’t what’s causing the jolts. Staying put is.
There is freedom in this, and that’s the gift of this New Moon. We can’t approach physical existence as we did before, but we can make up new paths, new ways and new norms.
They don’t have to be cold or robotic, as disconnected as Uranus may be. A more nurturing and emotionally connected future is on offer. The Moon is in an opportunity aspect to her North Node in Cancer. The North Node’s journey for the past two years through the Moon’s home sign has been inviting making our individual nurturing a priority. Now we are at a point of making that a default experience of life.
If you’re resistant, this Moon comes with incentive to push through mental and emotional blocks. Mercury is squaring Jupiter and Pluto, who are amplifying and intensifying the structural collapse and we are witnessing and experiencing. Our information streams are bombarded with relentless reports of time-honored systems giving way to corruption, decay and unsupportability. Thoughts, conversations and social media feeds buzz with fears and paranoia and darkness. All this is reshaping mindsets, which are going through phoenix moments. The result is to rivet attention on the present, on what’s in front of us, on what is most important here and now in mundane existence.
And as self-oriented as Taurus is, see if we aren’t inclined to include others. That’s part of the imperative of the Moon’s square to Saturn in community-oriented Aquarius. But it’s also part of a lovely free flow between Venus and Mars. The cosmic lovers are working toward a unified goal and going about it in compatible ways. Venus, goddess of love, money and creativity, is in chatty, friendly Gemini; her consort Mars, ruler of our drive and action, is in the intellectual, detached, dedicated friend zone of Aquarius. We want talk; we want interaction; we want socializing and pursuing goals together. For the moment, keeping things loose and airy fits into the gardens of the future. And that future is now.
Get to know Saturn: (1) in my Saturn in Aquarius talk; (2) in my Working With Saturn guided visualization
Get to know Uranus (1) in my Uranus in Taurus guide; (2) in my Meeting Uranus guided visualization
Image by Bluemount_Score from Pixabay