New Moon In Taurus
On May 7th, we had a New Moon at 18°02’ of Taurus at 8:21 PM Pacific.
Venus and the Moon are in their rulership and exaltation respectively in Taurus, blessing this moment with an extra-strength connection to the heart as Uranus continues to disrupt and de-stabilize old patterns and structures, bringing flashes of illumination, revolution and radical experimentation to this Taurus place in our personal and collective lives.
Taurus is a sign whose true beauty and wisdom cannot be seen through the lens of materialism, individualism or urgency. Taurus understands that, as Dorothy Day wrote, “we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time; we can be responsible only for the action of the present moment but we can beg for an increase of love in our hearts that will vitalize and transform all our individual actions”. Venus, the Sun and Uranus in Taurus bring emphasis to that latter part of this statement.
Jupiter is also here in Taurus, offering a wide, anchored base for us to receive the real hotter or heavier emotions that periodically break through the surface of our own felt experiences. With this New Moon forming a sextile to Saturn in Pisces and coinciding with a Chiron-Mercury conjunction in Aries, there is a container and an opening for these emotions to flow through and take us to the ocean of our shared humanity. To heal in ways that have more to do with re-membering our permeability and inter-relatedness, than recovering a past, pre-wounded state of self.
But wow, altogether, that’s five planetary bodies in Taurus: The Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Uranus. One thing that comes to mind around this line-up, is how in my dreams I can somehow sensually know other creatures whom I’ve never actually met. I can “remember” exactly what it feels like to touch animals that I have never touched before, like panthers and dolphins. I have a felt-sense of what it feels like to be in that body, in that form. There’s a capacity for such sensual remembrance that the Moon, Venus and Jupiter (exaltation ruler of Cancer) bring to the wider mycelial dreaming consciousness (Uranus in Taurus) that feels important to this particular leg of a much, much longer journey we’re on…
About Relationship Charts
With Venus, the planet of relationship, back in her home of Taurus and the lunar nodes still in the Aries-Libra axis of the Individuality & Relationality, it feels like a good time to re-introduce partnership charts and the ways they can support us in stewarding the rich, biodiverse ecotones that are created by our multi-faceted selves bumping up against and evolving together.
Synastry charts are a kind of side-by-side relating of two charts, showing the particular ways we inter-influence each other – i.e. how the lunar tides of our nodal axis tug on each other’s waters, how our Sun might warm up our partner’s planets, how Venus softens, how Mars heats up, and so on. What’s it like to experience my Sun in Libra from the perspective of your Venus in Aries? What’s it like to experience your Mercury in Scorpio from the perspective of my Moon in Taurus? Having these perspectives reflected back to us by the Sky, can loosen the ways we may have become identified with any fixed expression of one. It breathes space around each, allowing us to access a more ecosystemic view and embodied empathy. Synastry charts can also show how another person’s planets light up and activate different areas or topics of our own lives.
Composite charts are created by finding the midpoints between each other’s natal planets to reflect the relational body as a third entity that’s formed when we come together. The composite Sun is the midpoint between the two individuals’ Suns, the composite Moon is the midpoint between the two Moons, and so on. This chart can be read like an individual’s natal chart, pointing to the partnership’s archetypal themes, attractor patterns and dreamscapes as well as timing of its different activations, seasons and cycles. It gives us imaginal food and a wider perceptual context that helps digest our experiences and access guidance. It is a bigger container to hold what feels too big to hold alone.
I personally love working with relationship charts (my Natal Vesta is in Libra conjunct my Midheaven) mostly because we tend to be so accustomed to perceiving each other as individuals where it’s either “me & you together” or it’s “me against you” … and it can feel dis-orienting and isolating to try to approach each other in a way that encases us in our individuality. Relationship charts help balance that perspective with the awareness and experience of how we are fundamentally, preverbally, nonconceptually relational and always inside of a thing (inside of a thing, inside of a thing). And, while our natal charts DO carry all the information or context that we need to better understand ourselves in relationship with others — seeing a relationship chart does allow us to practice perceiving the relational body, becoming more lucid within its dreams, and re-dreaming those dreams from a place of humility, curiosity and heart-connection.
For my relationship chart readings, the purpose is not to answer the question “are we a good match?” simply because my brain doesn’t seem to configure itself in a way that lets me connect the dots in response to that question!
Instead, questions like: how can we care for our relationship around this growth edge? What fresh perspective is available around this pattern? How can we re-frame this dilemma? What helps us orient to this relationship in a way that makes it feel more in sync with a greater wholeness? Where are we in our relationship’s internal cycles and seasons, and how can we move in tune with that?
If that sounds interesting for where you’re at now, be it in a romantic relationship, a business collaboration or a deep friendship, book a reading. It’s not necessary for both individuals to be present for the session — but both are required to give consent for their charts to be read in this way.
There’s also the option of both partners receiving a reading + custom flower blend for either the synastry or the composite chart, to support your multi-dimensional wellness in context of this relationship and your intentions and visions around it.
Flower Allies for this New Moon
The benefit of contemplating these flower essence in conjunction with the current astrology are many: you can both deepen your understanding of archetypal astrology through what the flowers communicate, and you can learn about the flowers through your astrological reflection. AND, with both the planets and the flowers, you are restoring your own sensitivities and relationship with Nature and receiving nourishing frequencies simply through this attending.
This New Moon is happening in the second decan of Taurus, which is co-ruled by the Moon and Mercury. Mercury (planet of communication) will be conjunct Chiron (core wound, holistic understanding, mentorship) and the North Node (integration point) in Aries, the sign of the Warrior. The flower essences of Catalpa, Wood Lily and Washington Hawthorn can help us access, process, healthfully express and release anger and old pain so that we are communicating with more response-ability and less reactivity, and can move forward.
For supporting the seed intentions being planted in the soil of this fertile New Moon in Taurus, we have Shasta Daisy who supports “mandalic or holistic consciousness, ability to synthesize disparate ideas into a living wholeness and addresses the patterns of imbalance of “over-intellectualization of reality, especially seeing information as bits and pieces rather than parts of a whole; artificial or mechanized intelligence”. I wanted to quote the Flower Essence Society’s description because it feels directly relevant to how this New Moon can give way to tangible forms of our ideas; to the Chiron-Mercury conjunction in Aries; and to Daedalus’ role in inventing the mechanical bull for Pasiphaë, under Poseidon’s spell, to crawl into and mate with the Cretan bull, which resulted in the Minotaur (a monster in Greek imagination, with the animal on top and human half on the bottom) and then Daedalus’ creation of the labyrinth where the Minotaur was kept trapped.
White bleeding heart supports our connection to Core Self in a way that supports our capacity to trust and surrender to the natural rhythms of expansion and contraction, union and retreat, in relationship to our significant others.
Birch also supports our connection to Core Self in a way that brings deeper insight or illumination of our life purpose, and magnetic orientation in the here and now. Seems supportive of Uranus’ co-presence with this New Moon in Taurus.
This lunation cycle deepens us into self-acceptance and self-kindness around accessing a pace that allows our fullest experiencing of an experience — slow warm up, slow experience, slow integration.
Teasel restores connection between root and crown, Goldenseal helps clear away subconscious debris and Shasta Daisy again promotes mandalic consciousness, which altogether help us ground and surrender to the natural pace of one’s unfurling and ripening.
Briar Rose, Self-heal, and Salvia help us connect to the heart, turn towards and resource our own Inner Healer and Inner Mentor, and alchemize our more fully experienced experiences into a embodied wisdom.
Here are flower essences for Mercury (Messenger, Psychopomp) and Chiron (Wounded Healer, Mentor) conjoining in Aries, the sign of the Warrior. I’m going to quote the indications given on the Flower Essence Society website for some of these, because they are so concise and helpful with understanding this astrology.
Nicotiana helps address "rigid or mechanized qualities in the body; blunted feelings, shallow breathing; over-use of hard-edge masculine forces”.
Nasturtium helps with revitalizing, replenishing and re-weaving our thinking minds and intellect, into a living wholeness.
Oregon Grape supports a “loving inclusion of others, positive expectation of good will from others, ability to trust” and helps balance “paranoid or defensive behavior; expectation of hostility from others; antagonistic projection”.
Pink Yarrow supports a “loving awareness of others within a field of self-contained consciousness; appropriate emotional boundaries”.
Pine helps us move forward in our service to Self, alignment with soul purpose and participation in the collective, by releasing patterns of self-blame or self-punishment that can get triggered when our core wound is activated.
And my last note on essences — if you’ve made it this far!! — if you want to learn more about how the recent Jupiter-Uranus conjunction is influencing this New Moon moment, please check out this article by Great Lakes Flower Essences on their Caldera essence. They aren’t talking directly about the astrology, but it really is a great representation of what this time is about.
A Reminder of May Offerings!
Treat your mother, or a caregiver in your life, or your own inner Caregiver to a special reading where they can feel seen for all that they do and for what they’ve experienced, metabolized and brought forward in a world that, in many ways, wasn’t built for motherhood, childhood, caregiving, or the power of holding space and just being-with.
Beginning to tune into this journey through Gemini while Jupiter is actually still in Taurus, is very helpful for grounding ourselves in the slow experiencing, so that when more data comes in to process, when more information to communicate (in the receiving, transmitting, categorizing, interpreting, synthesizing, discerning) … our body can keep participating in a way that’s in relationship with our conceptual mind and imagination. In other words, we are more holistically and imaginally resourced to perceive the ways that the body influences the mind and the mind influences the body, and create more spaciousness for shifts and pivots to happen amidst that inter-influencing, so we can dance with Life as a responsive partner, and keep weaving our brains whole again.
An alternative route for tending our curiosity, our noticing and that bridge-building between Sky & Earth, Ouranus & Gaia, sign up Living Moons readings.
Gain fresh perspective and support for the symbiotic co-evolutionary journey you’re weaving (and being woven into) together. Also, the option of each receiving a custom flower blend to support your shared astrology.
In-Person Readings
And for local folks! I’ll be at the Gold Vibe Kombuchary from 2-8 pm on Sunday, May 12th, giving in-person 15 and 30-minute readings at the Rebel Market. Tix are $10 in advance, $15 at the door, kids under 14 get in free. Hope to see you there.
With Love & Gratitude,
Nicole
