April 27: Taurus New Moon
The New Moon at 7°47 Taurus at 3:31PM ET on April 27, is a time to set intentions around romance, beauty, connection and feeling good as Nina Simone sings about it. Joy is an act of resistance and it's also a spiritual state of being. The root comes from Latin "gaudere" for rejoice. While modern definitions focus on being happy for getting what one wants, rejoicing is actually a form of thanks and praise. Ode to joy.
Joy is gratitude for the gift of life and the wonder of creation; that any of this is possible at all is a miracle, is magic. Happiness is fleeting because it involves wanting, which comes from a sense of lack, and fulfillment. Chasing more keeps us riding the ride of the wheel of fortune, subject to the cycles of growth, death, and rebirth. Joy is a spiritual state of being that is available to us in all circumstances because it is the recognition of the presence of divinity. Amazing grace. We don't have to like what is going on or approve of what's happening but when we are moved by the incomprehensible beauty of the human spirit, divinity moving through form, then we know joy. We see grace play.
The pleasures of Spring abound in Taurus season, from April 19-May 20, when we celebrate nature coming into bloom. The fixed sign energy helps plans take root and intentions become strong. The seeds you planted at the Equinox on March 20, are now taking hold in the soil of life. What feels like its forming and how can you tend to the little sprout, whether growing in your literal greenhouse or the space in your heart? The Moon in Taurus wants you to nurture what is emerging with food, water, and sunshine. Take stock of what is needed for life to flourish.
The Moon is exalted in Taurus, which is home to the pagan festival of May Day/Beltane. Mid-Spring is when it starts to feel good to have a body again after the harness of winter. The world comes alive and we are awash in beautiful smells, tastes, and images. The Taurus New Moon wants you to discover what delights await us in the secret garden. Spend time in your favorite woods, hiking trail, or body of water and take a moment to give thanks for the simple things that make your day just a little bit sweeter. If you like to open yourself up to receiving messages from the land spirits, go to a quiet place where you can bask in the peace of stillness and open yourself up to listen. Earth signs invite us to connect with the great mother goddess, Gaia, who nurtures and sustains us.
Taurus season hasn't felt easy so far due to the frustrating fixed t-square with Mars in Leo and Pluto in Aquarius that peaks at the New Moon. Mars in Leo is activating our desire to have things our way, but Pluto has brought us into difficult encounters with powerlessness and even death. Taurus season asks us to consider the food chain. The Pluto in Aquarius dismantling of the government has led to the FDA suspending milk quality testing due to federal workforce cuts.
Human intelligence grants us the great power to help or hurt the communities we are part of, and Gaia's ecosystems teach us about what is needed to be a positive presence. The Department of Agriculture has cut $1billion from federal programs that help schools and food banks buy from local farms and ranches, making poor children less likely to receive healthy nutritious meals. As I wrote in a previous post "Sun in Taurus: fight for your beautiful world", Uranus will soon be departing for Gemini and we are encouraged to consider what we have learned about radical changes to our environment, sustainable conservation, and the climate crisis since 2018.
Taurus is your local farmer and this weekend is a good time to go have a conversation with them. Ask what they think the land needs and wants. What do the people on the ground believe is required for working families to be well. Taurus champions stewardship and we're encouraged to consider our place on our little slice of the planet. Earth signs are about improvement and want us to take responsibility for the care and maintenance of what is under our domain. The Taurus New Moon invites you to take stock of what's happening in your world and what work is required to make things better. The way out is not through wrestling with intractable forces that want to ground us down, but rather, building up the beneficial and amplifying the good. Joy becomes a daily discipline when despair is a tactic of oppression.
Venus is ruling this lunation from a sobering conjunction with Saturn asking us to make a commitment to what we love. Beltane is the pagan celebration of the marriage between the earth goddess and the green god of the forest who, together, give life to all of the creatures of the land. Marriage is a joining together of two to create three; the number of the tarot Major Arcana card for the Empress, who sits in her pleasure garden and beckons you to sample the fruits of love. I love Naomi Westwood's song, The Empress, about this beautiful archetype.
Taurus knows the sacred contract of marriage requires devotion. For better and for worse is a nice idea, but the reality of sticking with people through the hard times requires dedication and tenacity. Saturn and Taurus both bestow the blessing of lasting fidelity.
This lunation doesn't feel effortlessly easy, but there is beauty in the grace of moving through hard times without becoming hardened by the effort. Have as much fun as possible this Taurus season. You deserve it and the world needs your joy–may you shout it to the mountaintops.