So far, each time I start to write about this New Moon, I find myself giving us all a lecture on prejudice! This could be reflected in Venus squaring Pluto in this chart. (There’s more about Venus and Pluto below.) They have no other planetary connections just now, only a face-off with each other, any difficulty they face being due mainly to a lack of understanding what each other is about. Once Venus relaxes into the Pluto scrutiny, the changes can come about smoothly. That is to say, we need to accept as valid our experience in relating to someone. What tends to happen is that we think we are just feeling our own reactions, as though we were completely separate. Then we try to make reasons for why we feel as we do. If we have picked up the other person’s feelings, our reasoning is totally faulty, and consequently what happens next is irrelevant. When we accept that we feel their feelings as well as our own, we will understand them better, and adapt naturally to what is appropriate in the moment within that particular relationship.

There I go again, giving that lecture! I think I’ll just go ahead, knowing that this New Moon reflects the energy I’m using. If it doesn’t fit your experience, just press the delete button . . . ! :)

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Sun and Moon in Taurus square Saturn and Chiron

On 20 April the Sun went into Taurus, moving into a square relationship with Saturn on 24 April. You may have experienced awkward moments during the last week, or difficult circumstances on a practical level, showing up areas where you need to be more aware. With awareness, a slight adjustment in your behaviour could help you avoid those difficulties, or deal with the situations more smoothly. By the 27 April, in the New Moon chart, the Sun and Moon have left the square to Saturn, and are squaring Chiron in Aquarius - our faith in human nature is likely to be wobbling. If this awkwardness describes any of your recent experiences, this month will focus on the healing of any damage caused. Healing comes about partly when we realise and accept that each person lives in accordance with their own set of priorities, which may be different from our own - so what feels right to them may not feel right to us.

Mercury in Aries sextile Neptune

At the New Moon, the principles of communication and intuition are working well together – this could be a good for noticing what we put our trust in. As Chiron in Aquarius is showing us, we cannot ‘trust’ people to be the same as ourselves, nor ‘trust’ that they will do what we would have done - this is just placing the burden of our expectations on them. But we can trust people to be themselves. The beauty of experiencing the behaviour of another is that it tells us something of who they are, and what they have evolved through in their lives.

Being consciously aware of their behaviour gives us the opportunity to adjust the way we relate. If we would rather not receive what is thrown in our direction, we can choose to step out of the way, avoiding it altogether, or just not taking it personally. If we have not been able to side-step for any reason, we then have the opportunity to discover something of ourselves through our own reactions. Most importantly, all this is a call to relax with what is, with the facts, and to accept ourselves and others as many different expressions of life energy.

Mercury is in Aries in this chart and, with Neptune assisting, shows fast action and speech that is modified by a sense of what is needed. This month offers us the safety to be courageously honest, because, being sensitive to each other, our words are more likely to be appropriate. The damage caused by prejudice and bigotry may be more obvious than usual this month, so the expression of humanitarian values could be more widely received. We realise what is valuable to the whole, when we see the damage resulting from its absence. If that damage helps to open our eyes, it has served a valuable function in our evolving. Endless recriminating is a distraction from putting into effect the lessons learned. This is true in world situations, and equally true in our own personal relationships.

Venus square Pluto

Venus is particularly important this month due to being the ruler of Taurus, so ruling this New Moon. Her Taurus aspect represents our relationship with the material world, and with each other while on this physical plane. In this New Moon chart, Venus is in Pisces and squares Pluto in Sagittarius. We are likely to be dealing with previously unspoken beliefs, prejudices and expectations, that will be surfacing in our relationships. We may find ourselves fighting to keep things as they were, by hiding our true feelings. Letting go can feel acutely painful, but we are closer to each other when we surrender to change, and allow that our real needs may be different from what we thought.

While Venus moves through Pisces, we can become more aware of the energetic connections between us all, the oneness of human life. So what we discover rising from our own unconsciousness can be accepted as part of the human condition. When faced with someone else’s prejudiced view, our tendency to fight it demonstrates our own prejudice. The fact is that we are all prejudiced in some way, and that is our human connection. We need to discover what our prejudices are, and there is no need to be judgemental, or feel guilty, about what we find. This month, try checking where you have assumptions about how people ‘should’ behave, what they ‘should’ feel. See if you can discover what your family, friends or colleagues feel you ‘should’ be like, what you ‘should’ do. The results are to be smiled at, because we grow by assimilating what we learn.

We don’t have to like something, to accept that it is so. We tend to feel we must justify our preferences, but it is natural for any human personality to prefer some things to others, and to make friends with some people and not others. There is nothing wrong with preferring, as long as we don’t judge against what is not preferred. When we judge one of our preferences as ‘right’ or ‘essentially better than’ something else, we are demonstrating prejudice. For instance, many people prefer other models than astrology to look at life, but if they judge the astrological model to be rubbish, that is their prejudice. The simple preference to use a different model from astrology is not prejudice.

When you think someone is judging against you, check whether they are simply demonstrating different preferences than yours. Recognising and accepting someone’s difference from us, without trying to justify any of it, gives us the space to feel more compassionate, more loving. When you find yourself judging, unhook your belief from your preference. Own up to your preferences as part of your personality, rather than making yourself ‘right’ about them.

Sun/Moon in Taurus connecting smoothly with the grand trine of Mars, Uranus and Jupiter.

This triangle of planets connects the three water signs, showing the desire to care where there is emotional suffering, without losing our perspective. Problems that arise could be particularly about our relationship with the Earth, her trees, her rivers and oceans. If we focus on what the situations are, rather than on what governments have been doing ‘wrong’, environmental issues could be in line for some practical solutions this month.

The attitude to beware of is a lack of faith due to past situations and behaviour. Taurus growth is organic, slow, and often invisible to a quick glance. Rather than trying to change them, we need to accept that individuals and governments will probably go on behaving as they are predisposed to do. It is the universal desires, for comfort, enough food and shelter, and so on, that can be used as part of a strategy to bring about that which serves the whole. Easier said than done! But if we hold this ideal in our hearts, while allowing divine timing to weave the energetic threads of the moment, we may be surprised by what becomes possible. :)

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Meditation for this New Moon in Taurus

Become aware of yourself as one whole body shape.

Feel yourself drawing sustenance from the earth beneath you up through your heart,

to fountain out through your head and fall around you back into the earth.

As the energy cycles through and around you,

breathe peacefulness into your heart,

and breathe it out into your body and the space around you.

Remember as often as possible, in each activity, to feel your natural energy flow.

May your life and relationships teach you kindly.