Breathe and Be - Taurus

Taurus is a Venusian sign - at its highest expression, it is the love of spirit in material form. We experience this in our love for the natural world - the earth herself, mountains, trees, flowers, tiny so-called weeds; animals and birds and all beings living in the earth field; most essentially, our own body, alight with life force, every cell bright in its place in this incredible matrix of connections.

Materialists (who I define as believing solely in separate forms) - even materialists could feel life’s flow in the cells of their own bodies, a sense that is not itself material. But to feel that, we have to stop thinking about what is outside us, thinking about plans, projections, people, events past and future - we have to stop, and notice what’s real in this moment. Notice = being aware of, rather than thinking about and telling ourself, what is real. Perhaps it would help to stop breathing for a moment, as we can’t stop our other life processes.

Taurus as a character doesn’t run around mentally and physically unless it’s necessary for continued life. Other signs call it lazy, but we all need to give ourselves a dose of Taurus - become aware of the body’s desire for the next breath, and the wonder and beauty and joy of breathing that next breath in.

Feisty Aries learns from experience

Like the Aries New Moon chart last month, this chart also has an emphasis in Aries, even though Sun and Moon are now in Taurus. So the energetic, go-getting, flavour continues.

Recently, and for the first half of May, you can assume that either you, or the one you’re talking to, is likely to sound more feisty than they either intend or realise (Venus and Mercury are together in Aries). The love, or desire for connection, initiates the communication, but Aries’ tendency to be thoughtlessly direct can grate on finer sensibilities. There may be a need to mend the bridges where you really do want to maintain loving contact!

If you were the feisty one, check within yourself which button was pushed, because sudden difficult reactions generally have roots in old unresolved hurts. Any sense of being told what to do, or corrected, could set off a biting retort (Saturn opposite Mercury/Venus). A testy reaction to someone now, could mean you are harbouring resentment or blame for someone else, and the person in front of you gets it in the neck. Attacking another person is often a way of defending ourselves against an attack happening inside us, where we blame ourselves for ‘being stupid’ or ‘weak’ or just ‘not OK’ in a situation where we felt wrongly treated.

These present upsets are ideal opportunities to look back and simply accept what happened before, rather than wishing it hadn’t, or that things had been different. We need to swing from the out-of-date reaction into compassion - a gentle acceptance of how we each feel, knowing that everyone has hurts in the past, and that hurts don’t just disappear. The best we can do is swing between these two positions of hurt and compassion, and the quicker we can do that swing, the nearer we are to holding both viewpoints together, which is true maturity (Mercury/Venus opposite the best of Saturn in Libra).

Love is the driving force in this growth of understanding, and from 16 May we could experience a softening in communication, an inclination to be more gentle with each other and ourselves (Mercury and Venus together move into Taurus which is ruled by Venus).

‘Let it be’ - the Beatles

One of my favourite phrases for letting things be (that is, letting go of something about which we might otherwise give ourselves, or someone else, a hard time) was in the play/film ‘Salieri’ about Mozart’s experiences at court. This phrase was often spoken by the character of King Leopold (was it?) whenever he had dropped his latest clanger: ‘Well, there it is!’ as he walked off with his sense of personal dignity intact! And the Americans have a gentle one: ‘Oh well,’ delivered with a sigh.

If there’s something you can do to correct up an error, then do it; if you have a bubble of emotion left over about it, express it in a kindly and understanding situation; but, in any case, just let it be and move on, to the best of your ability (our spirit never asks us to do more than our personal best).

Growth through understanding

This tendency to just ‘go for it’ regardless (emphasised by Mars energising Jupiter, also in Aries) is around for the next week or so. It’s a good time to make inroads on whatever you’ve been putting off; wonderful for initiating projects you’ve been wondering about; great for starting healthy diets and new exercise routines, sorting out the garden or throwing out what’s out-of-date - the only cautionary advice is to not overdo it. Enjoy the clearance, and perhaps put what you reject into bags, to be disposed of when the energy is a little more grounded.

The energetic feel to do something expansive is in line with the natural flow of life just now (Mars/Jupiter trine the North Node in this chart). There’s no need to worry if the things you do don’t connect with each other, or get finished; at this New Moon, anything you begin in an openhearted way will be blessed because it fits the pattern of the moment. This drive will be with us until 11 May (when Mars moves into Taurus) from which time we may find it easier to slow down a bit, breathe and get more practical.

Taurus climbs carefully

With the New Moon itself in the middle of Taurus, the background thrust of the moment is to connect with the earth - get grounded - because this month’s experience could make a big difference in how you see your whole life (Sun/Moon trine Pluto). You may be feeling a strong desire to ‘have it your own way’, but at the same time be receiving lots of messages about how that would affect others (Sun/Moon quincunx Saturn). The purpose of this pattern is to get each one of us up a difficult bit of our self-transformative climb - the guidance of Pluto and Saturn reaching helping hands to pull us up: Pluto powers the impulse to personally evolve, and Saturn advises us to notice what helps another, because we are all climbing this cliff together. Which leads me to . . .

. . . thoughts about ‘the wedding’ . . .

In his address to Prince William and Katherine on 29 April, the Bishop of London (I think) described how helping others allows the spiritual light to flow through and expand our own hearts (or words to that effect - the speech was entirely spiritual and practical rather than religious, wonderful, considering how many people would have been listening to him round the world).

Disregarding the hype, I thought, the ‘Royal Wedding’ offered us a host of symbolic moments, connecting us, if we would allow, to the marriage of heaven and earth within us, the marriage of our spiritual life and our daily experience. It was like a ceremony everyone could join in - powerful. The pageantry clearly honoured the purpose, and was made accessible by clear speech and openness. The words ‘respect’ and ‘honour’ and above all ‘love’ were spoken and demonstrated. If the fine intentions carry into the hearts and minds of all who shared that experience through whatever means, the world will have benefited.