Taurus New Moon, Venus Retrograde

Everything has changed. Time is not what it was. Schedules, systems, the outflow and inflow of money have changed; the way we relate to each other has changed. And during these changes the Earth has opened itself to us in ways we have not allowed before. Today on this Earth Day, we celebrate her.

Earth Day and the New Moon in Taurus, April 22nd

Each new Moon is a calling, giving us an opportunity to attune to the cosmic/earth rhythm. And just as the Moon aligns with the Sun to seed a new cycle, we reset our intention, building the energy and focus to what we want to manifest, grow, develop and deepen. Each New Moon then builds on the last throughout the year. During this unprecedented time the great heart of the Earth is opening to us, calling to us. As we witness the collapse of structures and systems we have grown so use to, the sky turns blue again, the waters begin to clear and oil production cannot find a home for its profit making. We enter a time of global resonance. From the depth of uncertainty, vulnerability, crisis, and reset, there is the potential before us to deeply understand our profound interrelatedness with each other and all life.

 

Coinciding with Earth day, the New Moon takes place in the earthiest of signs, Taurus. Taurus appreciates the depth of wisdom, the stillness and the abundance in nature. During the Taurus time of year, let our intention spring from our own deep nature toward appreciation and steady growth. To the backdrop of the corona virus, spring is bursting with unfolding greenery and budding blossoms. The rhododendrons declare their showy blooms; the fields of poppies skirt the hillsides, the iris snake up to the Sun. The forces of life within the earth, waters, sky and sunlight work alchemy into beauty.

 

At the new moon we can imagine our intention as seeds that we have planted. Now we support their growth and development by bringing our attention once again to their calling and continue to nurture, feed, and water, while weeding out that which crowds our focused and recommitted intention.

 

This Taurus New Moon aligns with Uranus marking times that are out of the ordinary, carry crisis and revelation, breakthrough, and an opening to broader dimensions of perceiving. How does your intention at this time assist you in breaking through, and establishing new ways of responding to life? The new Moon as well, squares Saturn, demonstrating the tension between the old and the new, fear and courage, provides an opportunity to move beyond our conditioning.

 

Venus Retrograde – May 12 – June 24

Before us is a unique opportunity, as is mirrored in the heavens. We are approaching the Venus retrograde period. As the evening falls, look to the West and see the Venus hanging like a bright talisman. During the last weeks of May we can watch it descend toward the horizon until at the end of May it disappears from view, rising 9 days later as the morning star, around June 10 ^th.

 

Venus in the pre shadow phase – April 9 – May 12th

We experience this time period from April 9^th to when Venus goes retrograde on May 12^th, (known as the pre shadow period) as a gathering of the issues regarding our priorities, values, and relationship dynamics. Venus is in Gemini, and Gemini is the sign of polarity. In fact it is the sign of humanity, its relatedness and its ability to perceive, synthesize, and communicate. Venus is the great weaver, humming its way into harmonizing polarities. Will we, can we, hold its frequency of profound interrelatedness, knowing ourselves beyond separation? Now we have the opportunity to recognize and look at these issues in our lives.

 

Retrograde Phase – May 12 – June 24

When Venus goes retrograde on May 12^th through June 24^th, it moves back over the degrees it traveled in the pre shadow period. Here’s where the deepening review takes place, a potential realignment on an interior level with ourselves, our values, with our quality of life and relationship.

 

We now engage with a powerful turning point. How potent this is in the time of the global pandemic! Here there is a reechoing of the Venus retrograde we observed crossing the Sun in 2012. What began in 2012 is now taking hold, shaking humanity to its core and opening us to this Earth and each other in unprecedented ways. What will we create, who are we now?

 

The retrograde phase brings to our attention neglected areas or situations of conflict in order to understand the underlying motives and needs that are being ignored. What arises during this time then becomes the teaching. We can move through this time with a deeper level of observation and flexibility, seeing where habituated patterns are ready for change, where the deeper needs for wholeness activate the transformations that must now take place.

 

Venus goes direct – post shadow phase June 24 – July 29

When Venus goes station direct on June 24 (the week before and after) we reach another turning point time, as it has completed it’s passage back to the beginning of the pre shadow area, ready to launch forward. Venus is now the morning star. The imagery of morning star implies the awakening of awareness. How will we move forward with a renewed sense of values, with renewed creative inspiration, reconnected to our wellspring of self? We have the opportunity to put in place the new insights that came to our attention during the retrograde time.

 

As we move out of the Venus retrograde time we can try new strategies, anchor new patterns and bring more attention to the quality of our responses to life. If the retrograde phase brought up areas of challenge which we did not meet with an open attention to what is being drawn to the surface for reconsidering and reflecting, then this period can be difficult with repeating patterns that simply cause more suffering, for we have been offered a time of growth. Self-correction can then be enacted.

 

Venus in Gemini highlights the challenge of polarity that we are experiencing so extremely in our culture and all over the globe. The potential now is to rise to the occasion, and using the opportunity of the Venus retrograde time in Gemini to harmonize the polarities in new, original and creative ways. We can enter into greater awareness of the quality in which we participate with life. The opportunity is to bring a spacious alert presence into the mindfulness of each encounter, transforming old systems of relating and power into new.

 

Politics

We enter a time of global review. We now watch the world stage. We reconsider our diplomatic relations and the situations at hand in order to come to a more balanced place. Donald Trump is spotlighted through this Venus retrograde passage, because it highlights his natal chart, what he aspires toward in public life and how he inhabits the presidency. Venus will pass over his north node, Uranus, Sun and be in opposition to his Moon, giving him the opportunity (and the need) to reconsider how he uses his power, and his relationship to integrity. This will be highlighted from April 9 ^th though July 29 ^th when Venus finally passes through the post shadow area. He will be especially vulnerable on the June 9 ^th and 10 ^th, 6 days after Venus and the Sun conjunct, Venus now as morning star. This has been known to correspond to “a time of failure or resignation on the part of leaders, or as well as, times of major storms”.

 

A new sense of integrity is being called for. What has been revealed and unveiled during this time of pandemic? Like the great phoenix that burns into new form, as Venus sinks into the dark of the underworld and is born again as morning star, who shall we be and what shall we create?