Uranus and Jupiter Station Retrograde in Taurus: Drawing on the Grounding Wisdom of Bovines in Times of Upheaval and Change

Cosmic Spotlight and Greater Benefic planet Jupiter transits Taurus, the fixed sign of the bull, from May 17, 2023 to May 26, 2024. This puts the wisdom of Taurus at the forefront, as well as wisdom drawn from our bovine friends.

Cosmic Change Agent, Uranus, is also transiting Taurus at this time (2018 - 2026). Both Uranus and Jupiter will station retrograde in Taurus in the upcoming weeks - Uranus stations retrograde at 23 degrees Taurus on August 28, and Jupiter stations retrograde at 15 degrees Taurus on September 4. These astrological indicators suggest some very concentrated themes in the sign of Taurus involving the wisdom and stability we need to successfully move through rapid changes and transitions.

Change and transition are not loved by Taurus the Bull, to say the least. Taurus is a sign that enjoys certainty, stability, routine, and regularity, but these things can be very hard to come by in these artificially-paced and socially-engineered times. We're working through times of massive change - much of it being orchestrated top-down - and this can be very challenging for Taurus and for all the fixed signs. It can be very challenging for any of the signs of the zodiac, to be honest! 

What follows is an article I wrote during the last Jupiter in Taurus transit (June 5, 2011 to June 11, 2012). I was back living on my family cattle ranch at the time. These tips, drawn from the behaviour of our cattle herd, can help us to better understand the sign of Taurus, especially when it is stressed by change and transition, and this can help us to more successfully navigate the changes and transitions going on in our own lives and in the world around us.

The article was originally published on the main blog on May 19, 2012, during the last Jupiter in Taurus transit.

I grew up on a cattle ranch on the Saskatchewan prairie and spent years there as an adult, as well. You can't really get much more Taurean than ranch work. It's life on the land, on prairie grassland. It's physical work. It's animals and plants and dirt, wind and rain, sweat and sun. The work unfolds according to natural timing, according to the seasons, and it follows a similar course every year. Farmers and ranchers are time keepers in this way. They work according to old, nature-based rhythms and keep those fundamental energetic patterns anchored, just as the animals themselves do. When the Sun goes up, it's time to work. When it goes down, the work day's done. Simple.

I helped my father and mother on the ranch as I could, and after years of observing the cattle while also studying astrology, I realized how much you can understand about the sign and energy of Taurus through the behaviour of bovines.

Understanding The Sign of Taurus Through the Characteristics of Cows

1) Taurus is a fixed sign, and cows have a fixed nature. They really don't like to move all that much, especially if they've just had a calf. Cows don't enjoy transition. They like their basic routines, and they're not fans of any upheaval or changes in those routines.

2) Cows are comfort seekers, just like Taurus. Once they're content, they like to stay put, enjoying the sunshine, grazing, and chewing their cuds. The only time they can be convinced to favour a change is if an option opens that brings them even more comfort. This generally involves more or better food - another Taurus favourite.

Every year on the ranch, a portion of the cow-calf pairs were rounded up and trucked to a Native-run community pasture for the spring and summer. Once there, they had all the space and grass they could desire, but in order to get there, they had to endure the transition. They had to be moved from pasture to pasture at home and then up to the corrals to be worked before being trucked to the new pasture, and this definitely ruffled them a bit. Again, though, if the reward is there, they'll endure - just like Taurus.

To move the cow-calf pairs, my Dad rode horseback, and my mother and I (never horsewomen) each drove a vehicle through the bumpy-ass pastures in a mini round-up. My sweet ride was the 1986 Chevy farm truck. Just as if we were on horseback, we spread out to herd the cattle. Trying to determine how best to get cattle moving in the right direction gives us helpful hints for interacting with people with a lot of Taurus!

3) Cows, like Taurus, don't like to be rushed. They like to do things slowly, gradually, on their own timing. When they do move, they like it to be related to securing basic resources - food, water, shade, shelter from wind, or a comfortable place to lie down. 

 

 

4) You can't pressure them too much. Cows will take some gentle guidance, but press too much, at the wrong place, or too quickly, and they won't do what you want them to do. If they feel excessively pressured, they'll rebel or freak out. They can be remarkably stubborn once they've been riled and will even jump a fence to get away. If an entire herd has been spooked in this way, they'll run through a barbed-wire fence. Suffice it to say, it's best to take it nice and easy on both bovines and Taureans, giving them lots of time and adequate space to make their moves.

5) Cows, like Taurus, enjoy working with a boundary. The easiest way to move cattle is by gently pushing them along a fence line to an open gate. Taking them through the middle of the open pasture is more likely to create confusion and panic. Boundaries and limitations help them feel safe.

6) Like Taurus, it takes cattle a while to get going, but once they have some momentum gathered, they follow a steady course. And once they have a steady course, they move along fairly quickly - no fuss, no muss.

7) Cows pretty much do what the rest of the pack is doing. This is the traditional aspect of Taurus. Once in a while, there will be a renegade cow who busts out on her own, but usually, they like to do what the other cows are doing, as long as it makes good, practical cow sense.

8) They seem very docile and gentle, and generally are, but cows (like Taurus) can become very pissed off - and dangerous - if they feel threatened in any way. Like most animals, cows are very protective of their babies.

9) Just like Taurus, after a transition or upheaval, cows need some time on their own to settle down and get back to a state of calm contentment. Once the pressure is removed, it doesn't take them long to get back to a settled state. Like Taurus, they're very grounded!

Use these helpful insights into the ways of the bovine to keep the Taureans in your life (and the Taurus in your own chart) sweet, calm, contented, and moving in the right direction!

I talked about Taurus, the behaviour of bovines, and the Jupiter in Taurus transit of 2011/2012 with Matt Savinar on his community radio show on KOWS FM out of Occidental, California in May 2012. You can listen to the show at this link.

The North Node of the Moon Enters Taurus and South Node Enters Scorpio: the Bull and the Scorpion as Uneasy Allies

 

"The North Node of the Moon Enters Taurus and South Node Enters Scorpio: the Bull and the Scorpion as Uneasy Allies" is an article available to Willow's Web Astrology patrons. 

 

You can read an excerpt of this article here: "Ceres and Persephone Conjunct the North Node of the Moon as the Nodes Change Signs"

  

Extremely Lo-Fi One-Woman March Against Bayer Monsanto - May 19, 2018

We're onto you, evil-doers! 

Yesterday was the worldwide March Against Monsanto, a day each year when millions of people gather around the globe to march through the streets and protest Monsanto's many destructive practises. 

Monsanto is a corporation that produces, among other things, genetically modified seeds and chemical herbicides. It uses standard "add-a-gene" genetic modification, as well as relatively new "remove-a-gene" genetic modification called gene editing or CRISPR, which has been shown to produce genetic mutations.

According to multiple independent animal feeding trials, genetically modified diets can cause severe health damage in animals, including digestive damage, reproductive damage, organ damage, suppressed immune systems, tumours, and premature death, among others. 

Glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide Roundup, has also been found to be toxic to biological systems at even tiny levels, at levels the governmental regulatory agencies, as well as the GMO corporations themselves, deem perfectly safe for regular animal and human consumption. At this point, with glyphosate usage through the roof worldwide, women's breast milk is testing positive for glyphosate. Our urine is testing positive for glyphosate.

In Canada, there were marches planned for Calgary, Kelowna, Dartmouth, Kitchener, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec City, and St. Georges-de-beauce.

I tried to round up (no pun intended) some people to march in my local area but came up short, so I decided to take to the streets (ahem...the small town streets) myself to get the word out. 

It takes a bit of gumption to do a one-woman march on a subject that is socially divisive, but I've actually done this in the past, so after I made the decision to go for it, it felt fairly familiar.

I made the decision to march at the last minute - on the morning of May 19. I made my signs in the hour before I started marching, so they were a bit of a rush job. I procured some white bristol board from my local print shop, as well as a red and a black chisel-tip Sharpie. The classics.

When the words were complete, I hole-punched two holes at either end along the top of the bristol board for the string. I put a couple layers of packing tape over the holes to reinforce them and punched a hole through that with a pair of scissors. I threaded some string through to make a double-thick hanger to put around my neck, and I taped the ends of the string to the back of the paper.

There are definitely more professional and slick ways to make signs, but I've always liked the do-it-yourself stylings of handmade protest signs...

I made a second sign about genetically modified alfalfa - a pet issue of mine that I've been campaigning and educating about since 2011. I hung this sign backwards so I would have a pertinent message for the peeps both coming and going. 

Yes, this brings up the possibility of your sign getting caught in the wind and half-assed choking you out (which happened a couple times), but it's all worth it in the name of Marching Against Bayer Monsanto! 

My march was definitely a march against both Bayer and Monsanto. Bayer is the maker of Cipro, the horrifically dangerous fluoroquinolone antibiotic that poisoned me in 2009.

These two nasty corporate criminals are in the process of merging in the unholiest of matrimony. The merger is expected to be completed this year, and it follows other monster-mergers of GMO/chemical corporations: Dow with DuPont and Syngenta with Chem China.

Bayer is, of course, equally as evil as Monsanto, and I've covered its crimes and checkered past in previous articles and videos:

From February 3, 2018: "Stop Bayer-Monsanto's Crimes Against Humanity, Animals, and the Environment!" 

From April 28, 2017: YouTube video "Billions Against Bayer Monsanto April 28, 2017 and Continued Recovery From Bayer's Antibiotic Cipro"

From  April 13, 2017: "Pluto Stationing Retrograde in Capricorn: From Millions Against Monsanto to Billions Against Bayer"

Mercury Busts Out of the Retrograde Shadow, and Things Pick Up Speed

So mooooooo-ve it!

Photos: Willow

We are now gradually moving out of the edgy, mental stress and challenge indicated by an extended square between Mercury in Aries and Saturn in Capricorn. 

Messenger planet Mercury was retrograde in Aries from March 22 to April 15, forming three squares to Saturn in Capricorn during its transit of Aries (the final one April 25), and this indicated a complex and somewhat stressful start to spring in the northern hemisphere.

(Not to mention below normal temperatures in locations worldwide. Chiron on 29 degrees Pisces, the degree associated with the last day of winter, coincided with a winter that didn't want to end!)

We're now moving forward, but we've certainly been required to work for it every step of the way.

Communication and intelligence planet Mercury is putting the pedal to the metal as it breaks free of the Saturnine hold that has added challenge and hard work and strategy and complication and complexity to our fresh, spring plans. 

Mercury busts out of its retrograde shadow at 16 degrees Aries on May 3 and moves out of orb of the square to Saturn, now retrograde, in Capricorn by May 5.

This indicates a strong propulsion forward, and we must be prepared for it. After biding our time and working through challenges and making adjustments to the delayed timing indicated by Mercury retrograde and Mercury square Saturn, we must now be ready for things to take off quite quickly! The connections we're making, the conversations we're having, and the information we're sharing are bringing us onto new ground. The territory we have been striving to reach is about to get here fast, and this brings new challenges and requirements for successful navigation. 

Mercury in Aries will move into a particularly cardinal-dynamic period on May 12 and 13, as it forms a square to action planet Mars at 28 degrees Capricorn (May 12 at 6:30 a.m. PDT) and a conjunction to revolutionary Uranus at 29 degrees Aries (May 13 at 3:50 a.m.).

The Mercurial action around this time indicates particularly potent movement, as Mars will be just inside its retrograde shadow at 28 Capricorn at the time of the square (returning to these themes again in late August). Uranus will be in the final minutes of the sign of Aries at the time of the Mercury-Uranus conjunction, ahead of the Uranus ingress of Taurus on May 15. 

The Mercury-Uranus conjunction at 29 Aries is actually the last non-lunar aspect to Uranus before it enters the sign of the bull. This indicates the potential for mental breakthroughs, hot ideas, and startling/exciting realizations as Mercury and Uranus conjoin on the potent anaretic degree of Aries. The Moon will also be in Aries on May 13, forming a square to Mars in Capricorn and a conjunction to Uranus, and this amps up the potency of these aspects. We're fully immersed in the drive into new terrain. 

We can expect big, bold movement around this time, especially movement that we have been working for throughout the Mercury retrograde process. Some breakthrough moments are indicated as we break new trail and hit our strides.

However, there is also an indicator of some "peak stress moments" hitting around these times, as well. 

Mercury moves into grounded Taurus on May 13 (5:40 a.m.), immediately following the "too hot to handle" conjunction to Uranus at 29 Aries.

Mercury transiting Taurus indicates that a bit more of a mellow mindset is possible in the last two weeks of May, and this comes as a relief after the extended stress and charge of the Mercury in Aries retrograde in square aspect to Saturn in Capricorn. 

A nice, stabilizing trine between Mercury in Taurus and Saturn Rx in Capricorn occurs on May 18, and these two bodies are working together from much more harmonious angles. This earth trine should soothe some of the frayed nerves and raw mental states following the hard-angled cardinal energies we've been navigating.

May 18 also appears to be a fortuitous date to plant a garden! This date follows the 24-degree Taurus New Moon on May 15 and will involve Mercury in Taurus exactly trine Saturn Rx in Capricorn, as well as the Moon quite comfortable in its domicile of Cancer.

If one is planting according to the lunar cycle, it is said that plants that grow above ground should be planted between the New Moon and the Full Moon. Plants that grow underground should be planted from the Full Moon to the Balsamic Moon. The Moon in a water or earth sign is considered fortuitous for planting, and Moons in air or fire signs are said to be less fortuitous. 

So the Taurus New Moon on May 15, the day of the Uranus ingress, provides an official opening into Gardening Season 2018 (except for you lucky people who can garden almost year-round).

I generally plant my gardens intuitively, when I have the time and energy to plant, as I'm sure most people do these days. I also don't generally plant the above ground plants and the below ground plants at different points in the lunar cycle. But since the astrology seems to be lining up nicely, I may pay a little closer attention to it this year.

It's been a long haul, friends, but as Mercury burns its way into new degrees of the zodiac as of May 3, we're over the hump. 

Happy Gardening, and enjoy the warm and sunny weather!

Grand Earth Trines and a Solid Dose of Bovinian Energy Provide Us With a Breather

 Moo.

 
There is currently a very strong grounding influence in the zodiac with the Sun, Mercury, and soon Venus (in its own sign as of April 29) transiting fixed earth sign Taurus. This is farmer-ly energy. Sensual energy. Earthy energy. It follows a natural and routine course. It's matter-of-fact and sturdy in a nurturing and comforting way. It is fairly unshakeable, fairly unflappable.

This Taurus energy, which will include Lesser Benefic Venus in its domicile, slows things down to real time in the physical world, and this is something most of us need in the days of constant technology and artificially sped-up nervous systems.

This Taurus has a nice feeling of putting one foot in front of the other in very basic and simple ways, anchoring us in the physical world and in the five senses.

Taurus doesn't get too worried about what lies beneath. It isn't all that interested in research or psychological context or the unseen realms. It's more than content to work with what's right in front of it, with what it can see, feel, taste, hear, and smell. It's more than happy to work with the magic of concrete, physical, Earthly reality.  

All this Taurus is highly welcome after a month of (potentially) frayed nerves, emotional breaking points, and/or Plutonic meltdowns, outlined in earlier articles.

We've been through some stuff, folks. The astrology shows it. A heavily karmic Pisces eclipse season, followed by the jingly-jangly, overloaded synapses of strong Uranus energy with multiple activations of the Uranus-Pluto square by the personal planets in Aries.


This is an excerpt from the article, "Grand Earth Trines and a Solid Dose of Bovinian Energy Provide Us With a Breather." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons.

Getting Our Hands Dirty as We Move Through the Taurus (Farmer/Rancher) New Moon

You mess with the bull, you get the horns.

Photos: Willow

The Moon is currently in exaltation in Taurus ahead of the Taurus New Moon on May 17 (10:13 p.m. CST) when the Sun and Moon will come together in conjunction at 26 degrees of the sign. This kicks off a 28-day lunar cycle coloured by themes of Taurus the Bull until June 16.

Taurus energy is rich, rustic, sensuous, earthy. It's slower-paced, grounded, and dense. It's simple, basic, and traditionally-minded. It's close to the land, close to the dirt, close to nature and to the seasonal cycles. Taurus is a sign known for its love of relaxation and simple pleasures, but it is also a sign that is not afraid of hard work. Farming and ranching would be two classic forms of rustic hard work associated with Taurus, but any job or project that requires endurance, perseverance, and a sustained effort to make progress in the physical world would classify.

The influence of Mercury, Mars, and soon the Sun (May 21) in Gemini during this Taurean lunar cycle, however, indicates that much of our hard work this month will be mental, verbal, information-related, and organizational rather than strictly grunt physical labour. This hard work is made less arduous if we can manage our stress levels, keep information flowing, and avoid overloading ourselves with too much busyness, conversation, information, worry, or social activity.

We're working to keep many balls in the air while simultaneously putting a new foundation under our feet. Keep it as simple as possible.

Taurus is the sign of the farmer, and Taurus season coincides with sowing/planting season in much of the northern hemisphere. This makes it a good time of year to turn our attention to food and to the sources of our food.

In keeping with our farming and ranching themes combined with a strong Gemini/Mercury influence, passing and receiving information about the state of our food supply are key components this month. 

This very Mercurial lunar cycle is a great time for the wider dissemination of information about the state of our food supply, the state of our farmers (including stress, depression, and mental health issues which are prevalent among farmers and ranchers), and the state of our food distribution networks.

The miserable, terrifying, and ongoing 500-year drought in California, a major food supplier for North America, is one element that must be brought more strongly into the collective psyche at this time. 

This is also a good time to talk frankly about the widespread problem of hunger on this planet (including in "rich" countries like the United States and Canada), as well as the lack of political will to alleviate this horrifying situation. Forty-two million Americans are trying to subsist on food stamps at this time. Nutrition should not be an afterthought, but this becomes the case when it's a struggle just to fill your stomach - and the stomachs of your children - on a regular basis.

Taurus and the Behaviour of Bovines - Re-Post

We currently have a stellium of planets in slow and steady Taurus (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, along with the South Node and Pallas Athene) and are heading to a Taurus New Moon eclipse on May 9 that a lot of people seem to be working themselves into a lather over.

In light of all this hyped-up eclipse fervour, I'd like to offer some very Taurean advice:

Just chill out.

If something shakes out in your life at the time of this eclipse, something needed to shake out in your life at the time of this eclipse. It's as simple as that.  

We experience two or three eclipses every six months, like clockwork. These eclipses are not an anomaly.

In times of yore, people were understandably freaked out about eclipses. It was more than a little unnerving to see the Sun or Moon "go out" without really understanding why. People would stay out of the light of the eclipsed Sun or Moon for fear that it would bring them bad fortune.

So there is a traditional store of fear related to eclipses, not completely unfounded, but (in this astrologer's opinion), over-emphasized and hyped to the nines in post-post-modern day astrology.

It's true that this New Moon eclipse at 19 degrees Taurus falls exactly conjunct female warrior asteroid Pallas Athene and closely conjunct male warrior planet Mars, as well as the karmic, karmic South Node. This can certainly ramp up fighting and aggression around the time of the eclipse, but this isn't all au naturel. War manoeuvres are often purposefully timed according to astrological/astronomical events like eclipses.

Israel timed a major attack against Palestine for the last Scorpio New Moon eclipse November 13/14, 2012. That eclipse was conjunct unfortunate fixed star Unukalhai (Alpha Serpentis). You can read about that here: Israel Opens the Gates of Hell at the Alpha Snake New Moon

Today, as the Moon moves between the Scorpio Full Moon eclipse April 25 (the culmination point of that Scorpio New Moon eclipse) and the Taurus New Moon May 9, the news is telling us that Israel has just launched an air strike attack against Syria, targeting a shipment of missiles said to be intended for Lebanon. (Because, as you may have noticed, only the "good guys" like Israel and the U.S. of A. are allowed to have missiles, nukes, and weapons of mass destruction.)  

All this taken into consideration - if you haven't noticed, this planet has been under a state of financier-backed siege for decades (centuries? millenia?). This is nothing new. It's not right, but it's the state of things. Eclipses are not to blame. Greedy, murderous sociopaths masquerading as our leaders are, as well as those who do their bidding.

To lighten this hyped and charged state of affairs, I'm re-posting an article I wrote last year about Taurus and the behaviour of bovines. From May 19, 2012:

Photos: Willow

I've been a ranch helper for the past few weeks, and you can't really get much more Taurean than that type of work. It's life on the land, on prairie grassland. It's physical work. It's animals and plants and dirt, wind and rain, sweat and sun. The work unfolds according to natural timing, according to the seasons, and it follows a similar course every year. Farmers and ranchers are time keepers in this way. They work according to old, nature-based rhythms and keep those fundamental energetic patterns anchored, just as the animals themselves do. When the Sun goes up, it's time to work. When it goes down, the work day's done. Simple.

It's coming to the end of calving season now, and the babes are running around all over the place. Watching cattle always reminds me of how much you can understand about the sign and energy of Taurus through the behaviour of bovines.

Understanding The Sign of Taurus Through the Characteristics of Cows

1) Taurus is a fixed sign, and cows have a fixed nature. They really don't like to move all that much, especially if they've just had a calf. Cows don't enjoy transition. They like their basic routines, and they're not fans of any upheaval or changes in those routines.

2) Cows are comfort seekers, just like Taurus. Once they're content, they like to stay put, enjoying the sunshine, grazing, and chewing their cuds. The only time they can be convinced to favour a change is if an option opens that brings them even more comfort. This generally involves more or better food - another Taurus favourite.

This is the transition going on right now. Every year, most of the cow-calf pairs along with steers and heifers are rounded up and trucked to a Native-run community pasture for the spring and summer. Once there, they have all the space and grass they could ever desire, but in order to get there, they have to endure the transition. They have to be moved from pasture to pasture at home and then up to the corrals to be worked before being trucked to the new pasture, and this definitely ruffles them a bit. Again, though, if the reward is there, they'll endure - just like Taurus.

To move the cow-calf pairs, my Dad rides horseback, and my mother and I (never horsewomen) each drive a vehicle through the bumpy-ass pastures in a mini round-up. My sweet ride is the 1986 Chevy farm truck. Just as if we were on horseback, we spread out and herd the cattle. Trying to determine how best to get cattle moving in the right direction gives us helpful hints for interacting with people with a lot of Taurus!

3) Cows, like Taurus, don't like to be rushed. They like to do things slowly, gradually, on their own timing. When they do move, they like it to be related to securing basic resources - food, water, shade, shelter from wind, or a comfortable place to lie down.

4) You can't pressure them too much. Cows will take some gentle guidance, but press too much, at the wrong place, or too quickly, and they won't do what you want them to do. If they feel excessively pressured, they'll rebel or freak out. They can be remarkably stubborn once they've been riled and will even jump a fence to get away. If an entire herd has been spooked in this way, they'll run through a barbed-wire fence. Suffice it to say, it's best to take it nice and easy on both bovines and Taureans, givng them lots of time and adequate space to make their moves.

5) Cows, like Taurus, enjoy working with a boundary. The easiest way to move cattle is by gently pushing them along a fence line to an open gate. Taking them through the middle of the open prairie is more likely to create confusion and panic. Boundaries and limitations can help them feel safe.

6) It takes them a while to get going, but once they have some momentum gathered, they follow a steady course. And once they have a steady course, they move along fairly quickly - no fuss, no muss.

7) Cows pretty much do what the rest of the pack is doing. This is the traditional aspect of Taurus. Once in a while, there will be a renegade cow who busts out on her own, but usually, they like to do what the other cows are doing, as long as it makes good, practical cow sense.

8) They seem very docile and gentle, and generally are, but cows can become very pissed off - and dangerous - if they feel threatened in any way. Like most animals, cows are very protective of their babies.

9) Just like Taurus, after a transition or upheaval, they need time on their own to settle down and get back to a state of calm contentment. Once the pressure is removed, it doesn't take them long to get back to a settled state.

Use these helpful insights into the ways of the bovine to keep the Taureans in your life (and the Taurus in your own chart) sweet, calm, contented, and moving in the right direction!

Last Day of Taurus and the Behaviour of Bovines

Photo: Willow

Today is the last day of Taurus season with the Sun on the 29th (anaretic) degree, and we have a massive amount of Taurus energy in our zodiac. The Sun, Jupiter, Mercury, Ceres, Black Moon Lilith, Vesta, and the Moon are all currently in the fixed sign of the bull, though the emphasis starts breaking up a little tomorrow evening with the Gemini New Moon.

I've been a ranch helper for the past few weeks, and you can't really get much more Taurean than that type of work. It's life on the land, on prairie grassland. It's physical work. It's animals and plants and dirt, wind and rain, sweat and sun. The work unfolds according to natural timing, according to the seasons, and it follows a similar course every year. Farmers and ranchers are time keepers in this way. They work according to old, nature-based rhythms and keep those fundamental energetic patterns anchored, just as the animals themselves do. When the Sun goes up, it's time to work. When it goes down, the work day's done. Simple.

It's coming to the end of calving season now, and the babes are running around all over the place. Watching cattle always reminds me of how much you can understand about the sign and energy of Taurus through the behaviour of bovines.  

Photo: Willow

Understanding The Sign of Taurus Through the Characteristics of Cows

1) Taurus is a fixed sign, and cows have a fixed nature. They really don't like to move all that much, especially if they've just had a calf. Cows don't enjoy transition. They like their basic routines, and they're not fans of any upheaval or changes in those routines. 

2) Cows are comfort seekers, just like Taurus. Once they're content, they like to stay put, enjoying the sunshine, grazing, and chewing their cuds. The only time they can be convinced to favour a change is if an option opens that brings them even more comfort. This generally involves more or better food - another Taurus favourite. 

This is the transition going on right now. Every year, most of the cow-calf pairs along with steers and heifers are rounded up and trucked to a Native-run community pasture for the spring and summer. Once there, they have all the space and grass they could ever desire, but in order to get there, they have to endure the transition. They have to be moved from pasture to pasture at home and then up to the corrals to be worked before being trucked to the new pasture, and this definitely ruffles them a bit. Again, though, if the reward is there, they'll endure - just like Taurus.

To move the cow-calf pairs, my Dad rides horseback, and my mother and I (never horsewomen) each drive a vehicle through the bumpy-ass pastures in a mini round-up. My sweet ride is the 1986 Chevy farm truck. Just as if we were on horseback, we spread out and herd the cattle. Trying to determine how best to get cattle moving in the right direction gives us helpful hints for interacting with people with a lot of Taurus!

3) Cows, like Taurus, don't like to be rushed. They like to do things slowly, gradually, on their own timing. When they do move, they like it to be related to securing basic resources - food, water, shade, shelter from wind, or a comfortable place to lie down.

4) You can't pressure them too much. Cows will take some gentle guidance, but press too much, at the wrong place, or too quickly, and they won't do what you want them to do. If they feel excessively pressured, they'll rebel or freak out. They can be remarkably stubborn once they've been riled and will even jump a fence to get away. If an entire herd has been spooked in this way, they'll run through a barbed-wire fence. Suffice it to say, it's best to take it nice and easy on both bovines and Taureans, givng them lots of time and adequate space to make their moves. 

5) Cows, like Taurus, enjoy working with a boundary. The easiest way to move cattle is by gently pushing them along a fence line to an open gate. Taking them through the middle of the open prairie is more likely to create confusion and panic. Boundaries and limitations can help them feel safe.

6) It takes them a while to get going, but once they have some momentum gathered, they follow a steady course. And once they have a steady course, they move along fairly quickly - no fuss, no muss. 

Photo: Willow

7) Cows pretty much do what the rest of the pack is doing. This is the traditional aspect of Taurus. Once in a while, there will be a renegade cow who busts out on her own, but usually, they like to do what the other cows are doing, as long as it makes good, practical cow sense.

8) They seem very docile and gentle, and generally are, but cows can become very pissed off - and dangerous - if they feel threatened in any way. Like most animals, cows are very protective of their babies.

9) Just like Taurus, after a transition or upheaval, they need time on their own to settle down and get back to a state of calm contentment. Once the pressure is removed, it doesn't take them long to get back to a settled state.

Use these helpful insights into the ways of the bovine to keep the Taureans in your life (and the Taurus in your own chart) sweet, calm, contented, and moving in the right direction!

Jupiter transits Taurus from June 5, 2011 to June 11, 2012.

 

 

K-MOOOOOOOOO! I was chatting with Matt Savinar this past Thursday on his community radio show Ask the Astrologer on KOWS FM out of Occidental, California. You can check it out at Matt's site, North Bay Astrology. 

Chiron Dips Into Pisces: Yoo Hoo! Not So Fast There, Buckaroos

Ah, yes. Here we are. (And we've been here before, haven't we?)

The Atlantean throwbacks are poised to destroy the world again.

And those with the Piscean understanding of how things work energetically as a whole can see and feel it happening and still haven't figured out quite what to do about it.

This is the Aquarian/Piscean divide we're looking across. At times it seems we're so very close to securing the necessary connection. It's right there, and it seems there's hope that we'll be able to impart the necessary spiritual/soul-level concern and balance before it's too late.

But then in a matter of seconds, we're light years apart again, left exhausted and shaking our heads at the hideous arrogance and the astounding lack of foresight or wisdom behind these shiny, new technologies and hybrids and patented ideas.

It makes me laugh (we're dealing in black humour here, folks) that much of the scientific establishment believes it is so very far advanced, so far beyond the common person's ability to understand, with its carefully crafted jargon and purposefully obscured intelligence. It's as if they feel they are speaking to children, feeding us carefully-chosen, easily-palatable crumbs related to what they're up to behind the scenes...when we already know damned well the whole pie has been corrupted.

See, we know these things because we feel them. Our souls tell us what we need to be aware of, even when we don't have the exact scientific terms for it. And this is how we know just how far off they really are at this point in human history.

We know that the world scientific establishment is working on "proving" things that have been understood through spiritual knowledge and wisdom for millenia. Things that really are so very simple that, yes, children are born knowing them.

But they've got only small pieces of the whole that they're playing with. Combine this segmented understanding of things with excessively masculine arrogance developing blisteringly dangerous technologies, and you've got a highly risky situation on this Planet Earth.

Powerfully simple spiritual truths are passed over for the trendy and the sexy pseudo-cutting edge. BOR-RING! say the teenagerly Uranian charge addicts, spiking their veins with nano-technology and robots controlled by thoughts, colonization of the moon and trans-humanist garbage.

It's the Pisceans who have the understanding of the whole, and this is why we keep going, keep trying, despite exhaustion, resistance, betrayal and physical and psychic danger. The stakes are high, and we know it.

There are certainly some within the scientific establishment who still have a working connection to their souls. These people drive a certain level of tokenism for the spiritual/energetically-interconnected/humanist side of things. They're hipper and more in-the-know on this front than their strictly Aquarian counterparts, and we can be grateful for this. But still, it's tokenism, not the driving motivation. It doesn't penetrate to the top.

Money and power and those who hold them are still in the driver's seat here. Top-down hierarchical agendas still rule the application of these grand technologies and the scientific minds behind them. Thousands of Manhattan Projects going on all over this globe...and much worse. An army of tortured monkeys scream out their warnings from nightmare labs around the world. A billion canaries gasp their last gasps in a billion toxic coal mines.

As we know, all this never bodes well for humanity as a whole.

And this placement, Chiron in Pisces for the next eight/nine years, during the first official years of the Aquarian paradigm, indicates the challenges ahead.

To me, it speaks of the same-old, same-old dynamics of the arrogant and masculine-heavy rushing in where angels fear to tread. Patenting life itself, getting it under the establishment's thumb. Misusing energy and nature in the most horrific of ways with no care at all about long-term repercussions.

Those who hold real Piscean understanding are doing what they can to bring the 12th energy of the zodiac to the decision-making table. They see the massive, gaping holes in understanding (and in ethics) of the Atlantean throwbacks toying with the power to dismantle humanity and all living things.

But let's be honest. The Pisces energy and those who embody it have taken quite a shit-kicking up to now. We're tired. We're a little punch-drunk. We're psychically and physically taxed. We feel powerless and helpless at times, as if we're destined to see a history we hoped we would never experience again repeating.

And our numbers are not as strong as they could be with so many still caught up in useless spirtual hierarchy, materialism and ego, feeding their precious energy and talents into the same top-down control mechanisms. Squandering it in one diversionary, escapist past-time after another.

So these are some of the conditions as Chiron begins its transit of Pisces.

The flip side of the wounding is the healing - related, in this sign, to finally anchoring the spiritual understanding and knowledge we've been carrying forward for so long. Activating the 12th energy of the zodiac, the energy that brings everything back together from wounding segmentation. And seeing this energy properly applied as a motivating force guiding the decisions being made on this planet...little by little.

Chiron is entering Pisces at an opportune time, a crucially necessary time. It dips into the first degree of the sign Monday, April 19 until July 20, at which point it retrogrades back into Aquarius.

This adds just a touch of the Piscean understanding and impetus to the proceedings - maybe palatable enough for even the most arrogant of scientific minds to accept? Let's hope so.

We have to be gentle here, but firm. There is no un-knowing what we know. There is no going back to a more fragmented understanding of humanity and life on Earth. So we hold our positions.

And we're aided in this pursuit as the Sun joins Venus and Mercury Rx in the earthiest of earth signs, Taurus, also on April 19, just as Chiron ingresses Pisces.

In the areas where we had begun to fear we were losing our grip, losing our footing and our connection to this Earth, we're reinforced. Our feet are planted. We fully inhabit our bodies here and draw on their inherent wisdom. Our feet grow roots that tunnel deep into the soil, connecting us to the lifeforce that has sustained our entire physical ancestral lineage.

Safely, stably, in a grounded, earth-connected manner - this is how we proceed. This is the fixed foundation we need as we bring forth Piscean wisdom, insight and understanding in practical application. With the deepest respect and reverence for this planet, the ancient wisdom of its natural timing and cycles and the living things upon it. Like this, putting one foot in front of the other, we're sustained.

It's not so easy, though, to find the trust and the courage to fully ground into and inhabit these bodies. Taurus is about what feels sensually good, and much of what is going on on this planet doesn't, especially for sensitives. For many of us, being on this planet, aware of what we're aware of, has not often ever felt truly good.

Our bodies tell us that knowing what we know has brought down a world of pain and injustice on those who have preceded us in carrying this knowledge forward. So we're wary and kept from trusting this physical existence completely.

But the truth of the matter is, the chips are down. It's now or never. We need to let go of the escape hatch door, to fully come to Earth and into these bodies, in order to anchor this wisdom we have, to nourish it, apply it, and give it a fighting chance.

It's not simply the awareness of past abuses that is stopping this from happening. People still attempting to make a go of it within mainstream systems are forced to live at such an unnaturally accelerated pace that it's impossible to truly care for their bodies. They don't have the time to connect to their deepest body wisdom, and they certainly aren't allowed to use it if they do manage to.

People are made to feel guilty about living on 'Taurus time' or needing time in fresh air, out of the office buildings. So they come out of their canned air cubicles only for a smoke break or a quick coffee, the drugs they use to insulate their senses enough to continue, and then plunge back in.

The 'Too Much Information' Chiron in Gemini generation has been manipulated in this way to an unbelievable extreme. This was a gateway generation, the first one to grow up constantly connected and driven by that Uranian charge addiction - cable, satellite, radio, internet, cell phones, text messages, iPods, Blackberries. Constant bombardment. Constant stimulation.

There are so many people living at this bizarre, manufactured Uranian pace, and there is going to be a massive purging and purification required, especially as the Pluto in Scorpios reach the point of electromagnetic toxicity saturation - when they realize what has been fed into their collective. The balancing polarity point for Pluto in Scorpio is Taurus.

Chiron will be in Pisces, conjunct Black Moon Lilith, during the initial cardinal t-square/energetic cardinal grand cross this summer along with that potent Capricorn eclipse conjunct Pluto. The spiritual whole coming together is key in what is initiated here, though this coming together will be obscured (Chiron/BML).

The feminine, spiritual understanding that has been forced into the fringes and the shadows and kept there for so long peeks its head in here, just long enough that it cannot be denied by anyone with even a hint of ancient wisdom in their bodies.

And the power of it, having taken a back seat to the masculine for so long, starts to let itself be known. The damage done will be hard to ignore from here on in.

At the same time, the dark side of Pisces - the delusions, the blind spots, the rosey puffs of Neptunian glamour that lead around by the nose - will be easily manipulated within the collective. Watch the Neptunian smokescreens and identify when the collective subconscious is being pumped full of diversionary energy - both fearful and hopeful. This is some of the trickiest energy to get on top of on this planet, and it is often used against us. We have to work together in earnest to maintain clarity of vision because with Chiron on one end of Pisces and Uranus on the other, the conditions are ripe for traumatizing uses of this energy.

Saturn in late Virgo provides its mastery to assist us with this clarity and precision so we don't miss pertinent details. Deciphering manipulated/manipulative Pisces energy from the holistically healthy and sustaining is never easy, but no one said we were living in easy times.

We have to be much smarter now with this Pisces energy, channelling it into only the most precise and necessary practical application (Virgo). Accepting and working with only the holistically healthy, grounded, sustaining version - rejecting all else. No dumbassery allowed. No leaks. Rock solid boundaries. This is what we've been getting on top of throughout the Saturn in Virgo - Uranus in Pisces opposition cycle. Refining the energy of the 60s and getting real with it. Chiron will be at the potent zero degree of Pisces for the final Saturn-Uranus opposition in these signs April 26. Again, the damage related to unsuccessfully working with this polarity will be hard to ignore.

We really do hold the trump cards here. Despite all attempts, there's no destroying what we know or what we're connected to. We just have to hang in there until we get our chance to play them. Holding steady as grounded Taurus infuses the entire Chiron in Pisces transit...

Storms make trees take deeper roots, and the deeper the roots, the stronger the tree.

We certainly have to be strong little trees these days, don't we?

But we can do this. We were born to do this. We just have to pace ourselves because it's a marathon, not a sprint - more so now than ever.

Chiron retrogrades back into Aquarius July 20 until February 8, 2011, when it re-enters Pisces for good for the following eight years - until February 2019.

Willow's May 2008 Astro Perspective

Mmm…now THIS is what I call a month! When I look at the aspects this month, the overall vibe is celebratory. Not celebratory in an over-the-top, party-party kind of way…but in the way that you can relax and enjoy yourself after a long, hard job well done. May rolling around is always a relief in the Northern Hemisphere after trudging through the cold, dark part of the year. And this May feels very nice indeed with a lot of cycles finally, mercifully, coming to an official close - all layers of them! The transformational (and many times, hell-tastic!) Mars - Pluto opposition cycle is finally behind us, hopefully well-integrated and with lessons learned, as Mars enters Leo and we have a second Full Moon in Scorpio at the final degree of the sign (29). We’ve been doing the hard work since September 2007, and now, all we have to do is go, slowly and steadily, to the finish line. If we gave it all we had over the past months, we can now enjoy a more comfortable time, one where we feel more in control of our circumstances. Chiron (the wounded healer) and Mercury (the messenger) are all over this month, putting a focus on communication patterns and the ways we need to streamline there. We’re going to have to take a clinical, practical look at the way we interact with others in our day-to-day lives and make any necessary tune-ups. The series of cardinal squares in April squeezed us, irritated us and basically made life annoying in an effort to provide impetus for action, forcing us to take responsibility for leading ourselves into the lives we desire. Then, the Grand Earth Trines helped our new directions become physical reality. Now, this month, we continue to build on that, while refining, refining, refining to get EXACTLY where we want to be. We’ve got some housekeeping to do this month, for sure, but the overall vibe will be much more relaxed than it has been. We’re focussing on finishing detail work now…not the heavy lifting.

May 1st marks yet another Grand Earth Trine at the beginning degrees of the earth signs. Venus now takes its place at 1 degree Taurus, creating a Grand Trine with Pluto in Capricorn and ultra-potent, stationing Saturn in Virgo. This basically means that our relationships (and how we value and are valued within them) are playing a big part in the process of bringing our “new paradigm” career and public responsibilities into physical reality. This Grand Trine continues the series of Grand Earth Trines from April, and Venus in Taurus will carry the momentum forward in our relationships all month (until it enters Gemini on May 24). Venus in Taurus has to do with being comfortable around the people in our lives, being valued by them, and being around people who increase our sense of self-worth, rather than chip away at it. It has to do with building strong and healthy boundaries within our relationships - knowing what we’re comfortable with and what we aren’t and enforcing our boundaries when necessary. With Venus in Taurus, we’re building secure and solid relationships, creating a foundation that is meant to sustain us for a very long time to come. That’s why we have to be sure of every step we take this month and go as slowly as necessary. Taurus relates to money and physical security, and combined with Saturn in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn, our careers and ways of earning a living are highlighted this month. Are we being valued for what we provide? Are we appreciated for the work we do and the roles we play? And do we appreciate and value other people in our lives in the same ways? Are there any holes in our foundations that need to be fixed? Any boundaries being breached? This is the kind of tune-up stuff we will be doing this month. There is no time to just accept situations where we are under-appreciated, under-valued and treated in a second-rate way. It’s time to trim the fat in our relationships and to keep only what is truly valuable to us.

For the past three months, we’ve gotten a taste of what Pluto in Capricorn will be up to for the next 16 years. We’ll be gutting and transforming our hierarchical structures (especially related to corporate/business and home). We’ll be working hard to balance and equalize masculine and feminine. Anything built on inequality, coercion, abuse of power or just plain unsustainable ethics will be on the transformation block in a major way. No more putting up with crappy situations and dynamics because that’s “just the way it is.” There is no more “just the way it is.” Pluto in Capricorn will see to that.

This month, Venus in Taurus combined with Saturn in Virgo are showing us how this Plutonic process is and will be coming up in our own lives. We need to value and appreciate ourselves and what we do before anyone else will. (And before the institutional structures in our society and lives do.) We need to make sure we are respected and fairly compensated for the work we do and the roles we play, and if we’re not, we need to demand those things! Get a little stubborn and dig in, as Taurus the bull does. Refuse to be put into the same old ruts. No more doing things we’re not being appreciated for doing because we feel we “have to,” we “should,” or that’s “just the way things are.” The only way things function properly within our structures (Saturn in Virgo) is if everyone’s work/role is valued and rightfully compensated. Work that has been quite undervalued and underpaid in our society, especially service industry work or work that supports others in achieving their goals, will come up for review. This includes the low-glory jobs a lot of people don’t want to do - any kind of labour or service industry, janitorial, farming, food production, food service/cooking, healthcare (especially aides, laundry and cooks), daycare/babysitting, administrative, etc. Anywhere people have been living in la la land, just expecting certain things (cheap food, cheap service, cheap labour, etc.)…anything that has been artificially supporting the current hierarchical structures will have to shift. This includes the sometimes invisible work of women and the feminine - the emotional supporting, the listening, the feeding (emotionally or physically), the healing, the cleaning up other people’s messes, the million little things that are done to support smooth functioning in day-to-day life. All this stuff is going to come up from the depths of our structures into the open during Pluto in Capricorn, and we should start to see these themes being highlighted in our own lives.

Saturn in Virgo turns direct on May 2, just after a trine with Venus in Taurus, making these themes potent. Saturn has been going retrograde for the past three months or so, allowing us to come to terms with a lot of issues related to health, diet, personal habits and trimming the fat in all areas of life/self - whatever we need to deal with before moving forward in life. Saturn has forced us to take responsibility for being our best selves and for making the adjustments and refinements we know we need to make in order for our lives (and ourselves) to function long-term in a sustainable, healthy way. Saturn has a maturing effect wherever it sits and creates step-by-step lessons to bring about that maturity. Virgo relates to work/service, self-mastery and holistic health, so we’re being challenged to make the changes we know we need to make in the pursuit of holistic health - body, mind, emotions, spirit. To really get serious about what our role is within the whole, what we bring to the table that is special, where we hold mastery, what gifts we have that we simply must offer publicly in order to fulfill our destinies and our duties. To express our spiritual understanding in practical ways (“The hands that help are better than the lips that pray”) and to bring that into the business world. All this is taking the form of cleaning, organizing, analyzing, clarifying, purifying, streamlining, getting rid of detritus, cutting excess, putting things in order, making changes, making things right. It can mean adopting a new, more adult diet, job or outlook. A new, more adult anything, actually. Doctors and dentists. Holistic practitioners and advice. Clean, clear, simple. The basics. Health on all levels. Taking things away rather than adding to. Replacing bad habits with good ones. Improving the function of systems in all ways. Making proactive changes now to head off disaster later.

Saturn turning direct on the 2nd means we can now “get on with things.” We’ve had a few months to adjust to our responsibilities here…to start the processes and emotionally come to terms with any changes we need to make, aligning inner and outer. We should be somewhat more comfortable with the processes we’re dealing with now. The initial realization and pain is out of the way, and now it’s just the getting on with it. Two more years of Saturn in Virgo getting on with it, to be precise.

I’ve noticed people doing a lot of home renovation projects lately (definite Virgo territory - related to improving what already exists) and dealing with long-standing health issues. A textbook Saturn in Virgo experience is the one my journalism school friend, Bella, is going through (major jaw surgery). Check her story out at: http://www.smilingbella.com. Bella’s taking responsibility for having a pain-free life - doing what she needs to do and dealing with (relatively) short-term pain for long-term gain. Virgo is co-ruled by Chiron (healing) and Mercury (communication), so jaw surgery affecting her speech and the healing process afterward are very much Saturn in Virgo territory.

Which brings up the Chiron - Mercury flavour of this month, in general. Saturn in Virgo is very active this month…as are Mercury and Chiron. Mercury enters Gemini on May 2 (just a few hours before Saturn turns direct) and almost immediately squares Saturn in Virgo. This challenges us to apply that more adult outlook to our social interactions and communication patterns. There is some maturing and streamlining required here. Some bad habits and old patterns need to be tended to. Where are we talking just for the sake of talking, out of nervousness or ego gratification or the pressure of our social identities? What needs to be said, and what is just needless filler? In what instances are we dropping the ball and not saying what needs to be said? And when should we choose not to communicate or interact? How can we communicate more effectively with minimal wasted energy? How many of our daily social interactions are based on social expectation and a feeling of what we “should” say? Mars in Gemini opposite Pluto in Sagittarius has already taught us about being true to ourselves and honest in our interactions with others - not to have a social artifice differing from your real beliefs or understanding. Now we have Saturn in Virgo asking us to use what we’ve learned and get rid of excess chatter in our day-to-day lives.

Not only that, but under the Taurean theme this month of valuing and being valued, we will have to take a good look at any ways that we are not being appreciated fully for the Mercurial roles we play - for what we do say, the information we have and then pass on, the ideas we come up with, and the social function we fulfill. Mercury is the sign of the messenger, tirelessly gathering information, communicating, interacting, offering ideas and keeping things moving on a social level. Busy, busy, busy. In our daily lives, the Mercurial function is typing, talking, texting, answering the phone, passing on messages, coming up with brilliant ideas, filling in the awkward pauses with just the right comment, answering questions, and juggling a million and one balls, keeping them all in the air. Problem is…because Mercury does a million and one SMALL things in everyday life, the cumulative role of Mercury (in both Gemini and Virgo) can be overlooked or downplayed. Both signs help keep things moving and functioning, and often, people only notice if there is a breakdown in the system (Mercury Retrograde, anyone?). If everything is going just fine, it’s easy to forget that that doesn’t just naturally happen. Someone (or more that one someone) is putting in a whole hell of a lot of work to keep it going just fine. Mercury in Gemini, especially, does it’s work on a social level - keeping the conversation going, coming up with ideas, greasing the social wheels with just the right words, keeping everyone connected and in the know on a day-to-day level. The individual interactions may seem small, but the overall cumulative function is crucial. The squares this month indicate that it’s more important than ever to make sure this function is fully valued, recognized and appreciated. And if it’s not, it might be time to get a little more tight-lipped, a little less free and easy with the information, ideas and perspective we provide. To show people that, no, it’s not effortless to do these things - we just make it look that way! It’s actually hard work and requires a lot of skill. Again, we need to appreciate the Mercurial function we and others play before anyone else (or our institutions) will. We can learn from Bella’s situation here by really valuing every word we put out there and every interaction we have…and by making them count!

Umm…this doesn’t actually sound all that celebratory, I know. But it is! It’s always a bit more complicated than just one theme. BUT! Things really are going to feel better and more on an even keel this month. Here’s the good news:

Both Venus and Mercury are in the signs they rule - very comfortable and functional. Venus will be in Taurus until May 24, and Mercury enters Gemini May 2 and will be there all month. This makes for some happy planets and some fairly unimpeded energies.

The Sun in Taurus is ruled by Venus in Taurus until May 20 (again, very comfortable, sensual, enjoying the sunshine and warmer temps kind of feel). Venus is riding alongside the Sun all month, which means we should be consciously feeling the love. Throw a little (or a lot) of Marvin Gaye on the stereo. (“Let’s get it oooooon!”) My feeling is that we will be happy to be in our bodies this month…it should feel better than it has for a while. Taurus is grounded in the physical senses, and there’s nothing it loves more than taking it easy, enjoying some good food, good drink and good company. This month, we should be able to relax into just that.

May 5 we have a New Moon in Taurus (ruled by Venus), and at the same time the North Node and Neptune conjunct in Aquarius. This is another positive, feel-good aspect. With this conjunction, Neptune infuses our current Aquarian path through life with its guiding spirit of love and understanding. The path to the Aquarian future is not so easy. It’s got some rough edges and some very tough spots. But Neptune dissolves all our struggles into complete unconditional love and acceptance. It renews our faith that we ARE getting somewhere. Things ARE changing. We’re closer to creating a world free of needless suffering, hatred, violence (on all levels) and injustice - a world we love living in.

May 9, we have two main events - Jupiter goes retrograde in Capricorn and Mars enters Leo.

Jupiter has been working on expanding our understanding of the Capricorn areas where Pluto is going to be working its transformational magic over the next 16 years. We’re gaining some wisdom here, getting clearer on the truth of the matter, and paving the way for our new roles in the career/public world. Now, Jupiter goes retro, back over that territory, to help us prepare for further expansion there. We can’t go too big, too fast, and this retrograde (ruled by Saturn in Virgo) will make sure we don’t. We have both the expansive force (Jupiter) and the restricting force (Saturn) working together to make sure we don’t get too reckless in our career growth and responsibility-taking. Jupiter in Cap is giving us the “big picture” while ruling Saturn in Virgo will make sure we don’t skip any of the details that Jupiter prefers not to deal with.

And on the same day, Mars enters Leo! That gets an exclamation point because Mars has been going over Cancer lessons off and on for seven months now. That was necessary…in order to infuse the masculine, action energy with feminine, emotional/soul guidance (more balancing and integrating of masculine and feminine). But Mars really could not be happier to head into Leo, a fire sign. This adds to the romantic, enjoyable feel of May in a big way. We’re ready to let our personalities shine (with egos hopefully balanced by the Mars - Pluto work). We’re ready for some fun.

May 11, Mercury in Gemini enters it’s retrograde shadow. That means Mercury will be revisiting all territory covered from May 11 to May 26. Things that come up during this period will be coming back up for review, revision, and internal recalibration during the retrograde itself (May 26 - June 19). Mercury in Gemini is a symbol of the messenger - so messages will be coming from a variety of sources in our daily lives. Things people say will have more meaning than they know. Words will be pieces of the puzzle. Pay attention to the symbolism in your daily lives. Listen to what your mundane experiences are telling you. On the day Mercury goes retrograde at 21 degrees Gemini, it will be in an exact trine to Chiron conjunct the North Node at 21 degrees Aquarius. Neptune is strongly involved at 24 degrees Aquarius, and the Moon moves over those Aquarian degrees throughout the day. These aspects indicate a powerhouse download of information about the way forward. Ideas, conversations and things overheard will give us clues as to what’s up ahead. Information comes at us fast and furious in Gemini, but luckily, we’ll have the retrograde period to go over anything we might have missed. With Chiron and the North Node involved, the way forward involves healing the wounds we’ve received from speaking the future. We’ve been hurt by standing apart from the crowd, interacting in new ways that were/are ahead of the current mainstream society. You know the old saying, don’t shoot the messenger? Well, they did. Often. We’ve had to deal with being ill-perceived, misunderstood and labelled weird, odd, eccentric, bizarre, crazy. A lot of interactions left a bad taste in our mouths because we knew we were not being taken seriously. We were being condescended to. Our ideas were completely discounted by mainstream brains that could not wrap around them. Gemini relates to being socially successful, which includes being accepted in society, in general. Well, with Aquarius involved, that hasn’t often happened. We’ve had to break off into our own alternative societies, all the while knowing that that wasn’t quite right, either. These aspects speak to the hope that people courageously showing the way forward at times when it was not popular to do so will start to be accepted on a societal level and treated more humanely. And hopefully, there will be a place for people with humanitarian vision in the leadership of the current mainstream - rather than people simply striving to maintain the status quo.

These aspects to Mercury have to do with healing our speech and what we hear (healing the throat and ear chakras). I know I, for one, have heard so much that displeases me related to the mainstream that I’m almost always bracing myself for more garbage. I cringe overhearing most people’s conversations (especially working with the public - don’t get me started!) or listening to mainstream media. But this conditions me to be bracing against what I don’t want to hear. It takes a lot of energy and overshadows what I do want to hear. I’m hoping this period will help us all to filter out the garbage and focus on the progress - which is the most important thing, anyway.

Mercury going retrograde coincides with Chiron and Neptune going retrograde, as well, so we’ll be dealing with these themes for a while. Neptune in Aquarius goes retrograde May 26, the same day Mercury does. Chiron goes retrograde in Aquarius just a day earlier - May 25. We’ll be dealing with all the issues related to having and expressing ideas that are ahead of our time and the social repercussions of that during these retrogrades, over the next six or so months.

During the Mercury retrograde, we should be receiving information and messages that give us perspective on the path forward while validating what we’ve been saying all along. Healing us through our interactions with others will be quite a positive shift.

May 19 we have the second Full Moon in Scorpio. The last one was on April 20 at 0 degrees. This one is at 29 degrees Scorpio, representing the last release of emotional residue (especially fear) and karmic dynamics related to the past. Final baggage check, people! Let go of it now! All the old stuff that is dead, dead, dead. No use lugging it around anymore. Feel it, right down to the gut, be honest about your feelings and then process/release. Choose better for yourself. Demand better. Mars and Pluto co-rule Scorpio, so this Full Moon at the last degree of Scorp shows us that we’re clearing out the last of the past-related residue brought up during the Mars - Pluto opposition cycle. We’re dropping the last of our baggage, alchemically burning it out of our systems, so that we’re free to move forward. A lot of things will come to completion - especially any tendencies to accepting abuse on any level. The Taurus - Scorpio polarity has to do, in part, with the emotional oppression we put up with (Scorpio) for fear of losing our security (Taurus). This has a tie-in with the feminine - masculine stuff, too. (Disclaimer: I’m sure this viewpoint is controversial.) Traditional relationships have often had to do with the woman exchanging her healing emotional support (and sometimes sexuality) for the physical security of being “taken care of” with a house, food, financial support, etc. This dynamic also shows up in the workplace, with women providing a lot of invisible support in exchange for the honour (ahem) of having a job to support themselves with. On the other hand, these trade-offs have created a huge amount of pressure and oppression for men, who can feel locked into the responsibilities of the traditional provider role. These are some of the dynamics related to this polarity that could come up at this time. Scorpio has to do with soul-level merging with another person, so on this Full Moon at 29 degrees, we should be more clear on who we can trust our souls with, so to speak - who we can merge with on the deepest emotional level, building trusting, soul-level partnerships. At the same time, Venus in Taurus will help us commit to building solid, valuable relationships with in the physical realm. This polarity helps us to give emotionally while keeping strong and healthy boundaries at the same time.

The Sun enters Gemini May 20, shifting our conscious focus to interacting, chatting, mixing, mingling, having a lot on the go. Venus enters Gemini May 24, putting a focus on our day-to-day interactions in our relationships and how we interact within society. This focus on Gemini reinforces the Mercury Retrograde themes talked about above (the ouchy parts of interacting with others when you’re on different wavelengths). But now we get to try our hands at speaking our truth in a way that is socially palatable (very important - can’t connect and be understood if no one can relate to what you’re talking about).

We will now consciously face how our manner of speech, listening, interacting and processing of information may need adjusting (likely triggered by our relations with others), as both the Sun and Venus square Saturn in Virgo immediately after they enter Gemini. This repeats the Mercury - Saturn square from the beginning of the month. Gemini and Virgo have tension between them, although both have Mercury as a ruler. Gemini is about bringing in as much information from as many different sources and perspectives as possible. Talking, exchanging, commenting, connecting, sharing opinions and tidbits. Virgo is about precision, separating the wheat from the chaff, focussing, analyzing, rejecting what isn’t necessary, streamlining. No wasted words. Gemini takes a more playful stance to communicating and seems to like a whole lot of words, not considering a single one a waste of time. But Virgo knows that too much surface chitter chatter can become toxic, and it’ll be chastising the planets in Gemini to tone it down a bit. As with all squares, the energies need only learn to respect the different strengths and modus operandi of the other and work together. Gemini can work the social scene, gathering info and learning from different perspectives. Then Virgo can pick through, keeping what is necessary and letting the rest slide off its back - as long as Gemini shuts the hell up once in a while. (Maybe possible, maybe not!) Again, Saturn in Virgo will be producing a maturing aspect in everything it touches, so we will be challenged to mature our communication style, to say what is necessary and to keep quiet more often when nothing need be said.

And with that, nothing more need be said...