May starts off spicy with a New Moon in Taurus accompanied by a Solar Eclipse, Pluto Retrograde, Mercury entering its retrograde shadow, and the Venus/Jupiter/Neptune conjunction in Pisces.
Consult your favorite astrologer for what all that means, but suffice it to say there’s a lot of tumultuous energy knocking about at once. So if you’re feeling off-kilter, you’re meant to!
Remember, Astrology isn’t events “out there” happening to you. They’re happening, and you are in relationship to them. You choose whether you want to engage that consciously or unconsciously, actively or passively, through the lenses of fear and victimhood or curiosity and courage.
I’ve pulled a collective reading to give you some guidance as to how you can use the current cosmic climate to expand and refine your Self, as well as bring the external reflection of your inner world into closer harmony and alignment.
Since New Moons were traditionally times when farmers would plant seeds, I carry that symbolism into my Weed It, Seed It, Feed It spread. With the Dark Moon, which precedes the New Moon, what can be cleaned up or cleared out like weeds from the field? What intentions, or seeds, are best suited for planting in this season of collective life? And once planted, what actions can be taken to ensure these seeds of intention are able to take root and fully bloom?
Ready? Let’s goooo!
Weed It: The High Priestess
When the High Priestess presents in a position that is asking you to clean up a pattern or clear out an energy, there’s a component of questioning where you’re being overly reliant on instinct, intuition, or gut feelings - to the exclusion of evidence, data, or logic. In other words, where are you almost defiantly relying on faith, or waiting to be rescued by divine intervention?
Stubbornness is a key shadow trait of Taurus. Is spiritual stubbornness keeping you stuck, or are you honestly practicing patience as a situation unfolds? Discerning the difference can be tricky if you’re overly attached to an outcome (or lack of one).
Discernment is a fundamental tool when it comes to consulting and applying intuitive guidance.
Being able to distinguish your mind chatter from your intuition is important.
Being able to distinguish shared wisdom from personal agenda is important.
Being able to take responsibility for how you interpret and implement someone else’s messages, and knowing when you’re abdicating your self agency in favor of someone who’s more “enlightened,” “ascended,” or has “transcended the ego,” is SUPER important (because that is just oppression packaged as spirituality).
If you’re attempting to craft your life without active participation and conscious choice, you’re creating a life that reflects the needs, expectations, and values of others…and they probably either want to make money off of you or leverage your resources for their own comfort and convenience.
Under the shadow of this New Moon, where can you bring a greater degree of discernment to your intuitive practice?
Has your Tarot deck become a tool of determinism instead of a means for looking more deeply within yourself?
Are you defining yourself or others by Astrology, rather than regarding it as a reference for understanding your relationship to archetypal energies?
Intuition is a guide, not a dictator.
You are not meant to follow it unquestioningly or obediently; it asks the questions (in the form of challenge, change, conflict, or crisis) that lead you to your own answers through exploration, experimentation, examination, and lived experience. You came into this embodied form to live, so don’t lean on Spirit to bypass that! Instead, make it your mentor and ally in refining your authenticity.
Seed It: The Cat
Segueing nicely from this invitation to prune practices of intuitive dependency, The Cat encourages you to set fresh intentions of healthy independence (meaning, not hyper-individualism a la “I don’t need anyone, I can do everything on my own”), and to leverage your newly-refined discernment into clear boundaries that affirm your commitments and assert your value into the world.
Like The Cat, you can easily find your balance. And if you fall, you will likely land on your feet…or eventually find your way back to upright without too much kerfuffle.
But if you don’t trust in that for yourself, you’ll never let your feet leave the ground. Will you let yourself be tested? Will you risk comfort, poise, and the appearance of cool control for the clumsy acrobatics of taking a leap in the direction of your truth, your values, and the fulfillment of your unique needs and desired experiences?
Cats give zero fucks about what you think - oh, you don’t want me to knock this glass off the counter? *pat pat* This one, full of water? *pat pat pat* Well, I want to feel the thrill of what will happen if I just… *swoop / crash splash* Ahh, yes, splendid. I’ll be kneading your pillow if you need me.
Not that you should cause decimation and destruction for shits and giggles, but are there ways you hold back from excitement, adventure, or risk out of fear for the mess that might come with it? Are you even allowed to make messes or mistakes?
What if you embraced a little more cattitude, and valued the thrill of doing what you want more than the perceived problems that it would potentially cause?
Healthy independence is understanding that, as a human being, you have needs for support, reflection, validation, accountability, and belonging. AAAAND that you are not defined by who and what exists outside of you, and that you are the determinant of your own priorities and pursuits.
Healthy independence begets empowered partnership and conscious collaboration. This New Moon in Taurus asks you to apply healthy independence to defining your values and needs, and to enforce clear boundaries that allow for alignment with relationships that nourish and nurture you. True, there’s vulnerability there, but there’s also liberation and empowerment.
Feed It: The Earth Fairy
How can you support and stabilize these boundaries, and strengthen your independence without succumbing to self-imposed isolation? True to Taurus fashion, tending to the physical body and material surroundings is the solution.
Tending to the body grounds you in the present, it gets you out of your head and reels you back in from future tripping and past ruminating. Staying in connection and conversation with your physical needs is essential self-care. But it can be easy to bypass the basics in favor of far-reaching ideals.
It can feel like you’re accomplishing more when you’re focused on what you need to get where you wish to be. But those are different needs than what you need NOW.
Ignoring or denying the present won’t hasten the arrival of your envisioned future; if anything, it’ll delay it - by not honoring your present needs, how will you have the resources to build the future?
What are your needs right now? That can be an uncomfortable question, because it asks you to admit to yourself where you are in relation to your goals and desires. It grounds you in the reality of what is.
Listen - there’s nothing wrong with where you are, no matter how far from “there” you feel!
The overriding systems of oppression need you to believe that if you aren’t striving for more you are worth less. But this is a fallacy designed to keep you in a state of never-enoughness.
You are enough, exactly as you are. And if you hear that as lip service, ask yourself why you can’t be enough as you are now and where did you learn that? I promise it didn’t originate within you.
So, what are your needs right now?
Are you moving your body enough, and/or in a way that is enjoyable and effective? Or are you forcing yourself to do a routine that you hate, or pushing your body beyond its threshold to achieve an external standard?
Are you hydrating and eating in a way that nourishes you? Or are you following generalized dietary rules that aren’t tailored to your specific body and health?
Are you prioritizing sleep, rest, play, intimacy, and creativity?
Is the majority of your time obligated to responsibilities that wear you down, rather than invested in activities that light you up?
Do you take time to appreciate beauty in people, Nature, architecture, etc? Do you intentionally bring beautiful things into your environment or physical experience?
You are not required to earn the right to feel good. You deserve it simply because you exist.
Claim this for yourself, and inspire it in others, by practicing soothing and supportive self-care in the face of an economy, society, and culture that thrives on you feeling sick, stuck, and small.
In doing so, your body will become a strong and sturdy vessel for the mental, emotional, and energetic work that is needed to continue evolving into your truest self, and to impart your unique contribution in the world.
If you'd like a personalized, deeper dive into how this lunation is serving and supporting you, book a private Oracle Card Reading! You'll get a full scope understanding of what's working for you, as well as how you can get out of your own way as you find your way forward along your path.