The Taurus New Moon April 22, 2020 brings us to our knees, to witness the shoots and worms, to rub our noses in the mud borne of spring rains, and give honor to the earth that has given rise to this life we hold so dear. We are invited to recognize the soil of our lives teeming with nutrients, longing, chaos and the infinite potential to spontaneously ignite a creative act of love. It is an opportune time to make art from the compost of all that has been curtailed and bent by life into something not yet recognized, still unknown, waiting for our hand to sculpt it, dance it, write it, sing it, play it into being.
Somewhere amid the darkness,
A painter measures a blank canvas,
A poet tests a line out loud,
A songwriter brings a melody into tune.
Art inspires, provokes thought,
Reflects beauty and pain.
I seek it out even more in these times.
And in so doing, I find hope
In the human spirit.
Dan Rather
Taurus celebrates beauty, revels in the experience of the senses, values stability and aspires to having material comfort. The Taurean Bull emerges in springtime to feast on an abundance of grass for grazing, soak in the warmth of the sun on his hide, and find leisure within a world returning to bloom and bounty.
Money in the bank, luxurious lovemaking, cultivating a garden, and enjoying all manner of creature comforts is what is typically promised with a Taurean New Moon. As we are not in ordinary times, this is no ordinary Taurus Moon.
We are likely to feel thwarted in our best intentions to feel grounded and feel the satisfaction of our indulging our senses with earthly pleasures.
The Ground Beneath Our Feet Feels Neither Solid or Sure
Uranus rides with this New Moon and with it rides disruption. This is the energetic of earthquakes, both metaphoric and literal. Our stability - money, food, and the love between us and others - are all arenas that can experience an unexpected surprise.
The image of Taurus as the the lazy, contented bull enjoying the meadow becomes the bucking bronco with the planetary alignments influencing this Moon. We may feel like we are on a wild ride. or we may feel like the bull wanting to buck the system, buck whatever is on our back. Taurus is the most patient of the signs, but when patience has run out or when his perceived security is threatened, there is little that can light a match to the charge of the raging Taurean bull.
Taurus is aroused to protect its territory and has little toleration for anything that endangers the predictability of routines and plans that provide him assured stability. We can easily recognize Uranus' influence reflects the dynamics unfolding within human society. The ground beneath our feet is not solid and we are contemplating how to meet the seismic shifts that are rapidly shifting our accustomed way of living.
The peace-loving Tauruean bull, roused and agitated by Uranus, has nowhere to go as he discovers he is also penned in (Saturn square the New Moon and Uranus). The bull is feeling harnessed, even caged, caged, not free to roam, to charge, to escape or to protect. We have the impulse strike out in some unpredictable direction only to be met by a wall that restrains or holds us fast.
There is pent up energy building like a geyser. We can feel the pressure of the energy wanting to be released and the lid that keeps us bottled. To counteract this, we may have an urge to do something rash or impulsive to resolve the inner tension. A war of words can break out, so can secrets and hidden truths (Mercury square Jupiter/Pluto conjunction). Our minds are inflamed with passion, ideas, new thought, and a feeling of rightness about our viewpoint.
New Moon Lodged in the Horns of the Ram
The New Moon’s alignment with the fixed star Sheraton only accentuates and reinforces the New Moon dynamic. Sheraton, the Beta Star in the constellation of the Ram, is located in the Horn of the Ram. This star accentuates the impulse to be headstrong, to protect, defend, butt heads or ram whatever stands in our way.
It becomes essential that we are mindful of how to direct the daredevil in us that feels goaded into action. Yes, the energy is chaotic and unpredictable and will continue to knock us off balance by surprises and news we didn’t expect. And yes, the great tension gives rise to a million ways to rebel or lash out. Yet, this very mud is rich with creative potential and if treated with reverence and respect, can yield much bounty!
We are sacred artists
Painting our lives
On the canvas of the universe
The Muse of Tragedy
The asteroid Melpomene finds herself in the thick of the New Moon dynamic, at the same degree as the New Moon. There are nine muses in Greek astrology and Melpomene is the Muse of Tragedy.
Artists often refer to needing a muse, not being able to work without one and often credit their creations to their muse. The muse can be a person and is often of spiritual persuasion.
Melpomene is the muse offered us at this moment. Rather than shutting out what is happening and dreaming of unicorns or the equivalent, we can invite and welcome Melpomene and watch our creativity flow inspired by the timeless Muse of Tragedy.
The tragedy of our time touches our lives in different ways - we may be intimately touched by the death of a loved one, not be able to pay bills, or be inconvenienced by a lack of toilet paper or a haircut. Whether tragedy is happening in our backyard or our neighbors, tragedy is prevalent and permeates our lives.
COVID19 is one facet of our troubled times. Climate change, corporate greed, genocide, racial injustice, a building economic crisis…all these are elements of the epic tragic story we are collectively living. We have read about great tragedies happening in history to other cultures, other times, other people. We know that from tragedy emerges some of the greatest artists and artworks of all time and paves ways for government reform and more enlightened social practices.
Right now, at this new Moon the focus is on the creation of art - to taking the tension, the yearning, the loss, the uncertainty, the stories and turning them into art. Art is an act of healing for the artist and the one who engages the art. It is a lotus born of the mud.
By embracing Melpomene,the river of innovative and rebellious energy that is needing release (Uranus) finds the discipline that Saturn offers a welcome restraint that supports shaping beauty from the chaotic. Saturn then becomes a riverbank to direct rather dam the flow of our troubled spirit. Our words and idea can be generative (Mercury square Jupiter, Pluto) in their power to speak deep, if unsettling truths. Inviting the muse of tragedy to inspire us can transform the disruptive and frustrating New Moon energies into a crucible of incredible potency to generate works of great beauty.
If we do not feel the impulse to create, we can find benefit in taking time to seek art that is being birthed out of these times– to listen to Patrick Stewart reading a sonnet a day on is twitter page #SirPatStew or listen to inspiring music (I would like to suggest a new song by Appalachian Rising released for Earth Day. It is called Stand Like an Oak). “I, for one, seek meaning and clarity in art when the burden of that which is unspeakable and unfathomable becomes too great.” ~ Fred Plotkin
You are searching amongst the branches
For what only appears in the roots.
Rumi
The Moon takes place on Earth Day, quickening the potential of this annual celebrationof the Earth. The raw, arden and fierce energy unleashed on this New Moon can be directed to create or destroy, to honor intimate contact or glorify insensitivity to the earth of our bodies, the earth of our food, the earth of our home.
Taurus is the lover, and enjoys beauty found in art, in the shooting leaves of a garden, or in a satisfying meal of our favorite foods. Let us all find ways to bring beauty into our lives, not through minimizing or turning away from the tragedy and tensions of this time, but by incorporating the mud and muck of it into our creative acts. We are invited to take off our shoes, let our feet sink into the mud, to connect with all that is teeming within and beneath the surface of what is apparent, and then watch the lotus bloom within us.
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