NEW MOON IN TAURUS
11 May 2021, 20h00 BST
Moon Signs
Use the chart below to identify which areas of your life (astrological house) the Taurus New Moon will activate. For the most accurate results, choose the sign of your Ascendant. This is where you fresh starts or new beginnings are most favoured.
For more details on what to expect from May 2021, be sure to read your Monthly Horoscope.
GENERAL THEMES & OVERRIDING ENERGIES
ELEMENT:
Fixed Earth: Growth & Stability
The May 2021 New Moon takes place in fertile and placid Taurus, a fixed earth sign. This new moon takes up the fecund themes of its twin, the Pink Supermoon in Scorpio, which had a strong watery feminine creative aspect to it, focused very much around emotions – the ‘juice’ of the womb/sacral area – and grounds these into the material realm.
This waxing moon period is about manifestation on many levels, as well as earth-related matters such as finances, security and stability. As befits a earth-ruled sign, there’s a strong emphasis on nature, conservation and natural processes at this New Moon, particularly aspects of growth and abundance, thanks to the presence of both the Sun and Moon in the sign of the Bull.
However, as we will see when we come to examine the messages surrounding the Sabian symbol for the 22nd degree of Taurus, abundance is about so much more than just material wealth or physical fecundity. One of the key ‘ingredients’ needed for manifestation may even come as a bit of a surprise. For, as the ancients like to remind us, the true ‘ground’ or basis of reality is mind, consciousness or spirit – and it is to this aspect of our lives that me must turn in order to affirm the true source of all life – and indeed, everything we see in the universe. This message is reiterated by both Neptune and Jupiter, as we will discover further down in the forecast.
There’s also a need to be realistic and have a plan – Taurus is very pragmatic and doesn’t like risk, so it’s a good time to get back to basics and where necessary, take a moment to ensure that all the fundamentals needed to succeed are in place.
Strong roots and a stable core from which to build are all highlighted by this New Moon, thanks to Pluto, which will be testing your internal foundations and psychological resilience to ensure that you can withstand a little turbulence or ground shaking. The theme is further amplified by Hexagram 23 – the ‘stargate’ in which this full moon takes place, which is all about stripping back to the bare essentials to ascertain what is fundamental or necessary to success.
FEEL:
Fertilising Power & the Pursuit of Pleasure/Creativity/Gains
With contacts to two very different outer planets, Neptune and Pluto, this New Moon is likely to be a bit more complex than your average Taurus-ruled lunar phase. While Neptune invites us to surrender and get into a natural sense of flow and ease, Pluto will be urging us to be more proactive about making the internal shifts needed in order to move forward with our lives, rather than remain apathetic or complacent about bad habits, stubbornly held beliefs or psychologically toxic or abusive situations. So, taking our power back and having the courage to overcome internal limitations or social conditioning that is truly not in alignment with our spiritual nature or core values, is also favoured now.
The trick is to stop and assess what is – and is not – a stumbling block, by seeking advice from wise people and ensuring that our internal guidance system isn’t being obscured by self-deception, escapism or deeply repressed rage. Black Moon Lilith will be hovering near to the luminaries, suggesting a need to take a closer look at what we normally tend to suppress or project onto others. Facing up to this offers us the opportunity to accept and forgive (Neptune), or alternatively, transmute any hidden pain or shadow aspects of our psyche into power (Pluto).
Another major theme involves working more constructively with our desire natures in order to ensure that they lead us towards what we truly want for ourselves at the heart/soul level, rather than get stuck in cycles of addiction or longing for people/things that are permanently (and often deliberately) situated just out of reach. Rooted in the masculine aspect of our astral/emotional bodies, this can trap us into a cycle of constantly striving or chasing after ghosts/short term ‘highs’ when we might actually be better off expending our emotional energy elsewhere (such as enjoying the present moment), or in simply relaxing/uncoiling and allowing things to unfold naturally at their own pace, rather than trying to force them.
FIXED STAR ASPECTS
Interestingly, the Taurus New Moon will parallel Aldebaran, the alpha star in the Taurus constellation, which is strongly related in Greek and near eastern mythology, with the romantic chase – a theme that is obviously strong during the spring months, which is peak mating season for many creatures. (More details in the Fixed Stars Aspect graphic below). However, what is particularly fascinating is the way the themes of seduction, sexual encounters and romantic pursuit, as epitomised by the planets Venus and Mars, also come up in relation to the Sabian symbol, which for me, is strongly related to Hexagram 59 via the elemental expression of air/wind over water, and the poalrity between love and war, as epitomised by Venus and Mars. How fascinating, too, that the degree of the Taurus new Moon is also a white bird. However, unlike the Scorpio Supermoon, which featured a white swan, we have a white dove. More on all of this below.
Interestingly, Bernadette Brady says that Aldebaran was associated with Mithras, the so-called ‘bullslayer’ god of the mystery cult favoured by Greek and Roman soldiers, who sought assistance in attaining victory on the battlefield. Again, we see an emphasis on masculine qualities such as war and pursuit being associated with the bull, which was a potent symbol of fertility and virility during the Age of Taurus. However, Brady goes on to add that “success will come but only through ethical integrity” – NOT by using force or trying to bend things or people to our will.
When paired with the Moon, Brady sees this star as highlighting environmental causes, physical gifts and a love of nature.
KEY PLANETS:
The luminaries will also be making positive aspects to Pluto, currently retrograde in Capricorn, as well as Neptune in Pisces. This dynamic and harmonious combination of earth and water energy is always very productive, leading to concrete changes that are both empowering and healing. They should also enable you to tap into, and channel your sensitivities and intuitive abilities in a strong and constructive way.
PLUTO IN CAPRICORN (RETROGRADE)
The energy of the Scorpio Supermoon continues to linger in the form of Pluto, which will be trining the luminaries in Taurus from its position in the late degrees of Capricorn. Pluto turned retrograde just a few days after the Pink Supermoon, taking its transformative energy and turning it inward.
Interestingly, in terms of Human Design, Pluto has been sitting in Gate/Hexagram 61 since the 25th of January 2021, where it has been activating the central channel in the crown chakra, and sparking some major psychic ‘downloads’ from higher spiritual dimensions, leading to aha moments and wake-up calls for many people. Given the strong relationship between Pluto and Scorpio, I would say that this is likely to be something that was brought to your attention at the end of April at the Scorpio Supermoon, when Pluto went retrograde, so won’t be news to you.
Now, thanks to the earth trine to the luminaries, you may start to see glimpses of how to take the knowledge gleaned from these internal realisations and awakenings, and implement positive changes in your life that will ground these truths in reality. Deciding how to do so – perhaps by making plans over the two weeks of this waxing moon cycle – will enable you to come into greater energetic alignment, giving you an increasing sense of integrity and peace as you let go of, or transmute psychological/behavioural patterns that no longer serve you into something more evolved and empowering.
NEPTUNE IN PISCES
The Taurus New Moon will sextile Neptune in Pisces, which should add an ethereal and rather magical air to this particular two week phase. I suspect that it is the influence of Neptune that is giving this normally very earthy lunar phase a slightly more spiritual or soulful inflection – something that is reflected in the image of the white dove, and its role in alchemy which I cover in relation to the Sabian symbol below. For now, let’s just say that Neptune, in many ways, lifts the frequency of this energy from the creative and birthing root and sacral centres up to the high heart of the thymus gland, echoing the shift currently underway within the collective away from manifesting via physical effort and labour, towards the infinite abundance that emanates from the heart – the frequency of love.
Richard Rudd sums up this energy so well when he describes the theme of the gene key/stargate in which this New Moon takes place:
Prosperity is simple. It’s about seeing with your heart. It’s about having the courage to see what others around you may not yet see. It’s about living a new and simpler life. It’s the harvest of all your work with the heart. It’s up to you to bring in your harvest and share it with others.
Gene Key 23, Richard Rudd
So, in stark contrast to that striving/desirous impulse we see being expressed via the fixed star, Aldebaran, which is very masculine – and acquisitive – in character, we are being offered the opportunity to experiment with a more refined version of creation or manifestation – one that is rooted in divine inspiration and unconditional love.
It’s worth bearing in mind that UNLIKE the Scorpio Supermoon, which saw the Moon in its fall or weakest position, the Moon will be strengthened in Taurus, meaning that sign and planet are in natural sympathy with each other – a situation that encourages synergy and flow. Part of letting go of resistance, and getting in sync with the natural momentum of celestial cycles is being able to recognise their ebbs and flows, which is where intuition and sensitivity comes in. Rather than jostling for position like Mars might do, this is about listening, watching and waiting for the right moment to act. And this is what Neptune will help you to do during this two week waxing moon phase when it comes to achieving your goals and dreams.
Luckily, Jupiter will soon be joining the party on May the 13th, increasing momentum and encouraging an upswing in sentiment – something to look forward to in May and June. However, Jupiter’s retrograde cycle, beginning in mid-June, will see the planet of expansion and faith retrace its steps, heading back into Aquarius towards the end of July. Still, this should give you a taste of what lies in store towards the end of 2021 when Jupiter enters Pisces for good. More on this ingress in a separate blog post, but suffice it to say, this move will amplify the feelgood factor and restore many people’s faith, both in life and the more ethereal aspects of existence.
Wheel of Fortune: Lunar Degree & Face
LUNAR degree: Sabian SYmBol
The Sabian symbol is a series of messages channelled by the medium, Elsie Wheeler, and interpreted by the astrologer, Marc Edmund Jones, during the course of one day in 1925. They give a set of symbols, word associations and images for each of the 360 degrees of the tropical zodiac. The duo believed that they had managed to tap into what Jones called ‘ancient mind matrix’ of the Sabian Brotherhood of ancient Mesopotamia – an occult sect from the city of Harran that was keen to preserve the original Chaldean traditions, centered around moon worship (the name Chaldean literally means ‘moon worshippers’), which underpinned the very earliest beginnings of astrology. This included talismanic or sympathetic magic, which Michael Baigent describes as “the magic whereby a deity’s power is attracted or coerced down to be concentrated into a physical object” using resonant symbols, metals, colours and numbers. We see this continued in texts such as the Picatrix – and later in the natural magic of Marsilio Ficino.
Isn’t it interesting that the Sabian Symbol for April’s Scorpio Supermoon and its twin, May’s New Moon in Taurus, have both featured white birds either moving on, or flying above, large bodies of water?! Surely that is too much of a coincidence to be ignored? In addition to the symbolic meanings provided by Lynda Hill in the Sabian Oracle (see above), I think it also worth pausing to consider what these images represent from an elemental perspective.
Given the correspondences between the wheel of the zodiac and the 64 Hexagrams of the I Ching in Human Design and the Gene Keys systems, I can’t help but think of this elemental combination in terms of their Chinese equivalents. In the I Ching system, which assigns different trigrams to specific elements, the combination of trigrams representing air/wind over water/lake gives us only two possible hexagrams or gene keys: 59 (Dispersion) and 61 (Inner Truth). The latter hexgram is very much connected to Pluto at the moment via its position in the late degrees of Capricorn (details on this are above).
It’s corresponding twin, this month’s Sabian symbol, is more closely associated with Hexagram or Gene Key 59. Now this is a fascinating one! Richard Rudd maintains that this is one of those soul scars or ancestral wounding patterns we are also working on at a collective level. It has to do with truth, intimacy and transparency, particularly emotional honesty, and most often shows up in its shadow form in the area of sex and love relationships, where wounding can often lead to mask-wearing and difficulties in being open, authentic and vulnerable in intimate encounters. It is such an important point in our evolution as a species that he has made his audio transmission on this gene key free. You can also listen to it on Soundcloud if you’d like to see if it resonates with you.
Hexagram 59, Venus-Mars and the Core Relationship Wound
Within the system of Human Design, Hexagram (or gate) 59 forms part of a channel in the human energy field specifically associated with sexuality and reproduction – which in energetic terms, involves an exchange of life force and emotional energy between the sacral and emotional centres. This so-called Channel of Mating is all about the age old polarity between creation and destruction, or what Empedocles called love and strife. As I have mentioned elsewhere, in astrology these are associated with the planetary forces of Venus (Hex 59) and Mars (Hex 6), the two archetypes engaged in the ongoing ‘battle of the sexes’. Gene Keys creator, Richard Rudd sees a similar dichotomy and identifies Mars with the core wound in relationships which revolves around the need to maintain a separate identity within close relationships:
Mars as the Wound
Mars is the God of War. He represents the wounded child, the immature masculine pole without its mother. It is through the interplay of Mars and Venus that all our battles of love and pain are fought. In traditional numerology, Mars is represented by the number 9 and Venus by the number 6, its reversal. When you add them together, you get 15, which reduces again to 6. Venus always wins the battle, because Venus represents love. However, the process of separation from love began through the male archetype, so this is what we have to learn to understand within us.
RICHARD RUDD, The Freedom of Transparency
Given the obvious affiliation between Venus (seduction) and Hexagram 59, and the fact that we are talking about a New Moon in Venus-ruled Taurus, I think it safe to say that it is the energy of this particular hexagram (rather than Hex 61) that this Sabian symbol is asking us to contemplate and work with over the course of the May waxing lunar cycle.
Doves over Water & Jupiter’s ingress into Pisces
Let’s return to our original starting point for a minute: the elemental combination of air over water that is encapsulated in the image of this particular Sabin symbol – a white dove flying above turbulent waters. Now what’s even more fascinating is that Jupiter is about to ingress into watery, Neptune-ruled Pisces (14 May). As it does so, it will enter that part of the zodiac considered to be the location of Hexagram 59’s programming partner: Hexagram 55 (Spirit) which in human design/gene keys, is associated with freedom and an influx of spirit, which is the true source of all life and consciousness in the cosmos. Both qualities have a strong affinities with the element of air, don’t they? Which in this Sabian symbol, is represented by a dove, the bird of peace and hope. After all, this is the bird that Noah is said to have sent out from the Ark to discover dry land at the end of the Great Flood. I find the similarity of this dove flying over ‘troubled waters’ interesting.
What’s even more fascinating is how all of these qualities coalesce into one particular alchemical symbol: the white dove, associated with the albedo or second phase of the alchemical work, which represents the influx of spirit into matter, symbolised by the descent of the white dove (holy spirit) from heaven at the baptism of Jesus by John in esoteric Christianity. In the Judaic and kabbalistic traditions, the dove is said to represent the Shekinah or Sophia – the feminine aspect of the god force associated with wisdom. Again, air above water. How spooky! Even more so when we consider the Lunar Face of this particular soli-lunar event, which James Burgess associates with the wisdom of the Higher Self, which ‘offers not only guidance, but also protection, understanding and direction’. (See more below)
LUNAR FACE: FIFTH DEMI-DECAN OF TAURUS
Rather than use the decans, which divide each zodiac sign into three, we will be zooming in 2X to look at what Marc Edmund Jones (who created the Sabian symbols) and Alan Leo – the father of modern horoscopic astrology – called a‘ demi-decan’ which in turn, has ties to the traditional astrological concept of planetary ‘face’. By way of analogy, think of it as being like the five-minute intervals we have on the face of a clock. Together with the Sabian symbol, which uses a channelled image to describe the nature of each individual degree of the zodiac wheel, I think that that this offers us a more in-depth snapshot of the ‘quality of time’ represented by each moon phase rather than simply looking at something as general as zodiac sign.
INNER AUTHORITY: WISDOM OF THE AGES
In 360 degrees of wisdom, James Burgess describes the nature of this particular demi-decan as follows:
TAURUS 21 – 25
The right to shape reality is automatically conferred upon those who are able to tune into the wisdom of old – to understand the established operating processes of real life. Anyone with the acuity to read signs and interpret symbols meaningfully will know enough of the racial memory to influence the race. This is the functioning of the Spirit of Guidance, which offers not only guidance, but also protection, understanding and direction. The old is thus honoured and preserved by those who, by taking on a conservative role, keep alive that which still has merit.
We slow down our passage into the future, avoiding a helter-skelter recklessness, by drawing attention to the impeccable beauty and enduring value in our heritage. How else would authority take on the dignity accorded to an elder? This is no small matter. The power of command depends upon an atmosphere of gravitas backed up with all the symbols of position. By such means one takes on the crucial social responsibility of stewardship that binds the community into expressing proven group values and building lasting group projects.
22ND DEGREE OF TAURUS (21°- 22°)
360 DEGREES OF WISDOM
The mind is shaped and strengthened through guidance
Exploration takes us into new areas of experience where we may find the need to mobilize hidden resources, and through this, we can uncover an innate creative genius that finds answers to all challenges. Whether they are to do with dealing elegantly with someone’s emotional process, or safely moving heavy objects from here to there, a careful, fail-safe attitude is useful.
