Astro Notes for Taurus Season 2023
This year at EarthRising, we are telling the story of the astrological year, from Aries 2023 to Pisces 2024. Attuning to the astrological year helps us to re-orient to the natural rhythms of life, rather than to the artificial overlay of the Gregorian calendar. In our ORACLE Event last month, we gave an overview of the key themes of the astrological year. In these monthly Astro Notes, I’ll be unpacking these themes for each astrological season.
The story thus far….The astrological year began with a bang on March 21 with a New Moon at exactly 0 degrees of Aries. One could hardly imagine a more precise symbol of new beginnings than a New Moon on the first degree of the first sign of the zodiac on the first day of the new year. It was a jump start to help us all awaken out of the slumber and fog of the Covid years and take bold strides toward the emerging Aquarian era.
A few days later, Pluto moved into Aquarius — the biggest astrological event of the year — initiating a 20-year revolutionary cycle of social change. (This year we have a short preview of this momentous development with Pluto peaking into Aquarius until June only before returning to Capricorn for the remainder of the year.) Earlier in March, during Pisces season, Saturn moved into Pisces (where it will stay for two and a half years), also heralding a significant shift in mood. Saturn had been in Aquarius since March 2020 — the Covid years — so its movement into Pisces was another key signifier that we are closing that chapter and beginning a new one.
Did you feel the reverberations of all this new, initiating energy during Aries season? Was your spirit stirred from its early 2023 slumber into bold action? What new initiatives did you begin? What new seeds did you plant?
Now we enter Taurus season, a time for sustaining and fertilizing the new growth initiated during Aries season. Taurus is fixed Earth and typically brings a slower, steadier rhythm. In the northern hemisphere, Taurus corresponds with Spring in full bloom, nature at her most abundant, sensual, and beautiful. Taurus is ruled by Venus, the goddess of love and pleasure. Taurus teaches us to attend to our practical needs for food, shelter, and security, and to enjoy the simple and natural pleasures of the body. The goal is not to overcomplicate things with unnecessary drama.
This year, though, Taurus season begins with a bang, starting the day after a rare solar eclipse on April 19. A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Moon, and one of the lunar nodes are together (conjunct) in the sky. It’s basically a new moon on steroids, a cosmic reset that brings about big changes. This eclipse is conjunct the North Node (which represents our evolutionary endpoint) and thus asks us to step outside of our comfort zone to take in something new. It’s also in Aries, so it’s another opportunity for new beginnings in the realm of personal courage, drive, and self-assertion.
Aries season began with a new moon at the first degree of Aries and ends with a new moon (and solar eclipse) at the last degree of Aries. If your (Covid-weary) heart wasn’t revived by the electro-shock of the first new moon, the second one is another jolt to get you jump-started! Yes, indeed, we really have turned a corner.
This time, though, we are in Taurus season, so there’s solid ground to stand on while we step forward bravely again toward a new adventure. The new inspiration now wants to materialize into a solid form, a stable structure that can sustain the initiating impulse over the months and years ahead. Be open to this structure itself being novel, of the future.
Mercury (our thinking function) will be retrograde April 21 through May 14. This suggests we’ll be navigating this passage primarily by instinct. We may not have the cognitive clarity to understand just yet all the pieces that are coming together, but we are encouraged to move forward anyway, trusting our gut feeling.
On May 5, we have a South Node lunar eclipse in Scorpio. A lunar eclipse occurs at the Full Moon, which is a time of culmination of that which was initiated at the new Moon. If a solar eclipse is like a new moon on steroids, a lunar eclipse is like a full moon on steroids. A South Node lunar eclipse brings to a culmination a long cycle of karma. The outcome may be positive or negative depending on our karmic history. Taking place in Scorpio, we could see a karmic outcome manifest in the realm of sex and intimacy, or in our finances. For better or for worse, this outcome will be linked to our purpose and new direction. Now we will know what cards we are playing with.
On May 16, Jupiter enters Taurus, where it will stay for a whole year. Just as the Sun entering Taurus is a time for fertilizing the new seeds we planted when the Sun was in Aries, Jupiter entering Taurus is a time for solidifying the growth we initiated when Jupiter was in Aries. It’s essentially the same process but over a longer time scale. Jupiter was in Aries from May-October 2022, and again from late December 2022 to May 16 this year. Whatever you began in that period, you now have a year to stabilize those new beginnings by developing the concrete structures that will support their growth over the next 11 years (when Jupiter reaches the end of its current cycle in Pisces and begins a new one again in Aries).
Even though the eclipse window brings a lot more action and drama to this Taurus season than usual, Taurus demands that we slow down and take care of the body. Don’t think that building in down-time or rituals of self-care is separate from the project of creating the structures to support your vision. The wisdom of Taurus is that the creation of these outer forms only emerges from a relaxed body that knows what it wants.