Go Slow to Go Fast

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.

Start Your Engines

Astro Notes for Aries Season 2023 (March 20-April 19)

The astrological year begins when the Sun enters Aries. Despite our adherence to the Gregorian calendar, the March Equinox is the real beginning of the annual cycle. If you’ve been fretting over your stalled progress during the last couple of months, don’t worry. That’s all about to change.

Aries season — and thus the whole astrological year — kicks off with an incredibly auspicious New Moon on March 21 at exactly 0 degrees Aries. It’s hard to imagine a more potent symbol of new beginnings than a New Moon falling on the very first degree of the zodiac. It’s like the cosmic reset button. If you’ve been gestating a creative project or vision through many months or even years of darkness and struggle, this may well be the moment you get to finally press go.

Aries is an interesting energy. Most people tend to associate the sign of the Ram with its fiery, feisty side. This is not wrong — Aries is ruled after all by the God of War. But there is also a purity and innocence to the first sign of the zodiac. Aries corresponds developmentally with new born infants. It is associated with the first signs of Spring, the first shoots emerging out of the seed, the first buds on the trees, the first birds singing. If Pisces is the surrender to the Mystery that occurs at the end of a cycle, Aries is the rebirth out of the Mystery that takes place at the beginning.  

The link between the two sides can be explained by the paradox that a true warrior has an innocent heart. A person with an innocent heart recognizes an act of sacrilege in a way that a more scheming, sophisticated person cannot. He doesn’t overthink his response, but acts instinctively in defense of life. Although in modern times we have understandably grown weary of war and aggression, this kind of fighting spirit is essential, for it gives us the courage to carry out our sacred assignments against all odds. Indeed, given the imminent explosion of AI and its associated risks, we’d better embrace the archetype of the sacred warrior  — and soon — if we are going to rise to the challenge and opportunities of our moment.

Speaking of AI…..on March 23, just two days after the New Moon, Pluto enters Aquarius. Woah. Pluto has been in Capricorn since early 2008. Its ingress into Aquarius is undoubtedly the most significant transit of the year. When Pluto changes sign, it usually makes an unmistakable entrance. In 2008 we had the Global Financial Crisis. And now, as Pluto prepares to change sign again, we are seeing another run on the banks.

Pluto will be in Aquarius for just a couple of months this year before heading back into Capricorn for the remainder of the year. It will enter Aquarius again in January 2024, then move back into Capricorn in September before returning to Aquarius for good in November 2024. It will then stay in Aquarius for a full twenty years.

Pluto’s function is to ruthlessly dredge up from the shadow all that is out of alignment with reality for purification. Its movement in and out of late Capricorn between now and late 2024 will create a kind of ‘rinsing’ effect whereby any patterns within ourselves or our world that are out of resonance with the zeitgeist of the coming age will be forced up to the light for transformation. While intense and difficult, there is an immense opportunity here for massive personal and collective evolution — if we lean into the hard work of owning and integrating our shadows.

Pluto in Capricorn has exposed much darkness and corruption in the governing institutions of society. It has revealed what is not working in the established structures of politics, media, health, and finance. Pluto in Aquarius will involve the radical transformation of all aspects of society. Pluto in Aquarius signifies revolutionary social change. The last time Pluto was in Aquarius coincided with the American and French Revolutions and the birth of the modern period. By the time Pluto leaves Aquarius, the world will be a very different place indeed.

Much of that transformation is likely to be connected to the exponential growth of AI. Aquarius rules technology, so AI will undoubtedly be a core theme of the next twenty years, for better or for worse. Of course, many of us are concerned about the ‘worse’ part.

There is no getting around the dark side of exponential technology. Yet it is important to remember that Pluto’s function is to expose the dark to the light of truth for purification. Pluto in Aquarius will shine a powerful light on all that is corrupt and unethical in the realm of technology. That’s a LOT of darkness to bring to the light. It will be a wild ride for sure. But it may be the messy yet transformative process that allows us eventually to harness the more creative and humanitarian possibilities of AI, which would represent the more exalted potential of the Aquarian archetype.

Meanwhile, until the end of March we are still within the influence of the Jupiter-Chiron conjunction I focused on in my last Astro Notes for Pisces season. This aspect is separating now, but there is still a window for integrating our core wound on a deeper level than ever before and realizing how it can be transformed into our greatest gift.

On March 25, Mars enters Gemini. Mars changing signs would not normally make my astrological highlight reel, especially in a month with such an epic transit as Pluto moving into Aquarius. But Mars has been in Gemini for six long months. That is a ridiculously long time for Mars to be in one sign. It’s probably safe to say we’re all very much over this transit by now. Dear Universe, I think we’ve got the lesson, thank you very much.

It’s a dramatic time. A bold time. We’ve all been roughed up quite a bit over the last few years. We’ve all had to endure so much. If you’re still standing, and your vision is intact, get ready. The real race is just about to begin.

Precious Portal of Healing

Astro Notes for Pisces Season 2023 (February 18-March 20)

We’ve entered Pisces season, the final season of the astrological year. It’s a time of wrapping things up, bringing things to completion, and letting go into the mystery before a new cycle begins again with the Spring Equinox in March. This year, in addition to the Equinox, March brings several of the most powerful and dramatic transits of the year. In March, everything changes. There is therefore in the air a sense of needing to tie up loose ends and complete lessons so we can be ready for the big changes just around the bend.

Pisces is the final turn of the astrological Wheel of the Year. It represents the last stage of life, or any creative process, when there is a release of attachment to form and a surrender to the mystery. It is less about doing than being. From the perspective of the world of accomplishment, Pisces can seem like a realm of loss. But from the perspective of being, it is where we gain everything.

Pisces is the ocean that dissolves all boundaries that keep us in the illusion of separation. It is the awareness of the consciousness that underlies everyone and everything. As such, Pisces carries the energy of universal compassion. Pisces heals through the recognition that we are all ultimately part of the one reality, the one mystery. We are never alone, never truly separate.

Pisces season this year brings a very special and poignant opportunity to heal our deepest wounds. On March 12, Jupiter is conjunct Chiron in Aries. Chiron is the archetype of the Wounded Healer. The position of Chiron in our chart represents the location of our core wound. We all have one somewhere, it’s part of the cosmic design. Jupiter expands whatever it touches. When Jupiter meets Chiron, our very deepest core wounding will come to the surface – you can count on it.

Yet the magic of Chiron lies in the fact that our core wound is — very precisely — also the location of our deepest healing gift. And while Jupiter may magnify our wound and even blow it up out of all proportion, it is considered the Great Benefic in astrology for a reason. Jupiter’s encounter with Chiron brings with it a tremendous opportunity for healing our core wound and uncovering our deepest healing gift.

Although the Jupiter-Chiron conjunction is exact on March 12, the transit is operative for several weeks on either side of that date. So if you’ve been feeling a lot of emotional vulnerability lately — even to the point of desperation — know that you’re not alone. We’re all being initiated into a deeper level of service than we’ve known before. And the way through is to embrace the place of our deepest shame and inadequacy with as much compassion as we can muster.

But the Jupiter-Chiron conjunction is not the only big event taking place this Pisces season. On March 7, Saturn enters Pisces after being in Aquarius for the last two and a half years. Saturn is the sober taskmaster who assigns us lessons in maturity. Over the last two and a half years, we’ve all been asked to grow up in a particular area of our lives and put things in order there. (The particular area is shown by which house Aquarius falls in in our charts.). These lessons are now drawing to a close. However you did on your ‘exam’, when Saturn moves into Pisces on March 7, you will feel the focus shifting to a different area of life and new life lessons. The next two weeks thus represents a final chance to complete your current lessons and submit to the universe your Saturn in Aquarius ‘assignment’.

On the collective level, Saturn entering Pisces will be felt as a notable shift in the zeitgeist, a fundamentally new phase. Saturn began its journey through Aquarius in March 2020, coinciding with the beginning of lockdowns and the global pandemic. When Saturn moves into Pisces, it will also mark the beginning of a new era. With Saturn in Pisces we will likely be challenged to fully deal with our emotional reality and outgrow our escapist tendencies. There will no doubt be a lot of reckoning with the emotional trauma of the last few years. On the positive side, that process may lead to a collective spiritual maturing that will enable us to move forward more in alignment with reality.

Toward the end of March, Pluto enters Aquarius. Now this is BIG. Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008. So this represents the beginning of another MAJOR cycle, one that we will be in for the next 20 years (more or less). I’ll have much more to say about this next month. For now I’ll just note that we are all likely sensing this transit subliminally like an approaching earthquake.

Big change is on the way. Big challenges. Big opportunities. Use this next month to deal with any unfinished business from the old cycle and to find support to help heal your core wounds and uncover your deepest gifts. That way the new energies rising in you will meet the new energies rising in our world, and you’ll be able to catch the huge wave of opportunity rolling in.