Transits for the Taurus Lunation

Taurus season begins just as pale green leaves and tender shoots are unfurling, and the white Pacific dogwoods are in bloom on the hills around my home. The lunation starts off with a spark as the New Moon conjoins Uranus, initiating new creative innovations. As the Sun traverses the fixed earth sign ruled by Venus, the planet Venus moves slowly through Gemini, eventually stationing and moving retrograde. Both the Sun and Mercury, as well as the whirling Moon, all illuminate the Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto stellium in their unique archetypal ways.

I needed to take a break from writing these transit updates for the last two months in order to turn all my energetic and emotional resources towards weathering our current pandemic storm. However, I will be posting retrospective transits soon to help give more of a picture of the unfolding dynamics during the Pisces and Aries lunations.

Transits of the
Taurus Lunation

*April 22 @ 7:26 pm PT* New Moon in Taurus conjunct Uranus and square Saturn in Aquarius. Throughout the day the Moon sweeps through a square with Pluto, Jupiter, and Saturn in succession, before disappearing into the Sun’s rays. Plumbing the emotional depths, heights, and limits before awakening to new potentials. Sow your seeds in the rich, moldy soil.

*April 23 @ 10:30 pm PT* Moon in Taurus squares Mars in Aquarius. Relational and emotional friction and heat, inflammation of the senses. Direct that fiery energy toward practical home tasks, scrubbing dirt from the forgotten corners, or dance to intense music that pounds rhythmically through your veins.

*April 25 @ 12:36 am PT* Mercury in Aries squares Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn. Depth and breadth of understanding, desire to probe beneath the surface of grand ideas, to avoid superficial conversations. Beware of manipulation of language, of doublespeak. Respect the blessed power of story.

*April 26 @ 2:01 am PT* Taurus Sun conjoins Uranus, as the Moon greets Venus in Gemini. What new initiative crackles into waking potential? What inspires you to try something different? Notice the need to rebel, to be free, to feel liberated. A touch of sweetness may linger through the day as well, a gentle heart connection.

*April 27 @ 12:53 pm PT* After a fortnight drying out in Aries, Mercury puts down roots in Taurus, approaching the awakened Sun-Uranus conjunction. Thinking and ideas become more grounded and earthy, oriented towards material needs being met, perhaps in innovative ways.

*April 28 @ 10:28 am PT* Mercury squares Saturn in Aquarius, narrowing the thought processes to the practical and detail-oriented. Bring consciousness to negative thought patterns, words of criticism and judgement of yourself and others.

*April 29 @ 6:06 pm PT* The Moon sweeps regally from Cancer to Leo, passing opposite the Pluto, Jupiter, then Saturn on the way. As has often been a pattern in the last months, the influence of the Lunar archetype in hard aspect to this heavy stellium may lead to feeling personally the great weight of the world at this time.

*April 30 @ 1:38 pm PT* The waxing quarter Leo Moon square Sun in Taurus, aligns with the exact Mercury-Uranus conjunction. There is a tension between inspired ideas and the ability to put them into action. Note them down, no matter how rapid and flurried the thought process—the time will ripen, but the seed is only putting out leaves for now.

*May 3 @ 8:52 pm PT* Slowing Venus in Gemini makes the first of three exact squares to Neptune in Pisces, which will occur during the next three months. The Moon in Virgo forms a T-square with the Venus-Neptune square on this day. Enchantment, illusion, chasing the fairy-tale romance, seeking the image of the divine in the beloved. Questions of what is real and what is a dream permeate the heart.

*May 4 @ 2:41 pm PT* The Sun and Mercury conjoin in Taurus, still within orb of Uranus’s fluttering inspiration. Shining a light on grounded communication patterns, needs, and comforts, while still carrying sparkles of the previously awakened innovative approach.

*May 6 @ 11:31 am PT* The Scorpio Moon highlights the tension of opposites that characterizes the Saturn-Uranus archetypal complex, when it forms a T-square with Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus. What feels rigid, fixed, and constraining that leads to you to want to break free? Will it happen suddenly, like lighting striking stone, or can you restructure creatively? Although the Moon illumines the alignment today, these themes will continue to play out in the coming years.

*May 7 @ 3:45 am PT* The Full Moon in Scorpio opposes the Taurus Sun. Many archetypal polarities are present: the Solar and Lunar, Venus and Mars as rulers of these opposing signs. Mercury in Taurus quietly sextiles Neptune. What dreams are born from the union of opposites, the heiros gamos, the sacred marriage? Water your soil, to see what kind of potent flower blooms.

*May 9 @ 6:17 am PT* Mercury in Taurus trines Pluto, the next major aspect Mercury makes within this lunation to the Capricorn stellium. The deep conversations and probing inquiries surrounding April 25 may resurface, but perhaps with greater resolve and less tension than previous weeks. Take the opportunity to stay in the meaningful engagement with your learning process.

*May 10 @ 9:16 am PT* Mercury passes next through the trine to Jupiter, as the Sun in Taurus sextiles Pisces Neptune. The storyteller, the dreamer, the weaver of myth and folktale. The gently illumined imagination gives images to the orator’s tongue.

*May 11 @ 2:58 pm PT* Mercury makes a fiery square to Mars in the final degree of Aquarius, before entering into its sign of rulership, Gemini. Home for now, Mercury can win a good debate, but may also lead to burns from rash arguments.

*May 12 @ 11:45 pm PT* In the late hours between May 12 and 13, Mars splashes into Pisces as Venus turns retrograde at 21° Gemini. Venus will traverse backwards through Mercury’s sign until June 25, spending a total of four months in Gemini. A concentration of Venusian themes, likely connected to communication and relational exchanges, will thicken throughout this time, going back and revisiting all that has reverberated in the heart since early April.

*May 14 @ 11:06 pm PT* The Sun trines Pluto in Capricorn, on the heels of the waning quarter Moon in Aquarius. The Sun is making a several day harmonious sweep across the Pluto-Jupiter-Saturn stellium, illuminating the intensity of the current time and perhaps offering some rays of light in the darkness. Find ways to gather back into yourself and integrate the many feelings that have arisen during this lunation, and the months prior.

*May 17 @ 9:40 am PT* The Sun in late Taurus makes a warm trine to Jupiter in Capricorn. Perhaps a ray of hope for transformation at both personal and collective levels. Nurture optimism as you would gently blow on burning coals to bring them back aflame.

*May 20 @ 6:49 am PT* The Sun ingresses into Gemini, just as Venus returns for a second exact square to Neptune. Emphasis on the mental sphere, learning, communication, and understanding will dawn, leading towards the New Moon in this sign.

*May 22 @ 10:39 am PT* The New Moon in Gemini aligns in a tight trine to Saturn in Aquarius, with Mercury-Venus in the same sign closely square to Neptune. With Mercury’s sign brimming with celestial bodies, the themes of communication, language, and thought patterns will be at the fore during this lunation. How do the words you choose and the way you communicate allow you to tend to your dreams, and what illusions might you be harboring in your mind and heart?