New Moon Eclipse in Taurus

(Bovines in motion)

This is on the 29th April, around 7:15 am (GMT). It is still in eclipse territory: a partial solar eclipse.   Eclipses are powerful, even if partial...and this one comes just as April's amazing cardinal grand cross wanes in intensity.

Remember new moons represent new starts. We've been through some chaos this month and it's going to be around for a while yet. But this new moon represents something solid to hold onto: a rock in a stormy sea.

Maybe it's the rock of complete disillusionment and loss...or maybe it is some kind of bedrock faith in life and in your own ability to persevere. Maybe it's thought, communication or information that lays a complex situation bare, so you'll know what's actually possible and what's not. Hopefully you'll know what you have to work with from here on in, and plans will begin to be solidified.

I think it looks quite internal, subdued and very deep and solid. The sun and moon will be conjunct Mercury in slow, stable Taurus, and they will be beneficially aspecting Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto – so this is about thought and communication that is intuitive, profound, straightforward and emotionally steadying.

We can certainly use this. We're dealing with some very heavy and inescapable situations and revelations under the cardinal grand cross. This heaviness is represented by Saturn in Scorpio, which will be opposing Mercury in Taurus for the new moon. As May unfolds, the moon, Mercury and the sun will be opposed by Saturn (karma, limits) in their turn. This makes for a subdued, even depressed emotional tone - but it is also very practical and realistic. They say depressives see the world more clearly (see here ).

I am not advocating a depressive stance toward life, but there is some karma involved here that you can't whitewash away or outrun. You will just have to hunker down and work with it, even if it's hard. Radical change is the name of the game right now, and it's better to work with this energy than to resist it.

But before you can begin to work with it, you have to know exactly where you stand - and this is what you'll hopefully be getting some insight into right about now.

Because this new moon involves the Taurus – Scorpio axis, which has to do with money, possessions, energy, and personal and shared resources....it might be very important for you to take a good, hard look at where you stand financially. Money issues are likely to be very much at issue: you might be feeling totally broke, up to your eyeballs in debt, or trapped in situations where your efforts are not being adequately reimbursed. Between a rock and a hard place. This is pretty much the norm for most of the people on this planet, actually...but just because it's normal doesn't mean it's right. Something's gotta give, and you better make sure it's not your back.

On a less material level, money is just a form of energy. Scorpio has to do with energetic exchanges between people, so the issues you're dealing with may be interpersonal. Are you investing your life-energy in relationships where you get little or nothing back? Maybe it's time to look at exactly how you're selling yourself short. You deserve an adequate return on your emotional investments, and if you're not getting it, it's time to cut your losses and do something different.

Again, something's gotta give. If you're giving and giving and not getting what you need, well screw that.

(OK, let's play the song; it's fun! "So en garde, who knows what the fates might have in store, from their vast mysterious sky?")

Issues of self-worth are involved as well, and you can see how they link up with the money and relational stuff. How do you undervalue yourself, how do you settle for less than you're worth? How do you throw yourself away on people or situations that destabilize and drain you?

Taurus is about stability, self-esteem and personal resources. It's a fixed earth sign, the second sign in the zodiac. First you have Aries which is all edgy and impulsive: the raw new shoots fighting their way up out of the ground. Then, as the sun moves into Taurus, we see the established plants building their roots and fattening their leaves in the light. The weather stabilizes too. It's no longer the brink of a new season; spring is firmly rooted (in the northern hemisphere anyway). The new order has taken hold and it has momentum behind it, and vast patience.

Taurus is also about pleasure: simple earthly happiness. Flowers, good food, fine wine, soft pillows, physical comfort. It can be as placid and hedonistic as Ferdinand the bull, who was glad to lie around all day smelling flowers and never wanted to fight.

Taurus is easygoing and slow to start moving, but once set in motion, it is a force of nature. And it is also habitual and stubborn, resistant to change.

But what we are dealing with right now, courtesy of Uranus square Pluto and the cardinal grand cross, is change on a grand scale - like it or not. So there is some conflict built in here. It would be nice to be able to pretend everything is lovely as is and just keep doing what we've been doing, but I doubt that's really going to be an option for most people. Better to focus on moving your metaphoric cattle to new pastures.

(More bovines on the road. They are lovely!!)

To sum up, the story goes something like this: we are still caught in the crossfire of the cardinal grand cross, and a lot of things are being stripped from us, and a lot is being demanded of us. At the same time a lot of new possibilities are opening up. For many people this is quite literal and concrete. For others it's more internal – and I think you can count yourself lucky if you get to encounter this stuff on a more internal level, because plenty of people are reeling with the shock of outer events.

The point is, things are volatile and shifting fast. It can feel like being inside a pressure-cooker. And therefore this new moon in slow, steady Taurus is much-needed. It should provide some mental and emotional stability and an understanding of where to go from here. It's about laying a sturdy foundation for the changes you need to implement in your life. Knowing where you stand and where you want to go.

It's not about going back to the way things used to be, because you can't – but maybe you can harness the energy of change to set some new habits and patterns in motion. Hopefully they'll be ones that build you up and sustain you instead of depleting you.

Please don't try to be the immovable object standing in the way of an irresistible force! You're likely to get all busted up. Use the force.

PS, my friend Fran wrote this; it features a dialogue for the cardinal grand cross! Improv for planets...great stuff.

Full Moon Eclipse in Libra / Uranus square Pluto / Cardinal Grand Cross

(by Ivan Bilibin)

This full moon is exact at 25 degrees Libra on the 15th April, around 8:45 am GMT.  It's conjunct the north node in Libra which means it is an eclipse.

Eclipses make for supercharged lunations, and this one is on steroids. Real intense. Very fitting, as it ushers in the latter half of April – a time of intense, unpredictable, radical change. Very exciting!

I am all for this. I am ready to see and be some change, dammit.

That said, this stuff is unpredictable and potentially very hard. You want to make an omlette, unfortunately you have to break some eggs...well there are going to be eggshells everywhere and we may be walking on them.

The drama starts in the late afternoon on Monday the 14th, the day before the eclipse. The moon (emotions, the public) will conjunct Mars (war, aggression) in Libra, becoming part of the grand cross that is currently tightening in the cardinal signs. A few hours later, Mercury (mind, communications) conjuncts Uranus (shock) in fiery Aries, opposing the moon and Mars, and squaring Pluto in Capricorn and Jupiter in Cancer.

This is a very good set-up for emotionally intense, shocking news. Communication that creates trauma....or instigates war.

Be very careful what comes out of your mouth at this time, because you are never going to able to take it back. There is going to be such force and pent-up rage behind the words that they will really be able to wound. And with this kind of intensity at work, people are not going to be able to just brush off what you've said or forget it. Relationships are likely to be severed – and forever.

Maybe that's ok if you're absolutely sure you want them severed. There are clearly a lot of models of human relationship we've collectively outgrown, and we can't carry them with us. Some relational dynamics are so rotten they can't be maintained any longer - all you can do with them is torch them.

This energy is like a forest fire, and ultimately forest fires are regenerative: the rotten old deadwood has to be burnt away before something new can grow.

But please be absolutely sure that what you're verbally torching is something you really want gone from your life. And whatever you do, don't be the one to instigate a fight. With Mars retrograde, an aggressive stance toward others will come back to bite you in the ass later on.

Basically, use your words with extreme caution, keep calm, don't allow yourself to spout off in the heat of the moment. Be especially careful with family members. Schisms are likely, and they'll be hard (or impossible) to repair later.

Thankfully, despite all this intensity, there are some mediating influences coming from planets in the water signs. Jupiter in Cancer (generosity of feeling, big emotion) will be trining Venus, Neptune and Chiron in Pisces (boundless love, compassion, healing and forgiveness). Saturn in Scorpio (emotional containment and control) is involved as well.

What this gives you is a way of averting war. There is this big dreamy flow of universal hippie love shit available, and you can tap into that. Make love not war etc. You will really be backed up and aided by these skies if can transcend your own pettiness and aggravation...if you can forgive and be emotionally generous.

There is a danger of delusiveness and blurred boundaries involved here, so be careful. Forgiving someone privately in your heart for the wrong they've done you is an entirely different thing to staying in a situation where you're being treated as a doormat. Masochism isn't love; enabling isn't love. Sometimes the most loving and compassionate thing you can do for someone who is intent on treating you like crap is to part ways with them.

Keep in mind that these skies demand radical, abrupt change...and endings. Tuning out, floating along, maintaining a stagnant status quo, pretending things are lovely when they aren't, putting up some pretty new wallpaper in a house eaten by rot and termites...these are not real options and will not be supported. Changes coming out of deep internal, emotional necessity will be.

Late on the 14th, Pluto changes direction, entering a retrograde period that will last until late September. I think this kinda underscores the gravity of the situation. Transformative events are being set in motion now that can't be undone, and there's an internal reckoning involved here.

And then the next day, the 15th, we have the full moon eclipse. Full moons represent culminations and endings – full moon eclipses intensify that. The skies are really pounding home this theme of necessary change, endings, breaking with the past and with the old order. It's almost funny how clear and blatant it is. I really doubt you are going to be in the dark as to the kind of change demanded of you: these skies are not too subtle.

With three planets (Mars, Saturn and Pluto) retrograde in the sky during this eclipse, a lot of the change you experience may be internal. No less intense for that though! It's a great time to cut off old habits or behaviours. You really don't have to keep doing the same old stupid shit you've always done...and in fact you'd better not. It doesn't pay to resist this energy; that would be as stupid as trying to stand in the way of a wrecking ball. You have to try to work with it.

Because it is a wrecking ball all right: Uranus squares Pluto on the 21st of April, the 5th exact square in a 7-square series. The moon is involved, so you will likely be feeling this big volcanic internal shift. Change is not going to be a choice but an emotionally-driven necessity. It looks quite uncomfortable, and this discomfort is not some passing, ephemeral thing: it's deep. There is really no going back to how life used to be; we are stepping through a portal into a whole new landscape here.

Eye of Sauron portal!!! (Kidding.)

The next day, the 22nd of April, we have this amazing cardinal grand cross at 13 degrees Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn. Mars vs. Uranus vs. Pluto vs. Jupiter; so freaking intense. It holds this intensity till the 24th before loosening a bit, but we are looking at a cardinal grand cross into May.

An aside: a grand cross is a fairly rare formation. It's when planets in 4 signs of the same modality - cardinal, fixed or mutable - form a big X. It's inherently very tense and dynamic: these planetary alignments require adjustment and adaptation. As the cardinal signs initiate the seasons, the pressure for action and change represented by a cardinal grand cross is very intense - and the one we have going on now involves Uranus and Pluto, signifiers of profound change, to boot. This is really not the normal run of things...it's extraordinary.

So hokey. But yeah...we're going to Narnia!!!

What we are looking at in the second half of April, starting NOW, is a magical portal all right. It's easy to be terrified of this kind of intensity, but I can see it working out very well. It's beautiful. There is intense pressure for change, courtesy of the cardinal grand cross. There is great potential for trauma, shock, emotional upheaval, loss. And also great potential for compassion, forgiveness, healing, generosity, love...via a grand water trine that carries us through to June.

It's deep and bittersweet. You can't step through a magical portal without loss...you leave behind the world you knew, the safety of the familiar. Every birth involves a death as well.

But we're being guided all the way; don't forget it. Whenever things start to feel like too much, too out of control...you can let go and trust that the larger design will take care of itself. And align yourself with the forces of empathy, acceptance, kindness, gentleness...as much as you can, without letting yourself be taken advantage of. That's what will help amid all the chaos.

Ok, good luck! Let's see what happens.

Ps: here is a good way of using these energies. If there's gonna be war, hopefully it can be the dance-off kind.