MIDDLE AGES 2.0
MAY BEGINS with the Sun in the dirt-friendly sign of Taurus and a looming Full Moon in the death-stinky sign of Scorpio (May 7th). The most important thing to do this month? Walk on bare dirt. Feel the weight of your body squishing into generations of accumulated death and decay. This is Taurus self-inquiry.
Taurus has an intellectually insulting, Middle Ages understanding about why we are here: to dig in the dirt for food before we are plowed back into it. How barbaric and depressing, says the Instagram ego. Not so fast, says Taurus. The slow motion tending of a garden is virtually impossible to do without meditating.
The Bull’s idea of a fulfilling life? “Make your flesh as secure and comfortable as possible so you can peacefully digest the inevitability of death, then allow this ego-humbled perspective to reshape your day-to-day conduct and values.” For Taurus, it’s basic math: morality is born from death-reckoning, and we need a modicum of physical comfort to study and learn from our mortal failures.
What happens when we forget the “grave” purpose of security, comfort and sensual delight? Easy: empire and porn.
In the 1500’s– if you were lucky enough to survive your own birth and your immune system was strong enough to carry you through a barrage of childhood diseases past the age of 15– you might live to the ripe old age of 35. Even graves had shorter lifespans then, as bones were removed after a few years to make room the next shriveled ego. The result: impermanence was “engraved” into ever eye. Today, we have the good luck to encounter death and impermanence in less visceral, more philosophically nuanced ways in the form meditation and self-inquiry.
But is our “meditative luck” running out? Must we return to hardscrabble digging to tame the wanting mind? Is Uranus in Taurus barreling us towards a Middle Ages 2.0? Seen through the lens of the eternally spiraling soul, this would not be the end of the world.
Perhaps drones could deliver seeds, instead of meds.
Venus Retrograde (May 13- June 25)
Compatible Dysfunctions
Few hearts remain un-slain by the astrological funeral dirge currently bringing society to it’s knees (Saturn/Pluto square Uranus). May adds a distant, heartfelt cello: Venus retrograde in Gemini (May 13- Jun 25).
Venus goes retrograde for approximately 6 weeks every year and a half. It’s primary mission: redirect the quest for outer love back upon ourselves so we can savor our fullness of Being and soberly accept what long-term relationships are really made of: compatible dysfunctions.
In the dualistic sign of Gemini and square to fantasy-prone Neptune, this Venus retro challenges us to admit: adolescent egos want the lifestyle comforts of a committed relationship alongside the spontaneous freedoms of being single. Un-seduced by this boring binary, the Soul approaches the podium to deliver a sobering sermon:
No amount of terrestrial negotiation can achieve this supernatural balance. Better to be amazed as the joys of singledom and coupledom dance gracefully together whenever we stop trying to mend the sharp cut of space and let awareness fall in love with itself.
Is Covid killing the passion? Think of it as spiritual burlesque.
Venus also rules money. Square to timeless Neptune, this transit reminds us that “abundance” is a measure of how much all-absorbing presence our day-to-day service pulls out of us. Stuck in time, working for a paycheck? This is Venus prodding us to develop a financial strategy that inches us ever closer to the career that’s been gestating inside us since the day we were born. Not sure what that inborn calling might be? Consult an astrologer.
Gemini rules mental dexterity and learning. Challenge yourself, over the next six weeks, to absorb the technical, verbal or media skills you need to better package yourself. Develop Venusian poise and build your Gemini network.
May 7th Full Moon in Scorpio:
Dance, Curse, Vomit
As the month of May unfolds, many will begin the slow transition from housebound stagnation into a life we can’t yet imagine. But first, we need to purge this dark chapter so we can get an empowering reset.
Enter Moon in Scorpio: psychic surgeon, par excellence. Set aside some time during this momentous Full Moon to dance, curse and vomit free your feelings about this virus and the ensuing lockdown.
Numb? Need a prod? Here’s two:
Saturn Prod
Did we just perform an astrologically ill-informed hara-kiri on nearly all of the world’s economies because we refused to accept the scythe-wielding wisdom of Saturn as He culls the population– as He has for millennia– of the weak, the aged and the infirm? And, if so, how do you feel about this puritanical demonization of death?
Pluto Prod
Was the release of this virus segued into a Corp/gov power grab made palatable to the masses via the W.H.O.-inspired policy of recording comorbidity deaths as Covid deaths and, thereby, exaggerating the magnitude of the crisis? And, if so, how do you feel about this Plutonic manipulation of the masses?
Remember, it doesn’t matter whether or not you agree with the premises embedded in the above questions. They’re just stories designed to catalyze and cleanse our locked-down heart. You, no doubt, have your own energy-unlocking stories. The important thing is this: Trine both Neptune and Pluto, this Moon has the power to evoke deep psychic cleansing and blessed rest– provided we do the work of emotional self-reckoning.
Suppose you’re already upset. Why dramatize it? So you can lay down each feeling in the cradle of loving kindness.
Here’s a test to determine whether or not you’re befriending your hurtable humanness:
Can I live with this feeling forever? If the answer is no, then we’re welcoming our feelings in order to get rid of them and that’s just more agenda for the separate self. ~Rupert Spira
Please note: This is a intense, inward-leaning shamanic Moon. Not a good time to “process” interpersonally!
May 23rd New Moon in Gemini: Revision & Rebuild
This gracious, ventilating New Moon gives welcome perspective and insight into how to move forward. Forming a harmonious grand trine with the normally deconstructive Pluto/Saturn/Jupiter conjunction and the harmony-loving asteroid, Juno, this is the time when some of the lockdowns are likely to begin lifting and the flights between countries slowly start to resume.
Juno defines the kind of partner who will be standing by you late in life when you are a completely different version of the self than you were when you first met. Similarly, the last week of May begins the long, arm-linking journey of reconciliation, rebuilding and healing of the wounds that so many of us have suffered over the last 3 1/2 months.
Covid Contemplations:
1) Ego craves Covid. Why? Because emergencies numb our gnawing, existential angst. Suddenly, we know the one sure, right thing to do with our lives: survive. ~Hunter Reynolds
2) The body is a cardboard coffin. Prayerlessness: a charming kind of Rigor Mortis. ~Hunter Reynolds
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