May 19, 2023, 9:53 AM Central—Friday’s New Moon in Taurus feels like a prayer where we offer gratitude for where we’re at and courage for where we’re going. Let’s begin with the gratitude part.
Restoration
After an intense Mars ruled eclipse season, we’re in a restorative period focusing on comfort and stability. Venus in Cancer, the ruler of this New Moon, uses lunar tools of support, nourishment and protection to foster belongingness. This can feel like spending time with family or those who feel like kin to share stories or create experiences that fortify bonds and feed the heart.
In the New Moon chart, Mercury is direct and applying by sextile to Saturn increasing clarity that may have been missing the last couple of weeks. There’s an opportunity to make a plan and solidify a sustainable commitment. In Taurus, Mercury is practical, intentional and thorough in its approach. Deliberations can move forward with confidence under this kind of energy especially in sextile to Saturn.
The New Moon in Taurus sextiles Neptune as well. Neptune softens, dissolves and transcends. If we’ve been struggling with someone or something lately, Neptune can act as a spiritual solvent to help us step out of our ego and elevate our perspective to a more holistic one.
Double-sided vibe
Alternatively, Neptune can also indicate deception and self-delusion. With the New Moon just 2° from Algol, a star associated with wrath and misfortune, and sextile to trigger happy Mars in Cancer, Friday’s lunation carries a bit of a double-sided vibe: honey and milk in one hand and gunpowder in the other. Derived from the same root as alcohol and associated with Medusa, Algol can correspond to events where we lose our heads or more likely: our bearing. It will be an interesting time for the British royal family as Algol repeatedly shows up in the charts of many family members and important events connected to them.
People can also become possessed of an arrogant hubris that blinds them to reality. In addition, the formidable Mars-Jupiter-Pluto T-Square that exacts on the 20th is also a part of this New Moon signature. More on that in the article below. Perhaps a helpful question to ground us during this time would be “how can a dose of wise humility guide me right now?”
The Litae
I was listening to Austin Coppock speak on the third decan of Taurus. He shares that a Hellenistic source attributes the name litae to this decan. The litae were a group of spirit goddesses that carried prayers of the faithful to the ears to the gods. It’s a beautiful image, especially if you believe we live in an animistic world like I do.
As we move through the next six months and make our way to the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Taurus the end of October, may our right action seeded now blossom into the prayer the Litae take to the gods as they intercede on our behalf come Fall.
Illustration “Litae” made by me in Midjourney