Over this summer, following Pluto’s initial major shift into Aquarius, we see the fixed signs of the zodiac become an ongoing focus. The fixed signs (Taurus, Leo & Scorpio) reflect our places of nourishment and rootedness, qualities such as stability, endurance, dedication, and resourcefulness. They are the carriers of the initiative birthed by cardinal energy; they are the ‘doers’ of the zodiac who work with devotion to enable and root the new cycles in our lives.
The planet Jupiter is what is known as a ‘social planet’. It mediates between the personal and transpersonal realms, underpinning cultural and collective opportunities and change. Jupiter moves into the first of the fixed signs, Taurus, on 16 May, remaining in this fixed earth sign until May 2024. Taurus is the sign where change becomes stabilised. In personal terms it is where we develop our physical skills and sense of self in childhood, where we recognise what is ours alone, in terms of body and possessions, resources and attachments. It’s where we differentiate ‘mine’. The current energies in Taurus bring a personal focus to these areas, along with wellbeing and abundance, money, values, and resources (through the current Mercury retrograde) but also a broader one of innovation, expansion, and opportunities within our relationship to the environment and the Earth’s resources collectively, through the placement of Jupiter in Taurus for one year, and Awakener Uranus there for seven years (2019-2026).
The Taurus energies are a growing focus over the next month to a year. Collectively we see the growing focus of profound change moving deeper into traditional institutions such as monarchy, our banking and financial systems, and ongoing in governments, anywhere security is deeply entrenched or guarded. The focus is on uplifting how our basic needs such as food, fuel and healthcare are met, along with the caretaking of the environment and Earth’s resources. It is clear a redistribution of both resources and wealth is required. Outmoded security habits that place luxury over the health of our planet need to change. Questions about what makes us truly wealthy, and what feeds our wellbeing, are paramount at this time. In addition to stability, the fixed signs represent security and our attachments, where we maintain and sometimes where we hold on. Taurus in particular can reflect where we get too comfortable for our own growing capacities; we are sleepy, lazy or lethargic. Of necessity, we must evolve as we mature, as must our attachments. It is by letting go of our current attachments that we discover new resources. What is relevant for a child is no longer appropriate to an adult. Similarly, our cultures move through phases of evolution. Over these next few months, we are offered new beginnings, the seeds of reconstruction rooting as deconstruction continues.
Over this next year what we invest in our energy in becomes a key focus. The juxtapositions between nurturing our wellbeing, earning a living, taking care of the environment, are strongly highlighted. As Jupiter meets Awakener Uranus also in Taurus, in the spring of 2024, the speed of necessary change amps up. Jupiter is the planet of expansion and opportunity, Uranus represents freedom, independence, and a revolution of consciousness. With both planets in the sign of affluence, property, big business and charity, a natural harvest from some of the more radical changes we’ve been through is a real potential.
We don’t have to wait until 2024 for these potentials to land however. As Jupiter enters Taurus on 16 May he meets with the Moon’s North Node, both are involved in a radical Grand Fixed Cross with Lord of the Underworld Pluto in Aquarius, the South Node in Scorpio, and Warrior Mars in Leo. It’s a dynamic interplay similar to the energies of 2021/22 but faster, more opportunistic and expansive, less frustrating. This period requires us to be fully grounded, dynamically present, to engage the evolutionary demand appearing in wide-ranging possibilities. We are called to be both practical and visionary, trusting our gut about what is emerging whilst staying rooted in the here and now. We need to take good care of our human needs and vulnerabilities whilst staying awake to what is new, alive, fresh and perhaps challenging to the status quo.
With a key focus in Taurus, rooting in deeper presence is a requirement of meeting change. Through anchoring ourselves in what is of real value to the whole of humanity (not just our personal desires) we can ride the waves of opportunity as they emerge. Deeper presence means a focus on grounding, taking care of our wellbeing, keeping life simple by being ‘right here right now’, connection with nature as a support, fully engaging a spiritual or mindfulness practice. Taurus is where our feet meet the soil, where our roots run deep. What does that mean to you? Recognise, give value to, and fully engage those aspects of your life.
Key dates:
14 May: Messenger Mercury stations direct at 5 Taurus
Communications and changing circumstances may be challenging. Rely on emotional intelligence and intuition as a support rather than rationale or fixed perceptions. Consider taking practical action to stabilise your finances and resources. Take an allotment, join a food co-operative, research & support community enterprises. Simplify on every level, particularly your mental wellbeing and security consciousness.
16 May: Jupiter moves into Taurus, conjunct the Moon’s North Node and squares Pluto in Aquarius (active until early June)
Change may be dressed up as a challenge but is actually an opportunity. Finding the still point, grounding, meditative and wellbeing practices, being here now, are a support with any negative, unsupportive mental projections.
19 May: New Moon at 28 Taurus conjunct Sedna
A supportive New Moon enhanced by Sacred Feminine aspects. A clear power point of choice to engage chaos or presence, to recognise you are the chooser. Rediscover your sense of belonging through nurture and supportive emotional connection, rooting in practical daily life choices, honouring your vulnerability as a gift, tenderness as a positive quality of being human.
20 May: Warrior Mars moves into Leo making the current Fixed T-square into a Grand Cross (active until early June)
Sticking points, fixedness and resistance to change may be challenged. Sacred Feminine aspects call for us to be aligned to process orientation not outcomes, to stay away from mental projection and feel into what is most needed right here right now.
4 June: Full Moon at 13 Sagittarius
Mentally projective or heart-connected? Discombobulated and chaotic, or being present? A Grand Fire Trine supports taking a risk, engaging new beginnings, going beyond preconceptions, following your heart…. but not from a need to escape what’s happening, from the joy of being fully alive.
The combination of the Mars. Jupiter and Pluto with the Moon’s Nodes of destiny and karma mid-May to mid-June is interesting. The nodal placement amplifies karma (the results of our previous actions) and destiny (willingly engaging the opportunities presented). We are in the midst of many choice points that clearly can determine our future collectively. In mythology Mars (Ares), commonly known as a warrior god, is the son of brothers Jupiter (Zeus) & Pluto (Hades). More accurately he represents the ‘spirit of battle’ our need to gather our resources to fight for what is right. Mars is less commonly known as a protector deity of agriculture. His sign Aries is the time of the dynamic uprising of spring in the northern hemisphere. Spring is a beautiful yet disruptive time as nature finds her new beginnings in the cycle of flowering, fruiting, and the potential for harvest. It’s a time of risk; anything is possible but not every seed or shoot will make it. It requires courage, a willingness to move and act.
There is so much meaning in these current aspects related to qualities commonly thought of as masculine – dynamism, fight and protecting, direct action, being bold. Yet behind them all, the Feminine is supporting with process-orientation, the qualities of nurture and holistic awareness, rather than goal or outcome focus. She in us and beyond us is holding the cycle of change, helping us to both nurture and act on what is needed whilst letting go what is not. Taurus is ruled by Venus, our creative Feminine, so tenderly nurtures the new as we vulnerably allow the old to fall away. A process orientation is therefore very supportive in this time. Trusting the flow of life, even when we cannot see where it’s leading. We cannot know the long-term potentials, but we can see how our actions now build our future, personally and collectively. We can learn to more deeply trust our wisdom in the moment.
As we reach mid-June, whatever has taken place since early May begins to stabilise, just as plants reach a point of stability and hence their peak potential. We are at a time of dynamic endings and beginnings. Change can feel overwhelming to our humanness, yet we are made for it. It is essential, especially now, for the sake of our planet, for the sake of all beings. What generates a sense of security for each of us will be different. For me, it is the connection to the Divine within. For you, it may well be different. This next month calls us to plant our feet deep in the soil of whatever that may be. To recognise: each of us has the potential to actually live the new beginnings we all need.
