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Taurus Full Moon: Come to Your Senses

By Jessica Shepherd

Dear readers, I am trading my “professional astrologer” hat for “intuitive reader,” so today’s post is my last for Mooncircles. You can read more about my changes here.  

If you have enjoyed my voice, please know that I am still writing for my website and astrology remains one of my tools. Receive my bi-monthly lunation newsletter by signing up at www.moonkissd.com.

Thank you to Dana G. – and to all of you – for a fun four years of enlightened camaraderie! 

Now, for the main feature: Taurus Full Moon.

Mars is currently transiting my Third House (of neighbors, communications, transportation, mind), and as Mars transits goes it’s textbook aggravating.

Seeking relief, I decide to go shopping but my stress-relieving trip proves more stressful. The mall is crowded with people wearing sour looks. I feel shamed, by the body language and tsk-tsk of both customers and salespeople, for bringing my friendly puppy to “pet-friendly” stores. While driving back home, a driver lays on her horn because I allow a family, huddled together on a small median, to cross the street on a green light. Reaching my neighborhood, I drive through a kid-populated area and receive an accusatory glare — a glare that tells me she thinks I’m driving too fast although I’m well under the speed limit.

Meanwhile, I’m still thinking about an earlier correspondence I had with a spiritual teacher who responded to a vulnerable question with projections, unkindness. Moments later, bristling with accumulated irritation, I notice I am behind a car with the bumper sticker reading “Metta” (lovingkindness). Primed, I viciously think: Ha! This is probably the worst offender of all. Holy on the meditation cushion, sure, but this one will be the first to leer at you when you accidentally bump into them and spill their seven-dollar designer coffee. That’s how the cycle perpetuates: Blood-thirst begets blood-thirst.

When frustration, anger or worry threaten to send the rest of my life spiraling, I slow down. I get still. I listen to the gentle tumble of the clothes in the dryer, the soft breath of my sleeping puppy laying next to me, the steady pecking of the chicken outside my office window, the silkiness of my pajama bottoms against my skin, the warmth of spicy tea going down my throat. I bake lemon bread with fresh-picked Meyers lemons I buy from the market. I take a walk. From the trees turning colors outside my window, to the stillness of silence surrounding, I ground myself in the gentle steadiness and comforts of Earthly life. These are the things that transport me from ground zero back to solid ground.

Scorpio season churns our emotions with truths, bottom lines. The intensity of our own emotional experience can overwhelm our body, signaling a need to return to our senses. Taurus, as a counterbalance, offers sanctuary, safety in the world of nature, pleasure and beauty. A Venus-ruled Earth sign, Taurus best restores our sense of calm and ease through the natural world. I think of my Taurus friend who, when deep in the throes of a Pluto-Moon transit and teeming with icy hot emotions and despair, went for a run in the forest, planted herself next to a tree, and surrendered years of emotional hell. While the tree supported her and the Earth absorbed her emotions, she experienced a surge of purification. By connecting with Earth and her body, by going into her senses, she came to her senses.

In periods of emotional intensity, irritation, confrontation it’s easy to lose connection with our sanity. When affronted, we want to react, defend our self, even if doing so has proven unsatisfactory in the past. We might simmer on a slow burn, plot revenge, spin out into negative stories or conspiracy theories. It’s natural to react to offenders, even if it hijacks our higher intelligence: Science says we all have a reptile (lizard) brain that is triggered by “reptile issues” such as territoriality, and when the reptile brain is in control, we don’t have access to our frontal cortex (which explains why we why, after a stressful argument, we wonder why we were unable to say the thoughts we can clearly articulate now).

There is something primal in each of us that easily perceives anything from a glare or bump from a stranger to a loud noise as a threat to its survival.  It’s interesting that during autopilot responses to stress, the more reflective, higher response of the prefrontal cortex available to us is only accessible through awareness and acknowledgment of our feelings. Science shows that simply naming the emotion we are experiencing can stop the amygdala from firing, allowing the space for the prefrontal cortex to say: hey, we’ve encountered this before, and we’re okay. Cup of tea?

This is the first step toward safety and sanity, toward a return to the senses.

When the world’s non-sense presses in on you, where do you recover solid ground? Nature? A candlelit table? The arms of a loved one? Taurus Full Moon invites us to sit in a forest, by a stream, next to a tree or on a cushion and discover solid ground again. A grounding question to ask, What do I stand on? What do I stand for? Can I allow my true values to support me when the wind, and my hot emotions, blow? Because once you are firm in your heart values, once you connect with your innate goodness and kindness and trust it, nothing – not even a fierce emotion – can undermine you.

It’s a time of year for honesty about this, because right now we can see behind any “truthfulness” that conceals hidden motivations; behind actions and words that do not reflect humane values of kindness, tolerance, compassion. When our emotions churn in response to the ugliness we will sometimes encounter, can we honestly acknowledge what we feel, and be as unshakable as the firm, kind, confident Great Oak?

In keeping with the spirit of Taurus, we don’t have to do much to access the grounding support of this Full Moon. We can be lazy about it. Simply noticing the pleasures of this Earth and this body allow us to feel supported, to remember the world is a safe place. In the clothes softly tumbling in the dryer, in the hum of the teakettle we can rebuild repose, confidence, sanity, trust and safety. How easy is that.

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About Jessica Shepherd

Jessica Shepherd is a writer, astrologer and health coach who has studied and practiced modern astrology since 1992. She is the author of A Love Alchemist’s Notebook: Magical Secrets For Drawing Your True Love Into Your Life (Llewellyn, 2010) and the books Venus Signs: Discover Your Erotic Gifts and Secret Desires Through Astrology
(Llewellyn, 2015) and Karmic Dates and Momentary Mates: The Astrology of the Fifth House (Moonkissd, 2014). In 2018, after living in California for twenty years, she relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii with her husband, dog, and cat. Find out more about Jessica at Moonkissd (www.moonkissd.com).

Comments

  1. Ellen McPherson says

    Oct 27, 2018 at 2:55 am

    Wow! This post is so full of wisdom. Thank you, and best wishes in the future.

    Reply
  2. Jenn says

    Oct 25, 2018 at 7:43 pm

    Thank you for all of your wisdom and beautiful writing on here, Jessica! Wishing you such success and peace.

    Reply
  3. Jessica Shepherd says

    Oct 25, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    You’re welcome & thank you!!

    Reply
  4. Edye Allen says

    Oct 25, 2018 at 9:34 am

    Thank you! Blessing on the next steps of your journey!

    Reply
  5. Kalena says

    Oct 23, 2018 at 9:26 pm

    Thank you jessica for your wonderful advice over the years. Enjoyed your insights. Will sign up for your newsletter. Namaste

    Reply

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The Moon is in its
New Phase

in the
Sign of Aries


Today's Lunar Aspects (Greenwich Mean Time)
(subtract: PST -8 hours, PDT -7 hours, EST -5 hours, EDT -4 hours)

  • Moon sextile Mars, 5:13pm  Mar 23 2023
  • Moon square Pluto, 6:42pm  Mar 23 2023
  • Moon sextile Saturn, 9:57pm  Mar 23 2023

Venus is currently
The Evening Star

in the sign of Taurus


Enroll in Dana Gerhardt’s Moon Workshop!
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Moonshadow Eclipse Report
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© 2000 - 2023 Mooncircles.com

Astrologers use a variety of house systems, or methods of dividing up the sky into twelve sections. I use the Porphyry house system; another popular house system is Placidus (this is the default on https://astro.com). If the chart I send you looks different from what you are used to seeing, then likely a system other than Porphyry was used. Whole signs, Equal House, Regiomantus, and Campanus are examples of other systems. If you find all of this confusing, do not worry. It is likely not critical to your report.

m  Conjunction:  Like peas in a pod, planets in conjunction tend to come from the same place. They act together, but it’s also hard to tell them apart. This aspect can increase talent, focus, and intensity (“two are better than one”). Or one planet can disappear as the other dominates. Their connection feels so natural, it’s easy to think everyone blends these planetary energies just as you do—but mostly, they don’t!.

p  Sextile:  Planets in sextile are compatible, though without any fireworks. This aspect doesn’t demand your attention. It quietly presents an opportunity. You can join these archetypal forces. Donna Cunningham has called this the “Oh, that!” aspect, because that’s generally what her clients say when she describes their benefits.  To get the most from sextiles you need to actively work them.

q  Square:  Squares are wild and wonderful—but difficult too. The power struggle between these planets was likely defined in your youth, when they were impossibly challenging. People are usually aware of their squares. They force the issues that make you to grow. And that’s their gift. They ensure you learn your lessons. When you rise to the occasion, they bless you with energy, action, and success.

r  Trine:  Michael Munkasey has dubbed this the “goddess aspect” because it’s so lovely. Identifying talents you may have perfected in a previous life, trines can bring you joy. There’s a nice flow of energy between planets in trine. They support and reinforce each another. But without any struggle, you might take them for granted—neither using nor developing their gifts. An unattended trine can sometimes trick you into negative behaviors.

t  Inconjunct/Quincunx:  Your quincunx planets are innately incompatible. Bringing them into harmonious expression requires constant adjustments. This can be stressful, also motivating. You’ve got to keep changing your process, opinions or attitude—which promotes highly creative solutions.

u  Opposition:  They say opposites attract—and planets in opposition are never far from each other, though they’re constantly bickering. You may be triggered into awareness of this aspect by other people who seem to resist or undermine you.  An opposition can make you feel uncertain, insecure, or discontent, until you can accept and see yourself in both energies. Typically people find it easier to identify with one side and project the other onto unsuspecting others in the outer world.

First House: Personality, physical body, beginnings. Includes the Ascendant and rules physical appearance, the image you project to others, your general outlook on life, how you start things; may describe your role in your family system, often guides your first impression of immediate environment.

Second House: Money and personal finances, sense of self-worth and basic values, personal possessions, talents.

Third House: Communication, thoughts, language skills like writing and speaking, early schooling, siblings and neighbors, short trips, coming and going around town.

Fourth House: Your home, psychological foundations and roots, family, parents, domestic life, instinctive behavior, ancestry, your connection with the past, sense of security, domestic life, real estate. conditions at the end of life.

Fifth House: Children, creativity, romance; pleasure, entertainment, self-expression; all forms of “play”, speculation, gambling, and attitude towards taking risks; hobbies, attitude towards romance, lovers as opposed to partners, attitude towards having fun.

Sixth House: Work and job (as opposed to career), daily life, attitude towards service and coworkers, helpfulness, pets, attitude towards routine and organization, how you refine and perfect your skills.

Seventh House: Partnerships, one-to-one relationships, marriage, the first marriage, the “significant other”, business partnerships, competitors, open enemies, lawyers, mediators, counselors, contracts, negotiations, agreements. clients/the public.

Eighth House: Transformations and crisis, your ability to meet and rebound from crisis and change, sexuality; sex, death and rebirth, rituals and personal growth, your partner’s resources, addictions, psychology, other people’s money, taxes, divorce/alimony, inheritance.

Ninth House: Attitude toward expanding horizons, religious beliefs and personal philosophy, higher education, long-distance travel, morals, foreign languages and cultures, personal truths, publishing, commerce, advertising, your sense of adventure.

Tenth House: Career and profession, your contribution to society, social status, public reputation, material success, how you carve out a public identity for yourself; attitude toward authority figures, parents, caregivers, bosses, governments, attitude towards responsibility, desire for achievement.

Eleventh House: Friends, groups, organizations; hopes, wishes, aspirations, personal goals; your philanthropic attitude, concern for the collective, humanity; like tenth, can bring recognition and honors for fulfilling hopes and dreams.

Twelfth House: What’s hidden beneath the surface, karmic dustbin, limiting childhood/past-life messages, self-undoing, hidden enemies, hidden weaknesses, dreams, secret affairs, lost items, hospitals and prisons, hidden strengths, spiritual studies and soul growth.

A  Sun: Our vitality and magnetism; self-identity, ego.
Roles: The Self, the Hero, the Performer, the King.

B  Moon: Intuition, emotion, nurture.
Roles: The Mother, the High Priestess, the Child.

C  Mercury: Mind; physical dexterity and mental agility.
Roles: The Thinker, the Communicator, the Student, the Trickster, the Merchant, the Thief.

D  Venus: Our capacity for pleasure, receptivity, creativity, and social connection. Also indicates our relationships, self esteem, and financial abundance.
Roles: The Lover, the Seductress, the Artist.

E  Mars: Desire, initiative, anger.
Roles: The Protector, the Athlete, the Warrior.

F  Jupiter: Luck, opportunity, expansion, higher learning, religion.
Roles: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Traveler, the Monk, the Professor.

G  Saturn: Hard work, commitment, focus, inadequacy, leadership, suffering, loss.
Roles: The Task Master, the Grim Reaper, the Wise Old Man, the Builder, the Cynic, the Boss.

H  Uranus: Change, breakthroughs, upsets, discoveries.
Roles: The Revolutionary, the Humanitarian, the Visionary, the Snob.

I  Neptune: Imagination, spirituality, idealism, addictions, deception, compassion.
Roles: The Artist, the Romantic, the Guru, the Addict, the Martyr, the Victim.

J  Pluto: Transformation, power, psychological dynamics, helplessness.
Roles: The Terrorist, the Detective, the Psychotherapist, the Dictator, shady people.

a  Aries: Pioneering, competitive, selfish, impatient, courageous, reckless, independent, dynamic, domineering, “Me first!”

b  Taurus: Patient, stable, lazy, dependable, practical, sensual, stubborn, artistic, possessive, greedy, gentle, loyal.

c  Gemini: Intelligent, curious, adaptable, quick-witted, restless, clever, scatterbrained, lacking follow-through.

d  Cancer: Nourishing, intuitive, protective, moody, sensitive, maternal, domestic, childish, cautious, creative.

e  Leo: Proud, dignified, vain, expressive, romantic, generous, childish, overbearing, self-assured, creative.

f  Virgo: Perfection-seeking, practical, methodical, petty, critical, studious, discriminating, cautious, never satisfied.

g  Libra: Charming, sociable, peace-loving, refined, diplomatic, artistic, indecisive, apathetic, easily deterred.

h  Scorpio: Passionate, secretive, penetrating, resourceful, suspicious, manipulative, jealous, sarcastic, intolerant, determined, aware.

i  Sagittarius: Freedom-loving, philosophical, optimistic, enthusiastic, careless, impatient, talkative, a know-it-all, broadminded, athletic, honest.

j  Capricorn: Serious, responsible, practical, hardworking, stubborn, brooding, inhibited, status-conscious, domineering, unforgiving.

k  Aquarius: Progressive, individualistic, unpredictable, cold, intellectual, artistic, eccentric, shy, impersonal, scientific.

l  Pisces: Compassionate, intuitive, ungrounded, romantic, impractical, self-sacrificing, seductive, musical, artistic.