Hello and welcome to another week in the Cycle of Time.
I hope you are feeling personally liberated and expanded after Saturday’s Jupiter/Uranus conjunction in Taurus.
As I mentioned last week, Jupiter/Uranus conjunctions bring quantum leaps, revolutions and breakthroughs in science and tech; and also in the ways we as humans view our relationship with the larger universe.
Jupiter is Zeus, the king of gods, an expansive and powerful force of nature. The thing about Zeus/Jupiter is that he’s always messing with humanity, getting involved with the mortal world, changing into a swan or a bull to trick some human to mate with him or make altars to him. He rules the parts of the sky known as Sagittarius and Pisces, both signs that like to explore, merge, and stir things up, whether externally or internally.
Uranus, on the other hand, is named for the great sky god, an entity much more removed from the world of humans, and much less involved. The planet Uranus is not easily visible to the naked eye, so was likely unknown to the ancients. In 1781, it was the first planet to be discovered with a telescope, and consensus was reached about 70 years later that it be named for the Ouranos, for one of the primordial (first generation) gods. Unlike Zeus, he was a distant god, not worshiped
or given human attributes.
He was the sky god who, with the primordial earth goddess Gaia, gave birth to the Titans and is an ancestor to all the gods. Uranus hid his children beneath the earth, and to free them from this trap, his son Saturn castrated him by request of Gaia. Uranus became the ruler of Aquarius, a sign that represents the sky, the atmosphere, the future, and the ability to view humanity from an outside perspective.
When these two powerful figures come together, it leads to a mass awakening about how the human world is connected to the world of the sky god, highlighting power imbalances as well as our shared ideals and dreams as a species. Bringing outer and inner worlds together can feel like a lightning bolt of change, causing us to reflect on what it means to be human, and what we are willing to fight to protect on Earth as we take advancing steps toward the distant stars.
Saturday’s conjunction of the two planets sets off a 14 year cycle, highlighting the area of your birth chart ruled by Taurus. In my chart, Taurus is in the 10th house of career and public offerings, and with this extra surge of energy, I spent a lot of last week building out a new website! After many years of study and working with private clients, I’m really excited to launch it to the public in the next couple of weeks, with offerings including astrology readings, human design readings, private and group breathwork sessions, and more. Stay tuned for that- it’ll be live at astrosomatics.com!
Let me know in the comments how the energy of these revolutionary planets showed up in your life! Now onto this week’s overview….
Your Weekly Overview:
This week’s highlights:
It’s Earth Day!
It’s the first full week of (the fixed earth sign) Taurus season,
The sun transits from the Gate of Ordering into the Gate of Caring, (known as “Nourishment” in the I’ching),
There’s a Full Moon in Scorpio, aka The Pink Moon
Coming up: Next week, we celebrate Beltane, or Mayday, in the Pagan Wheel of the Year.
This week’s themes:
Self-love
Thy cup spilleth over
Intimacy with others as a pathway to intimacy with yourself, and vice-versa
Somatic, embodied awareness
Our Place in the Wheel of the Year
Medicine Wheel Direction: East
Wuxing Cycle Element: Wood
Pagan Season: Ostara > Beltane (Mayday) is next week on May 1!
Zodiac Season: Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Moon Phase: Full moon in Scorpio (April 23)
I Ching Hexagram/Human Design Gate: 27 (April 22-27)
27 = Mountain over Thunder (Yi, “Giving Nourishment”) or The Gate of CARING
Happy Earth Day!
Today, April 22, has been recognized as Earth Day since 1970, when it was founded to demonstrate global support for environmental protection and connection. On the first Earth Day in 1970, more than 20 million Americans poured out on the streets, and the first Earth Day remains the largest single-day protest in human history. This day and many environmental regulations that came along with it was a big response to a huge oil spill in January 1969, when 3 million gallons of oil spilled from a leaking platform off the coast of Santa Barbara, killing more than 10,000 seabirds, dolphins, seals, and sea lions. Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson was responsible for bringing the idea of Earth Day to the forefront, after he flew over an 800 square mile oil slick in the Santa Barbara Channel
1969 was also a year of a Jupiter/Uranus conjunction. The themes I mentioned earlier of protecting the earth, humanity’s place within nature, and technological breakthroughs were very clear that year. The Apollo Mission landed Neil Armstrong on the Moon, there were massive youth protests against the Vietnam War, and Earth Day began. Just a few months before that, in December 1968, the first image of Earth from space taken by a person was revealed to the public- the Big Blue Marble. I think that this gave us a true sensation of what it means to live on our home planet.
In doing some research, I thought it was super interesting that by far the largest source of funding for the first Earth Day was organized labor unions. Walter Reuther had led the United Auto Workers (UAW) since 1946, and he was a progressive supporter of civil rights, opposed the war, and championed the environment. He was a founding member of the Coalition for Clean Air, which successfully lobbied for the Clean Air Act of 1970. UAW donated an equivalent of $15K, funded all telephone communications for the event, printed all the materials, and mobilized members to participate.
Earth Day is now observed in 192 countries, and coordinated by the nonprofit Earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network). According to Denis Hayes, the first Earth Day 1970 organizer and current Board Chair Emeritus of Earthday.org, Earth Day is now "the largest secular day of protest in the world, and more than a billion people participate in Earth Day actions every year." This year’s theme is People vs. Plastics. and of course, we’re still fighting the war against oil. Just last week, she raised $10 million in a single night to fight against Big Oil’s plans to overturn a bill that protects people in what oil companies call “sacrifice zones” from toxic oil drilling.
I love that Earth Day happens within the first day or two of Taurus season, the first earth-ruled sign in the wheel of the year. My fingernails have been dirty, as I’ve been digging in soil and planting flowers. I’ve heard that digging in the dirt is good for your mental health, and I definitely feel it. Some soil bacteria, like Mycobacterium vaccae, have been found to have antidepressant properties. When this bacteria is absorbed through the skin of the fingers and palms during gardening, it triggers the release of serotonin in the brain, which is a natural antidepressant and mood lifter. This can help improve mood, reduce stress and anxiety, and promote a general sense of wellbeing.
I also think it’s just the process of consciously connecting with the land beneath our feet, which we oftentimes take for granted, and also with our childhoods- what child hasn’t covered themselves in mud at least once? My favorite summer past time as a kid was going down to the creek by my house and finding the silkiest, most clay-like mud, and covering my body with it until it dried and cracked in the sun, then washing it off in the refreshing water. And making mud pies, of course. Yum.
The Gate of Caring & Nourishment
If you look at the I’Ching hexagram for gate 23, it resembles an open mouth, eating and nourishing itself. The outer feeds the inner, and the inner feeds the outer, in an ongoing cycle of experience.
The Gate of Care evolves from the Gate of Ordering that the sun was moving through last week. I likened the Gate of Ordering to the process of creating order out of chaos by the analogy of pruning a garden. After pruning, the Gate of Caring takes this one step further. Now that the early spring weeds and errant ideas have been cleared away, it is time to focus on what remains, and show it deep care and nurturance.
The thunder within us is now confronted by the giant, still mountain of the external world, the vast power that towers above. This is a good week to reflect on your inner visions, nourish them, and care for them so much that they flow out of you into the world around, like a spring breaking bedrock and flowing out of a mountain. This hexagram represents the planetary law that to give is to receive, and in order to have enough to give externally, we must first fill up our own cup. We can only nourish others with the things we have in surplus.
A perfect quote for this week is: “Everyone talks about the grass being greener on the other side. But the truth is, the grass is green where you water it.”
One thing to remember about nourishment and care, along with watering the grass, is that it only works if it is a routine, a habit. You can’t overwater a plant once and hope it will survive; you must pay close attention, and be regular about it. This week, pay attention to what you’re paying attention to, where your energy is going. This week, actions speak louder than ideals. Are the things you’re giving your time and energy to the things you want to see grow in your life?
I remember when I first got an app on my phone that told me how much time I was spending on there each day, and which apps I was using the most. It was super revealing to get this data back, and it definitely made me stop to consider my time a lot more. There are so many things actively competing for our attention these days, so in order to be an active player in what gets yours, it’s important to slow down.
After all, the Gate of Care and Nourishment is the first gate that is fully within Taurus season. Like I mentioned last week, laying down on the physical earth during this time of year can connect us with a deep slowness that is hard to access in the world of rampant digital screens.
If your birthday is this week, or if you have a planet or luminary in the Gate of Caring, your wisdom lies in your generosity and giving nature. A shadow of this energy could be self sacrifice and over-giving, so it’s important to remember that it’s ultimately more authentically caring to give the love that you already feel full with yourself. This can show up as simple acts of service, a smile, a warm hug, or in the sphere of social justice and community organizing.
If we reflect on Taurus in the life cycle as a toddler, we recognize that young children are in a stage of recognizing what’s “mine”. There is a lot of boundary setting in these years, with new experiences of the sensory world helping us define what belongs to us, what is ours to possess. As we grow up, we learn not to hold too tightly to things, but in this process, I believe that we sometimes release too much because we don’t want to seem greedy. We begin to give away things before we feel full ourselves.
A big lesson from Taurus season and the Gate of Nourishment is the idea of dwelling with your needs and desires a bit longer than you’re used to, before you begin to give away your time or energy. Pour water into your spongy self until it begins to seep out. To care for yourself deeply leads to the ability to care for others, it is not at the expense of caring for others. There is power and strength in being realistic about one’s ability to care for and nurture others.Self-nurturance versus nurturance of others and how others nurture us is the core theme of this full moon, as well.
The Full Moon in Scorpio opposite the Taurus Sun
Every year when the sun is in the sign of Taurus we experience a full moon across the sky in the sign of Scorpio. Last month we spoke about how the Libra full moon in Aries season highlights the axis of relationships, of me vs. we. This month, the Taurus-Scorpio polarity highlights the axis of security and what belongs to us, or “mine” vs. “ours”.
This week, there’s a Scorpio full moon on Tuesday, April 23, bringing these themes of mine vs. ours to the forefront. Taurus is the intimacy we have with our own understanding of what we need to survive and thrive, informed by our senses: Mine. Scorpio, on the other side of the coin, represents intimacy with others, how we share resources, and how we deepen beyond the superficial in relationships: Ours.
Full moons are thought to be energetic culminations of what seeds were planted at the new moon, in this case, the new moon solar eclipse on April 8th. Think back over the past couple of weeks about what happened in your life revolving around me vs. we and also mine vs. ours. Another thematic lens to view it through would be form, which is associated with the material plane of Taurus, vs. transformation- mutations from material form to a spiritual formation.
Full moons are like mirrors, reflecting back the polarity of the opposite season to the season we’re in. In the warmth of emergent late spring into summer, this full moon calls on us to remember the parallel season of emergent late fall into winter. While we build relationships with the material world through our senses with all of the smells, sights, and sounds this time of year, Scorpio season is a time to build relationships with our inner world through the death and dying of the sensory delights around us. Scorpio’s totem is the scorpion, of course, but it’s also totemized by the soaring eagle and the phoenix rising from the ashes. It’s the only Zodiac sign that has more than one totem, as it’s the sign of transformation. The scorpion, eagle, and phoenix all have laser focus on what their inner desires are, but each iteration has more perspective from a higher vantage point to inform those desires.
The Scorpio full moon reminds me of the Greek story of Demeter and Persephone, a beautiful telling of the cycles of time. Demeter is the goddess of agriculture, fertility, and the harvest, while Persephone is her daughter. The story of Demeter and Persephone revolves around their deep connection and the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. In the myth, Persephone, was abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld. Demeter, in her grief and search for her daughter, neglected her duties, causing the earth to become barren and crops to wither. Eventually, Persephone was found, but since she had eaten pomegranate seeds in the underworld, she was required to spend part of the year with Hades, during which time Demeter mourns and winter comes, leading us to a period of introspection, inward learning, and also grief. When Persephone returns to her mother, Demeter’s joy brings spring and summer and the fruits of the material world
The Scorpio full moon is happening directly across the sky from the sun in the Human Design Gate of Care, which is Gate 28, the Gate of the Game Player. The moon in the Gate of the Game Player describes how our emotions show up in contrast to our conscious thoughts, which is in the Gate of Care, and that is the oppositional energy of the full moon.
In line with the Zodiac sign Scorpio, the Human Design Game Player Gate encourages us to become intimate with our fears and our shadows as we navigate the path of life. It’s about knowing that the game we play is not all flowers and blossoms, but also struggles and hardships. It is a deeply introspective gate, with a desire to find meaning and purpose in life through both the ups and the downs, not ignoring one for the sake of the other. So this full moon, the sun in the Gate of Care is about giving nurturance to the things that we want to see grow in our garden, while the moon in the Gate of the Game Player, reminding us to look inward and consider the whole picture, good and bad, as we move forward into spring.
Remember to treat others and yourself with kindness during this time, as the energy of the full moon in Scorpio can be intense and emotionally charged. Embrace the changes and transformations that may arise, and use this powerful lunar event as an opportunity for growth and self-discovery. The antidote for an intense internal game of chess is to take the timer off, and consciously give yourself space and care.
On Sunday, the sun will continue through the sign of Taurus and move into gate 24, the Gate of Rationalization, which is an introspective, soul-searching week, perfect after the realizations of the Full Moon in Scorpio. Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll be celebrating Beltane in the Pagan Wheel of the Year, also known as Mayday. We continue through the season of growth with the elemental reminder of Wood quickly working toward the season of Fire. I feel the changes. How about you?
As always, I’d love to hear from you in the comments! If you get value from this podcast, please click the heart or subscribe button, and share it with any friends who might like to travel the wheel of the year along with us.
Thanks so much for listening. I’ll see you next week <3
Pink Scorpion Moon & the Caring Bull: Weekly Forecast for April 22-28