“Moon with House Lights,” chalk pastel by Maria Theresa Maggi
The moon is new at 28 degrees Taurus in the tropical zodiac on May 19, 2023 at 8:54 AM Pacific Daylight Time. Taurus is the second sign of the zodiac and the first earth sign. As Isabella Hickey writes in her classic old school text Astrology: A Cosmic Science, the key words for Taurus are “I have.” In being the first earth sign, Taurus rules the literal ground—our dirt, or soil. It describes the physical raw material(s) we possess in order to grow.
Taurus is all about physical possession, both of the land and or material objects. Slow to change and often deeply attached to physical land and possessions, Taurus does not like to change, or give up whatever brings comfort. Since the moon reigns over our emotional habit and instinct, it is considered exalted when placed in Taurus, where that which brings comfort can be repeated or held onto to create emotional security.
So at this new moon in Taurus, we ground ourselves in the physical. And yet it must be a physical experience that allows us to grow beyond it. We hope for the stability of Taurus to provide us with a medium for growth we can sink our hands into, or our teeth into, sometimes literally.
Hickey calls Taurus the first serpent sign out of four; Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius follow it. I have often referred to these as the fixed signs of karmic will and experience here in this newsletter. I like being reminded of her esoteric metaphor of Taurus being the serpent coiled in on itself, the power concentrated but not yet ready to expand. This Taurus image is the very essence of the root chakra, and at this new moon it’s time to return to anything that helps stabilize that energy center so we can move away from fear about our survival to the sensual joy in collective ways to stabilize it.
The moon is new when it arrives at the same degree of the sun, but this new moon chart features much more planetary energy in Taurus even than this primary and powerful pair.