New Moon in Taurus: Sensing the Sacred
Plus get your Gemini Season Witch Guide, inside.
(Readers! Don’t forget to scroll down to the bottom to get your Gemini Season Witch Guide (in addition to the Taurus New Moon prompts up top). We enter the season of the twins on May 21!).
New Moons are time to plant the seeds of our longing and nourish them so they can grow.
The moon helps us pay attention to cycles and rhythms. To contemplate the mysteries of life, death, and rebirth.
Taurus is the sign most connected to the earth.
Even though in Hellenistic astrology Taurus is ruled by Venus (the planetary Angel of Eros, love and beauty), many contemporary astrologers give Taurus’ rulership to the earth itself.
So, we might think of Taurus as ruled by earth and beauty.
During quarantine, I spent a lot of time contemplating how fast my life had been spinning, and how I often didn’t give myself enough time to participate in, or sometimes even notice, beauty. And how that was also true for us as a culture.
Beauty is grace, is the mystery of life. It comes to us, we can’t own it or possess it. It is both timeless and ephemeral.
Our culture races to “capture” beauty to freeze it, so that it never changes. Or so that we can contemplate it “one day,” but in the meantime we can miss, or even destroy, the beauty that there for us to live into, right now.
In the spirit of Taurus, I invite us to spend this new moon contemplating beauty.
As I began leaning into this New Moon, I was inspired by Carolyn Baker’s book, Sacred Demise: Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization’s Collapse.
I wanted to share of few quotes with you that I thought you’d like.
“Beauty is that magnificent and mysterious bridge to nature, to ourselves, and to the sacred. If our work is to further open our hearts, allow our egos to die [Scorpio], and fully surrender to the greater self, then beauty [Taurus] is the consummate facilitator of that process.”
“If we choose to journey on the path of truth, it then becomes a sacred duty to walk hand in hand with beauty.”
“Perhaps no other quality welcomes or accesses beauty as profoundly as the human imagination. It is a direct conduit to beauty and the divine within. Out of our imagination we create, and when we create, we are participating in the sacred.”
Inspired by Baker’s book and this Taurus New Moon, I offer these questions for you to contemplate this evening… journal them, dance them, light a candle and speak them to a friend.
Find ways to walk hand in hand with beauty tonight.
What forms of beauty are especially dear to you – so much so that you can barely stand to think of parting with them?
Where do you find beauty in your daily life? In your community? In your home? In your work?
How does beauty affect the condition of your heart? Do you need to indulge in more beauty in order to nurture your heart? If so, where and how can you do so?
How does beauty enrich or complement your sense of the sacred?
How can you make your home, your workplace, your community, more beautiful?
What is the connection for you between beauty and gratitude?
Note that Jupiter just moved into Taurus on May 16th. Jupiter, the planet of expansion, good luck and growth, to dwell in the heart of beauty for an entire year.
Water the seeds of your longing with your attention and devotion this New Moon, and Jupiter Taurus will help it grow strong as a bull.
With love,
Amanda
Mystery Cult Event Calendar
Friday, 5/19/23: New Moon in Taurus [Witch Guide Download]
Thursday, 5/25/23, 6pm: Language of the Birds Reading Group. We’ll be reading Chapter 4 of “Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women” (if you want to buy the book) by Silvia Federici. Thank you, Mica, for helping us get the PDF! Y’all can access it here. Mica also found the painting Federici mentions in the text and that is in the folder is well. Can’t wait to discuss it with you!
Thursday, 6/1/23, 6pm PST: Full Moon in Sagittarius Ritual. Mark your calendars for this, the Prophet Moon. Sagittarius is the sign of the seer or the prophet. Aiming their arrow at the truth. Part human part beast. United with nature. A healer. On this moon, we will access the prophetic voice and write our own prophecies. Aiming our arrow at the truth that, by the forces of cooperation, will come to pass.
Friday, 6/9/23, Substack Chat: Potentially Canceled (this week only). Normally we have these Fridays at 12pm, but this week I will be at a Trauma and Somatics workshop (because y’all know how I love to be trauma-informed and integrate Somatic techniques into my witchcraft!). Tentatively we might still be able to have it in the evening but it depends on how wiped I am from 5 days of intensive trauma work.
Gemini Season Witch Guide Download: Meeting Your Happy Self
Lately, with my own ADHD, I’m discovering that the more I plan things out and book time in advance, the more likely I am to do the thing. So, inside this seasons’ Witch Guide Download…
… I’ve made a checklist for you so that you can plan out your month.
This work is for your pleasure, to connect more deeply to your intuition, your spirituality, and your ability to manifest your commitment to what you love.
Do whatever feels good to you, whatever feels inspiring. Do all of it, do just one item. Whatever you do, will increase your capacity to stay grounded, and connected to your practice.
I suggest you go through the checklist first thing when you get the PDF and then PUT TIMES IN YOUR CALENDAR to do the activities that seem most appealing to you.
YOUR DOWNLOAD INCLUDES:
A Gemini Season Checklist (Gemini Season begins May 21st)
Themes of the Season (Hint: it’s about happiness)
3 Minute Daily Practice
Journal Prompts
Tarot Spread to manifest this month’s theme
Ritual to connect to your intuition
Spiritual Ecology
Suggestions for Community
Gemini Season Creative Prompts
3 Activities to Get You Into the Spirit of the Season
A Gemini Season List of Correspondences to Use in Your Rituals