While the world swirls in the chaos brought about by Covid19, we can take a look at the stars to see what they have to say about what we are experiencing as a collective. Tomorrow night there is a new moon in Taurus. Usually when the moon passes through the sign of the Bull, it’s considered an auspicious time. First of all, the moon likes to be in Taurus, it’s exalted there, this is because earthy Taurus is said to emphasize all the best lunar qualities — fertility, nurturing, grounding. The moon, which is a watery planet, feeds the earthiness of Taurus and from there luscious new things can grow. Through the rulership of Venus over Taurus, there is also an emphasis on balance and harmony. So by itself, this Moon has the ripeness of fertility through which life is created.

However, while the new Moon brings these blessings, we have to look at what aspects it is making to the other planets in order to get a larger view of the energies we are working with. The strongest aspects that the moon makes, is a strong square (inharmonious aspect) to Saturn in Aquarius and a strong conjunction to Uranus in Taurus. I talked about the effects of Saturn moving into Aquarius in my last two blogs, so here we will look at how the Moon and Uranus will play into the equation. First let’s look at the archetype of Uranus. In astrology, Uranus is the wild card. It is a volatile and unstable archetype that brings with it spontaneous change and upheaval of the old, bringing in the new. Now Uranus and Saturn are already squaring each other, and while we will see the effects of this particular aspect play out more during 2020 (in the aftermath of the pandemic), under this new Moon, we can actually get a taste of what’s to come in terms of our evolutionary growth.

Let’s remember that the stars incline, they don’t compel, and the planets are raw archetypal energies that are simply playing out the role of bringing forth vibrations that we need to experience in order to grow and evolve. How we will experience these vibrations, is up to us, individually and collectively, depending on our level of consciousness. Uranus squaring Saturn is essentially the playing out of chaos and order. Saturn represents the traditional way of doing things while Uranus is the unconventional, the rebel. What this experience of Covid19 has brought to the surface for us, is that our world is sick; not sick with virus, but sick due to the actions of human unconsciousness on this planet. The opportunity presented to us by the planets then, is the opportunity to look at the chaos and make choices.

The new moon adds to this play of chaos from Saturn and Uranus, because under the new moon, we are going in blind, unaided by the light of the moon, into the unknown. The new moon is also called the dark moon because it’s light is not shining onto the earth. We are asked under the new moon to go deep into our subconscious and to trust our deeper instincts. The problem is that Uranus is a wild card and wants a revolution. We can already see how these energies are playing out with the lockdown protests that have been going on, and planetarily speaking, it looks like we can expect more of such protests, because of the following reasons: this new moon while in Taurus, is in the Aries Constellation, and is on one of the fixed stars in the Ram’s horn called ‘ The Butters’. This part of the constellation represents unrest and aggression, it is an energy that cannot be contained or controlled. Also, if we look at the signs that the planets are in, i.e. Taurus and Aquarius, they are fixed signs, and one of the most well known qualities of fixed signs is that they don’t back down, they are stubborn, so collectively, we are being influenced by this fixed energy. What we need to watch out for, is that the fixed, stubborn quality of these signs can take things to an extreme, so our views and communications at this time might get charged when we believe ourselves to be right, to the point of fanaticism.

What can we do then, with all this chaos in the heavens, how do we bring order? The only solution for us is to temper our approach to all this with compassion and kindness. We need to bring in the yin soothing side of the moon, and treat our fellow humans with as much respect and understanding as we would like to receive from them. Actually, maybe the ones who are caught up in the polarity need our kindness even more. So if you disagree with somebody, know that they are doing the best they can, at their level of consciousness. See beyond the mind patterns and the form, this is our exercise now, we have a splendid opportunity to open ourselves to Oneness Consciousness, to open ourselves to Love, which is our true nature; leaving behind separate consciousness.

Whether we call the time we are in a time of pandemic, revolution or awakening, they are all words describing a shift that is inevitable and probably a long time coming. Who you are and how you experience this shift, will be dependent on your level of consciousness. I was reading an article about these forest fires that have happened in Yellowstone National Park, as far back as the 1700s. This article talked about how when these fires happened, it appeared to be a terrible and destructive event. Yet, fire ecologists have now discovered that these fires are actually quite important to the park’s vegetation. The forests of Yellowstone are dominated by lodgepole pines, which thrive despite the poor quality of the soil. These trees produce what scientists call a serotinous pine cone. Resins hold the scales of the cones tightly closed with the seeds inside, and they can remain in the crowns of the trees for 30 to 50 years. Without fire, these seeds would never be released. What's necessary for those cones to open up and release those seeds is the heat that's generated from a passing fire. The heat from the passing fires does not penetrate more than a few centimeters into the earth, which allows the material below ground — nutrients and soils — to give life to the next generation of trees. What we see above ground may look burned very badly, but there's a lot of activity below ground. The seeds of our consciousness are very much like the seeds inside the pine cones, and we are at the stage of evolution in which the fire of life is generating the heat needed to burn away our ego, so that the resin of the false self can burn away to reveal the true self and the new consciousness on earth can emerge.