As Long as We Live
The Sun makes a conjunction to the Moon’s North Node this week (April 24, 2023, 4:00 am PDT) at 4º01 Taurus, on the Sabian symbol, A widow at an open grave. It’s a bleak image of fresh grief.
It also happens to be the Sabian symbol of my mother’s natal Sun degree, and she became a widow at only 36 years old. From time to time, these symbols are painfully literal.
Grief and loss are hard to talk about. But since this is the symbol for the Sun, the symbol of purpose, and the North Node, the point of personal evolution, I think it’s appropriate to examine it for a helpful message.
The loss of someone or something is the end of a way of life – and as painful as that loss can be, it’s also the beginning of something new. The question is, when we’ve lost someone or something we think we can’t live without, then metaphorically speaking, do we throw ourselves into the grave too, or do we experience our grief fully and then ultimately move forward?
Mom moved forward. It wasn’t easy. But above all, Taurus is a life-affirming sign. We mustn’t rush past the gravity of loss, but neither should we throw ourselves into the open grave. The Sun shining on the North Node in Taurus is a reminder that as long as we live, it’s our job to be fully alive.
Let the dough rest
Over the past four years, I’ve spent many happy hours making bread. There’s a point in the process when kneading the dough becomes counterproductive, when it turns tight and tough and refuses to be shaped. And so, you have to let it rest. Cover it with a towel and leave it on the counter for a half an hour or so. Go have a cup of tea and pet the cat. When you come back, you’ll find that both you and the dough are happier and more relaxed.
This is the lesson when the Sun in practical Taurus makes a sextile aspect to Saturn in Pisces (April 25, 2023, 3:48 am PDT). What’s the key to happiness? It’s some happy alchemy of knowing who you are, what you want to become, and when to stop trying so hard and let things happen.
What Makes Live Worth Living
People of my generation, born in the late fifties and sixties, love to reminisce about our idyllic upbringings. We pride ourselves on having survived and even thrived despite the benign neglect of parents who let us run wild, hanging out together and exploring on our bikes.
Maybe it wasn’t all exactly as we remember. But I do feel that the security and slow pace of my early life had everything to do with the development of my creativity. When you have a roof over your head, plenty to eat, and a relatively peaceful family life, you have the luxury of time and energy – to play, to learn to play an instrument, to study astrology.
The ferocious Aries New Moon/Solar Eclipse gives way this week to the First Quarter Moon in Leo (April 27, 2023, 2:20 pm PDT). The Sun and Moon in aspect to Pluto is a shadowy reminder that the world has changed, perhaps become darker, since my generation’s youth. It takes courage to let the child within come out to play, to make ourselves vulnerable to criticism and even ridicule. But the steadiness of the Sun in Taurus offers a secure platform for our Leo playfulness and creative fun, and courage is both Leo’s goal and its true nature.
Even during stressful times like these, we quickly fall into routines and patterns that pass for normalcy. To the extent we’ve got adequate resources, the challenge now is to push ourselves to reach for more than just survival. It’s a lunar phase that invites us to embrace what makes life worth living in the first place.
Show Up
Here’s something that all professional creatives know: Your deadline doesn’t care whether or not you’re feeling inspired. If you’re a writer, for example, some days you write not because you have something you’re burning to say, but rather because you owe your editor 1500 words by 5 pm.
But here’s something else we know. If you sit down in that chair every day and write, then you’ll be in just the right place when inspiration strikes.
Today, Mars, the work planet, is sextile Uranus, the planet of inspiration (April 29, 2023, 1:04 pm PDT, at 18º21’ Cancer/Taurus), on the Sabian symbol 19 Taurus: A newly formed continent. Just maybe, that means our work is about to take a new and exciting direction – but first, we have to show up for it.
Writing and images © 2017-23 by April Elliott Kent
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