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The 2023 Taurus New Moon reaches its maximum phase at 8:53a PDT on Friday 19th May 2023 at 28°25’. This New Moon acts as a grounding point for many of us after a particularly intense eclipse cycle.
Taurus is fixed earth energy, and most often represents where we seek the stable and enduring presence of our basic survival needs – shelter, food, hydration, sex, and other fundamental needs to make sure the physical manifestation of our being has the values and resources that support it and the expression of your self-identity in this current incarnation. Where our survival needs are met, we tend to feel the most comfortable and at ease. However, many a Taurus has been known to stay put in very uncomfortable situations simply because they’re familiar. That said, this 2023 Taurus New Moon may not allow “staying put” to happen.
New Moons open the gateways for new beginnings and fresh starts, and this 2023 Taurus New Moon is interesting in that it represents a foundational shift in our personal lives. What we once relied upon to be there for us may no longer be there, or may no longer be as reliable as we once believed it to be. We now must seek new cornerstones to build our lives upon…
…which is where moving into the new beginning of this 2023 Taurus New Moon could become a bit complicated.
The world around us isn’t exactly stable at the moment, or at least not in ways many of us would like or want it to be. There’s a great deal of uncertainty around our personal and collective economies, our resource access, and our environments local and global. This uncertainty is largely due to the technological advancements that have been made and the economic realities that are coming to light. We’re only now beginning to understand the impact the new technological advances are making on our individual and collective experiences of life, and the environmental impact is becoming more tenuous as extremes in both weather conditions and industrial conditions take their agricultural, material, and human tolls. There are a number of questions about where and how security, stability, and safety can be found right now. Many people are just waiting for “the other shoe to drop” on a number of situations.
The technological and environmental shifts bring not only societal changes, but lifestyle changes for us in our personal lives. And as we move into an expanding awareness of these shifts and the impact of them upon our lives, we may find ourselves challenged in maintaining what we thought were solid values and moral positions and/or what we believed would be secure lifestyles. With the rapid changes occurring, we’re quickly waking up to the fact that we may not be as secure as we once believed.
In the face of this instability and insecurity, these realizations are leading us to only one sound conclusion – one many of us resist:
We must look for the stability and reliability we’ve usually sought outside ourselves, within ourselves.
It’s always easier to recognize the changes occurring outside ourselves, the changes around us. We can also see these changes in our societal values and morals as they shift due to the external uncertainties. These shifts intensify the call for each of us to reassess our own personal values, and to realign ourselves and our lives with the values becoming clear within us.
We may also find ourselves reassessing our relationships to our physical, material, and financial resources. Do these types of resources hold the same value to you as they did before? Were you always focused on your personal needs, or were those “needs” filtered through what it meant to live in the company of others and/or to look a certain way for others?
In other words, how have your values changed as the world continues to change around you? Are the shifts in your values aligned with the shifts in your lifestyle? Are you realizing that either your lifestyle needs to change to align with your values OR your values need to change to accommodate your lifestyle?
Deeper still, are your values truly your own, or are they the values you’re choosing to adopt because your livelihood depends on aligning with others, even if you don’t earnestly agree with them? Or rather, are you choosing to live out of alignment with yourself in order to be in alignment with others?
If so, you must realize by now that you cannot truly live into your values if you’re choosing to compromise them for what you believe is your survival. And if you’re recognizing this misalignment is no longer sustainable for you, what are you willing to do to step out of it and step into a new life and lifestyle that is aligned with your values?
Chances are… under this 2023 Taurus New Moon, you’re going to feel any value-level misalignments more acutely than usual. The discomfort will be real – you’ll know that something feels wrong or off. You’ll be unable to avoid or escape the uneasiness of living in misalignment with yourself and your values. You’ll know without a doubt that it’s time for a change in your life.
But are you truly ready to make that change?
A large part of your readiness for these changes will be in how your perception of yourself and others has changed along with your values. We tend to have certain perceptions of ourselves and others, and many of us desire a certain type of lifestyle based upon financial and/or material standards which are shifting. However, the old standards are becoming untenable or unreachable for many people, so new values and standards are emerging. For most of us, it’s become a matter of our quality of life. Do you have a roof over your head, food to eat, physical health, mental and emotional health and wellness … Most of all, do you like your lifestyle, and do you like the person you have to be in order to have it and maintain it?
That’s where this 2023 Taurus New Moon’s energy makes itself felt – in the emotion of it, in the feeling of it.
How do you feel about yourself and your life?
Because if you don’t feel good about yourself and your life – if you don’t feel good about who you have to be, or who you have to interact with to have it, you may actually find yourself ready for a change.
But whether you’re ready or not could be influenced by where you live. Numerologically speaking, in India, the “Stans”, and all points west of them, the 2023 Taurus New Moon is occurring on a 22 Universal Day of solid social and/or professional networks which affirms the power of connection with and through others. However, 22 energy has its dark side, and if operating from its shadow, 22 takes on the characteristics of a toxic 4 energy, which could mirror, affirm, and intensify the worst qualities of the comfort-driven Taurus energy. Empowered four energy echoes the sentiments regarding stability, security, safety, and structure. But in toxicity, this could show up as a “circling the wagons” defensive energy that is rigid and stubborn rather than an energy of the positive 22 which is a testimony to healthy enduring relationships and the strong bonds of trust that are developed through shared connections. This could indicate that these regions are rooting into their networks, but doing so could also mean that they’re stubbornly holding onto value structures which may no longer serve a purpose in the changing world.
However, in all points east of India and the Stans, this New Moon is occurring on a 5 Universal Day of change and adaptability. This could indicate that these Eastern regions find themselves undergoing a destabilization of their lifestyles and/or resources, but it could also indicate that these regions are adapting quickly to the rapidly-shifting global dynamics. In this case, the changes may not be that bad. In fact, they may not be bad at all.
Both the 22/4 and 5 Universal Day energies are occurring under the influence of a 3 Universal Month of gathering information and insights, and learning and growing through those lessons; and a 7 Universal Year of thinking, analysis, and processing information. The 3 and the 7 energies connect on the intellectual level, in the sense that once you gather the information, you may want to step back and examine how and where best to apply your newly-acquired knowledge and insights to both your personal experience and in your professional or public roles in the world. For the 22/4 Universal Day people, there’s likely a tendency to maintain or double-down on the status quo. But for those in the 5 Universal Day regions and for anyone in the 22/4 day regions who is already experiencing a great deal of change, this could be a search for a new foundation to stand upon.
Globally speaking, if you’re not able to make a major change in your life right now, you’re likely to begin gathering the information in order to prepare for one. For some of us, this is going to be a big shift – a life-changing shift. And while some of us will be able to choose our new course from the start, many of us may be forced out of our comfort zones, having to make our next choices from a position we didn’t choose or that we chose through indecision or inaction.
No matter what the circumstances you find yourself in, this 2023 Taurus New Moon can send you into next chapter of your life journey – a chapter that will have you experiencing things you’ve never experienced before, a chapter that will be giving you the opportunity to establish a truly new foundation for yourself, and to build a truly new life upon it.
For deeper insights into these energetic dynamics, here are the astrological transits within 3° orb at the time of the 2023 Taurus New Moon’s maximum phase:
BLESSING TRIANGLE: Pisces Neptune sextile (Taurus Moon conjunct Sun) sextile Cancer Mars (27-29°) – Your visions and/or dreams can become realized with your emotional investment in bringing them into the reality of your life through emotion-driven actions which are aligned with your personal values. However, your visions and dreams could also prove to be delusions as you try to reconcile them with your values, in which case, this New Moon could be an emotionally-painful wake-up call for you to seek a more realistic path for yourself and your life.
(Taurus Moon conjunct Sun) square Leo Black Moon Lilith (26-28°) – Your emotional investment in your values could be challenged by your ego pride. How will you define yourself if your lifestyle changes? What do you value if your lifestyle is different? How will you express yourself now?
(Taurus Moon conjunct Sun) trine Virgo Ceres (wide 24-28°) – How do you work within a changing societal system? How are your personal values changing as you adapt to the changing system values? How are you finding the stability to solidify the structure in place or possibly, to build a new structure altogether?
SEQUENCE: Pisces Neptune semi-sextile Aries Eris semi-sextile (Taurus Moon conjunct Sun) (24-28°) – Your dreams may be crushed by reality, leading to feelings of betrayal and resentment, yet also leading to a resolve to use the emotional pain as your fuel to rebuild or build anew.
SEQUENCE: Pisces Saturn semi-sextile Aries White Moon Selene semi-sextile (Taurus North Node conjunct Mercury) (3-6°) – Keeping your focus on your vision leads to growing self-awareness which leads to a better understanding of how you can find and step into a greater sense of self-value and purpose in your life, possibly even into what feels like your destined role or purpose for the greater whole of humanity.
T-SQUARE: Cancer Mars square Taurus Jupiter square Aquarius Pluto Retrograde (29-0°) – This is a BIG one! Now that we’ve had a taste of what is potentially to come regarding the impact technology may have on humanity’s future, the question is whether or not our personal and collective values and morals can step up to meet the moment. This is a matter of priorities – do we put humanity before the technology, or have we lost the ability to feel emotion regarding the predicaments of others and ourselves?
Cancer Venus sextile Taurus Vesta (12-15°) – Emotionally-nurturing 1-on-1 connections with others awaken individuals to an assessment of and possibly a renewed dedication to one’s personal values. The question is… are the values the same as before?
Gemini Juno semi-sextile Cancer Venus (10-12°) – A commitment to understanding leads to emotional investment in oneself and in one’s close connections with others.
Virgo Ceres quincunx Aries Eris (24°) – How do you bring your self-identity into real life if you aren’t able to practice your values? Are your values truly aligned with your identity?
Taurus Mercury square Leo Pallas Athena (6-7°) – Having your personal values is one thing. Vocalizing them to others is another. You may not be able to express yourself as you usually do because your self-expression may be challenged by what you say/claim your values are.
Pisces Saturn quincunx Leo Pallas Athena (6-7°) – When you choose to truly focus ono your vision, you may find that your usual mode of self-expression isn’t in alignment with your vision. Is it time to take a new approach to “being yourself?”
Virgo Ceres opposite Pisces Neptune (24-27°) –Trying to put your ideals and visions into practice may find you challenged by reality. Have you been deluding yourself all along? Have you been fooling yourself by never thinking about how to bring your vision into reality?
The energy of the 2023 Taurus New Moon will be felt from Tuesday 16th May through Monday 22nd May 2023, and you’ll have the Sun’s ingress into Gemini on the 21st to assist you in gathering and processing new information into your personal value structure. Use this week to take your first real steps – to get your feet on the ground and stake your claim for your future. Make your choices now, before someone or something else makes them for you.
Your next chapter – your new chapter – in alignment with your new values and your new awareness, begins now.
Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers. Until the next one…
~ Light and Blessings,
Grace