The Taurus New Moon Brings Full-Bodied Flavor
The New Moon takes place at 1pm Pacific and 4pm Eastern on Saturday, May 16th at 25° 57' Taurus.
As the Taurus New Moon approaches, it’s had me thinking about the journey of befriending the body—something that was once as foreign to me as living in the Arctic, but is now the place I inhabit on the daily.
As a kid who dreamed of bright lights and the big city, who was more than willing to break myself over and again to pursue what was then my dream, the relationship I developed with my body was at best adversarial, at worst, an agonizing place to be. It was one of, “I want this, so you’re gonna do it for me,” and hell with the consequences. But I learned young that this wasn’t sustainable, and more importantly—it wasn’t something I truly wanted. It was the thing I’d set myself up to covet in this lifetime so I could get curious about what was underneath it. When I was eventually blown open to an entirely different way of engaging with reality, it was the end of the world I’d created for myself, and I couldn’t see another way around it. Thankfully, I kept following the path to get to a place where I could.
Bunions and blood blisters, chronic lower back pain and a case of anorexia formed the backdrop of my life. Couple those with a deep self-loathing, an obligatory people-pleasing problem, and a fierce will to do whatever it took to get where I wanted, and the picture became clear. The only way to love myself was to use my body to achieve the nearly impossible. I thank my lucky stars (or, more honestly, my spirit guides) that I found another way.
I remember visiting a friend in NYC when I was 25, and he took me to a party that the guy he worked for was throwing. I’d just been to Vienna on a father-daughter trip, where I’d bought a German Vogue to try and get a sense of the language. The magazine had done a piece on the New York City Ballet for its June issue, and having picked it up felt synchronistic in some strange way I couldn’t yet explain. I got a sense of the article through the pictures, though I’d love to go back now after studying German on Duolingo for a time! (All I had then were Pimsleur’s CDs…) Fast forward to the Autumn Big Apple trip the same year, and I found myself standing face-to-face with one of the young women from the magazine article. I was over the moon! I brought up the piece and the fact that she was living many a young girl’s dream, dancing with one of the most sought-after ballet companies in the world. The response I got surprised me, though in hindsight, it shouldn’t have. She defiantly told me that after four hip surgeries by the age of 25, she couldn’t perform regularly because her body still wasn’t ready. She was in constant chronic pain, and she didn’t know if she’d even have the chance to return to the stage, much less to a comfortable way of living in her skin. What was more was that I could feel her pain as she described her experience; the emotion in her words spoke volumes in and of itself; words were almost unnecessary. And though I’d been practicing yoga for 7 years and teaching for a few at that point in my own life, it was this moment that clarified why my path had gone the way it did. Sadness, compassion, and understanding flooded my body, and I walked away from that party with much more than I’d bargained for.
I have a first house Taurus Moon in my natal chart. It’s conjunct Chiron, the wounded healer, and Vesta, the sacred flame tender. This story is pretty apropos for that kind of setup, not to mention some other key pieces that I’ll refrain from bringing in for simplicity’s sake—this is certainly the Taurean way. Walking away from the ballet world to find a path of remembrance, awakening, and truth-finding was the best thing I ever did. This is not to say that others don’t have a beautiful relationship to that world or that part of their lives or journeys, but that for me, this was the only way to embodied freedom. As I began to explore the deep trauma my body held, both karmic and epigenetic (I do come from a direct line of suicide), I realized not only how much my body had been holding for me that it was ready to release, but that I was meant to live a life with a body who could trust me and who knew I would care for her no matter what. I learned to listen to the innate messages woven into my tissues, honor the memos pulsing deep within my bones’ marrow, and be humbly grateful for the notes threaded through my entire being. Though I won’t pretend the path was easy or graceful all the time, I will say that it’s been the greatest gift to walk, and one that I would choose over and again.
Practicing asana since I was 18 and meditation since 21, receiving the blessings of Chinese Medicine at the same age, and weaving the wisdom of evolutionary astrology since 27 have been bountiful boons in my life. I feel confident I wouldn’t be where I am without them. Yoga taught me to be in my body in a way that is curious and expansive, one that creates focused awareness and skillful practice while listening to the deeper messages therein. Receiving body work in all the ways I have has allowed the release of some ancient soul memories that were still taking up space in my physical body, for the soul does not forget, even though the mind does and is meant to each time we return here. This kind of integration allows the energetic field of awareness that the body is an intricate and beautiful part of to remain more clear so that energy in the form of emotions, thoughts, and frequencies can move through with ease and grace. As van der Kolk reminds us, The Body Keeps the Score, and all that is held in the form of traumas, be they from this time or another, can and must be integrated in order to find the most equanimous embodied experience possible. This doesn’t mean we’ll never feel pain again; but it does mean that we are more free of the stories that hold such pain in place.
This is all in the realm of Taurus, in case you’d forgotten the theme this month! Taurus wants us to be comfortable in our skin, easeful in our body suits, regulated in our nervous systems. It reminds us that even though we live in a rapidly-changing world that is literally at our fingertips much of the time, we are still embodied beings, divine entities having a human experience. And as such, we are invited to be here, in our tissue, in ways that keep us feeling alive and vibrant, tranquil and chill, strong and supple, and everything in between. When we force ourselves to do something our bodies genuinely don’t want to, they learn to mistrust us. Instead of listening to what they have to say, many of us either forget we even have a body in lieu of living in our heads alone, or push it to the brink of exhaustion and injury because it should be doing what we tell it to. Neither of these is an awesome idea, especially from the Bull’s perspective. It will get grumpy if it’s uncomfortable in itself, and unfortunately, this is the place from which many people choose to live their lives.
Taurus reminds us that these bodies are worth the time, energy, and attention they ask for. That a little bit of nourishment in the forms of soulful movement, deep breathing, powerful bodywork, and healthy food goes a long way. That we can survive when our body’s needs get moved to the back burner, perhaps for the sake of ‘productivity’ and ‘achievement,’ but that we thrive when we bring them to the fore. That when we hone our abilities to tune into our own tissue and muscles, organs and bones, we grow much more connected to ourselves, our senses, and the world around us, for we become present in ways that living in our heads alone cannot offer.
This Taurus New Moon invites us—quietly if we’ve been listening, loudly if we haven’t—to come home to our bodies. It welcomes us here, now, into our senses and our sense of being. Mercury conjunct the New Moon provides insight and epiphany that can only come from tuning into our tissues. The wisdom held within this suit of flesh and bones is far more than our minds might fathom, and far deeper than they may initially understand. We are encouraged to tune into the inner messages that are only available when we open to this physical aspect of who we are and what we’ve been carrying around for days or decades, right in our very own forms.
Ceres in tight conjunction from the other side of the New Moon reminds us that nurturance is necessary—in the forms of healthy food, time spent in nature with our bare feet atop the earth and breathing in the magic of the forest, practices that return us home to our physical selves, and all the things that regulate our nervous systems and help us feel comfortable in our skin. Hanging out with our animals is always a good call when Taurus is involved, for this relationship of co-regulation has been going on for thousands of years, and this is one of the many reasons why.
In the yogic tradition, the annamaya kosha is literally the ‘food body,’ that which we become based on the kind of nourishment we bring in. In this sense of things, we are all literally what we eat, and the more wholesome food we choose, obviously the happier and more clear we will be. This seems like such a basic thing, but with modernity, much of what gets sold as food would leave our ancestors balking. Buying healthy, pesticide-free or organic ingredients isn’t something that most families can afford, but this doesn’t mean we can’t simplify what we’re putting in our bodies, including ingredients that they easily know what to do with and process well, energizing us and keeping us sustained in the meantime. Because Taurus is definitely the sign of the zodiac most associated with food, it’s a good time to treat ourselves with what our bodies actually need—not just what the microorganisms within crave!
Uranus is in Gemini, where it will be until the end of May 2033, but now, it forms an out of sign conjunction with the New Moon. Being open to sudden shifts or changes is always a good thing, but with this planet-sign combination, it’s even more important. Leaning into our Taurean tools will absolutely help with this endeavor, for if we are spending all of our time with technology and none with the things we’ve talked about here, finding our centers in order to skillfully welcome and be with said changes will be darn near impossible.
Uranus wants us to free ourselves from anything and everything that is not truly authentic to our deepest selves, and it will go to great lengths to help us claim this authenticity in our lives. At this cosmic juncture, this shows up as the clear perception that comes when we are healthily embodied. The more committed we are to resourcing ourselves with the things we truly need during Uranus’s foray through the sign of the Twins, the more chance we have for the revelations, insights, or synchronicities to land in the profound ways they are meant to. Listening to the innate intelligence all around us AND deep within us is what facilitates Uranian shifts in as present a way as possible, reminding us that every part of us—body, mind, heart, and soul—is along for the ride, and that all facets of who we are play equally valuable roles.
During this Taurus New Moon, may you nourish yourself in the ways that fill your cup and bring you home to yourself. May you hear the messages that your body has for you, and may you honor them appropriately. May you know the grace that is woven into the very fabric of your being, and treat yourself accordingly.
