Sublime Beneficence and Comfort at the Taurus New Moon, May 11, 2021

We’ll have a New Moon in Taurus on May 11 at 11:59 a.m. on the West Coast. Taurus, the fixed earth sign and second sign of the zodiac, is about material comforts, resources and possessions, what we need to feel grounded.

In ancient, Hellenistic astrology, which dates back to about the second century BCE, there is an elaborate system of “dignities” by which each planet and luminary is considered to be at home in a particular sign and also in a state of “exaltation,” like an honored guest, in another sign. The Moon is domiciled in the sign of Cancer, which is where the Sun arrives at the June solstice, and “exalted” when it is in Taurus. Every month, the Moon passes through Taurus, and each other sign, for two and a half days. But it’s only once a year that the Moon in Taurus is with the Sun, together at the exact degree, and that’s what we’ll have on May 11 at the New Moon.

Both the Moon and Taurus are about comfort and nurturance. The Moon is associated with water and Taurus with earth. Water and earth are compatible elements. Think of a gentle rain falling on a grateful earth. And then the flowers grow.

When the Moon is in Taurus, it’s a great time for your favorite creature comforts. Do that at this New Moon. Luxuriate in that which makes all your senses the happiest.

The chart for the May 11 New Moon has some other lovely features worthy of contemplation. The Sun and Moon at 21 degrees of Taurus will be in a harmonious sextile aspect with Neptune at 22 degrees 0 Pisces, the watery sign of dreams and visions. The Sun and Moon will also be moving toward an easy trine aspect with Pluto, the small powerhouse planet, which is ensconced in Capricorn, working to make things real.

At this time, Mercury is in its airy home sign of Gemini, making a friction-y square with Saturn in Aquarius. Gemini is about bright ideas and novel stories. Saturn in Aquarius represents effort for the collective. Mercury and Saturn squaring off may have someone thinking of new systems to benefit others.

As the month of May progresses, we will enter eclipse season with the May 26 lunar eclipse at the Full Moon in Sagittarius. Eclipses happen in pairs when a New or Full Moon occurs near the Moon’s nodes, the invisible points at which the Moon’s orbit around Earth intersects with Earth’s orbit around the Sun. For millennia, astrologers have pondered the meanings of eclipses. They can herald dramatic events and be turning points for individuals and societies.

The Moon in each of our charts represents our emotional landscape. Full Moons symbolize a culmination of some kind with the Moon at its maximum moment of reflecting the light of the Sun. This will be a south nodal eclipse, associated with the past. Consider saying good-bye to something emotional that has fully matured and is now truly past tense for you.

The big event for May will come on Maye 13/14 depending on your time zone, when the Moon will be visible as a crescent light and the giant planet Jupiter will ingress into Pisces. Jupiter is a slow-mover, with an orbit around the Sun of about 12 years, meaning it changes signs only about every year. This year, though, Jupiter will spend only 11 weeks in the first two degrees of Pisces from May until the end of July before it will move into a retrograde period back into Aquarius until December of 2021.

A planet’s change of sign is a big deal because sign changes mean a change in element, mode and polarity (yin or yang). The May 13/14 ingress will have Jupiter moving from the cerebral fixed air sign of Aquarius, where it has been since it met up with Saturn last year on December 21, 2020, now into mutable watery Pisces.

Jupiter is popularly thought of as the good luck planet. Where it moves, by sign and in the particular house of your own chart where it transits, Jupiter brings abundance and expansion. It makes things bigger.

Bigness is inherently neither good nor bad. Jupiter might come with an expansion of your bank account—or an expansion of your waistline. Anything’s possible.

Jupiter “rules” two signs: freedom-loving Sagittarius, the sign of the May 26 Full Moon eclipse, and also Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac, associated with expanded consciousness and unconditional love for all. In Pisces, Jupiter is at home. A planet functions best in its own home signs.

What might Jupiter’s ingress into Pisces mean?

For confused individuals, it might mean more fog-headedness and disillusionment, and this is a distinct possibility in our currently befuddled culture. For charitable people, Jupiter in Pisces may mean increased generosity.

Pisces is the sign of mysticism, that sense of the unity of all things. It is said by some mystics that God is not a particular being, but beingness itself, the “ground of being.” Ponder that, please. In the unfathomable ocean that Pisces represents, there is not you and you and you and me and me and more me. There is only a felt sense of I and Thou, inseparable and eternal.

While Jupiter is in Pisces, you might have more vivid dreams. You might fall in love with someone or with your own self. You might lose your map and get lost on a winding road.

Jupiter’s entrance into Pisces is a time for spiritual refreshment, however that takes form for you. Jupiter in Pisces is like a cool drink of water, and the cessation of thirst.

Blessings for the New Moon and for the ingress of Jupiter into Pisces!

Sara

Sara Diamond

Sara R. Diamond, an astrologer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a life-long student and practitioner in several esoteric paths. Her style of astrology combines modern-psychological astrology with insights from traditional astrology. Sara is also an estate planning attorney. In addition, she has published four books on right-wing movements in the United States and earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. You are invited to contact Sara via her website at www.SaraDiamondAstrology.com.