The Cosmic Story: The Wheel of the Year
Beltane – The Season of Incarnation
The Wheel of the Year: Beltane
Taurus (in the northern hemisphere) is the season of renewal of the life force. While Aries brings in the fire of life, Taurus brings it into manifestation.
During Taurus season, the sunlight gets stronger, the winds are softer, the land itself turns green with life. Flowers and leaves blossom and new smells waft on those soft winds. Even the evenings are warmer, and the night sky is brighter.
With Beltane anchoring in this luscious season, Taurus is a feast of sensual delight. Starhawk called it a season when ‘sweet desire weds wild delight’! The astrologer Dane Rudyhar says that “Aries is the divine Visitation, a descent of power; but to Taurus belongs the substance of every new evolutionary progress, for Taurus is the symbol of that power which forever produces new organisms. Taurus’ keynote is evolutionary fulfillment from the depths upwards.”
And this most earthy of Earth signs has an intuitive sense of mystical purpose. It is the sign of Incarnation. It is said that Gautama the Buddha was born, achieved liberation and died at the Full Moon of May. He is the exemplar of the highest type of consciousness possible for a human being born of the Earth. The possible human.
And let’s not forget that the goddess Aphrodite/Venus is the ruler of this sign. Aphrodite is the daughter of the sky god, Ouranos, and she is the gift of the heavens to earthly life. Aphrodite symbolizes our soul, incarnated in a human body. And her gift to humanity is Love. (You can read about Aphrodite and her gifts in my book: Aphrodite, Our Inner Venus.)
It’s appropriate that Venus/Aphrodite ‘rules’ Taurus since it is in her sacred Garden where she is worshiped. The Earth blossoms in May and becomes this sacred Garden – very much like the Garden of Eden before a jealous male god decided that women should not have the wisdom to discern good from evil, or know the secrets of life. Wisdom is the gift of the Divine Feminine and we can now see the results of ignoring Wisdom – raped and pillaged Earth, raped and pillaged people.
Each year at Beltane, we get to re-experience how awesome Earth’s beauty is, seeing and feeling the gift of life that we have been blessed with. It is a time to know joy and hope, desire and passion, for these are the gifts of the Goddess of Life. It is the time to celebrate the gift of life’s possibilities. This is the season to dance around the May Pole, weaving the feminine and masculine energies of life to imagine and create new life together.
With the chaos of the world swirling around us, perhaps it’s a good time to remember how Mother Earth herself began, for it is out of chaos that new forms are created.
(Except from my book: Wisdom’s Daughters: How Women Can Change the World)
Gaia: The Ancient Earth Mother
An ancient story about the Greek Earth Mother, Gaia, reminds us that New Life emerges from chaos. Hesiod's Theogony states that . . .
first there was Chaos, and then appeared "broad-bosomed" Earth, who bore, first of all and as her equal, the starry Sky, Ouranos. Then She bore the great mountains, valleys, plains and the Sea, and after that She mated with Ouranos and bore many children, among whom were the Titans and Titanesses, the ancestors of the Olympian divinities, who represented the 'titanic' forces of the earth. Yet, although Ouranos came every night to mate with his wife, Gaia, from the very beginning he hated the children whom Gaia bore him. As soon as they were born, he hid them and would not let them come out into the light. He hid them in the inward hollows of the Earth, and it is said that he took pleasure in this wicked deed.
The goddess Gaia groaned under this affliction, and felt herself oppressed by her inner burden. Therefore she devised a stratagem. She brought forth gray iron and made a mighty sickle with sharp teeth. Then she took counsel with her sons and daughters, asking who would avenge her for this wicked deed. Only Kronos (Saturn) took courage and agreed to act on her behalf. So Gaia rejoiced, and hid Kronos in the place appointed for the ambush, giving him the sickle and telling him her plan. And when Ouranos came at nightfall, inflamed with love and covering all the Earth, his son thrust out his left hand and seized his father. With his right hand he took the huge sickle, quickly cutting off his father's manhood, and cast it behind his back into the sea.
Gaia received in her womb the blood shed by her spouse, and gave birth to the Erinyes - the strong ones - and to other creatures. The father's genitals fell into the sea, and it mixed with the foam and gave birth to Aphrodite. Since that time, the sky has no longer approached the earth for nightly mating.
What this ancient story has to say about life and creativity is significant, for the Earth gives birth to the whole world, just as our experience of the Earth, and our personal relationship with nature, gives birth to our own world-view. This myth says that first there is chaos, or nothingness, and then there is Earth, or form. If we look at this story as we would a dream image, that is, more as a picture than as a narrative, we would see that chaos and form appear at one and the same time. This way of looking at chaos and form would imply that within chaos there are inherent forms. Each moment of chaos has shapes within it, or 'each chaos mothers itself into form'.
Admittedly, it is very hard for most of us to imagine living within the chaos, for we are troubled by any confusion in our lives. But this image also warns us that there is a need to allow some chaos, for there is always the danger that we will try to get rid of the confusion too quickly, thereby losing whatever new forms are about to emerge from it. The very nature of creativity entails chaos and times of daydreaming, as any artist will tell you. Joseph Campbell said that "Until you are willing to be confused about what you already know, what you know will never grow bigger, better, or more useful."
Despite all the chaos and destruction we are witnessing in America today, there is real hope that a new and better world will emerge now that Americans are once again taking on their responsibility to be citizens.
Taurus New Moon – April 27, 2025
Last week’s Taurus New Moon initiated us into the sensual world. Along with the change in Nature and in the weather, it gave us a chance to decide what it is we value above all things.
The Sabian symbol for the Taurus New Moon at 8* Taurus is: A sleigh on land uncovered with snow. This image speaks to the value of anticipating and preparing for expected conditions. This image speaks to a future-oriented imagination while waiting for life to unfold.
The Star Sparks for 8* Taurus is: A very complicated hedge maze. A place to find the Self in the thick of unresolvable dilemmas, irreversible divisions, confounding complexities and multiplicities on every hand. (Sounds familiar!) The test is to move gradually and slowly through this apparent external world conundrum to eventually come out in a different pattern altogether. ...Right at the core, the radiant center of this disturbing dissonance, lies a place of peace, tranquility and wholeness. … Uncovering a strength, a wisdom, a relevant truth that opens a door into another world altogether, where all that we intend is fulfilled consummately.
This New Moon is at the apex of a T-square with the Pluto in Aquarius opposition to Mars in Leo. At its highest expression, the Pluto/Mars opposition asks us to align our individual desires with the needs of the collective. As Dane Rudhyar says, we have to consecrate ourselves to the larger whole. Pluto in Aquarius is constellating a world-wide uprising of the people against the oligarchs and corporations of the world. When we align these two energies, we express (Leo) our desire (Mars) to create a better world (Pluto in Aquarius) together. With this energy squaring/challenging the Taurus New Moon, it is our values that can give us the courage and intention to meet the chaos and challenges of the present situation.
Venus/Aphrodite, the ruler of this New Moon, has just aligned with both the North Node and Saturn in Pisces and is on her way to her May 2nd conjunction with Neptune at 2* Aries, one degree away from where she conjuncted the Sun and began her new Venus Star Point on March 22, 2025. Venus in Aries can give us the courage and Neptune the vision to begin to incarnate our soul’s purpose.
On May 4, Pluto in Aquarius stations at 4* Aquarius to retrograde back to 2* Aquarius on October 13, 2025. This will be a great time to do some deep inner work and discover your unique interests and abilities. Pluto is the energy of evolution, and it brings about an inner transformation while it’s retrograde.
The Scorpio/Taurus Full Moon – May 12, 2025
The Scorpio Full Moon could bring in some collective changes. The Taurus Sun is conjunct Uranus and opposes the Scorpio Moon. Set for Washington D.C., this Full Moon squares Donald Trump’s Leo Mars, an aspect of sudden changes and impulsive actions. The Sun is often related to a country’s leader. With the Sun conjunct Uranus challenging his Mars/energy, let’s see what else unfolds for him, while transiting Mars conjuncts his Leo Pluto.
With Uranus involved in this dynamic Full Moon (the Buddha Moon!), expect the unexpected. This Full Moon with Uranus is also squaring the 4th of July, 1776 chart’s Aquarius Moon. The Moon here represents ‘the people’. Uranus is our wake up call. So expect more rebellion from the people this week.
With the Scorpio Moon, we can put our intense focus on what we really value (Taurus) and look for secrets to be revealed (Moon square Uranus).
We can transmute our intense anger and frustration into action by standing together with like-minded people and standing up for our values. Don’t forget to add music (Venus/Taurus) to your protests. Venus, the goddess of Value, is almost back to the degree she started her retrograde at back in early March. Watch for your important projects to begin moving forward again.
The intense T-square from the Taurus New Moon is now a T-square between Mercury in Taurus and the Pluto-Mars opposition. Get your mind working to discover how to manifest (Taurus) those deeper desire (Pluto/Mars).
Remember how so many planets in the past few months have moved across the World Point of 0* Aries? Both Venus and Mercury retrograded back and forth over it. The Lunar Nodes went over it from Aries to Pisces in mid-January. Venus will go forward over it on April 30th. Neptune went over it on March 30th . And now Saturn will move out of Pisces and go over it on May 24th. All these energies are picking up on the fact that collectively, we are ready for something really new. (Hence the chaos?)
While both Saturn and Neptune will retrograde back into Pisces this Fall, they will move into Aries again early in 2026 and finally conjunct on February 20, 2026 at 1* Aries.
2026 will be the year of real innovation as these two planets give us a new vision of life and the planets of Revolution (Uranus) and Evolution (Pluto) form their first trine since the mid-60s. A trine means that planets are in compatible signs – Uranus will be in the air sign of Gemini and Pluto is in the air sign of Aquarius. This alignment allows the energies of these planets to complement and support each other, resulting in an effortless blending of their influences.
The Revolution is Back!
Have a blessed Beltane season. Don’t let what’s happening in our society keep you from enjoying life – Mother Nature wants to sustain us in these trying times. And remember, the Goddess/the divine Feminine , is the basis of all life. The masculine energies come and go but She is the Foundation. Rest secure in her arms.
Blessed Be!
Cathy