May Tarotscopes with Brandon Alter
Updated: May 1, 2020
By Brandon Alter:
The thing about Mother Nature is that she’s persistent. Even though we’ve all spent the last month rooted in our homes, the Seasons keep changing. You can’t stop the slow, steady progress of the natural world; birds and butterflies will migrate, flowers will bloom. And in some ways it should bring us comfort to know that there are gigantic forces at play that will carry on their momentum regardless of human participation or intervention.
That having been said, our inability to participate fully in the arrival of Spring can also bring up a lot of grief. It’s important we feel this. I don’t know about you but these days, I have been missing the Ocean and the Desert and the Mountains as much as I miss my dearest friends. I feel cut off from our great planet home. But the truth is, even if we can’t drive out to witness the super bloom in person, even if our travel plans to national parks or coastal campgrounds have been waylaid, there are always hidden avenues to connect with nature, no matter how landlocked we are.
No matter where you look, nature is everywhere. She’s in the weeds that sprout up between the sidewalk cracks. She’s in the hazy morning light that kisses our kitchen floors and the palpable dark of after midnight. She’s in the symphony of rainstorms and the blanketed hush of late-season snowfall. Most of all, she’s in our bodies, in our breath, in our skin and our hair and our soft-strong bones. We are nature. And even if we feel isolated from the larger Earth, our little Earths, these bodies we possess, are as plugged in to the organic truth of being as any tree planted firmly in the ground.
The reason I’m talking so much about nature is because Taurus Season is upon us. Taurus Season is our fixed Earth sign, and she ushers in the gentle luxuries of the great outdoors. Taurus energy moves at a leisurely pace in alignment with the cycles of nature. And there has never been a more crucial time to remember our place in the cosmic web of all that lives. The slower we can allow ourselves to move the more we can come to relate to ourselves as extensions of the natural world. We are so much more like trees and gardens then we are like computers and phones. And perhaps this time is a forceful reminder of how natural we really are.
The New Moon in Taurus happens on Wednesday evening, Earth Day.
A New Moon is always a sweet energy to have in the sky. It opens a portal to the powerful optimism of new beginnings. No matter how far gone things seem to be, every twenty-eight days the Moon begins a new cycle, and in doing so she gives us permission to do the same. A Taurus New Moon is particularly lush, ruled by Venus, goddess of love and beauty. It is said the Moon in Taurus is exalted, meaning she thrives in this sign. And when the moon thrives, we all do. This New Moon window is a time to sink into the luxuries of the physical world, the flesh and soil, the water and the wine. If we consider that the Moon rules our innermost needs, the temple of our heart, this New Moon in Taurus wants you to build yourself a new sanctuary.
But this New Moon isn't all rose petals and Italian lace, it arrives with it a significant charge. Remember that the New Moon is when the Moon and the Sun meet up in the sky; this moonth, their reunion occurs at three degrees Taurus. They aren’t alone, however. Sitting at six degrees Taurus, practically next door, is Uranus. Uranus is the lightning bolt of inspiration, the volcanic eruption of creativity, chaos, and, most significantly, change. This New Moon conjunct Uranus adds electricity to the sky, meaning that what you commit to can catch fire quickly. And above all it’s time to commit to change.
When I meditate on the true invitation of this New Moon, it’s all about planting your heart in different soil. The time has come to uproot your heart from the old flowerbed of productivity and despair and plant it in some new gorgeous vessel. There’s even a little ritual you could do to empower this. Find a plant, a succulent clipping, anything that’s green and grows and treat it as if it were your heart. Re-pot a beloved indoor herb or a friendly backyard cactus and tend to it daily. Sing to it, leave it love notes—maybe even place a crystal or favorite stone on top of the soil. When you tend to it, see if you can consciously make deeper contact with your own inner heart. In this way, we make watering our heart a part of our daily practice. Start to consider more deeply what sort of soil your heart really needs to flourish.
Lastly, as an attempt to help y'all blow off some steam, channel your grief, and shake up your energy, we are hosting a series of Healing Breathwork Circles every other Saturday for the foreseeable future. Breathwork is an incredibly powerful tool to plug you back into the electrical socket of spirit and help you shift the old, stuck, stagnant shit that everyone carries around all the time. It’s an active meditation that will truly bring much-needed healing and release. It’s safe and effective, and it’s practically free. Breathwork basically saved my life when I discovered it, and it’s truly part of my life’s work to be able to hold space for you to experience it.
Don’t forget to reach out for help at this time. You aren’t supposed to go through this alone even if literally you are at home, all alone. Nature reminds us that we are deeply and inextricably interconnected. If we can be of help in any way, please reach out. Readings and healings are still happening at this time, and we are working extra hard to make our podcasts not just entertaining but uplifting, empowering, and full of useful spiritual tools to help you fully accept the invitation of this insane global crisis.
When preparing to channel your Tarotscopes for the moonth, I was guided to ask the cards to describe the type of soil in which your heart would flourish. Consider that these are spiritual messages to help you take deeper care of your innermost core. In honor of the exalted New Moon in Taurus, we are doing things a little differently: you should read for your MOON SIGN, not your Sun or Rising. If you don’t know your MOON SIGN, it’s a quick Google away.
Consider if your SUN sign is your outer compass, your MOON sign is your inner North Star. It’s the style in which you get your needs met, how you practice self-care, and the way your personal magic wants to be expressed.
TAURUS MOON The Chariot
Taurus Moons are gentle creatures, sensitive but not delicate. They desire physical comfort, and in some ways that makes you the easiest moon to please. All you need to do is bake yourself some cookies or draw yourself a sensual bubble bath. Massages, designer sheets, even a new outfit can give you a deep sense of satisfaction. But if shopping and fucking seems to be only skimming the surface of your self-care, perhaps we can look to the Chariot to describe the type of soil your heart would thrive in at this time. The Chariot is all about ambition and will. Perhaps your heart is actually craving a little more structure and goal setting at this time. I’m not suggesting you need to amp up your productivity, but maybe you would start to feel better about yourself if you began to inquire about the true goals your soul has for this lifetime. I hate to break it to you but nobody’s soul came here just to drink Prosecco on a yacht—each and every one of our souls came to Earth with a serious mission. And perhaps now is the perfect time to slip into one of your softest pairs of sweatpants and start to unearth what that mission is.
GEMINI MOON Magic
Gemini Moons take care of their feelings through expression and creativity. Nobody needs to talk about their feelings more than a Gemini Moon. But it’s not always about asking your friends to play therapist. One way to really satisfy this moon placement is to channel your emotions into gorgeous works of art. Perhaps it’s time to let your heart write some songs or some poetry. Maybe you could choreograph a dance that tells the story of your experience during this crisis. This is a heart that loves to ask why, why, why, and then it loves to talk about all the possible answers—but don’t waste all this energy in conversation, transmute it into something that will bring about healing and connection. The Magic card is the bonus card of this deck, and it is all about our ability to move into mystical realms and make impossible things happen. We could even call it the miracle card. Your heart wants to be planted in magical, miraculous soil. And when you meet your inner needs by making art out of your life, the final product isn’t just something you just hang on the wall or upload to Soundcloud; it’s a power object, something that contains a life-force and a spirit of its own. Even if you’ve never thought of yourself as a creative person before, now's the time to let your heart express it with an unfiltered abandon. Making art heals your heart, so get to it.
CANCER MOON Five of Pentacles
