Tarotscopes, May 2019
By Brandon Alter:
The New Moon in Taurus is a portal to rekindle your relationship with the Earth. And without the Earth, there would be no Astrology, there would be no Tarot, there would be no Shamanism or Crystals or Magick Candles, and so on and so forth. This New Moon wants to remind you of your inextricable link to this planet we call home. Taurus is a fixed Earth sign, meaning it is the most grounded, deeply rooted and fully present energy of the Zodiac. If Aries asks the question, "Who am I?" then Taurus asks the question, "Where am I?" It’s not enough to know who you are, you must learn where you are and what you stand for.
Taurus Season is our opportunity to take action from our new identity, to evolve our lofty ideas from an intellectual exercise into a generative practice.
The image I received for this New Moon was of a person crawling out of a grave. That, in and of itself, feels very Taurus: to emerge from the dirt, reborn, and gaze up toward the sky. But there’s a deeper communication happening with this symbol. You see, Taurus and Scorpio, as polar opposites, are linked signs. Together they create the continuum of death and rebirth, light and darkness. Remember when you were young and you thought that if you dug deep enough you could reach the other side of the world? Well, in Astrology, that’s actually true. If you go deep enough in Taurus, you end up in Scorpio and vice versa. Scorpio teaches us the necessity of death to release that which no longer serves. Scorpio turns inward, Taurus opens outward. Taurus teaches us the value of new life. Together, Taurus and Scorpio speak the language of transformation, how we continue to evolve and expand or else decay and contract.
This New Moon is both a grave for your old, tired shit and the birth canal for your fresh awakening. Can you become more aware of how interconnected we all are? Can you begin to see yourself deeply mirrored in the natural world? Taurus is ruled by Venus, goddess of love, and as a result this sign’s energy is incredible sensual, seductive, fleshly, and lavish. The more you can relate to your body as a little Earth, orbiting around all the other little Earths, the more truly yourself you will become. And because your flesh is made up of the same cosmic stuff as the wind, the trees, the mountains, and the ocean, your body is an incredibly psychic instrument. Unlike the mind, which deceives easily, the body cannot lie. This New Moon could initiate your psychic body into deeper levels of awareness, but you must pay attention. Where Scorpio dives into deep waters to experience psychic downloads, Taurus knows that the same level of insight is available in the physical world. We need not ignore our reality to perceive a deeper layer of existence. All we need to do is wake up our skin and tune in.
When we go against nature, we go against ourselves. In the dark of this New Moon, we can start to see where we have been sabotaging our own best interests. This is the moon to get right with Mother Nature and your own nature. Where does your food come from? What about the crystals you love so much? How are you actively participating in caring for this larger body we call Earth? We can no longer afford to be passive consumers. We must be Earth warriors. We must become conscious of the debt our own life creates. If we can wake up to the crisis that we are in now, right now, there may be some chance that we can change the story to come. But if we remain in fear and denial, we will turn our back on the thing we love the most, the source of our own life. I mention this not to guilt or shame you into changing your ways. I am writing this because there is no more joyful experience of life than when you are truly working with yourself and nature. And the New Moon in Taurus believes you are ready for that bliss.
The exciting and aggravating thing with Astrology is that there’s always something happening. But I can’t get into all that here because there just isn’t space or time. So my husband and I encourage you to please tune in to The Spiritual Gayz, our twice monthly podcast dedicated to exploring the wide reaches of spirituality without pretending that it all makes sense. Our aim is to make all this esoteric wisdom as accessible as a Real Housewives reunion. And don’t worry, it’s not ALL Astrology, our latest episode was a deep dive into The Major Aracana. And a few weeks ago, we dedicated a whole show to ritual—how to do it and why it matters. So what are you waiting for? Tune in, subscribe, follow us on Instagram, and please rate us 5 stars! How do you find it? Easy! Click HERE!
Lastly, if you’re feeling in need of more guidance and clarity, you are in luck, sis! I’m running a Taurus Season Tarot special.
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Tarotscopes, May 2019
Please find your individual Tarotscopes below.
Read for your Sun sign and consider it your outer compass for the next moonth.
Read for your Moon sign and consider it your inner compass for this next moonth.
COLLECTIVE CARD FOR THE MOONTH
Two of Swords
This New Moon feels BIG, bigger than your usual New Moon. So this moonth’s collective card was pulled in response to this specific question: HOW CAN WE WORK WITH THE ENERGY OF THIS NEW MOON? The card I pulled was the Two of Swords. Two of Swords is a stalemate. It’s a draw. It’s two tectonic plates trying to force the other to shift. There’s no forward movement available in this card. You can’t go forward, you can’t go backward. The only place you can go is inward.
This card is known as the meditation card; its invitation is into non-action, to be still, contemplative and passive. This card is the space between stories. It’s allowing the chrysalis to form. Simply put, this moon doesn’t want your rituals or your ceremonies. It wants your attention and your presence. Nature speaks in a language we are continuing to remember. Only in silence can we translate the message she is trying to convey. This Taurus New Moon wants silence, stillness, and deep contemplation. Are you brave enough to sit under the dark sky and listen? Will you give up the show, the elaborate distractions, and simply feel into all the energy around you? Feel the pulse of your own blood and feel for the pulse of the moon. Find the invisible bridge between the outer world and your inner heart, and you will be walking through the two of swords.
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TAURUS
Ten of Pentacles (Reversed)
This is your Season, shining Taurus, and you plan to enjoy it, don’t you? The Ten of Pentacles is everyone’s favorite card. Why? Because it’s the abundance card. It speaks to the fruits of your labor finally ripening, and there’s more than enough to go around. Remember that Pentacles speak to our physical reality, our bodies, bank accounts, careers, and so on. With the Ten of Pentacles, you can be sure that your hard work is going to get noticed—your initial investment is about to pay out with dividends.
The Ten of Pentacles is so sweet a card that even a reversal can’t stop its party. But the reversal may imply that you are having some trouble trusting the abundance showing up at your door. Perhaps the work for you this season, gentle Taurus, is to really receive how far you’ve come. You see, Pentacles isn’t just talking about cash and prizes; at its core, this suit speaks to us about the work our soul came here to do. And you’ve been working a deeper journey lately. This card is a sign that your efforts are not in vain, but you must be the one to stop, face yourself, and receive your own progress.
The most important path the Ten of Pentacles speaks to is the one of gratitude. We are what we pay attention to. Take this moonth and count your blessings—literally, out loud. Even if your savings account is meager, the abundance of nature never fails. The sun rises and sets each day, the cactus flowers are blooming, and you are beautiful. Take stock of your riches, and you will feel rich. This is the season for luxury, excess, and sensual pleasures: remember, as Coco Chanel said, "The best things in life are free; the second best are very expensive."
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GEMINI
Ten of Swords
The Buddhists are experts in suffering. They respect it. They accept it. They live their lives trying to root it out at its source. What most Buddhist practices teach is that our suffering is created out of our attachment. The Ten of Swords is where we feel the extent of those attachments. The Ten of Swords is simultaneously the pinnacle of our suffering and the absolute release of it. Remember that Swords speak to our mental realm. Swords are the stories we tell ourselves, they are our identities. The Ten of Swords is when we realize how hung up we’ve been on maintaining these stories instead of just living our lives.
In my book, which I swear I’m writing, this card is actually good news. The Ten of Swords only shows up when you are ready and able to step out of your old wheel of suffering. You’ve stabbed yourself enough, sweet Gemini, time to pull the swords out one at a time and feel the sweet relief of being your true self. Swords can also be the masks we wear, the modulations in our personality that we intuit others require. Well, I’m telling you, gentle Gemini, it will never be easier to burn every mask you’ve ever worn than right now. Trust the Ten of Swords and burn all your false selves to the ground.
At its essence, the Ten of Swords is a moment when we are fully aware of our mental gymnastics. This is a graduation of the mind. Spend this moonth observing how attached you are to other people’s opinions and points of view, notice how entrenched you’ve become in your own personality. You can be free if you want to be free. Simply say, "fuck it" and start being yourself, as you are, moment to moment. No attachments, no script, and best of all, no suffering. Remember, only your authentic self can win your true life. If it’s meant for you, there’s nothing you can do to fuck it up—and if it’s not meant for you, no amount of panache can bring it around.
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CANCER
Eight of Pentacles
Buckle up, cute Crab, it’s time to get to work. The Eight of Pentacles means you are going to be a busy little bee this moonth, working on your craft and keeping your bank account in the black. But there’s more to life than just the grind, am I right? So the real invitation here is to make sure your work is continuing to deepen. The Eight of Pentacles is where we begin to develop more refined skill in our area of expertise. That may mean your current projects are challenging you to move beyond your comfort zone. Don’t panic! I can feel you panicking. You are ready for this leveling up.
Eights in the Tarot are mega expansions. They show up when we are ready to grow outside the box. It’s an expansion we couldn’t prepare for or predict. This is the moment when all your hard work and technique gives birth to something unexpected and divine. That’s not to say there may not be a few stumbles here and there. But that’s how you learn a new way, by tripping, falling, and getting right back on path. Fours in the Tarot are foundations. Eights are the double foundation. What you do now is creating your new professional and creative foundation for years to come.
Here’s the deal: you’re already pretty fucking accomplished. You have a big bag full of neat tricks. But if you keep using only those tricks, people will eventually figure out how you made the magic happen. Any true professional knows that if we aren’t growing, we are stagnating—and that shit is stinky, gurl. Use this moonth, use the challenges in front of you, to figure out ways to become even better at your job. Being busy has no intrinsic value. But since you’re gonna be busy as hell this moonth, you might as well use these opportunities to level up your game.
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LEO
Page of Pentacles
A few years ago I made a radical decision. I chose to forgive my parents of their shortcomings. I released them of their responsibility to parent me in any way. I took the Earth as my mother, the Sky as my father. And I just let my Mom and Dad be these cool people in my life who love the hell out of me. I have to tell you, this simple act did wonders for our relationship. Now, it’s not like I told either one of them about this. But for me, I had to stop getting stuck on where they would fuck up. By allowing myself to be a child of the Earth and the Sky, instead of a child of Bill and Barbara (not their real names!) I began to feel a freedom I had never felt before. This is the freedom the Page of Pentacles offers.
You see, this card is the double Earth card of the deck. Pentacles are Earth and the Pages are Earth. When this card shows up, the Earth is trying to get your attention. Perhaps you’ve been feeling like life is out of control, perhaps you’ve been feeling disconnected—Earth will fix that. This moonth is all about getting your feet in the dirt and grounding yourself. When you start to spin off the deep end, get outside, breath clean air, hug a tree (no, seriously, hug a damn tree, you’ll feel so much better).
In the Tarot, the Pages function as the openers and the grounders of the deck. The Page of Pentacles is opening you and grounding you to the element of earth. Now that you are aware of what your work in the world will entail, you need to find a sustainable and measured way to move toward the fulfillment of your goals. Nature moves at its own pace. Learn from the different flowers; they never bloom before their time. Accomplishment comes from a pure source, reconnect to yours, and there will be plenty to celebrate soon.
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VIRGO
The Hermit (Reversed)
This is your card, capable Virgo! Literally, the Hermit is the card connected to Virgo in the Tarot. So why is your birth card showing up? Maybe because, as a compatriot Earth sign, Taurus season is an opportunity to touch your own essence after a few months of fog and confusion. Being presented with your own card can act as a mirror to remind you who you really are. And if you aren’t sure who you really are, the Hermit can help. The Hermit appears when we are ready to completely turn inward and follow our heart.
Some Tarot readers see this card as a sign that you are ready for a spiritual teacher. I think this card signifies you are ready to be your own spiritual teacher. The Hermit is wise because the Hermit has learned how to access their own heart. This card begs us to reject outer concerns and to become almost obsessed with our own inner flame. In some ways, this card is an invitation into an altered state. The Hermit shares resonance with the High Priestess; they both navigate invisible seas. But where the High Priestess facilitates communication with other invisible beings, spirits, and ancestors, the Hermit is charged with only heart-talk. Your heart knows best and is longing to remind you of your own sacred way.
At its essence, the Hermit is where we stop moving forward and start moving inward. We will resume our journey but not before we illuminate why the journey has to happen in the first place. The lantern the Hermit carries is a symbol of their own inner light. If your inner light is lit, no amount of external darkness can confound you. But if you are wholly dependent on an external light source, the darkness will condemn you. Spend this moonth making sure your heart is calling the shots. Take time away from your usual distractions, even if you don’t want to. Especially if you don’t want to! The Hermit is here to usher you into the inner sanctum of your heart. Light the candles, smell the incense, and pray, sweet baby, pray to your own heart. Once you’ve found your way back in, looking out, all you will see is joy, beauty, and love.
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LIBRA
The World (Reversed)
Of all the cards in the Tarot, the World is the most mysterious. It is the last card of the Major Arcana. It signifies major endings; and hidden in those major endings, some new beginnings. It speaks to the never-ending journey of growth and transformation; as soon as you level up, you realize there’s a whole new ladder to climb. The World shows up when you’ve come full circle somewhere in your life. Somewhere major. You know it, I know it, the world knows it. But the choice is always yours, sweet Libra. You can keep circling the drain, or you can step out and find a wider circle.
For you, gorgeous Libra, this moonth is best spent tying up loose ends and figuring out what new big adventures lay ahead. The World shows up when something is over. As you move through your life this May, consider what has truly concluded in your life. Are you still showing up at a job that no longer has life in it? Are you still tending a relationship that leaves you cold? The World will empower you to see where you have reached the end of line.
When the World shows up in the reversed position, it can suggest that you are the only one who can answer your deeper queries at this time. The World is a brief but tangible flash of enlightenment. Perhaps you are undervaluing your own insights at this time. Maybe you’re running around town, scraping advice from every street corner, when the only valuable answers will come from your own experience and insight. Trust that you know better than anyone else what to release and what to renew. Trust that you have been on a wild ride that has finally, thankfully, pulled back into the station.
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SCORPIO
The Empress
All signs evolve through their opposite. As a Scorpio, you only can reach your full potential by leaning into your Taurus polarity. Instead of always burrowing in, the Taurus energy can help you spread out. Having the Empress show up for this next cycle is clearly inviting you into your softer side. Can you begin to let your body guide you forward? Can you surrender to the sweet pleasures of food, wine, and birdsong? You prefer to navigate the hidden world, but can you, for just one moonth, give yourself over to the delights of the here and now?
The Empress is the ultimate mother. She knows when to be tender and pull you into her ample bosom. She knows when to be ferocious and spank your naughty bottom. She also knows how to throw the best damn party in the Tarot. Because she is Venus ruled, the Empress is very much about pleasure and luxury. The Empress invites us into our passions and our pleasures, she wants us to feel good at all costs. But she is also Mother Earth, and she reminds us that the natural world is the source of our abundance.
This moonth wants you to celebrate the light. You can get so caught up in your own dark web that you forget how beautiful the world is. Take this month to stoke your passion about being alive. Eat all the delicacies, drink all the nectar. Remind yourself how many delights the flesh contains. You see, that’s where Taurus and Scorpio can come together: in the bedroom. Your physical body is not to be overlooked or ignored. The Empress comes to us, in her splendor, to remind us of our own splendor. These bodies are borrowed, and they are subject to the ravages of time. So now, while your vitality is high, celebrate your sweet body. Take a month off to surface from your usual depths and return to Earth.
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SAGITTARIUS
The Moon
Your life is changing rapidly, and that’s exciting. Our outer world shifts when our inner world has gone through some sort of profound transformation. And my advice last moonth was to keep taking the ride. Well, the ride will continue, spicy Sagittarius, and your job is to continue to hang on to yourself. Notice where all this restructuring is trying to lead you. The Moon is here to help you make some sense of this strange journey you are on. Or perhaps, she may bring even more strangeness into your life. Either way, this next cycle is bound to bring you more deeply into yourself.
The Moon card is a portal into our inner darkness. In the same way that certain aspects of nature are highlighted only at night, in moonlight, there are facets of our inner nature that can only be viewed in the dark. I’m talking about your shadow, your unconscious, your fears, addictions, and doubts. As you move through these new waters, it’s only natural some fear and doubt will get stirred up. Don’t ignore what’s rising to the surface. These new experiences are designed to help you make your unconscious drivers conscious. Until you are aware of your shadows, your addictions, your strangeness, they will play you like a puppet. Once you can name them, you take back your power. It’s up to you to decide how to partner with these delicious dark nuggets of your own being.
This shadow realm of the Moon is also where we can access our most psychic selves. Only by having the courage to sit in the dark with the hidden aspects of our being can we tune in to the invisible truths of existence. Being able to sit with your shadow, your own darkness, will empower you to claim more of yourself. There is nothing the Moon illuminates that isn’t worthy of your love. Pour your fears a glass of whisky, dance with your doubts. Hold your strangeness firmly by the hand and promise you will not let it go. If you thought life was exciting already, baby gurl, your epic ride has truly just begun.
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CAPRICORN
Knight of Wands (Reversed)
When a court card shows up, it’s a mirror. It’s saying, "HEY, don’t forget this is you too!" Each of us contains all sixteen of the court cards within us, but sometimes we have to dial up one facet of our essence more than the other. Well, get ready to dial it all the way up, because the Knight of Wands is the dynamo of the deck. You are the Knight of Wands when you are feeling like a rockstar in your life. Whatever your work, whatever your natural personality, this is your moment to allow your unique but powerful charisma to move all the way through you.
The Knight of Wands is the rockstar of the deck. I think of this figure as Grace Jones or Freddie Mercury. This doesn’t mean that you need to embody a huge personality if that isn’t your authentic way. But everyone has their own rockstar quality. When I meditate on these two figures, I think about how much work they must’ve done to allow their enormous energy to be expressed. That’s the essence of this archetype. Are you allowing your spirit the full range of your emotions and excitement? Are you able to clear out enough space within yourself to accommodate your true size?
In the Tarot, the Knights have one function, and that is to move things along. The Knight of Wands is literally about moving energy. This moonth is your opportunity to clear yourself out. If you’ve been feeling stale and stuck, if you’ve been regurgitating your old tricks, this is the time to release all that. There’s a newness, an explosion of force, that wants to work its way through you. Can you allow yourself this fullness of expression? Can you give yourself permission to be the badass you really are? That’s your challenge this moonth. Don’t stay small. Use all of yourself. Then you will be free.
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AQUARIUS
Five of Swords (Reversed)
In the Tarot, Fives invite us into a contraction of sorts. Fives are when the path turns suddenly. If we are walking a path from Ace to Ten, then this is our halfway point where we realize just how much this journey is going to require of us—and we make adjustments accordingly. The Five of Swords (since Swords speak to the realm of our minds) is specifically a mental contraction. This can feel like writer's block or a general lack of creativity. This can also feel like obsessing over one small issue. It’s not a fun moment to be in, but it is just that, a moment. It will pass. And frankly, this card coming in upside down may speak to a gentler experience of your tight mind.
Remember that all the cards are medicine for your life. Even the not-so-fun cards (especially the not-so-fun cards). The Five of Swords shows up when we are ready to see how we have been leaking energy. It’s a secret window through which we can spy on our inner saboteur. This moonth will show you exactly where you have been chasing your own tail, making things more difficult than they need to be.
What comes after the contraction of the Fives is the expansion of the Sixes. The Six of Swords represents a brand new way of thinking about things. So that’s where you’re headed, starry-eyed Aquarius. But before you can get there, you gotta notice where the old way has really got you running in circles. Maybe you aren’t even aware of how many hoops you make yourself jump through. Life runs more smoothly when we can simplify our own processes. The Five of Swords is showing you where you have over complicated, over thought, and overwhelmed yourself. Yes, complexity is fun, exciting, and (for an Aquarius) very stimulating. But sometimes we need the shortest path between two points. This moonth, if only as an experiment, try to find your most efficient path from A to B.
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PISCES
Seven of Cups
Life is all about choices. What you choose to do (or not do) sets off a chain of consequences that rewrites the future. You are literally writing your future in the present. Every choice you make matters, because you matter. (And if you don’t believe you matter, then I highly suggest you stop reading this and immediately listen to Iyanla Vanzant‘s SuperSoul Conversations podcast.) The Seven of Cups shows up when we are presented with a bevy of choices. Sometimes this feels exciting. Sometimes this feels overwhelming. Sometimes it’s a combination of both. The important thing is to make sure you are choosing from the heart.
When we let the Ego make decisions, it cleverly tries to select the opportunities we think will yield us the most gain by way of money, status, or power. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting any of those three things. But the Ego doesn’t know everything, it doesn’t know how to satisfy your quieter, deeper yearnings. Your heart, on the other hand, can truly get you the things you want. Even if you’re not entirely sure what that is. That’s why we want to let the heart decide how to proceed.
So here’s your task for this next cycle: make sure the things you say yes to are resounding in your heart. Maybe the job opportunity is lush but the people you would be working with are lousy. Don’t be afraid to let your heart dream your future. There is an element of fantasy at play in this card. The negative fantasy is what your Ego imagines one opportunity might lead to. But the positive facet of this fantasy is that you are unlimited in how you choose. If the options presented to you are all unappealing, don’t be afraid to choose something else. Simply put, order off the menu, and if the kitchen can’t accommodate then get the hell out of there and find another restaurant.
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ARIES
Strength
Strength is connected to Leo and the heart of a lion. It’s not the type of strength we are accustomed to seeing. It’s not bulging muscles or lifting a car off a child. This part of your journey is about having the strength to turn away from the world and tune in to your own heart. The card that proceeds this is the Chariot. When we are in Chariot energy, we are ambitious and hell-bent on getting somewhere. The Ego loves the Chariot because it gets fed here. But after you start feeding your Ego, you begin to discover that there is no there there. The Ego is never satisfied. When you wake up to that truth, you have stumbled out of the Chariot and into Strength.
If you’ve been feeling like there has to be more to life than this, you’re right where you are supposed to be. This next moonth is a sacred time for you to begin to return to the heart of the matter. Why are you pursuing the things you are pursuing? Are your dreams truly still lighting you up? When you quit your day job to pursue your passion, that’s Strength. When you move to a new city because it’s always been your dream, that’s Strength. When you stop going along with the river and swim upstream, that’s Strength.
Start to tune in to those pesky naggings of your heart; they will lead you somewhere exciting and unknown. Stop following the herd. Stop thinking with your wallet. No one is expecting you to change everything overnight. Consider this a gentle wake up call from your deeper self. There is more of you to be expressed. There are more exciting projects to tackle, more meaningful work to engage in. But before you can walk those outward paths, you must find the path back to your own heart. Don’t worry, no matter how long you’ve been away, your heart will always welcome your return. It may take a little bit for that warm homecoming, but it will happen. Ask your heart how to proceed with your life. Its answers may surprise you.
Trust it. It knows you better than you know yourself.