Taurus 1st Quarter Moon at 8°26’—January 28
Survival. Nourishment. Sustenance.
Why these matter a bit more this year is because today’s first quarter moon occurs conjunct the North Node—meaning that it quite literally illuminates your directionality in action toward these three foundations of livelihood.
Call it a wake-up!—today may offer you a reality check. And may this post be the loudest wake-up call you receive, because reality tends to send a much harsher message…
Survival. Nourishment. Sustenance.
Sustenance, in other words, in this day and age: money.
Unsurprisingly, these are also all included within the second level of Safety in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, all of them.
To survive, quite simply, you require food and water, and quality nourishment is always best—shelter is always nice, though not at all strictly necessary; we ascended from cave dwellings, after all…
And then some kind of method to sustain this level of security…
Naturally, whatever value you possess that allows you to be repeatedly rewarded is also indicated. All Taurean/second house stuff. All of it endlessly swirls into the other—its own cycle of perpetuation.
Quite historically, as well, the second house regards personal fulfillment—to the inner workings of how capable and/or motivated you are toward happiness and attracting what you need to not only survive, but to thrive—and to feel fulfilled.
Further, the second house is the house of personal values.
So. It would be quite natural, then, to consider that the lifestyle you have chosen to participate in and attempt to thrive beyond is a lifestyle that you inherently value and you personally chose for yourself—that you are not the victim of your circumstances, but rather, you strived for better, for more, for your own circumstances rather than choosing to wallow within whatever woe was inherited.
Of course, we all have our woes… we need not live for them. Wallowing in woe is a terrible place to live. Nothing grows there.
Further, whatever you put into your body you will receive, in return, in action… or inaction. Or reaction—disease.
And finally, whatever values you strive for outwardly you likely possess inwardly, and these become deserving of repeated rewards, which could thus be further cultivated and mastered, in an effort to be rendered that much more valuable, as to be worthy for ever higher rewards… in other words—learn to do something so valuable that whoever pays you will always pay your worth as you continue to name your price, because you provide a genuine quality within your talent or skill.
It really all comes down to personal values… and personal accountability.
Do you value yourself, for instance, and are you considering this idea in your day-to-day?—do your days emphasize this?
Do you live within your personal reality in a way that exudes to others that you value yourself?—that you are grateful to feel so fulfilled?—that you know very personally your worth?
In fact, even shamanic astrologer Raven Kaldera writes of this moon, that “what the Universe wants for you is to develop a deep and thoughtful code of values, whatever those may be, rather than simply unthinkingly reacting to either upbringing or circumstances… once you have carefully thought through your values and have shown yourself a willingness to follow through even if that means inconvenience, the Universe may [begin to] let up.”
Are your skills, talents, and gifts being properly utilized?
Maybe you love what you do for a living—but you can’t find time to express your skills, talents, and gifts… it’s important to do what you need to to make time for this. It’s an expression of energy, personal to only you, that needs a proper outlet—this is the kind of energy that returns to you three folds in countless ways.
For those of you who hate your jobs—it’s likely because your skills, talents, and gifts aren’t being utilized, much less recognized…
Get a new one—what’re you waiting for?! It really is that simple. A pain in the ass sometimes, sure. But entirely simple. Especially if you provide a valuable talent—people want to give you money for that which they share a value for… which is sometimes an actual need.
Unless you’re unsure of your worth?—it’s a pity this is such a prevalent problem in our society.
It’s time to look, quite painfully, at where you compromise within your personal reality—this is the reality check.
Where within your values are you compromising?—why are you compromising your own entitlement for fulfillment?
Fulfillment is the reward of second house utility and mastery. Just as money is the result of the value you provide.
When clients call me with complaints of feeling unfulfilled, it’s typically a number of things, but most always it involves a second house issue/detail.
Do you feel unfulfilled?
Are you able to pinpoint the why of this?
What do you value?
Do your personal resources—your time, energy, and money—go toward your values each month? If not, why?
Will you take personal ownership over your values in an effort to strive for personal fulfillment?
Finally, over the years I’ve heard—particularly from women—that they don’t get paid enough, and believe me: I was there for way too long…
You have to take this into your own hands or it will never change. It’s really that simple. Fix it.
You have to acknowledge your worth.
•
This first quarter moon occurs within the first decan of Taurus, a decan that reminds us of how much we endure… and where we compromise.
This decan, writes astrologer Austin Coppock, possesses “the power to grant understanding… [upon] how to create growth, how to achieve abundance—its use reveals the ways one may work with whatever one has to gain more…”
This is a decan associated with the 5 of pentacles—a card that represents misery, poverty, injury, and/or bitterness and resentments.
Interestingly, this card in the Rider-Waite deck, depicts two down on their luck, one is injured, they’re treading slowly, desperately, through the snow as it’s snowing, bitter and cold. And these two are in front of what can only be presumed is a church, as the window featured is stained glass, beautiful and colorful, warm and bright. But it appears as though the two, very much entrenched in their woe, are passing it by…
Why would they pass it by?!
Every day we’re given choices—to continue weaving and wallowing within our woes or to strive toward fulfillment.
The window, obviously, symbolizes potential and opportunities within. It’s basically a vacancy sign flashing. Or a Currently Hiring sign.
In what ways do you ask for help when you’re in need?
Is personal pride a value to take so seriously?—especially when you’re starving?—starving literally, sure, but also possessing starvation of livelihood, creativity, love, awareness, compassion, motivation, resources, drive, ambition, etc etc etc
In what ways are you currently thriving?
In what ways are you currently striving?
In what ways are your personal values being illuminated daily?
This decan of Taurus is ruled by Mercury—so all the more emphasis toward communicating your needs, and your worth, as well as sharing with others your skills and ambitions.
The symbolisms of all of these things for today—of Taurus, the second house, this first decan of Taurus, and the five of pentacles, the north node, Mercury, the moon—all of these, in their own way, very clearly point toward issues of lack as much as they do ambition, in a way that further highlights the unfortunate lack of worthiness and belonging many people struggle with within their day-to-day.
In fact, tarot writer TS Chang writes of this card, that when she pulls it, it “often likes to warn me about being locked out…”
Continued, this card can indicate “breakdowns in communication—lost phones, power outages, laptop crashes—as is physical injury…”
And so today’s reality check may very much feel as though you can’t quite grasp, or communicate, or direct your thoughts most specifically toward the solutions that are definitely before you, or within you. But I would suggest you continue to be brutally honest with yourself and pinpoint the solution. Especially if you’re struggling—why continue to struggle?—there’s no reward in struggle.
Because the moon is exalted within this decan, and conjunct the North Node, it is auspiciously associated with doing the dirty work necessary to thrive beyond struggling, and work your way up out of whatever woe you’ve been currently enduring—to make, to produce, to plant, to fertilize…
And finally, tarot writer Jessica Dore writes of this card, in such an eloquently concluding manner, touching upon the true essence of this card and its meaning, as well as today’s energies inadvertently, that “skills, like all abilities, require practice and usually some unlearning—but here’s why this matters, why it’s worth doing: the ability to be present is a prerequisite for feeling fulfilled, and if you can’t do it here, you won’t be able to do it anywhere.”
Yes.
I feel as though this extrapolates so nicely the being-ness that Taurean energies need, that the soul is living within a body in order to feel—everything—and that sometimes simply being, and allowing that within the momentary Now, is a part of allowing fulfillment, allowing happiness to happen… just being open to it. But not in a needy way—in gratitude, gratitude for such an opportunity.
Needs are absolutely a second house issue—but these needs, here, are distilled down to: survival, nourishment, and sustenance… not all those things you want and justify as needs.
But we need personal values, as these values will directly influence everything thereafter. Powerfully. Try embracing a new value and putting your energy and effort into it and see how quickly your life shifts.
It all comes down to being within yourself—the feeling of being alone with yourself, the feeling of being who you are, down into your bones… knowing that what you stand for is what you’re actually living for, and doing so within every moment. It’s an emotional nurturing, absolutely. It’s its own spa retreat—and as those commercials insist: you’re worth it.
To conclude, allow me to share with you a bit more of Dore’s perspective on this card—
“We first learn to leave the present as a way to numb or protect ourselves from things we don’t know how to cope with otherwise. But while living in this way can protect us from things we want to avoid, it also prevents us from connecting with things that are good for us. In the somatic Hakomi method of psychotherapy, this leaving is called a nourishment barrier, a self-erected psychic force field that blocks us from absorbing the nutritive elements in the things we experience, like intimacy, caring relationships, or success in whatever that means to us. Sometimes that barrier manifests as compulsively scheming about the future, rumination on the past, or endless efforts to control how others think, feel, and act to distract him our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. These trapdoors and exit strategies helped us survive a long time ago—we didn’t have better ways to be safe then, but we do now.”
❝The foremost rule is that you must take responsibility for your own life. Period.❞
—Jordan Peterson
🖋 by Jamie James
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Kaldera, R. ‘Moon Phase Astrology.’ Destiny Books; ©2011.
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Rudhyar, D. ‘An Astrological Mandala.’ Vintage Books; ©1973.