Leisure and Fashion by Slim Aarons

I tend to look forward to the Taurus New Moon much in the same way I look forward to a good meal. I know if I take the time to enjoy it, it will be satisfying and rewarding beyond measure. Yet, if I gulp it down unthinkingly and in a hurry, all the pleasurable satisfaction it could give me, is lost somewhere between figuring out what to eat for dinner, rushing to the gym, rushing to the market to buy dinner, and getting the dishes done so I can go to bed on time. There’s a logic to the Taurus season and it’s deceptively simple because just like trying to understand a Taurus friend, if you over think it, you not only risk missing the point but you will lose out on the simple logic of what your senses are telling you. Slow down. Take it easy. Stay awhile. Relax. We must slow down to appreciate life.

Frankly, Taurus New Moon is a relief for me, but maybe it’s just me. Considering full well that my own birth chart is full of cardinal (initiating) energy, it’s a huge relief to make relaxation, presence and increased pleasure my new moon intention. It is nourishing for me to give myself permission to become one with my lounge chair over a leisurely lunch, sit next to the chickens we have and enjoy their clucky spring company while watching the cat do a downward dog so fine, my yoga teacher would approve. It’s good for me to have that one more glass of wine. But it has occurred to me that not everyone has my chart, and thus my pressing need for calm relaxation and taking a pagan delight in the hedonistic pleasures life has to offer. To others, pleasurable ease comes more naturally. I’ve ascertained this from watching a dynamic between my husband and I lately. My sweetheart has no problem enjoying himself, which is a real treat for me to be around, because left to my own devices, I tend to forget to crack a smile. Or laugh. I’m pretty damn serious. So serious that I bug even me. I’ve joked with him that one of my many sub-personalities is crotchety old grandpa because it’s easier for me to be disciplined than to laugh. To deprive myself of sweets, than to indulge. Weird, yes I know. This is why I need him – and Taurus.

Taurus New Moon, May 13, 2010, 6:04 PM PST

Taurus activities feel good to the body, but obviously that doesn’t mean they’re good for you. Over this past Mercury in Taurus retrograde period it seems that if a person had any bugaboo Taurus habit, that habit reared it’s ugly little horns. Overeating, over-drinking compulsive shopping (to raise one’s serotonin levels), procrastination (otherwise known as laziness) are all popular Taurus feel-good past-times. I suppose any activity which instills a sense of soporific but sweet complacency is subject to abuse. I’m reminded of a Taurus friend of mine who used to bring homemade macaroni and cheese to our workplace; he was an amazing, prolific cook with an appetite for pleasure and he developed a disease that curbed his tendency toward over-indulgence. Everything in moderation, said Socrates, but so have many others including Oscar Wilde who said: Everything in moderation, including moderation.

The universe is made up of all kinds; what’s right for the goose is wrong for the gander. But astrology holds no judgment about who we are, it just points the way to a more integrative individual and humane path. That’s why I love cycling with the seasons, for no matter who we are and where we are in our journey, we can follow the lead of the new and full moons and do what we feel is right for us right now. New moons are great for planting intentions, and in Taurus, it’s through appreciating the abundance around us we can actually increase it. But this isn’t just about the pleasure of the senses, it’s an inner state. When we feel good about our self, we also create an attraction vibration.

At my Love Alchemist’s Notebook book launch party last Saturday night I spoke about the art of being an ‘attractive being’ as feeling abundant and generally good about oneself. It just follows the Venusian principle of like attracts like, and if you’ve never thought about that universal law: Ever wonder why the rich seem to get richer, and the poor, poorer? Why people who are alone end up more alone, and people with love always seem to have tons of it? Mystical author Paulo Coelho has remarked, the Universe is strange that way. Actually it’s a metaphysical (& Venus) law.

New moons give us an opportunity to play with our co-creative power by setting an intention. Any new moon offers this, but the Taurus New Moon is a favorite of many of us because it brings the esoteric magic of the stars down to earth, into our senses. Your new moon intentions can be for any of the words I highlighted in this article. You can set the intention to simply enjoy yourself and appreciate what you have and what you want more of: money, another glass of wine, a longer spot of sun, or love. You can set the intention to make your body and your abode, a garden of Eden, by eating healthy, and polishing up the stuff you have. You can even end a pleasurable habit no longer making you feel as good as it once did. Because ultimately, the Taurus New Moon is about you, but better. It’s about you feeling good. By personally vesting in your life, you increase your self-esteem & feelings of worth. In so doing, you’re accruing interest on being abundant and blessed. And if you’re looking for love, that makes you very interesting to others (here’s a Taurus Moon love spell for you!). As I said to those at my talk, being an abundant being makes you attract-ive.

Taurus New Moon asks us to define what the good life is to us, and then to believe in our self enough to ask for it. Jupiter makes a sweet sextile to this moon suggesting we may need to cover our eyes, and just leap into the sheer possibility of it all. We can trust our senses, and ask to enjoy the good life year round. I’m intending to. How about you?