Drawing Down Beautiful New Possibilities at Spring Cross-Quarter
Dear Reader,
I hope this message finds you well! I'm writing to you on a warm, sunny day. The sky is bright blue, birds are singing, chirping, and twittering, and flowers are blooming everywhere. The scent of lilac and fresh grass is in the air. Everything is lush and beautiful now that it's May.
What are you noticing in your surroundings?
How are you experiencing this time of year?
The heart of spring
The beginning of May features a major seasonal crossroads in the yearly cycle of the Sun. At Spring Cross-Quarter, the Sun reaches the middle degree of Taurus in the tropical zodiac and marks the midpoint between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice and the height of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. This year, the exact Taurus/Spring Cross-Quarter falls on May 5, 2:11 a.m. Central European Time (convert to your local time).
Spring Cross-Quarter is the 'Waxing Gibbous Moon' and 'late morning' of the year when the light is growing towards fullness. It’s a time of lengthening days and warming weather, abundant growth of flora and fauna, and sustained energy to create something beautiful ourselves. We’re invited to draw down the increasing light and power of the Sun to be infused into our dearest dreams and desires so that they may blossom and bless our world.
As a flower festival, Spring Cross-Quarter is a celebration of beauty, delight, and our enjoyment of life's simple gifts. Here, we harvest spring flowers to decorate our home, to give to loved ones, or to make flower crowns with children young and old, and hang colorful ribbons from trees or bushes in the garden. It’s an auspicious time to connect with nature spirits and communicate with flowers as the veil between our worlds is growing thin.
What is your relationship to spring?
Are you a child of spring, having been born at this time? And if so, how does it inform your way of being in the world?
Thank heaven there’s a zodiac sign that prioritizes pleasure!
Taurus, the Bull, is a fixed earth sign belonging to Venus and signifies a season of grounding in our bodies, enjoying life with all our senses, and giving thanks for the fertility and abundance of life on Earth. Taurus teaches us to slow down and stop to smell the roses, to follow the rhythms and trust the wisdom of our own body, and to pause and take our time with what is growing in us and through us. Taurus gives us permission to connect with pleasure, beauty, and joy, and to fall in love with life all over again.
What do you find beautiful?
Where do you find pleasure?
What brings you delight?
What do you enjoy with all your senses?
What is your full body yes?
The astrology of Taurus/Spring Cross-Quarter
Let’s turn to the astrological chart of Spring Cross-Quarter, cast for the moment the Sun reaches 15 degrees of Taurus, to receive deeper insight into the planetary energies and symbolism that’s being highlighted for the next six weeks until the wheel of the year turns once again.
Horoscope for Taurus/Spring Cross-Quarter on May 5, 2024 at 2:11 a.m. CET
Expanding possibilities with Jupiter and Uranus
The Sun is applying to conjoin Uranus and Jupiter, highlighting their recent conjunction at 21 degrees of Taurus on April 21 and the beginning of a new 14-year Jupiter-Uranus cycle. Uranus, the higher mind, brings flashes of insight and ignites creativity. Jupiter magnifies whatever it touches. Together, they help us to break free from the known, embrace radically new ideas, and expand our consciousness.
As a world transit, Jupiter-Uranus alignments coincide with dramatic changes and creative breakthroughs in all fields of human activity. In our personal lives, Jupiter and Uranus combine to get us unstuck and help us to break old patterns and explore exciting new possibilities and directions. Their recent conjunction will be pinged repeatedly by the Sun, Venus, and Mercury throughout the month, gradually drawing out its meaning in our collective and individual lives.
The triple conjunction between the Sun, Uranus, and Jupiter is forming a supportive sextile to Saturn in Pisces, helping to balance the hugely optimistic, celebratory, and at times chaotic energy of Jupiter-Uranus with the applied wisdom, discipline, and sensibility of Saturn and the soulfulness of Pisces. Here, we're being supported to make changes and innovate in ways that are grounded in clarity and awareness of consequences as well as our commitment to compassion.
For more insight into what this Jupiter-Uranus conjunction is sparking for you personally, explore the Taurus house topics in your birth chart and/or look back at previous Jupiter-Uranus conjunctions and what they coincided with in your own life. The last time that Jupiter and Uranus came together was between June 2010 and January 2011, the time before that in February 1997, the time before that between February and September 1983.
What openings and awakenings do you recall?
How do they echo through time?
What wants or needs to change?
Where are you moving towards more freedom?
Unearthing desire with Venus and Pluto
Venus, goddess of love, and the presiding deity of this cross-quarter, is strong in her own sign of Taurus and in her own bounds. Here, she's able to fully enjoy the sweetness of life and bring about connection, comfort, and peace in our lives. With Venus disappearing under the beams of the Sun, we might find love and beauty in hidden or unexpected places.
Venus is separating from a square with Pluto in Aquarius whose energy is intensified due to his recent retrograde station on May 2. Pluto has made it up to 2 degrees of Aquarius, which is the furthest he will get into Aquarius until February 2025. If you have personal planets or angles in early Aquarius or any other of the fixed signs (i.e. Taurus, Leo, or Scorpio), this activation of Pluto is especially potent for you.
Pluto, god of the underworld, helps us to loosen knots and unearth what's been buried in our unconscious. With Venus square Pluto, we might come face to face with a part of ourselves that doesn't feel loved or lovable. Pluto shows us how we can process old emotions that are blocking the natural flow of grace and hold us back from expressing our true selves. Venus in Taurus can help us to do the often painful work of Pluto and will see us through to healing so we can consciously create the life we truly desire.
What is crying out to you?
What wants to loosen?
What wants to take its place?
Letting go with the Moon and Mars
The Moon is in its Waning Crescent phase, with Mars and in Mars' sign, Aries, forming a supportive sextile to Pluto and further highlighting Pluto’s presence at this cross-quarter. The Balsamic Moon carries the energy of closure and completion. Mars in Aries is direct, quick, and bold. Together, the Moon and Mars combine to give us the inner strength and courage to let go of what’s not working and die to an old way of life that has us tied in knots.
Mars is also pinging the Aries house in our birth charts, where we had a total Solar Eclipse on April 8 and a Mercury retrograde from April 2 to 25. Mars will activate the eclipse degree and the degrees of the Mercury retrograde later in May and into the beginning of June, continuing some of that story. Mars is at home in Aries and in its full strength here, ready to act and take risks, and will help us to move forward with what was revealed at the Solar Eclipse and what we needed to retrace during Mercury retrograde related to the Aries house topics in our charts.
Finishing strong with Jupiter in Taurus
Both the Sun and Moon are in Jupiter's bounds, benefitting from his enthusiasm and generosity, and further amplifying his reach at this cross-quarter. Jupiter has been in Taurus since May 2023, supporting us to learn, grow, and expand in the Taurus part of our birth charts and our lives, and is finishing up in Taurus this month.
Come May 26, Jupiter will ingress into Gemini and activate a whole new house in your birth chart and an entirely new area in your life with the impulse to expand your horizons and to seek new experiences. For now, review what Jupiter in Taurus means for you personally and make the best of Jupiter's last three weeks in Taurus for the next twelve years.
Are you ready to enter the heart of spring?
What makes you feel abundant?
What do you want to grow?
How are you growing?
What do you hear when you listen with your whole body?
What wants to bloom and blossom in your life?
For more spring magic, take some of the questions on your walk or into your journal, your dreamtime, or any other kind of creative or contemplative practice, either solo or with others. I hope they tickle you and help you draw yourself deeper into the heart of spring.
Until next time…
I very much look forward to writing to you again around the time of Cancer/Summer Solstice, which marks the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and heralds a time of fulfillment and fruition. It falls on June 20, 10:50 p.m. Central European Time this year (convert to your local time).
In the meantime, I'm wishing you a beautiful spring harvest wherever you are. May you be blessed with flowering health and the joy of being alive.