STARFIRE

May 2008

May 2008 -TAURUS NEW MOON: TIME TO BEGIN
Click on the image for a larger view.
NOTE: Image will come up in a new browser window.

Taurus New Moon: Time to Begin

The New Moon is the traditional time for planting things that grow and produce above the ground. The Taurus Moon is sometimes called the Corn Planting Moon. Growing up in Iowa, I thought of the Taurus Moon as "the planting" moon and only learned later that others moons are favored for other crops.

The rules are complicated, of course, and a Google search will show you an abundance of websites discussing planting by the Moon. Some of the sites will disagree, but a quick study will show you the common principles as well as the differences in reasoning.

One of the ancient rules says you should avoid planting on the day of the New Moon and the day of the Full Moon. Today Jan Spiller, author of NEW MOON ASTROLOGY, suggests planting the inner seeds and choices for the month ahead within hours of the New Moon each month. Physical planting, however, is better done after the energy of the New Moon has taken root.

The other part of that warning may come from the shortage of accurate timepieces in ancient times.  Today we think of the New Moon as happening at a precise moment, as if a starting gun went off in the sky or a distinct line were crossed by the transiting planets.

Physics students know that any number is actually not as precise as the taxman says. Five is the “space” between 4.5 and 5.5. Any number is always plus or minus half the “space” to the next number. We can and do measure planetary movements down to long strings of numbers after the decimal point today. So for all practical purposes, the New Moon is new when the ephemeris or almanac says it is. Ancient gardeners really only knew that the Moon was new sometime before sunrise or between sunrise and sunset.  They probably allowed a day for safety.

Moon cycles affect anything that grows. If you want your hair to grow fast, trim the ends after a New Moon. If you want it to grow more slowly (and make your expensive color or per last longer), trim it after the Full Moon.

When we plant seeds or seed ideas we want to see flower and grow, Taurus is the year’s finest New Moon. Taurus is an earth sign, linked to results we can see, hear, feel, taste and smell in the physical world. Taurus is also a fixed sign, bringing stability and support for new growth.

Set aside the news about recession and the chaotic events affecting so many individual lives in recent weeks. The economic downturn is in the lower portion of a cycle that lasts more than 19 years. Coming out of denial, the nation is coming to terms with its spending habits, both the government’s and individual habits. The turnaround is still more than a year in the future.

Some of the current chaos is actually the result of a lack of exciting, dynamic transits in the sky. Quiet time periods make us come to terms with our own habits and turmoil. It may be more comfortable to watch someone else’s problems on the news or in reality shows, but facing our own problems is where the real growth is.  Right now, the focus is on money and values, in the news and in our minds.

The New Moon gives us a chance to set a new course, like catching a fresh breeze in a sailboat. The larger economic cycle goes on in the background, but we reorient ourselves within it. We quit drifting (a tendency the whole world shares on the dark of the Moon as the old cycle comes to an end). We make choices. We plant the seeds of change.

In NEW MOON ASTROLOGY, Jan Spiller directs her readers to make a list of no more than ten personal choices for the 28 days from one New Moon to the next. Not wishes: Firm choices.

There’s an old metaphysical practice of affirmations—statements that make your position firm, that literally cut you off from your old condition. Some teachers suggest using the format “I choose” or “I now choose” to avoid inner conflicts when the present situation and the chosen one are greatly different.

Any of the mental or internal choices around a New Moon work best during the first six hours or, at most, the first two days of the new cycle.  External acts (like planting) seem to work best a day or so later.

So if you miss the time for New Moon choices, just do something fun to claim the energy. I like to start a new savings account for something special on the New Moon in Taurus, which is also the Banker’s Moon. I might put a dollar in a special envelope or coins in a special bowl or bank. Or I might, if the New Moon falls on a week day, open a new savings account.  Once the account is opened, I’d add to it every time the Moon passes through Taurus and watch my money grow.

Other people like a wish box or a collage. Witches make spells before the first quarter Moon. Children, who know that wishes come true, only have to wish on the New Moon.

How could we do any less?

Mary O’Gara, Ph.D.