Full Moon in Taurus

Even when the mind is wide, the body is presently planted.

I am writing this in the ancestral homelands of the Dakota and Anishinaabe. The Dakota call the November full moon “Deer Rutting Moon” and the Anishinaabe “Freezing Moon”. Both signal a time to prepare for the winter fast approaching. 

Wherever you are reading this, I hope you are in a comfortable position. If you can, take a few deep breaths. Inhaling deeply, exhaling to feel all the breath leaving your body. Relax your throat, maybe let out a big sigh or moan. 

“Sweetness is here, kissing at all things in me broken and confused.”
Junauda Petrus

Friday, November 15 hosts a full moon in Taurus. Taurus is a fixed sign. A fixed full moon has a role to store and hold. Consider the bull pulling the cart forward. With what will we fill the cart under this Taurus light? What do you want to carry forward from this moment? 

The yellow ginkgo leaves. The eagle perched on bare branches. The river under autumn sunlight. A long dinner with friends. More time with moon and stars in the long nights. 

This full moon invites us to store light for the darkness descending. Bask in the light of this full moon. Let it sink in bone deep. 

“To consider earth holy is to connect the lowest and most material to the most high and ethereal, to close the breach between matter and spirit.”

from wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit 

Taurus is the soil as it rests and restores each winter. I find myself casting my mind forward to spring. “We’ll make it through this darkness and wake to a new world.” But the darkness is here with us now. It is not a means to an end- it is sacred in its own right.

What happens if I turn toward the dark, a dark my body knows? Can I humbly approach the dark time with reverence? Is there room for some excitement?

The answers are in our bones (for we are made of Earth). Our past, present, and future ancestors also danced in the dark, sang in the dark, rested in the dark, looked to the stars for story and stored wisdom and ways to get free.

“God is change.”

From Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Tipping into darkness (nothing or chaos?), there is authentic creation at work. As the Earth spins on its axis and we consider our fragility, we can tap into some urgency to take stock and prepare with priority.

This can provoke our fear of the dark (darkness can be dangerous). I can feel the fear and the space around it. It may shift the pace at which I move (practice! slow and steady says the bull), but does it need to change where I am going?

Is fear inhibiting my ability to stay compassionate, to remain open and relaxed in my innate strength, to remember that I am you and you are me? My oneness is my truest self!

“Wisdom tells me I am nothing.

Love tells me I am everything.

Between the two, my life flows.”

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 

I can feel the fear and do it anyway. I can move steadily and remember I am well-resourced in this connection with the Earth’s pace. I can honor the lessons darkness holds for me.

The wealth of the Earth includes decay. Rest into rich soil. Soul’s wealth necessitates death. We can look to the stars for guidance on this journey.

So much love,

Olivia