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Header photo by Sam Goodgame on Unsplash.
Gemini New Moon tarot spread
A Gemini New Moon spread for you. The new moon will be exact at 3:42p EDT today.
- How have I grown this past lunar cycle?
- What can I be most proud of right now?
- What does this lunar cycle have to teach me?
- What karmic baggage is ready to be released?
- How can I find the strength to let go?
- How can I better communicate my needs and boundaries as I heal?
The top row is inspired by the Sabian image for this new moon: “Three fledglings peer proudly out of their high nest.” Those questions are also aimed at helping us find our footing in the midst of extra tender collective grieving and sadness. The middle row taps into Mars’s recent conjunction with the South Node and their upcoming second meeting after Mars turn retrograde. The final question relates to Mercury’s sextile to Uranus and opposition to Saturn (these influences are explained more fully in this instagram post).
Uranus in Taurus spread
As I mentioned yesterday, Uranus will move into Taurus for the first time in 84 years tomorrow (Tuesday, 5/15), and it’ll be there until 2025. Whichever area of your life is governed by Taurus will be in for a shake up in the next 7-8 years.
To begin getting some insight on what’s ahead, I offer you this Uranus-in-Taurus spread:
1. What’s my relationship to Uranus? (You could cross-reference this with Uranus’s placement in your chart for additional insight.)
2-4. What does Uranus in Taurus have to teach me?
5. How do I need to revolutionize my relationship to [keywords from your Taurus house—see below]?
6. How can I best harness the revolutionary potential of Uranus in Taurus?
7. What advice do my Uranus in Taurus ancestors have for me? [For the most recent Uranus in Taurus generation, they’re 77-84 years old now.]
Taurus house keywords:
Aries rising—value, possessions, earned income
Taurus rising—self, identity
Gemini rising—rest, endings, behind-the-scenes, collective unconscious
Cancer rising—friendships, networks, wishes and aspirations
Leo rising—public role/career
Virgo rising—higher education, philosophy, international travel, publishing
Libra rising—inheritance, taboo, death and rebirth
Scorpio rising—partnerships, both business and romantic
Sagittarius rising—health, body, service, daily routines
Capricorn rising—play, creativity, romance/sex, children
Aquarius rising—home, roots, family
Pisces rising—communication, siblings, neighbors/neighborhood, short-distance travel
(It’s best to go with the keywords for your rising sign, as I’ve noted here. If you know your exact birth time and location, you can look this up online. If you can’t find your birth time, you could substitute the keywords for your sun sign.)
You may want to use tomorrow’s Taurus new moon to plant the seeds of a few intentions for your Uranus in Taurus journey.
astrology and the energies you attract
My Pisces moon friend Ann told me that when people express interest in her after one of her shows, singing as part of a 70s cover duo in local bars and other venues, she knows they’ve fallen for a mask. They’ve latched on to something about her rising sign energy. “The people I have the deepest connections with,” she said, “are people who I don’t seem to have anything in common with on the surface, but we connect through our moons.” My connection with Ann was like that. My Aries and her Capricorn sun were an awkward fit, and I had a hard time figuring out how to spend more time with her or gathering the courage to make plans with her, but oh my god, when we did hang out, we had these deep, soul-shattering, profoundly affirming Pisces moon-meld conversations in which she revealed wisdom to me like what I’ve described here.
Ann’s observation that people connect with different layers of your energy struck a deep chord with me, and it’s a great way to think about how your sun, moon, and rising sign (in addition to other planets in your chart) draw people into your life. I really like this article‘s metaphor for the relationship between your sun, moon, and rising sign, but the short version is that your sun is the core of your personality, your rising sign (the sign your ascendant falls in) represents what you show to others or what others see in you first (which isn’t necessarily a mask or misrepresentation), and your moon sign is your emotional life or inner landscape. Because your moon sign represents such a personal part of your life, it makes sense, then, that connecting with someone at the level of moon sign rather than sun sign leads to a more intimate kind of connection.
hacking your birth time
When looking up your chart, it’s important to have an exact birth time. Rising sign changes every two hours, and the moon changes sign about every 2.5 days. So 15 minutes can make change your rising sign, and if you were born on a day the moon changed signs, a few hours could also change your moon sign (not to mention the fact that knowing the degree of your moon makes a difference for the aspects it makes to other planets/points in your chart). But knowing your birth time isn’t always easy, especially if you’re not in touch with your family of origin. If you’re trying to figure out your birth time and either aren’t in contact with your parents or they don’t know, you can try calling the Department of Health for the state where you were born and just asking them.
A friend of mine wanted to look up her chart, but her family only had very vague guesses about what time of day she was born, so I set out to try to figure out her birth time and print her chart for her for her birthday. I called the Department of Health for the state where she was born and asked if they could help. The guy on the phone said, “We don’t have that information.” That sounded wrong to me, and I’m also a trans person who has been lied to by too many identity-document bureaucrats to count. So I double-checked online to make sure that her state did track birth time during the year she was born, and in a week or 2, I called again. This time, the woman said, “What’s the name again?” and told me her birth time. Voila!
If you don’t get as lucky, you can also order a copy of your birth record, but for most states, you’ll probably need to order a “long form” birth certificate (which includes more information than the standard one). Check to make sure that the state where you born recorded birth time the year you were born and which document you need to order to get that information before you waste time and money ordering a document.
If none of that works, there are astrologers who specialize in “chart rectification” and can probably narrow in on your birth time by looking at the timing of other important events in your life.
Pisces New Moon tarot spread
Happy Pisces New Moon! Here’s a tarot spread option for you, incorporating the major influences for this lunation. See yesterday’s post for more on why these questions are relevant.
- What lessons am I carrying forward from Pisces season?
- What does this lunar cycle have to teach me?
- How is Mars pushing me to grow?
- What knot of pain am I unraveling now [Chiron]?
- What can I return my focus to when I feel triggered?
daily tarot tracking spreadsheet
I was inspired by @jessrollar‘s daily tarot tracking method. Instead of putting in the time and meticulous attention to precision required of making a chart by hand, I decided to make myself a chart in Excel. If you’re interested, I’d encourage you to check Jess’s blog post explanation linked above.
Here’s what my sheet includes: like Jess’s model, the centerpiece of this is color-coding the suits I pull for my daily tarot draw. Jess is tracking moon phases, which I’m doing as well, but I also wanted to track the moon’s movement through the zodiac. Additionally, I included a column where I could record the number of the card I draw to see if there are any numerological patterns developing.
Here’s the Excel tarot chart if you’d like to use it.
Here’s my first month of tracking:
You’ll see that I missed several days. I put in a star on days where I did a multi-card spread instead of a daily draw, to distinguish that from the days I don’t pick up my deck.
I’m finding this really illuminating already. I didn’t realized how many pentacles cards I’d pulled in January, nor that Strength came up for me 3 times this month after having almost never come up in daily draws in previous years.
queer of cups 