In Praise of Practical Magic
Taurus sun, Taurus new moon? Mama Nature is showing off.
Hi, doll.
I’m going to say this without any of my typical 2025 caveats: This is the swooniest time of the year, and the next few days usher in the swooniest astrology.
It’s not just that all the retrogrades have finally released us from their grueling, if well-intended, talons. It’s not just that the chaos of eclipse season is so over we need a new word for over. It’s that today, a new moon joins the sun in grounding, glorious Taurus to launch four weeks of peak spring.
We have moved past the shock and spark of Aries’ initiation to land on mud-luscious, puddle-wonderful terra firma. This is the loveliest season of them all.
“No, no. They can’t take that away from me.”—Taurus lady Ella Fitzgerald, via George and Ira Gerwin
Taurus is rooted in the soil and the sun—in the alchemy that matter-of-factly, miraculously occurs every April and May. Taurus activates the beauty dormant in every living being by coaxing out its essence on its own terms and in its own time.
It’s no coincidence that Mother Mary Day and Mother’s Day occurs while the sun is in this sign. Ruled by Venus, Taurus highlights the power of radical receptivity, the goddess’s calling card.
Taurus teaches us to “notice what we notice,” as I often say in sessions. She reminds us that our five senses are extra-sensory, and that we can obtain all the intuitive data we need just by paying attention to everything around us.
The incentive she offers? The season’s embarrassment of riches. A panoply of pinks and greens, yellows and reds (my favorite). Magnolias. Mint. Tulips. Sorrel. Daffodils. Peonies. Baby lettuces. Bluebells. Ramps. Lilacs. Pea shoots. Crocuses. Asparagus. Cherry blossoms.
The list goes on, and it’s a poem unto itself. Even the air smells sweeter, redolent of thousands of blossoms and seeds and hopes.
Today let us praise the small
rebirths, the emerging groundhog
from the sodden burrow; the nut
picked from the broken fortress of walnut
shell, itself pried from the oily fruit
shaken from the high turreted
city of the tree.
—Marge Piercy
So many natural blessings abound that it’s a form of ingratitude to ignore them. Yet given the rise of authoritarianism, many of us feel glib when we extol their magnificence.
I saw it every time I glanced at social media this week. In post after post, an image of ravishing botany was accompanied by a sheepish assurance that it didn’t indicate an immunity to the broligarchy’s latest malfeasance.
Dude.
By all means, boycott Amazon and Tesla and every other billionaire-run, anti-DEI corporation. Protest your elected representatives. Hell, I’m a red-diaper baby. I think we should get way more radical than that. (Here are some ideas.)
But I’m with Alice Walker. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.
Resisting pleasure is not synonymous with political resistance. It is rejecting the joy available to us as long as the Earth rotates on her axis. More than that, it is closing your eyes to the very wonders we should be laboring to save.
All night a soaking rain, and now the hill
exhales relief, and the fragrance
of warm earth. . . . The hedges
have grown an inch since yesterday,
and ferns unfurled, and even if they try
the lilacs by the barn can’t
keep from opening today.
—Jane Kenyon
In the serenity of this new lunar cycle, we can summon our strength by lolling in the sunshine and listening to the rain. By stopping to smell the peonies. (Roses aren’t in season yet.)
Again, I am not advising you to disconnect from the violent injustices being committed on American and international soil. But master the difference between keeping abreast of the news and losing yourself in screens.
By surrendering instead to the magnificence of the spring, we connect our personal rhythms to divine timing, accessing an internal steadiness regardless of what this mad, mad world throws our way. It’s what my teacher calls “innate harmony.”
Think of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars or the Mrs W ladies in Wrinkle in Time. For that matter, think of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr and Malala Yousafzai. Even Pope Francis. Throughout history, our greatest leaders of love have summoned their strength from something ancient and beautiful that endured no matter what evil transpired.
We always can arm ourselves by accessing that peace pulsing beneath the tumult. It grants us the ballast we need to rise as solders of love. It’s what I call resourcery.
Rituals, Not Rules
The moon is exalted in Taurus, meaning she loves being in this sign. Today and tomorrow, you likely will feel better than you usually do in your body, mind, and spirit. The more present you allow yourself to be, the better you will feel.
Ogle the new life all around you. Spend as much time as possible outdoors and unplugged from your devices. Breathe your gratitude down—through the feet, back into the earth. It goes without saying that I’m a fan of taking off your shoes.
Don’t worry about reciting your intentions or conducting fancy rituals unless they make you feel really, really good. New moons are not buzzy, energizing aspects. Allow yourself to simply be.
This lunar cycle sows seeds for beautiful change on our behalf. Clock the transpersonal love coursing through the trees and fungi and flowers and birds and bees all around us.
Being present allows us to unite with these blessings, which in turn opens us to more blessings. This is the sort of practical magic that every other species practices. It is a lush abundance rooted in enough for everyone.
It is an economy of love.
In the shadow of so much larceny, I sometimes worry about my efficacy as an intuitive. For sure, Trump and his cronies have pulled us so far out of alignment that it is harder than usual to determine exact time frames for personal progress.
But I do not worry about being ineffective during Taurus season. Right now, my job is to chart the beautiful change each client can sow—the joy they can summon, the ancestors and higher spirits who wish to help.
I actually feel better when I tune in during readings because I see how each person can uniquely contribute to a future that is not a pyramid scheme but an Indra’s Net.
I will be living in nature for most of this month, but my schedule will remain joyously open. (That’s the wonder of the Zoom era.) Book a session for yourself or a loved one. To assess how this astrology can shine upon your immediate plans, get a Whether Report. And if you find this Report to be of service or delight, please share, like, subscribe!
Truly, it is an honor to intuit your paths.
With waggling eyebrows and slow kitty blinks,
