Tarotscope - Taurus Sun Cycle - 04/20/2014 to 05/20/2014

Welcome to Tarotscope, a combination of Astrology and Tarot.  Each month I will draw a card for each sign of the Zodiac.  That card represents the meditation for the month for that Sun Sign.  The Sun Sign represents your Primary Drive in life, how you best manifest your Life Path, and how the light of the Sun energizes you each day. The Deck I am using this month is the Mythic Tarot.

Aries (March 21st to April 21st): Maverick Active Fire energy fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best independently; you must learn self-discipline to manifest your best results.  Your card this Sun cycle is the King of Pentacles, and your message is "set your goals and work to achieve them."  This card encourages you to plan for the future.  The lesson is: "long-term success comes through long-term investment, persistence, and vision."  For Aries this card can be quite challenging; ask yourself, "what do you see in the long view?"
Taurus (April 21st to May 21st): Persistent Stable Earth energy fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best when you feel secure; you must learn some degree of adaptability to manifest your best results. Your card this Sun cycle is the King of Cups, and your message is "take charge with and of your emotions"  This card encourages you to act maturely and lead in difficult emotional situations that arise during this cycle.  The lesson is: "use your emotional strength this cycle to help others in need."
Gemini (May 21st to June 21st): Curious Adaptable Air energy fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best doing tasks that stimulate your mind in a variety of ways; you must learn how to focus-on-demand to manifest your best results. Your card this Sun cycle is the Hanged Man, and your message is "sacrifice for a greater good is necessary."  This card encourages you to accept situations when you have to take short-term loss for a long-term gain.   The lesson is: “a selfless act on the behalf of others will teach you important spiritual growth.”
Cancer (June 21st to July 21st): Nurturing Active Water fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best when you care-take yourself and others properly; you must learn "emotional balance" to manifest your best results.  Your card this Sun cycle is the 6 of Cups and your message is "reflect on your relationship choices and what you want going forward."  This card encourages you to think about the past in order to make good decisions in the future.  The lesson is "never stop growing in your relationship."   If you are not growing or have not be growing through your relationship, then it is time to let it go and pursue someone new.
Leo (July 21st to August 21st): Strong-burning Stable Fire fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best when you are creative; you must learn structure to manifest your best results.  Your card this Sun cycle is the Page of Wands and your message is "seek and adventure"  This card encourages you to take a risk that excites your passion and leads to an adventure.  The lesson is: "go out into the world and try something new or go someplace new and see what opportunities appear before you."  Magic often happen when you leap enthusiastically into the unknown.
Virgo (August 21st to September 21st): Practical Adaptable Earth fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best when you get all the details in order; you must learn to "see the forest for the trees" to manifest your best results.  Your card this month is the 7 of Wands and your message is "be prepared to fight for what you want."  This card reminds you that sometimes conflict is the only way to resolve certain situations.  The lesson is: "force is sometimes necessary to defend what you have and protect those you love."  If conflict arises for you this cycle, are you ready to meet force with force if required?
Libra (September 21st to October 21st): Analytical Active Air fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best when acting logically; you must learn to mix in feelings to manifest your best results. Your card this Sun cycle is the 9 of Swords and the message is "some fate you cannot escape." This card reminds us that sometimes we have to face the music and persevere when persecuted. The lesson is: "in life we sometimes face unfair judgment and must find a way to survive or overcome."
Scorpio (October 21st to November 21st): Intense and Deep Stable Water fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best when bringing or experiencing transformation; you must learn "playfulness or lightness of heart" to manifest your best results.  Your card this Sun cycle is The High Priestess and the message is "you will have to use your knowledge of the light and dark on some emotional issue to help another or others in need."  This card encourages you to take a painful lesson and use the knowledge and experience in the aid of another who would gain from your wisdom.  The lesson is: "nobody gets their character tested when things are going their way."
Sagittarius (November 21st to December 21st): Expansive Adaptable Fire fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best exploring openly and trying new experiences; you must learn to map and record your knowledge to manifest your best results. Your card this Sun cycle is the Knight of Pentacles and the message is "spend some resource and take some action in a quest for a new opportunity."  This card encourages you to remember that sometimes you have to spend money to make money.  The lesson here is "money is energy and it is meant to flow to grow."
Capricorn (December 21st to January 21st): Ambitious Active Earth fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best when you are setting and achieving goals; you must learn compassion to manifest your best results.  Your card this Sun cycle is The Emperor and the message is “embrace your power and wield your authority." This card encourages you to acknowledge and utilize power you have in an area of your life that comes into focus this cycle.   The lesson is: "with great power comes great responsibility."
Aquarius (January 21st to February 21st): Unconventional Stable Air fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best when you are authentic and unrepentant; you must learn quiet fortitude to manifest your best results.  Your card this Sun cycle is the 2 of Cups and the message is "good fortune can come when you least expect it."  This card encourages you to keep faith and remain calm when dealing with an unknown in an important relationship. The lesson is: "sometimes we feel trapped and must wait for providence to reveal itself."  And the best way to invite a positive outcome is to accept our fate until the truth is revealed.
Pisces (February 21st to March 21st): Imaginative Adaptable Water fuels your Primary Drive.  Your Life Path energy operates best connecting with others emotionally; you must learn toughness to manifest your best results.  Your card this Sun cycle is the 2 of Swords and the message is "you must deal with a situation you cannot control."  This card encourages you to think about how you will face a potential no-win scenario if you find yourself trapped with no good choices. The lesson is "think outside the box or remain frozen by a situation."

Grand Cardinal Cross, Exact on 4/23/2014

It's pretty much impossible to be a professional astrologer and not throw my hat in the ring that is this upcoming major transit configuration, a Grand Cardinal Cross, involving Uranus in Aries, Jupiter in Cancer, Mars in Libra, and Pluto in Capricorn.  They will all be at 13 degrees on 4/23, forming a perfect partile (less than one degree orb) grand cross.  Others have written or spoken extensively on this upcoming event and I'm not going to try to add to the discussion in the usual way (links to various thought about this configuration are at the end of my entry).

What I thought might be interesting is to consider this grand cross using the Sabian and Fairchild symbols.  At this time, Uranus in Aries is square Pluto in Capricorn, which is opposed by Jupiter in Cancer, which squares back to Uranus in Aries, forming a powerful T-Square that will become the grand cross when retrograde Mars backs up to 13 degrees of Libra.  Mars is the "trigger man" of this configuration, which means some kind of aggressive or explosive action will likely set off the work of these energies.  While I am not ruling out a global event, I suspect there will be multiple events that may have lasting impact without necessarily turning things upside down on the day of or the days around the event.

The Uranus/Pluto square this month will be the 5th of 7 exact squares, with one more occurring on 12/15/2014 and the last one on 3/17/2015.  Like all previous Uranus/Pluto events, the square back in 1932 to 1934 and the conjunction in 1965 to 1966, monumental changes took place, setting up the next major cycle in human history.  We are living through the next phase of monumental change, being expressed through financial crisis, energy management, overpopulation, rapid technological advances,  and medical breakthroughs.  By 2018 the work of the last eight years will be fully activated and by 2024 (when Pluto exits Capricorn), the New World Order will be in place.

With each energy point between the 13th and 14th degree on 4/23, here are the Sabian interpretations nuanced for each point in sign.

• Uranus in Aries (13/14) - A serpent coiling near a man and woman; the key word is "revelation." When positive, we act with self-discipline; when negative, we act selfishly.  Uranus encourages us to act authentically and inventively.  As old institutions falter, creative and maverick thinking will be required to create the new paradigms humanity will need in the near and distant future.
•  Mars (retrograde) in Libra (13/14) - A moon siesta; the key word is "recuperation."  When positive, we act deliberately; when negative, we are apathetic.  Mars in Libra suggests a legal battle or battle of words, speaking more to the boiling currency war than the conflict like the one involving Russia's military.
• Jupiter in Cancer (13/14) - A very old man facing a vast dark space to the northeast; the key word is "sanction."  When positive, the proper enlistment of hidden or deep emotional elements need for success; when negative, chaos.  Jupiter in Cancer suggests expansion through caring, a vision of the earth as our home and in need of proper care taking.
• Pluto in Capricorn (13/14) - An ancient bas-relief carved in granite; the key word is "foundation."  When positive, old foundations give way graciously to new ones; when negative, meaningless limitations.  Pluto in Capricorn is the big player, suggesting an earthquake to all established institutions to create the necessary transformation to new, better goals for humanity.

These four energies challenge one another (revelation challenges sanction challenges recuperation challenges foundation; and revelation opposes recuperation and sanction opposes foundation).  Never more true is it than now to say, "the old ways need to be obliterated to create new space for new approaches.  Never has the discussion of the monetary system(s) been so active in the last 60 years.

With each energy point between the 13th and 14th degree on 4/23, here are the Fairchild interpretations nuanced for each point in sign.

• Uranus in Aries (13/14) - A walking stick; the key words are "balance, prestige, support, and power."  We must learn to walk authentically and "on our own" to a certain extent.  There will be a growing need for entrepreneurs of every ilk going forward as corporate capitalism falls more and more the weight of its own excess.
• Mars (retrograde) in Libra (13/14) - Crop circles; the key words are "embrace the Earth." We desperately need more laws protecting the environment, but instead we see more access to protected lands for resources and freewheeling where fracking is concerned.  These choices to plunder are likely to be the true trigger events in the coming months and years ahead.
• Jupiter in Cancer (13/14) - A small green frog on a tree branch; the key words are "the ordinary life can be a place of immense happiness."  Expansion of nurturing, caring energy; as well as a refocus on the family is needed to move our entire civilization forward. 
• Pluto in Capricorn (13/14) - A hawk with a snake in its beak; the key words are "we must grow and change to be lifted up spiritually."  Rapid changes, like the acceptance of gay marriage and now recreational marijuana herald a new era of openness that is firing up old institutions to attempt to keep the status quo in place.   

Links:

• http://astrostyle.com/april-grand-cross/
• http://darkstarastrology.com/grand-cross-2014/
• http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/horoscopes/grand-cardinal-cross-2014-transformation-challenge-article-1.1702883
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx3YavtH0nY