Dear Friend and Reader:
Taurus is understood to be the astrological sign of values. Originally the sign of things of value, this has transposed into modern (psychological) astrology as what one values.
Values are what is reflected in your choices after a profound, life-altering or near-death experience. Values are what you keep coming back to, no matter how your life changes. Or in another sense, values are what you gradually uncover, discover and discern as you go through your life and cultivate wisdom that you depend on. Values are most of why relationships work out or do not work out. The kinds of fundamental differences or sameness that you discover, on the deepest levels, reflect your values.
Because the part of our consciousness where we would tune into values is so jammed up with false messages from advertising and social pressure, many people live in a way that is alienated from their principles. This has many of us in constant crisis caused by internal conflict. The peeling back and shedding of skins over the years can help reveal the issues underlying those struggles.
Taurus also represents what society calls self-esteem and what I prefer to call self-respect. This is the value you place on yourself. In the language of A Course in Miracles, “Every decision you make stems from what you think you are.” That is where self-respect meets values. It deserves to be written about and talked about every single day (I do my best).
When we talk about principles, we are talking about one’s personal constitution. These are the underlying concepts on which society is supposed to be based.
Your Personal Constitution
These are not simple topics. They are the subject matter of the best therapy, the bonafide spiritual path, and the fully lived life. Working them out is the result of the deepest devotion to existence, and for many, the repeated recognition of, “I used to think that was important.”
When we talk about principles, we are talking about one’s personal constitution. These are the underlying concepts on which society is supposed to be based.
Some people have more conscious principles than others. Some live their integrity in everything they say and do. And at some point, everyone violates their principles. For example, someone may have a value that they always tell the truth. Yet at some point, everyone tells a lie. Where do the two meet? Where is that crux point? In a more principled person, it will not be random. They may even have a built-in rule: I do not lie, except under this certain kind of duress.
To work, principles need to be flexible, and it helps if you think them through in advance.
That may be based on a deeper principle, for example, they will never report a family member to the police. That, too, may have an exception: unless they did something that seriously harmed another person. To work, principles need to be flexible, and it helps if you think them through in advance. Then you notice if and when you stick to them.
None of this is easy. It all takes profound thought and reflection, and an honest assessment of one’s conduct. It’s much more convenient to have one’s ethics be wholly situational and vary from day to day. But that leads to a life of chaos, to unstable relationships, and what we call “bad choices” that can come back to haunt you. Yet it really is possible to have your decisions be guided by your principles. And that may result in taking a kind of loss.
Once, I was offered to be part of a trip to Israel and Palestine as part of a student group being sent by an anonymous donor. I have a principle that I do not accept gifts given anonymously, particularly as a reporter. I turned it down and never looked back. I am sure it would have been fantastic.
We have also seen a shakeup of personal values. While it was devastating to see tens of millions of jobs lost, I know how most people feel about the work that they do: often, it does not reflect their true values.
Uranus in Taurus: The Value and Values Shakeup
Since early 2018 — incredibly, for three years now — Uranus has been in Taurus. I am sure if you dig back through the blogs of predictive astrologers, you would find predictions of market shakeups. But you would not find anything like the stock market crash of March 2021, or the price of oil dipping to negative $35 a barrel (I am still waiting to get paid to gas up my car).
I am friends with someone who was high up in the commodities trading business (a former president of the Mercantile Exchange) who said: this is all being driven by fear. The market is psychological (that angle, he says, is his passion).
We have also seen a shakeup of personal values. While it was devastating to see tens of millions of jobs lost, I know how most people feel about the work that they do: often, it does not reflect their true values. So it seemed that a lot of people were going to be compelled to do what they always wanted to do. True, many others were forced to do things they did not want to do at all, just to survive.
However, this ongoing shakeup deserves to be used for people to find what is called “right livelihood.” The thing about that is it’s more difficult to work out than “wrong livelihood.” If you work for Monsanto but do not agree with their conduct, you might keep your job for the excellent salary and benefits. Heck, many have kept their job even knowing they were being poisoned. Working in the toxins field, I have seen this over and over.
One question to ask is, what choices have you made in the context of all the economic changes? Have you drawn yourself closer or further from your deepest values? Where have you compromised? Where have you refused to do so?
If you are not into self-awareness, Chiron can be about as pleasant as a porcupine quill.
Chiron in Aries: The Drive to Self-Understanding
While Uranus is going through Taurus, shaking up everyone and everything, Chiron is in Aries. Both points entered their new signs in early 2018 and are moving along at about the same speed (Chiron a bit slower than Uranus).
This may be the less comfortable of the transits. If you are not into self-awareness, Chiron can be about as pleasant as a porcupine quill. Chiron in Aries is focusing the “self” part of self-respect, while Uranus in Taurus is focusing the “respect” part.
Like all transits, Chiron in Aries is working on a few levels. As it did in the late 1960s and early 1970s when last it happened, it is driving identity politics to new levels of depravity. This is “I am who I am based on the button I wear” (or my bumper sticker or whatever).
The panic in society has sorted out the men from the boys here. Many have cashed in, after years of taking care of themselves, and have succumbed to doing something that is in fact risky and may be extremely dangerous.
Perhaps these things are an experiment in values. People like to try on issues, and after a while they can find out what is important to them. But mostly, we are in a time where peer pressure is driving many facets of life, and where virtue signaling has become a foundation of our culture.
One of my personal sources of agony has been the extent to which the natural health and natural food “movements” have forgotten their deeper purpose. Many, many people involved with these movements for decades have capitulated to fears about a disease, which is known to be preventable and curable by countless approaches (herbal, nutritional and many others).
The panic in society has sorted out the men from the boys here. Many have cashed in, after years of taking care of themselves, and have succumbed to doing something that is in fact risky and may be extremely dangerous.
Nearly everyone I hear tell me about an important, potentially life altering medical decision they made recently says it was about pleasing other people: family, the boss, the clients, and so on.
Aquarian Era: Group Values and Individual Values
One last topic, on the theme of the Aquarian Era transits. We now have Saturn in Aquarius and Jupiter about to be dancing back and forth between Aquarius and Pisces. This has come with a rise in pressure to do what everyone else does.
We all see this happening. Many view it as a fine excuse to not stick to what is true for them and instead do what is right for everyone else. Nearly everyone I hear tell me about an important, potentially life altering medical decision they made recently says it was about pleasing other people: family, the boss, the clients, and so on.
Society has always worked this way, though it’s nerve-racking to see this happening around something so personally important, with such potential longterm ramifications. Yet people are proceeding with absolute clarity, or over and above their own objections and reservations. This will intensify in the years that Pluto is in Aquarius and the pressure mounts.
Aquarius is said to be about groups. It is also the place where individuals meet groups, and learn how to stand up for themselves.
Ultimately, people learn how to honor their own values in many ways, including by not doing so and seeing what happens. As the Aquarian Era develops, we will see more of this kind of squeeze. Much of it is driven by what I am calling disembodied digital consciousness, which in turn can manifest as fear of being in a body.
Aquarius is said to be about groups. It is also the place where individuals meet groups, and learn how to stand up for themselves. Here is the ultimate intersection: that between the drive to be an individual, and the drive to be accepted.
Yet here is the paradox. If one sacrifices one’s individuality and personhood in order to be accepted, they are not actually accepted for who they are. It is a form of counterfeit. Eventually this has to be confronted honestly. It is one thing to feel accepted based on concealing your truth.
It is another thing to face the world, stating your truth. And it is yet another to negotiate your place while you are living your truth.
Faithfully,
