Taurus is usually the energy we look to when we’re seeking safety, security, and stability. It’s the one that brings us comfort, reassuring us that we have everything we need to “survive” or maybe even thrive in our identities. With the Moon’s current position in Taurus, the expectation is that our emotions “should” be stable and solid, and we “should” be feeling safe and secure in the face of whatever emotional challenges are coming our way. Yet when this 2018 Taurus Full Moon reaches maximum Full Phase opposite the Scorpio 3 Sun at 9:45a PDT on Tuesday, 24th October (1.22°), our individual and collective circumstances of mass chaos and confusion are anything but usual.

The transits occurring during this 2018 Taurus Full Moon reveal that the Scorpio Sun-Taurus Moon opposition is actually part of a fixed-energy Grand Square configuration. The Scorpio 3 Sun (1.22°) is in wide conjunction with Venus Retrograde in Scorpio (4.27°); they are square to the Aquarius South Node (1.35°); which is square to Uranus Retrograde in Taurus (0.53°) conjunct the Taurus Moon (1.22°); and they are square to the Leo North Node (1.35°). This is POWERFUL!

I call the Taurus-Scorpio axis ‘The Axis of Influence’. Taurus represents the actual physical and/or material expression of one’s self-identity – it seeks comfort, safety, security, and stability. Scorpio represents the emotional vulnerability which allows trust and true intimacy to occur – it deals in extremes in order to force clarity of position so it can trust others through knowing where those others stand and what they stand for. When Taurus and Scorpio energies are in balance (which the Full Moon usually magnifies), this brings the physical expression and the emotional intimacy together in an ideal experience. However, with the way our societies conditions us, these energies are rarely in balance. Often, money and/or sex are used to control or manipulate each other emotionally… OR our emotions are manipulated in order to get us to make choices about our physical, material, or financial resources which do not serve us well. Looking at our current circumstances, we can see how these power plays are working both ways – some using physical or material resources (money in particular) to influence people’s decisions, while others are playing to emotions to influence people’s resource choices.

These Taurus-Scorpio imbalances are highlighted by the Venus Retrograde’s conjunction with the Scorpio Sun, putting a spotlight on whether or not we can trust those we are in relationship(s) with; and by Uranus Retrograde’s conjunction with the Taurus Moon, putting another spotlight on the unexpected events forcing each and all of us out of our emotional, material, and physical comfort zones.

The Moon’s Nodes are in play on the Leo-Aquarius axis – ‘The Axis of Expression’. The South Node is encouraging us to pick sides, choose a team, find a tribe. Yet the Aquarius South Node represents the collective karma we’ve already learned and mastered – looking to others for agreement and belonging is our familiar mode of operation. However, right now, the more we seek to belong, the more we may become aware of our associations and affiliations with beliefs and practices that are not aligned with our personal truths. The Leo North Node represents that persistent and increasingly urgent call to honor our unique and individual truths above the “truths” of our chosen tribes – to actually stand in our truths and to be courageous enough to stand alone in them. Do we choose to go along with the group think, or do we choose to risk aloneness and think for ourselves? The thing is…the moment we choose to stand alone, a surprising thing happens. We find others who share our values and truths. We realize that the tribe we belonged to is not the only tribe – that what we believed was our only choice was not our only choice. When we’re more focused on belonging that being, life can be far more stressful and chaotic than need be. Yet those of us who have the courage to walk away from the popular path, those of us who can walk away from the groups that don’t align with our individual truths – we often end up more empowered to live into ouir uniqueness. That’s because our choices are not rooted in seeking approval or agreement from others, but instead, are rooted in feeling the stability and security of approval and agreement from and within ourselves.

Under this 2018 Taurus Full Moon, the more we interact with others and experience the effects of their emotional insecurities and/or our relational imbalances with them, the more we become aware of our own emotional insecurities and how and why we are in our relationships of all kinds. As we’re increasingly inclined to take steps to ensure our own personal emotional and physical-material integrity and power, the presence of the Nodes reveals that what we’d usually do in order to ensure our safety and security (seeking community with others of like mind and physical and/or material attribute) isn’t as effective as it has been in the past. If we truly want to experience some peace and calm and stability in the midst of the chaos ensuing right now, there’s only one way to do that: to do what we often resist – swallow our pride, dive deeper into our emotional depths, and honestly and earnestly face the ugly truths about ourselves and our circumstances and how we got into these messes. Then we get to choose which steps we want (or need) to take to move ourselves out of toxic relationships and patterns into healthy, more fruitful connections and surroundings.

But when we first confront these ugly truths, we may feel like our physical, material, and/or financial well-being is being threatened or in jeopardy. Leaving our familiar status-quo – however uncomfortable it may be – creates fear-based emotional responses within us and in others around us. As we’re currently in a 3 universal month, our awareness of these inconvenient truths lurking in our emotional depths is growing, expanding, forcing us to deal with what we’ve tried so hard to hide, deny, pretend isn’t there… but there’s no avoiding it now – it’s coming to the surface whether we like it or not. Some of us are choosing to face the surfacing truths, diving into our dark emotional spaces with huge flashlights, revealing and learning about ourselves in ways which are surprising and confronting to others because it puts them in a position of having to reveal and learn about themselves as they truly are. These confrontations of emotional truth only serve to make the surface increasingly chaotic with people scrambling to keep their façades up, to keep their emotions in check, to seem calm in the face of collapsing norms…

…yet the fact is, they don’t feel safe. Then again, most of us don’t feel safe.

Consider that old saying – “Feelings are temporary, but decisions are forever.” That would apply now. People are being pulled into disruption and destruction – so much drama and confusion, it’s practically unavoidable. As result, people are feeling increasingly unsafe and unstable, pressured to make quick decisions without thinking – without examining, learning, or understanding what their options truly are. They’re being encouraged to make decisions which may seem to offer immediate safety, protection, and relief… but the Sun-Moon opposition’s connection to the Nodes during this 2018 Taurus Full Moon indicates there’s a much longer game being played here. Those creating the chaos and confusion know that it’s human nature to make short-term decisions for comfort oblivious to the long-term impact of those decisions… so fear and misinformation are being used to manipulate their actions. The agenda is to make people feel so uncomfortable and vulnerable that they believe they have no other option but to make a choice, pick a side, and take a stand.

That brings attention to the most difficult facts of this moment for all of those seeking familiarity, comfort, and stability in the midst of the insanity:

There is no longer anywhere to hide.

The status quo no longer exists.

There is no more “normal”.

Even after the chaos calms down, there will be no return to the way things were before. This is what is ultimately being denied and avoided.

The 9 universal day energy only amplifies this sense of inevitability. The events of this day amplify a sense that once we once knew has truly come to an end, and the 11 universal year energy is making sure we all know it. The world is transforming – the structures of power and influence in our personal lives, in our communities, in our countries, and in the world are shifting – and things will never be the same again.

Calm and certainty are nowhere to be found right now. Not outwardly, anyway. Pandemonium is being stirred to a fever pitch. The seas are becoming harder to navigate, rougher by the day.

But when we allow ourselves to go into those still waters well beneath the chaos – those waters we’re afraid to go into because we may not like what we learn about ourselves – that’s where we’ll find the emotional peace and clear answers we’ve been looking for. It’s there where we realize that there are more options available to each and all of us than those creating the chaos, drama, and confusion would like us to believe.

There, we may discover that the push to tribalize us plays to our egos, and the courage to step away from our need to belong to a tribe so we can live into our individual truths may feel calmer and more correct ( Leo White Moon Selene opposite Aquarius Black Moon Lilith ).

). There, we may realize that in some of the relationships we are part of, our partners are more interested in controlling us and validating their power than they are in having a healthy, balanced exchange which empowers both parties involved ( Scorpio Venus Retrograde sextile Capricorn Saturn ).

). There, we may recognize the patterns in others’ behavior and how our increased acceptance of our own darkness decreases the effects of those patterns to negatively affect us on the emotional or etheric planes, giving us clear, new perspectives of our commitments to others ( Virgo Pallas Athena sextile Scorpio Jupiter trine Pisces Chiron Retrograde sextile Gemini Juno Retrograde ).

). There, we may realize that we’ve been more dedicated to a dream or ideal than tangible reality, and (rightly) question whether or not what is being promised may ever really be delivered (Capricorn Vesta sextile Pisces Neptune Retrograde).

There’s no reason to be afraid of the deep, dark water now. But even if you are, dive into it anyway. There will be new and different options illuminated by your light being shone into your darkness. Discover the new and different opportunities available by allowing yourself to sincerely see your truth in the still waters of your emotional depths. During this 2018 Taurus Full Moon, that’s where your answers, your stability, and your peace can now be found.

Thanks for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers. Until next post…

~ Light, Love, and Blessings,

Grace