Whew! We are finally out of Eclipse season and everything is just looking pretty bright this May, not just with the lunations, but with the astrology in general.

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Hello everyone. Welcome to another lunation episode on The Designed Life Podcast. I am so excited to be talking about this month's lunations, the New and the Full Moon. We are finally out of Eclipse season and we are entering our first New Moon post-Eclipse season. Everything is just looking pretty bright for this month, I have to say, not just with the lunations, but with the astrology in general. So before I get into the lunations of the month, I want to just propose to you to just start thinking about what feels really good for you and your body and in your life, like, what does pleasure look like for you? If you haven't listened to my cultivating pleasure episode, I recommend looking it up and listening to it now. Just because this month, the lunations and the astrology, the whole is really about pleasure and what pleasure looks and feels like and what fun looks and feels like. It could potentially go a little overboard. I'm not going to lie. There are a few indications that are showing that this could go a little more in the direction of excess and at least towards the end of the month. So I just really want you to start exploring what does pleasure look like and what does the balance of pleasure look like? What does feeling really good in your body feel like and when does the feeling good start to teeter over into excess or indulgence or too much? And what is the balance between going in on what feels great and going too far?

So we start out the month, well, kind of start out the month with a New Moon at 18° of Taurus. And I love this New Moon, not only because it's the first New Moon post-Eclipse season, so it's kind of like a cleanse, like at a moment to digest everything that happened during Eclipse season, but also because it's a New Moon and it's in Taurus, which is such a fertile sign. Taurus is very much about pleasure, creativity, sensuality, our sense of abundance and also the things that really nourish and nurture us from the inside out. And we can look to that time of year and see how everything is starting to bloom and blossom and sprout out of the soil, and we start to see flowers everywhere. There's more color coming back into the world, at least in the northern hemisphere, and there it's just this really beautiful time where we start to see the abundance of goodness all around us in all different forms and colors and shapes and sizes and everything.

So Taurus is the kind of sign that alchemizes what it has and turns it into something new. So if you think about everything that is currently sprouting, it had to start from underneath the soil. It had to shift itself from a seed into something that is growing and expressing itself. Or it had to be composted and then regurgitated into soil that can then be used and cultivated into something. So it's very much that kind of alchemical energy, wanting to shift and turn what was once there and resourcing it into something new. So there's also this quality of resourcefulness. Now this New Moon is also sextile Saturn and Saturn is the sign that is very much about our boundaries, our commitments, and what we want to say no to so that we can say yes to something else. So while we're thinking about the things that are bringing us a lot of gratitude, sense of abundance, feeling good in our bodies, the little luxuries of every day, we're also getting this inspiring support from Saturn to say, yes, I want to commit to those things. And also, I want to say no to these other things so that I can commit to these little luxuries in my life that make me feel more embodied in who I am. I want to say no to these time commitments so that I can fully commit myself to the time commitments that I really enjoy and make me feel really good and fortified and who I am. I want to say no to these particular adventures or ventures so that I can invite pleasure into my life in these other capacities.

It's also very much kind of reflecting this experience of perhaps not, not necessarily getting everything that you want, but recognizing everything that you have and how resourced you actually are already and enjoying and, again, luxuriating in the the goodness that you already have all around.

So on this day, I really invite you to perhaps make a gratitude list. Look around at everything that you have and think about how resourced you are. And when I say resourced, I mean not just in the material way. Like you know, all the books that you have or the roof that you have over your head or wonderful clothes or food or whatever. Yes, all of those things are very important and should be listed, but also how resourced are you in your relationships? How resourced are you in your experience of joy? How resourced are you in your talents and skill sets and ability to hold and take care of yourself? What resources do you have within you that support you and nurture you on a daily basis? Make a whole list of all of the things that make you feel really fortified and supported so that you feel more capable of expressing yourself very naturally and exploring the world very naturally in who you are and in your own body.

The other thing that I would love for you to explore is maybe thinking about the things that really fortify you and make you feel full. What are the experiences that you have? What are the little luxuries in your life that you get to indulge in? What makes you feel really stable and supported and secure on a regular basis? And how can you perhaps tend to those things even just by acknowledging them with a moment of appreciation over this period of time during the month?

And lastly, I invite you to check out where this New Moon happens to fall in your chart, what area of life Taurus rules for you, and just explore what has been changing and evolving in this area of life for you. And just a quick note that you can go on our website and go to astrology resources, and you can find how to look up where Taurus is in your chart for you so you can check out what area of life this is. Perhaps it's your career. Perhaps it's in your committed partnerships. Perhaps it's in your home life. It all depends on your rising sign. But I recommend that you look to this part of your life and think about what has been changing, what has been evolving, what has been growing in this part of your life. Because not only is a New Moon happening here right now, but also Jupiter has been here for the last year helping you kind of grow and expand in this part of your life and find the things that really bring you more of a sense of abundance, and Uranus has also been here for several years and is going to be here for about one more year. And it’s really shaking up this part of your life.

You might have experienced a lot of changes, some surprising twists and turns, really making you think about how you can approach this part of your life differently to experience more freedom regularly. Look to this area of your life and consider, what seeds do I want to plant here now, based on the changes, evolution, and growth I've experienced? How have I approached a different level of myself here, and how am I ready to step into this New Moon version of me more whole, connected, stable, and secure in pursuit of my pleasure, joy, and abundance? If you have any planets in other Earth signs like Virgo and Capricorn at 18°, or in fixed signs such as Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, you might feel the effects of this New Moon more strongly. So, that's the New Moon on May 7th/8th at 18° of Taurus.

So that's a good one, right? That's a really fun New Moon to work with again, because Saturn is right there. It's really productive. I really feel like this is going to be a supportive New Moon for many, many people. So I hope it is that way for you. Now, looking to later in the month, we have our Full Moon at 2° of Sagittarius on May 23rd. Now this, you guys, this is like the golden gem moment of the year, not just because of this Full Moon, but also because Venus will be conjunct Jupiter in Taurus, that same sign that we were just talking about for the New Moon. So that same part of your chart, that same part of your life. And it will also be sextiling Neptune in Pisces. Now let's talk about what that means.

So, all around there is a really supportive energy, and Sagittarius is very much about our inner explorer, our inner wisdom, our pursuits of truth, and our pursuit of fun and joy. And so we might just be having a lot of fun experiences with people, really pleasurable experiences with people that feel really expansive and feel like we're tapping into a part of ourselves that feels really honest and true and authentic to who we are.

Now, because there is so much connection between the planets and the signs in this particular way, this is the time that I'm going to say you might go overboard. We all might perhaps feel like 'let's just have a great time and, you know, perhaps forget that the hangover could be coming the next day.' So I just recommend, again, before this time of the month pops up, to just think about what that boundary line is? Where pleasure starts to shift out of pleasure and into discomfort, or into excess, or into overindulgence. And what are ways that you can support yourself—not necessarily to put boundaries up because I don't recommend that for this type of astrology, but what are the things that you can do to support yourself and stay comfortable and where you feel most alive in your body and most expansive in your body, and you don't tiptoe into the part of yourself where it just becomes messy?

It's about, again, feeling good in our body, tapping into our potential, really tapping into our feelings of potential and dropping the self-doubt. You know, Sagittarius is very optimistic and it's very much a sign about faith, and how we have faith in ourselves and believe that we can do things. So, it's the energy of supporting us into believing that we can do the things that we want to do, that we can be the person that we most want to be. Since this is a Full Moon, I just recommend that you think about also what is culminating in your life with regards to your sense of pleasure. What has come to a culmination in terms of your own sense of expansion? And again, this might arrive as realizations around what you really need to instill in your life on a regular basis to experience pleasure and experience this belief and faith in yourself regularly.

You might kind of reach a level of insight around what self-doubt means to you and how to bypass it, not spiritually bypassing by any means, but what you can do to support yourself, to recognize the self-doubt, see that it exists, and say, 'I see you. I know you're there. However, I'm not going to put my energy and time and belief into you. I'm actually going to believe that we can do the thing and this is how I'm going to do it.' So you might have some really strong experiences around how to make these things possible for yourself, how to believe in your own potential and possibility.

So, how is that showing up for you around this time? And also, how have you stretched yourself? How have you expanded over the last six months since the New Moon in Sagittarius? What ways have you grown in terms of your inner self and also your outer self? How have you been exploring? How have you been learning more about yourself? What have you learned about yourself over the last six months? And just generally, in what ways have you expanded?

I recommend that you look at where Sagittarius is in your chart and perhaps apply these reflection questions to that area of your life so that you can specifically say, 'Oh yeah, how have I expanded in terms of my career? Or how have I been traveling more? Or how have I expanded in my writing projects or in my community?' Knowing where these particular lunations and astrological movements are happening in our lives just helps us relate to the moment a little bit more and provides more clarity in terms of what's going on. It provides the language for us to say, 'Oh, yeah, I am experiencing this big expansion in terms of my relationships, my committed relationships, and now I can really see that clearly. And I can speak to it more readily and that allows me to move forward in my growth with more intention and general awareness.’

Overall, that's what I like to think of astrology as. It's a system that provides us awareness and language around what's already happening to us, so that as we're moving through it blindly, but we can move through it with intention, awareness, and with more thoughtfulness and perhaps a little more specificity, instead of just floating around in our lives saying, 'What's going on? How do I navigate this situation?'

Those are the two new lunations of the month, the Full Moon again on May 23rd is at 2° of Sagittarius. So for those of you with planets at 2° of the other fire signs, Leo and Aries, you'll be feeling this a lot more perhaps. And also for those of you with planets at 2° of the other mutable signs, Pisces, Virgo, and Gemini, you will be feeling this more than perhaps others as well. So go ahead and look up your planetary alignments as well. Again, there are resources on the website for how to do that, how to look up your chart, how to figure out what planets are which and their degrees, and what that all means and where everything is located for you.

It's going to be a beautiful, abundant month. Again, there are so many really lovely astrological signatures happening, so I really hope all of it lands and just in a really free-flowing, graceful, fun way. You know, there's so much difficulty and struggle and pain that we're grappling with on a regular basis in this world, and not to ignore any of that, but I do think that it is important for us to have moments where we can delight in the joy of our existence and the joy of living. And also recognize everything that we have and just delight in it and have fun with it because that is what makes life really worth living and it's what makes working with the more painful aspects of life more bearable because we already know how much we have to support us through those really challenging experiences, and we can show up for ourselves and for others more resourced and with more faith and belief and strength in ourselves.

So enjoy the month. Soak it up. And let me know how things land for you. I would love to hear from you as these lunations happen. If this podcast sounds resonant for you, if it really hits, or if it misses in any way, I'd love to hear either way, and I will catch you in the next one. Next month we will be talking about the New Moon in Gemini and the Full Moon in Capricorn. So have a wonderful month and see you next time.