This season’s tarotscopes feature The Wild Unknown Tarot and the Compendium of Constellations.

Friends, we’re in a strange time. Even after weeks of sheltering in place, I know many are still struggling to adapt to this new reality, to learn how to navigate daily fear and anxiety and frustration and anger, to care for ourselves and the people we love in ways that are both generous and sustainable. It’s a lot to hold, a lot to balance. But as we move from fiery, passionate Aries season into the more grounded, tenacious energy of Taurus, I hope that this shift helps you find comfort, power, and deliberate movement. This new season brings opportunities for simplicity and stabilization, urging us to be fully present instead of getting tangled in the past or obsessive about possible futures. And even though this last season of the Emperor may have felt more like time with the Hanged One, there are still a lot of places that we can create magic, find pleasure, and give our dreams a chance to expand and grow. Take a deep breath, release it slowly, and let’s dig in.

However you balanced last season’s intense desire for movement with the need to stay safe and protect your community, the cardinal fire of Aries and the intentional, disciplined approach of the Emperor may have brought forward some powerful desires, some new ambitions. Aries demanded action, bringing sparks of creativity and enthusiasm to fresh ideas or ongoing projects, urging us to dream big, to find confidence, to wield our biggest and boldest magic. As we shift into the slower, more practical energy of Taurus’ fixed earth, we can now take all of those huge, brilliant ideas and give them shape and focus, refining them and making a longer-term plan for how to make them possible. How can we continue to build on the foundation that the Emperor laid for us? Where do we need more organization, more structure, more discipline? What is truly possible? Taurus allows us to sink into our goals, to fully immerse ourselves in those big ambitions and powerful plans. We transform any shifts or new ideas into actionable goals, get realistic about what we can achieve, and take rich satisfaction in seeing our dreams come to life.

Taurus is often associated with pleasure, indulgence, and luxury — and honestly, with so many of us trapped at home and so many others still going out into the world to work, this is a wonderful and necessary time to prioritize comfort, to find ways to pamper and care for yourself. Take your time cooking beautiful dinners; enjoy long, soothing baths; give yourself an at-home facial; spend an afternoon (or ten) with your favorite sex toys. This is a chance for simple joys, to care for your physical body in a way that provides maximum pleasure. But in addition to taking comfort in the tangible, there’s also an opportunity here to acknowledge your own resilience, your own strength. You are surviving, and may even be finding creative ways to fully step into your power. If all of the fire and energy from Aries felt like too much to wrangle, Taurus invites us to get real, to make practical lists and actionable plans and pragmatic, impactful choices. Focus on what you can achieve, on the steps you can take to reach those big ambitions, and step back from anything that doesn’t feel possible — you can always come back to those bigger, more creative ideas later.

Our birth card for this season is the Hierophant, an archetype of spiritual understanding, ritual, and religious tradition. This can be a difficult energy for many of us, especially on the heels of the disciplined Emperor — it’s with the Hierophant that we acknowledge both rules and reverence, expanding knowledge while also finding our place within it. What do you believe, and how do those beliefs manifest in your daily life? Where do you find pleasure in history, in legacy? How is your present tethered to your past? The Hierophant lives in both the physical and spiritual worlds, offering opportunities for exploration while also providing links to convention. And while this card often asks us to consider the rituals and beliefs that we hold, the mentors that we trust, the knowledge that we value, when we remember Taurus this archetype can also speak to balancing the mind and the body, our needs and desires, our hopes and fears. How is your past shaping your present, and moving you into a particular future? What are you carrying forward, and what could you leave behind?

The challenge with this card, and the energy of Taurus in general, is that it’s easy to sit in our stubbornness, to cling to tradition or the way that things have always been done. But in embracing the tenacious energy of Taurus, don’t forget all of the passion and inspiration of Aries, the intuitive sense of connection and fantasy of Pisces, the soaring optimism of Aquarius. You can honor and celebrate the past while still stepping fully into the present, can find balance within all of the elements even in this season of earth. And most of our cards for this season speak to these themes of celebration and protection, urging us to be thoughtful in our choices, to care for our minds and bodies, to be gentle about the things we need and not forget to stay connected with the people and places that give us strength. It may be tempting to cling to familiar habits and routines, to find comfort in the ways we’ve always done things — but don’t be afraid to adapt, to learn, to grow. We have an opportunity, both with this challenging pandemic and this new season of Taurus, to find creative solutions and new ways to work, play, and rest.

For this new season, as we embrace the sensual, practical magic of Taurus, I drew cards specifically for navigating this season, for working with the energy of the bull and the Hierophant in ways that will be grounding, calming, and powerful. Experienced tarot readers or astrologers can plug the cards I’ve drawn for their sun, moon, and rising signs into the spread template below to create a custom reading for this season, and if you know your Venus placement, you can include that in your reading for a fuller picture. As you read, remember the wisdom of the Hierophant, the connections we hold to both past and present, and the pleasure we can find in the physical. Be gentle with yourselves, and don’t be afraid of joy.

If you’re interested in working with the cards on an daily basis, I shared a piece a few weeks ago about beginning a daily tarot practice, and also answered some tarot questions in a Shelter In Our Place AMA. And if you want more ongoing resources, you can support my tarot studies, creative work, and publishing dreams at Patreon, and check out my daily writing and card draws on Instagram. I also offer personal, custom readings through my website, along with larger spreads, writings, and a downloadable study guide with explorations of all 78 tarot cards. I just released another e-book, Tarot 101, and was recently on an episode of Tarot Bytes with Theresa Reed, chatting about how to work with challenging minor arcana cards.

As always with these tarot readings, take what you need and leave what you don’t. Have a safe and luxurious Taurus season!

Aries

Three of cups

We may be leaving your season behind, but the lessons you learned about balance, thoughtful decisions, and the impact you can have are ones you need to carry forward into this new season. Taurus may feel like a wildly different energy, urging you to stay still when it may feel like you were just getting started — but there are beautiful opportunities for creativity this season, for putting your heart and soul into the work that you care about. You’re someone that loves your independence, thrives when following your instincts and moving at a pace that many can’t keep up with, but spending time with trusted friends may help you balance your own fire with the sensual earth of the season.

Pay attention to where your intuition is leading you, to the emotions that may be bubbling up within. What is your heart longing for? What emotional needs are emerging? If you’re still feeling restless, like you weren’t able to move as much as you wanted and like you still have dreams you want to chase and expand, put that lingering, leftover energy into your communities. This is a time to connect and celebrate, to find joy and comfort within your chosen family. How can you collaborate and create with the people that know your heart? What wins can you commemorate?

Taurus

The Sun

Happy birthday, Taurus! Yours is a season of grounded patience and intentional growth, but the Sun offers something else — joy. Remember joy? It may be tempting to get hyper focused on your goals, to channel any restless energy or anxiety into productivity. And while that isn’t necessarily a bad way to cope, the Sun asks you to embrace truth and clarity, to be open to all of your needs, instead of just focusing on the most immediately pressing ones. This a chance to balance the emotional, intuitive parts of yourself with those practical, logical ideas, giving you a full and holistic sense of all that you are. How can you create spaces of comfort for every part of you? When you pamper your body, how can you also care for your mind, heart, and soul? The Sun reminds you to find pleasure in simple joys, to celebrate how far you’ve come and honor your personal growth — but it also makes space for play, for creativity, for enjoying who you are. Your bigger goals may find success this season, so make sure you celebrate in a way that feels good. How can you be kind to yourself?

Gemini

The Moon

Last season may have felt more dreamy than you would like, with the sensation of too many choices and a lack of clarity around which path to take. But if the shift from energetic, passionate Aries into cool, pragmatic Taurus is giving you whiplash, take this opportunity to dig even deeper into your own fantasies, to the parts of yourself and your imagination that you don’t often explore. What mysteries live within you? What desires, longings, fears, have you tried to ignore? Some powerful magic may come up for you this season, offering you ways to combine your ability to gather and share information with a more sensual, pleasure-seeking energy — but you may have to be more honest with yourself than you prefer, may need to dig deep and confront some of the shadows that you often avoid. When you looked at all of your possible futures last season, where did your instincts lead you? And if you’re finding your mind and heart still lingering in some different directions, what might that tell you about how you make choices, and what you prioritize? Don’t force yourself to move before you’re ready — this may be a season that centers on patience, rather than progress.

Cancer

Six of cups

After working through some difficult patterns or more destructive tendencies, Taurus season may feel like a sweet gift, letting you nurture and care for yourself in the privacy of your own space. This is an opportunity to embrace a spirit of kindness, to be gentle and generous with yourself and the people you care about. Taurus loves to remember the past, to dig into the roots of our families and homes and experiences that give us comfort, stability, and pleasure — and for you, this is familiar, joyful territory. What foundations do you find yourself returning to again and again? What parts of your own personal history still give you a sense of home? And if childhood doesn’t bring up the best memories, how has you chosen family given you a sense of rich connection and deep community?

Consider the connections that you have to your own past, to people or places or objects that allow you to feel both grounded and celebrated. Where or when do you feel the most yourself? The lessons of the Hierophant still apply — don’t get so caught up in where you’ve been, in recreating the past, that you lose sight of where you are now. But there may be ways that you can build new versions of safety and acceptance in your present, by reconnecting with the best parts of your history. Who have you been, and where do you still see pieces of that person in who you are now?

Leo

Son of cups

The fire of Aries is usually a welcome one, but you may have felt scattered or confused last season, unable to pick a direction or feeling friction when you tried to move towards your goals. After so much heat, you now have an opportunity to take on a new adventure this season, to pair your natural brilliance and confidence with the longings and desires of your heart. Where have you been seeking and building connections? What needs have been making themselves known? Whether it’s a new romance or a budding friendship, a tantalizing crush or a deepening connection, this is a time to explore, to let your passions take the lead. Your natural creativity and confidence is a brilliant match for this intense energy, so pay attention to your intuition, and trust your instincts.

All of this time in isolation may be amplifying your desire to both love and be loved, so this card may feel like a challenge, bringing up a need to prove yourself in an emotional realm. But don’t get so caught up in winning than you lose sight of your actual goal — what are you working towards? What are you craving? What does victory actually look like?

Virgo

Five of wands

You’re likely right at home in the practical, detail-oriented earth energy of Taurus, but there may be some residual smoke and embers left from Aries season, some lingering dreams or desires that have gone unacknowledged. When we ignore the things that set our souls on fire, when we downplay the things we want in order to prioritize the things we believe we should want, it can leave us scattered and disorganized, creating conflict instead of staying focused. And although you’ve just been in a space of healing and recovery, resist the temptation to close back up and put all of your energy into achieving perfection. Where are you getting in your own way? What have you been denying? And how can you balance control with vulnerability? Your Taurus season may feel more chaotic and unfocused than you’d like, but instead of getting competitive or frustrated, try to lighten up, even find ways to laugh at yourself and the situations you find yourself in. Where might you be needing a bit of a shift? And how might this lack of control help you find new purpose?

Libra

Ten of swords

After a season of powerful inspiration and seemingly endless movement, it may feel like all of your progress and power are coming to a screeching halt. All of that fire may be cooling at a rapid pace, leaving you bewildered, uncertain, frustrated. Your Taurus season may require you to do some soul-searching, the kind of deep internal work that results in powerful transformations. This isn’t necessarily an easy thing to grapple with, so let me give you a gentle push in the right direction.

Sweet Libra, the narratives that you’re telling yourself simply aren’t true. Whether you believe that you’re in no way responsible for the troubles you’re dealing with, or you’re convinced that there’s absolutely nothing to be done about the trap you’re in, the truth is that you’re locked into one perspective, utterly unable to see the full scope of your situation. This is the time to be honest with yourself, to get real and release the bullshit. What have you been refusing to acknowledge? Are you really the victim, or are you just enjoying the feeling of blaming something or someone else for your troubles? Things may be difficult, and you may be hurting, but open your eyes and start seeking out a path towards freedom, instead of rushing past the hard stuff in a desire for peace and harmony. You have more options than you think, but no one else can do this work for you.

Scorpio

Nine of pentacles

You’re moving out of a space of quiet, and while that deep internal exploration may be shifting into a more earthy, grounded energy, the wisdom that you found within is something to hold close. All of the hard work and planning and focus that you’ve been implementing is paying off, and you may feel a real sense of satisfaction and pleasure this season, the knowledge that you’ve built something beautiful in the tangible world. Taurus’ pleasure-seeking energy may have you feeling particularly eager to celebrate, pampering yourself and feeling real joy in how far you’ve come — so lean into that power, and be proud of all that you’ve done. But before you pull a muscle patting yourself on the back, remember all that have helped you along the way, the resources that you may have been given or the assistance you were offered. How can you pay that forward? Who in your orbit could use some support, some advice, some comfort? Earth energy often calls for reciprocity, so be generous with your good fortune, and consider how you can care for those around you. Where can you offer a helping hand?

Sagittarius

Daughter of swords

Aries season may have brought a surprising stillness, one that may not have been entirely comfortable for you. And whether you found growth and strength in this time of quiet contemplation or you struggled against it, you’re moving out of a period of refining fire, and into an entirely different energy. This season, you have a powerful opportunity to start something brilliant, something insightful, something expansive. A new truth may show you a path forward that you never expected, and your natural sense of curiosity and endless desire to understand may have you finding new energy and passion, diving fully into this next intellectual adventure. Where does your mind keep leading you? What questions keep bubbling up within you? In your most quiet, private moments from last season, what emerged? This is a chance to pursue something new, to leave behind any resentment or frustration and start down another path. If you start asking the questions that have on your mind, what might open up? Where might new clarity, new truths, help you find a renewed sense of purpose?

Capricorn

The Hermit

Coming off a season of celebration and power, you’re likely eager to start on the next big project, throwing your energy into another ambitious goal. You’re right at home in focused, determined Taurus, and there’s likely a big part of you that’s ready to hunker down with your budgets and spreadsheets and get to work, starting towards a new ambition or revisiting an old goal.

But the Hermit is an archetype of intentional solitude, of eliminating distractions and focusing on truth. And while this card might feel quite literal right now, with social distancing and quarantines and introspection becoming a part of daily life, take this opportunity to dig deep, to explore the hidden dreams and longings and desires that you don’t always acknowledge. It’s not a weakness to want things that don’t fit an agenda, not silly to crave things that seem impractical. You spend a lot of time thinking forward, planning and building and making decisive choices — but what do you want? And why can’t that be as important as anything else? Don’t get so caught up in practical movement that you lose touch with your deeper needs, and don’t abandon your wishes in your desire to achieve. What dreams come forward when you give them a little freedom?

Aquarius

Four of swords

There may be a part of you that wishes you could stay in fiery Aries, dreaming and moving and creating change, but Taurus is offering you a chance to be fully present, to let your mind recover and heal, to figure out what it is that you need. How can you protect yourself from hurtful truths, learn to process them in a way that’s productive instead of painful? What challenges have you been moving through, and where could some grounding quiet help you find deeper restoration? Sometimes the best thing we can do is be still and listen, making space for our natural sense of intuition and instinct to guide us. When you cut out all the noise, where does your mind go?

As someone that prefers to see the bigger picture, this time in reflection and awareness may not be completely comfortable. But give your mind a break from pursuits of truth and information, and instead take some space for grounding and recovery. Sometimes we need a beat to process all that we’ve discovered before we can continue moving forward. What recent revelations need acknowledgement and exploration? How can you give your mind space to heal?

Pisces

Daughter of cups

Being present isn’t always easy for you, as someone that is deeply in touch with their emotions and fantasies — but this season is giving you a chance to start on a new journey, to build a new connection or community that can help you see things in a beautiful new way. This is an opportunity for you to open your heart to someone new, or perhaps to understand yourself in a more profound way. Cups aren’t always just about community or romance — this suit can also speak to spiritual journeys, emotional understandings, and learning to trust your heart and intuition in new and empowering ways. Where has your heart been leading you? And what new possibilities for growth and personal understanding are on the horizon?

Consider what has been bubbling up in your imagination, which people or places or ideas keep emerging. What have you been dreaming about? You may be right at home in your imagination, but when you bring yourself back to the tangible world, what emotions bubble up? How have you been balancing the physical world with the desires of your heart, and where can you create more space for making fantasies realities?

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