This New Moon is a sharp contrast from the preponderance of cardinal signs on the April 1st lunation. We now have a majority of fixed signs, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius which tend to resist change with various degrees of stubborness and are concerned with basic values. Taurus ruled by Venus is the most fixed of earth signs. On May 1st we not only have a T-Square to the Sun/Moon at 10° from Jupiter 9° Leo opposition to Neptune 13° Aquarius but the asteroid Juno at 13° Scorpio (representing our inner and outer partners) opposes the Sun/Moon. With this lunation falling in Taurus, our core values are highlighted. We will be focusing on money and security - yet in the end the currency of truth will win out.

May 1st has always marked a day of celebration and the end of winter. This time driven by a revolutionary Mars in Aquarius, we can expect energy convergence on many levels. This year's demonstrations are planned around the world. For instance in the UK, a May Day action that these guys are calling a pre-emptive strike at the future that capitalism dictates for us. . In the US from Coast to Coast defense contractors like Lockheed will be targeted. In order to illustrate the seriousness of this Moon, I need to digress with a little history. May 1st is well known as Beltane, one of the spring fertility festivals from Celtic tradition . On Beltane the veils between the two worlds are at their thinnest -"when the two worlds intermingle and unite and the magic abounds!" Normally this is a time to mark the end of the winter's journey and start of a glorious summer is to begin, So on this May Day we are not just dancing around the maypole but raising the sword of truth to cut thru illusion.

Traditon speaks of a Maypole dance to encourage the return of fertility to the earth. On a Spiritual level, we celebrate the unifying of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine to bring forth a new type of consciousness. Most obvious on a physical level, we encourage the union of the Earth and Sun to bring about a fecund growing season. Fortunately on March 13th, Ceres, known as The Mother Goddess of Agriculture, entered the fertile sign of Taurus. Ceres met Uranus which a few days earlier had taken on the nurturing qualities of the sign Pisces. This union of earth and water has elevated biological diversity and sustainability primary importance now.

On this New Moon, Ceres is at 19° Taurus conjuncting. a newly retrograde Mercury and something doesn't quite seem right. What could it be? Somehow we don't feel like celebrating with true abandonment, as pillage, rape, violence and deception are being perpetrated by tight group of patriarchial tyrants like Aarafat, Saddam, Bin Laden(al Qaeda), Sharon and the Bush Gang. Aimed at the defenseless segment of our populations within and without the US. In order to understand this intense coming together of energies , please allow me to wander a little morel

The month of May (name originated from the star Maia of the Pleiades) is marked by the Pleiades star cluster which rises just before sunrise to grace the horizon. One of the most prominent stars is Maia eldest of the Pleiades or Seven Sisters found in the constellation Taurus. She was said to have surpassed her sisters in beauty. According to Greek myth, Maia was seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Hermes (Mercury). Yet another Greek myth speaks of Taygeta another of the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades who yielded to Zeus' advances only when unconscious(date rape), but was so ashamed that when she recovered, she hid herself under Mount Taygetus, in Laconia. In due course she gave birth to Lacedæmon, founder of Sparta.(center of warlike attitudes) Finally, let's look at the Roman Myth: Pleiades (Peleiades) was called a "flock of doves". In order to flee the sexual advance of Orion, the Hunter, the seven sisters were transformed into Doves or Rock-pigeons. What better time to stop these war crimes from continueing in Iraq, with country under occupation we see a story from the BBC on Tuesday, 29 April, 2003, : Thirteen Iraqis were reportedly killed when US forces opened fire on demonstrators on Monday night in the Iraqi town of Falluja. Then again on Wednesday, April 30th, 2003: FALLUJAH, Iraq - American troops again fired on anti-U.S. protesters in Fallujah's streets Wednesday and said they won't give up their foothold in the one-time Baath Party bastion. At least two were killed and 18 wounded, hospital officials reported. Using war to promote peace is like pouring gasoline on a fire. Using weapons of mass destruction to nurture "democracy" and allow it to gain a foothold in Iraq or Afghanistan is the true definition of insanity.

Ok you get the idea, this sort of violent solution has gone on long enough and cost us plenty of money and lives. Venus ruler of Taurus and the 11th House of friends, hopes and wishes is in aggressive Aries at 11° conjunct Pallas. Venus is allied with strategic Pallas trining Jupiter in Leo in the third which represents the media. Venus is also sextile Mars in Aquarius and will not tolerate this unnacountable spending to keep the war machine fed!

In one sense the riches of our nation are symbolized by our financial centers. So this led to a chart set for New York City and the NYSE, the banking$ capital and Mega-Media capital of the US. Washington DC may think it is the brains (more like brainless) for the US but New York is the bank and broadcast behemoth. On center stage we have: CNN, NBC, CBS (Viacom) even ABC (Disney) has World News Tonight and 20/20 coming from Gotham., all have a stronghold in the Big Apple. We can see that this new moon (eleventh house) forms a T-square to the applying Neptune and Jupiter opposition (exact on June 2nd) Jupiter is at 9° Leo in the third house (exaggerated media lies) opposing Neptune 13° Aquarius and Mars 5° in ninth house of all forign affairs. So we have Sun, Moon, Mercury and Ceres all in the 11th House of groups and organizations,clubs and social causes. We have seen a disgruntled public (Moon rules the people's response) striking out at crooked businessmen and declining stock prices. So the elete analysts like Jack Grubmann's of Salomon Smith Barney and Henry Blodget's of Merrill Lynch, are the Chiron in Capricorn scapegoats. Especially with Chrion the wounded healer residing in the 8th house of other people's money (investors) Things are definitely shaky day to day with Mercury retrograde joined with Ceres, investors seem to be changing their mind about good-news bad-news on a daily basis. NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) Under a $1.4 billion cease-fire reached with regulators on Monday, Wall Street firms accused of misleading investors must pay out 63 percent of the total, or $875 million, within 10 days of forthcoming court approval.

Saturn on the ascendant in Gemini (journalism under fire) is also trying to dumb down any number of stories that keep resurfacing. Stories that involve the truth about who was really behind 9/11 are met head on by White House blocks via NY Media henchman. From MSN News on April 30th : Even as White House political aides plot a 2004 campaign plan designed to capitalize on the emotions and issues raised by the September 11 terror attacks, administration officials are waging a behind-the-scenes battle to restrict public disclosure of key events relating to the attacks. Even Rupert Murdoch's (Pisces) deceptive Fox News - has tried to silence any questioning by discreditng truth finders like John Kaminski . In fact on April 30th. Fox News allowed John Kaminski to appear on the Alan Colmes show at 12:15 AM, not exactly prime time but this puts him in the category of whacked out conspiracy theorists! It is our right to question and not let the media liars discredit the truth. With the information overload that is taking place with Saturn in Gemini, we are seeing the myth of Saturn’s ritual eating of his newborn children. Saturn was the father of Jupiter, Pluto, Vesta, Ceres, and Neptune. He didn’t want his children (patients, in this case?) to grow because of the prophecy that one of his children would seize his powers and overthrow him.

UPDATE FROM TODAY: Critic Accuses Media of Aiding U.S. War Propaganda Thu May 1,10:04 AM ET
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) -By David Morgan It is one of the most famous images of the war in Iraq (news - web sites): a U.S. soldier scaling a statue of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in Baghdad and draping the Stars and Stripes over the black metal visage of the ousted despot.
But for Harper's magazine publisher John MacArthur, that same image of U.S. military victory is also indicative of a propaganda campaign being waged by the Bush administration.

"It was absolutely a photo-op created for (U.S. President George W.) Bush's re-election campaign commercials," MacArthur, a self-appointed authority on U.S. government propaganda, said in an interview. "CNN, MSNBC and Fox swallowed it whole."
Just maybe this New Moon is having a sobering effect on the media?

What about SARS dominating the news?

With this chart set for New York City, Saturn at 26° Gemini is on the ascendant and it semi-squares (45°) this New Moon and Jupiter, along with trine to MidHeaven at 26Aquarius. with a wide conj. to Uranus 2° Pisces (SARS epidemic). The epidemic disease SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ) is represented Neptune and the sign of Pisces Yet when I first heard the name SARS ( (an airborne disease of the respiratory system), I immediately thought of Saturn in Gemini! The twins are duplicating their efforts: UPDATE FROM May 3rd: SARS Virus Mutating Quickly Into 2 Forms according to By MARGARET WONG, Associated Press Writer
HONG KONG - Like a "murderer who is trying to change his fingerprints," the SARS (news - web sites) virus is mutating rapidly into at least two forms, complicating efforts to develop a solid diagnosis and a vaccine, researchers say.
With this lunation, loquacious Saturn in Gemini with non-stop broadcasts turning into a state of hysteria. All via multiple taking heads on heard on every channel so .the panic about SARS is exponentially magnified. Add the Jupiter/Neptune Opposition and the upcoming Mars/Neptune conjunction and we have a recipe for a hysterical sea of surgical masks staring us in the face! Note that Jupiter’s nature is to exaggerate many times and Neptune’s nature is to run with rumors thus making quick but perhaps false assumptions. News from SARS infected areas like Beijing, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore will tend to dominate the news for a while and the US financial center New York City will acutely feel the financial impact of diminished travel and commerce. We must be on guard not to let our emotional bodies be overwhelmed by this kind of media generated blitz.

Uranus in Pisces at the top of this chart also means unexpected news about oil. Neptune/Pisces rule the flow of oil throughout the world. On May 15th Neptune will station and turn retrograde. With this station the flow of oil maybe severely curtailed. We are just beginning to see more news out of Nigeria's oil region: LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- The Nigerian navy has boarded oil rigs off Nigeria and removed striking oil workers whose action had trapped nearly 100 expatriate workers on four oil rigs for over two weeks, a union leader said on Thursday. Now more then ever is the time to be kind to Mother Earth and develop alternative fuels using the inventive power of Uranus in Pisces.

Well I don't want to leave my readers with a barage sobriety so I will close out with the Sabian Symbol for this New Moon. The Sabian symbol is calculated at 11° Taurus. Even though the Sun and Moon are 10° Taurus43", if the position of the planet is at least one minute over an even degree,
read the Sabian symbol for the next higher degree. The Sabian symbol for 11° Taurus was described by Dane Rudhyar ( born an Aries Sun with Pisces Moon) in his bookAn Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformations and Its 360 Symbolic Phases, So at 11° Taurus is " A woman watering flowers in her garden.… " This is a truly nurturing image for us to move forward. This is a time to both nurture and pursue our highest ideals as long as you can keep one foot on mother earth. We must be tender and gentle with our newly sprouted truths and lifestyles that reflect the art of living heartfully on this planet. First we need to strive, then we can celebrate the return of truth and honesty to Mother Earth, so that we can revel in her natural fertility and beauty.

On this New Moon we should first pray for peace and a total end to all war on this planet!
To take advantage of New Moon energy we may want to implement a suggetion offered by a financial astrologer C. Kaye Shinker NCGR
TEN NEW MOON WISHES
Wish #1 Happy Healthy Wealthy and Wise Family and Friends.
Wishes 2-9 are personal things that you could accomplish
example #2 open a savings account with $100 when the Moon is in Taurus. Or add to existing accounts.
#3 call elderly aunt or other relative and chat #4 etc. (Things you can actually accomplish within a month) keep the bar low so success prevails.
Wish # 10 Happy, Healthy, Wealthy and Wise blessings to folks all over the world
to live together peacefully with love and consideration for each other.

This New Moon in Taurus offers us the cosmic gift of new life for our spirit.
on the pyres of social upheavel we can plant the seeds of cooperation and resonate with the electric tone of Service to Mother Earth and Truth!

From the Mayan Dreamspell Calendar: for The Day : May 1, 2003
Planetary Moon Day 28

Kin 68 : Yellow Electric Star
Harmonic 17
I Activate in order to Beautify
Bonding Art
I seal the Store of Elegance
With the Electric tone of Service
I am guided by the power of Free Will

PEACE AND BLESSINGS