Mercury sextile Neptune

The astrology forecast for the week of April 18, 2022 through April 24, 2022 features five planetary aspects (Mercury conjunct Uranus, Venus sextile Neptune, Sun square Pluto, Mercury square Saturn, Mercury sextile Neptune), and the Sun moves out of Aries and into earthy Taurus.

It’s going to be a cosmically busy this week, but all the action occurs at the beginning of the week and the end of the week. So, without further ado…

Cosmic Overview

This week is the beginning of Taurus season, so I figured I would give a little insight into a sign that is much more complex than money and finances.

There are many stories which you can associate with Taurus – King Midas, Ferdinand the Bull, and many fairytales, which all fit the bill. However, I feel that the myth of King Minos of Crete is perhaps one of the most important.

King Minos is the son of Zeus and Europa, who had to compete with his two siblings to ascend to the throne of one of the wealthiest islands of Greece. Minos claimed the throne by divine right, since his father, the king of the gods Zeus, pursued Europa and impregnated her in the form of a bull. Minos prayed to his uncle Poseidon to send a bull out of the sea to seal the deal, and agreed to sacrifice the bull in his honor. Poseidon granted Minos’ request and sent a beautiful bull, which Minos immediately desired. But, instead of sacrificing the bull in the god’s honor, he added the bull to his herd. He then deceptively sacrificed another bull to the god of the seas.

Poseidon was not amused and sent Aphrodite (the ruler of Taurus) to inflict Queen Pasiphae (Minos’s wife) with lust for the bull. Pasiphae instructs the craftsman Daedalus to create her a cow that she could climb into. Once completed, she entered the wooden cow, and then the bull entered her. Nine months later, she gave birth to a half man/half bull creature called the Minotaur.

Minos felt deep shame for his sins and had Daedalus (this guy suffers his own breakdown later because of his participation, which could symbolize our need to stick to our personal values rather than the values of others) create a structure known as the Labyrinth to house the Minotaur, and each month a virgin boy and girl were sent into the Labyrinth to feed the beast.

Now, of course, this is a rather twisted story, but there is a core to the story that gives us a glimpse into Taurus. Crete is an exceptionally wealthy country, and in its vast abundance and potent fertile lands lies a beast that threatens to devour the landscape unless it is ‘contained’. Perhaps, the Minotaur lives within each of us, and during Taurus season, we need to sort through what we possess and our motivations for obtaining it. Furthermore, we may need to look at our stewardship over our money and resources, and are we maintaining it and using it appropriately, or are we wasting it by feeding an inner Minotaur.