Taurus New Moon 2026

Have been contemplating the new moon in the sign of Taurus and how everyone jumped on the bandwagon of the lunation's conjunction to Algol by degree (which is fair enough).

But it made me want to look at the actual fixed star parans with the new moon--'cos as the astrologer Maeg Keane puts it so elegantly in their Substack piece on the topic, "It’s as if the planets and stars are always speaking their lines but when they get to the angles, they step up to a microphone. Whenever a planet and a star reach a microphone, you get a duet. You get a paran."

What's key to understand here though is that location becomes so important to parsing this information. So if I look at the lunation here in the UK (set to Greenwich), the stars that are rising, culminating, and setting, are different to the ones that come up when I look at the lunation in Washington, DC, for example.

Here is what it looks like in Greenwich:

Fixed star parans for Taurus New Moon 2026 in Greenwich, UK

And here's what the stars look like in Washington, DC:

Fixed star parans for Taurus New Moon 2026 in Washington, DC

The only real overlap is the heliacal rising star in both cases is Al Rescha.

So I thought I would have a deeper look at this star given that I don't know so much about it...Well, wouldn't you know--Al Rescha "marks the knot that binds the two fishes of Pisces." (My surname is Knott, so I had to laugh!)

Here is more from Astrodienst: Al Rescha "represents...the magical quality of knots. Knots are not just about securing, they are also about protecting and they range from the knot of the Egyptian cartouche which protected the pharaoh's name, to the knot of the monk's or nun's robe which symbolised their sanctity."

"Thus acting symbolically, knots hold things together in order to maintain or help their sacredness. This star involves binding things together to create another thing, giving life to a new idea."

Since a heliacal rise refers to a planet or star first becoming visible as it emerges from the rays of the Sun on the eastern horizon, I think we can all agree that this could prove to be a powerful, omenic (I think I made up that word, but you know what I mean) influence on what seeds are being planted through this lunation (in the US and the UK, anyway).

The Astrodienst piece goes on to say this, "It carries the idea of joining different ideas to create wisdom and understanding, or marrying two forms to create a greater concept. It also speaks of being able to bring two different types of people together, so that the marriage produces a surprisingly new path forward. Finding solutions to old problems, making unusual connections, learning to search for clues about how the world, mind, and soul works, is a skill this star adds to...life."

Yes there are AWFUL things happening in the world at large, and every day on an individual level as well. And it could well be that the new moon conjunct the degree of Algol speaks to the heavier themes some are/will be navigating.

(Sidebar: I would like to point out that there is also the idea that Medusa's story was hijacked to serve patriarchal needs, and that this was a necessary bringing down of feminine wisdom, power, and rage... In the West, we think of snakes as representing evil, but what if we reframed snakes as SPIRITUAL POSSIBILITY???! It puts a different spin on things, wouldn't you say? I’ll talk about this more another time.)

But I would like to think that with all the other pieces I am slowly starting to see come together--like the rescue of Beagles from laboratories, the rejection of Palantir by various nation-states, the marches commemorating the Nakba, the push-back against "data centres" and the list goes on--there really is a feeling of something new coming in on the breeze this lunation generates. Of surprising new paths, and solutions to old problems...

And if we do look at the degree of this star, it's at Aries 29° (this is from a tropical astrology perspective) -- so only a degree away from transiting Mars in the lunation chart. Although Astrodienst is describing Al Rescha in paran with Mars in what follows, I think we can imagine some overlap with the simple conjunction by degree:

"...the Sacred Knot in paran with...Mars...promote[s] unusual ideas or theories...physically or politically. [There is a fascination with] how disparate things can be brought together and success [can be found] working with what many people would consider contradictory resources. [Professionally], the skill to bridge between different groups, as well as to promote a political cause [is there]."

"On the other hand, being controversial just for the sake of it can lead [to] choppy waters. Strive to be a bridge between people and ideas [and] see a bridge where others see none. Conflict results from being au contraire for the sake of it. Achievement comes from looking at things from a different angle."

Taurus can be about stewardship and management. There is a visceral desire to stabilise things in the face of disharmony and confrontation.

The new moon's ruler, Venus, is in Gemini, bringing a playful energy to thoughts, ideas, concepts, and relationships.

And although Venus is averse to the lunation, thankfully, so are Mars and Saturn. Jupiter--with that big, fuzzy enthusiasm of his--does see the lunation by sextile, suggesting that perhaps the way forward is to look for opportunities to BE the bridge.

Certainly the new moon's conjunction to Mercury further highlights a cycle of communication--whether it be written, spoken, prose or verse or song...

So as this lunation continues to unfold, my questions to you are: what ideas or relationships are you trying to bridge? Where/what are your ‘sacred knots’?

What are you actively stewarding or managing and how can you be more intentional about how it ties things together?

And finally, where are you sowing the seeds for communicating something new, something different from what has been said before?

As always, wishing you all the blessings of this new moon 🌑✨🌱💚