Taurus II... Resonated for Me -`♡´-

Notes from a Decan Walker 🚶🏽🚶🏽🚶🏽

Hi Substack 👋🏼

Greetings from a lovely, sunny S E Spain this morning 🌞😎. The weather has been a little inconsistent… so far this decan, we have seen a few days like today, pouring rain, an unseasonably hot two-day heatwave, and two days ago (May 8th) it was cold enough for us to light a fire 🔥… but, we’re good, hope you are, too!

What is the purpose of these posts?
Having a publishing deadline keeps me honest, I know myself well enough to realise that walking 36 decans over 12 months, without stopping for a coffee after the second one, and never quite making it back onto the road, would be impossible without accountability 😆. I also want to learn. I want to commit to being more sensitive to the year’s natural changes, beyond, “Nice out, today, isn’t it?” 😊 Most importantly, I am determined to learn some fundamental astrology, rune-casting, and nurture intimate relationships with both the Runic Tarot, and the Steampunk Tarot. So... welcome to my journey, I hope you enjoy walking with me, and find something that resonates for you in what follows...

Let’s Tarot…

My Personal Card for Taurus II

Steampunk Tarot, by Barbara Moore, illustrated by Aly Fell

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General impressions of the last ten days…

Taurus II has been a good decan for me in many ways. Some of the challenges I was dealing with during Taurus I (and in fact since starting this walk) began to resolve themselves... generally in positive ways 🙂

Back in early February, we nearly lost one of our beloved Mogs to Calicivirus. Rags took himself off to die beneath a neighbour’s tree. Three months (and many, many euros later... yikes 🙀) he’s back to full health, with perfect blood results, big purrs and gorgeous cuddles...

… I will never be able to show sufficient gratitude anywhere for this 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

My wife’s recovery following her dental treatment happily took only a couple of days, and she is now right-as-rain. Her recovery period on soft foods also gave me a great opportunity to explore the Woks of Life (mentioned in Taurus I) Brown Sauce recipe, which makes an awesome quick go-to! 🍚

Despite all this, my blood sugar stayed comfortably within range, too 👍🏼

Here on Substack, two great things happened... firstly, a reader very generously made a pledge, my first!!!... I am beyond thrilled. I have no immediate intentions to monetise this Substack, but seeing that someone is willing to pay to read and support my writing... well... just WOW! Thanks, so much 🙏🏼

Secondly, thanks to all of you who commented on Taurus I 🙏🏼 This Substack has always welcomed Tarot dialogues, and the last post generated some really helpful, thought-provoking comments, for which I am very grateful. Replying to one of them, I had a real in-the-moment realisation about what ownership is...

I have treated myself to something that has been sitting in my amazon basket for about a year… I-Ching, by Benebell Wen… it arrived yesterday 🙂 Owning something (above and beyond that book 😆) to me, at the moment, means my own knowledge acquisition. I am at a point in my life where my need (or budget!) for the latest iPhone are long gone, and whilst I thought this would prove depressing, actually it feels quite liberating. Owning my own learning, though, that’s the current me 😊

Thanks everyone, I love to read, and learn from, your comments! 🤍

Omens/Synchronicities/Dreams…

There has been a lot happening. I am, of course, well aware that this may not be unusual 😄, but my current focus (and 📝!) are highlighting the daily-ordinary in a very curious way for me. It feels different. It feels connected! 🤔

The return of Ten of Cups (also my personal card for Aries II)... feels very much like an omen, a reminder of unfinished business... turning to Barbara Moore’s commentary on her card, I found this...

“If this card graces your reading, consider the implications of long-term relationships that successfully weave together many strands and create an exquisite tapestry... If you want it, be prepared to roll up your proverbial sleeves and start building...”

It reminded me that we both have our own background concerns right now and made me wonder to what extent we are able to feel, and support, each other at the moment. It is SO easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, and then suddenly find another ten of them have passed... The fact of the card’s return feels more important than its meaning 🧐

We are both worriers 😳... perhaps we should remind each other more often of how well looked-after we always are. This reminds me of one of Rachel Pollack’s observations about the 6·P... people engaged in esotericism typically find that things arrive just when they are needed. This is very true for us, too!

Continuing with the 6·P for this decan, its energy reflects my practical worries around managing pension payment issues… including, now, the necessity of closing of a bank account to reduce monthly costs, and balance those scales.

Then there is also the association of Pentacles with physical well-being. I try to make the most of my diminishing physical resources as I age, the sparseness of my energy, compared to just 10 years ago, means that 4 hours work now feels like a day used to. Siestas are no longer optional treats 😃 A morning with a shovel really tips those scales! ⚖️

I had a dream where I had a motorcycle accident in which both the guy I crashed into, and his girlfriend, were very understanding, and forgave me! This is part of a theme recently... Nobody is getting angry with me in my dreams 🤔 Noticing it feels new, although, reflecting on it... I’m not sure it actually is new... next decan!

Then there was the dream about being a guitarist (if you want to read the dream journal entry, follow this footnote¹)... it was another dream in a recent series of dreams about working for others in hotels with big staircases! Staircases, as I understand it, represent the consciousness moving between levels... hmmm 🧐

Synchronicities, once you start looking for them, seem to be everywhere... the Amazon delivery driver arriving for his daily drop just as I was struggling, and failing, to open the locker and collect my long-awaited I-Ching by Benebell Wen... looking forward to getting stuck into that one, I can tell you! 😃

Tech issues... Numbers (Apple Spreadsheet) refusing to sum figures. Dropbox throwing yet another wobbly, costing me an important folder (yeah, I have an old backup somewhere 😅) and then emailing me to tell me I’ve deleted thousands of files which I can’t open when I click on their links 😡. Installing an electronic signature to help me access my social security records throwing up Google error messages all over the place... time for a fresh start... pCloud time!

Something definitely stirring below... I know I need to fix these things... why are they still undone??? Next decan… To-Do-List…

Then GOOD synchs... a message from Erica Phillips Graves 🔮 suggesting a great collaboration topic for an article and asking me to check out her excellent post on the Moon card; which… I was researching the same day for this post, in error...as I thought (it’s II·The High Priestess, not XVIII·The Moon, stupid! 🤦🏽), BUT, see Arythmancy below! 😃

Then, flicking through Substack at the end of the day, and reading Cameron’s Training the Imagination (another fab read!) which closes on an image (also a gentle synchronous reminder) of the RWS, II·The High Priestess... 🙏🏼

On the subject of synchronicities and this decan’s ruler...

I chose a bottle from our Aura-Soma collection for the first time in years. I felt the need to explore what lies behind that pomegranate veil... remembering nothing of its meaning, I chose:

Bottle B50: Pale Blue/Pale Blue ²
El Morya: Thy will not my will.
Being able to get out of the way to allow the communication to come through rather than from, the self. Mother of Aura-Soma, Vicky Wall, called this bottle The power behind the throne of consciousness, the laws of life. More than a bit like our II·The High Priestess, huh?

Reading about B50, I was immediately reminded of my ongoing aspiration to develop my mediumistic skills, and this was a timely reminder that usually I am stepping in my own way when I try ... this also links with the You Are Not Blocked YT post, I posted about previously in Taurus I.

So… External reminders from my own internal II·The High Priestess.

My wife then graciously offered to give me a full four-bottle reading (we are both lapsed Level 3 Consultants) which was astonishing, and too long to reproduce here. It very accurately summarised much of what is happening for me at the moment. A time of spiritual transition, as noted above, ascending and descending the staircases of my consciousness... linking my current dreams strongly with B50; II·The High Priestess, and my current fascinations.

My Learnings during Taurus II

Rider-Waite Tarot, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith

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Arythmancy and Elementals

2 + 74/11 + 5 = 18 = XVIII·The Moon!!! Which is where the research “error” mentioned above paid off! Synchronicity, yeah? 😃

That research brought me to this from Rachel Pollack writing about XVIII·The Moon in her book Tarot Wisdom...

“Here is a great secret-we ourselves are myth, we ourselves are stories. Not light imprisoned in gross, dense bodies, but light shaped into stories.”

I include that quote here mostly because it is so beautiful! It also, however, raises a question associated with the Moon as a planet, and II·The High Priestess as its corresponding card... “Where does that light come from?” Gonna save that thought, for a future post... 🧐

All three decan cards represent receptive energies. The intuitive Water 🜄 energy of II·The High Priestess nourishing both the Earthly 🜃 Success of the 6·P and the spiritual authority of V·The Hierophant. 10 days of working in harmony elementally. Yeah, that feels right 🤔

Colours

Haven’t really stood out much for me during this decan. I have a general impression of greys and blacks associated with my dreams... almost a watery depths kind of feel, which feels fine, rather than scary in any way.

As a three-card reading

Subconscious secrets
Patiently surface for sharing -
Collected then shared

II·The High Priestess, ruled astrologically by the Moon, is encouraging us to take some time out to sit quietly with ourselves, listen to our fears, and allow our next steps to emerge naturally from this process. The 6·P indicates that our discoveries will build towards our success on re-engaging with the world around us. V·The Hierophant, is there to support and guide us along our way as we navigate the changes we make in II and 6·P.

The Runic Tarot Card and Rune for Taurus II

Runic Tarot, by Jack Sephiroth and Allen Dempster

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What this card added…

There is a very different energy about this 6 of Shields (Shields correspond to Pentacles). This card shows sweat-haired warriors in full cry as their commander inspires them to rejoin battle.

In the foreground, another warrior repairs a broken shield (recalling the damage we saw in Taurus I in the 5 of Shields ). Each of these warriors will become a Lord of Material Success during what follows. They have already survived battle and hardship, which are now well-known to them, so…

…once more unto the breach…

- William Shakespeare; Henry V: Act III, Scene I

This card adds a sense of not being cowed by hardship, or cautious in success. There is passion, rather than reason, here. It reminds me that sometimes we have to fully commit, and simply ‘go for it’...

What the rune added…

The Rune is… well… I didn’t recognise it, so I asked an expert. I am grateful for the below explanation from Sherry at Weaving The Wyrd…

This is a rune from the Younger Futhark set called Sol... The Younger Futhark Sol rune (ᛋ) represents the “sun,” embodying light, warmth, and life-giving forces. It often signifies success, wholeness, and acts as a guiding force.
Meaning: Sun (Old Norse: sól), light, summer, and victory.
Significance: It serves as the cosmic counter-force to Isa (ice), representing warmth and positive energy.

In the journey of the suit of Shields in the Runic Tarot, this rune emphasises the new-day energy of this card after the dark-night energy of its predecessor in an even more striking way than we see in the traditional RWS version. Once more... passion to the fore!

So... Did I walk the decan, or did it walk me?

I walked this one.

I engaged with the energies of these cards. The 2026 card of the year is 10·The Wheel of Fortune and have generally held to my belief, during this decan, that I can impact the Wheel by positively engaging with the surrounding energies... in this decan, those energies were the II·The High Priestess and 6 of Pentacles.

My personal 2026 card of the year is IX·The Hermit satisfying my natural disposition towards research and reflection... especially resonant with II·The High Priestess Moon energy ruling this decan. You, my fellow, and brilliant, Substackers, feel like my V·The Hierophant... What’s your take on the above?

If this has made you curious about taking a Decan Walk, I strongly recommend Christa’s The Decan Walk at Practical Astros 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Does anything in the above jump out at you? Let me know in the comments, if so, I always welcome your wisdom and insights 🙏🏼

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Love, light, and laughter… always!

tarotbyphil 🕯️

1. I’m in a hotel. The hotel is very big. I have an electric guitar slung around my neck. I am looking up to a man who is a bit like a Viking; big coat, thickset, long wild hair, and beard. This man is a star, although I didn’t identify him beyond that in the dream. It’s his project that we are working on. The hotel is big and there is a huge staircase. We are up and down the staircase trying to get ready for the camera. He’s telling me the chords, which I haven’t quite been able to work out, although they’re very simple and there are only two of them. I’m playing it wrong. There’s a brief discussion without any animosity. I correct the mistakes and all is well. Up and down the staircase again. I am not hugely confident, but I am enjoying it. The star tells me not to play over every line ending, so I don’t, I leave some spaces, and it sounds loads better, he’s right, of course. There is a funny moment where I bump into another guitarist, but we’re cool. The sense of being the second string is pretty much very strong. It’s fun. None of the mistakes were crises, everything was very reasonable, and worked fine in the end. STOP.

2. Images for this and all of the other beautiful Aura Soma bottles can be found on the official website.