The Bull's Injunction!

This month has really been a journey for me in the art of embodiment. My arrival at Abbey House in Glastonbury has slowed me right down, from the pace of inner city Bristol to the tranquility of this retreat with its magnificent grounds and the hallowed turf of Glastonbury Abbey, which is considered by many to be the most sacred ground in the whole of Christendom.

Taurus is not a sign that features strongly in my own natal chart, though I do have a Taurean mother, so was inculcated early in the slow, deliberate ways of the bull. Money, food, safety before all else...frustrating for an Aries who wanted just to risk his heart, but profoundly instrcutive in hindsight, especially as I embrace this alchemical journey around the wheel.

I have reflected a great deal on our extraordinary Taurus weekend - which was so physical in nature - perhaps the least verbal workshop I have ever run - and how appropriate that is for this earthy sign. It was as if there was nothing much to say - it was much more appropriate to hold it in the sensory domain. We were fortunate to have no less than four people present in our band of 12 with their natal moons in Taurus - holding the space for us to drop deeply into that bovine energy!

Yesterday, Colette and I walked again in the Taurean figure of the Bull in the Glastonbury, such a sensuous walk, spectacular views and, as we played merrily under a hawthorn bush in full blossom, with sun beating down upon us, on the bull's left horn, the syncrhonicity of the season was alive and potent in a really quite remarkable way.

This is a piece I wrote in response to the first Taurus walk that we did over the workshop weekend.

The Bull's Injunction
A bull stands before me, solid of stature, single of gaze
Watching, his eyes penetrate to my core
Waiting for me to make the first move
Implacable, caring nothing for my sweet manipulations.

"Oh please step aside and let me past, you are blocking my path. I mean you no harm. You are in my way, and I must progress."

And the bull's reply?

"I do not block your path. I am your path. You cannot by-pass me. You must pass through me. Become me. Ingest my bovine spirit.

"Do not make an object of me, for our destinies are entwined. You must sacrifice that which is within you, that which is afraid of your true Taurean power. You cannot manipulate me with words or clever schemes. For I am your medicine on this turn of the wheel.

"My medicine will slow your thoughts, release the hunch in your shoulders, ground you in your body sense.

Stand squarely before me. Claim this sacred ground that we share. Do not shirk me. Be the Bull that you are!"

bright blessings,
John