May begins in the wake of a Taurus Solar Eclipse, and we can expect many more fireworks and shifts of energy from here. We are awakening from our Piscean dreams, now taking decisive action in a rather dramatic month of twists and turns. It’s still eclipse season. The Scorpio Lunar Eclipse will arrive on May 15, sparking passion, deep transformation, and revelations of truth as we make significant strides toward shedding the past.

On May 10, Jupiter moves into Aries—one of the biggest transits of the year. We are becoming more energized, ready to take risks, initiate projects, and leap into action. However, on the same day, Mercury stations retrograde in Gemini, slowing our roll. We’re also still in sleepy Taurus season, and the key this month is balance. We can make sure that we’re embodying our new lessons from the Taurus Solar Eclipse, more deeply inhabiting our true selves while untangling from old traumas, complications, and patterns. We’re feeling more worthy, lovable, and secure, just as we are. This anchoring into ourselves will help us keep our feet on the ground even as new energies quicken the pace around us.

Aries rules anger, war, and explosiveness, but also freshness. This Jupiter transit will last for a year, and it’s important to stay in our center and rest, balancing our feelings of excitement with ample time for retreat. We are ready to rumble, but Taurus season and Mercury retrograde are ensuring that we consider our options with deliberation and thoughtfulness—harnessing our newly stoked passions with both courage and care.

MAY Transits 

VENUS ENTERS ARIES

Venus has been on a beautiful journey recently, crossing expansive Jupiter and dreamy Neptune during the last week of April. Our romantic and creative dreams and feelings of exalted love have been sparked, and now, as Venus enters Aries on May 2, it’s time to translate our Piscean visions into bold action. Venus in Aries knows what she wants and goes after it with directness and candor. We can feel childlike and straightforward as we leap into pleasure, creativity, and love.

SUN CONJUNCT URANUS

The Sun in Taurus conjoins Uranus on May 5, sparking unexpected changes, rebellion, and restlessness. We may feel electricity coursing through us as we express ourselves in audacious ways and feel the need to push boundaries, reinvent ourselves, and operate outside the box.

JUPITER MOVES INTO ARIES

Jupiter ingresses into Aries on May 10 in an epic shift of energies that will last a full year. Jupiter is focusing his magnifying lens away from exalted, transcendent Pisces, toward action-oriented Aries. As Jupiter moves into the first sign of the zodiac, we can feel freshness and newness infuse our bodies, minds, and souls. Fiery passions are now igniting. The shadow of this transit is that we might experience more anger, fighting, or war. But if we can harness these energies properly, we’ll begin to feel our courage growing, helping us go after our dreams, with rigor and fearless resolve.

MERCURY RETROGRADE IN GEMINI

From May 10 to June 2, Mercury retrogrades through Gemini, moving back into Taurus. Even as we feel more vitality and urges to initiate projects, express our passions, and become more active, Mercury retrograde is asking us to slow down our minds and carefully consider our options. We can dip into our hearts and ask ourselves what we truly want to say out loud. We’re reviewing, reflecting, and integrating old conversations, interactions, and choices, deciding who we want to spend time and collaborate with, and how we want to communicate moving forward.

SCORPIO FULL MOON TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE

A Scorpio Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse arrives on May 15. Total eclipses are the most amplified eclipses, triggering the most profound change. This is a South Node Eclipse, so the focus is on purifying our past—releasing old karma, relationships, traumas, complications, and patterns. Forming aspects with all of the slower-moving planets, we have no choice but to surrender our fears and let go of whatever we’ve been clinging to. We’re learning to inhabit greater simplicity and pleasure by relaxing our grips and dismantling our fixations and needs for control, which stem from past wounding. As Venus conjoins with Chiron on the same day, this process could feel painful. Our hearts may hurt as the planets activate our heartbreak for the sake of healing. We’re stepping into much lighter versions of ourselves as we throw old karmic suitcases to the fire, face our truths, and open to deep, lasting transformation that’s long overdue.

MARS ENTERS ARIES, VENUS ENTERS TAURUS

On May 25, Mars enters Aries, his natural domicile, or the sign that he rules. We are feeling more energized and revitalized, stepping further out of our sleepiness and hibernation, which defined the past month. A few days later, Venus enters Taurus on May 28, which is her natural domicile. Now the planets of sexuality and love, passion and peace, are strengthened and operating at maximum capacity. We may feel attractions and romance ignited, and it’s a beautiful time for passionate connection.

MARS CONJUNCT JUPITER IN ARIES

If you need a lucky day to take a risk, on May 29, Mars joins Jupiter in Aries. This conjunction is imbuing us with powerful drive, vitality, and resolve. The only danger is going too far with impulsivity or angry outbursts. We can keep steady and muster the courage to act. We just need to be careful and call on Mercury retrograde’s thoughtfulness so that we don’t do anything that we’ll later regret.

GEMINI NEW MOON

A Gemini New Moon forms on May 30, closing the eclipse portal. We are exiting the space-time vortex of eclipse season and beginning to feel more normal. Mercury, Gemini’s ruler, is in retrograde, so we may not feel the usual mental clarity of a Gemini New Moon. We can quietly reflect on our next steps forward, and feel our lucidity begin to return on June 3, when Mercury stations direct. What we can do during this Gemini New Moon is to speak privately from the heart, letting our energy speak more loudly than our words, as we clear up misunderstandings and communicate more deeply, beyond the surface.

May Summary

May is a dramatic month marked by plot twists and explosive passions—a significant shift from the sleepiness of the Pisces and Taurus stelliums that defined April. It’s still eclipse season this month, and a Total Lunar Eclipse will arrive in Scorpio on May 15, pushing us to release the past so we can step into greater pleasure and simplicity. Meanwhile, Jupiter moves into Aries this month, in one of the most significant transits of the year, igniting freshness, but also the possibility for more anger, passion, and even war. With Mercury retrograding through Gemini and Taurus, the key is to relax into our thoughtfulness and restraint, becoming sure of where we want to place our energies before taking any risks or leaps. We can slow our minds and speak carefully from the heart as we communicate, connect, and make decisions or agreements. We have so much vitality and courage now to initiate new projects and turn our dreams into action. We can relax knowing that Jupiter will be visiting Aries for an entire year. There’s no need to hurry and act, even as fires of passion begin coursing through us.

MAY ASPIRATION

In the midst of flowering trees and tweets of hatching birds, may we harness the vitality of new life as we turn our dreams into action. May we feel novel passions firing through us, while applying deliberation and care in determining what risks to take and what projects we now want to initiate.

My book, The Stars Within You: A Modern Guide to Astrology, is available for purchase. Check it out!

Sign up for a personal astrology reading here.

I post astrology videos, talks, and classes regularly to my Patreon page. Sign up here to join!