May 2016 Forecasts
Completing Big Cycles – New Beginnings on the Way
What intense astrology of late! It’s as if we’ve each been given a challenge by life that has us feeling pressured, mulling over the past and wanting to solve a chronic problem. Retrograde planets often bring up the past and this month Mercury and Mars stand out not only because they are Retro and stir the pot of the past but also because they make special alignments that stimulate joyful new opportunities, with a big dose of hot and spicy.
If you haven’t fully understood or got to the bottom of something that bugs you, it could rear up again now. As the song lyric goes, ‘Baby, it ain’t over til it’s over’. You might feel heavy and over it but put the effort in now to look at your situation through fresh eyes and you could truly knock this one on the head.
Get to the Core – New Destiny Pathways Opening
Perhaps a health, housing or money theme becomes symptomatic, or a relationship pattern crops up… someone’s bad habit or stuck attitude seems to be making things heavy and burdensome. You start being treated the same way you were in the past and you wonder what brought that ghost up again. Perhaps you yourself get stuck in an old pattern that seems to be sabotaging your movement forward. Dig deeper than ever before. You really could lay this to rest at this time, but it requires great honesty to get to the root of anything that holds you back.
Treasures and goodness come up too. It’s a perfect time to go through old boxes and have a clear out. You’ll find things you love that were packed away, but mostly under this month’s astrology you’ll find lots you can easily discard. If you need to declutter, this is a great month for it. It’s an important month to clear the path for what’s ahead after 21 June when Jupiter contacts the North Node again and powers new destiny pathways, and after 30 June when Mars goes Direct.
Mercury Transit at the New Moon – Powerful Message
Both the New Moon and the Full Moon this month have Mercury, planet of the mind, capturing our attention. First, on 9 May two days after the New Moon on 7 May, Mercury makes a rare visible passage across the Sun called a ‘Mercury Transit’… i.e. when viewed through a telescope on that day, tiny Mercury is visible passing across the Sun’s disc. The last of these was in 2006, and there are approximately only 13 of these each century. We won’t get to see this in Australia as it happens when the sun’s up in the Northern Hemisphere, but that doesn’t make it any less potent or meaningful. If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere be sure to view through special safe solar filters to avoid permanently damaging your eyes.
So what is Mercury, planet of networking, joining the dots, mind power and word power, up to? If Mercury could speak he’d say ‘out with old stuck thoughts and in with the new’. In other words, our minds need a good pruning or even uprooting of old thought-belief-systems we might not even know we are wrongly invested in. We might be missing the blindingly obvious but now finally get to see it and have a great breakthrough. This Mercury Transit provides an opening for an important message or awareness to come through, the kind of message that smashes outdated perceptions and lets true awareness in.
Mercury Retro most of May, then Direct from 22nd
You might have your focus on something that is blinkering your vision to the right road for you. You might discover you were taught information that you took to be gospel that is in fact simply not true. We have a chance to break free from the all-too-common human habit of inadvertently following misinformation or making misinterpretations that lock us into misperceptions that trap us. Alternatively, you might’ve given up on a hope or dream, thinking you had been mistaken, but suddenly it comes in again as a genuine opportunity.
The second stand-out Mercury moment is when Mercury goes Direct on the exact same day as the Full Moon on 22 May. Mercury will have been Retro since 29 April and comes out of its deep reverie right at the same time the Full Moon happens. It’s as if Mercury spends from 29 April to 22 May writing drafts, reviewing, tossing drafts in the trash, trying a conversation from one angle, scrapping it and trying from another, rehearsing, fumbling over words and thoughts until Mercury finally has its ‘aha’ when it shifts Direct under the bright awareness of the Full Moon. Moving forward with ideas, conversations, contracts, projects, purchases etc is easier after 22 May.
Goodbye to Regrets – Profound Healing Possible
Before then, the Mercury Transit of the Sun on 9 May only serves to intensify Mercury’s, and our own, depths. It’s as if Mercury goes so deep this month (both through being Retro and also through its passage across the face of the Sun), it leads us to become very monk-like, as if life wishes us to go right into the core of our own souls or even seek advice from those who have specialist experience. Something doesn’t make sense, or we have a huge decision to make and need to draw sustenance from our own greater wisdom and other sources for clarity. The depth also brings incredible creativity, which feels raw, passionate and exciting.
It could help to take up or increase the practice of mindfulness simply by freeze-framing and noticing your thoughts and feelings. Is there anything negative or undermining swirling around in there that you could metaphorically throw into the big bonfire of the Sun this month as Mercury passes by? Even if regrets, old guilts or unhealed aggro toward others come up, life is not meaning to whip you and make you feel bad… life is asking you to cut the noose of those ghosts by listening to what you’ve learnt from those challenges, integrate the learning into your life, make amends if need be then feel good about yourself and fly forward. The Sun is a symbol of fiery, passionate creativity. Once the regrets are gone, we can embrace and allow the joy of the full creative life force to flow through and regenerate, delight and empower us.
Big Taurus Influence – Security, Loyalty, Loved Ones
It’s a month for braving important conversations. There’s lots to research and consider. Mercury’s in Taurus, a ‘slow living’ zodiac sign, so take all the time you need. Yes, there are pressures coming from all angles, but still make time for asserting yourself in important communications, even practising first what you need to say.
Fortunately, we receive relief on the level of intense thoughts, communication and ideas after 22 May when Mercury the planet of the mind moves forward again. After this time, if there have been crossed wires with someone, it’ll be easier for these to uncross and for understanding to return.
Because Mercury is in Taurus throughout May, we are particularly contemplating themes such as housing, money, lifestyle, body image, wellbeing, beauty, fashion, possessions, security, food, nourishment and close ties with family and community. You might be included in some special bonding conversations, become the custodian of something precious or enjoy going further with people you are considering closer ties with, or testing the waters with projects you’d like to be involved in. Yet, equally it’s possible for a shuffling of loyalties and priorities. After 22 May it’s easier for all of this to settle into a comfortable flow. Mercury continues these themes until mid-June when it moves out of Taurus and into Gemini.
Mars Retrograde – New Levels of Assertiveness
So that’s Mercury, but what about Mars, the planet of desire, action and energy? As mentioned at the start, Mars is also Retrograde and will stay that way until the end of June. What’s happening with your energy? When Mars is Retro it’s not uncommon for energy to be used up in managing high levels of frustration. The benefit of Mars Retro is it teaches us not to charge off with guns blazing, but instead to hold our horses until we are certain we are about to put our desire into the right thing.
If you’re feeling irritable or really frustrated, check you’re asserting yourself in ways that bring the results you’re after. You might already be comfortable with expressing your needs and not shy to ask for what you’d like, but even so, Mars Retro encourages testing out new assertion techniques. We’re all different and some people need to hear something loudly, others recoil and rebel at loudness and need gentle hints.
Mars Opposition – Libido Resurfaces
On 22 May, the date of the Full Moon, Earth passes between the Sun and Mars creating what’s called a ‘Mars Opposition’. Given that Mars is Retrograde plus makes its once every two years opposition to the Sun this month, the Mars energy is highly active in us all. When Retrograde, a planet is out of sync with normal time. It’s as if it’s in a rhythm all of its own, and many moments in life can feel slowed to freeze frame, perhaps even allowing the slowness of exquisite intimate presence. Around 22 May, increased clarity on a passion, frustration, desire, excitement, path of action is possible. You might not yet act in the external world, but you might see the path clearly ahead.
All of this Mars intensity brings up themes of love and romance. If you’ve had trouble closing the door on a past love, the energy of Mars at this time can help you do that. If the love you’ve been looking for has not yet arrived, the Mars energy can help you get to the bottom of what’s going on and help you get off any wrong paths and onto right ones. Perhaps you’re experiencing loss of libido or have let an exercise program slip. Where is your fire? Dig deep to find what’s blocking it. Often difficult emotions to do with thwarted desires or frustrated efforts send our fire into hibernation, as if our inner dragon sits on its treasure (our suppressed fire) for thousands of years. Under this Mars Retro, it’s time to rouse that dragon, heal past hurts and fly ahead with greater energy, lust for life, determination, passion and libido than ever before.
Lots of Retros yet Jupiter is Now Direct!
Saturn and Pluto are also both still Retro, so it’s a month of confronting fears, showing through your actions that you are the boss of your own life and being a force to be reckoned with in whatever area of life needs you to step up and step forward. If anyone makes you feel small, or if you feel you’ve been given a raw deal and find yourself feeling furiously angry or defeated, practice ways to speak up for yourself. Saturn and Pluto don’t need you to keep everything pretty. They need you to be true to yourself.
One energy that goes Direct and boosts optimism, vision and movement forward is Jupiter. On 9 May, the same day of the Mercury Transit, Jupiter moves Direct after being Retro since the start of the year. To have both Jupiter and Mercury make inspiring moves on the same day gives reason for hopeful outcomes, particularly if we have been doing all the reviewing, contemplating and adjusting required under the planetary retrogrades.
Even so, Jupiter squares Saturn on 26 May, the third and final of this square series. The others were 3 August 2015 and 23 March 2016. We are definitely meant to be moving forward with our dreams, but there’s a very big need to check and cross-check details, including being sure people really are communicating what we think they are.
Three Supermoons in a Row – 7 May is the Last
The New Moon on 7 May is the last in a series of three new moon supermoons, which are invisible to the eye given that we can’t see new moons. The next supermoons don’t happen until October, November and December and these will all be happening at full moons. Supermoons increase an opportunity for awareness, and when at new moons they allow openings for starting afresh and kicking out old patterns.
After three new moon supermoons in a row, we are likely to discover that there is a lot from the past we don’t want to take into our futures. We are being given all the tools to put the past to rest, say goodbye to big phases in our lives and plants big seeds for new futures. Of course don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, and to discern what is a baby and what is bathwater we need all these retrogrades – the swirling inner self world of thoughts, emotions, desires, hopes and wishes is different from the practical commonsense world. When dealing with the inner self, it takes longer to see what is a precious ‘baby’ and what is ‘dirty bathwater’. The patient sifting and sorting finally makes it clear.
Wishing you well with patience and endurance as a lot of resilience is required this month. The retrogrades offer a very lucky chance to slow down and think things through. We are being given a reprieve. Without this deep slow down time we might’ve rushed into directions that are not yet ripe or are not solid enough. Mercury Retro and Mars Retro help so much with contacting the power within, you might actually freak yourself out at how powerful you are. Have fun!
May’s New Moon SUPERMOON
For information on the New Moon in Taurus on 7 May, go here around that date. The interpretation will stay online until the next New Moon four weeks later.
May’s Full Moon
For information on the Full Moon in Sagittarius on 22 May, go here around that date. The interpretation will stay online until the next Full Moon four weeks later.