astrology of may: pt 1
Happy Walpurgisnacht, witches! April 30 is known as Witches eve, aka May eve, when we gather on mountaintops to dance around bonfires, purifying our bodies and spirit for the festival of Beltane on May Day. Beltane marks high Spring, when the Sun approaches 15 degrees of Taurus. The peak of the season of love. This is one of the high holidays of the Wiccan wheel of the year, when the Goddess and God meet and marry and all of the creatures of the Earth celebrate in merriment. This year the festivities are especially joyful because Venus is present in its home sign of Taurus. Venus is the pleasure principle of our cosmos; describing the style in which we love, create, and bond.
Traditionally, Beltane rituals involve staging a wedding of the Goddess and God in which participants dress up in finery, parade around with streamers and instruments, and dance around the May Pole until everyone collapses in joy. Ecstasy brings us closer to divinity. The purpose of Beltane is to achieve that state of oneness through physical union and sensual revelry. In ancient times, people would meet and make love with strangers in the fields to fertilize and bless the growing season. We recognize and honor the divinity in others through sharing and bringing pleasure. If you’d like to celebrate Beltane and are looking for fun ideas, check out the latest offering of Pagan Baby: Beltane * May Day
Saturn has initiated an ambitious restructuring project in the Aquarius area of your life, and the Sun brings insight into this situation each time it transits one of the signs involved. Taurus season is providing additional depth and perspective on what needs to be worked out in order for Saturn to achieve its great vision for humanity. The Saturn-Uranus square is the defining transit of 2021, and the tension gets turned up each time it goes exact: February 17, June 14, and December 24. The Sun squared Uranus on January 26, during Aquarius season. Now we’re in Taurus season, and get to see the other side of the situation. This Walpurgisnacht is especially potent because the Sun is conjunct Uranus on April 30. This transit brings inspiration, creative breakthroughs, and a sense of divine illumination. If you’ve been feeling stuck about the changes that Saturn in Aquarius wants to make in your life. This meeting of the great minds could help you break on through to the other side.
Although, the more things are revealed, the more we become focused on what needs fixing. The Sun’s square with Saturn in Aquarius on May 3, brings our awareness into the challenges of this situation. The good news is that Mercury is doing the most at the start of May and is in a great position to offer assistance. Mercury trines Pluto in Capricorn on May 2, and squares Jupiter in Aquarius on May 3. Seek to harness Pluto’s power to move forward your Taurus agenda. The great benefici, Jupiter, is working for Saturn while in Aquarius, but still wants to help you expand your vision for what is possible. The square aspect is one of tension, but will push you in a productive direction. Venus follows in Mercury’s footsteps, so these changes impact not just our heart and mind, but also our relationships. Expect the shifts to continue throughout the first week when Venus trines Pluto on May 6 and squares Jupiter on May 8.
Mercury enters Gemini in the evening of May 3, and will not move into Cancer until July 11, when Summer is in full swing. Mercury will spend a significant amount of time in Gemini because it’s host to its 2nd retrograde of the year. Venus enters Gemini on May 8, making it a real mutable party. These two personal planets will get us moving like so much fresh Spring air. Mercury and Venus in Gemini like to keep it fun and fabulous by flitting around, filling up everyone’s cup with “facts”, flirting with flowers, finding their way back home, and doing it all again the next day. Last year, Gemini season broke down the barriers of quarantine and had everyone pouring into the streets. The CDC’s updated guidelines for vaccinated people offers new social freedom. This transit of Mercury and Venus will have us taking full advantage of these relaxed restrictions, and get us ready for what’s to come when the Sun enters Gemini on May 20. Appropriately, this Gemini season has a bit of a twist because the first week Mercury will be direct, but moving very slowly and preparing to station. Mercury will retrograde in Gemini from May 29-June 22.
Gemini was home to a different significant retrograde last year--the Venus retrograde that brought us insight into love, money, and relationships. Venus spent four full months in Gemini in 2020, from April 3 to August 7. Much was revealed when Venus was in the sign of the twins. A lot has changed since then. Observe how different it feels to have Venus moving through this year. Whatever degrees a planet stations retrograde, goes cazimi, and stations direct on become hot points. Last year, Venus stationed retrograde at 21 Gemini on May 13, went cazimi at 13 Gemini on June 4, and stationed direct at 5 Gemini on June 25. During that time, we gained insight into how we wish to be seen and communicated with, and what it looks like when the mirror is held up by the beloved. Most of all, we were forced to consider whether we treat ourselves as kindly as we do our friends. Gemini likes to focus on small details, but when we zoom out, we gain a perspective and appreciation for the beautiful pattern that’s unfolding.
This year, Venus will move through Gemini from May 8-June 2, 2021, revisiting those sensitive spots and asking us to sit in meditation on this area of life. This is perfect preparation for eclipse season that begins mid-May, and I’ve created a tarot spread to facilitate exploration that can be done anytime over the month:
VENUS IN GEMINI TAROT SPREAD
What does love look like for you today?
What did you learn during the 2020 Venus retrograde?
How have those lessons integrated?
What has changed in your relationships since last Spring?
What are you grateful for today?
You can lay out the cards in a standard left to right line format, or put them in a star shape in honor of the shape Venus retrogrades create in the sky every eight years.
Eclipse season serves as a catalyst that hastens the inevitable. We’ve been having eclipses along the Sagittarius-Gemini axis since last June and they won’t conclude till this December. Whatever Venus and Mercury uncover will be used as fodder for the warp speed of the rocket ship that will blast off at the next eclipse. Mercury conjoins the North Node at 10’46 Gemini on May 10, and makes a sextile to Chiron in Aries. Pay attention to what arises during this time because it will be activated again during the Gemini New Moon solar eclipse on June 10.
Before then we have the Taurus New Moon on May 11. The theme of this lunation is digging in the dirt. Take advantage of all the shifting groundwork by planting seeds superpowered by Uranium. Venus is ruling the Moon from Gemini, and Mercury is in a trine with Saturn in Aquarius, while Jupiter prepares to move into Pisces (yayyyyyy). There is a lot of anticipation and opportunity to move forward with the new. What is fully possible is still just an idea, an untested theory, but we’ll have the next 6 months to grow into it. Taurus is always seeking to maximize potential if we’re willing to get our hands dirty and work for it. Make like a farmer and grow something substantial this Spring. You’ll be rewarded for your labor for months to come.