a cacophonous month
the may 2003 forecast
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go to past forecasts.
mercury and pluto are retrograde.
new moon |
10°43' taurus |
may 1 |
sun squares neptune |
13°09' taurus-aquarius |
may 3 |
mercury conjoins sun |
16° taurus |
may 7 |
venus trine pluto |
19°26' aries/sagittarius |
may 7 |
mars opposes jupiter |
9°52' aquarius/leo |
may 8 |
mercury squares neptune |
13°11' taurus/aquarius |
may 12 |
mars conjunct neptune |
13°11' aquarius |
may 14 |
neptune turns stationery retrograde |
13°11' aquarius |
may 15 |
full moon lunar eclipse |
24°53' taurus/scorpio |
may 15 |
venus enters taurus |
0°00' taurus |
may 16 |
mercury squares jupiter |
11°09' taurus/leo |
may 19 |
mercury turns stationary direct |
11°08' taurus |
may 20 |
sun enters gemini |
0°00' gemini |
may 21 |
mercury squares jupiter |
11°40' taurus/leo |
may 23 |
sun squares uranus |
2°44' gemini/pisces |
may 24 |
venus squares jupiter |
11°58' taurus/leo |
may 26 |
mercury conjoins venus |
12°20' taurus |
may 26 |
venus & mercury square neptune |
13°09' taurus/aquarius |
may 27 |
new moon solar eclipse |
9°20' gemini |
may 30 |
all dates are based on pacific time.
may brings a lot more than flowers this year — try a little change! may will prove to be a stand-out month this year, when our focus shifts to realities that have been with us for some time but are revealed in a new way. the changes are likely to be personal, impacting our inner state of awareness, and therefore, we may change our mind and our direction based on what we learn.
and now for a word from our sponsors . . .
we have been dealing with an emphasis in the fixed, sustaining signs (taurus, leo, scorpio, or aquarius) since july of last year, when jupiter entered leo. jupiter then began to trigger slow neptune, making its sojourn through aquarius. so, when the fast-moving planets move through any of these signs, they illuminate jupiter and neptune, bringing to the forefront the issues they signify. this planetary combination is known for its sometimes foolish or misplaced idealism, and it can teach us to balance idealism with reality through the extremes we manifest. in may, these planets are electrified as the sun, moon, mercury, venus, and mars transit the fixed signs. the intensity is increased by the fact that mercury is retrograde and a lunar eclipse in taurus-scorpio occur during this time. the moon is the timer of tension, ticking off the other planets once each week and doing so with a magnificent crescendo as a lunar eclipse occurs on the 16th.
in fact, the peak of these interactions occurs from the 14th and 15th as the sun, moon, and mars interact with jupiter and neptune just as neptune makes its station on a lunar eclipse. (see the calendar above.) a lunar eclipse occurs just shy of every six months (always paired with a solar eclipse two weeks before or after) — a full moon where the sun, moon, and earth line up by declination (“up-down”) in addition to the usual “side-to-side” line-up by longitude.
what it all means
during the month over which these events occur, we go through a transition that affects our daily focus and consequent experiences. because the moon’s light is blocked from us for a few-hour period, it “wakes up” our conscious awareness, letting us see how our lunar awareness, which exists just below consciousness, has been running us. we get to see ways that we’ve been blinded, often shocking us into a new focus, new plans, and new behaviors.
with this particular eclipse, falling in taurus-scorpio, all four fixed signs were triggered, so our awareness of issues related to constancy in our lives is heightened. specifically, we are likely to find that situations we either want to change or fear are changing are brought to the forefront. situations we thought would never change are now shifting, often in ways we never expected. this is the nature of the sustaining force of the universe. it holds things in place, giving us stability, security, and safety. when we have too much of this force operating in our life, we feel stagnant or confined. we may find on this eclipse that a new situation appears in our life which must be dealt with over the coming six months. it is one which may have us feeling overwhelmed or to which we must surrender.
add to this the challenges that come from the idealism, even delusions, of the jupiter-neptune opposition, and we may experience an awakening from a dream. it is a test of how well we have done at balancing our uses of these energies, and it reveals where we need to adjust our ways of being to truly follow our own path with heart.
this is true on the global level of international affairs and politics as well as in our personal lives. of obvious significance at this time is the fact that when jupiter is in leo, it often triggers warlike tendencies in the u.s. in fact, nearly every time that the u.s. has clearly declared war against another power, jupiter has been in leo (although other factors have also been precipitatory — we have not gone to war each time jupiter is in leo!). the iraq war has been no exception. bush began his bellicose blustering as the first jupiter-neptune contact was being made, the second week of september 2002. given the theme of this climax of planetary events, there may be a lesson driven home during that time or in the two weeks following. it could also be indicated by a “seed event” which is only recognized in retrospect, after a much larger event is played out some time in the coming six months.
the good news is that this transit gives us all a new chance to learn — about changes we need to make. pride or arrogance is one issue that will come out, and behavior patterns that we were not aware of will be reflected back to us in the responses of others. this is just as true of heads of state as it is of the common citizen, so there is hope for us all.
the timing
the energy of this pattern actually began to build last month when mercury turned retrograde on the 26th. other hotspot dates were april 30, and may 1, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, and 29. it is most likely that the issues that arise on the 14th and 15th will have been building up over the preceding two weeks. on the dates after that, communication will be the key to resolving what has arisen. mercury’s return to direct motion on the 20th will allow the air to be cleared in a more orderly fashion, although challenging circumstances may arise on the 23rd, 26th, and 27th. we may feel wronged or unjustly accused. inaccuracies in record-keeping or information-sharing may come to the surface which have tainted a situation we are dealing with. if this is the case, we have the opportunity to correct it on these days. the 29th is a particularly good time to attempt to resolve what is still up in the air. (yes, folks, even though the moon is void-of-course, she is in taurus, so she ‘performeth somewhat’ in the words of william lilly.)
the sub-plot
once the sun enters gemini on the 21st, the tension shifts somewhat. now we begin learning from the yielding, integrating force conveyed through the mutable signs (gemini, virgo, sagittarius, and pisces). we have the planet of excitation and awakening, uranus, in pisces; while we have the planet of transformation and rebirth, pluto, in sagittarius. they are due to contact each other in 2012, and in the meantime, there will be a build-up of challenging energy as the fast-moving planets carry light from one to the other each time they transit any mutable sign.
for may, this means peak events on the 24th and 30th. in particular, our experiences of the 23rd and 24th are particularly worth watching, since they will portend what is to come over the coming six months with our process in the mutable signs. in other words, our flexibility will be tested, as well as our ability to be honest, take responsibility, and admit we are wrong.
the solar eclipse new moon on the 30th continues a theme of integrating universal awareness into our labeled and divided world — seeing through “foreign” influences what all things of a group, category, or species have in common. unfortunately, it can also be played out as separatism due to a narrow vision of what universal truth is. during the past three years, we have seen the spread of disinformation as truth, and “double-think”. in this world, words or concepts like patriotism, the political center, and freedom have been redefined. we still have another year to learn about how this has been done and to swing the pendulum the other way by raising consciousness about how this has been accomplished, as we complete the eclipses in gemini-sagittarius. books like 1984, animal farm, and popular television series like babylon 5 provide eloquent elaborations of the consequences that can be wrought on a sleeping or miseducated population. with saturn leaving gemini at the end of this month, we may be able to see the light once again.
when bush “won” the election, i asked the i ching about it, and the sage (the voice of the i ching) said that we have to follow the zig-zag path in order to learn. in other words, less kindly, those who would have it go that way and those who would not give their voice to prevent it must be given enough rope to hang themselves, so they can see the consequences of such actions and humanity can be once again educated in lessons that have not been experienced by enough of the living population to avoid them. of course, the rest of us are along for the ride, as we learn to do whatever it is we do in times of adversity — a strengthening process.
may we all be strengthened by and overcome the obstacles we encounter as we persevere on our path.
