Inner Space by Eric Francis
Monthly for May 2006
May has a strange combination of traditions: from Celtic lore, the celebration of rebirth, the spring and sexuality, based on the tradition of The May and of Beltane. The May Queen and the Green Man make their appearances at this time, reminding us that life continues after the long winter. In modern history, May Day is a holiday associated with the rights of workers. For our purposes, this is the season of Beltane. This has not just been a long winter; it has been an astrologically intense one, marked by three inner planet retrogrades and a set of eclipses. Spring this year is a mellower season, and it’s definitely time for a party.
Aries (March 20-April 19)
Profound emotional restlessness may be pushing you in all kinds of directions. Beware that your situation might be exceedingly uncomfortable for housemates or domestic partners., but that makes it no less urgent for you. This might be a useful time to get on the road, even if you can only do solo weekend excursions; take a vacation; get a gig housesitting for someone; or spend as much time on the move as possible. Just don’t take your situation out on others. In reality it has nothing to do with them. However, if you propose an adventure, you just might find you have some company — the more outrageous the better.
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Just remember, if you don’t set your own life into motion, the ground beneath you is going to pick up and move. In fact, it already may be doing just that, in case you’re wondering why the vase on your kitchen table seems to walk halfway across by itself every day. But it’s not just your vase that’s moving; I would not be surprised if you woke up one day to find all the furniture rearranged, only to wonder how that happened — and then remember you did it yourself when you were half-awake the night before. Or was that just a dream? In any event, I suggest you look closely for the message. These and other mysteries await you this month.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
This may be the first time you’re standing on something recognizable as solid ground in a long time. You seem to have taken a long journey by houseboat. Or maybe by some other kind of boat. Hopefully, you didn’t have to swim too far, but in the metaphoric sense you’ve done a lot of treading water and staying afloat. Then came a kind of trial by fire, a test of your initiative, and ultimately an opportunity to recognize the potency of the beginning you’re now experiencing. Then, even if it hasn’t happened yet, actual land appears beneath your feet. The kind with grass sprouting and smooth rocks to step on. When you get there, call it home.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
I’ve contemplated many times that there is no word for home in French. A la maison, that is, in your house, lacks the emotional sense of the English ‘at home’ — a place where you might not literally be in your house, room or apartment, but where you feel you belong. With Mars blazing through your birth sign right now, where might that be? Looked at one way, it could be nowhere — for the moment. Looked at another way, somewhere you search out after many experiences and make your own with great determination. Or, in the end, it can be somewhere you arrive, or someone into whose presence you arrive, where you feel safe, welcome and warm: at home.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
Despite so many uncertainties in your life, the general trend seems to be in the direction of progress. Or rather, despite so much that seems to be going well, there may be that underlying sense of unease in the air. The quest of this time in your life is getting clear about what it means to feel safe. I admit this is a monumental task for any sensitive person at this point in history, and it’s nothing short of what we term ‘spiritual’ in the most authentic meaning of the word. Is the world a safe place? Is your home safe and secure? You know that you decide these things. Now, you’re determining just how to go about doing that.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
There appears to be something you’re trying to make happen in your community; a message you are trying to spread; or a sense of belonging that you need to have acknowledged on a wider scale than you’re currently feeling. In a sense, it looks like you’re trying to make a small place big, or think bigger, or take a big place and manage your life there such that it feels familiar. But there is something overwhelming or at least large and significant that you cannot seem to escape, and that is compelling your attention. If so, you’re onto something real. I just suggest you give it more time than you think you’ll need — and watch for developments that come in unexpected ways.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
You are someone who typically needs a house with many rooms. This is because your emotional nature is divided into sections; you can feel one thing one moment, and then feel something others would say is completely contradictory the next. You may decide you’re through with something and then it’s as real as it was yesterday, only to disappear again. Yet even you have your limits on inconsistency, and it seems what you need at this point is to make sure that the sun shines into every room. Quite literally: pull down some drapes. Wash the windows. If you must, consider being somewhere large enough to be lit up all at once.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
You may be wondering what you’re doing wrong. Actually, you’re doing a lot right, and are gradually becoming aware of so many ways you had withdrawn awareness from your immediate environment. It’s not that you have so many new problems with where you live, it’s that you’ve finally set about keeping your commitment to fix them. And it looks like you have abundant energy to do so — but Mars in Cancer is saying make sure you work with long-term goals rather than the easiest possible solution. You may have to make some adjustments you’re not looking forward to — but now really does seem to be the time.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
If you didn’t have such a good sense of humor, and had not become so accustomed to just about everything being so, well, nondescript and indescribable, you would not be having nearly as much fun as you are now. But since you’re one of those people who figured out that the only way to experience life to the fullest is on faith, then you’re right in your home territory. Are you considering expanding that, with some kind of remote location? You do need a place of your own to hang out, at least till people figure out that you’re there and you need to make another one. You might want to keep any such plans to yourself.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
You may still be reeling based on what I can only describe as a recent emotional and domestic reality check. There may have come that moment when everything seemed up for grabs, or seemed to disappear, or where the ground beneath you opened up. But with this new perspective, you are better able to live from day to day and appreciate the comfort and safety that you have. I think you may have realized the waste that is to live a day and not feel the safety you can feel; to live a day and not remember that you’re alive.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
For one who can handle any kind of change, you’re not so inclined to change your living environments so casually. It’s as if, as long as you had that one root down in the ground, you can be anywhere, do just about anything and feel free. But the overwhelming message of your chart right now is to seek and find community. It is either waiting for you, or you’re feeling the calling to create it — perhaps some combination of both. That will be your real home. It is not so easy to create, admittedly, but you would go a long way by having a clear idea in mind, and that seems to be what the next month or so will give you.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Your life is finally starting to settle down from the wild ride of late winter and early spring. These things take time. It took a while to get to the crux of the issue, on a mental or emotional level: but you did. Now, the important thing is that you not forget. The struggle didn’t actually involve your physical living space, but rather your relationship to it, which was in some way defining you. Now you can get down to the business of deciding not so much where you want to be, but rather, who you want to be. The two are closely related, and one often masquerades for the other. Keep an eye on the issue.