Dear Friend and Reader:
The Sun is now in Taurus. May is the month of Beltane, that Pagan holiday that blends sex and money (which I’ve just introduced on the Planet Waves daily edition — additional coverage all week). The usual date for celebrating this ancient holiday is May 5. This combination of themes isn’t as strange an idea as it sounds, when you consider it in the context of fertilizing the fields with love and passion — the fields that will feed the community for the next year. Also in May, Venus stations retrograde. That happens in Gemini on the 15th, and it’s an invitation to review our history of love, and the odd tendency we might have to feel two ways about ourselves or people we care about. Venus retrograde leads directly to the Venus transit of the Sun on June 5. This is a rare event — the next one happens in 2117.
Lovingly,
Inner Space Monthly Horoscope for May 2012 | Eric’s Zodiac Sign Descriptions
Aries (March 20-April 19) — Finally, you can make some progress, though lately it’s felt like catching up. That still counts. Don’t skip steps — make each decision carefully, focus on the details and don’t lose sight of the big picture. Elements of your astrology are making you restless, as if you have the feeling that something big is about to happen. You need to coexist as peacefully as you can with that sensation, and keep your focus on what you’re doing, what you’re planning and what you know is necessary. Integrity is crucial now, but I’ll remind you that integrity means integrated: the different aspects of your life working together, rather than separately or against one another. Part of making that happen means standing as a strong, focused center of your experience, and more precisely, the innovator of your own life.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Remember what is important to you. Remember, and at the same time, learn. There is a message in your chart about seeing the other side of something — a way of life, an idea about yourself, a basic value you hold. You’re not typically given to exploring what you think is precisely opposite what you might normally do, though this would be an exceptionally healthy thing to work into your routines. You’re about to see how valuable it is when you can step out of your point of view and consider what you might have considered strange, threatening or irrelevant in the past. This is just one of many occasions you will have to reinvent yourself from the inside out. True freedom is based on your ability to adapt to your circumstances and your desires.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — There’s an actual conversation going on within your soul space — not the usual gossip. You seem to be making an agreement with yourself about what it means to feel good about your existence. You’re working out this dialog in the midst of a world that seems to go increasingly mad — and the most reassuring thing you can learn is that you’re not crazy. One hint I can offer is, don’t try to understand what makes no sense at all. Perhaps understanding will come, but I suggest you focus on what you recognize inherently, and what speaks to you in a language you comprehend. You may always feel like you have two distinct entities living in your psyche, though the difference now is that one is willing to listen to the other.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Something special happens this month — the Scorpio Full Moon coincides with Beltane, to the day. The chart looks like you become a magnet for many things that exist outside you or your personal space, that you would like to invite into your life more closely. This is absolutely positively the time to stay visible and be social, and to approach anyone you’re attracted to with confidence. Not everyone is going to respond — but that leaves many other possibilities. Keep the conversation moving. There’s an old rule about cocktail parties, where you’re supposed to circulate and not speak to anyone for more than five minutes. This allows you to taste the energy of many different people, while keeping the social environment light and flexible. From these encounters you will notice who you want and who wants you. Go for mutual — really, truly mutual.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — The Sun reaches one of the peaks of its path through the seasons this month, arriving at the hotspot in your house of career, reputation and noteworthy success. This could have the effect of bringing what seemed like promise and potential to life. Therefore, I suggest you try your luck when it comes to anything involving the work you do or the reputation you have. Make contact with those who are in a position to help; they will be impressed by your sincerity and solid values. Current developments are as much about what you’ve accomplished in the past as they are about your potential now; right now the two are closely related. Keep your eyes on your vision of what is possible, which is to say — stretch a little and reach for what you think might be impossible.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Mars is now traveling direct in your birth sign, after a long spell of retrograde motion. You are now doing a lot better at working with yourself: at making goals and moving efficiently in whatever direction you set. This month you have a lot of support in doing that. What is most boldly emphasized is your long-term, long-range vision for yourself. Think in terms of the best possible outcomes. Allow yourself to think big, mainly by setting aside any concerns about the details that might hold you back. Once you catch the wind at your back, those details will not seem nearly as meaningful or significant, but you’ll take care of them just as well. The key is not letting any form of worry get in the way of what you want. Perhaps a tall order — but right now, not really.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — An old expression goes, “You cannot be fully committed part of the time.” Therefore, allow yourself to be fully committed all of the time. Set aside the idea that life is full of contradictions and paradoxes, and recognize the ways that your different talents, ambitions and favorite activities support one another. Right now many people are living with the sensation of ‘so much to do, I don’t know where to start’. Therefore, the most meaningful thing you can do is start, and keep track of where you are with each item on your agenda. Gradual progress on each item on a daily or weekly basis will be enough — for now. There will be a time when you select certain projects or goals and really accomplish something, but that moment is still a few weeks off.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — What has seemed like an impasse in your life the past few months is about to burst into more movement than you’ve experienced any time lately. You may feel like you’re exceeding your speed limit or some unspoken agreement that seems to limit your happiness. No such agreement is binding you today — though it may seem like one is, if you worry too much about how others perceive you. This is a message you’ve been getting over and over again — focus on people, not what you suspect their concepts might be. If you have a mission to accomplish or a role to play, the opinions of others matter not — the only thing that you need to concern yourself with is feeling confident you’re doing the right thing. You should know — you’ve thought about it long enough.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — You’ve been incredibly patient for a Sagittarius, especially during the past three months. You haven’t lost any ground — everyone else has been involved in their own version of working through seeming setbacks. I know that you keep getting handed these tests of your focus and attention to detail, and yet you may be discovering that it’s within your nature to work things out until they are just exactly right. This comes with a certain kind of pleasure, and the feeling of control — though when the moment arrives to let go and take your chances, I suggest that you do so boldly. You may soon encounter what looks like a narrow opportunity, the kind you have to fit sideways to get into. Yet you’re more likely to experience that as an invitation than as a deterrent.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Remember that God isn’t always watching you. You’ve heard that ‘He’ is lots of times, and at least let’s consider that it’s a disturbing thought; what you do isn’t anybody’s business but your own. That is, it’s not if you don’t make it so; therefore, take your space. You might actually have to do something like experiment and consider the consequences later — if there are any. That’s the problem with thinking you’re being spied on: guilt makes it difficult to know what you’re really entitled to experience. Therefore you have to stretch that particular boundary and see what you discover once you do. One risk you run is the discovery that you could have had a lot more pleasure in your life, which I would rate as a positive, given that you’re still very much alive.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — If you have any fear of settling down into a space you love, now is the time to get over it. I am picking up some kind of ‘security phobia’ in your charts, as if when faced with the potential to be comfortable and set up in a solid place, you get nervous. You may not have always been this way, and I suggest you remind yourself of a time in your life when that was not the case. Part of any anxiety about things being good is an acknowledgment of how badly things can go on this planet; therefore it sometimes feels better to live as if they’re already that way. Though as Lou Reed has said (and I know I’ve quoted this before), you can’t count on the worst always happening. True fact — it hardly ever happens. Therefore, relax and discover.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You have not lost your magic touch — in fact you’re about to discover just how much stronger it’s become. One thing I suggest is that you concentrate your energies. Stay grounded; stay on-task. For the moment, you might consider remaining close to home so that you don’t distract yourself with the need to adjust or adapt to externals. If you are selecting from among creative projects, focus on the most daring, dangerous or experimental. If you are selecting from among relationship opportunities, focus on the desire that feels right, and that speaks to you the most clearly. Everything that’s right and true is going to have that sensation of concern that it’s a little out of bounds, a little too much. That’s the idea: keep your connection to the dark side, so that you can keep your connection to the light.