There are some really great parts of May and some really challenging parts. The biggest event is Jupiter’s ingress into Pisces on May 13. As I described in my annual 2021 overview, this is the priestly king returning to the shores of his homeland, weary but coming into his own power again. However, he only spends a brief period here (until the end of July) before realizing he has further business back in Aquarius, retrograding back into the water-bearer’s sign for the rest of 2021.
Jupiter in Pisces will feel really nice, especially after his long, debilitated tenure in Capricorn during 2020. Though his movement into Aquarius at the end of 2020 improved his condition a lot, a planet in rulership – as he is in Pisces – is at the top of his game, able to get shit done, and not willing to take crap from anyone.
Backing up to the beginning of May, we start off the month with a stellium in Taurus: Sun, Venus, Mercury and Uranus all in the bull’s sign, trine Moon and Pluto in Capricorn. Saturn and Jupiter are in Aquarius, with Jupiter preparing to ingress into Pisces by mid-month. Mars continues to plod unhappily through the watery shores of Cancer. Remember that Mars doesn’t usually do well in Cancer and be on guard for conflicts involving your family and/or home, and a tendency towards passive aggressiveness or being overly self defensive and overprotective.
Mercury enters Gemini on May 3 and will make it to 24 degrees of Gemini before slamming on the breaks and turning retrograde – more on that below. Keep an eye on the Gemini themes of your life (communications, economics, travel, and whatever themes are associated with Gemini’s house in your chart) over this month because they might give you a hint about what you might experience during the retrograde.
There is a beautiful New Moon at 21 Taurus on May 11. The moon is exalted in Taurus and at this time it will be making an intriguing trine to Pluto and a sextile to Neptune. A separating square between the Sun and Saturn may temper things a little bit, as might the separating square between Venus in Gemini and Jupiter at the very end of Aquarius, but these influences aren’t particularly strong and the good vibes should win.
This New Moon will give us confidence to handle the dangers and fears ahead, and the lunation will be buoyed by Jupiter’s rulership in Pisces. This is a wonderful time to start something new, particularly related to themes of art, philosophy, spirituality, beauty and truth.
The Sun enters Gemini on May 20 and will make an exact square with Jupiter, who is at 0 Pisces at this time. That’s something to keep in mind throughout the movement of the Sun, Venus and Mercury, and especially Mercury’s retrograde, through Gemini in the days to come. I’m hoping that Jupiter’s influence over this square will help make any issues with things like the Mercury retrograde work out OK in the end, and not totally blow up in your face. Fingers crossed.
A few days later we enter eclipse season, which shakes everything up. This month’s Full Moon is a Total Lunar Eclipse at 5 Sagittarius on May 26, hearkening back to the Solar Eclipse that occurred on December 14, 2020 in Sagittarius. This may represent a culmination of something that you started back in December. Eclipses are always erratic, destabilizing energy so whatever emerges at this time may not be something particularly good; it will likely be disruptive or destabilizing in some way. Expect some turning points or sudden events around this time period, again focused on the house in your chart that Sagittarius occupies.
On May 29, Mercury hits reverse and stations retrograde at 24 Gemini, just a day after making a conjunction with Venus. Mercury rules Gemini and spends the whole duration of his retrograde here, squaring Neptune in Pisces along the way. Much more interesting, however, is that the Mercury retrograde cazimi (conjunction with the Sun) happens on the day of the Annular Solar Eclipse at 19 Gemini, June 10. More on that in next month’s forecast.
All the usual precautions about MercRet are especially true when it happens in a sign that Mercury rules, as he does Gemini. So, back up your files, take extra care with your travel plans, and avoid buying any electronics or vehicles, or signing any important legal documents, when Mercury is in retrograde. This is likely going to be a more intense period of communications and travel snafus. I’m expecting that there will be some major news item that comes out around this time that will be super confusing and probably end up causing delays and further confusion as the public attempts to sort it out.
Because the start of this MercRet also happened so closely conjunct Venus, the confusion in communication might center around relationships, or something to do with art, food, beauty, or any other Venusian themes. Try to have a bit more patience with your partner during June – it’s going to be easy to misunderstand them (particularly over email or texts) and end up in a squabble over nothing.