If April’s theme was the fulfillment that comes from an honest day's work, May 2023 doubles down on abundance and introduces some more complex and messy emotions to the mix. May ushers in the end of spring, which is an incredibly vibrant and fertile time. With that fluid growth comes change…and we all react to change differently. We all have different feelings about the place and pace of change in our lives.
But life is change. May teaches us that how we spend our energy dictates how we feel about our life. Can we learn to fill our lives up with abundance instead of distraction? Lessons from last month will carry over into this one as more and more planets pile into and out of Taurus.
If you’re curious about all of the transits happening in May, add my Astrology Calendar to your G Cal! I’ve covered many of the major transits of May 2023 there, and will continue to add more transits for the rest of the year. For a quick preview, here are four of the biggest moments of May:
Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio on May 5th: This eclipse is highlighting our complicated and dynamic relationship to the things we can't control or predict and how we have been taught to respond to these situations. This may force you to look at all the things you want for yourself but can't seem to grasp. It's both elusive and illusory. You want to merge and become this wish for yourself, but it's still out of reach. How are the ways you're reacting to these circumstances unhealthy, learned behaviors that it's time to let go of?
Jupiter Enters Taurus on May 16th: The planet of expansion and optimism moves into steadfast Taurus and brings with it the expansive flavor of 2024. Jupiter magnifies what it touches. In Taurus that means it magnifies our relationship to abundance, stability, resources, and hard work. Note what comes up for you this summer. It will be a clue to some themes in your life next year.
Jupiter Square Pluto on May 17th: Your relationship to abundance and what it means to grow it is getting a big shove today. You may be aware of the place in your life in which money or time or resources slip into a black hole. This feels tied to the ease in which one can spend money these days. When money goes out, where does it go? When we spend thoughtlessly, who benefits? In bringing contemplation to the unconscious, we see our patterns. Hopefully so we can begin to break them.
New Moon in Taurus on May 19th: This New Moon feels extremely supportive for harnessing your power to support your material goals and earthly needs. Your energy, your spirituality, and your ability to navigate the daily cycles of death and rebirth are all magnetizing your quest for gathering the resources that support a good life.
We’ll also see Mercury station Direct (though not without some charged emotions on that day it happens), Venus enter Cancer, Mars enter Leo, and the Sun enter Gemini. So while we won’t be take on a rollercoaster ride this month, you may still feel like you’re on a winding forest path, unsure of what you may see around the next bend.
I’ve pulled a tarot card* to help you navigate the rolling hills and unexpected potholes of May 2023. Enjoy the stroll!
A Tarot Horoscope for Each Sign
Aries: Six of Pentacles, Reversed
Upright, the six of pentacles is a fantastic card of celebration and harvest. Six is also tied to the Lovers card in the Major Arcana, an energy this entwined couple beautifully embodies. But reversed, the imagery seems more fixated on the giant pentacles than it does on the people within it. Are you letting obsessions with money and resources and the ways in which you can acquire them overshadow the people in your life than can help you do so in a healthy, sustainable way? Your archetypal phrase is “I AM” but that does not have to finish as “I AM ALONE”. Stay true to your values, not your material goals.
Taurus: Five of Wands
Your sign is getting pretty crowded, Taurus, with a lot of other planets looking in and having their own conversations with and about you. This may have you feeling called to stand up and protest what feels like unfair treatment of yourself and those you see as part of your tribe. This is more a battle born of passion than fact, less a well-planned protest than a reactive response to a perceived injustice. Which is 100% your right and we’ve all been there! Just be wary of committing yourself too much to an unplanned path. You don’t know where it will lead you if you follow it heedlessly. So check in with yourself regularly, and if it still feels true and aligned, get back in the fight!
Gemini: The Devil
May highlights the ways in which you acquire and use power in the world. You have an opportunity in which you can use your power OVER others. To control them, to oppress them, to punish them. Perhaps you feel this power is earned, and the ways you use it are justified. You’re ruminating over this choice, obsessed with justifying your decisions past and present that have lead you where you are today. You might not even like that you’re in this position, but feel a sense of responsibility or expectation to behave a certain way. But will you let pressure dictate your choices, or your own inner compass? Instead of seeking to justify, it might instead be more valuable to understand.
Cancer: Two of Wands
May highlights your inherent ability to do stand in the liminal spaces of life. As a crab, you are comfortable on deeply rooted rock, shifting sands, and in changing tides. You have a special ability to skirt fraught moments and extend an offering of compassion instead of one of judgement. This skill in navigating varied aspects of life is on display this month. It feels like you are finding ways to both receive from the world around you and the people in your life, while also giving back and fostering something beautiful in return. This takes a balancing act, and one that you’re poised to thrive in, Cancer.
Leo: Judgement, Reversed
You’re questioning something you once deeply believed in, shaking your faith in your purpose and path in life. This may have been a truth about yourself that you’re no longer sure is true, or it may be a faith in a higher power that you’re struggling to believe in. This feels like a heavy current you’ll have to swim through this month. But sometimes asking the tough questions, the questions we’d never thought to ask before, can help us get to even greater clarity about ourselves and our place in the world. We hold these beliefs to be self-evident, but that does not mean there isn’t room in the world for other truths. Don’t be stubbornly fixated on something that no longer serves you, Leo.
Virgo: King of Swords
May is a heady month for you, Virgo. Which is a place you feel quite comfortable. You’ll feel most abundant and stable between the pages of the book or when hearing the words of a master, faith leader, or other kind of philosopher. Your mind will overflow with spiritual and esoteric connections, giving you a chance to raise your frequency and shake lose any inner density you may have accumulated recently. Just be wary of getting so lost in the words of the past that you can’t see the teachers of the present. The world is big and the wisdom traditions many and varied. Keep your ears peeled for some unexpected sage advice. And know when the wisest teacher in the room is yourself.
Libra: King of Pentacles
You’ll be delving into the theme of abundance quite literally in May. But it won’t be a solo conversation: your abundance is the kind created with and shared by others. A good king shares his wealth with his family and with his people. He uses his abundance to foster a healthy, whole, equitable society in which all can thrive. Yes, in a kingdom, hierarchy does exist. But hierarchy can exist without harm and violence. Abundance can exist without hoarding and greed. This is your lesson for May. Let them eat cake, Libra.
Scorpio: Seven of Swords, Reversed
May feels like a puzzle you can’t figure out, a Rubik’s cube with a faulty square. You may be so busy trying to find the solution to the puzzle that you miss life and your partnerships whizzing by and changing without your awareness. Obsession is always a risk for Scorpio, but this month in particular will have you extra fixated on something. Find tools and techniques to help you stay present and in your body when your mind wants to spiral and narrow and obsess over the puzzle-of-the-month. The other people in your life will thank you for taking care of yourself, because it gives them more of you.
Sagittarius: Queen of Wands, Reversed
There’s a restlessness to this month, a yearning to break through the confines of daily life and routine and be something MORE. You want to journey, near or far, you don’t really care. Just something. And yet, if you do, you’re still your same old self with your same old wants and needs. This is because the passion and potential you seek lies not without, but within. Tap into your natural philosopher nature to find continue on your quest. An inward journey can be just as thrilling as an outward one. Instead of seeking the lions in the world, be your own version of a lioness.
Capricorn: The Tower, Reversed
May feels like a revelation that takes your breath away, literal robs you of some mode of expression. You can’t put into words the feelings swirling inside you, almost like a storm in reverse. Lightning strikes from the ground up, and you can trace it’s path back to the source of the energy. And in doing so, you uncover something about yourself, your childhood, your sense of play and passion that you didn’t expect. This sounds dramatic and doo and gloom, but it doesn’t have to. Sometimes a breakdown is a breakthrough. A fixation seen from a new angle can be the push we need to stumble forward and out of an unhealthy obsession. Keep your head high, and your heart open, Cap.
Aquarius: Three of Wands, Reversed
I’m sensing some bittersweet beginnings for you this month, Aquarius. You’re setting forth on a new journey (maybe literal, maybe metaphorical) that will lead you away from the home, family, and safe spaces that you know and love. Alternatively, perhaps you are the one being left behind as a loved one(s) embarks on a new chapter of their own life. We can embrace change but still regret that people and places we are leaving behind. Just know that your roots run deep, and that a part of you will always be attached to where you come from. It is up to you to determine how best to use that inner spark of “home" to light your way.
Pisces: The Hanged Man, Reversed
May sees you struggling to let go of something important to you. I get the sense that this is an old story you tell yourself that you don’t know how to let go of. It may be a story that has served you well, pushed you to behave in ways that were rewarded, or protected you in times that were chaotic or traumatic. But every story has an ending. Every book must get put down. The trouble with this month and this story is that you both know it is time to let go but you’re also fixated on the story. You can see the other side of it, but can’t quite figure out how to get yourself there. Patience with yourself and maybe even a literal change in scenery might help create enough propulsion to get you into a new adventure.
*This month I’ve used the Tarot de St. Croix, a deck inspired by the classic Rider–Waite–Smith with a multi-cultural twist. The deck was created by an artist in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was a gift to me from my sister after my wedding. At the time of this writing, I’m about to return to Santa Fe for another inspiring trip.