Henry Seltzer – The astrology of May features Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto. This is a complex month when inner planet retrogrades bring a sense of confusion and potential upset, switching gears, and when all three outer planets are once again very much in evidence, signaling transformation. Mercury is in its retrograde for the entire month, and then some, when you take the period of its retrograde shadow into account.
Mercury stations direct on Sunday, May 22nd, one day after a dramatic Full Moon that is closely conjunct retrograde Mars, so that this is one particularly strong weekend of the entire Mercury Retrograde period. Mercury finally escapes its retrograde shadow next month, on June 7th.
It is also fascinating to note that when the New Moon comes along, on Friday, May 6th, the Sun and Moon make a grand trine in Earth signs with Jupiter and Pluto, bringing the volatile forming square between Jupiter and Saturn fully into the picture, and Uranus-Pluto as well. This grand trine is formed once again when Mercury stations two weeks later, at 14 degrees of Taurus.
Jupiter in mid-Virgo stations this month also, and remains all month in close contra-parallel with Neptune in Pisces, opposite Jupiter. With all the outer planets triggered in this way, what we have is another rather intense monthly cycle, with plenty of introspective moments and with other-dimensional intimations that nudge us into the personal evolution that our higher selves have apparently long ago signed up for.