May starts off slow and ends fast. We begin in steady Taurus, our fixed-earth sign, where a Mercury retrograde predominates until the 15th. This is not a time for sudden movements with career or romance, but don’t be afraid to indulge yourself or a partner. Ruled by ritzy Venus, the Bull loves to enjoy, sometimes too much. That’s ok: we’ve just left overly-amped Aries season. We can all use a little R and R.

On the 16th, lucky Jupiter joins Taurus for a year. This will be one of the most impactful transits of 2023. Planet Luck expands the thematics of whatever sign it's in. Since Jupiter will be ensconced in our most earthly constellation, I’m hearing Madonna’s “Material Girl” as the soundtrack to this transit. Jupiter-in-Taurus isn’t for spiritual retreats around the 16th.

And then, Gemini season starts on the 20th. If Taurus is slow, steady, and stable, Gem’s influence is light, changeable, even a bit superficial—a moment for socialising, flirting, and flings. Ruled by speed-freak Mercury, which will be emerging from its onerous retrograde on the 16th, Gemini, our airiest sign, could have us feeling much less tethered to the earth and its heavy attachments. A sign of restless flight.

TAURUS

Three major transits criss-cross the Selfhood sector of your chart this May. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that this could be one of the biggest astrological months in many years for you. First, it’s your season until the 20th, so the Sun is activating Taurus energy in your life–more grounded, secure, at ease, perhaps stubborn. Until the 15th, there’s also a Mercury retrograde in the same part of your chart, which could lead to some lethargy. No problem. But then, on the 16th, Jupiter, planet of plenty, joins your sign for the next year. That’s the winning lottery ticket. But be savvy about this placement. Jupiter expands what it comes into contact with. If you’re in a stubborn Taurus space, Jupiter increases stubbornness. If you’re feeling secure and stable within, Jupiter makes that stronger. Set the right tone mid-month for Jupiter. It will be with you, as your potential best friend, for a year. Think abundance and prosper, lucky Bull.

GEMINI

Your ruling planet, speedster Mercury, is all wobbly in a retrograde until mid May. What’s more, this transit is moving through Taurus, our slowest sign. If your life were a salty little gif, at the moment, it would be of you looking down at your watch, deeply irritated, then up to an empty street, Uber nowhere to be seen. But we need to work with transits. So, put your salty side-eye away and embrace some slowness. Until the 7th, you’ve got Venus in your Selfhood zone (pleasure) and the sensual Taurus Sun in your introverted 12th House (til late May). The next few weeks should be about drawing the curtains to the boudoir and getting physical (Taurus is about sensuality, the body, earthiness). On the 20th, the Sun enters your Selfhood zone to start Gemini season. That’s when you can be more you, reflecting the brilliance of the Sun off the high windows of your soul, and beyond them, deep blue air, endless.

CANCER

Until the 20th, the stable Taurus Sun lights up your Friendship zone. Your ruling planet, the Moon, is exalted in the fixed-earth Bull. That means, its usual moodiness can settle down into a more maternal mode with this placement. Now is a time, therefore, to be a shoulder to cry on for friends.. Be there for them, because around the 5th, they might need to be there for you. Why? Prepare the possibility of emotional turbulence, with a lunar eclipse in your Romance zone. You could feel overshadowed or overlooked by a partner around then, as the Moon itself is overshadowed by the Sun. This hiccup of a lunation could be neutralised, however, when Venus enters your sign on the 7th. Celebrate this lovely three week transit with friends and/or a partner, for Planet Love in this part of the chart will make you feel ten feet tall.

LEO

You’ve got a planetary traffic jam in your Career zone for the first half of the month, with the pokey Taurus Sun and a cumbersome Mercury retrograde slowing down your cosmic commute until the 15th. This is not the time to make moves career-wise, even if you’re wanting to switch lanes and speed to your next destination. Patience, friend, because traffic clears up mid-month in a big way for you. Mercury not only goes direct, but plentiful Jupiter joins it in your House of Career. Jupiter here brings recognition and esteem, while Mercury going direct should add urgency to communications that need to be done. Finally, Mars (action and drive) enters your Selfhood zone for six weeks toward the end of May. Take it easy for the first half of the month, so you can crush it at work hard toward the end of it. Mars brings energy, Mercury speed, Jupiter luck (especially in the Career zone).

VIRGO

The Sun and your ruling planet, Mercury, activate your zone of Higher Learning for the first part of the month. The catch: Mercury is retrograde, which has the effect of slowing down the curiosity of your ruling planet. Usually, Mercury’s influence inspires one to look for new tastes, new concepts, especially in the Higher learning sector of one’s chart. But with Mercury reversing, and Taurus providing a steady, more methodical sway, try to align with both these transits by exploring the old rather than the new. Retrogrades have to do with recursion and re-viewing. Reread a novel: How has your knowledge deepened since the last time you went through it.? On the 20th, the quicksilver Gemini Sun shifts into your Career zone. What’s more, Mercury will be moving direct, in much better condition. This is a moment where you feel your career taking off under Gemini’s wing, if you are open to and flexible about change.

LIBRA

On the 7th, your ruling planet, lovely Venus, meets up with bad-boy Mars in your Career zone, for a couple weeks. This is a time to get what you want at work, by being sweetly pushy or pushily sweet. When Venus and Mars get together, it can be like discordant siblings who put aside their differences to gain some sort of mutually beneficial treat from a parent (like Season 4 of “Succession”). In the context of your transits this month, Venus should balance and civilise Mars’ rough ambition. Mars+Venus in the Career zone is also good for generating new found passion for a project that has heretofore seemed dead-on-the-page. On the 20th, the flighty Gemini Sun transits your Travel zone: think about a little flight of your own to see something new. Mercury rules Gemini–it’s our planet always on the scent for fresh experiences.

SCORPIO

A lot of fixed energy in your world of relationships this month. Until the 20th, the stubborn Taurus Sun highlights your 7th House of Partnerships, which could exacerbate your already fixed (some would say obsessive) nature. What to do? Clearly, the cosmic lesson here is not to latch onto resentments caused by some seemingly passive aggressive comment by a helpmate. If so, the Cosmos would be a poor teacher, which, clearly, it is not. Rather, think about providing security and comfort for a partner. This is also the way of the Bull. Working with the positives of a sign is obviously a much more enlightened way to deal with a slightly ornery transit, like Sun-in-Taurus. Things lighten up on May 16th when bountiful Jupiter enters your partnership Zone for a year long transit. A very auspicious time for deepening bonds with your significant other. If you’re single – Jupiter brings more opportunities for cosmic encounters. On the 20th, the airy Gemini Sun activates your Intimacy zone. Gemini is a flirty and fleeting energy, so wear something equally fleeting in the boudoir for dalliances around this date.

SAGITTARIUS

Some big astrological moves for you, Sagittarius. Big moves. Luck-lord Jupiter, your ruling planet, transits into earthy Taurus on May 16th. For the past year, it has been activating Aries (fire) in your Creativity and Romance zone. As a fellow fire sign, this placement has been auspicious, if intense. Aries+Jupiter in the Creativity sector is about making art, children, love. Now, Jupiter settles down in Taurus, where it energises your zone of Routine and Health. This placement augurs material gains (Taurus earth+Jupiter expansion), but it can also lead to physical gains through overeating, merry-making, and luxuriating. If you take on the consistent qualities of the Bull, this placement augurs strength. If you succumb to Taurus’s more lethargic side, Jupiter could increase that. Discipline is a keyword over the next many months, therefore. With Jupiter, what you put your attention on grows (for good and bad). On the 20th, the flirty Gemini Sun lights up your Relationship zone–a great transit for finding romance, if single.

CAPRICORN

Until the 20th, the decadent Taurus Sun energises your Fun and Romance zone, also known for procreation and creativity. And then, Jupiter (pockets fat with party favours) arrives at this raucous sector of the chart on the 16th, as well. For the next year, it will be forming a very auspicious trine with your natal Sun. Think of this transit as a time for letting go and loosening the ties that bind you to the sober Saturnal structures of your Goat life. Expansion, not subtraction; Jupiter, not Saturn; outside, not inside; comedy, not tragedy; abundance, not lack; fun, not seriousness. Let’s also not forget the breezy Gemini Sun, which lightens up your humdrum zone of Routine on the 20th. Gemini makes life more interesting. So, even with your Routine zone, you have a more playful placement, which dovetails nicely with Jupiter in your 5th House. Explore new diet and workout routines, lighter, nothing heavy.

AQUARIUS

Both your month and year are going to be heavily impacted by the Home zone in your chart, an area that designates the most private aspect of our lives. It relates to family, legacies, lineages, and the past. Until the 20th, the Taurus Sun will be activating this sector. Taurus craves security, so you may find yourself reaching out to family more than usual to help ground you, or provide a sense of place. The pang of nostalgia may also be sharpened by this transit. On the 16th, expansive Jupiter enters the Home sector, too. When Jupiter is in more public houses in the chart (the 10th or the 1st), we seek and find recognition. But, when it energises the privacy of the Home zone, it invites personal growth in a silent way. This is a year-long transit that betokens decreased need for external validation. It’s about learning about your place in the world by walking alone, but not being lonely. Here, Jupiter will be expanding self-understanding, which has a sense of fullness more profound than mere social recognition and reward.

PISCES

Your ruling planet, gift-giver Jupiter, moves slowly (taking a year to orbit the sun). When it switches signs, you and Sagittarius (also Jupiter-ruled) should take special note. Mark the 16th, therefore, for that is when Planet Plenty moves into the sector of your chart having to do with communication, local community, neighbours, and siblings. Around the 16th, Mercury likewise emerges from a slow-going retrograde in your Communication zone. This is a moment to approach new writing projects, increase social media presence, fill out grant applications, pen personal statements, or anything else having to do with writing. Prolific output is in the air around then. Jupiter’s presence in this zone of the chart could lead to a desire for an expanded sense of brother- or sisterhood in your community, too. Bottom line: a time for recognition and expansion within this more “local” aspect of the natal chart.

ARIES

Money month. Until the 20th, the Sun-in-Taurus lights up your Cash zone, where it’s joined by expansive Jupiter on the 16th. While the Taurus Sun will only be activating financial themes for a few weeks, Jupiter stays for a year. Of course, money is always an issue, in everyone’s life, all the time. But some transits are good for making it, others bad for losing it. Reckless Mars in the Money zone, for instance, is very rough for you. But with Jupiter energising money matters in a stable earth sign, like Taurus, expect financial opportunities. Your nature has no problem with being ambitious and working hard—now Jupiter is present to bring that element of luck so necessary to financial success. Indeed, they say that “diligence is the mother of luck,” so don’t stop your hustle: Jupiter favours the bold. On the 20th, the Gemini Sun enters your Communication zone. Use this very social transit to make new connections with Jupiterian abundance in mind.

Photo by Kenrick Mills on Unsplash