May 2021
White Dove over Troubled Waters

The ongoing contest between the bull (fixed earth) and the angel (fixed air) rears its head strongly in May. The year began with this Taurus-Aquarius theme (see January’s SkyWatch) and now it is back, this time with the cards stacked on the side of the bull.

May begins with Mercury, Venus in Taurus – exultant with the verdant blessings of Beltane (5/1) – running headlong into Jupiter in Aquarius (5/2-8). Excess is in the air.

At the same time, the Sun’s square with Saturn (5/2-3) will try to rein us in, forcing us to boundary our love affair with the world of matter.

It’s a push-me/ pull-me scenario, designed to test our sense of proportion.

Young and restless

A host of mutable ingresses follows throughout the month.

— Mercury, Venus and the Sun enter Gemini (5/3, 5/8 and 5/20), quickening the mind and adding a playful touch. Let curiosity run wild.

— Jupiter goes into Pisces on 5/13. As a water sign, Pisces is mutable in a different way than Gemini. It’s just as restless, but spiritually so. The search for meaning (Jupiter) is waxing mystical. In the coming year, our efforts to broaden ourselves will no longer be satisfied by mere knowledge. We’ll want knowing.

The Bull and the Angel, back at it

Meanwhile, the biggest transit of 2021 is getting ready for a reprise.

The Saturn-Uranus square has been directing events on Earth since the year began. It is that primal tension we feel in the background of group life: the clash between past (Saturn) and future (Uranus). Humanity is in the throes growing pains — not the smooth, gradual kind, but the abrupt, urgent kind.

The transit shows up in different ways for each individual (see April’s SkyWatch); you need to look at your chart in order to get a sense of how it’s operating for you. As a generalization, we can say that it’s at its most intense when it’s peaking; for example, at its second exactitude, a few weeks away.

During May, we may feel the pinch most acutely around the time of Saturn’s station on May 23rd. That’s when we’ll be asked to identify the aspects of the past we want to hold on to: the structures that really are doing their job, which is to hold our lives together. As opposed to the ones that are no longer doing their job, and need to be let go.

Saturn (rocks, teeth, bones) symbolizes hard things: the scaffoldings of life. Ideally, long-held patterns give our lives consistency and make us feel solid. Or else, we just think they do; in fact we may be just holding onto them out of habit or because we’re afraid of change.

Saturn station

Around the 23rd , when Saturn slows down to hover over the 14th degree of Aquarius (locate this degree in your natal chart), take a moment to think about which of these cohesive devices are useful and deserve to be honored, vs. which are useless constrictions that need to be dropped.

This step is the prerequisite for the next Saturn-Uranus exactitude, on June 14th. The last time that square peaked was in mid-February. Think about what was going on back then, as the tension will repeat itself. We won’t necessarily get the same scenario, but we will get the same challenge: to deny neither our need for stasis nor our need for freedom.

The Sabian Symbol for the New Moon on May 11th, at 21 Taurus, is < White dove flying over troubled waters. >

 

Images:
Top image by Deni Soul
Pilgrimage to Cythera by Jean-Antoine Watteau
Ian Usmovets Stopping an Angry Bull by Evgraf Sorokin