gal-dem horoscopes: Embrace the chaos this Taurus season

Welcome to Taurus season. Earthy, tactile, Taurus season. We enter a new month panting for breath and watching the dust settle.

This May, I want you to think about control; the ways you crave it, and the ways you wish to escape it. What do you feel within you is immovable, and why? What core parts of you do you nourish and form comfort around? Perhaps these are the aspects of who you are that you hinge a stability of self around. That you lean on when you feel external factors shaking up the known truths you live by.

It’s eclipse and retrograde season once again. On 30 April, the solar eclipse in Taurus occurred late in the evening and sounded an initiation siren into the extremely active astrological times we’re entering in May. Chaos reigns in the best possible way during this Taurus solar season because our destinies are becoming clearer. The type of chaoticness that eclipses usher in manifest in jarring upturns, and unforetold events. To expect the unexpected is a grim paradox that we learn to submit to during this time; trusting that what unfolds brings crucial lessons with it. The skies give us no choice but to shake off what we’re holding onto out of fear.

“To expect the unexpected is a grim paradox that we learn to submit to during this time; trusting that what unfolds brings crucial lessons with it”

When retrogrades and eclipses arrive at the same time, there’s an uneasy push and pull we feel in ourselves. Retrogrades submerge us in order to collect debris from the memories of our pasts, then attempt to make sense of it in the present daylight, while eclipses give us snapshots of a future we didn’t believe was possible. Sounds exhausting, right? We feel this adventure become even more poignantly in our senses on 2 May when Venus, the planet of value and what we appreciate on a sensory level, moves into quick decision maker Aries.

10 May is the official beginning of Mercury retrograde through Gemini and Taurus, which continues on until 2 June. This retrograde is truly classic in how it centres the ways we communicate, and the type of learners we are. Expect to revisit anything from voicemails to your ancient pink iPod mini. Yes, we are all also at risk of re-reading letters from ex lovers, too. Either lock that memory box, or prepare a burning ritual. That same day, Jupiter, planet of expansion and fortune, moves into the fiery terrain of Aries. Its journey through Pisces has been one of us understanding our full potentials and learning to not deny our dreams, while this new trajectory is about executing them in a tunnel vision-like manner.

On 16 May, the lunar eclipse in sultry Scorpio blesses our sky with a moody upturn and recalibration in our most intense bonds. Who have you done blood rituals with? Are you ready to face some facts about your kin that you’d never expected to know? Be wary of how your reactions are symptomatic of you feeling like a pressure cooker around this time. Be haphazard in a contained way (dart throwing is my personal favourite).

The month rounds off with the new moon in Gemini on 30 May solidifying the reinterpretations you’re working through as Mercury retrograde ebbs your energy. See out a blank slate in your friendships, but rethink the ethical ‘hard lines’ you draw with others. This is the first lunation which won’t be navigating an eclipse cycle, so if you’re going to do any manifesting rituals, do so with delicacy and the understanding that speed is not on your side.

With all of this in mind, here are my thoughts for each of the 12 signs:

Aries & Aries Rising

What do you seek from your material world, Aries? So much planetary energy has you focused on object fetishisation; from Venus to Jupiter! It’s time to think about the ‘why’ behind what you own. Is that old bike a relic, a utilitarian need, or a centrepiece?

When you find discussions around value and capitalism overwhelming, focus on your somatic response to things. Rather than getting whipped up in confusing conversations, centre yourself in your physical needs and reactions.

Taurus & Taurus Rising

Not all bonds are meant to last forever, Taurus. It’s your solar season, and as you step into a new level of self awareness, you might be realising that certain folks just aren’t matching your energy anymore.

This month you’re continually in a position of reckoning. With the eclipses happening in your zones of selfhood and relational/partnership patterns, remember that you can always hold onto all versions of yourself. Salvage elements of a past ‘you’ that you want to resurrect, and embrace chances to do things differently. This is key in carving out who the new you is.

Gemini & Gemini Rising

Introspection is everywhere this May, Gemini. Between Mercury’s retrograde through your sign, and lunations that activate your need for peace and quiet, it’s ever important for you to find time alone with your thoughts.

Consider how you create calm in your life. Calamity can’t be your constant state of being; even if it’s a comfort zone for you. Practice saying less, and reflecting more. Your journal is your best friend, and so is a pillow to scream into. Always ask yourself what the energetic exchange of an interaction or physical exercise looks and feels like, whilst also considering the long term impact of your actions.

Cancer & Cancer Rising

How do you allow your dreams to take shape, Cancer? May poses questions around the ethos of your decision making, and the way your creativity interlinks with what you’re aspiring towards.

This is an important time for finding your kin, and understanding what it means to be in community with others. It’s time to rekindle bonds that brought you inspiration and artistic excitement, whilst also feeling free to let go of the groups that stagnate you into a less comfortable version of yourself.

Leo & Leo Rising

Are you playing hide and seek with yourself, Leo? May generates some necessary indecisiveness for you, and it mainly manifests in the zones of your life where you take up leadership positions, or feel a sense of responsibility towards others.

Although you’re able to find a unique flow when put under the spotlight, this retrograde and eclipse season alters your relationship to the way you seek to direct others. In moments when you feel the need to retreat, learn from why you want to give up social control.

Virgo & Virgo Rising

The ethos that you ground yourself in is being shaken up this month, Virgo. How do you handle drastic shifts in the knowledge that you stake so much in? Disruptions to your values aren’t easy to swallow.

This eclipse cycle activates your desire to flee when things get rough. If you have travel on the cards, check your tickets twice or thrice. Mercury retrograde isn’t going to cut you any slack. Always ask yourself about the biases of the source you’re trusting; even when the source is yourself.

Libra & Libra Rising

How do you tie yourself to others, Libra? Freedom is what you’re seeking this May. How and/or what are you itching to emancipate yourself from?

Starting a long term bond over is a daunting task, and requires commitment from the other party as well. Seek affirmation from someone that there are common goals to evolving your relationship; especially ones where finances are involved. This is a make or break moment in your fiscal world.

Scorpio & Scorpio Rising

How do you give yourself wholly to others, Scorpio? As a master in shielding yourself from attachments that feel flippant and unfulfilling, you’re often in a landscape of folks who feel they share veins and flesh with you. This May, you’re unearthing what it means to balance your boundaries and devotion.

As eclipses rip you away from the false senses of safety that exist in your partnerships, it’s up to you not to react out of anger or fear. Remember that when someone pushes you away, you don’t need to mirror them if your feelings aren’t the same.

Sagittarius & Sagittarius Rising

How do you feel trust in your body, Sagittarius? Does it happen when you confidently slide off of a tree branch, or glide your hand across your eyelid to form the perfect dagger eyeliner?

Deviations from your routine and unexpected surprises in areas of your life that concern the foundations of your health/physical self are ever present in your sky this May. Don’t doubt the power of some classic form of R&R, and alone time as well. Spiritual nourishment feeds back into your form.

Capricorn & Capricorn Rising

How do you link joy and sex, Capricorn? Eclipse season has sultry surprises in store for you; ones which offer you a new chance to infuse excitement and pleasure-heavy sensual experiences into your life.

Treat every new setting as a venue for creative exploration. Watch as the retrogrades emerge exes who are all too ready to encroach on your new, fun routines. Protect your peace and creative process equally during this time.

Aquarius & Aquarius Rising

You’ve broken the mould and escaped, Aquarius. Now what? This May is about redefining the spaces you once constructed as a ‘home’ and planting seeds somewhere else. Is returning to those old abodes something that you feel might offer some more closure?

As you rewrite the entire narrative you have around what home should be to you, the answers lie in what you didn’t get from your past ones. This is more than just spaces, too. It’s built of people and family.

Pisces & Pisces Rising

Welcome to a month for learning and unlearning, Pisces. Get ready to do this over and over again until you get it right. Rocky roads are in store for the bonds you’re developing in your newer friendships, and it’s likely that you’ll have to do some apologising along the way.

Fight your urge to flee when things get rough with someone. Read the red flags, but hold space for where people are at in their journey. Remember that not everyone has to be enmeshed into your closest circle of friends. Some mates who were once far away are likely to return, too.