Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the sun, which means it can spend years in certain signs, and go into retrograde phases that we can predict, but not in clear patterns like other planets. In short: the orbit of Pluto is messy. Pluto rules the biggest life transformations: death, destruction, absolute change. It is a planet that, when encountering something in our personal charts, changes our lives fully.
Saturn takes around 30 years to orbit the sun, spending around two and a half years in each sign. Saturn rules growth toward responsibility. It rules the cleanup of things, the need for clear boundaries, safe-footing, and maturity. When Saturn hits a part of our chart, we cleanse thoroughly. Things that don’t serve us well get booted, regardless of how badly we would like to keep them. Do you have a dysfunction that’s a little fun, or that you are ignoring? Saturn flattens you until you deal with it.
Starting this month and continuing through the summer, Saturn and Pluto are retrograde together in Capricorn. There is a loose conjunction with these planets during this month, the forces of the two working in tandem as they travel together. The last time these two monster planets were together in Capricorn was 1518. An exact conjunction is when two planets land on the same spot in their orbit around the sun. This month, these planets are getting close, creating pressure and stress in our universal experience. There are glimpses of what will be a historical direction change next year. Singularity is attractive with Saturn in Capricorn: it promotes the idea that we need to work deeply on our own foundation, to protect ourselves and get strong alone, before we can be there for anyone else. Be aware of how you approach your own roles in power structures that are going through a profound rebirth.
The new moon on May 4th lands in Taurus. Luxury and comfort are key experiences to the Taurus parts of our life, and this is a good day to be excessive and chill hard. If you would like to make a change, allow yourself time and space to create something elaborate and beautiful; this will free up your mind for new ideas. Taurus rules tactile arts: painting, photography, cooking—all great mediums for processing bigger themes.
On the 21st, the sun and Mercury go into Gemini. We can all benefit from this sun movement—when the entire world mellows—to take a breath. Mercury in Gemini promotes ideas and learning. The sun in Gemini allows for space to take things as they come, study them, and create something different. The ruling energy of the last several months has been a lot heavier, and this day marks a month of lightening up, equipping ourselves with knowledge, and even laughing a little bit. If you have been avoiding conflict because of the intensity of the subject, this is a good time to articulate your thoughts clearly, without big feelings.
ARIES
Venus will be in your sign until the 14th of this month, providing energy for clarity in your love life, including self-love. Have you recently taken stock of how much has happened in the last year? You lived through it, and your strength is so deeply intertwined with your beauty. The sun will be in your house of value until the 20th. Careful consideration of money is important during this transit. You may find yourself with opportunities to make a lot more money, or feel a pressure to spend like crazy. Either direction requires action, and the choice is yours. When Mars moves into your house of home on the 15th, be conscious of how you interact with your home. Clean it up; be kind to the living things there. This is a heightened time for unnecessary drama in your house, so don’t start something if you don’t want it to be totally finished—i.e. it’s a great time for projects, a terrible time for that conversation about dishes that’s been brewing for months.
TAURUS
This month starts with the sun in your sign, a time to celebrate and thoroughly feel your Taurus self. Make a list of things that you like to physically feel. Work your way down the list with the only warning being that in excess we can sometimes make the thing we like most turn into a problem. For example, hot tubs are cool, but you can’t sit in one all day or you might die. Do not let your need for indulgence consume you. The new moon on the 4th is an especially good day to treat yourself to a day of mellow happiness. Venus enters your sign on the 15th—make some moves in your love life. Go on dates and tell people how you feel. Everyone in the world loves you a little bit more this month. Bask in this light.
GEMINI
There has been buzz recently around the idea of doing something called “shadow work” in the spiritual realm. This all stems from Jungian exercises to understand the darker parts of our personal human experiences. This month, the sun, a new moon, Venus, Mercury, and Uranus all spend time in your house of deep psychic truths. I urge you to consider your best, highest frequency self in tandem with your murky, gross human weirdness. We can take on big life changes the best when equipped with this knowledge. Acknowledgment does a lot to shape behavior—can you feel joy in reaching a goal if you are constantly self-defeating? The sun and Mercury moving into your sign on the 21st provide an incredible boost to your motivation. Gaining direction and strength is key during this time. Make some decisions.
CANCER
You have a tendency to focus intensely on the beings inside your nest: your family, partner or partners, and friends. You can take such focused care of these people that you lose track of what exists outside your foundational relationships. The sun and new moon boost your community this month, showing just how much love surrounds you. Reconnecting with your bigger web is important, because when we talk to the same people about everything, we lose perspective. The universe urges time spent with new groups during this time. Go to happy hour. Invite someone over that you haven’t seen in a long time. Go to a meet-up that centers around a passion of yours. If that community doesn’t already exist, start it. Mars enters your sign on the 15th, which is a great time to get motivated around things you’ve been thinking about doing for the last two years. Get going.
LEO
When you have an opportunity to do something that you really love and be celebrated for it, you are doing your best work. This is historically connected to a creative outlet, like making something first because you want to feel it, and other people loving it being a bonus. This month, the sun lands in a part of your chart that calls for you to deeply consider the audience and shine for the sake of someone else. If you are given the mic, speaking for the people is important now. On the 4th, consider working selflessly for the greater good. Spend the day helping someone, write a song about healing the world, make a painting and donate it to a fundraiser. The full moon on the 18th is square your sign and lands in your house of home, heightening weirdness in your family and personal space. Be aware of this and choose your battles wisely.
VIRGO
The sun is in your house of adventure and liberation until the 20th of this month. Together with the new moon on the 4th, this is a perfect time to plan a big trip or event. For maximum benefit, it is important this trip be a bit outside of the usual—if you always go see your family when you go out of town, maybe meeting them somewhere more exotic would be ideal. Venus spends the first half of this month in a deeply psychic space in your chart, offering love and healing around death, birth, sex, and money. If you recognize yourself avoiding any of these topics in general, it is a good time to approach them with compassion for yourself and anyone else involved. When Mars moves into your house of community on the 15th, it is a good time to get some people together to work on a group project.
LIBRA
As this month begins, your ruling planet, Venus, is in opposition to your sign. It will be there until the 14th. This angle creates pressure to make a potentially difficult move in your love life. If, upon reading this, you know what you need to do, the time is now. On the other hand, if it doesn’t immediately bring anything to mind, this transit might be more internal. Do you feel deserving of the love you want? Do you know what you want and are you able to communicate it? The sun spends the first 20 days in your eighth house. The psychological spaces that are illuminated can be defining, and it is a good time to acknowledge your own (potentially many) rebirths, your sexual history, and the grief you feel or have felt around death. Some of the information being uncovered by the sun in your eighth house informs the changes in your love life, and vice versa.
SCORPIO
There is a full moon in your sign on the 18th. This full moon is a good time to retreat and spend time alone, or with just a few of your most trusted people. The sun spends most of this month in opposition to your sign, illuminating many things about your life you want to change. While this transit is important, it can be like flipping on a light switch in a space that is mostly dark: surprising and maybe kinda gross. When the sun and Mercury move on the 21st, they land in your Scorpio house. This transit is a good time to gather stamina and tools to handle the gnarly nature of the opposing sun that ruled the month prior. Traveling also lightens everything, and the timing for travelling will be best after the 15th.
SAGITTARIUS
Venus is in your house of creativity and fun from the 1st to the 14th of this month. This is a perfect time to release weight around your past love life, and align yourself with things that make you feel best. Sometimes, the only way to go is forward. In reality, there are plenty of reasons why this can’t easily happen. But embracing the idea that you don’t have to continue to feel terrible for that one thing, or repeat the same relationships over and over, can feel liberating with this transit. The sun spends most of this month in your house of health. This is a good time to get a physical, start a new routine related to your health, or apply for new jobs. On the 15th, Mars is in a space in your chart that motivates psychological movement. This is an exceptional time to rise out of grief, reignite your sex life, or start seeing a therapist.
CAPRICORN
On the 4th of this month, there is a new moon trine your sign in your 5th house. It joins the sun and Uranus there, charging up your creative output. Balancing everything might feel a little harder this month, but an emotional vacation can be achieved by making something. On the 15th, Mars goes into opposition to your sign. With Pluto and Saturn in your sign, you could feel like you are constantly working on the biggest life paths. This Mars transit will help align your daily goals and get you motivated to work on some of the smaller items. Make a list of things you can get done in a few hours: it’s OK to put off deciding what you want to do with the rest of your life while you do the laundry.
AQUARIUS
As we grow and learn about the vast reach of the world, the idea of “home” can get a little scattered. With this in mind, the sun is moving into your house of home. This is a time to move based on what “home” actually means to you. Sometimes, home is being next to a person you are in love with. Sometimes it’s exactly where your parents are. Sometimes it’s where you feel a connection to the ground or sky or water. Consider what this means for you, and start the process of getting closer to home. On the 15th, Mars moves into your house of daily living. This is a good time to ask for more money or change the work you are doing. If you have been considering starting a new project, this is a perfect time to get going in the right direction.
PISCES
This month, the sun lands in your house of thinking and communication. This transit provides a very necessary ability to articulate exactly what you need, want, or deserve. This is true in your work, home, family, and love life. If you have been avoiding a conflict because it feels overwhelming to argue, this is an important time to do it. You will be rewarded this month for standing up for yourself. Mars enters your house of creativity on the 15th, which can also bring a lot of fire to your life. You are generally a peacemaker—but this month is a good time to get angry and let it out. If the fire vibes of these alignments make you feel overwhelmed at any time, you can retreat into creating something. Ideally, make something out of your anger; expression in any form is needed to make the best of the planets this month.
@iamastrology | illustrations Kallie Tiffau