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May 2014
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by Terry Lamb

May is the perfect follow-up to April. After all the changes, after all the drama, after all the horrible-terrifying-wonderful events that burst out of the Cardinal Cross culmination April 1–23, steady stable Taurus offers us the opportunity to rebuild from the space cleared by the blast—after we find our feet.

April was chockablock full of (astrologically) critical events, and human affairs often follow in kind. We’ve just made it through a Great Passage: multiple Cardinal Grand Cross connections, two eclipses, retrograde Mars. These are heaven’s great rectifiers.

On a personal level, so much depends on what we have put into it over months, years, generations, and lifetimes of cultivation. With cycles on the 100-plus-year scale marking their milestones now, our choices over a lifetime (as well as those in our ancestry and previous incarnations, and the actions of the entirety of human civilization) are coming to bear now. It’s what we were born to experience!

These long-term influences have been stored as potential over the years, as a treasure trove of energy. Remember all those transits that you were wondering—where’s the action? They got stored in this hidden space. In April much of that was released, and what wasn’t freed will remain stored until the right future opening occurs. (If April’s transits passed you by, there’s still a chance, and need, for change.)

It can be hard, depending on what happened, to embrace what lies before us; but even if it’s a wonderful thing we may have difficult accepting the joy and beauty because it’s so new. Even if it seems a horrible thing, there’s an inner harmony that is being born, and the healing is in progress. We are taking on the crux of our life lessons both joyful and sorrowful—if we will—and all of them lead to joy-peace-love.

If humanity is having difficulties, it is to get our species into a better, more sustainable place. Quite simply, that is what the planets demand of us at this time—to live in harmony with the planet and with each other. No other solution will do if we want to survive, both collectively and individually. In the past, we’ve based our sense of harmony on more mundane factors—paying our bills, holding a job, developing our bonds with friends, family, and partners. Now we must look for a deeper accord—with Earth and all its life forms.

How fortunate then that we enter the month of May, the time of earthy Taurus, when growth (in the Spring of the Northern Hemisphere) occurs at lightning speed. We can literally watch a plant grow or a flower open before our eyes. Taurus is about connecting with our planet, nature, and life, bringing out their full beauty whether in Spring or Autumn. How refreshingly normal! What a blessing it is to see something grow of its own accord.

So this month will be about finishing the changes we started and developing the ones that are complete. We must now create stability in our new foundation. If we find ourselves starting something new, it fits into the context of a bigger thing that is already in motion. The planetary events of the month fully support this.

Key among them is Saturn in fixed Scorpio, which was relegated to a backseat in the clash and bang of April. Now, as we reach the halfway point in its yearly cycle with the Sun on May 10, it makes up for the lost limelight and assumes a more substantial weight in our affairs. Saturn in Scorpio has led us down a road of emotional responsibility and authenticity, teaching us how to fuel our will and when to use it. It’s time to see what track we’re on, what we’ve actually been bringing into form since November. We were working in the dark, but now we can see the structure in the light of our new day. What we discover helps us set our course for the next 2½ months as we complete this past year’s projects.

Venus reactivates the Cardinal Cross when it enters Aries on May 2. This creates recurrence events, those "drop of the other shoe" experiences that come as our plot’s denouement. With all the planets Venus contacts separating from each other, we are led to reconsider what we have accomplished and the decisions we’ve made, in order to make sure we’ve done all we can to establish our new foundation.

Venus and Mars establish the conditions for relationships to come into new or renewed manifestation as they form a bridge across troubled waters with an opposition. This is the Full phase of their interactive cycle (started March 28 last year). This phase arrives on May 11 amidst Mars’s Station Direct, Venus’s first contact in the Cardinal pattern. We get maximum perspective on those we love, either via contact or separation.

This opposition provides the context for Venus’ hook-ups with the separating Pluto, Uranus, and Jupiter, putting our attention squarely on our most important bonds. Occurring while Mars is standing still, it focuses a long lens on our relationships, bringing depth and breadth to our understanding of whom we love and what our purpose is together. Now it remains to refine our focus and launch the purpose.

As Venus runs the planetary gauntlet from May 11 through 18, we’ll see our next challenges and have the opportunity to resolve remaining conflicts. If that road is bumpy, it’s a good time to work out new ways of resolving differences, easier during a formative period such as this, before we settle into new patterns.

Mars’s direct station arrives on May 19. Now Mars commences its third and resolving pass over the planets it has connected with since it began its retrograde March 1. Between now and July 20, when it leaves its retrograde shadow, we get a final fast-track shot at what is unresolved within our relationships. Once Mars moves beyond that range, those situations will continue to unfold, but at a slower pace. Over the next two years, until Mars’s next retrograde, we will work with the Libra themes we see now—those of reciprocity, balance of power, and inner harmony.

Mercury is never long from our minds with its short (122–day) cycle. We can trust it to help us hear and know and integrate all the factors we need to manage larger energies. Mercury enters its Retrograde Shadow on May 22 at 24°23' Gemini. Already slowing down, its latest bout of backward travel will start on June 7, lasting until July 1.

This is not a cause for alarm, but for perspective. It’s time to open our ears to a deeper listening, knowing that we will tread this ground again two more times in the coming weeks. It is a given that we have incomplete information at this time. Keep this knowledge in mind and heart as you engage in communications and decisions—it will pay off in the weeks to come. (For more on Mercury and its retrograde, get the upcoming DKJ Guide to Mercury Retrograde.)

May allows us to stand up, brush off the dust and ashes, and proceed. Think of it this way: A path of purpose lies before us, even though we may not know what it is yet. It is time to work on that purpose in whatever small way we can. The energy is right to start building the future on a very grand scale. It must be a collective effort; and by each of us doing our part, we contribute to the "hundredth monkey" moment when mass awareness shifts... which has already started to occur.

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