With several planets traveling through Taurus this month, we’re attuned to a slower pace and a sweeter sense of life. While we may be adjusting to a lot of changes, let’s all find somewhere soft to sit down for a minute and exhale. Of all the signs, Taurus revels in simple physical pleasures: the scent of a loved one’s hair. Clean sheets. Sunlight through spring leaves. Most of all, touching and being touched. While its opposite sign, Scorpio, thrives on the intensity of sexual connection, Taurus embodies the lesbian cliché of non-goal-oriented sensuality (we know, not all lesbians). Nevertheless, this month may bring a heightened desire to be sweet and cuddly with our favorite people and animals. We may give longer back rubs. We may gather ourselves back together and bask in the sun, like new leaves whose first burst of growth is over. Taurus asks us to find the stillness in the springtime, to remember we are whole and complete exactly as we are. The sense of touch reminds us that we have skin, that we are safely contained. As the opposite sign from Scorpio, which reminds us that we must face change and risk and loss in order to remain true to ourselves, Taurus reminds us that healing can also look like effortless enjoyment of the moment we’re in. Taurus asks that we draw a magic circle around ourselves and our joy and not let anything else in until we’re good and ready.

One risk with all this Taurus energy is a sense of inertia: Taurus hates to speed up or change course. Luckily, Jupiter (planet of big plans and adventures) is speeding up and changing course on the 9th! Since January, this planet that helps us grow and expand has been slowing down our sense of what’s possible. Finally, we’re getting the go ahead to move forward. On the 6th, the New Moon in Taurus sets off another Grand Earth Trine (check last month’s scopes for full details), helping us gain the momentum we need to go after what we really want. What has been simmering can now start to sizzle. A few days later, Venus in Taurus will catch up and form a third and final grand trine, making May a powerful time to be working some love magic! Between the 10th and the 14th, dedicate yourself to calling in the love you need. Start by remembering that you are already whole and complete. That you don’t need to work hard. That sweetness, abundance, and pleasure are near at hand. Expect good things, and don’t let anyone (including yourself) treat you as though you deserve less.

This sweetness gets stirred up in the last week of May, as a few hard aspects remind us that we still need to fight to assert our boundaries, especially as retrograde Mars dips back into Scorpio on the 27th. Call on that sweet strength of Taurus to help you brave the questions Mars will raise there (especially questions about sexual desire, sexual orientation, BDSM and power play, and the possibility of healing through anger or pain).

As always, take what feels super good to you this month and discard anything that doesn’t make your heart beat in recognition. The astro-literate can read their Moon and Venus signs first, and those who wish to be astro-literate can check out my new Astrology 101 Class. If you’re curious about how this month will play out in your own relationships, get in touch about a reading.

Aries

If you’ve got someone sweet to linger in bed with this month, you may have a hard time getting up even for water and bathroom breaks. Make sure you don’t define your worth too much by your relationships right now, though. This is an excellent time for working steadily at your own creative talents, whether those are cooking or drawing or breakdancing. As Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect a burst of energy to help you clarify and solve lingering relationship problems, especially concerning imbalances of power. If you’re more of a top, spend some time as a service bottom this month and see what new thrills this role reversal offers.

Taurus

Oh honey, it’s your time. If you can imagine a relationship that will help you heal, it’s something you can find. What do you need to do to convince yourself that it’s possible, and you deserve it? Stop holding your breath and start taking those first steps toward a more beautiful life. Spend this month celebrating everything that makes you lovable: your softness, your hardness, your insights, your humor, your wisdom, your strength, your generosity. Let go of your old griefs. Be gentle with those old wounds, but don’t let them stop you from dancing. As Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy for new romances and creative schemes of all kinds.

Gemini

Oh my goddess, it’s true—you get to have some easier times this month! Hit the snooze button a few more times. Let sweet dreams and fantasies open you up to real adventures. Trust that you can take new risks with your heart because you are protected. The more you can open yourself to wonder, the less you’ll miss out on during this golden time. Don’t let anxieties or the constant hum of responsibilities and errands block you from direct experience of joy. As Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy toward making home with your chosen family.

Cancer

You have permission to want strange things, my friend, and to pursue your desires in ways that would make your parents blush. You don’t have to be defined by your desires, but you do get to move towards whatever helps you feel more free this month. Take meaningful risks toward intimacy with the people you’ve admired from a distance, and remember that you can belong to a larger world than you’d imagined. As Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy toward conversation, flirtation, and social activity.

Leo

Silence and stillness aren’t necessarily your favorite way to spend your time, but it might be worth taking recovery and regeneration seriously this month. Remember that you don’t need to prove yourself, and keep proving yourself, and continuously outdo yourself, to hold the attention of those you love. This will be especially important to remember this month, as you’re signing up for a super ambitious project. It’s okay to take things in small steps, in stages, with plenty of time to sleep and daydream between bursts of activity. As Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy toward shoring up your internal sense of self-worth, and sharing your abundant resources with those you love.

Virgo

Whether you can handle it or not, you’re being offered a few dozen opportunities for enjoying your damn self. You don’t have to earn these. You don’t have to take notes on them in order to learn how to make your life better later. You don’t have to analyze why they’re coming your way or how to make them last longer. All you have to do is reach out and gratefully receive these gifts. Let your friends, partners, and lovers draw you into their circle. Let go of your need to control what happens next. As Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy toward understanding what you most need to thrive in this world.

Libra

Whatever’s been scaring you about your sexuality, it’s time to release that fear. Maybe it was an early rejection, or memories of harassment, or fears that you’re never going to be butch enough or femme enough or thin enough or light-skinned enough or whatever it is that feels like the bar you have to jump to be accepted as sexy. There is plenty of evidence that the world is full of fear, and it’s probably afraid of you, but that doesn’t mean you have to be afraid of yourself. Spend some time this month actively loving the parts of you that you fear being rejected for. Start small, if it feels daunting. Stay with the good feelings. Claim your victories, and reclaim sense of your body and desires being perfect. As Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy toward remembering your dreams, communing with your animal friends, and retreating from the world of productive activity.

Scorpio

This is what trust feels like: it’s not scary, like balancing on the top of a ladder, or falling backwards into someone’s (possibly) waiting arms. It doesn’t feel like something you have to work hard to maintain, or like something that could slip away quickly. Trust isn’t something you can force yourself to feel for someone. Trust feels like your muscles and nerves relaxing because your body knows you’re safe. This month is offering you the gift of that feeling that way in an important intimacy. It may be temporary, it may be with someone who isn’t going to stick around, but the real gift is in knowing how it feels. Remember that it’s possible. Hold out for this kind of trust in any relationship that gets real. And as Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy toward living out your dreams and your ideals.

Sagittarius

Oh darling, it may be a month of pleasure and ease, but you’ve still got a lot of responsibilities to manage and important decisions to make. Tap into that Taurus calm and perseverance to help you feel stable through a time of major changes. Your relationships are in a period of adjustment, and whether some are growing or ending is still unclear; what’s important right now is that you keep demonstrating in all your actions that you know how to treat yourself and others with respect. You’ll have a chance this month to balance the scales in any relationship that’s gotten too controlling or one-sided, and as Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy toward showing the world what you’re capable of.

Capricorn

With this month’s series of Grand Earth Trines involving Pluto in your sign, your tough exterior is getting rubbed down with all kinds of (non-chemically) scented oils. How much softness can you handle at once? Can you let yourself take a break from being an adult this month and play? Even if you’re in the midst of some hard times, this month offers you little pockets of sweetness to help you surrender. Reconnect with the folks who bring out your younger self, and remember that even you get to relax. As Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy toward longterm schemes for education, travel, or other adventures.

Aquarius

Home is a tricky enterprise. Who we make home with determines a lot about our daily sense of safety, our rhythms of waking and eating and sleeping, our ability to drop the mask and be fully ourselves within the walls of our home. Whether you live alone, with a partner, or in a collective of twenty, this is month offers you some strong incentives to stay home and nest. This isn’t a passive activity; it involves checking in with your heart about what makes it sing, and often involves coordinating with others about what helps you all feel strong together. Enjoy your impulse to root down and beautify wherever you’re living, even if it’s temporary. As Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy toward sexual connections, and the release of tension and pain they can provide.

Pisces

So here’s the thing about May: the early flowers have already blossomed, and now the leaves are growing thickly about the trees, claiming the sunlight. When you think about romance, you may think more about flowers than leaves: more about the fragrance that lingers and dissolves into the air, and less about the structures that keep their shape and stick around much longer. As you open up toward friends and lovers this month, imagine that you are a leaf and not a flower: that you get to be self-contained, you get to keep your shape, you get to focus on what nourishes you. You don’t have to dissolve into everyone’s romantic dream, even if it feels good for you in the moment. Keep track of your own longterm needs and desires, and trust that you’re not going to lose any love by keeping yourself to yourself a little more. As Jupiter goes direct on the 9th, expect an extra burst of energy toward understanding what you need from partnership.

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