The first half of this month unwinds like a hijinks-drenched, shenanigan-forward movie where you may be yelling at the characters on the screen: “Why would you say that?” or “You’re only making things worse” or “Just change clothes and tell the truth about your twin sister!” Such, at least, is how I invite you to experience this particular eclipse season, with the upcoming Scorpio lunar eclipse on the 5th. Otherwise you’re in danger of taking the potential misunderstandings and revelations way too seriously. There may be important healing work for you to do this month, and I certainly encourage you to do it, but I also recommend being able to laugh even as you’re cringing. Venus is in Gemini after all, during this eclipse, helping us see the humor in it all.

If you have planets near 15 degrees of Taurus, Scorpio, Leo or Aquarius it’s especially important that you not get spooked by this eclipse, as it may feel a little more personal for you. Eclipses show us what we need to see, and that’s generally whatever we’ve been invested in not looking at. New information can be unsettling and hard to integrate. And with Jupiter in Aries till mid-month, we can be quick to jump to conclusions, act from a place of urgency, and overestimate how much energy we have to tackle things alone. This is the recipe for screwball disasters of all kinds — going it alone and acting too quickly on false assumptions. So let whatever you’re learning right now simmer. Barring real emergencies, give yourself space to think things through before leaping into action. Ideally, talk them through with a few friends who can share different perspectives.

The vibe shifts on the 16th when Jupiter moves into Taurus, a few days before the Taurus New Moon on the 19th that marks the official end of this eclipse season. Jupiter, our cosmic tenderqueer cheerleader, is fairly happy in Venus-ruled Taurus. When Jupiter changes signs, about once a year, our collective experience of faith, hope, joy, and enthusiasm changes gears. With Jupiter in Aries, we’ve been excited about getting things started and taking bigger risks. It’s been a little high-octane, a little caffeinated, and quite a wild ride. As Jupiter moves into Taurus, we’re slowing down and grounding ourselves in the pleasures of embodiment. If Jupiter in Aries is that feeling of flying as you bicycle down a steep hill, Taurus is the picnic in the sun after your bike ride when all your muscles are pleasantly sore and there is nothing to do but eat and nap.

Jupiter will stay in Taurus for about a year, until May 25th, 2024. To tap into its highest potential, your main homework is to learn to love being alive in your body. That may sound like a wellness platitude, but I mean it in its most revolutionary sense: When I say love I mean it the way bell hooks did when she spoke of love as a dangerous and meaningful practice we need to learn, not just a feeling or an obligation. And when I say body I mean trans liberation, fat liberation, the sacredness of Black and brown bodies, the beauty and strength of disabled bodies, the vulnerability and tenderness of all our bodies — I mean learning to love our bodies is going to be hard because the world is becoming increasingly unsafe for us and we will need to work harder to create safety within ourselves and for each other. And when I say hard work, I don’t mean the grind and hustle and stoicism of pushing yourself hard to be the best, I mean the discomfort of being with grief and love as they wash over you, of noticing where you’ve swallowed the poison of dominant culture, of striving to stay present when you want to disassociate or check out. I’m talking about the practice of relaxing a little more and a little more into that discomfort so that it starts to feel more comfortable to be there. And to be here, with us, as you.

Jupiter is a social planet, it connects us to each other. It reminds us that we can link up, share ideas, inspire each other, and enjoy each other. Jupiter in Taurus wants us to experience the lushness of what we can do with our bodies together — not just sex, but all forms of communal pleasure. I’m reminded of queer parties where people eat cake off each other’s bodies, flog each other with nettles and cut flowers, paint each other’s nails while eating chocolate and cheese. We need this vibe as we face all the bullshit that’s coming our way — not as a distraction or escape, but as how we maintain our resilience. And as these are still Covid times, despite the world wanting to pretend otherwise and move on, this transit also asks us to be creative and caring in how we make these spaces for gathering, for pleasure, and for safety.

May this month bring you joy, pleasure, and restoration. I know we all need it.

I’m available for readings this month, so do get in touch if you feel so inspired. For more astro updates you can follow me on Instagram, or join me on Patreon for expanded horoscopes each month and ritual prompts for each new moon, plus the chance to win a free reading with me. And if you want to hear me talk more about this eclipse season, tune into episode 110 of the Mind Witchery podcast, where I talk more about a trauma-informed approach to astrology and eclipses.

Aries

Know when you’ve done enough and can rest — which may mean tiring yourself out so much that you actually want to rest. As much as possible, find green spaces and spacious days where nothing is demanded of you except your absolute presence. Use up any excess energy by tending to plants, cooking food, stretching, or holding an impromptu dance party. And give yourself permission to sleep through whatever fun thing you thought you wanted to do but are genuinely too exhausted to enjoy.

Taurus

Feel the sunlight on your skin. Fill your house with flowers. Welcome Jupiter into your sign like you would welcome a longed-for friend — one who likes to braid your hair or cook you your favorite foods while telling you about what they’ve been reading. This month brings opportunities to drop your shoulders, relax into connection, and find those oases of “it’s okay right now” in the midst of all the not-okay that is the world. Make the time to celebrate, relax, and enjoy something beautiful about your life as it is right now.

Gemini

If you wake up from dreams that you were an animal, light-footed and keen, and you can still smell the night air on your fur — don’t wash your face just yet, don’t brush off that other life as though it wasn’t real. You are coming back to life in new ways, parts of you here in the ordinary world and parts of you only catching up with the rest in your sleep, or in daydreams as you’re looking out of train windows, or sometimes when you yawn at night and half-remember something exciting you wanted to tell your friend—but you can’t piece together the whole story yet. It’s okay. The fragments themselves are beautiful.

Cancer

If this year is a dance party, this month is the moment when you overcome your shyness and either let yourself be pulled out into the middle of the floor or do it yourself without anyone pulling you. You are learning what kinds of togetherness feel right for you now. You may want to go home after just a few songs. You may want to retreat to a dark corner and dance alone. This month says yes to all of this — yes, join the party, yes leave the party, yes have your own party. In any order that makes sense for you. Follow your own sense of what feels good and when you’re done.

Leo

One of the scariest things about Leo energy is how much it asks you to keep exposing parts of yourself that you may rather hide. The goal of Leo is to be truly, authentically seen — ideally by people who understand and appreciate you. That’s a tall order. Many people handle this by crafting an impressive public self of some kind. This month is asking, if this has been your strategy, for you to gently relax all the muscles you’ve been using to hold that pose. There’s nothing more impressive than your own relaxed authenticity. Share that with someone special, share that with the world, share it with just your dog — it doesn’t matter as much as you arriving there and feeling your body hum with relief.

Virgo

You may be at a crossroads this month, but it’s not a maze. You don’t need to search for the one right path that will take you where you need to go. Here, not a single path is the wrong one. Each one will take you somewhere interesting, with the potential for renewal and growth. You can also wander back and take another, your choices aren’t shutting down future possibilities. Explore more. Try it out. Double back and try another if you’re not having fun. Get lost midway and wander off the path entirely. It will be a glorious adventure.

Libra

Extend one paw toward that water glass and bat it gently off the table. It’s okay to let a few things smash right now. This is not the month to be impeccably dressed, ready to impress, or overly polite when something inside you is clawing to get free. Respect your complexity enough to allow for some mess, some irritation, and some confusion as you wrestle with what you need to change. Experiment. Let something end. Be curious about what could begin.

Scorpio

Your strength is appreciated right now, but it’s not what’s strictly necessary. Focus instead on your softness, or on where you may be able to experience softness. No one doubts your capacity to show up for the hard things, to witness, to facilitate healing. But this month begins a time when you can choose to have more stability, more calm, and more beauty in your life. This is especially true in important partnerships, romantic or platonic. Start by setting boundaries — what do you need to limit or insist on right now? When you have a little more breathing room, start considering what you really want.

Sagittarius

A secret you are learning right now: your body isn’t a set of daily chores, or a work-in-progress that needs adjustments, or fixed thing that will remain the same from day to day. Your body is more like a lens that focuses your perception and can also color it — who you are is more dependent on hormones and sleep quality and the last time you ate than you like to admit. And in your restlessness you may always try to outpace your body, like an older sibling yelling “keep up” to a younger one that can’t possibly. But right now the adventure is right here. You don’t have to go anywhere else. Invite your body into a new kind of conversation, one where you’re listening more closely to the beauty and the strangeness of moving through time with it.

Capricorn

Your main question for this month is deceptively simple: How could you be enjoying this more? This isn’t an invitation to ditch all responsibilities, duck out of hard conversations, and dedicate yourself to the kind of hedonism that you’ll later regret. Rather, asking yourself this in both easy and hard situations will invite your body into the collaboration with you. Maybe you really do want to keep writing all night, but you’d enjoy it so much more if you stood up and stretched or got some snacks. Maybe you’d enjoy a serious conversation more if you went somewhere beautiful to talk, or held hands. Pleasure isn’t here to take you out of the business of living, but to invite you in.

Aquarius

A breath of fresh air is blowing in through your bedroom windows. Can you linger here a little longer? In your mind’s eye there is always a world beyond this one — the future or the community or the whole Earth—and they seem to call you outside this ordinary space of home. But this month and especially right now as you read this please come back home to yourself. Wrap your bedsheets around you like a shawl as you rub sleep from your eyes. This is the miracle you came here for.

Pisces

Permit yourself moments of unbridled enthusiasm, unwarranted optimism, and uncharacteristic talkativeness. If you struggle to find the right words, consider: what if your goal isn’t clarity, or sounding authoritative, or having the most convincing argument? What if the feelings coursing through you—lyrical, complex, unnameable — are their own language? What if what you thought were to-do lists all this time were actually poems?

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