As the poets say, “What potent blood hath modest May.”
We’ll spend most of the month under the influence of Taurus, the zodiac’s resident horned, horny hedonist.
Etymologically, the word “hedonism” comes from the Greek “hēdonē,” meaning pleasure, and is related to the Greek “hēdys,” meaning sweet.
In kind and cavity, the great lesson of Taurus is that pleasure requires presence. You can’t have a mighty orgasm, a transcendent meal or an awe-inspiring conversation without total attention to the moment as it unfolds.
In the ugly, capitalist, ‘more’ motivated world in which we live and toil, pleasure is often cheapened to a quick thrill and disappearing dopamine; fast food and a swipe right. Yet at its highest expression, Taurus refuses to rush what feels good, it’s not waiting for what’s next or consumed with what’s been — it’s hungry for right now and exactly what it already has.
Dig in and stay in it, my friends.
On May 5th, petite power planet/death daddy Pluto begins his retrograde in Aquarius, calling us to question our self-sabotaging patterns and where we are settling when we could be elevating.
The Full Flower Moon in Scorpio rises and shines on May 12th. Activating the axis of life and death, rot and renewal, ingestion and expulsion, we’re all primed for a purge under the ever loving light of this lunation. Secrets will surface, feelings will be amplified and what no longer supports will need to be surrendered.
Remember, folks, you can’t grow if you can’t let go.
Moods and hemlines alike lift when the sun moves into the loquacious climes of Gemini. The energy here is expressive, inspired, curious chaos. If Gemini were a mode of travel, it would be a hot air balloon, interesting, unexpected and a little unsafe.
Buy the ticket, take the ride.
Taurus refuses to rush what feels good, it’s not waiting for what’s next or consumed with what’s been — it’s hungry for right now.
On May 25th, stern, paternal, ‘misery makes you stronger,’ planet Saturn moves into the impulsive, punk rock hellfires of Aries. This ingress is a summons to commit, with full force and full firepower, to a person, practice or personal change.
The month closes out with a New Moon in Gemini on May 27th. Gemini does not deal in absolutes but rather holds all possibilities and polarities at once. The mantra of this moon is “subject to change,” and the summons is to make one meaningful mental shift before summer starts.
Read on for your May 2025 horoscope and make sure to read for both your sun and rising sign.
Ahoy, Aries!
The sun in Taurus lights a lantern in your second house of wealth and worth.
The etymology of the word “rich” comes from the Old English “rice,” meaning “strong, powerful; great, mighty; of high rank.”
I wonder, Aries, what single thing makes you feel powerful, like you’re mainlining might and commanding a cloud ship? I’m willing to bet it has nothing to do with material wealth. Whatever it is, name it, claim it and move towards making more of it.
Happy return of the sun to you, my bull brethren!
Scholar and astrologer Richard Tarnas argues that the planet Uranus is akin in spirit and influence to Prometheus, the revolutionary who stole fire from the gods and gave the contraband gift to man, allowing mortals to be freer and see further.
With Uranus currently side spinning in your sign,Taurus, and as a birthday gift to yourself, consider what you could give up or give away that could facilitate a similar kind of luminous freedom.
I recently met a wonderful Gemini who, in describing the arduous ascents that define her mountain biking excursions, explained, “I only go up to go down.”
With the sun in Taurus highlighting your twelfth house of endings and exorcisms, I hope you’ll adopt a similar attitude toward toil and reward— go in to get out, dive deep to rise high.
Talking about discord with a dear friend of mine, she offered this sage observation:
“It sucks when people show up to be right not to understand.”
As Taurus season throws a light on your eleventh house of community, friends and collaboration, Cancer, I hope that you will come to every conversation with the intent to trade the fist of righteousness for the open palm of communion.
Faced with needing a new tooth, fellow Leo and national treasure Sierra Ferrell opted for a gold cap engraved with a simple heart; a wink and a middle finger salute to ‘eat your heart out.’
As the sun hits your tenth house of legacy, elders, wisdom and wisdom teeth, Leo, I trust you’ll channel a similar energy of gilded individuation.
Never settle for sameness where and when you can leave your indelible signature.
The sun in Taurus throws a spotlight on your ninth house of philosophy, spirituality and the road less traveled, Virgo.
I recently began reading Carson McCullers’s debut novel, “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.” In it, the thirteen-year-old protagonist wanders the nighttime neighborhoods of her hometown listening for music played through open windows. She lies on the lawns of strangers and waits for sounds to both fix her in place on the cold grass and take her away from the familiar.
With the sun in a fellow earth sign, may I suggest you adopt a similar ritual — go find strange dirt nearby and see where it can take you.
As you likely know, Libra, your sign is commonly symbolized by the scales and balances of justice, a nod to the goddess Themis.
I’d like to take you back even further to the scales and balances of Anubis — the Egyptian god of the afterlife, who would weigh the hearts of the dead against a feather to determine whether the soul in question was worthy of eternity.
One of the primary qualifiers for a light heart was truth-telling.
I hope you’ll keep this in mind and mouth as you move through Taurus season — may every action you take and sound that you make be in accordance with the levity of honesty.
I recently watched the movie “The Ballad of Wallis Island” about an eccentric and profoundly lonely millionaire who pays to have his favorite band come to his remote island home and play for him, an audience of one, on an abandoned piece of rocky beach.
The millionaire is not a musician, and this vantage and the love born from it seem to elevate the songs he pays to hear from verse chorus verse to something closer to the sublime.
With the sun in Taurus highlighting your seventh house of trusted partnerships, Scorpio, I wonder who and what you could love with the same mix of enthusiasm and absolute wonder for its otherness.
The late great writer and apex Sagittarius, Jim Harrison, was found dead, pen in hand, at his writing desk, his last words being the last lines of a poem he was writing.
I bring you this acutely fitting and absolutely poetic ending in the hopes that you will find a calling, habit, practice or ritual that will sustain you in spirit to the very last.
Here’s to dying while doing.
I recently met a charming sea goat who compared the last years of her life to the game she played as a child, where she stood in a doorway with arms extended, pushing her hands against the frame as hard as she could. Lately, she’s felt like she’s stopped pushing and in letting her arms go, they’ve lifted, as if buoyed by an external force, what’s known as the Kohnstamm phenomenon,
I hope you’ll find a similar release in the weeks to come, Capricorn, that you will no longer be ballasted by your burdens and your own arms will raise in salute, celebration and welcome for what is to come.
In a collection of nearly 600 postcards, author, artist and fellow Aquarius Elizabeth Bishop only writes “I wish you were here” a single time.
As Taurus season highlights your fourth house of home, roots and other ties that bind Aquarius, I hope you can adopt a similar attitude of affection without ache and love without longing.
I recently met a lovely Pisces who shared with me the story of an intuitive pet reading she had. Her English bulldog Addie came correct to tell her two key pieces of information: A) she was sick to death of eating chicken and B) when she looked at said Pisces, she saw “faeries all around her.”
As Taurus season illuminates your third house of communication and exchange, I hope you will consider the myriad unseen spirits and silent creatures that are keeping you company and regularly and enthusiastically singing your praises.
Remember the wonder that you are and the myth that precedes you as you step into May.
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.
