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A May Month of Intensity and Internal Awareness
Posted on May 1, 2026 in Overviews
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By
Henry Seltzer
for ASTROGRAPH Horoscopes
We have a strong dose of energy in the world lately, stemming from the April 17th New Moon that featured no fewer than eight planets in Aries, including Neptune and also Eris, the new 21st century ‘dwarf’ planet and archetype of the Feminine Warrior in support of soul intention, that turns out to be quite significant in Western astrology. As May begins, the lunation cycle that was kicked off by this rather amazing late Aries New Moon from last month still has two weeks yet to run, so that its frenetic energy is still very much with us. There are other significant factors for May, and one is the prominent presence of Chiron, the Wounded Healer. Chiron was a strong factor in the recent Aries New Moon and is also powerfully present in the Taurus New Moon from the middle of the current month, with potential consequences which we describe in more detail below. Another strong astrological factor for the current month, and perhaps the most important, is that Uranus has now re-entered Gemini, where he resided last summer, there to once again trine Pluto in early Aquarius, with Neptune at their approximate midpoint. This lasts from now until the summer of 2026, and is big news in terms of outer planet alignments which are, after all, enormous factors in charting our personal and collective evolution. Then as well, new 21st planets provide additional evidence that, culturally speaking, we are just not in Kansas anymore.
To more completely describe the Uranus–Neptune–Pluto outer planet patterning, we now have a forming and in-sign trine between Uranus and Pluto, with Neptune at the midpoint, thus bringing all three transformative outer planets into alignment as our evolutionary progress continues toward our most authentic version of ourselves. Pluto is of course the quintessential metamorphically active planet, although Neptune is not far behind in this respect, and Uranus gives us amazing intuitional insight that can help us guide our own way. When Neptune and Uranus come together it signals a spiritual revolution, and, although this sextile is but a mild dose of that, it still has that overall effect. It is also a commonplace understanding of our fractious times that spin is king, rather than any strong push for revealing the actual truth of a matter. There, then, we are on our own to find our way through, making the most sense that we can out of our circumstances, and this will likely continue. This is however an evolutionary spiral that we are on, provided we can have the strength to go with only the innermost principles that are uniquely our own.
Another prevailing theme in the lunations affecting May, as indicated above, is also the strong presence of Chiron, the Wounded Healer, which was in the recent Aries New Moon in a quadruple conjunction – spanning a mere two degrees – between Eris, Chiron, Sun and Moon, from 25° Aries to the New Moon degree of 27° Aries. In the Full Moon that comes on the 1st both Mercury and Chiron are also at 27° of Aries, together, bringing greater conscious awareness of the pain of the world, and of our own inner wounding. Then, too, in the May 16th New Moon, we find Mars at 28° 24’ of Aries and that is the degree and minute where we also find Chiron, in an exact conjunction. This is enormously powerful, and we discover as well that Mars–Chiron in this Taurus New Moon lies in partile semi-sextile with Mercury and sextile Venus, so that this is a third repeat of the strong Chiron presence.
We might take a moment to think about the various meanings that might apply for the highlighted position this month of Chiron. For one thing, we can state there has been, with great likelihood to continue, a great deal of pain in the world, in this country also, as we view the actions of some of the wealthiest of countries in pursuing acts of military violence and even outright genocide – at least as far as Gaza is concerned. With greatly enhanced global communications, the world is so much with us that we become all too painfully aware of everything that is going on. Linked with this is – as well – the pain of being wrenched around by our own government, especially but not limited to our life here in the US. We would like to be able to catch our breath and just lead a normal life for a while, and yet this is not at all easy or at times even possible.
On an individual basis, this month we might also see greater focus on dealing with our own internal pain, usually caused by inner wounding stemming from early childhood trauma that was not, at the time, fully processed. This inner wounding rather remains locked away behind walls of sorrow and shame, within the deep psyche of almost everyone. The recipe here is to try for greater peace of mind and psychological integration by first giving recognition, and then loving acceptance to these internal nodules of ancient pain. Gradually, its underground grip on us begins to slowly let go.
As a last comment on where we are in the current astrology, there is also to mention the positions of new 21st century planets Haumea and Makemake, which I am able though my extensive research to categorize, both, as “Profound connection to Nature,” with Haumea largely contemplative, charismatic, and philosophical, loving natural settings and a mode of internal moral compass which results in a form of “natural law” described as right-action, right-relationship, and truth-telling. Makemake is similar but is far more pragmatically oriented and basically activist, taking a committed stand for either environmental or social activism.
These two are also prominent in our current May skies, with Haumea at 2° Scorpio in the May 16th New Moon in square with Pluto. As I have described elsewhere, the Pluto-Haumea square which is highlighted now is an indication of the truth coming out, no matter how much is done to try to conceal it, which is a very important topic for these times. This when we are all constrained to try out best to come to our own internal principles, and to act on these and on these alone, as we can come to it. Makemake, for activism, is at 11° Libra, so is extremely prominent in both the May 1st Full Moon, where it closely aspects Sun and Moon, opposes Saturn and trines Venus, and is additionally well-aspected in the May 31st Full Moon. Recently we have seen the five-million-person protest movement called “No kings,” and these kinds of things are likely to accelerate as this climactic May month continues to unfold.
All in all, we are thus actually and truly in for it, as the divisions in our politics rage on. In the midst of this, we do however have the saving grace of taking our own principled position for whatever it is that we inescapably believe for ourselves, no matter what. This independent of consensus pressure and our own early conditioning, or even our fears. In this way we remain free, free to act in consequence of our own inner light; and to articulate where we ultimately stand, in spite of everything.
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