ASTROLOGY FOR THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR: Beltane

As the Sun rises on May 1, we celebrate the traditional midpoint or cross-quarter sabbat between the spring equinox and the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. We are moving through the heart of Taurus season, when the spark of life is erupting through stem and bud and leaf and flower and fruit. The days are getting longer, and we are celebrating the creative potential of all life. This year as we celebrate Beltane, the Sun is conjunct Uranus in Taurus and in a tight square with Saturn in Aquarius. Saturn and Uranus have already made one exact square with one another and will do so again in June. The Sun’s conjunction with Uranus is activating this square, the conflict between structure and freedom, the demand for dynamic adjustment between a revolutionary impulse rooted deeply within our bodies colliding with rigid ideologies about how the world is or must be. Venus, the ruler of the Sun and Uranus, is also in Taurus, its nocturnal domicile, seducing us toward pleasure and satisfaction that grounds and stabilizes as we move through longer-term radical change. Venus is applying to a sextile with Neptune, a dreamy configuration that suggests that fantasy and visioning may offer opportunities for connection and satisfaction that might otherwise seem impossible. The Moon is in Capricorn, the sign of its antithesis or detriment, where we may feel burdened by the weight of work and productivity. The Moon is also in its disseminating phase, moving through a trine with the Sun and Uranus, and we may find that we have learned more than we realize about embodying revolutionary vitality, even in the midst of enduring hard work, and now is the time to share what we know. May the fires of Beltane connect us to pleasure that shakes us free from limited and limiting beliefs about ourselves and what is possible. May we ground ourselves in shared visions and dreams of what will allow us all to live well. And may we dare to embody lives that emit liveliness even under the conditions of struggle.