Free will astrology for the week of May 1, 2019

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “How prompt we are to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our bodies,” wrote Henry David Thoreau. “How slow to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our souls!” Your first assignment in the coming days, Aries, is to devote yourself to quenching the hunger and thirst of your soul with the same relentless passion that you normally spend on giving your body the food and drink it craves. This could be challenging. You may be less knowledgeable about what your soul thrives on than what your body loves. So your second assignment is to do extensive research to determine what your soul needs to thrive.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I invite you to explore the frontiers of what’s possible for you to experience and accomplish. One exercise that might help: visualize specific future adventures that excite you. Examples? Picture yourself parasailing over the Mediterranean Sea near Barcelona, or working to help endangered sea turtles in Costa Rica, or giving a speech to a crowded auditorium on a subject you will someday be an expert in. The more specific your fantasies, the better. Your homework is to generate at least five of these visions.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “We must choose between the pain of having to transcend oppressive circumstances, or the pain of perpetual unfulfillment within those oppressive circumstances,” writes mental health strategist Paul John Moscatello. We must opt for “the pain of growth or the pain of decay,” he continues. We must either “embrace the tribulations of realizing our potential, or consent to the slow suicide in complacency.” That’s a bit melodramatic, in my opinion. Most of us do both; we may be successful for a while in transcending oppressive circumstances, but then temporarily lapse back into the pain of unfulfillment. However, there are times when it makes sense to think melodramatically. And I believe now is one of those times for you. In the coming weeks, I hope you will set in motion plans to transcend at least 30% of your oppressive circumstances.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You Cancerians can benefit from always having a fertility symbol somewhere in your environment: an icon or image that reminds you to continually refresh your relationship with your own abundant creativity; an inspiring talisman or toy that keeps you alert to the key role your fecund imagination can and should play in nourishing your quest to live a meaningful life; a provocative work of art that spurs you to always ask for more help and guidance from the primal source code that drives you to reinvent yourself. So if you don’t have such a fertility symbol, I invite you to get one. If you do, enhance it with a new accessory.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In my horoscopes, I often speak to you about your personal struggle for liberation and your efforts to express your soul’s code with ever-more ingenuity and completeness. It’s less common that I address your sacred obligation to give back to life for all that life has given to you. I only infrequently discuss how you might engage in activities to help your community or work for the benefit of those less fortunate than you. But now is one of those times when I feel moved to speak of these matters. You are in a phase of your astrological cycle when it’s crucial to perform specific work on behalf of a greater good. Why crucial? Because your personal wellbeing in the immediate future depends in part on your efforts to intensify your practical compassion.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “We are whiplashed between an arrogant overestimation of ourselves and a servile underestimation of ourselves,” writes educator Parker Palmer. That’s the bad news, Virgo. The good news is that you are in a prime position to escape from the whiplash. Cosmic forces are conspiring with your eternal soul to coalesce a well-balanced vision of your true value that’s free of both vain misapprehensions and self-deprecating delusions. Congrats! You’re empowered to understand yourself with a tender objectivity that could at least partially heal lingering wounds. See yourself truly!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The country of Poland awards medals to couples that have stayed married for 50 years. It also gives out medals to members of the armed forces who have served for at least 30 years. But the marriage medal is of higher rank, and is more prestigious. In that spirit, I’d love for you to get a shiny badge or prize to acknowledge your devoted commitment to a sacred task—whether that commitment is to an intimate alliance, a noble quest or a promise to yourself. It’s time to reward yourself for how hard you’ve worked and how much you’ve given.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet Sylvia Plath wrote, “I admit I desire,/Occasionally, some backtalk/From the mute sky.” You’ll be wise to borrow the spirit of that mischievous declaration. Now is a good time to solicit input from the sky, as well as from your allies and friends and favorite animals, and from every other source that might provide you with interesting feedback. I invite you to regard the whole world as your mirror, your counselor, your informant.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In January 1493, the notorious pirate and kidnapper Christopher Columbus was sailing his ship near the land we now call the Dominican Republic. He spotted three creatures he assumed were mermaids. Later he wrote in his log that they were “not half as beautiful as they are painted.” We know now that the “mermaids” were actually manatees, aquatic mammals with flippers and paddle-shaped tails. They are in fact quite beautiful in their own way, and would only be judged as homely by a person comparing them to mythical enchantresses. I trust you won’t make a similar mistake, Sagittarius. Evaluate everything and everyone on their own merits, without comparing them to something they’re not.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “I want what we all want,” writes novelist Jonathan Lethem. “To move certain parts of the interior of myself into the exterior world, to see if they can be embraced.” Even if you haven’t passionately wanted that lately, Capricorn, I’m guessing you will soon. That’s a good thing, because life will be conspiring with you to accomplish it. Your ability to express yourself in ways that are meaningful to you and interesting to other people will be at a peak.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Using algorithms to analyze 300 million facts, a British scientist concluded that April 11, 1954, was the most boring day in history. A Turkish man who would later become a noteworthy engineer was born that day, and Belgium staged a national election. But that’s all. With this non-eventful day as your inspiration, I encourage you to have fun reminiscing about the most boring times in your own past. I think you need a prolonged respite from the stimulating frenzy of your daily rhythm. It’s time to rest and relax in the sweet luxury of nothingness and emptiness.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The Blue Room is a famous Picasso painting from 1901. Saturated with blue hues, it depicts a naked woman taking a bath. More than a century after its creation, scientists used X-rays to discover that there was an earlier painting beneath The Blue Room and obscured by it. It shows a man leaning his head against his right hand. Piscean poet Jane Hirshfield says that there are some people who are, “like a painting hidden beneath another painting.” More of you Pisceans fit that description than any other sign of the zodiac. You may even be like a painting beneath a painting beneath a painting—to a depth of five or more paintings. Is that a problem? Not necessarily. But it is important to be fully aware of the existence of all the layers. Now is a good time to have a check-in.

Homework: What are the five conditions you’d need in your world in order to feel you were living in utopia? Write freewillastrology.com.

May 1 is May Day, an ancient spring festival in many cultures. May Day, always the sustaining Taurus Sun, is the Celtic (Gaelic) festival of Beltane (lasting all week long). It’s also International Worker’s Day, dedicated in solidarity to the work and labors of all humanity around the world.

Beltane is also a cross quarter day, meaning we are halfway between spring and summer. All cycles of life in our universe are centered around the life and light of the sun. Beltane in pre-Christian times was celebrated as a fertility festival. Beltane was also the festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers.

As Beltane marked summer’s beginning, doorways, walkways and windows were strewn with garlands, ribbons, crosses, and yellow May flowers (primrose, rowan, hawthorn, gorse, hazel, marigold, nasturtiums—a May garden to plant) in celebration. There was a Maypole (tree or bush decorated with flowers, ribbons, shells, garlands, calling forth the tree-spirit’s blessings) to dance around. And a young woman was chosen to be Queen of the May, crowning the Virgin Mary with wreaths of flowers.

During Beltane, bonfires were kindled, the smoke and wood ash having protective powers for crops. Oatmeal cakes (bannock or Beltane cakes) were made over fires and offered in friendship. Rituals included visiting holy wells, drawing the first waters of dawn, walking “sun-wise” (from east to west),  and rolling in the morning dew just after dawn broke. The morning waters were thought to contain special devic potencies from the sun.

Beltane is a Celtic word meaning “bright shining fire from the Sun.” The festival continues today. Saturday is the new moon (14 degrees Taurus) preparing us for Wesak. And last Monday, Saturn retrograded in Capricorn. We turn inward, assessing our responsibilities, integrity, seriousness, standards, and steadfastness. The Dweller on the Threshold appears.

ARIES: Although considered rather unpredictable, you also have traditional, stable, responsible, and detailed aspects, and these help you maneuver the outer world. Few, except astrologers, may know this about Aries. Those qualities are being internally recognized so you can recognize your value and worth. You know it’s not how much money you have. It’s more about perseverance, reliability and being steadfast in adversity and challenges. You’re learning.

TAURUS: Patience and deliberateness help you assess anything new, thinking everything through with step-by-step care. You’re also visionary, continually developing an illumined mind, influenced by the Pleiades, Aldebaran and Alcyone (stars in the Pleiades) to bring forth the wisdom of the Buddha. When faced with a monetary situation, you instinctively choose the right path. These are your gifts. Recognize them with gratitude.

GEMINI: It’s most important that your work in the world aligns with your sense of values. Gemini is a complex, dual sign. You have a fluid mind. Much information must be filtered through your emotions. Therefore, that field (astral, emotional) must be clear, pure, no judgments, criticisms or opinions. This must be developed. You’re the sign of hidden treasures. Security for you isn’t wealth. It’s who and what you love.

CANCER: There’s a challenge now for you to emerge from under your Cancer shell, have a sense of adventure, step beyond comfort and focus upon things artistic and cultural. What would that be for you? Build your greater sense of love, heart to heart, with others. It will expand self-expression and creativity, what you really seek. Then you must also have a sense of fun. What is fun for you?

LEO: Most Leos are charming. Some are hidden. But all are magnetic—an important quality to understand, because it attracts others to you. When aware of this, you’re either kind and compassionate or you misuse your power if your power doesn’t include love. What are people seeking when encountering you? Light, intelligence, playfulness, vitality, discipline, direction, and the willingness to love. Do you have these qualities to give?

VIRGO: While you display order, discipline and list after list of new ideas, you must now add diplomacy—along with tact, refinement, and how to relate with ease, compassion, right timing and Right Relations. Be aware that these are seeds planted within all of humanity. For Virgo, they lead later to the art of cooperation and conciliation through the art of negotiation. You’re learning the qualities of Libra.

LIBRA: Your smile invites others to talk about themselves, share joys and sorrows, be friends with you. Libra, when directed by the Soul, brings forth Right Relations, fairness, justice, openness and kindness to all interactions. Visualize yourself stepping into the Soul’s light. The results will strengthen all abilities, especially your tasks of creating harmony and loving more—which then magnetically pulls even more love and resources your way.

SCORPIO: As life continuously challenges you to transform and regenerate, you also ask (quietly demand) this of others. Because your life has such intensity, you must schedule consistent times for solitude, contemplation, rest and retreat—times to gather strength, rediscover inner meaning and self-purpose. That time is now. Vision is here, too. Only a few know that as you die (metaphor) each day to the past, future visions also come forth.

SAGITTARIUS: Although you usually view life with optimism and a broad hopeful vision—and because you’re an imaginative thinker who sees signs and reads oracles in every situation—you also have a sense of being dutiful, responsible, traditional, and conservative. These can hide behind unwavering enthusiasm. Working under time limits, rules and regulations, you have a very serious side. Value this, as it’s your discipline as well as your wisdom.

CAPRICORN: You exhibit great control, discipline, structure, and reserve, often playing the role of the eldest child or wise parent. Traditions, following or creating them, are therefore most important. But there’s another valuable part to you—being progressive and inventive. Aware of the future, you’re quite different than most. Sometimes people can’t quite understand your abilities to change quickly and to offer everyone freedom to be (you and me). Remember?

AQUARIUS: It’s important to acknowledge that, ruled by Uranus, you’re different than most. Why? Aquarius streams through Uranus, which is tipped on its side. The atmosphere of Uranus is arranged in layers of clouds, its magnetic tail twisted into a long corkscrew, the source of its magnetic field unknown. Uranus is blue/green, has a moon, many rings and satellites, seventh planet from the sun and third largest planet in the solar system. This unusual planet rules your entire life. Value your differentness. It’s unique and precious.

PISCES: The two signs most misunderstood are Scorpio and Pisces. Often the fish is seen as wandering about, too idealistic and sensitive, seemingly lost, dreamy and confused. But there’s more to Pisces. They’re also brave and courageous when someone’s in danger. They’re independent, seers of potential, rewarding others for their innate gifts, which most cannot see. When spontaneous, a light fills the air. When sad, there’s despair. Pisces observes, then acts. It brings them freedom and it saves the world. Pluto rules Pisces on the Soul level.