Satellite of Love

There is no planet of being gay, just like there’s no planet linked to heterosexuality, but there is a planet of queerness! Uranus, also the planet of revolutions and inventions, correlates to the part of each of us that needs to go against the grain of social norms. Uranus helps us live more defiantly, more bravely — and with an awareness of how we’re intertwined with everyone else, and how getting more free personally is linked to collective freedom. Strongly Uranian people are at the forefront of all liberation movements and utopian social experiments. And on May 15th, we’re seeing a new face of this slow-moving planet as Uranus moves from Aries to Taurus—where it will stay until early November, and then retreat back to Aries for a final hurrah until March of 2019. Uranus stays about 7 years in each sign, so we’re getting our first taste of what the next 7-year cycle will feel like—and it’s an interesting combination of energies!

Uranus, planet of tumultuous change, is moving into Taurus, sign of “I want nothing to change, ever.” Uranus likes to stir things up and break old molds. Taurus likes to create, establish, and stabilize. Taurus wants peace and beauty and sustainability; Uranus wants electrifying changes that overturn established structures. What will this mean for our sweet, queer love lives? At its best, Uranus will subvert the ways Taurus energy can keep us trapped in the familiar, unwilling to face needed changes. Taurus is also a highly sensual energy, and Uranus transiting through Taurus can help us all become more inventive and creative in how we approach our own and each other’s bodies. Most importantly, Uranus in Taurus will mean seeing more clearly how we approach relationships from a sense of fear about scarcity, or of the unknown (shadow-side Taurus) — and will help us change longstanding patterns of clinging to the familiar even when it’s no longer good for us.

How you personally experience this shift will have a lot to do with strong Uranus is in your birth chart, and whether you’ve got planets in Taurus, Scorpio, Leo, or Aquarius. All these fixed signs are getting shaken up a bit right now — which isn’t comfortable for energies that prefer to stay the course! Be patient with everything that feels unsettled right now — especially as the other major theme of this month is a lovely meeting between Jupiter, planet of joyous growth, and Neptune, planet of transcendent bliss. That quieter theme will help us release persistent anxieties and relax into experiences of love that are deeply replenishing. You have a lot of time to change whatever’s urgently demanding your attention right now. Channel that Taurus calm and steady flow to make the best of what could be an inspiring, electrifying, and disruptive time.

As always, I’m available for readings this month if you’re curious about what all this Uranus business means for you. As always, for these horoscopes read your Venus and Moon signs first, followed by your Sun and rising. Use these for what they can give you, and discard anything you don’t need. Good luck and have fun!

Aries

This is an interesting time for you, dear Aries, and you may be both wishing the world would slow down a little and worried that it actually will. You’ve been exerting so much effort lately that it might feel good to turn inward and gather all your fiery tendrils back into your core. Don’t worry: this doesn’t mean you’re doomed to inertia or death or disconnection. It can be hard to trust this when you need some downtime! Often, you’ll find you can do more and stay more connected when you have the resources you need to stay fed and soothed — whatever those might be for you. You can be defiantly proud of needing very little, but take note of what you do need right now — and what you deserve to have. Trust that a little slowness, inwardness, and R&R won’t hurt any of your relationships.

See through fresh eyes: How precious you are; how much you matter to those who love you. How to find stability amidst the chaos. How to let yourself have enough without hoarding too much.
Release anxiety about: Deep changes that are already unfolding. Your inner motivations and desires. How sex connects you to your depths. What is still mysterious to you about your gender or sexuality.

Taurus

Darling Taurus, you can never have enough of something you never needed in the first place. In other words, you’ve got a tendency to hold on tightest to the people, relationships, and homes that never really met your needs. “But maybe they finally will!” you exclaim, white-knuckled. “I’ve invested so much energy in trying to make this better!” Luckily for you, the planet of “Oh hell no, I’ve got much better places to be” is moving into your sign this month, and will hang out there all summer. This month begins a profound shifting and unsettling for you, which can be really exciting but may also begin with feelings of restlessness, unease, and frustration. To counter these possible effects, believe that life can be much better than it is now, and that shaking things up a little will help you get there. Let yourself regenerate. Figure out what’s really calling to you. And release any anxiety about losing love or a sense of belonging as you plot this course forward. You won’t lose anything you really need!

See through fresh eyes: What will make you happiest. Who you are becoming. A newfound sense of purpose and direction. A way forward you never expected.
Release anxiety about: What others expect from you. Whether or not you belong—in partnerships, in groups. Where your relationships are headed.

Gemini

All things are new for you this month, darling Gemini! A life of constant renewal and discovery is what you always want, but you will have to reckon with the parts of you that hate letting go. Something in your life is ending and what’s coming next is exciting but distinctly different. Take whatever time you need to grieve what’s changing, with love, with gratitude. Also take some time to admire your strength in navigating this transition. Whatever you do, don’t rely too heavily on external approval right now — whether it’s abundant or lacking, it’s beside the point. Your own ability to take on fresh challenges is where the juicy parts are right now. And some of those new experiences are going to be quite juicy. Enjoy!

See through fresh eyes: A cycle that is ending. What’s bubbling up in your dreams and fantasies. How things connect in different ways than you expected. What you already know but haven’t let yourself say out loud yet.
Release anxiety about: All the work. What you owe people, your responsibilities, the impression you make, how you’ll handle it all.

Cancer

This month brings your attention to your larger world and your own place in it — particularly the feeling you may have at times that your skills aren’t needed or recognized by our culture. They are sorely needed, and we’re learning to name and recognize them. Trust the power you have to influence people through what you can perceive that they can’t. Remember that even as you’re geared up for some big mission, you can still make time for all the things that bring a sense of sweet release to your heart (and body). This is a month of planning, of gathering resources and strength for a big push, but let it also be a month of real pleasure.

See through fresh eyes: Your place in larger networks of connection — how you affect everyone around you, and how they affect you. How your love life is political. What you’re trying to change in the world, and who you want to team up with.
Release anxiety about: Whatever’s blocking you from pursuing joy and adventures. Your need for playfulness, downtime, and exploration. Whether you deserve to be happy.

Leo

Get out a paper and pencil and write a list of everything you’ve accomplished over the past five years. Make a pot of tea, and take your time. Be thorough. Chart both achievements the world has recognized (graduations, projects completed, etc.) and ones that are deeply personal and maybe no one else even knows about (not calling your ex when you were really lonely, being a patient parent on the days when it’s hard). Now, when you have a nice thick list of all the times you did a hard thing or a big thing or a proud thing, notice how you feel. Are you proud of yourself? Do you feel you’ve earned some appreciation? Or do you feel empty somehow, like there’s something lacking in you—or like your achievements aren’t that important? It’s crucial for Leo folks to separate their real worth from what they do in the world, but for you this month it’s also time to recognize how much you have done, and continue to do. Whether you need a rest or the insights are continuing to flow right now, recognize what you bring to the world.

See through fresh eyes: What you’ve gotten really good at. What you can be proud of. What you do that teaches, inspires, and helps the people around you. How you can release perfectionism, and the need to be seen as flawless.
Release anxiety about: Your home — anything that feels hard about being in one, looking for one, or grieving a past home. The emotions that get stirred up in sexual intimacy. Whatever still feels tender, scared, or exhausted in your emotional world.

Virgo

What if the kind of partnership you need is nothing like what you’ve been led to expect? What if instead of a happily-ever-after, what you really need is an endless journey of discovery and learning — one that involves real risks and sometimes confusion and ambiguity and transitional periods when you don’t exactly know where things are heading? What if happy, for you, means showing up to where you are in the process with profound gratitude and excitement for where things are now — not with an eye towards the ideal you think you’re steering toward? What would security and trust look like in this model of partnership? What kind of freedom and joy could you experience? This month calls you into a fresh perspective on whatever problems you’re facing in love — and it begins with recognizing that love will surprise you. Let it be a mystery.

See through fresh eyes: That romance is exciting when you’re learning new things. Connections you wouldn’t expect with people that surprise you. Love as a way of expanding your horizons, not staying safe and comfortable.
Release anxiety about: Saying the right thing. Commitment — what you expect and what’s expected from you. Needing to be the perfect partner, or find the perfect partner.

Libra

Dearest Libra, this summer you’re getting what many queer-love-horoscope readers wish for: all kinds of opportunities for gayer, sexier times. May marks a definite shift in how you think about your erotic life, and this summer will point you in new directions you’ll be exploring over the next seven years. Are you ready for this kind of excitement? If not, how do you get ready? If you’re feeling exhausted or anxious when you think of sexual exploration right now, that’s your starting point. If you’re feeling hot and bothered and SO READY for something new, remember that this is a learning experience and you’ll be facing all your fears at some point in the process. It’s almost like we have sex in order to remember the full range of what we can feel — and usually we remember why we shut down some of those feelings to begin with. Be gentle, loving, and curious. Take your time. Figure out what you want right now, and give yourself permission to want it. Then keep an eye out for your chance to take a leap of faith!

See through fresh eyes: Where definitions blur. How pain can open you up to deeper intimacy, or shut you down, depending on how you handle it. What sex means to you, personally, and not to the culture in general.
Release anxiety about: Hoarding love from a sense of scarcity. Worrying that you’re not doing enough for your boo, or that you don’t deserve love that embraces you without you having to prove yourself so hard.

Scorpio

Some things just happen to you; some experiences you seek out, consciously or unconsciously. When you think about what you have chosen when you’ve chosen love, what have you really been looking for? Did you find what you wanted? What haven’t you found yet? Chances are whatever you haven’t found is something you never got enough of as a child — you’re primed to live in a world where that is scarce, whether it’s respect or affection or good boundaries. Guess what? You don’t need to keep living as though that thing will never be available. And you don’t need to be someone drastically different to seek them out, to ask for them, to accept them when they come flooding into your life like an overflowing basket of free dental dams at a sexual health clinic. Like such an offering, though, you may want to be choosy about how much you really need.

See through fresh eyes: What makes you choose the people you love. How they shape you, how you shape them. What you don’t have in common. What you’re trying to learn through loving them.
Release anxiety about: Being seen exactly as you are. How to flirt. Being too awkward/shy/intense (you’re not!).

Sagittarius

You get to age. This is incredible! You get to experience tremendous changes in your body over time, from youth to maturity, from illness to health, and every step of the way your consciousness is riding the waves of what it means to be alive for you in this moment, right now. Let go of longing for how your body could be. I know this is a monumental task, and just being able to let go of it briefly is good enough — like jumping high enough to see the meadows and wildflowers past a brick wall. What would it look like to love your body when it tells you it hurts, or when it defiantly assumes a shape that is uniquely yours, or when it limits your capacity to do all the things you dream of? What is the first step you could take toward this kind of reconciliation? Because here’s the thing — other people can love your body with full hearts and amazed hands and eyes and words of praise and worship, but you have to be able to receive it. You have to believe you deserve this. There is a field of wildflowers past that brick wall. Now is the time you start building a ladder.

See through fresh eyes: What it means to love your body. How miraculous it is to change over time the way you have, the way you continue to. What is precious about your hands, your face, the way you walk. How you can love yourself as a creature of time and space and substance.
Release anxiety about: All those oceanic feelings that wash over you in waves and then away again. Where you came from and where you’re going.

Capricorn

How long are you lying in bed these mornings, dreaming of a slightly sweeter day than what actually waits for you when you get up? Have you given yourself permission to fantasize a little more lately? Or are you afraid of what will get uncorked if you really assess your desires? This month brings you messages from the part of you that needs to play, laugh, and experience the kind of thrills you felt the first time you fell in love. How ready are you to make room for these experiences? Can you let go of whatever anxiety traps you in the sense that being adult means always acting tough, cool, and composed? Jump in some mud puddles. Stain your nice clothes. Scandalize the neighbors.

See through fresh eyes: Your special sparkle. What you add to the conversation. How your perspective enlivens and delights. How to focus on what’s fun or funny in most situations.

Release anxiety about: The bigger picture, especially longterm goals. Trying to get the attention or recognition of people who will never see you clearly.

Aquarius

Our memories are selective. If we think of a relationship as generally healthy, we’re primed to remember the conversations and sweet moments that support that perspective. When we feel betrayed and devastated, then we start to remember the warning signs that maybe this person was never trustworthy, or never loved us in the way we really needed. Which perspective is the truth? Both, really. There are so many threads running through our lives at all times; we’ve learned to focus on the ones that feel urgent and ignore the rest. This month, your perspective is getting a lot broader — especially about your past and your family. Take some time to turn inward and discover the other stories that have been there all along. The hustle and bustle of the outside world can wait.

See through fresh eyes: The experiences that made you who you are — not only your own history, but your family’s history and the history of where you live. What “home” means and what’s supporting you. How you can choose to change course and not repeat the past.
Release anxiety about: Needing to prove yourself. How your relationships affect your social standing. A false sense of scarcity around love and other necessary resources.

Pisces

Whatever your ordinary life looks like, it’s about to get a lot less ordinary. You may be welcoming some strange new excitement into your world, but you’re also shifting your perspective. Look for surprises in parts of your world that seem as well-known as the queer haircuts you can spot from a mile away on a crowded street. Who aren’t you spotting? What are they flagging that you haven’t yet learned to read? What would happen if you trusted that you could also show up exactly as you are and be seen, be read, be recognized? How could the anxiety you have about being connected become power to do something else?

See through fresh eyes: What the words you use really mean. What stories you’re in the center of. Familiar patterns that are starting to look less familiar and more exciting every day.
Release anxiety about: Having to prove what you know. Stepping into your power, exactly as you are today. Being enough. Being contained while staying connected.

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