Astrology at Work and Play in May 2005 - Fire, Earth, Air, Water Element balance

by Robert Wilkinson

In May the element patterns and proportions shift frequently, with an ever-diminishing degree of Fire (inspiration) and Earth (practicality), Water (feelings) utterly consistent with Mars and Uranus in Pisces and Saturn in Cancer, and an ever-increasing Air element emphasis, indicating a great time for increasing your mental activity, learning, communications, contacts with new information sources, and overall expanded relationships. The biggest shift in the atmosphere will occur between May 11 and 19, when the Fire and Earth decrease, both giving way to a rapid increase in Air.

There will be a huge emphasis on interactions and communications due to the increase of Gemini (Air) energy, reaching its peak in the last week of May when the Earth (Practical-Material) element is temporarily extinguished altogether until July 21. This means that we will have to draw on our internal Earth energies to compensate for what is lacking in our outer worldly situations. The preponderance of Air with deficiency of Earth and Fire shows mental-ideological-theoretical energies are still very strong, with the other qualities being less prominent.

Fire is optimistic, adventurous, emotional, and brightening, Earth is practical. When these elements are deficient, we need to come up with inspiration, sensitivity, and practicality to balance whatever is lacking in the outer world. This tendency increases after May 12 when Fire diminishes by one, Earth increases by one and the cluster in Air continues to grow. We are most balanced the first week of May, after which the proportions skew week by week.

With no planet in Earth from the end of May through late July, we'll have to be very grounded and organized if we are not to float off into the distance. We will have to call on our inner Earth energies when there are none in the outer world to draw on. Of course, the void usually brings forth a response to overdo that area, due to insecurity, so maintain a reasonable balance, take care of details without obsessing on them, and keep a loose grip on the reins lest your "horse of personality" rear back and throw you. Or run you into a tree limb, especially when the Mutable squares and oppositions activate from the middle of May through early June.

Every month the Sun changes signs around the 19-22. This will mark a huge sea change due to Neptune going stationary retrograde as the Sun biseptiles that point, no doubt indicating a very weird time! This of course triggers the Grand Irrationality. Check out when Venus makes the same aspect in the second week of May to get a heads up on what's coming between May 19-22. In May Mercury rapidly moves from Aries through Taurus into Gemini, Fire to Earth to Air, showing a lot of quickly changing activities and experiences in the areas in our charts where Gemini and Virgo are prominent during these four weeks. These parts of our lives will move from inspiration through substantiation into exploration and discovery in short order.

Elemental shifts may be subtle, but they do affect the atmosphere we live and work within. The more of any element, the more that tendency preponderates. The fewer of any element, the more we must find those qualities within ourselves to compensate for what is lacking in externals. Venus enters Gemini May 9 (May 10 EDT and east), affecting Venus-ruled areas of our charts. The last few days of the month the Sun, Mercury, and Venus are all in Gemini, giving us a Gemini experience in the areas of our lives ruled by Taurus, Gemini, Leo, Virgo, and Libra. Also, since Mars slips into Pisces at the end of April, the areas of the chart ruled by Aries and Scorpio will transition from an Air (mental-associative) to a Water (feeling-experiential) emphasis. This also includes any planets we have in these signs, whether natal, progressed, or in the solar return chart.

To recap, during the next few weeks the mental-associative-interactive energies grow stronger and stronger due to increasing Air while Saturn in Cancer and Uranus in Pisces hold steady in Water (emotional-restless-changeable) with Mars joining their party. So the outer planets show an emphasis toward feeling and thinking and associating and experiencing, while the inner planets are giving us more interactions, ideas, perceptions, and explorations opening new perspectives and ways of seeing things.

© Copyright 2006 Robert Wilkinson. Last update: 8/27/2006; 10:53:05 AM.