By Jonathan Cainer

It seems only weeks since Mercury was last retrograde. Yet, later in May, another begins. Please don’t groan! This planetary phenomenon has a bad rap. Folk talk about it as if it were a cosmic curse. Yet the wise understand that times like this are not all about difficulty and delay in commerce and communication. They are all about reflection and review, rethinking old plans, identifying new objectives and correcting the course of expeditions that may have wandered too far from their original point and purpose without anyone realising. We may yet all gain greatly from this heavenly phase.

ARIES (March 21 – April 20)
They say, ‘Whatever doesn’t destroy us makes us stronger.’ So you must be pretty strong! You have certainly experienced many stresses and strains in your life that have taken you to the brink of exhaustion and exasperation in previous months and years. It is even possible that, this month, you may once again encounter a reminder of all that you find difficult to deal with. But you know your way around such difficulties by now, don’t you? Just trust. You won’t just survive May; you will emerge from it triumphant.

TAURUS (April 21 – May 21)
What is the rush? Why is everyone in a hurry? Do you need to buy into the growing sense of urgency? If a deadline is not met, how bad will things be? You don’t have a time machine this month, but your outlook implies that you will yet get access to the next best thing. Where you need the universe to cut you a little slack, serendipitous circumstances will be right there for you with the scissors! Helpful coincidences and unexpected changes that work in your favour will yet make May a lot less demanding than you currently expect.

GEMINI (May 22 – June 22)
It will take more than willpower to get a mountain moved. You will require a sound strategy too. And some support. You are engaged in a process that needs teamwork, and teamwork inevitably calls for trust. But, even if you now fear that you dare not rely on certain sources of assistance, there are some truly good people in your world who are willing to help you and who share your view of a sensitive situation. They, too, can see that something needs to happen and that this will take a lot of effort. Together, you will do it.

CANCER (June 23 – July 23)
You might not spend the whole month of May in a state of constant euphoria, but you should be pleasantly surprised by the amount of time in which you experience an unusually good mood this month. It is as if you are being blessed with extra confidence and cleverness. You will feel very sure of yourself and this will enable you to make many wise choices. Others will naturally recognise that you know what you are doing and will feel almost magnetically drawn towards you. If you give them your trust, they will give you theirs.

LEO (July 24 – August 23)
Sometimes, we spend too long worrying and wondering about what we ought to be doing and how best to do it. We debate the options. We get ourselves all tied up in a tangle of ‘what-ifs’ and ‘how-abouts’, till it begins to feel as if we can hardly make a move. Then, suddenly, we find we have to take action and that the action that we have had to take has been surprisingly smooth. That will be your experience this month. What currently looks as if it is due to be difficult will turn out to be simple and successful.

VIRGO (August 24 – September 23)
Opinions are like navels. Everybody has one and nobody should spend too long gazing at it. Some of us put our navels on show. Most of us keep them discreetly covered. But we are all defensive about the idea that there is anything wrong with the one in the centre of our own tummy! Be wary, this month, of people who make definitive statements about what’s right or wrong and thus what is irrelevant. Trust your own deepest gut feeling. It emanates from a point just below your navel – and it will be the right thing to follow in May.

LIBRA (September 24 – October 23)
We speak reverentially of characters who are determined and uncompromising. Unless, that is, we find ourselves needing to do business with them. It is easy to admire from a distance a person who seemingly has nerves of steel. Yet if you need them to see a situation from a different perspective, they can soon start to get on your nerves! There is nothing wrong with a compromise, as long as it isn’t a sacrifice. The big astrological story of your month is all about reaching a delicate agreement. You can do it!

SCORPIO (October 24 – November 22)
Who needs your help this month? And how much of it do they need? Might you find that your effort to be of assistance takes up so much time and energy that you have nothing left for yourself? You might even decide that you don’t object to this because you are so generous and because you can see such a strong need to make a kind gesture. But if you end up in a situation where someone then has to come along and help you – that might not be so smart. So be careful. Watch where you draw the line and all will be well.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 – December 21)
There is no quick and easy solution to the quandary that you may face this month. You can’t just walk away from a situation, even if you are finding it tiresome. Nor can you throw yourself into it body and soul, head and heart. You have already tried that and it has merely eroded your sense of perspective and objectivity. A sharp alignment from Jupiter to Pluto dominates your outlook. It represents a tricky problem but not an insurmountable one. Stand back, draw breath, see sense, then return to the fray once more.

CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 20)
It is hard to sit back and do nothing when a situation seems to be crying out for something to be done! To manage this, you must rise above the criticism of those who might prefer you to take action, and ignore, too, your own sense of guilt. That is why the only folk who normally hold themselves back to such an extent, turn out to be the very foolish or the very wise. You are not foolish! You can simply see that success, in May, can come only if you wait for the opportune moment before you act. So trust yourself and do that.

AQUARIUS (January 21 – February 19)
What matters most, the journey or the destination? This month, your life is best thought of as a journey. You are at point A. You want to reach point B. As long as you can get there, does it matter how? Or do you feel that one road is so much better than another that you must fight with all your might to stay on that path, even if this leads to diversion and delay? All roads may or may not lead to Rome but all choices that you make, in May, will eventually lead to success. Choose the one that is likely to bring least stress.

PISCES (February 20 – March 20)
You are not a participant in a TV game show. No hidden camera is recording your every move. There are no viewers voting. So any attempt to see your life as some kind of popularity contest that must be won at all costs, is unwise. It looks astrologically likely that you will find yourself soon needing to make an important, intelligent choice that others object to or simply cannot understand. Explain yourself, by all means, but don’t feel bad if you fail to persuade. Trust your instinctive assessment of a situation and act on it.

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