May’s theme is the Tipping Point.

May will be intense. You know what that means! Take your herbs, drink plenty of water, don’t start things you don’t want to finish, and mind your business. The month will be a mixed bag: there will be bliss alongside loss, some parts of your life will be a great success, while other aspects might feel as though they are falling apart. Be present for it all. 

This month will highlight where you just can’t take it anymore. For how long are you going to complain about the same old things without changing them? What are your limits, and who has been stepping on them for far too long? While you may not be able to do anything immediately about certain situations, get clarity on what to dismantle, on what must end, and promise to begin uncomfortable processes.

How much is enough? A through line of wealth and how you define it runs through this month, into autumn. Time and energy are your only finite resources; use them well.

— Excerpt is from the 2023 Many Moons Lunar Planner. Order your digital copy of Many Moons here! Order your copy of the second, benefit-edition of Many Moons from LULU.com. 

This month's Tarotscopes were channeled and written by meditating on each archetype and pulling a Tarot card for them. Read for whatever sign you feel called to: your Sun, rising, Moon, or a placement that is particularly loud right now.*

 May is an abundant month at Moon Studio! Sign up for one of our most beloved online courses, Embodying Abundance, to connect to your inherent worth. 

May 2023 Tarotscopes

 Aries
Justice 

After the majorly high highs and majorly low lows of this year, May is for gaining some equilibrium. If you’ve been in some lower feels, take balancing actions. If your nervous system has been stuck in one prolonged state, like hypoarousal, then slowly coaxing yourself out of it must be your priority. Homeostasis won’t return on its own, it must be nurtured with good soil, lots of water, therapy, movement, and sunlight. You are a human flower, after all, with soft fireworks for a heart. 

Obligation has weighed heavy on your shoulders: obligation to be the “good” one, or pressure to carry some load for someone else. You might be waiting for someone to finally say what you need to hear or do what you’ve needed them to. 

Have the conversation, speak from that sweet heart. Listen to their actions, not their words. It could be time to connect more with other change makers, those fighting for human rights, and those who have aligned their actions with their values. 

More than anything, May is the time for figuring out how to make the external world match your internal narrative. It will happen bit by bit, hour by hour, day by day. Like the Earth, you are warming up. Look up, and remember that you are a part of life, as you face it.

Suggested spell ingredients: New definitions of abundance, honey on your tongue, hummingbirds, games that don't require a winner, green opal, and a candlelit bath or two. 

Taurus
Knight of Pentacles

How much capacity do you have for some serious doses of habitual change? 

You want to live a healthier, freer, more purposeful, and more joyful life. You can imagine it, dream about it, and even taste it. The lemon blossoms lingering in your bedroom window after a perfect day, the victory cheer on the tip of your tongue. Get honest: do your current habits set you up for the kind of outcomes that you’ve journaled about? Your future lives rent-free in your head: it can either continue to take up massive space and turn into a regret spiral, or you can start to take action this month. 

Yes, it’s scary to take risks, and yes, you’ve been through a lot, seen a lot, and been a lot, too. If it feels like you’ve been patiently waiting forever for a break, it’s because you really have been holding on for a long time, gentle Taurus. Jupiter will go into your sign mid-month, and blessed change will begin to percolate. For the first half of the month, get prepared.

Ambition must be coupled with endurance. Invest in yourself: take the class, learn the skill, and integrate the new habits. Recalibrate your systems and the foundations that make up the bedrock of your life. Start with what you have been avoiding, like finances. In order to get different results, take different actions.

Suggested spell ingredients: A voyage or trip taken literally, metaphorically, or magically, soundtracks of changing tides, flower agate palm stones, a fresh journal for a fresh mindset, Embodying Abundance, and dried chamomile tea.

Gemini
7 of Pentacles 

Gentle Gem, burning within you is the potential of a thousand lifetimes: a million movies, complete with lush soundtracks and detailed title treatments. Within them are parables of flight, despair, intimacy, and all the inspiration you are so frequently in contact with. This is a blessing. Do not treat it as a curse. Make sure your ever-present positive sparks do not get overtaken by the mud of the times or the heavy sigh of this present moment.

Gemini, this month, make time for the internal pause. This needed break will not stop the momentum you’ve been building since the beginning of the year: when you pause, the energy you have already amassed will be better directed to the present moment. I promise you, your quicksilver ingenuity will create other pathways for your dreams. They aren’t dashed, they will come through in other forms. Just wait and see. 

Remember that you are in a liminal space right now. You aren’t meant to be dragged into the past, nor are you to speed toward unrealistic expectations. Let this month reveal what is no longer meant to be held onto. Let Taurus season show you what actions will be in alignment with a more authentic expression of your ingenuity.

Suggested spell ingredients: prayers, lists of all you want to keep and all you want to let go of, labradorite palm stones, a plant friend for your bedside table, and an abundance practice.

Cancer
6 of Wands

If you don’t tell the Universe who you are, and exactly what you want, it will bring you more of the same, and you will stay the same. Auto-pilot makes sense when you want to conserve energy when you’re unsure of what you want, or who exactly you’re ready to blossom into. You needed that time out; it made sense to pause and just be. Now that you have more answers, Moonchild, it’s time to go forth. 

Inspiration will come when you try working in a different way. We can unconsciously create temporary ruts that get mistaken for long-term circumstances. Examine where you are putting your energy and use it differently. Flow is a result of a consistent showing up, and work habit, not the cause of it. 

You’re scared that you won’t be able to sustain your brilliance: May is a month to remember that fear is fleeting when you stop feeding it. Sure, it could be easier to be mediocre or forgettable — but your aura and selfhood must be truly seen. In some specific way, you are a leader, and there are people who will benefit from your talent, vulnerability, and insights. Abundance will follow the decision to be more visible. Put yourself out there. Focus on rebranding, promotion, networking, applying for new positions or grants, and/or sharing on social media. Your future self — and future bank account, and future community — will thank you. 

Suggested spell ingredients: A new environment to create work in, an abundance mindset, homemade rosewater, cedar wands, nettle tea, birdsongs, and carnelian for confidence. 

Leo
10 of Swords

Whether it’s a relationship, habit, pattern, or stagnant identity, this month is the time for endings. Whether it’s with a whimper or a roar, wrap it up. Close down chapters, and step away from certain relationships. It most likely will feel necessary, but you might not feel entirely ready. You might still be in love with some fantasy or potential that could never quite get all the way there. 

Attaching too much to the external is a recipe for disaster. Things change, loss occurs, and people disappoint. Shame or self-blame happens more easily when we over-associate with the temporary. Listen up, Leo: ALL OF THE THINGS are not your fault. It takes two to tango, and part of the process of letting go means understanding what was yours to own up to, and what wasn’t. Be compassionately honest: give yourself the benefit of the doubt as much as you give others. 

Underneath all of this messy, tender work is the ask to recalibrate your identity. May is for figuring out another way of being, plain and simple. Instead of focusing on what you are doing, focus on how you are being. With others. Yourself. Your dreams. Life is paying attention, lion-heart. Abundance begins with what you stop holding onto.  

Suggested spell ingredients: Epsom salt foot soaks, ocean jasper, bodies of water, walks without destinations, to-don’t lists, and Embodying Abundance.

Virgo
5 of Swords

May brings you to the cusp of a new reality. If you don’t deal with some of the core beliefs about yourself — and the world — that are holding you back, then you are destined to encounter the same strange resistance that has been following you around. Go ahead and make a decision around healing an old wound: it is time for you to stand in your truth and accept your brilliance.

The next three months are a time of cord-cutting. There are a couple of different layers of the 5 of Swords that are coming up now. You may already be feeling that the more empowered you become, the more insecure it can make some folks. Ultimately though, your life is about you. This time is about releasing guilt, shame, distrust, and self-judgment, you’ve let accumulate in your mind. There could have to be some difficult conversations with yourself or with others ahead, but the short-term discomfort will bring long-term serenity.

Once you’ve made that decision and cut those cords, there will be an almost-immediate sense of relief and ease. Spaciousness is around the corner, so clear the brambles and brush off old coping strategies!  Have a list ready of actions, behaviors, and projects you can focus on that are more aligned with who you truly are. Promise to do one of them each day. Promise to remember that becoming is a process and a practice. 

Suggested spell ingredients: A forgiveness playlist, black tourmaline, talismans of protection, solo hikes, new mindsets, and a proverbial burn book for all the annoyances that have been getting you down to be burned or buried at the end of the month.

Libra
Knight of Swords, Reversed

It’s better to say less this month. May is a month for silence, space, precision, and for stating your peace without expectation or a need for a particular response.

Let the words come to you, instead of forcing them. Let your neural pathways rearrange, gently and with minimal effort, around a bad mental habit that it’s time to clear away. Your process doesn’t have to be mired in shame or hand-wringing; it’s simply something you are going to solve. It’s just something that happened, not a moratorium on your soul. 

Let a sunset or two admired from a different location remind you of the wonder found in a different perspective. Remind yourself that it’s ok to not know certain answers, but it’s not ok to waste time efforting towards an answer. Let the answers come to you as you run errands, sing in the bath, sign petitions, and gather flowers to gift to a friend. This month, the magic is in the mundane. It is more important to know the name of the bird singing outside your window instead of the latest gossip.

Step away from other people’s stories, and closer to your own: there are some edits to be made. Speak your piece. Make your peace a priority, and write your own story. 

Suggested spell ingredients: A social media detox, a closet clean-out, star rose quartz, a new hobby, necklaces made of weeds and daisies, and Embodying Abundance. 

Scorpio
King of Wands  

Only one person truly has the power to ruin your life. And that person is you, Scorpio. The good news is, this month you’re more than ready to grow, expand, and invest in yourself instead of resorting to self-sabotage. 

Stop giving other people inordinate amounts of power over your decisions. Explore how and why you give your power away. Are there subconscious reasons for doing so? Is it easy to blame someone else for situations that are in your control? You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond. 

The Drama Triangle, a destructive relationship dynamic explored by Stephen B. Karpman, posits that certain dynamics are fed by the archetypes of perpetrator, victim, and rescuer. When we take on the role of the perpetrator, victim, or rescuer, we drop the plot, distract ourselves, and waste precious energy. Instead of trying to get real needs met, or move forward and solve a problem, we create distance and distraction, instead of intimacy. 

The truth is, you want connection and support. You want to be inspired and be a source of inspiration. Get clear about how you create distance instead of closeness — distractions instead of clarity. Accessing more abundance is within your power. Your inherent abundance is your power. Use it. 

Suggested spell ingredients: Yellow candles, blood orange tea, tabletop breathing, vulnerability, being of service, and Embodying Abundance.

Sagittarius
Ace of Swords

Sagittarius, the more serious you can get right now, the better. This month will bring you clarity through sparks of affirmation of your alignment: downloads, intriguing conversations, and signs all around. Or, perhaps challenging circumstances may be forcing you to get really discerning about what is most important. Once you hone in on that, you can be your most powerful. When you are operating from your most powerful place, some real insights about where you are headed reflect back to you loud and clear. 

The next few weeks will help you touch base with what is most true for you right now. The truth is not absolute, it changes as you do. The things you are concerned with now are more intangible than in the past and much more spiritual. Goals that are easily reached from the inside — through healing, through connecting your own intellect, through being at one with your own source — are much more sustainable, once mastered. 

You are heading to a higher level. Let your Taurus season magic surround the messages you are accessing, the messages you are speaking, and all the ways you use language to facilitate your empowered movement. 

Suggested spell ingredients: breathing, chanting, peach moonstone, a lunar potion, invisible ink spells, bold new asks, and Embodying Abundance.

Capricorn
The World, Reversed

Tension arises with dehumanization: expecting someone else to be vulnerable exactly in the same way as you, or expecting yourself to perform perfectly every single day—in the exact same way is destructive long-term. You’ve seen what it’s done to the Earth. What has it done to you? Perfection and authenticity cannot exist simultaneously. Find relief in this and root down into your humanity. Your failures are what helped you grow, mistakes are how one learns. Your quirks are what make you, you. 

Feeling separate, or undeserving, from the universal love and belonging can be misinterpreted as loneliness, Cutest Capricorn. Maybe you aren’t lonely, maybe you need to feel your spirit be supported and held by all of creation. Maybe you are more than enough just as you are, and a little time spent in the garden will remind you of this fact. You were never meant to be separated from yourself by punishing expectations, the endless thrum of productivity, and other people’s envy. 

It’s time to embrace your limits in order to experience different possibilities. May is the month to come back home. Inside of you is a universe connected to the greater universe. Open up to what wants to come through and receive irrefutable reminders that you are loved. 

Suggested spell ingredients: seeds, the color green, evening meditations each day to connect to the Universe, fresh peppermint water, and Embodying Abundance. 

Aquarius
The Moon

It’s not that nothing is changing — a lot is: time feels like quicksand and molasses, all at once. It’s more that you feel left out of some aspects of your life, unable to control the bigger picture. You ache for beautiful momentum and yet, here you are, tracing the same wounds, putting out the same fires. You may be feeling confined to the outlines of a life that you have outgrown.

May is a month to banish stagnancy. This month will be a 31-day, snap-out-of-it extravaganza. The eclipse at the start of May will be especially potent for you, and the archetype of The Moon card will be your consort and companion as the dust settles. Let her guide you into the Next Great Phase. Allow her messages to break you out of any ruts or ruptures. Start with the foundations that have gotten rotten, unable to hold expansion.

Internally and externally, there are completely new patterns to lean into. Change is happening from both the outside in, and the inside out. Remember that uncomfortable is not the same as bad. Challenges, and how you handle them, are evidence of growth, and the spotlight this month is on all the profound transformations you will choose to make.

Suggested spell ingredients: green moonstone, trust magic, grounding meditations, passionfruit, Embodying Abundance, and little acts of big bravery.

Pisces
3 of Pentacles

May is the 19th week of the year; we are over 30% through 2023. Through a different lens, we still have 70% left of this Chariot year. May is the month to find your rhythm. Your rhythm is unique to you: it might be that you need 2 days of deep work, then 2 days to rest. It could be that your rhythm is found best focused on a creative project, a health experiment (might we suggest a media detox?), or a goal to make more friends or volunteer at your local shelter. 

You’ve been so used to being on the outside, looking in, that you forget that you can redefine the destination by stepping through the open door. You’ve been so used to waiting for permission that you forget that you can do whatever you want as much as anyone else. 

Time is arbitrary; the right mindset and energy create the right timing. It’s never too late to be someone else. It’s never too late to try something else, do something different, make amends, join the climate activism group, turn into a caterpillar, incubate a little more, stretch out into a butterfly, or ask for help. It all starts with seeing yourself and your circumstances differently. Decide who you are and show up as them, no matter what. 

Suggested spell ingredients: An hourglass, record listening as a morning ritual, a rebrand, self-hypnosis for abundance, and sunshine. 

*Please note: If you don’t know if you are allergic to a specific herb or plant, use caution or consult with your herbalist or doctor before ingesting.

Never leave a lit candle or flame of any kind unattended.

These Tarotscopes are not intended as an alternative to medical or psychiatric health services and should not be interpreted or used as such.

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