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Sivan, 5778

May 15–June 13, 2018

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The Hebrew month of Sivan begins tomorrow. It is associated with the mutable air sign of Mercury-ruled Gemini, the great communicator. This matches up with Shavuot (Sivan 5-7, May 19-21), when we will celebrate receiving the Torah, the ultimate communication of all time!

Sivan is the month of enhanced connectivity. We connect to thought, to speech, to information and ideas, even to unknown people and places. The Tribe of Zebulon, known for traveling by ship, is Gemini/Sivan’s tribe; travel during Sivan is the best prescription for immediate healing of the soul. Collectively, we’ve traveled together during this Sefirat haOmer period, journeying together toward the giving of the Torah on Shavuot. May the spirit of openness to our own communities and the wider world be the wind in our sails during this lively month!

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Aries

With the entrance of the asteroid Chiron, the Wounded Healer, into Aries, you discover that tikkun olam starts with fixing your own brokenness. Compassion for your wounded parts is the gift you’ve been given; gather the sparks of your fragmented self and bring them into the warm, loving light of radical acceptance so that they may feel safe enough to begin to heal.

Taurus

Erratic, unpredictable, exciting, original and unstable Uranus enters your home sign right after the New Moon at 28 degrees of Taurus on May 15, followed shortly thereafter by Rosh Chodesh Sivan. Taurus is the fixed earth sign and doesn’t much care for instability, even if it is exciting. Mercury in Taurus from May 13–29 helps you build endurance; a firm foundation of facts and tangible reality will keep you grounded against stray feelings of impending chaos. 

Gemini

Mercury is in his home sign of Gemini from May 29 until June 12. High levels of stimulation will be the norm, not the exception. The chatter is loud and incessant about all things external until Rosh Chodesh Tammuz on June 13, when you can turn inward and process all that noise. When you’ve separated the content from the packaging, you’ll find family matters matter now more than ever.

Cancer

Romantic Venus in sentimental Cancer May 19–June 13 and communicative Mercury in sensitive Cancer June 12-27 make it easier for Moon children to love and be loved this month. Combative Mars leaves your opposite sign of Capricorn on May 15/Rosh Chodesh Sivan, dissolving feelings of strife around issues of home, work, nurturing, food and money. 

Leo

Sefirat ha-Omer’s week of Malchut (kingship, grandeur) brings it all into material manifestation when the Moon enters Leo on Erev Shavuot (evening of May 19), energizing the performer within, releasing your inner maggid (storyteller) and inspiring communal creativity and generous leadership. You’re soon to give birth to the possibilities you were impregnated with last August during the full solar eclipse in Leo; prepare the proverbial nursery! 

Virgo

Double-dose of speedy Mercury energy on Shavuot (May 20), when the Sun enters the other Mercury-ruled sign (Gemini), overlapping with the Mercury-ruled Hebrew month of Sivan through June 12. Mercury rules both Earth sign Virgo and air sign Gemini, and this month you’ll be feeling especially airy as Mercury’s transits attach wings to your normally earthbound heels and lift you high enough to get a bird’s eye view of where you are in your life. Is that a crossroad or a giant X marking the “You Are Here” spot? Both can be true at the same time. Travel helps bring clarity to decision-making.

Libra

The themes of the weeks of the Omer come up here. Venus-ruled air sign of Libra is a diplomat, balancing Tiferet-like between Hesed (compassion) and Gevurah (strength), always trying to be fair. With Chiron opposite you in Aries, you are confronted with the unpleasant reality that stuff which is just not nice happens — worse yet, it happens to you! The biggest gift you can give yourself this month is permission to experience the reality of universal human imperfection without losing your high ideals and beautiful hopes. The intimacy you simultaneously crave and fear can’t take root until you are real, and real is often a hot mess. Learn to be OK with that.

Scorpio

Erratic, unpredictable Uranus enters earthy, grounded Taurus on May 15, opposite your sign for the first time since his last transit through Taurus in 1935-1941! The next seven or eight years will give you the opportunity to redefine what stability and security mean to your sense of Self. Old status quos may disappear overnight. Dig deep while the Moon is in Scorpio May 26-27, and you may hit Scorpio’s legendary wellsprings of faith — and out will gush living waters.

Sagittarius

The Full Moon in Sagittarius on May 29 is your annual Full Moon, illuminating the existential dilemma between your need for freedom and your need for connection. Rebelling against your own most basic needs just to prove a point will only deplete your precious energy. Mercury opposite your Sun May 29-June 12 might help you say what you’ve been trying to say to yourself and others in an entirely new and different way. The flag of Benjamin, Sagittarius’ tribe, features all the colors of the rainbow because you contain multitudes. Give each of those disparate parts a voice and listen quietly to what they are saying.

Capricorn

Childhood returns with a square from Chiron in Aries. Capricorn rules the Tribe of Dan, standing ready to defend the borders of self against any perceived threat. This is your opportunity as an adult to re-perceive exactly what your child-self perceived as a threat and to respond to it with your grown-up tools: compassion, insight, curiosity and radical self-acceptance.

Aquarius

Battle-ready Mars enters idealistic, individualistic Aquarius on May 15. Words, logic and reason are your infuriating weapons, against which your opponents cannot prevail if you’ve got your facts right. Moon in your home sign June 2–4 gives you the home field advantage, but don’t take advantage of others simply because they’re not as sharp as you. Aquarius’ tribe is Asher, who fed all the other tribes with his bounty. To whom much is given (that’s you), much is expected.

Pisces

That incessant buzzing is the sound of Mercury in Gemini from May 29–June 11, which can’t help overloading sensitive Pisces with unfiltered data, impressions and stimulation. Your ruling planet of Neptune begins his long retrograde in his home sign of Pisces on June 16. Feelings of déjà vu all over again until the end of November! Can you fish out the past, present and future from the river of time as it rushes by? Old lessons will be re-learned in a whole new way.