Commonsense Almanac By Ben Commons | May 2025

Tips for almanac use: All the aspects can be felt in advance. It is good policy to view these as due dates for various energies and prepare accordingly for your context. It’s akin to bringing an umbrella with you when rain is expected, but it also helps us to not take the weather personally. When we proactively manifest these symbols then the world doesn’t have to do it for us. Choose to be con(with)-siderate(the stars). Reach out to me for personal explorations of these times.

Wow, May. Well, it is generally going to be mellower than March and April have been. But it definitely continues with a lot of storylines that were undulating throughout those months, especially in the first half of May. So, how well you handled that obstacle course will influence how May could treat you. The focus of this month is ultimately about moving forward with all the ideas, shifts, upheavals. We should be moving towards much deeper integration, less weighed down by the past. And finally, especially after Saturn enters Aries on the 24^th, we should be solidly testing out this new way of being and seeing what plantings still need more time in the greenhouse before being exposed to the elements.

Venus conjoins Neptune on Friday 5/2 at 10:06 am pacific, finishing a fraught trilogy that began in mid-January. This has taken us way back into our past relationships and hopefully revealed some lurking issues ready for recycling. This last passage is big, because this is when the mists begin to truly clear and new light can shine upon us; our chance for inner resolution. This is more about inner resolution around our pasts than mending bridges that were long-ago burnt. Self-appreciation is primary, but it is lovely when reflected back to us.

Pluto stations retrograde on Sunday 5/4 at 8:27 am pacific. This starts us down a five-month path of separating our reactions from the fickle nature of human collectives. The concern here is how much our contentment and energy levels are affected by the shenanigans beyond our circles of connection. It’s going to be another balancing act of caring for our personal worlds while still doing what we can to influence the flow of the groups around us. Just don’t lose yourself.

Mercury sextiles Jupiter on Monday 5/5 at 10:21 am pacific, offering fascinating revelations if we have been with the celestial flow. This is where the last two and a half months of inner exploration and gestation can become stark, vivid, and clear. Where we can take distinct actions, make the choices, and decide to share certain thoughts. Of course, everyone else will have their own perspective, but here is where we show ours. Think big, but bespoke.

Venus sextiles Pluto on Tuesday 5/6 at 2:31 pm pacific, wrapping up a sticky and deep trilogy that began in early February. This is where more of our true and tailored values will pop up from the murky depths. It is up to us to decide what we want to spend for what we receive, in all venues. We should be freer from the need for external validation and ready to dance to our natural rhythms without shame. Remember the youth before caring about appearances, but maintain the lessons learned since.

Mercury enters Taurus on Saturday 5/10 at 5:15 am pacific, until 5/25. This shift brings us slightly back to normalcy, but it is a sort of tease. It will slow things down and put an emphasis on what can be done in the practical realm. However, there’s still a strong drive, a push, towards new developments, new creations, new seeds to plant, and new avenues to explore. Support innovation through experimentation.

The Full Moon is in Scorpio on Monday 5/12 at 9:55 am pacific. This is a wild lunation that will find us all with extremely low tolerance. We will be wishing for massive breakthroughs and frustrated with anything or anyone slowing those down. Yet, it is important for us to calm the sense of urgency and work with the natural flow of things as best we can and with minimized drama. As always, we really only decide for ourselves, and even then, our reactions and feelings have wills of their own. We are best off when we accommodate the fullness of our beings.

Mercury squares Pluto on Monday 5/12 at 10:22 am pacific. This will stir up more mental reactions of all sorts to the various egos and collectives surrounding us. We could definitely be tempted to give some people a piece of our minds, and that may be appropriate if we fully grooved with the whole Mercury retrograde process throughout March and April. Tact is always recommended, but let’s not sweep it all under the rug and stifle ourselves. And remember that not responding is still a sufficient response.  

Sun conjoins Uranus on Saturday 5/17 at 4:32 pm pacific, beginning a new year of flying our freak flags proudly. This is our annual opportunity to reaffirm ourselves in all of our idiosyncratic glory. However, this version has strong hints of releasing old constraints that we have inherited from our ancestors and taken on from society and our experiences. So, it is almost more about disidentification from the not-you than establishing who you are. Break free from any false self you have allowed into your identity and plant yourself deeply in the essence of you.

Mercury squares Mars on Saturday 5/17 at 9:35 pm pacific, tempting us all towards an outburst here or there. This normally revolves around our peers, siblings, coworkers, friends et cetera, and the emphasis is still on clear communication with adequate caution, but not in a way that silences ourselves in the name of other people’s issues or discomfort. Of course it’s delicate, but we’re practicing a further establishment of our new developments; step-by-step.

Sun sextiles Saturn on Tuesday 5/20 at 2:38 am pacific. This offers a profound opportunity to shift how we identify ourselves away from the troubles of the past and towards the possibilities of a well-cultivated future. This always requires inner, consistent, pensive, and somatic work, along with a healthy dose of surrender. But now is the time we can draw the boundaries within ourselves, boundaries towards false narratives that we have carried that may have buckled us over time and again. Let’s get back to our basic beings.

The Sun enters Gemini on Tuesday 5/20 at 11:55 am pacific. This Gemini season will get us feeling far more social than in quite some time; ready to relax, shoot the breeze, and cultivate humor above all else. But there is also a distinct emphasis towards a reframing of how we show up: Hopefully, with a more balanced expenditure of energy, attention, and resources for what we receive. And more groundedness and patience towards the processes of others. But mostly, we need to be able to laugh at it all.

Venus trines Mars on Thursday 5/22 at 12:41 am pacifc. This is also the end of a drawn-out trilogy that began in mid-January: The entirety of which has been pushing us to recalibrate how aligned our wants are with what we would actually enjoy and believe was worth paying for. Except this is the conclusion, the resolution, and we should have already made massive revisionary changes. This is where we give our figuratively final answer on what we are striving towards and enshrine that in the goal-post altar of our aspirations. Honor it.

Sun sextiles Neptune on Thursday 5/22 at 5:39 am pacific, leaving some room for relief and respite. This is when we find that quiet place to check in somatically with where we are. It’s through relaxation that we facilitate the proprioceptive awareness of our beings. It’s not intellectual, it is more somatic, so breathe through it and see what can be released and what may float up to consciousness.

Sun trines Pluto on Saturday 5/24 at 8:55 am pacific. This will facilitate getting ourselves more active in our communities and reconnecting with friends and loved ones. However, there is still integration intricacies of how much we have to be ourselves versus how integrated into group-programming. The simplest way is to put greater emphasis on shared ground, while still discussing your sides of things where appropriate. And remember that it’s never so black and white, but more so 360 shades of grey.

Mercury conjoins Uranus on Saturday 5/24 at 4:14 pm pacific. This is an interesting one because it’s a mental rebirth into the highest of inspired potentialities, way past the conventional. Yet this is best done through the weight of the Earth and our bodies. It’s blasting often by going on a journey to the center of the Earth. But the perils within are the limitations of the mind and its constructs, and the way through is some creative fusion of psychosomatic integration. It’s unthinkable.

Saturn enters Aries on Saturday 5/24 8:36 pm pacific, until 9/1/25. This ends a cycle that began on 4/6/96 and puts us into a liminal zone of back and forth between Aries and Pisces until 2/13/26; and that cycle will last until 3/22/55 with the Aries section lasting until 4/12/28. Needless to say, the momentum set here is gargantuan, so ritual and intention and all the rest are highly recommended. This first sojourn is crucial for concretely establishing this new version of being that has been germinating for the last couple of years, but especially the last six months. We should be consistently supporting this newness while also keeping it very well protected from undue external influence. At its core, Saturn in Aries is about respecting, honoring, and supporting our true selves, especially in the face of doubt, fear, pressure, and the projections of others. We can only control ourselves and this is where we do it. Lay the new foundation of you.

Mercury enters Gemini on Sunday 5/25 at 6:00 pm pacific, until 6/8. So, this will have all feeling more social and outgoing; ready to give a new self a proper test-drive out in the world. We’re all still fresh to this new internal world and the external shifts, so there could be some twists and turns. The most important is to stay flexible, docile, and to have humor always at the ready because being too serious is tough. If we can’t laugh at ourselves and our lives then what’s the point.

Mercury sextiles Saturn on Sunday 5/25 at 6:45 pm pacific, tempting us towards the serious and scary. The key here is to avoid overthinking. Let’s work on gathering information, testing hypotheses, and observing results. Everything is still coagulating and the form we give it through our attention and thoughts is rather crucial. Be somewhat guarded but work on giving a subtle benefit of the doubt.

Mercury sextiles Neptune on Monday 5/26 at 1:36 pm pacific, showing us how much we can’t quite know yet. Well, it’s actually far trickier than that because we could indulge the idea that we have most of it figured out, but the mind is easily deceived when in this state. This is more helpful for surrendering the need to know, focusing on your breathing, and allowing things to be revealed without the hyper-vigilance of the mind.

The New Moon in Gemini is on Monday 5/26 at 8:02 pm pacific. This is an amusingly potent lunation if we can see the existential humor in this farcical and fanciful strangeness. But it’s definitely pushing us towards greater integration of thinking, feeling, and just being with it. One of life’s great conundrums is the inability of one of those functions to replace the tripod of stability established when they work harmoniously. And if we are trying to take a long-exposure, or long-distance picture, we need that tripod well-balanced and properly allocated. It’s the thrice-great (trismestigus) version of being awesome.

Mercury trines Pluto on Tuesday 5/27 at 10:55 am pacific. Well, if we are flowing with the recent themes, then this is a prime chance to further dethrone the mind from its supposed dominance. This is far more easily said than done when enmeshed in this modern world. Anyways, the simple way of dealing with this is to do breathing exercises and take a breath or three before saying something that could be consequential. There is rarely as much of a rush as the mind would lead us to believe.

Sun conjoins Mercury on Thursday 5/29 at 9:12 pm pacific. Continuing with the storyline, now is where we can cement the mind and heart/self into a greater conglomerate of sorts. The mind tends away from trust without confirmation, but confirmation is best found within; through the heart, or the gut, or instinct, or the intuition. The pitfall is when we look for confirmation from others when we should have given ourselves; or if we’re lucky, through augury. Keep your eyes open for unsolicited signs.

So, May, hopefully we traversed this science non-fiction map with aplomb. Ideally, we moved from freer, to refreshed, to poised, to practicing, and on to action. It won’t have been simple though, so let’s all give ourselves ample credit for effort and showing up.

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  Ben Commons

ASTROLOGER | Ben has been studying astrology since 1994 and started doing readings professionally in 2002. He is also a practicing Reiki master, and works with stones for healing. He uses astrology as a strategic tool and calls himself an Astro-strategist.

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