May 2025By Bob Mulligan (a personal note is at the end of the newsletter) May Highlights On the surface, May can look like just another month in the turbulent 2025. However, there is some subtlety to the shifts of Mercury and Saturn that establishes new perceptions and boundaries. The wisest of us learn to think differently. New dominions of life open. We can observe the world’s trash without wallowing in it; beauty is also there. The duality is liberating if we take what is being offered. On the 4th Pluto turns Retrograde remaining until mid-October. This period from May to October will be a time for reexamination of the continuous innovations set in motion since last November. With great determination we start to unravel the path of destruction to see what we have left that is valuable. On the 10th Mercury enters Taurus. This will signal a grounding of our thoughts. The facts at our disposal do not support our overall ethics and approach to life. This tug-a-war between immediate gratification and long term goals continues until the last week of the month. Saturn enters Aries on the 24th and will be there until April of 2028. Saturn (lord of karma) and Aries (initiation) makes starting new projects during this period difficult. We meet a series of obstacles but new endeavors that get off the ground and survive have strength. Mercury enters Gemini on the 25th. With both Mercury (sense perception) and Jupiter (values) in Gemini, we will be reorganizing our priorities until May 10th when Jupiter and Mercury make their new homes in Cancer. The Full Moon The Full Moon is on the 12th at 12:57 PM EDT on the 22nd degree of Taurus/Scorpio. This Full Moon is celebrated by theosophists and some esoteric schools of Buddhism as the Wesak Festival. This particular Full Moon is very potent as Mercury is Square Pluto forcing a release of pent up thoughts. With six planets in Fixed signs, the inertia of how things have been offers stiff resistance to the necessary forward movements. Venus Trine Mars is a partnering that saves us from personal excess. We are in the midst of Jupiter Square Saturn and consequently experience new limits to growth. This is all for our benefit, but it takes a long range vision to see its purpose. The Sun enters Gemini Sun enters Gemini on the 20th at 2:56 PM EDT. With the Sun still Conjunct and Parallel Uranus in Taurus the pull of the abnormal holds sway in the world happenings, but since the Moon (public) is Square to the Sun there is resistance to circumstances by the general population. However, because the Sun is Trine Pluto and Sextile Neptune, the forced change is uncomfortable but necessary. With Venus Trine Mars the powers of persuasion are working overtime to pull the majority along with the leading minority. Because Neptune in Aries is Conjunct Saturn in Pisces and they are in Sextile to the Sun, we can have what we wish for and materialize our dreams if we put in the effort consistently, and wait. The New Moon The New Moon is on the 26th at 11:03 PM EDT at 6 degrees of Gemini. Mercury, in his own rulership, gives real potency to his aspects. His Trine to Pluto, and Sextile Saturn and Neptune demonstrates our ability to devote energy and time to distant objectives. If we believe in ourselves and the goodness of our aims, we will bring much to fruition quickly. Venus has just completed her Trine to Mars. We have made our pitch to others and we find ourselves in cahoots with a group sharing common interests and goal. The Weeks From the 1st to the 4th we are in a rush to create harmony, order, and symmetry. We would like pleasant change to come faster than the natural order dictates. Patience seems to be in short supply; we easily lose faith in our own approach to circumstances. We can change ourselves and this is the first step to mass change. From the 5th to the 11th ideas occur at the speed of light. Write down the good ones, it isn’t possible to do anything that looks practical with most of them, but the environment is fertile farmland and seeds planted now will have valuable returns. Hold on to as much as possible and figure out the jigsaw puzzle later. From the 12th to the 18th people are a little more intense than normal. Count on those that aren’t tuned out, or on the other extreme, too frantic. We must work with others, and at the same time, our responsibilities are our own. Enthusiasm accomplishes more when we remain physically relaxed and still engaged. Regardless of the outcome of the current project, all is not lost and gain is accumulating in the larger picture. From the 19th to the 25th anger, frustration, and nervousness upset the rhythm of all activities that are meant to be fun, fulfilling, and creative. We can easily fall into a pattern of feeling our timing is a little off. Did we show up too early, or too late? Much gets done despite our self-judgment or what appear to be chaotic conditions. Any rigidly held plans are sacrificial victims of circumstances. Relax and enjoy. From the 26th to the 31st adjusting to our journey requires some moderations. We need to “sit loose in the saddle” in order to accommodate the horse we are riding. The meaning of our current circumstances is that our instinctive mind knows things in advance of our rational self. Some things we do automatically help us recreate balance. After all, some habits have kept us alive for centuries. The Days 1st – Thursday – We are off to a good start but still looking for a soft place to land. Circumstances weigh a little against our efforts to make everything consistent with our vision of the future, but there is ample time to alter our direction. Decisions now revolve around issues of time and timing. Family and the familiar look most inviting. 2nd – Friday – Venus Conjunct Neptune – The ship is sailing and the crew is harmonious and attuned to the journey. We may be tempted to force others to come along on an adventure that would be in their best interest, and we are pretty sure they would find fun. At the same time, people must come on their own volition or we lose harmony and cohesiveness through forced compliance. 3rd – Saturday – Sun Semi-square Saturn, Mars Semi-square Jupiter – We can run but can’t escape the ever present limitations of time. A force of personal will can carry us across the finish line. The only question to answer is “was it worth it ?” Does success in one area of life mean the sacrifice in another? We ask “what is most important and what is most urgent?” Decisions build character. 4th – Sunday – Pluto turns Retrograde – One door closes and another opens. Patience and single-minded attention to the larger picture keeps us on track. Communicating our actions and intentions helps keep us in our designated place in the unfolding drama we are destined to be in. 5th – Monday – Mercury Sextile Jupiter – The facts keep rushing in. Is the Truth revealed through the accumulation of more information? To share what we know with others can actually increase our own perceptions of life. It’s time to release a higher vision. Even a focused aim at a distant target has meaning. Words have meaning when put into motion. 6th – Tuesday – Sun Semi-square Neptune, Venus Sextile Pluto – Safety is not achieved by playing it safe. New interests easily grab our attention. The heart knows best. Innovation is the path to self-knowledge. Faith in the basic goodness of life is the backbone of a sound philosophy of relationships. We can help others. 7th – Wednesday – We’re raking our front lawn. What is our responsibility to the environment? Is what we are doing really important, or is this just busy work? We are getting good exercise, but it would be nice to have something at the end of the day to show for our effort. Ends and means reflect each other. 8th – Thursday – Mercury Semi-sextile Uranus – Inspiration and energy are with us; we could shovel ten feet of snow off a mile of sidewalk. However, circumstances are presenting much more humble offerings. Maybe just washing the dishes and passing a few kind words with the people living with us is enough. 9th – Friday – Mercury Semi-sextile Saturn – Any obstacle can potentially be a blessing. Without a plan, sometimes it is best to just blurt out what’s on our mind without hesitation. Missed opportunities may come back to haunt us. Better to take a chance and let the dice roll. 10th – Saturday – Mercury enters Taurus, Venus Contra-parallel Saturn – Checking our facts before speaking keeps us in the loop with the rhythm of the day. To be in a hurry makes it hard for others to take us seriously. Knowing our place and not pushing beyond our foundation is a way to measure our territory. We can stand on our home turf and be happy with our situation. 11th – Sunday – Mercury Semi-sextile Neptune, Mars Parallel Uranus – We may stumble between impatience and stubbornness. An internal need to be stable and in control prompts many actions and decisions. Higher ideals have captured our attention, and regardless of intervening restless impulses, we have the call of something divine ringing in our ears. 12th – Monday – The Full Moon is at 12:57 PM EDT on the 22nd degree of Taurus/Scorpio, Mercury Square Pluto – What do we save and what do we abandon? How much of the baggage that we have brought with us this far can we dump? Freedom comes by letting go. Real advancement in life comes through reasoned analysis and incremental and persistent commitment to a new way of life. 13th – Tuesday – Creation emerges by throwing caution out the window and following the harmonizing impulses of a new vision of a better life. Self improvement is the first step to more fulfilling relationships. We must be comfortable with ourselves if we want to be able to make any lasting contribution to the world we share with others. 14th – Wednesday – Sun Parallel Mars, Sun Semi-sextile Jupiter – Our feet are on firm ground but our mind seeks out distant horizons. Foreign countries and far away philosophies become grounds for mental exploration. Materializing our vision is not as important as personalizing it right now. This means gaining clarity of purpose. We are on the move toward something that is calling us. We will answer one way or another. 15th – Thursday – Mercury Semi-square Jupiter – Facts don’t easily align with our values. We risk being misled by our own expectations. We can limit our wanderings in the wilderness of indecision by making choices and eliminating options. When we have cleared the deck in front of us, we can get back into the driver’s seat. 16th – Friday – Mercury Semi-sextile Venus, Sun Parallel Uranus – A calm mind allows us to navigate the changing river in front of us. Nervousness may seem disconnected from our thought process, but so much of what we experience is unconscious. We might as well start with alterations to our behavior because the message will continue to get louder until we shift. 17th – Saturday – Sun Semi-square Venus, Sun Conjunct Uranus, Venus Semi-sextile Uranus – High octane fuel pushes us beyond our usual limitations. Real inspiration emerges in the mix of our normal activities. It’s time to try something new that has captured our heart. We find that we have a taste for the unusual and humoring our new found interests opens new options. 18th – Sunday – Mercury Square Mars, Mercury Semi-square Saturn – Agitation moves us in a direction we don’t normally go. The inevitable consequences of our actions sneak up on us. Difficulties manifest with a vengeance. Learning from our actions and implementing change brings freedom from self-created traps. 19th – Monday – Mars Sesquiquadrate Saturn, Mercury Semi-square Neptune – Big ideas inspire us to try bold actions. Details determine the outcome. Faith is necessary, but it isn’t sufficient to put us on the right track. Real effort is required to make our dreams a reality. Our visions of the world aren’t supported by visible facts. We run against the wind for awhile. 20th – Tuesday – Sun Sextile Saturn, Sun enters Gemini at 2:56 PM EDT – With disciplined actions we get on the path that leads us to our destination. We finish something we have been working on for a while and immediately move on to a new project. Past memories sustain us through rough times and a chance to discover or uncover a new love keeps us alive against the odds. 21st – Wednesday – There are some tasks we would like to see completed, but there is limited opportunity. We are frisky and our need for accomplishment can have us focusing of achievable goals that are completely beside the point. Relationships can be improved but even here it’s important to determine who really matters. Everyone has some significance, but our attention needs to be where our authentic feelings are augmented. 22nd – Thursday – Venus Trine Mars, Mercury Parallel Mars, Sun Sextile Neptune – Courageous moves to solidify our commitments bring positive results. Faith in ourselves requires us to move in tandem with our values. Inner conflict should be resolved by ourselves and not projected outward. Peace comes when our anger is channeled and extinguished. 23rd – Friday – Mars Sesquiquadrate Neptune – Our energy is sustainable when our goals are noble, and we are kind and generous to others who want to participate. If we are warriors for a just cause, we are still warriors. With every valiant quest it is always important to be honest with ourselves; the ends and the means to obtaining them are not different. 24th – Saturday – Mercury Semi-sextile Jupiter, Sun Trine Pluto, Mercury Conjunct Uranus, Saturn enters Aries, Mercury Parallel Uranus – A rush of mental activity is matched by changes to the tenor of life. If it seems like people change their minds, their allegiance, their perspectives on world and personal circumstances, it is not your imagination. Many people lie to get what they want, and call that “the truth”. It’s a period of history where fewer and fewer people cling to an objective truth. It’s ok; to be the one eyed man in the valley of the blind gives a spiritual responsibility for which we have been selected. 25th – Sunday – Mercury enters Gemini, Mercury Sextile Saturn – A shot of inspiration with accompanying discipline pushes us to choose a path from a series of intrinsically different options. Choices have consequences but acting on them is what is really important. Fear of retribution can push us to hide away, and not externally own our own inner thoughts, beliefs, and actions. Self-acceptance requires us to take a stand on our true beliefs. 26th – Monday – Mercury Sextile Neptune, the New Moon is on the 26th at 11:03 PM EDT at 6 degrees of Gemini – It’s possibly the most profound opportunity we’ve had to grasp the larger mental picture of our cultural transformation. We are best when we are absorbing insights and planning. 27th – Tuesday – Mercury Trine Pluto – It will take a new look at all of the daily data to make sense of circumstances now. Real detachment brings peace and understanding. Without this thorough emotional and mental distancing from all that enters our personal lives now we can easily become cavalier or cynical. True maturity requires us to see the impermanence of life with genuine focus on the beauty of all that happens. 28th – Wednesday – Sun Parallel Mercury – Finding grounding means attaching ideas to tangible circumstances, developing memory of things gone by, and taking ownership for the things in our lives. By doing this, we come into a new understanding of our life’s purpose. Pleasant thoughts about people and places in our past are the foundation for replicating positive outcomes. 29th – Thursday – Mercury Semi-square Venus – Positive thoughts and a visionary attitude toward a great future are helpful but not sufficient. Using the supplies we have at our disposal allows us to be more self-reliant. We can help each other, but everyone has to pull their own weight to be part of the team. 30th – Friday – Sun Conjunct Mercury – It can be so interesting to explore a vast array of information, ideas, and scenery. Talking less and listening more can help us digest the changing panorama. Our own ideas seem to be more appealing than usual, but it is important to stay open to the flow of facts we pull from the environment. Friends are everywhere and it is significant that they show up right at the moment we need them most. 31st – Saturday – Mercury Contra-parallel Pluto, Mercury Parallel Jupiter – The significance of the day is grasped if we have the ability to lighten up. Sometimes the harder we probe, the more answers allude us. Faith in life starts by having at least a modicum of faith in ourselves. The journey in front holds great promise, and some of the recent past suffering will disappear. My Personal Note Call me if you would like information on your own chart. 239-261-2840 or e-mail bobmulliga@aol.com. Visit my web site, www.theastrologycompany.com My daughter, Katie, graduates from college on May 2nd. She and I are traveling back to Naples with our close friend, Mary Weiss. We’ll meet up with a group of friends in Naples. Once a week, when Katie and I lived in Naples, four or more of us used to have dinner. Mary Weiss would fly in from her home in Hawaii and join us on holidays. Our dinner group scattered around the country. Once again we are gathering in Naples to celebrate Katie’s graduation. Since my book has been published, I wrote some articles. I gave a few talks on topics from the book. Arlan Wise wrote a review of “The Heart of Astrology” for the OPA Magazine; it will be published in June. I wrote an article for this same issue and will send a link when it is published. Here’s the link for Arlan’s review”: The Astrology Company : Heart of Astrology Book Review. My friend and colleague, Aswin Subramanyan, is confronting a series of health challenges. If you have a moment, I ask you to say a prayer for him. Several years back we met at a conference in India; we established a close friendship, and have been in regular contact ever since. Three of my longtime friends passed away on April 25th, unbelievable, three in one day. Tom Decker, Debbie Nordeen, and Dennis McCabe all whom I have known since the early 70’s. It is easy for us to feel that our lives lack purpose and meaning. But if you read a well written novel like “Lord of the Rings”, you realize every character has a role to play. Creation is even more glorious and specific than the best composed story. Whether your part is great or small, high or low, the play would not work without you. Gandalf and Gollum were both necessary to the story. Never lose heart; you are here for a reason. On April 6th I gave an introductory talk on my book for the Circle of Friends here in Myrtle Beach. Take a look: Bob Mulligan: The Heart of Astrology on the Spiritual Path The day long workshop “Astrology, Karma, and Reincarnation” for NCGR, South Florida Chapter was on February 15th. This was the day my book was released. The NCGR group in Ft. Lauderdale graciously allowed me to share this with you. It’s in three parts: Astrology, Karma, & Reincarnation Workshop Part 1 Astrology, Karma, & Reincarnation Workshop Part 2 Astrology, Karma, & Reincarnation Workshop Part 3 – YouTube Here are some songs that popped into my head that you might enjoy: Dog & Butterfly Underachievers’ Anonymous Dido – White Flag (Live 8 2005) “ In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” – Anne Frank Bob Mulligan is available for personal appointments, astrology classes, and astrological material. Call him at 239-261-2840 or e-mail bobmulliga@aol.com. Visit our website, www.theastrologycompany.com. | 
