Posted on May 14, 2026 in Configurations | 

By Henry Seltzer for ASTROGRAPH Horoscopes

The Taurus New Moon of Saturday, May 16th, at 25° and taking place at 1:00 PM PT, is quite an interesting one, with a depth of reckoning leading to transpersonal transformation. This is mainly due to an extremely powerful placement of Chiron, the Wounded Healer, combined with an Out of Bounds Moon and outer planet interactions between Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. The potent New Moon also features Saturn and Uranus in combination, Neptune at the midpoint of Uranus and Pluto, and a strongly placed Mercury in semi-sextile with an Out of Bounds Venus – in mutual reception – also tied to Sun, Moon, and Mars. That’s a lot to unpack, and leads in the direction of inner work that may be more to the point, as far as where we might want to be striving to put our energy, than any outer world consideration or attempted solution, at least in this particular timing.

It does seem true at the moment that real world problems, while looming, are just going around in circles, so that what we think and feel – and what troubles us – might be more productively addressed within the depths of our psyche. We might remember, along with Shakespeare’s Hamlet, that “Nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” And the kind of depth research that empowers us from the inside out is what the planets seem to be calling for now, as well.

To begin with, there is the overriding combination of transpersonal archetypes in which the 20th century modern outer planets are involved, all three, with consequences for our ultimate individual progress. This would be by means of in-depth evolution along the lines intended by our innermost soul purpose – or we could say our dharma. We find Uranus, newly re-entered into Gemini, lying near the 1° mark, in a four-degree trine with Pluto at 5 1/2° of Aquarius, with their midpoint of 3° 19’ Aries, which is where we find Neptune, within 20’ or so, at 3° 43’ Aries. This is of cosmic consequence over the coming thirty days to mid-June and gets stronger thereafter. Pluto is moving in retrograde, now, toward a closer trine, as Uranus gets closer too, by moving forward. This is a lot of detail, for which I apologize, and the gist of it is that these intense planetary combinations get stronger through the coming weeks leading to the summer months of July and August. I do fear that it will be a rather stressful 250th birthday for the US.

The Chiron configuration in this New Moon is also rather dramatic; and its exaggerated potency now speaks to the unending pain of the international situation, unbearably stuck on suffering, as the Iran war drags on with no end in sight while we have the global economy remaining ever more its victim. We find Chiron at 28° 24’ Aries, with Mars, Aries’ ruler, at the very same degree and minute, and the two in partile (same degree) semi-sextile with Mercury, plus sextile Venus as well. This is a powerful planetary alignment indicating quite a lot of strain on our mental faculties, as we both confront our own inner wounding and try to make sense of the outer situation in which we find ourselves. This does involve our initiative (Mars) and our relationships (Venus). On an individual level also, the stress is growing, and with the ratcheting-up pressure we are all being tested. We must try to find a way to rise above. When we include the Out of Bounds Moon and Venus, this is a heavy and uncertain planetary stew, crying out for a better way of seeing the world around us, and ourselves internally. These inner realms are where we can yet somehow make progress, remembering that it’s what we do with what we’ve got (or get handed to us) that counts. By seeking results inside, at least there we are tackling a field of activity where we have something that we can concretely do for ourselves. The recipe is to find and accept internal complexes that might be plaguing us and reach down with the loving and grounded recognition that we are inevitably scarred by whatever occurred in our childhood to create the original wound. We can make huge long-term progress by thoughtful acknowledgement of everything, together with our faith in the universe to see us through.

There is also quite a bit of intuitional mental perception now, through the close parallel declination and conjunction Mercury makes with Uranus. Mercury and Uranus are in a 3-degree conjunction and there, Jupiter is also involved, septile to each, and exact to their midpoint. Saturn, too, comes into this, making an additional septile to Uranus and a bi-septile to Jupiter. This is another heady stew, with optimism and yet with the limitations of Saturn slowing things down, including even our thoughts, and providing startling lessons when we can open our inner gaze to see them.

All in all, we are over these next few months truly in for it. And yet, we can continue somehow to have faith and to carry on. Astrology after all gives us the confident understanding that this all according to some kind of larger plan that applies to our long-term continuing evolutionary journey into greater authenticity – as we go. Therefore, we do what we can in this regard. In spite of everything, we may be able to trust in the ability of the universe to guide us through. We could perhaps align ourselves with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whom I like to quote, and who wrote some two centuries ago:

Let us then be up and doing
With a heart for any fate.
Still achieving, still pursuing.
Learn to labor, and to wait.

(Image from mooncalendar.astro-seek.com)

Chart for the New Moon on May 16, 2026

Dates given for astrological events are based on U.S. Pacific Time. Add or subtract hours as appropriate for your actual time zone; for example, East Coast, add 3 hours; Western Europe add 8 or 9.

(Contributed by John Atwater, H.W.)