Lovely Venus is very active in the middle of the month, with a square to Chiron on May 17th, a sextile to Uranus and trine to Jupiter on the 18th, and a square to Neptune on the 20th. Venus usually works on us through our interpersonal relationships but can also have an effect on our internal values and possessions. In any event, we are likely to encounter new and unusual (Uranus) kinds of people that are helpful to us and help to expand our world (Jupiter). But we may be prone to idealize these situations (Neptune) in a way that forces us to revisit old wounds of the past (Chiron).

These Venus events set the stage for the Full Moon tomorrow (the 19th) which is likely to be an intense one. Not only is it the second Scorpio Full Moon in a series, but it is at the last degree of Scorpio. The 29th degree is sometimes called the “anaretic” degree, or the “karmic” degree, because it is like the final exam. By the 29th degree we are by necessity learning any lessons of that sign that we have not yet assimilated before we can move into the next sign.

All of this is part of a major Yod to the South Node that occurs on the 21st and incorporates a conjunction of Chiron to the North Node. A Yod, or “Finger of Fate” aspect, is an event of great significance of which the Apex planet (in this case, the South Node) is the key. (I don’t use the Nodes of the Moon to calculate Yods in an individual’s chart, but they are useful to consider by transit.) The importance of the South Node shows that there will be an illumination of an episode from the past (South Node) that is brought into the current time period so that patterns of behavior can be alchemized into new modes of behavior and thinking that are more useful to us.

Traditional astrologers consider the South Node to be malefic, but that is because there is a tendency with the South Node to be drawn into behaviors that hold us back from our soul’s evolution. When we are on a path of conscious understanding and awareness it becomes easier to let go of our attachment to the dramas that previously we considered our reality.

In many ways, the Full Moon in Scorpio is about letting go of those attachments. Scorpio has a tendency to hold on to the emotional drama and create an intense story that becomes a part of our identity. During the Full Moon the lunar instinctive energies (now in Scorpio) overcome the solar conscious mind (working with the Taurus dynamic of stability and peaceful existence). Achieving a balance between these two is the goal now as we move with the Moon from Scorpio’s last degree into the more expansive climate of Sagittarius with its optimism and love of adventure.

After the culmination of the Full Moon we’ll be able to assimilate all of the information downloaded during the previous week of intensity when Mercury forms a trine to Chiron on the 23rd and facilitates the healing process and the deepening into wisdom of any challenges that we faced during the cathartic Scorpio Full Moon. Because Mercury and Chiron are both moving very slowly now, this trine will be in effect for at least a week between the 21st and the end of the month during which time we’ll have two more retrogrades: Mercury and Neptune, both on the 26th.