If you’re not in the mood to listen, here’s the transcript…
Hey, welcome back! This is This Week’s Magic, your weekly astrological weather report. I’m Shereen, and this is the forecast for the week of May 4th.
Okay, I’m just going to say it upfront. This week is a little heavy. Not in a bad way, but in a sit down, we need to talk kind of way. There’s friction in the forecast, some charged energy mid week, and a big planetary shift that’s worth understanding. But we end the week with a sigh of relief, I promise. Let’s get into it.
The overall vibe
This week has a distinct slow down and feel the room energy. The universe is not interested in you bulldozing through your to-do list this week. It wants you to be flexible, to consider emotional impact, yours and other people’s, and to look honestly at what might be running in the background of your mind without your permission. Heavy, yes. Purposeful, absolutely.
Mars in Aries square Jupiter in Cancer — Sunday May 4th
We start the week on Sunday with Mars in Aries squaring Jupiter in Cancer, and this one sets the tone for the whole week.
Mars in Aries is full volume. It wants everything now, it wants to move fast, it wants to get it done and get to the next thing. Jupiter in Cancer is the opposite energy. Jupiter wants to expand through feelings, through connection, through comfort and emotional security. So when these two square off, you get friction between urgency and tenderness.
Here’s how I want you to think about this. Most of us lean one way or the other. Either you tend to bulldoze, moving fast, getting things done, not always stopping to consider the emotional wake you’re leaving behind. Or you tend to linger in emotional uncertainty, sitting with feelings so long that momentum slips away and opportunities pass.
This square is going to poke whichever pattern is yours. If you bulldoze, expect some friction this week where slowing down and thinking about emotional impact is non-negotiable. If you linger, Mars is going to push you to pick up the pace a little because staying too comfortable in uncertainty has its own cost.
The invitation here is balance. Protect your emotional security without letting it become a reason not to move forward. Move forward without forgetting that the people around you have feelings too. Adjust.
Mercury in Taurus square Pluto in Aquarius — Monday May 5th
Monday, Mercury squares Pluto and this one is charged. Like, really charged.
Mercury is our thoughts, our inner voice, how we process and communicate. Pluto is transformation, power, what lives in the shadows. When they square off, the result is that conversations can go somewhere uncomfortable fast, and thoughts can become obsessive even faster.
Someone might say something that pokes an old wound around self worth, around not being enough, around a story you’ve been telling yourself for years that you thought you were done with. Or you might accidentally do that for someone else. Taurus and Aquarius are both fixed signs, which means when this energy gets charged, it digs in. Neither side wants to move.
So here’s my practical advice for Monday. If a conversation starts escalating, pause. If you find yourself or someone else fixating on one point and going in circles, table it. Come back when cooler heads are available. Not every charged thought needs to be said out loud, and not every difficult conversation needs to be finished in one sitting.
But here’s the deeper invitation underneath all of that. Pluto’s whole goal is transformation. It shines a light on what’s hidden, sometimes not gently, to show us where we are quietly disempowering ourselves. And Mercury rules our thoughts and how we process reality. Together, this transit is really asking: what stories are you telling yourself that are blocking you, consciously and unconsciously, from what you actually want? What beliefs are running in the background that you haven’t examined in a while? Use Monday for that. The friction is a flashlight.
Pluto Retrograde in Aquarius — Tuesday May 6th
Tuesday, Pluto stations retrograde in Aquarius, and this deserves a real moment.
First, some context. Pluto moved into Aquarius for the long haul in 2024, after a brief dip back into Capricorn in 2023. So we’ve settled into Pluto in Aquarius now. It’s been doing its transformation work on our collective structures, our technology, our relationship to power and community. That’s the backdrop.
When Pluto goes retrograde, the energy shifts from external to internal. Instead of transformation showing up in the world around you, it starts showing up inside you. Old fears, old anxieties, old patterns that are no longer serving you start surfacing for review. This isn’t punishment. It’s a clearing.
Now, Pluto and the outer planets are retrograde for roughly half the year, so this isn’t unusual or alarming. The moments that matter most are when Pluto stations, meaning when it halts and changes direction, like it’s doing right now. What comes up for you personally around May 6th? That is likely going to be an underlying theme for you for the next several months until Pluto goes direct on October 16th.
Here’s who’s going to feel this most. If you have planets between 3 degrees 4 minutes and 5 degrees 31 minutes of Aquarius, Pluto is directly working on that part of your chart this year. If you have planets in those degrees in Taurus, Scorpio, or Leo, the transformation may bring up some harder stuff, old fears or anxieties ready to be released. If your planets in those degrees are in Sagittarius, Aries, Gemini, or Libra, Pluto is here to help you step into your power. The closer your planets are to that degree range, the stronger you’ll feel it.
If you don’t know your chart well enough yet to know where your planets are, that’s okay. Just notice what comes up around Tuesday. Your life will show you.
Pluto will also make two sextiles to Neptune in Aries while retrograde, on July 25th and September 17th. We’ll talk about those when we get there.
A little sidebar: Moon Phases
We just had a Full Moon in Scorpio on Friday, which was also Beltane, and that combination hasn’t happened since 1988. So if you felt all the feelings this past weekend, that’s exactly why.
Which brings me to something I want to teach you, because we talk a lot about New Moons and Full Moons and those are important, but the full lunar cycle has four phases and all of them matter.
Here’s the quick version. The New Moon is the beginning. Plant seeds, set intentions, start things. The First Quarter Moon, about a week later, is where you take action. Things might feel a little effortful here, there’s a reason for that, it’s the push. The Full Moon, two weeks into the cycle, is the reveal. What you planted shows up, what’s been hidden surfaces, emotions peak. And the Last Quarter Moon, which we have this week on Friday the 9th, is the release. Let go, reflect, clear space, finish things rather than start them.
And then there’s waxing and waning. From New Moon to Full Moon, the moon is waxing, growing, building energy. This is the time for expansion, for putting things out into the world. From Full Moon to New Moon, the moon is waning, releasing, clearing. This is the time for rest, reflection, and letting things go.
Here’s why this matters practically. If you’ve been pushing hard on something and it feels like nothing is moving, check where you are in the lunar cycle. Sometimes the timing is off and the moon is asking you to rest, not to push harder.
Also, I want to flag something about May specifically. We are opening and closing this month with a Full Moon. That makes May a big month energetically. Two full moons in one calendar month means we get two rounds of revelation, two peaks of emotional intensity, two invitations to release. Pay attention this month. A lot can shift.
Last Quarter Moon in Aquarius — Friday May 9th
Friday’s Last Quarter Moon falls in Aquarius with the Sun in Taurus, and this one is asking a really specific question.
Taurus is about pleasure, sensuality, practicality, your personal values, what you want for yourself. Aquarius is about the collective, the bigger picture, your place in the community, what you owe to the world beyond yourself. The Last Quarter Moon at this axis is asking you to examine your own relationship to those two things. Where are you out of balance? Are you so focused on personal comfort and security that you’ve disconnected from the collective? Or are you so focused on everyone else that you’ve forgotten to tend to your own needs and pleasures?
This is a release moon. So whatever the imbalance is, this is the time to let something go. A habit, a belief, a pattern that’s been keeping you out of alignment. Clear space for the next cycle.
Sun in Taurus sextile Jupiter in Cancer — Saturday May 10th
And then Saturday arrives and the whole week exhales.
Sun in Taurus sextile Jupiter in Cancer is warm, easy, nourishing energy. After the friction of Mars square Jupiter, the charged intensity of Mercury square Pluto, the internal reckoning of Pluto retrograde, and the emotional depth of the Scorpio full moon hangover, Saturday is a gentle sigh of relief.
Sextiles are supportive, flowing, cooperative. The Sun is your vitality, your sense of self. Jupiter in Cancer is abundance through emotional connection, through home, through the people who feel like home. Saturday is a good day to be around people you love, to eat something good, to let yourself rest and feel taken care of.
You made it through the week. Let Saturday be easy.
The verdict
This is a week that asks you to feel the room, examine your stories, and release what’s no longer serving you. The friction is purposeful. The depth is an invitation. And Saturday reminds you that on the other side of the hard weeks, there is always relief.
Closing
That’s your magic for the week. Now go make some more. And next week I’m diving into what’s coming as we move deeper into Taurus season and what that means for where you’re planting your energy. See you soon!
