*Eleditor’s note: Astrology isn’t a religion. We’re not sure it’s a science, either. It’s magic, maybe. But, as with feng shui, say, things affect things. So as long as we don’t go blaming our problems on the stars, as long as we assume responsibility for our own actions…well, hell, a little auspicious coincidence and applicable wisdom can’t hurt. And so, with that grain of salt…enjoy!

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“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”

~ Unknown

On Sunday May 22^nd, Mercury will turn direct in Taurus.

Mercury turns retrograde approximately four times a year; during that time the planet governing communication slows and appears to travel backwards in the sky.  Although each actual retrograde period lasts for only about three weeks, there is a shadow phase before and after during which the planet is still not performing at its full strength.

Although Mercury turns direct on the 22^nd, we will still be within the shadow zone until June 7^th. This means that while things will come more easily, and communication will flow more productively we won’t truly feel ultimate relief until after mercury exits the shadow zone.

This retrograde period wasn’t as harsh as others, because it wasn’t tampering with the outer realm of communication, but our internal dialogue.

How we talk to ourselves is often indicative of the life we feel we deserve.

If we believe that we have to fulfill responsibilities or suffer for our previous decisions—the “you made your bed, now you have to lay in it” mentality then we will only see each day as a series of musts. Life will slowly pass by without passion or inspiration. If we believe this is the best life that we can achieve then that is the reality we will accept.

This continues to be the major theme this year—are we accepting our life or are we choosing our life?

There is a big difference in the life that we accept versus the life we choose by design.

We are guaranteed to make mistakes—we will all take turns down the wrong road. But the thing that defines and separates us is what we choose to do once we realize that we’ve ended up somewhere that just doesn’t feel right. Often times we talk ourselves into living a life that we believe we should be happy with, but the sad fact is that just because we should be happy, doesn’t mean that we will be.

Something has been amiss for quite some time, something hasn’t felt quite right.

And then we entered into the season for retrogrades where we were forced to stand still and not move forward with our plans. The universe stopped us in our tracks to help us consider whether the place are right now is where we truly want to be.

Mercury was just one of five planets that has helped us reconfigure our wants and desires into a more honest and authentic way. We’ve been quiet the last month or so, not because we were disinterested but because we needed to think things through more clearly.

We needed time to sit with our thoughts and feelings and we can make choices to honor what we discovered.

Sunday won’t dawn with all of us feeling a rush of fire beneath our feet to make changes, but instead more like waking up from a deep sleep. We need time to wake up, get our surroundings, and prepare for the next step—and this time we are more sure about exactly what that step should be.

This year isn’t about staying in our comfort zone,nor is it about upholding a life that others agree with or that looks pretty from the outside. All of the things that we’ve been dealing with are to help prepare us to start living a life that we love, that feels good to us—even if no one else understands it.

These decisions are never made lightly, and this time more is at stake. As we grow and become more enmeshed in other people’s lives and drama, our roots become tangled with theirs and sometimes it’s impossible to see a way out that doesn’t bring everyone down in flames.

And this retrograde acted like a timeout—now we’ve had time to consider all the options. We’ve tried to swallow our heart and live the life that we thought we should, and we’ve tried to run like hell from anything that couldn’t be explained logically, but we failed.

Thank goodness we did because now is when life gets interesting.

All of our self-talk is about to become the rules for a game that we never imagined playing, but we are.

It’s go time.

Now is the right time to behave and act in accordance with all we believe in. It won’t be easy, and we may backtrack a bit, but there is no doubt that this is exactly where we are meant to be.

All of our thoughts haven’t been crazy, and we’ve had strong feelings for a reason too—now is the time when we are literally going to be asked to walk our talk.

No one may know if we are doing that but ourselves.

Whether our life seem status quo to others or it seems like a change has come out of nowhere, the most important thing is to act in the best interest of our heart—not for others, but for ourselves.

Everyone has an opinion about how everyone else should be living, but no one wants to stop and examine their own life, but now is our chance. This is your moment to decide exactly what feels right, exactly where we want to be and precisely who we want to be with.

Because now, nothing is holding us back—not even ourselves.

So go for it because this time the universe is on your side.

Author: Kate Rose 

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: flickr/Alia Qunhua