A stunning month for your career advancement is coming up in May, especially in the first half. So many jewel-like aspects will come up that if you interview or are offered a new position, you should look into it rather than wave it off. There might be something mighty special about that opportunity. A group of four happy heavenly bodies will be filling your solar tenth house of honors, awards, achievement, and fame, and includes Venus, Mercury, plus the Sun and new moon, May 6 in Taurus 17 degrees.

If you change jobs now, whether by joining a new company or by being promoted in your current firm, you will be making a step up. If you are self-employed, you will find ways to attract prestigious new business as well as positive publicity about your victories so far. It's an amazing month, where many conditions are right for you to make your move.

The first one will arrive May 3. The Sun and Jupiter will be in exceptionally fine form and communicating in a way that will shower you in gold dust. The Sun is your ruling star, so although everyone will love this day, you will love it more than most. Jupiter is in your money sector, so you see, this day joins prestigious developments in your career with salary. This would be a great day for an interview or presentation.

Next, we have the new moon, May 6 in Taurus. You can have the finest aspects for career in the world, but you need a new moon to turn it into a major opportunity. You have precisely that this month on May. This new moon will arrive with her entourage, with the Sun as her escort, and Venus and Mercury present too. Jupiter will be beautifully angled to the new moon and send rays of good fortune toward your financial house. Remarkably, Neptune will also be friendly and send beams to your prestigious solar tenth house from its position in your eighth house of other people's money. So here you see, you have help from both financial houses at the same new moon. This tells me you won't have an offer for an all-glory-but-no-money position. Quite the contrary, you will be able to negotiate fine compensation and benefits in the weeks ahead.

On May 10, Venus and Jupiter will collaborate, again linking financial reward to your tenth house of fame and honors, and the standing you have in your industry. You might need to travel on this day, or hand in a written document - and if it is the latter, your work will be well received. Honestly, this month, you can do no wrong.

Also, Jupiter and Pluto will make an important alignment next month, June 26, but because they move so slowly, these two financial megastars of the solar system will be close enough to make a "trine" - meaning be 120 degrees apart - the most harmonious aspect possible. Pluto is now in your assignment sector, and Jupiter is in your salary and fees sector, so this tells me that all Leos, including the self-employed ones, will do well financially this month, as well as in June and July, thanks to this configuration. If you work for others, you can be sure the new business will flow in, and that the money you earn this year will be impressive.

The full moon on May 21 in Sagittarius 1 degree will light your solar fifth house of true love, pregnancy, and the care of children. The same part of your chart, this solar fifth house, also rules your own creativity and that of those you might support in your business. For example, if you are an artist or actor or represent creative people, this part of the chart that is shining so brilliantly will speak to you. While you have plenty going on in your career, you have an equal - or greater - emphasis on your private love life, on a child (or children), and/or creativity. The full moon on May 21 will be conjunct Mars in Sagittarius, so you'll want to act quickly on something. However, you might need to slow down - I will explain the reason in a moment.

Full moons bring feelings to the surface, and with this full moon in your love sector, you may meet someone new and intriguing, or if dating, confess your feelings of love. Some sort of development is about to come up. It might involve a child, a pregnancy, or a creative project that reaches fulfillment.

If your birthday falls on or within four days of July 23, it will touch you more directly than other members of your sign. The same is true if you have Leo rising, or a planet in Leo, Aries, Sagittarius, Gemini, Libra, or Aquarius, at 1 degree or within four degrees of that degree. All Leos will feel this, but those will feel this full moon more.

The plot thickens. Next month we will have another full moon in the same house! That will happen on June 20 in Sagittarius too, at 29 degrees, accenting Leos born in the third week of august. There's more! Mars has been in Sagittarius since March 5 and will remain there until May 27. Later, Mars will return on August 2 and go straight through to September 27. This means this area of your chart - love, romance, pregnancy, the birth of a child or care of a child - will occupy a great deal of your thinking.

Saturn is also in this area of your chart, suggesting it is through this part of your life that you will grow and mature impressively, for that's the job of Saturn, to show you that you can take on more responsibility than you ever have, or perhaps assumed you'd never be ready to do.

Now I need to say that May brings certain obstacles - Mercury and his brother Mars in Sagittarius will be retrograde along with Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto, also retrograde. Having five retrograde planets in one month is unusual, and most of us, of any sign, will be spending more time looking back than looking forward. To do well, you, too, will have to look back to examine all that went right and all that went wrong, and of the later, spend a little more time on the projects that could use more attention. You can stage talks, and do, but try not to chisel anything in stone. If you do, you will incorporate all the retrograde planets into the birth of your venture.

A retrograde planet is weakened and cannot help you at full power. It is a planet that is operating in slow motion, so you would have to be ready to fill in what the planet would normally give you effortlessly. Astrologers know that you would not feel the big outer planets as directly as you would the three planets that spin closer to earth - Mercury, Venus, and Mars - but this year, Venus is in fine shape. It is Mercury and Mars we have to watch.

Jupiter, thankfully, will turn direct on May 9, so that's wonderful news. Jupiter is visiting your financial sector, so money should flow, and at the same time, Jupiter RULES your house of love, children, and creativity, putting emphasis on both houses.

This makes your career progress tricky, for it means you must proceed slowly. Mercury and Mars won't stop it. You simply have to be more careful and deliberate in your actions. It's not ideal to take a job when Mercury is retrograde, as it will change later, and perhaps not in the way you had anticipated or would like to see happen.

When action-hero Mars goes retrograde, it's never wise to get involved in a competitive situation, for Mars is the booster rocket to all your most important initiatives. It you want to win, you wouldn't want to introduce a new product or service, or work with a big new client, as you will be beset with difficulties. However, sometimes you have to do it anyway, and in that case, you will have to put in a great deal of energy. In other words you would have to add all the energy that Mars would have normally given directly to you. I feel you would ideally want to wait until July or August to take the job, if possible.

I know this is a lot to take in. Which is more important, Mercury or Mars? I would say Mercury - when Mercury is retrograde, negotiations you achieve and settle will have to be re-negotiated eventually, for the agreement won't stick as is. It depends, however, on what you plan to do.

For example, I have 18 people working on the complete redesign of my website, and it is getting close to finish. (We started in September). I would never launch a website with Mercury retrograde, not with Mars out of phase either. I told the team to slow down and launch in July or August. I also desperately need an operation on my eyes. I will have the first eye operated on August 1. It's my eyes! My doctor says it is okay to wait, even though I am pulling out my hair with how hard it is to see contrast or even my computer screen. The doctors can fix things, but none are agreeing with one another (communication - that's Mercury - no problem I have time to keep asking questions.) Mars rules the sharp instruments used by a surgeon, so I do not want to schedule my operation while Mars is retrograde. As you see, I do follow my own advice!

The emphasis on your career will simmer down after the Sun moves into your solar eleventh house of fun, friendships, and club events on May 24. Venus, always the party planet, will move into the same house on May 24. These cosmic events happen a day after Mercury moves ahead.

(Please note: The next paragraph will NOT apply to you if you are married or in a long-term established relationship as those serious, committed relationships are covered by the seventh house, not the fifth house.)

If you are dating, there is a good chance that you are of two minds about the relationship. You may vacillate about whether you are serious about the person you are dating or not, and your feelings of indecision may be most noticeable this month and next, until June 29, while Mars remains retrograde. With Mars going in and out of retrograde, you have alternating feelings and may be vacillating. Even after Mars turns direct, the red planet will move sluggishly until the end of September. Give yourself all the time you need to sort out your feelings. If you are attached and trying to conceive a baby, if you have not yet been successful, consider consulting a fertility doctor. If you agree that this might be necessary, do so sooner rather than later, as the process may take time.

There has every indication that your career will be on fire this month. As you enter May, you will have four heavenly bodies filling your tenth house of fame, and the new moon, May 6 will release the energy there to get things cooking within the ten days that follow that new moon. Because we will have five out of eight planets retrograde during May, you won't make quick progress, so be patient. The retrograde planets include Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto, found in various parts of your chart. Fortunately, Venus, the planet that rules your prestigious career progress, will be moving in strong, positive orbit. The result is that you are likely to get an offer for a promotion or new position, and that offer would represent a step up from what you are doing now. If self-employed, you may bring in an important new client, and news about your victory would travel quickly through your industry. Jupiter, the great good fortune planet, will go direct on May 9.

The career opportunity that seems very likely to come up seems to be tied to a former boss, client, or person with a company with whom you've had a positive working relationship. With so many planets retrograde, reactivating situations from your past will be your most fortunate route to success. Mercury, which rules your sector of compensation, will be retrograde until May 22. Nevertheless, a truly superb aspect on May 3, when the Sun and Jupiter will be in sync, could result in a stunning financial offer that you will want to accept - do so if there is no way to delay things to month's end. Mercury's retrograde position does indicate the possibility that you may misunderstand some of what will be expected of you if you take the offer. Go over details slowly, and summarize what you understand to be true in email after the meeting. Go the extra mile to clear communication, for doing so will pay off.

If you are paid for your creative ideas in your career, are an actor, or represent creative people, you appear to be working on a major project that has many moving parts. One key phase of that project will be completed by the third week of May, just as Mercury is moving direct. This idea seems to have worldwide application, so, as it's been said, "Think global, not local."

A love relationship and/or a child also appear to be taking an important role in your life. Mars will spend an unusually long time in your fifth house of true love in 2016. Usually, Mars spends six weeks in any one part of the horoscope, but this year, Mars will remain there nearly seven months, until the end of September. Mars first entered your house of romance in early March.