We’re going to be a lot more snappy and defensive for the next few weeks—here’s why

Mars enters Cancers on May 16th and promises a Taurus season filled with karmic and fated events. Mars represents our energy, desires, and drive, but also our anger, ego, and aggression. Mars is the primal energy in us, and through its position in different signs, we learn how we’re going to be expressing our energy on a collective level.

Mars is not very comfortable in Cancer because Mars represents aggression, while Cancer is all about defense and protection. Often, when Mars is in Cancer, we’re attacking others to defend ourselves and finding ourselves attacked for our defenses.

During the months of May and June (Mars will remain in Cancer until July 1st), we’ll all be extra sensitive—more sensitive to attacks, more sensitive to microaggressions, and more sensitive to situations and people that we perceive as intrusive of our space. At the same time, we’ll also be a little less equipped to deal with these situations as we are—more than ever—on a subconscious auto-pilot inner program.

If you find yourself triggered and reacting to your environment, take a deep breath and ask yourself what emotion is underlying the anger and defense mechanism. We’re all going to be reacting, when really we want to be responding. A good thing to keep in mind for these two months is the following: If you want to be understood and deal with the situations that cause you to be reactive and triggered, you need to communicate clearly the emotion you’re experiencing: Is it hurt, anger, fear, vulnerability, sadness?

This is going to be a focus for May and June: learning how to lead with vulnerability and empathy. It’s the ultimate strength, and will help you cope with and win situations.

These months will also be rather emotional—we’re called to ask ourselves what sits in our stomachs, the emotions we’re going through, and we’re also all more keen to seek a sense of security within our families and relationships, wanting to nurture our loved ones, wanting to protect and be protected by them.

Relationships are going to be highlighted for this season and especially during the last two weeks of May. We are finding new ways to relate to our loved ones and ourselves, based on more empathy and love, and you can expect new relationships to blossom and old relationships to be renewed.

For more astrology and forecasts from me, visit my website.