The sun and moon will be tightly conjunct Neptune in Pisces. Neptune rules the sign, so this is an extra-heavy dose of Pisces. Beautiful, dreamy, magical, mystical Pisces – which has a shadow-side that is all about addiction, delusion, deception and disappointment.
Here is Kermit the Frog singing a Pisces theme song:
“Have you been half asleep, and have you heard voices? I've heard them calling my name. Is this the sweet sound that lured the young sailors? The voice might be one and the same.” Yes, Kermit you dear little frog, you're singing wistfully about the mythical sirens: half-human monster birds who lured sailors to shipwreck so they could tear them apart and eat them.
And there you have Pisces in a nutshell. At best, this sign is about the highest spirituality, transcendent art, dissolution of the self. At worst, it tries to blur out the difficulty and harshness of life with self-deceiving songs about rainbows – or with fairytale romance, victim-saviour fantasies, drink, drugs – whatever works. Except nothing works permanently. Every mechanism to escape reality only magnifies the harshness of that reality when the inevitable reckoning comes.
So I always advocate caution when approaching Pisces-heavy skies like this one. I don't mean to be a downer, but this is a matter of simple self-preservation. Whenever you hear someone (or yourself) gushing about how perfect and fantastic and amazing and gorgeous something is, that is a signal to make sure your bullshit detector is switched on. Remember if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Especially under a sky like this.
For this new moon, fortunately, the sun, moon and Neptune are beneficially aspecting Saturn in Capricorn, which should hopefully provide some grounding in reality, and the ability to manifest your dreams. Still, it's unlikely to be an easy month. We have Mercury stationing retrograde in Pisces the day before the new moon (5th March). Mercury retrogrades are always frustrating, full of travel and communication glitches. But in this case, Mercury is retrograding through Pisces, a sign he doesn't function well in when he's moving direct, let alone retrograde. Expect plenty of confusion, obfuscation and head-fuckery, and be skeptical about the information you're given. Fake news will abound. Also be careful around drink and drugs. Things are going to get pretty weird, and boundary-dissolving substances will magnify that weirdness and any potential unpleasantness as well. They certainly won't help. (As to what will help: art, spiritual work, and finding something larger than the demands of your ego to serve.)
Uranus also re-enters Taurus for the long haul on the same day as the new moon, and this is a biggie. Expect big shifts – earthquakes really – in love and money scenarios, and to your values. What you thought was worthwhile yesterday may abruptly not mean a damn to you tomorrow, and what you didn't like might suddenly seem attractive. Sudden reversals of fortune are also likely. And the physical structures and routines of our existence – the ground under our feet – is going to be much more prone to sudden ruptures and upheavals. This is something to get used to for the next 7 years roughly. If you think the weather's been weird lately, you ain't seen nothing yet.
You put it all together and it looks like some real WTFuckery will be going down this month. It's the start of something big, but there's no telling what it is as yet! Major, groundbreaking changes will be surrounded by a fog of confusion, misinformation and outright delusion. This fog should clear a bit around the spring equinox on the 21st March, lit up by a full moon in the rational and fairness-seeking sign of Libra.
But overall, it's going to be weird. Try to keep your head firmly screwed on. To quote Kermit: "rainbows are visions, but only illusions". They are only a trick of the light, there is nothing real at the end of them. Be careful you're not chasing illusion instead of engaging with reality.
This is exact later today, the 19th February, just before 4 pm GMT.
The moon and sun will be at 0 degrees of Virgo and Pisces, respectively. 0 degrees of any sign is very concentrated and potent energy. In addition, the rulers of Virgo and Pisces – Mercury and Neptune – are nearly exactly conjunct in Pisces at this time.
It's a beneficial melding of Virgo and Pisces themes. Virgo is about cleanliness, order, health, routine and painstaking attention to detail, and Pisces is about spirituality and ego loss. So under this full moon we should be trying to find the holiness in the everyday – ordinary tasks like washing the dishes and taking out the garbage are inherently spiritual. Instead of hating and avoiding these everyday chores, you can approach them with attention, care and mindfulness. Getting your external house in order is a prerequisite to making internal spiritual progress – these things aren't separate.
There's a very transformational vibe to this full moon -- recall that we are still under the influence of the new moon in Aquarius two weeks ago, which was all about breaking free. It's no accident that Marie Kondo's show about decluttering is one of the most-watched things on Netflix at this time, and it fits the symbolism of this full moon precisely.
Now is a perfect time for internal or external spring cleaning and you can make great progress in whatever you set out to do. The full moon is beneficially aspecting Mars and Uranus, which are conjunct. This is like having some rocket fuel behind you, and as Mars is in Taurus, it's a slow and steady burn. Once you get started, you can carry through to the end and achieve a transformation, however enormous the task looks at the beginning. Just start.
We also have Venus, Saturn and Pluto conjunct in Capricorn at this time, which is about solid value in love and money matters. It's not an easy or feel-good influence, but it's definitely something you can use. All this Capricorn can be pretty ruthless about weeding out what is not essential, be it a possession, a situation, a habit or a relationship. Focus on keeping and maintaining only what supports your constructive growth. Remove your energy from what you know to be toxic or stagnant, and if that means allowing certain relationships to die, so be it.
At this full moon, it's important to remember that the motto of the Virgo-Pisces axis is “serve or suffer” - both signs need to serve something larger than the ego or they're prey to a lot of self-involved angst. With Virgo, the angst takes the form of endless worrying and nitpicking; with Pisces it's emotional turmoil and addiction. The way out of this angst is to do something practical and/or to help someone else. It's a pretty foolproof formula.
We are heading into some heavy Pisces influence over the next month, so please keep this formula in mind. Also, it's a good idea to avoid boundary-dissolving substances such as drugs, alcohol and fairy-tale romance. We'll have a new moon in Pisces on the 6th of March, with Uranus re-entering Taurus on the same day for extra weirdness. We'll also have a Mercury retrograde in Pisces beginning the day before the new moon, and running till the end of March. The Mercury retrograde will end on the 28th March, with Mercury exactly conjunct Neptune as he is now.
I think you put it all together and March looks like a real head-melting scenario, with a lot of weirdness going down around Mercury themes especially (that's thought, communication, travel, vehicles, appliances, trade, infrastructure, Brexit talks, etc). So the more you can get things streamlined, clear and functional at this time, the better prepared you'll be for the topsy-turvy weirdness ahead.
We are past eclipse season now, and this beautiful full moon in dreamy Pisces should feel like a soothing antidote to all that intensity. I really like the look of it.
Pisces can represent a strong undertow into addiction and delusion, but I'm not seeing that here. This full moon is backed up by a steadying grand trine of planets in earth signs: the sun in Virgo, Saturn in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus. This is very practical and grounding, but because of the Uranian influence it's also full of potential for brilliant innovation.
So it's a beautiful melding of creativity, intuition and dreams (Pisces) with pragmatism, hard work and long-term vision. It should be easy to see which of your plans are workable in the real world under this full moon, as reality will be sharply delineated from fantasy. But the great thing is, there's nothing grim or dull about reality here. It's possible to be wildly innovative and realistic at the same time, and that's what we're aiming for.
In fact, what's unrealistic – and even delusional – under this sky is to think you can stay stuck in a rut and have that work out for you. We are meant to be developing new operating systems for our lives this year. This is not about playing it safe and doing what we've always done, or expecting our lives to follow “normal” trajectories. Those no longer exist, if they ever did. This is about dreaming up a better, more authentic life for ourselves, and then figuring out how to turn those dreams into actualities in our brave new world. It will probably involve being unconventional, but who the hell cares about convention anymore?
Because Pisces is involved, please remember we are adapting ourselves to the flow, not pushing against the current. You'll know what's actually workable because it won't feel like a grinding, teeth-clenched trial, but a natural, effortless flow.
And because full moons signify culminations and endings and this one is in Pisces, a sign concerned with endings – you may have to let go of something before you can move forward. I would say if your plans require huge pushing against resistance (ie, swimming against the current), you should just drop them and focus on what is actually flowing for you. It's not about achieving something grandiose, but using what you have at hand in a creative way: building a tiny house out of salvaged materials in your mom's backyard as opposed to taking out a mortgage on Trump Tower.
Anyway, at this full moon it should be clear what's actually practical for you and what isn't. And then you can get to work building your new life. As of the 19th August, we are finished with Mercury retrograde. As of tomorrow (27th August), we are finished with Mars retrograde. And then, as of the 5th September, we are finished with Saturn retrograde. Things will be moving again! We won't be facing the kind of blockage and delay we've been dealing with all summer. So you no longer have an excuse for slacking - get to work!
We'll have a new moon in practical, detail-oriented Virgo on the 9th September, which should move things along some more. I'll write about it closer to the time. Best wishes for this lovely full moon, and may all your dreams be workable in reality!
It's on St Patrick's Day, a holiday associated with public drunkenness. And it's in Pisces, a sign associated with all forms of addiction. And the sun and moon will be conjunct Chiron, an asteroid which has to do with wounding – the kind you learn deep lessons from.
So I think it's a bit more dangerous than usual to go out partying this St Patrick's Day (and in the month to follow). The hangover is sure to be painful! Caution is advised with boundary dissolving substances – we'll be more addiction-prone this month, and more likely to encounter deep pain and karmic lessons via our escapist attempts to blur out reality. Interpersonal relations are likely to be harmfully affected too.
We've had a stellium in Pisces for the past few weeks, but this new moon marks the beginning of the end of that heavy Pisces influence. Instead we're going to have a stellium in Aries from the 6th of March, as Venus joins Mercury in Aries. Then we'll have the spring equinox as the sun enters Aries on the 20th March. It should feel like a release of stuck energy – an antidote to the inertia and depression of the Pisces stellium.
But Aries can be warlike and impulsive, and the planets in Aries will make harsh squares to Saturn and later Pluto in Capricorn, blocking the possibilities for forward movement. This is a recipe for frustration and rage. When you combine that influence with the sensitivity, delusion and ego-woundedness of this new moon, you can end up with a mess.
I think the danger of taking out your internal angst on others will be very strong this month. This Pisces lunar cycles culminates with a full moon in Libra on the 31st March which looks tough on relationships.
And the fact that the new moon conjuncts Chiron in Pisces magnifies the potential for pain and loss this month. Pisces has a reputation for dreamy spirituality, but it also has a very dark shadow: addiction, delusion, isolation, victim shit, self-pity, emotional chaos, illness, loss. Chiron's involvement with the new moon means we are likely to see a lot of this dark Pisces, and it's bound to be a bit miserable and deflating. Bubbles will burst.
But Chiron is also about learning from our wounds, so it's entirely possible to learn something deep and spiritual from your angst and disappointment. The key is going deep, into your dark psychological stuff and your subconscious. You have to examine your uncomfortable feelings, get to the root of them, find out what's triggering your angry or depressed responses. It's not fun, but that kind of deep psychological work will be very beneficial at this time.
That's because Jupiter in Scorpio is beneficially aspecting the new moon, after having stationed retrograde on the 8th March. This is a clear directive to cast your lasers inward, toward what's subconsciously driving you. It's about coming to terms with your Shadow, bringing the ugly stuff into conscious awareness, and healing. With this Jupiter retrograde in the sign of depth psychology (and a Mercury retrograde in Aries beginning on the 20th March) projecting your battles onto the outside world and fighting them there is not a good idea, though it will be easy enough to do that. It's better to use this energy to dig out what's going on inside you.
I think one very good way of doing that at this time is via art. We have Venus and Mercury conjunct in Aries, and this is very forcefully communicative. We also have Mars at the very last degree of Sagittarius, and this is more of the same: a shoot-from-the-hip kind of influence. It can be mouthy, opinionated, prone to blurting insensitive things and calling it honesty. But if you can channel this urgency of expression into creativity, you're less likely to get embroiled in external conflict.
The alternative is to use this to spout off your opinions and probably wound someone, and people will be doing plenty of that! We have this combination of sensitive, wounded Pisces and callous, impulsive Sagittarius and Aries, so the likelihood of getting wounded or hurting people you care about (especially if you're under the influence) is strong. So keeping your forceful opinions to yourself for a while might be smart. And it's worth asking yourself whether you're deluded or projecting before you tell someone off, because the likelihood here is that you are.
Mars shifts signs a few hours after the full moon, into Capricorn, a sign where he functions well and get shit done. But he's headed into a conjunction with Saturn in Capricorn, exact around the time of the full moon. This does not look so great to me. Mars-Saturn contacts are known for blockage, frustration and cruelty – people lash out because of pent-up aggression. So it ties into the theme of interpersonal violence this month, and it's something to keep an eye on. It has the potential to really damage or destroy relationships.
It all comes to a head in two weeks time, under the full moon in Libra on the 31st March. Libra is about relationships and keeping the peace, but this full moon is part of a very tense cardinal t-square, so keeping the peace is going to be tough, and relationships can end abruptly at this time. Caution is advised.
Caution with communication especially: we'll have a Mercury retrograde through Aries starting on the 23rd March and running till the 15th April, and it's bound up with the full moon. This means impulsive, emotionally driven miscommunication is likely, or angry misunderstandings. Needless to say, this can lead to conflict. You can blurt the wrong thing, or things you've said before can boomerang back on you, or communication can be blocked altogether.
So all in all, it looks like a tough month, and my advice is to look inward toward the sources of your angst instead of fighting your battles in the outer world. Or channel it into art, if that's your thing.
Also, try to keep a detached perspective if someone says or does something hurtful to you, and be mindful of how easy it will be this month to hurt others.
This is tonight, the 2nd March, about 12:50 am UTC
Virgo is the sign of fact-checking, order and discrimination, and we are really going to need that focused attention to reality here, because we have a big stellium in sensitive, dreamy Pisces: the sun, Neptune, Mercury, Venus and Chiron – and this is very foggy, and potentially delusive and self-defeating. It's going to be hard to know what's true and what's false at this time – reality is blanked out. (This is literally true where I live. We are having a freak snowstorm, with white-out conditions predicted for tonight.)
With all these planets in Pisces, it'll be a task to see clearly and not be carried away by emotion. Thankfully, we have the moon in Virgo, which is organized, grounded, nitpicky and analytical. This can help us sort out fact from fiction.
We also have Jupiter in Scorpio beneficially aspecting this Pisces stellium, and this is really helpful. Jupiter in Scorpio is an intuitive bullshit detector, so you can rely on your intuition and “gut feeling” as a guide at this time.
Often when you have this many planets in Pisces, it feels like a mess: swampy and muddled. But the outlook at this full moon is much better than that. This is partly because of the involvement of Jupiter, the great benefic, and partly because of helpful aspects from Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn. Saturn is serious, Pluto is deep, and Capricorn is all about structure and stability – so having these planets supporting the Pisces stellium is a stabilising influence.
All in all, I think this full moon should feel lovely, in a huge, swirling, ethereal way. Like a big romantic snowstorm. It's a nice influence for artists especially - very inspired. And having faith in the larger design will be beneficial: magic is real, and things can come together in ways you can't predict or control. You can trust that going with the flow will take you somewhere interesting.
That said, it's very important to hold onto your grip on reality and pay attention to the details. Don't go overboard with enthusiasm. Pisces always carries the potential for disappointment, delusion and loss, so it's imperative to stay clear-headed and realistic as much as you can. And it's probably a good idea to avoid alcohol and drugs as well, because it's easy to get swept away by addictive impulses at this time. Do your healthy Virgo stuff instead: clean the house, organise your stuff, drink some carrot juice.
We'll have a new moon in Pisces on the 17th March, and it ushers in a sensitive, touchy month, where it looks like it will be easy to wound or be wounded, so caution is advised. I'll write more about that closer to the date.
This is tomorrow morning – the 6th September, 7 am GMT.
We have Mercury stationing direct the day before it, on the exact degree of last month's big solar eclipse in Leo (21st August). So this full moon is a mental revisiting of whatever was going on for you around the time of that eclipse.
And not just mental. This is a full moon in super-emo Pisces, conjuct super-emo Neptune. Suffice it to say, there will be plenty of super-emo, strange, magical stuff happening. The floodgates will be open, for good or ill.
I think for good, not ill. It looks nice to me – spiritual and deep. A good time to focus inward and purify your heart, to forgive, to be compassionate, to have faith in life. To recover radical innocence, per Yeats:
“[...] all hatred driven hence, The soul recovers radical innocence And learns at last that it is self-delighting, Self-appeasing, self-affrighting, And that its own sweet will is Heaven’s will”
Recall, the theme of the eclipse (and of the past two months, basically) has been Leo stuff – creativity, generosity, self-expression, pride, bravery, joy, romance. This sky has been forcing us to ask ourselves how to bring more joy and aliveness into our lives; how to live with heart. And as it was eclipse season, great changes were demanded.
We're past the great changes and intensities of eclipse season now. This month is more a matter of getting on with the new order of things – our next new moon will be in Virgo, and within a couple of weeks we're going to have all the personal planets (Mercury, Mars and Venus) in Virgo. This is a lot of detail-oriented, systematic, humble, relentlessly pragmatic energy – it's going to be a great month for attending to practical matters and getting things done.
But before we get there, we have this gentle emotional catharsis: this dreamy, romantic, teary, spiritual full moon in Pisces, where we look back with nostalgia, gratitude, and maybe regret at the summer just past - and come to terms with it. It's a feeling the Japanese call mono no aware – an acute awareness of the impermanence of life in the midst of the everyday.
I'm going to quote Phillip Larkin's “Sad Steps” in its entirety, because it fits, and because Pisces moons are for poetry:
Groping back to bed after a piss I part thick curtains, and am startled by The rapid clouds, the moon’s cleanliness. Four o’clock: wedge-shadowed gardens lie Under a cavernous, a wind-picked sky. There’s something laughable about this, The way the moon dashes through clouds that blow Loosely as cannon-smoke to stand apart (Stone-coloured light sharpening the roofs below) High and preposterous and separate— Lozenge of love! Medallion of art! O wolves of memory! Immensements! No, One shivers slightly, looking up there. The hardness and the brightness and the plain Far-reaching singleness of that wide stare Is a reminder of the strength and pain Of being young; that it can’t come again, But is for others undiminished somewhere.
You see the speaker move from sentimental tropes about the moon to a personal vision that's very clinical and bleak, but deeply felt? I think it's a good resolution of the Pisces/Virgo polarity (feeling vs. reason): it's possible to feel deeply without being self-indulgent; it's possible to see clearly without being cold. That's the kind of balancing act that's called for here.
This full moon looks great for creating art, music, poetry. Also for letting go of things – remember full moons are about endings. It's potentially very beautiful and profound, like a wistful cat.
Wistful cat
But Pisces can also be full of delusion, self-pity, addiction and victim shit – Pisces is the incurable drunk who calls you at 4 am to cry about all the terrible things other people have done to her. And with Neptune conjunct the moon, this is doubly the case here. There's a real potential for people to wallow in their self-created misery, and to try to drag others in too.
The antidote to this sodden emotional mess is Virgo. The north node was in Virgo for the past few years, and I got used to repeating the boring mantra: “Keep doing your Virgo!” It was about attending to practical matters in order to keep from sinking into self-destruction and despair.
The north node is now in Leo, but for the next couple of weeks, it's disposited by the sun in Virgo. So this month, the old advice applies – keep doing your Virgo, stay practical and focused on everyday tasks and routines in order to stave off existential misery.
The nice thing is, the north node is now in Leo, so there's a larger purpose to this Virgo stuff now. It's not just about staying functional and sane. It's about doing the practical work that needs to be done in order to create a life worth living – a life with more authenticity and joy in it.
It's an annular (“ring of fire”) solar eclipse - the second and final eclipse of this eclipse season. The next round of eclipses won't be till August. Eclipse season represents a time of supercharged change.
Pisces, as the last sign of the zodiac, has to do with endings – and we have a big stellium in Pisces right now. But new moons are symbolic of new beginnings, and we also have a very charged-up stellium in Aries, which is about birth.
So the symbolism here is very much about death and rebirth – endings and beginnings. We are looking at permanent endings here, but we are also looking at fiery, supercharged new beginnings. One door shuts for good, another door opens.
OK, that's all very well, but the death-and-rebirth process this new moon ushers in is unlikely to feel clear-cut. There may be intense delusion / nostalgia / confusion / deception going on, making it hard to know what the hell is happening.
Or else the true import of what's happening may be clouded or hidden – we'll look back and say “this marked the turning point!”, but it'll be impossible to understand it in the moment. The meaning will only come clear in hindsight.
That's because the eclipse is happening close to the south node. And the south node in Pisces is very swamplike – we are vulnerable to all kinds of self-deception, delusion and addiction here. Also illness: Pisces dissolves boundaries, allowing energy to leak out and contagion to leak in.
Having the sun and moon near the south node in Pisces indicates delusive egotism (sun) joined up to emotional hypersensitivity (moon). Plus the sun and moon are conjunct Pisces' ruler Neptune, which further confuses matters. And Mercury, which has to do with our minds and communication, is newly in Pisces too, and tied up with the eclipse. Meaning our brains are going to be underwater, and not too helpful in reasoning us through this or parsing truth from falsity.
Put it all together and it's a recipe for mind-fuckery, victim shit, deceit, muddled thought, addiction, self-delusion, stagnation, depleted reserves and generally feeling like crap. I could try to put a better spin on this – Pisces can be beautiful, dreamy, magical, spiritual energy. But in the context of this new moon, it doesn't look so pleasant. It looks like a big leaky mess.
Don't believe everything you hear. We are sure to be lied to and emotionally manipulated on a grand scale this month, and it's going to be hard to know whose version of reality to trust. Focus as much as you can on what you know to be factually true – and steer clear of reasoning that is informed by wounded emotion, unverifiable beliefs or sentimental nonsense. I expect it'll be easier said than done.
Don't believe everything you think or feel either. Try to fact-check yourself and to take a broader view than the personal. The risk of self-delusion here is high. (One particular danger is of using victim shit as a smokescreen: people will be taking on the mantle of outraged victimhood in order to minimise or excuse their own bad behaviour.)
Also, please be very careful with boundary-dissolving substances (alcohol, drugs) and addictions – you can fuck yourself up much more severely than usual at this time – and maybe irreparably.
That's because in addition to the Pisces south node stuff, we have some ultra-violence going on in the sky: a cardinal t-square between Pluto in Capricorn, Jupiter in Libra and Mars and Uranus in Aries. Sudden shocking accidents are likely. Things can turn in a second and there'll be no going back – remember we are dealing with permanent endings here. So unless you want to blow-torch your life, extreme caution is advised.
This cardinal t-square is tough. Mars conjuncts Uranus the day after the new moon, and both exactly oppose Jupiter in Libra. It looks like an abrupt breaking point – for relationships especially.
I could view this more positively, as a psychological breaking point for relationship hangups and dysfunctional patterns. I do want to look at it positively! Maybe you'll get free of something that's been weighing you down forever.
Positive or negative though, it looks uncomfortable. It involves Mars, who is impetuous and violent, and Uranus, who is abrupt and shocking. Jupiter in Libra may moderate these two or inflame them, we'll see. But the scenario reminds me of the story about the straw that broke the camel's back.
“Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge...”
Not pushing people when they're close to the edge is a good idea here!
Anyway, please be careful this month. Be careful driving. Be careful drinking. Be careful drinking and driving. Be careful with machinery and electricity. Don't plug anything in while you're sitting in the bath. Keep your wits about you and try to avoid stupid drama. That won't be so easy, with Mercury zoning out in Pisces – but please try. These are dangerous days. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, etc.
This emphasis on caution is reiterated by our Venus retrograde, which starts on the 4th March. She'll move backward from 13 degrees Aries toward 26 degrees Pisces, resuming direct motion on the 15th April.
This is a rare enough event – it happens about every other year. It's a time for evaluating our relationships and thinking about what we really value. Powering full steam ahead in love or money matters is not advised until the retrograde ends.
Because this retrograde takes Venus back into square aspect with Saturn in Sagittarius, it will probably involve a depressing sense of blockage, delay and deprivation – especially around mid-April. Don't try to push your way though. Blockage, delay and deprivation are absolutely real here, but also unavoidable. Also relatively temporary, so there's no point freaking out! You can work with the reality instead of getting depressed about it.
OK, and while we're talking about working with reality - I know I've been harping on about the north node in Virgo for ages, but it's very important - especially at this confusing mess of a new moon. This is no time to slack off on the Virgo stuff.
Virgo stuff is about taking care of everyday tasks, sticking to routines and health regimens, attending to details, doing the mundane stuff that needs doing daily. Also helping others as much as possible, and keeping our minds on what's practical. Right now, that's our path through the fog.
Service, discrimination, humility, pragmatism, attention to reality! Virgo stuff can actually be lifesaving as we head into the atmosphere of swirling deception and rage that characterises the month ahead – so please keep doing your Virgo, as much as you can. Even if the most you can do is wash a few dishes. It's not nothing. It's grounding and it helps.
This is tonight, Friday the 16th September at 8 pm GMT.
It's a penumbral (partial) lunar eclipse in the final sign of the zodiac: Pisces, which is concerned with the dissolution of form and of ego. Also sacrifice, faith, magic, art, drugs, delusion - whatever dissolves the boundaries between this world and the Otherworld, or between the self and the larger cosmos.
Full moons symbolise culminations or endings, and Pisces is the final sign of the zodiac. And eclipses are supercharged. So the symbolism here is definitely of an ending.
Potentially a painful one: a Pisces moon is sensitive, idealistic and emotionally porous, and for the eclipse she will be conjunct Chiron. Chiron signifies a wound that will not heal, but can become a source of knowledge. In Pisces, the wound can be to our faith in life; our sense of a transcendent, guiding purpose. Or to our ideals, illusions and romantic fantasies.
So basically we are looking at a very thin-skinned, vulnerable emotional tone. This is aggravated by a square to Mars in Sagittarius, which can be a bombastic, aggressive, impulsive influence – like someone who insists on pushing their agenda without any sense of tact or emotional subtlety.
Extreme emotional sensitivity vs. tactless aggression - someone is likely to get hurt here.
--But there is also the potential to transcend your sense of injury by focusing on the larger picture, having faith in the grand design, serving others. Some kind of sacrifice might be called for - of ego, maybe.
The moon opposes the sun and retrograde Mercury in matter-of-fact Virgo, and Mars squares them. The Virgo stuff, especially with Mercury retrograde, is about caution, humility, getting your facts straight, thinking and rethinking before you open your mouth. A focus on the small, mundane, practical details; also a need to serve others.
With the north node in Virgo (and tied into this eclipse) - this is the way through. I've been harping on about this for months, but it bears repeating: do not let a mood of hopelessness or despair get the better of you. Keep attending to the small, practical stuff. One foot in front of the other, one mundane task after another – keep your mind on the little daily tasks at hand and don't look too far ahead, because the road ahead is unclear at present.
We had the final pass of the Saturn-Neptune square on the 10th September, and it's still very tight – so basically the future is all up in the air. Worrying about it and allowing yourself to get depressed is counterproductive. So is indulging the longing to escape your present circumstances – and that includes drowning your sorrows or succumbing to your addictions. You have to keep dealing with what's in front of you in a systematic, practical, organized manner, because there is really no other way out. “The best way out is always through” - per Frost.
The poem that quote is taken from illustrates the mood of this full moon pretty well...it's about a woman going crazy (moon in Pisces) under the weight of her domestic duties (Virgo), and telling a traveler (Mars in Sagittarius) her story.
The poem is ambivalent as to her fate – but this sky is not so ambivalent. Virgo is definitely the way through, so keep doing what has to be done. Despite broken illusions, hopelessness, dreams of escape, despairing moods and the sense of the ultimate futility of existence – just keep doing your Virgo.
It is likely that the issues we are dealing with under this full moon have to do with relationships. Jupiter (as of the 9th September) is in Libra, sign of marriage and close partnership. And Venus in Libra has been tangled up with Pluto and Uranus – gods of transformation and shock - this past week, sparking off big, abrupt shifts in relationships. Venus squared Pluto on the 11th September and she opposes Uranus, planet of revolution and disruption, for this eclipse...the exact opposition is on the 18th September.
With Venus opposite Uranus, the relational shifts we're looking at may be abrupt endings – but this can also be about radically transforming the way you relate, giving people the space they need to be themselves, detaching from drama and shitty old power dynamics, examining and transforming your patterns and your unconscious control issues re. relationships...
So it doesn't have to be about endings! But if you are facing the end of something, please keep in mind that every ending is also a new beginning. Mars is beneficially aspecting Uranus, and this is about freedom, personal authenticity and new vistas opening up. As Jupiter (travel, luck, expansion) is now in Libra, these new vistas are likely to be about relationships.
(Urgh, sorry. SO cheesy. But it fits.)
I think things will be easing up and feeling more dynamic in the weeks ahead. We will be past the intensity of eclipse season. Then our nerve-frazzling Mercury retrograde ends on the 22nd September, a few hours before the autumn equinox.
At the equinox, the sun moves into Libra – and this year the sun will be conjunct Jupiter in Libra. This is a big, happy, creative influence, especially re. relationships. Maybe a little over the top, but exuberant and hopeful!
The next day, Venus changes signs – from Libra to all-or-nothing Scorpio. Venus in Scorpio has her issues (drama, power games, obsession, jealousy, betrayal), but in this case she's well-aspected. So I would read this as being about great intensity and depth in relationships: true love. To the death.
Then Pluto resumes direct motion on the 25th September, in beneficial aspect to Mercury and the north node in Virgo – practical restructuring is underway! Earth-shifting life changes become workable.
We have a new moon in Libra the 1st October – the sun, moon, Jupiter will be conjunct in the sign of relationship, marriage, harmony, balance and justice. This opens a new chapter where Libra matters are concerned – or a whole new book altogether. I think it looks like a really solid new start.
It's all pretty exciting. So if you feel low at this full moon, don't fret, and try not to act out. Have faith. It's just a mood; better days are ahead.
This is tomorrow night: 9th March, around 2 am GMT.
We have a lot in Pisces at the time of this new moon – sun, moon, Mercury, Neptune, Chiron and the karmically weighty south node. And Venus moves into Pisces on the 12th of March.
I don't want to be all doomy, but the month-long cycle this new moon ushers in looks like a real swamp of head-fuckery to me. For the next two weeks especially – until we reach the spring equinox, as the sun moves into Aries – we are in some deep, chaotic and dangerous waters.
Substance alert: be careful with the drink and drugs, please. They'll hit harder than usual. Pisces dissolves boundaries, so you can really lose yourself when you combine this influence with boundary-dissolving substances.
That may sound like fun! But with so much Pisces / Neptune involved, the hangover will be miserable.
I think if you have any kind of addiction or propensity to addiction, you should be real careful this month. It will be so easy to get sucked back in. The temptation will be strong.
--With Venus in Pisces, that includes an addiction to idealistic romance. If you find yourself gushing about how some poor fallible schmuck is your perfect dream soulmate twinflame whatever and oh my god, it's just like a fairytale! – please take a step back. This is the kind of thing that precedes massive disillusionment and loss.
Keep in mind that when you are dealing with heavy Neptune energy like this, and things seem too good to be true – it's usually because they're not true.
Anyway, the substance alert applies to medications / foods / chemical exposures / cultural products as well - people are just a lot more sensitive and porous right now. Be careful what you take in. Try to take good care of yourself physically, because we're all likely to have lower physical immunity at this time. It's much easier to become physically drained and / or ill.
With Mercury in Pisces – and conjunct the sign's ruler, Neptune – we will also be more mentally porous than usual. This can make for really vivid dreams, creative inspiration and psychic revelations. It can also make for brain-fog, delusion and full-on mental breakdown.
So take care of your mental and physical health, please. Eat well and try to get some fresh air and exercise every day – and also try to have some kind of positive daily interaction with other sentient beings. It could just be your cat, if that's all you can handle.
You might feel like being a complete hermit, lying around on the couch eating potato chips and watching boxed sets for 14 hours a day. There are times when that sort of thing can help you feel better. Not now, though! Seriously.
Pisces south node vs. Virgo north node
Please try to keep a grip on the practical, healthy, utilitarian Virgo stuff that I have been harping on about for months, because it's really important to hold onto everyday reality and to keep your ship afloat and help others keep their ships afloat too. I think it will be so easy to sink, physically and mentally, under this sky.
For this eclipse, we'll have the sun and moon in Pisces conjunct the south node and Chiron. This just looks very painful and draining to me. Chiron is an unhealable wound, and the south node in Pisces is about being pulled backward into addiction, emotional overwhelm and delusion.
Plus we have Mercury (mind and communication) conjunct Neptune (dreams, delusions, addictions, lies). So basically, our brains will be underwater or off in cloud-cuckoo land at a time when it'd help to have them working properly. This is exact the 11th March, the same day as the sun makes a painful-looking conjunction to Chiron, but it's in effect now.
Maybe I'm being overly negative, but I just don't like the look of it. Pisces and Neptune can be beautiful, transcendent and spiritual influences, sure. But they can also represent the worst, most insidious traps human beings get themselves into. There are so many ways you can fuck yourself up with this stuff. I keep thinking of fairytales that turn into horror stories. And addiction in all its guises – how every means we use to evade suffering can become a trap and source of suffering.
That's Neptune – that's the reversal he engineers. He makes you feel like you're in fairyland for a little while, gives you a big rush of magic – then dumps you back into grim reality. The reversal is acutely painful, and it's the cycle underlying any form of addiction – we keep trying to get back into fairyland, and fairyland keeps receding.
The denial / avoidance of reality that underpins the whole process is also Neptunian. Denial is a hallmark of any kind of addiction.
The only way out of the whole mess is surrender. You give up trying to avoid or control reality. You let yourself feel the pain you feel, and be undone by it. It's a kind of death. But people resist death with all their might.
Maybe some people will hit rock bottom and surrender to their higher power under an eclipse like this one. Eclipses are about supercharged new beginnings. But as the last sign in the zodiac, Pisces is also concerned with dissolution and endings – and every new beginning is also a death. I'm sure we'll see some actual endings.
Anyway, it's not all dire. It's really what you make of it – whether you sink or swim.
These influences can be great for artists and musicians and intuitive types. You can channel inspiration from the beyond and give it a concrete form.
In fact this eclipse is great for anyone trying to give a dream concrete form. You can articulate your dream, set your intention, and then work toward it in a practical, incremental way.
The eclipse opposes Jupiter and the north node in Virgo (pragmatism, attention to detail), and squares Saturn in Sagittarius (realistic vision, perspective). And all this represents a tremendous amount of tension that you can use to pull yourself out of the doldrums and make necessary changes in your life. Pluto (death, rebirth, transformation) is also beneficially aspecting the eclipse – so there is a lot of transformative potential and raw power here. It's a great set-up for letting go of influences or habits that drain or destabilise you. Also great for cutting your losses, forgiving and forgetting, moving on.
Saturn is trining Uranus – so there really are new horizons opening up. And Mars has just entered Sagittarius, reinforcing this theme of an open road.
Just, the future will have to be worked for.
The sun enters Aries on the 20th March – that's our equinox! I think it'll be a relief. A burst of energy and fire.
Then we'll have a full moon eclipse in Libra on the 23rd, and Mercury will be in Aries by then too. I'll talk about it closer to the time – but I think the atmosphere should feel a lot less heavy and confused by then. Things will start getting all zingy and dynamic!
So keep in mind, we only have a little over two weeks of heavy Pisces / Neptune influence to get through. If you find yourself sinking and you feel like this is a permanent state – rest assured, it's not. Please don't commit suicide for a couple of weeks, anyway!! Wait and see what the full moon brings to light.
Some songs by Townes Van Zandt. He was born under Pisces, and he's a good illustration of what this sign is about. Sensitive, suffering, dreamy, spiritual, artistic. He was also alcoholic and self-destructive.
Kurt Cobain too, while we're at it. Another Piscean. Look how he became this Christlike cultural icon via suicide - there's your Neptune, throwing a shimmery veil of glamour and romance over a horribly sad, sordid reality.
The sun left clear, bright, futuristic Aquarius and entered dreamy Pisces on the 19th February. For this full moon, we'll have the sun at 3 degrees Pisces facing off against the moon at 3 Virgo.
Pisces is about magic, dreams, art, faith, compassion. Going with the flow of things. Also delusion, addiction, self-undoing. For this full moon, the sun will be conjunct Neptune, the ruler of Pisces. This amplifies the dreamy, swirly,confusing atmosphere.
Virgo, on the other hand, is rational, focused and systematic. Focused not on dreamy magical spiritual otherworld stuff, but on the mundane work that has to be done here and now. A moon in Virgo denotes a need for order, routine, cleanliness and health.
We are halfway through the weird cycle initiated at the new moon in Aquarius two weeks ago. That was a game changer – a big zap of newness and shock. And now things are in flux, big time. Everything is shifting like crazy, nothing has settled. It's all a bit psychedelic and disorienting really.
So at this full moon in Virgo, we are dealing with the need to be practical and keep our feet on the ground in the midst of all this magic and strangeness. Things are all over the place, and yes it is confusing – but there are a lot of new ideas and directions and opportunities popping up. They can be turned into something real and tangible with a little work. There is some practical magic to be done here.
Right now it's easy to sink into laziness, worry, self-pity or emotional overwhelm - or to just zone out completely. Also easy to cling to unrealistic dreams or addictions. It's important to stay focused on the small stuff: sticking to our daily routines, doing the work that needs doing, maintaining our physical health, serving others.
The Virgo-Pisces axis has the motto “serve or suffer”. Virgo's suffering takes the form of endless worry and hypercritical perfectionism. In Pisces, the suffering is more about feeling emotionally adrift and overwhelmed.
You get a lot of existential dread with both signs. The best way out of this misery is to turn the self-focus outward, toward what you can do to serve others. There is always someone worse off than you who could use practical help, or just some compassionate understanding.
Virgo and Pisces are supposed to work together: Virgo has practicality, and Pisces has compassion. Meaningful work requires both. Compassion without practicality is just ungrounded hippie shit, while practicality without compassion is soulless and bureaucratic.
There is a big emphasis on Virgo-Pisces issues right now – Jupiter and the north node are in Virgo, so Virgo is the focus. Health, cleanliness, routine, realism, attention to detail, humility, service. This is the way forward for now. With Jupiter in Virgo, simple and basic stuff like doing the dishes, mopping the floor, walking the dog - can really lift you out of the doldrums.
It's a long-term influence: Jupiter is in Virgo till September of this year, and the north node will be there till May 2017. They will be quite close together for much of this year – conjunct until July. So you really can't go far wrong if you focus on doing what needs doing, staying humble and grounded, and trying to serve others however you can.
The Jupiter-north node conjunction currently opposes Chiron in Pisces. Chiron in Pisces is about a wound that won't heal – a deep sense of injury and of the pain of existence, with no particular boundary.
It's like Fukushima bleeding its invisible poisons into the sea, or the war in Syria and the uncontainable refugee flows resulting from it. Or the current Zika virus scare, or the rumors of immanent global financial collapse. With all these issues, it's hard to know what is actually happening – but the implications seem quite sinister. And quarantine or solution is pretty much impossible. Everyone is affected, ultimately.
There are problems too deep and systemic to fix. And in the face of them we have to accept our powerlessness – and our mortality – but keep working as if it mattered, per Jupiter and the north node in Virgo.
According to this sky, whether you believe your work matters or not, it really does matter. Staying focused on the small-picture everyday stuff and doing our best within that framework matters. Doing what has to be done – even in the face of overwhelming hopelessness and despair – matters.
I think having Neptune, Chiron and the south node in Pisces is pretty tricky. We are being pulled backward into despair, delusion, addiction and nostalgia for what never was. It's a Slough of Despond.
And it can be very painful to let some dreams and illusions die...But they have to die. We all have real lives to get on with, and responsibilities.
Anyway, for the next month, the Virgo-Pisces axis is all lit up, so these issues take center stage. This Virgo full moon will be followed by a new moon solar eclipse in Pisces on the 9th of March. And for much of March, we'll have a stellium of planets in Pisces. Mercury moves from Aquarius to Pisces on the 5th of March, followed by Venus on the 12th – and by then I guess our brains will be deep underwater, dreaming of perfect unattainable love in Fairyland or some such shit.
We'll see how it all pans out. But I think the Pisces south node, with the combined influence of all those planets in Pisces, will pull hard at us...like the sirens pulled at Ulysses. It looks like it'll be hard to keep on rowing. I'll write about it closer to the time.
Re. the keeping on rowing: this is a good slogan for the next month.
Anyway, for now and the next week we have Venus and Mercury a few degrees apart in Aquarius, beneficially aspecting Uranus in Aries and Saturn in Sagittarius. This is about brilliant new ideas and directions – a blast of fresh air in relationship and money matters especially. Opportunities are opening up, there are new people to meet and places to go.
Nothing will exactly be handed to you – these opportunities will take work to develop, and with all this Virgo, some measure of skepticism and caution is advised. But things are definitely shifting fast and it's all pretty exciting.
I do think the key, with this full moon and for the next while, is to keep on doing your Virgo. Be reliable. Stay grounded and healthy, and stick to your routines as much as possible. Do things for others and keep your ego in check. Get to all the work you've been procrastinating. When in the grip of existential despair or ungrounded wooziness, focus on the practical. Try not to get drunk too often (and we are definitely on substance alert for the next month - please be aware that drink and drugs will have stronger effects than usual!)
But I should quit harping on and nagging about Virgo now.
PS - Nagging is very Virgo! Please remember that for the most part, they only do it because they want to help. They can see your discrepancies and shortcomings in excruciating detail and they feel they have a duty to tell you, so you can fix everything. They want you to be as close to perfect as you can be! Not to make them happy, because there will always be some other worry or fiddly problem that needs fixing. But for the sake of your own health and integrity.
It can be annoying as hell, but it's how they show they care. They are helpers and fixers, and they can't help but notice the small stuff that others overlook.
With Jupiter and the north node in Virgo and at this full moon in Virgo, I think the Virgos deserve some love! Try to take criticism as inspiration. Appreciate how hard they try to help, how much they want to be of use, how much grief they give themselves. Remember they are much more critical of themselves than they are of anyone else.
Here is a Virgoan self-criticism anthem. They don't really feel good about doling out criticism. They criticize themselves for it. Virgo is self-reflexive to the max:
This is tomorrow, the 29th August, around 8 pm GMT. Maybe you can feel it already.
It's a big, dreamy, romantic moon – conjunct Neptune, meaning the emotional tone will be idealistic, deluded, sacrificial, suggestible, ungrounded. Drunk, actually.
The moon and Neptune will face off against Jupiter and the sun in rational, detail-oriented, pragmatic Virgo.
So we are looking at the need to balance practical, everyday, earthly reality with big swirling emotion, romance and potential delusion. Grounding ourselves in the everyday while feeling way out at sea. It's a very seasick kind of vibe.
Nice influence for artists and musicians – you can use this to give dreams and intuitions an actual form. Anyone spiritually inclined, or in a helping role or profession, should also benefit. But the danger here for many of us is that dreams and delusions will overwhelm our sense of reality.
Overall this looks like a tough full moon to me. Neptune is a confusing, disillusioning influence, and Virgo can worry like nobody's business...plus Saturn, now grinding his way onto the last degree of Scorpio, will be loosely squaring the full moon, adding an undercurrent of darkness, psychological pain, guilt and deep compulsion. And having Jupiter involved magnifies all this. Fun stuff!
Best case scenario – this is about dreams that can come true, given enough mental seriousness and attention to detail.
Worst case scenario – this is about worry, fear, emotional instability - and just generally feeling kind of seasick. Guts all knotted up with free-floating anxiety and dread.
And the worst worst case scenario, with so much Neptune, is getting in way over your head, screwing yourself over, drowning in your anxieties or addictions.
Personally I think this is not particularly comfortable cosmic weather unless you're comatose drunk or full of Valium - but beware drink and drugs, because the hangover for this one will be the Fear all right. With Jupiter (luck) in health-conscious Virgo, you're better off focusing on what's healthy and avoiding boundary-dissolving substances.
The motto of the Virgo-Pisces axis is 'Serve or Suffer'. So if you're feeling lousy and caught in painful mental/emotional loops, a good way to feel better is to focus on what you can do for others. With Jupiter in Virgo, pragmatism and quiet, unassuming service to others are favoured. These are sure-fire ways to transcend your worries right now.
And there is no shortage of suffering in the world, it's useful to remember. Much of it is particularly horrific these days.
Re. seasickness – this is literal for many, and puts most people's troubles in perspective:
Porous national boundaries, death at sea (Neptune), a lot of fussy bureaucratic anxiety (Virgo), and people willing to go through hell to get away from the hell they're living (Saturn in Scorpio). It all fits.
Anyway, on a less literal level, the full moon makes me think of this card in the Tarot:
Something will have to be sacrificed for the greater good here. It's not about getting what you want. It's about what serves everyone best; what serves life best.
The guy on the card is Odin, sacrificing his physical comfort for mystical illumination in a kind of symbolic death. Jesus on his cross is another example of transcendent human sacrifice.
And all the refugees in those Mediterranean coffin ships represent absolute sacrifice as well.
But the sacrifice required of you may not be so intense. It could just be a bit of your pride. Your story, your opinions, your rigidities of thought, your anger, your defensiveness. Maybe your conceptual apparatus is getting an overhaul about now. I'd say, roll with it - even if it feels like not having any ground under your feet.
Virgo's ruler, Mercury, is currently in Libra and conjunct the north node. It's a good time for seeing all sides of a story, particularly in terms of relationships – the aim here is fairness, justice and balanced relationship.
And Venus will be retrograde in Leo till the 6th September. Again, the theme is balancing, reconsideration, cautious delay, careful preparation for future success in love and money matters.
Starting new relationships or business ventures under a Venus retrograde is generally held to be bad luck, so waiting till she goes direct on the 6th before committing yourself is probably a good idea.
We also have Saturn grinding his slow way through the end of Scorpio – and this speaks of frustrated desire, blockages and delays...also deep fear.
Saturn will leave Scorpio for Sagittarius on the 18th September - not too much longer now! It should lighten things up a bit. (Unless you have refused to deal with your shit – in which case you'll be living with it for quite some time. Decades, actually. It's very harsh, but karma's a bitch.)
Anyway, frustrating as delay and blockage might feel, you can use the next few weeks - and the next week in particular - to ensure you have read the fine print on any interpersonal (or actual) contracts you're thinking of signing. This includes major purchases and new creative projects.
With Saturn in Scorpio, you can open yourself up to a world of long-term hurt by being careless or light-minded about energetic transactions and mergers. (Keep in mind that love and money matters are all about energetic transaction and merger.)
That's not to say there's nothing nice going on! Venus and Mars will be exactly conjunct in Leo on the 1st September, trining the moon and Uranus in Aries. This is a fiery, “expect the unexpected” influence for relationships. Anything could happen! People will be feeling revved-up with desire, and impatient.
The conjunction is in uncomfortable aspect to Pluto in Capricorn. Some skeletons in the closet coming out to play, maybe – some very tense power dynamics at work. It looks emotionally fraught, frustrating as hell... but exciting and positive overall.
I do think, under these skies, that delay and caution will serve you well. Jumping headlong into anything is not a great idea – especially with a full moon as emotionally ungrounded as this one.
Remember: take the time to read the fine print. We are trying to see clearly and lay strong foundations here, in order to create structures that can work in reality. That process takes the time it takes, not the time we might want it to take.
Being swept off your feet may sound very romantic and exciting, but it's not the best way to go right now.
This is on the 20th March, 9:30 am (GMT). It's a total solar eclipse – symbolic of a supercharged new beginning – and it takes place at the very last degree of Pisces, the final degree of the whole zodiac, symbolic of the very end of a cycle. So it's beginnings and endings again. Death and rebirth. It's a scenario very reminiscent of the new moon in Aquarius last month – a reiteration of that theme.
But that was the prelude. This, coming just after the final Uranus-Pluto square on the 16th March, is about life in the aftermath zone. Uranus (shock, upheaval, revolution) and Pluto (death, rebirth, transformation) are only a few seconds past their exact square in the chart of this new moon, so although the square will be loosening from now on, we are looking at a month colored by the high intensity and pressure of the final square.
It's like after a big earthquake - the aftershocks keep rolling through for a while. The shocks may be interior ones, or they may be in your external life – or both! But we are looking at unsettled situations that remain in flux for the next month, amid a sustained pressure for radical change. The dust won't really settle till mid-April.
Here's a link to hexagram 51 from the I Ching – all about shock, and how it wakes us up.
If you're feeling almost insane with the internal and external pressure, hang in there. Pay attention to the wake-up calls and revelations you're being hit with – and they're coming thick and fast these days, right? Don't tune out. Keep working to shoot yourself clear of your old patterns. We don't get this kind of opportunity for deep, systemic change – really ever. Ever. Many of us will never have it again.
Think about the last few years – the years of the Uranus-Pluto square (2012-2015). What can you never go back to? Where are you standing now, after the hurricane has dismantled your old life? What are you moving toward?
(NYC post Hurricane Sandy)
We have a big stellium in Pisces right now, and dreamy longing, blurred vision, regret and addiction to the past will be cheap and easy fixes for the next month. Let's not indulge in that stuff too much, tempting though it may be! It's one thing to process and release old pain – another thing entirely to wallow in it.
Try to keep the focus on where you're headed, not on what you've lost. There's no going back. But what's ahead of us could be very interesting...
The sun hits zero degrees Aries – the Aries Point, the start of the zodiac – around 10:45 pm (GMT) on the 20th. And suddenly it's spring! Anything could happen. We'll have Jupiter in Leo beneficially aspecting Uranus in Aries for a good while – all through the summer. All kinds of happy accidents and sudden windfalls are possible. So keep the faith, keep moving forward... even if things feel kinda hopeless and stuck right now. Remember life can turn on a dime.
Mercury in Pisces is just past exact conjunction with Neptune right now – this is a dreamy, poetic, otherworldly mental influence. He will move to conjunct Chiron in Pisces on the 24th March, and this can be about painful but necessary thought and communication. It can be great for dissolving old mental habits and conditioning - but it can also be the hangover to end all hangovers.
It's a brief influence anyway – Mercury moves fast. He will enter Aries on the 31st March, and this should be clarifying, as far as our mental processes and communications are concerned. The Piscean veils of insinuation, illusion and doubt fall away and we'll be able to see and communicate the obvious with blunt simplicity. (And with Mercury moving into the Uranus-Pluto square during the second week of April – well it looks like the obvious is damn well going to get communicated. Like it or not!)
Venus entered Taurus on the 17th March, and this is a stabilizing, grounding influence, especially in relational and money matters – something has been decided at the root level, even though it might not entirely feel that way yet. Stick to your values, whatever happens. Hold to what makes you feel happy, satisfied and secure in a deep-down way.
Mars will enter Taurus on the 31st March, and that should further stabilize and ground our energy and will, and help us to stick to our guns. With Mars and Venus in calm, steady Taurus – the explosive relational issues we've been dealing with over the past few months should start to settle.
We'll have a very fraught full moon eclipse in Libra on the 4th April, and this looks like a point of closure for those issues to me. It will probably come as a relief on some level, but Jesus - it doesn't look fun. Aaargh. I'll write about it closer to the time.
Anyway, nothing to do (ever) but keep moving forward. May the force be with us all.
Some dreamy Pisces songs for ya:
A "checking out & moving on" song:
And here is some cheese! Hair metal & power ballads will pull us through, if nothing else can!
This new moon is on the 18th February, around 11:50 pm (GMT).
It's a very important one. We are nearing the culmination of a cycle of accelerated change – and things are starting to shift in amazing, magical ways. It's a kind of metamorphosis.
The thing about metamorphosis is that it's so improbable it seems like magic. A visitor from another planet would never connect a caterpillar with the butterfly it becomes - the two stages look like two entirely different creatures. Something very mysterious has to happen to the caterpillar to turn it into a butterfly! And that mysterious place is where we're at.
Over the past four months we've had a series of new moons at zero degrees of their signs, starting with the new moon in Scorpio in October of 2014. This is not the usual run of things – it's very weird and special.
As new moons initiate new cycles, each of these new moons could be seen as opening a month-long period with an intense, sustained focus on the themes of its sign. So over the past four months, we've moved from an emphasis on Scorpio (psychological depth, purgation, transformation), to Sagittarius (new horizons and enthusiasm)....then Capricorn (solidity, realism, achievement)....and finally Aquarius (revolution, shock, the new order). Overall, it is a story of death and rebirth – the end of an old order, the birth of a new one.
The series of zero-degree new moons has coincided with the culmination of another extraordinary cycle: the historic series of seven exact squares between Uranus and Pluto, running from 2012 to 2015. The final exact square is coming up on the 16th of March, and the tension of this final looming square over the next month is just...kinda nuts.
Uranus is about revolutionary change and upheaval, and Pluto is a ruthless force of destruction and transformation. Put them together and you have a damn volcano. The last time these planets squared off was during the Great Depression, setting the stage for the second World War - and there were only five squares that time. The current series involves seven squares.
I am not going to talk about war now, because I think what happens on the world stage is out of anyone's hands – except to say that the level of intractable conflict going on globally right now really does not bode well.
I'm far more interested in what these squares mean for individual people trying to navigate their lives, because your personal stage is the place where you can have an influence. And what these squares mean, on a personal as well as a collective level, is a totally altered landscape. Again, the theme is death and rebirth. Nobody comes out of this time (2012-2015) the same as they went in.
Shock, traumatic loss and necessary transformation are the order of the day. It can feel excruciatingly painful and difficult. But there's just no way around radical change right now – it has to be faced head-on and accepted.
Pluto destroys what is rotten or outworn so that new life can grow. It's like a forest fire, consuming the deadwood and opening up space for something new. And Uranus is the spark igniting that fire – and also the new life pushing out of the scorched earth.
Another image for this is a crucible – the vessel where materials are cooked to a white heat and transformed. In alchemy, the object was to heat 'base metals' in a crucible until they were transformed into gold. In practice, no gold resulted from this process – but as a psychological metaphor it works. We are refined and transmuted by pressure and difficulty.
I know nobody wants to live inside a crucible, but that's what this time is. Resisting change and trying to cling to your old personal or psychological status quo will only intensify the suffering involved. It will do you no good now to go along with your old patterns... You have to let go of your control mechanisms and your conditioning and allow yourself to be transformed. That's how to work with this energy instead of being destroyed by it.
As if to hammer this theme home, our cycle of zero-degree new moons began last October with a new moon in Scorpio, a sign ruled by Pluto and having to do with purgation and transformation. We had the 6th exact Uranus-Pluto square on the 15th December, during the cycle. And the cycle is now ending with two new moons in Aquarius – on the first and last degrees of the sign, like bookends. We had a zero-degree Aquarius new moon last month on the 20th January, and tomorrow we have our new moon at the final degree of Aquarius – a degree known as the anarectic, where all the energy of the sign is concentrated.
Aquarius is about revolutionary change, and is ruled by Uranus...and tomorrow's new moon ushers in a 30-day cycle in which we'll see the final Uranus-Pluto square of most of our lifetimes on the 16th March.
So these zero-degree new moons over the past four months have been a re-iteration and acceleration of the main theme of this time: death (Pluto) and rebirth (Uranus). The symbolism is all about purging your life of what no longer serves you (Pluto), and embracing radical change (Uranus). The skies have been underlining this theme and pounding it home with a remarkable lack of subtlety for months...and now we see it coming to a crescendo.
--OK, so that was a long preamble on the significance of this new moon! But it's very special. We are looking at some crazy beautiful astrology here and I wish I could adequately convey how amazing and emphatic it all is...
By now, unless you're totally asleep, you know what has to change.
And if you refuse change – rest assured, you'll be forced into it regardless, and it will hurt worse. “The fates guide him who will; who won't, they drag”.
Anyway, let's look at this new moon:
It takes place at the very end of the final degree of Aquarius near midnight (GMT) on the 18th February... and less than ten minutes later, at the changeover to a new day, the moon and sun will be at 0 degrees of the next sign, Pisces. So it's very hard to tell whether this is a new moon at the very end of Aquarius or a new moon at zero degrees Pisces – but the symbolism is about the culmination and dissolution of a cycle however you look at it. Pisces is the last sign in the zodiac – the place where our personal boundaries come undone, where form dissolves back into the universal.
The day after the new moon, we'll have a big stellium in Pisces: sun, moon, Neptune, Chiron, Venus and Mars. This looks beautiful, and it sets the tone for the month to follow. Compassion, forgiveness, deep faith, spiritual longing, dreams, art, romance...
Here's some Pisces for ya:.
Please keep in mind that beautiful, dreamy Pisces has a very dark shadow. So along with the deep-sea fairy castles and romantic longing, we are also looking at self-pity, addiction, manipulation, delusion and martyr-complexes.
Beware (and this holds true for the rest of the month) drink and drugs, guilt trips and your own tendency to feel like an outraged victim. Outraged victimhood is never the healthiest of psychological stances. Neither is trying to rescue people, or waiting for Prince or Princess Charming to come along and rescue you. That shit will look increasingly stupid, going forward...because it IS stupid. Everyone's salvation is in their own hands, no one else's.
It's a good influence for making art or music...and Pisces is also great for dissolving hardened feelings, ego issues and anger. Remember we are coming to the end of a cycle...so it's good to let go of old baggage, release your old hurts, listen to Cure songs and have a good long cry if you need to.
(sigh)
Ok, so Pisces is about the end of something. But every ending is also a new beginning, and that is what we're approaching...fast! The new beginning in this case is a fiery, impatient, imperious one – very fierce and unambiguous. It comes on the 20th February, as Venus, Mars and the moon enter Aries, the first sign of the zodiac.
0 degrees Aries is called the Aries Point, and it's like the Big Bang – the kickoff, the blast that sets a whole new story in motion. And holy crap, we'll have Venus (love, money, values), Mars (sex, desire, aggression) and the moon (emotion, need) all passing over this point on the same day, from wishy-washy Pisces to warlike Aries...
It's just nuts. Whiplash-inducing. It's like a giant cosmic “reset” button gets pushed and things are different after that. How you feel, what you want, what you value, what you love, what you'll stand for – all suddenly transmuted and white-hot.
Venus, Mars and the moon are THE relationship planets. And right now the huge Uranus-Pluto-fueled impetus for collective change is being filtered largely through the context of close personal relationships, especially romantic ones. So the shifts in relationship structures we'll see this month have far-reaching effect – this stuff is not idle romantic nonsense right now. It is vitally important and deserves our full attention.
Relationships are our crucibles of transformation these days, with the north node in Libra. Libra (ruled by Venus) is the sign of balance, harmony, fairness, partnership and right relationship. It is about bridging polarities – 'marrying' them into a workable whole. So that is what we're trying to achieve in this story – balance, peace, workable relationships, justice. But the way things are set up, getting there involves a fierce fight.
The south node, representative of what we are trying to move away from, is in Mars-ruled Aries – and this is about self-will, anger, war, going it alone. Selfishness: 'me' as opposed to Libra's 'we'. This is the path of least resistance now, and it means self-sabotage is an ever-present danger.
For the past few months, we've had the Uranus-Pluto square mixed up in a cardinal t-square with the nodes of the moon in Aries and Libra. This is an aspect pattern forcing radical change and upheaval, in relationships especially. There is a definite gender theme to it – there are historical injustices and imbalances in relationships that need to be examined and addressed. We don't get to blindly continue the same old gender-based power dynamics and games, going forward – the rot underlying that stuff has become a lot more obvious than it used to be. People are just not having it anymore.
Because the north node is in Venus-ruled Libra, truth, justice and the impetus for constructive change are with the “feminine” (and historically suppressed and undervalued) side of the equation. I am not going to talk about the epically stupid ways the “masculine” is fucking itself up these days, because I don't want to generalise too much on the basis of gender...but look around you. It shouldn't be too hard to see.
Anyway, right now this polarized scenario also contains a lot of potential for forgiveness, mutual understanding and compassion, as Venus and Mars are conjunct in Pisces. This softens the tension and bathes everything in dreamy romanticism and longing.
But all bets are off after Venus, Mars and the moon move into Aries on the 20th! I think we are gonna see some fireworks. Things go from being all mushy and idealistic...to raw and urgent and explosive. We move from beautiful dreams to difficult realities. Mars in Aries is male energy on steroids, Venus in Aries is a warrior lady who goes after what she wants and takes no shit, and the moon in Aries is temper tantrums and an inability to delay physical gratification...And I guess you can probably see where this is heading. Yikes!
Anyway, it's real. And Saturn in Sagittarius is beneficially aspecting the conjunction, so whatever this big energy shift is about for you, it should stick. Our feet are really being held to the fire for the next month, but if you stick to your deeply-felt principles and your commitments, you should come through OK.
There will definitely be a lot of testing of said principles and commitments, as Venus and Mars get mixed up with the tightening Uranus-Pluto square in the first half of March. It looks really freaking intense. Hold the line.
--On commitments: with the relationship planets in Aries, a sign known for its self-focus - please don't neglect your commitment to yourself and to your own path. Being true to yourself is of primary importance, and it's the basis of right relationship. Whatever you have to do to get along with others, you should never compromise your self-respect.
Something I keep thinking of, with Venus (female energy) and Mars (male energy) conjunct – is that our gender issues don't necessarily have to be played out in the arena of relationships. It's probably a lot healthier to deal with them internally. I'm talking about androgyny – the balance of male and female energies in each of us. Connecting internally with the gender qualities you normally project onto people of the opposite sex is a way of becoming a whole, integrated human being – you 'marry' yourself. And you hopefully get to avoid horrible relationship drama in the bargain. (See Jung's work on the anima and the animus.)
