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!
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.
