Insights for Pisces
As the World Turns (and turns again…)
The North Sea Patrick von Kalckreuth
Here are some insights for the month, which could become contemplations: Each one fashioned using the astrological aspects of the moment. Astrology can be thought of as a kind of sky writing which invites the muse. No two perceptions are exactly the same but any of us can find insight through the images if we look. These are mine, happily offered for you to reshape and fashion into something of your own. Follow the links, where you find them for further musings on the planetary aspects.
February 18
Sun enters Pisces: 11:42 AM EST
We all have longings. What if they aren’t meant to be satisfied? What if they were given to humans for the soul purpose of simply feeling them? To be carried on waves of longing, not to some kind of material fulfillment but to bliss itself, a sense of letting go and becoming nothing and everything at the same time? Our addictions, great and small might then let go their hold on us. Fixations would melt into practices that would enable our capacity for oneness and the Great Connection.
Of course here’s the rub: Pisces is opposite Virgo. Virgo likes practice. Pisces doesn’t. Maybe this is how Pisces gets its reputation for wishy-washy, vagueness and confusion. Like all stereotypes, this one isn’t true, except perhaps on the surface. If you are willing to dive in, there are realms and depths with Pisces, quite literally beyond imagining.
This year the Sun will travel through Pisces along with Jupiter Neptune and even Mercury. We are used to having Neptune in Pisces since 2012 and sure enough it has made us all too aware that we are all connected to each other as well as the natural world. Oneness is Us. Like it or not. Jupiter’s nature is to expand what it touches. Maybe we have two choices: to be confused and deluded or to dive into the mystery, to get ‘right and wrong’ and meet each other. Or at least to try.
February 23
Mars sextile Neptune
As if reminding us that our longings do indeed need to be managed and guided by practice we have today. It is helpful, even wise to contain longing in some kind of structure which allows us to feel what we feel in safety. Prayer, meditation, movement or even therapy can help. Today we might get started or strengthen what we already have in place. If this is troublesome consider consequences. Mars in Capricorn likes consequences.
February 24
Mercury sextile Chiron
Venus sextile Neptune
Mercury square Uranus
Whatever chaos you meet today, coping lies in helping someone near you, any way you can. Even the smallest acts of compassion can make a difference.
March 2
New Moon: 12 degrees Pisces: 12:34 PM EST
Sun sextile Uranus
Mercury conjunct Saturn
A gentle reminder that life goes on and we are the ones here, living it. We might as well go on too. A good time to plant seeds of hope. Over the next two weeks or so you may get to see these seeds putting down some roots and even sprouting a few tiny leaves.
March 3
Mars conjunct Pluto
Venus conjunct Pluto
The shadows of desire are in charge for the next few days at least. On the bright side we know what we want and what we don’t. We are more or less familiar by now with the benefits of gratitude. Everything that shines needs a bit of shadow to be visible. If Venus is ‘yes’ then Mars is ‘no’. The shadows of desire are about the cost of having what we want and the damage it might create for ourselves or other living things. Only by looking honestly at these shadows can we truly use our desire in sustainable ways. Otherwise we are at the mercy of the manipulators, the aggressors.
Don’t be afraid of apparent contradictions, of paradox. Looking into the heart of desire at micro (me) and macro (us) levels we shift away from rapacious destruction and toward a world where everyone, gets to eat, learn, work and live. Pluto’s job is always to take us deeper into that which has been denied, repressed, suppressed.
March 5
Sun conjunct Jupiter
At the heart of the Sun (conjunct) a planet ends and begins its journey for the year. Invisible to our eyes, Jupiter is revitalizing its capacity for wisdom and propensity toward faith or belief. We could all take a moment apart from the chaotic swirls of passionate goings-on in this world to acknowledge the ‘soul’. What is it? What does it need? How is it getting on? Is it indeed becoming wiser? And, of course, does it even exist?
March 6
Mars enters Aquarius
Venus enters Aquarius
Venus conjunct Mars
Astrology can be viewed as a long story, a story of culture arising, collapsing, cooking in the petri dish of our collective human journey. The passionate conjunction (Venus and Mars) happens at the same degree as the Great Conjunction of December 21, 2020 when Jupiter and Saturn stood together at zero Aquarius. Zero is the beginning: the Alpha: the sign on the map reminding us that ‘we are here’ (not someplace else).
Aquarius is the sign of the coming New Age, the one we are kicking and screaming our way toward. (No more slouching toward Bethlehem). It is also the sign of hopes and plans for the future, the sign of possibilities. On account of its tendency to see possible futures it is also the sign of technology, algorithms and all manner of theories about how to control the masses. Systemic control. Aquarius is about politics, politicians and social constructs.
Today we are reminded of whose desires are at the helm, making our decisions and most importantly what motivates them. On a personal level we might take stock of our inner elected official, the mayor of the city you call your life. What motivates your desires for your future? Be honest, no censoring of what you find. Everything is grist for the mill, rather than the defining moment. Planets transit, they move, they dance across the sky. Today they show us a blueprint, not a finished structure.
March 9
Mercury enters Pisces
Mercury joins the Sun, Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces. We might consider these planets as a symbolic rendition of the frothing of the waters of our planet, manifesting as things such as floods and tsunamis as well as accenting issues of longing, compassion and addiction. Pisces can be extreme in its reach, from the most abject interaction between victim and victimizer to the most expanded and lofty compassion. It can indicate an atmospheric wave of destruction yet leave a river of kindness, compassion and connection in its wake.
We all know how good it feels to help someone in need but we balk at the times when we are the needy one. How would this change if we understood that our neediness, even our abject suffering is the very thing that allows others to rise to their best self? it might help us to see that there is no separation between the one who suffers and the one who soothes that suffering.
March 13
Sun conjunct Neptune
Daylight Savings Time begins, where it begins
Just as with Jupiter (March 5th), Neptune gets its moment at the heart of the Sun. This makes me think about when the Little Mermaid is ‘elevated’ and becomes a ‘daughter of air’, considered by the author to be a step up on the ladder of evolution toward becoming human; clearly the best thing to be. I object. Surely the best thing for the Little Mermaid – a sea person with the ability to sing and love with a full mer-heart - would be to be restored to her true nature. One of the big things the Age of Pisces twisted out of shape was the understanding that our best self is our true nature. We are born blessed, not cursed. The most effective way to the wholeness which Pisces longs for is to stand in the fleeting glory of this self, with compassion for ourselves and all selves on this planet of paradox.
March 17
Mercury sextile Uranus
If you’re looking for the third alternative, neither this nor that, the aha! which transcends the stuck place, or even just looking for your keys, be open to surprises. Finding solutions where you least expected them is a source of delight if you can think outside that awful box.
March 18
Full Moon: 27 degrees Virgo 03:19 AM EDT
Sun sextile Pluto (Moon trine Pluto)
Venus sextile Chiron
How, you might ask, can a full Moon shed light when it entangles with Pluto, planet of shadow, depth and darkness? A silly question really if you remind yourself how the greatest awakenings generally come to us on account of the dark nights which the soul, all souls navigate at one time or another. It’s the very nature of things human that this is the case. This Full Moon is full of the paradoxical wisdom that weds dark to light. Be as open and willing as you can. Even if it means helping someone help you.
March 19
Venus square Uranus
Since we can’t really expect the unexpected how about we accept that we don’t know everything and see what there is to learn? Practice is always preferable to perfect.
