Dear Fellow Fish,
At long last, the Sun is in our sign, that always feels good. Fish need water. I said to a friend yesterday that there should be four water signs, not just the usual three. Then I realized that in some ways Aquarius (which is an air sign, though nobody seems to know that) does function like a water sign, because it represents a container of water — and the act of collecting it, and giving it out. With so many planets in Aquarius for your solar return, this is meaningful, and a reminder to keep a strong focus on your inner life, despite so much happening in the world around you.
Aquarius plays a profound role for Pisces this year. This has been building for a very long time, but the energy is now in full focus. Mainly, I’m speaking about the planets now in Aquarius, for example the magnificent conjunction of Mercury and Venus that is happening as I write. Then there is your planet, Neptune, on a long journey across Aquarius; and Chiron, which is on an equally long trek across your neighboring sign.
Planets can represent people, possibilities and a quality of psychic energy. In this case, they represent all three. Yet closer to home, they signify an ever-deepening inner life. Aquarius is the inner life of Pisces, being the sign right before yours (this gives it resonance with the 12th house, which is described in detail in this article from the Compersion series).
Aquarius also shows up for you as Uranus in your sign. I have been noticing that some of my horoscope writing colleagues have begun turning up the energy in their Pisces horoscopes. I keep thinking this is about their finally catching up with the fact of Uranus in Pisces. It takes time for these transits to sink in, and anything that lasts seven years gives astrologers plenty of time to meditate on the news. We’ve been living with this one for more than four years, and we have more than two to go. Yet the special development is that in a little more than a week, the Sun and Moon are getting ready to make a conjunction (the Pisces New Moon) to Uranus, igniting that revolutionary energy.
What happens in one’s own sign tends to represent you, yourself. It’s how you feel, how you look, what you’re up to and the impact you have on the world. Uranus has a strong resonance with Aquarius, so all those planets tucked away in your deepest, innermost place are finding an expression in the real world of your experiences, ideas and relationships. There is a rather beautiful energy cycle happening here. You are gathering strength, clarity and a sense of identity deep inside your awareness, and then as the coming weeks, months and seasons develop, you will have many opportunities to express that to the world. This is truly a creative process at work — an inner journey that feeds an outer one; an inner sense of identity that reaches out to people around you.
For Pisces, it can often seem like nobody is listening, trust me — that just ain’t true in this stage of your life. People are listening to you, aware of you, noticing you and to a great extent, taking your lead. Don’t fall for that old programming about being, feeling or wishing you were invisible.
Now, this is not to say there isn’t an invisible dimension to what you are doing. Water always seeps between even the tightest cracks — as does energy. You are broadcasting on so many frequencies right now, it’s impossible to account for them all. The best you can do is continue with your process of inner alignment, of cultivating inner harmony, which by all indications is going well. Then, pay attention to how you are impacting the world.
As I have suggested many times before — in annual horoscopes and birthday reports — because Uranus is in your sign, you are embodying the energy of The Awakener. When you get that job, the most important thing you can do is stay awake. Uranus brings liberation, revolution and more than anything, a shift in awareness that shapes the course of events. It is original, daring and not exactly what you would call cautious. With this influencing your life, you don’t need to design your impact on the world as much as you need to keep your focus on your own processes, spiritual, creative and sexual.
If you have a handle on yourself, you will find your relationships are both more stable and more predictable. A key element of relating to others involves simply taking your freedom as granted — that is, not seeking permission from anyone to do anything. This is a key point in self-actualization; the only approval you need is your own. This is a big step for a Fish, but it’s one that you and the world need to take right now. On some level, everyone is seeking both freedom and approval, and you are close to figuring out that you can’t necessarily have both; and if you are going to have both, freedom is going to come first and approval is going to come second. Yet by that time, you won’t need it. You will be the one others are using an example for what it means to make your own choices, live your own way and be who you need to be.
It may occur that you make some seemingly radical decisions over the next few weeks. You can trust that anything you decide at this point was long in coming. Your choices are merely the result of having aligned yourself inwardly, having found some clarity, and more than anything, having reached the essence of who you are in a conscious way.
True, it often seems that you cannot always be in contact with this core essence, but now is a good time to practice. You are working with so much energy — broadcasting power, influence, and connecting through networks to other people — that you need to keep in close contact with yourself and spend most of your time communicating with yourself. This will go as far as you can toward ensuring that when you connect with others (which is frequently) you will give a clear signal that will be repeatable and still maintain its original integrity.
There are other ways to consider inner-outer alignment. One is practicing radical honesty with yourself, the single most vital factor constituting this thing called integrity. Another is holding your individuality so strongly in mind, and in your emotional field, that you cannot lose your identity to another. This is something that humanity has struggled with seemingly forever, and it’s particularly vital to a Pisces because of our energetic nature.
Ours is the last sign of the zodiac; it is the end of the great cycle of the seasons. Often this is taken to mean we come in last place, speak last, develop late, or get a chance to express ourselves at the moment of conclusion or transition. In contrast, it often seems everyone else comes first. The world’s competitive style does not usually favor the laid-back values of Fish people, who (when they are healthy) usually want little more than to feel good and live in harmony with their neighbors.
Pisces is also the last sign of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere. The darkness is disseminating and all of nature is quickening, loosening up, and preparing for the surge of energy that comes with the Aries equinox. So the Sun in this phase is a time of preparation. Pisces is where the energy of all the signs and planets collects, and this fertile liquid then soaks the Earth, preparing it for the beginning of the new cycle.
The challenge of Pisces is that while all the natural elements work their way into our sign, so too do the toxins and stagnant emotions for which humanity is so famous. This includes the material of other people, which we Fish are famous for taking on. A vital part of being a Pisces is either routinely or constantly staying in detox mode. People may wonder why we have so much to process; why we are so introverted at times. A lot of it has to do with imagination, yet that too is an aspect of constantly cleansing, refining and filtering our feelings. Again, this points to inner process.
Yet this is the year you are likely to see some of the most stunning results of the long-term projects, commitments and desires you have been cultivating. Your relationships, for example, are coming into focus thanks to Saturn in your opposite sign Virgo. You may go into panic mode from commitment-o-phobia, because Saturn seems to be demanding so much in the way of structure. Actually, Saturn is about changes to the structure of your life, more than their solidification. And for its part, Saturn is working its way toward an exact opposition later in the year with Uranus.
This suggests a meeting with a surprise outcome — and the development that he or she who appears to be reluctant or conservative will most likely experience a liberating encounter with freedom that will change them forever. You are the one who is grounding the energy of the future, of human potential, and of your own potential. You merely need to stay devoted and hold steady.
And in this, you have considerable support. Jupiter in Capricorn, for example, represents the love and involvement of your circle of friends. Jupiter is currently moving into a beautiful sextile aspect with Uranus in Pisces, and this is about harmony. It is about the understanding you share with your community, and much like Saturn in Virgo, it represents people whose ideas may seem traditional but who are very much in tune with the times.
We live in a world where change happens at a sickening pace, and where our abuse of the future (debt, pollution, dishonesty) seems to consume so many of the best possibilities life has to offer. Every now and then, though, we arrive in a moment where something else is possible; and where true originality can find its place. You are living in such a moment — but remember: it is not originality you need to worry about. That will come to you as naturally as the flowers and trees blooming. Focus on integrity, which I define as being true to yourself, and you will reap the rewards of so much effort.
Yours & truly,
PS, a few asteroids
WE WILL cover this in greater detail when we do the New Moon article shortly, but I wanted to show you what’s really going on in Pisces. This is a partial list of the asteroids currently in your sign. It does not include Jerry Garcia, Horowitz or Skaterat. I’m just using major discoveries or mythological figures.
Notice that several of these points cluster around the New Moon. You can see the New Moon because the Sun and the Moon are next to one another — that just happens once a month. I am not familiar with every one of these points, but several stand out.
The Atrophos/Orpheus conjunction is cautioning you against being haunted by “what might have been.” Rather, it’s suggesting that you take that feeling as a cue to bring certain situations that you need to move onto more creative things that have the potential to open up. The past or lost potential have a seductive allure, but as you will see in a moment, the stars say that forward is the direction of movement.
Achilles is saying beware of false lack of confidence. Know when you are confident; and when you have reasons to be. Don’t let your mother’s lack of confidence, or anyone else, instill you with false lack of confidence, and don’t compensate with false confidence — use the real thing.
Vesta is a significant player — one who I have written about before, but never enough. To sum up her message: use your space well. Give yourself well. Give yourself with a purity of heart that might otherwise resemble chastity or withholding — but the energy is really about offering who and what you are to the situations that call for it. Keep your creative and sexual fire burning hot.
Ophelia is saying keep your cool; moderate your reactions; take your mental space and keep your own counsel. It’s as if you have the constant potential to choose the correct response for any given circumstance.
Now we come to the New Moon cluster. It consists of SIX planets within TWO degrees, including the Sun and Moon. They are accompanied by Niobe (be cool, don’t be too proud of your brilliant creations, just keep going; the energy of pride will make you stumble). Bacchus is saying make room for divine madness. Use substances creatively. Use sex creatively. Make friends with cock and balls — your own, the idea, those of the people you love. Bacchus was one of the most important and revered gods of Greek antiquity, and one of the symbols adorning is temple were a lot of erect penises. He is of course also the god of wine and grapes, but really of divine revelry — that mildly psychotic state of celebration.
Uranus is the awakener, the inventor, the electricity in the electric eel.
Child is inviting you to return to your childhood dreams, ideas, ambitions and needs, and to witness the world with the heart of a child. Beware of childhood conditions, medical issues, needs; take care of them like they were in the present.
Heracles is reminding you that you are on your own hero’s journey; that you are doing something crucial for a Fish, which is building your ego in healthy ways through experiences, tests and trials.
Askalaphus is saying take care of healing. Use healing professionals to your advantage; dedicate yourself to at least one healing art.
Pelion is the Mountain. The Mountain is home, it is the goal, it is the thing in the distance that you can see which keeps you organized around your goals, and oriented on your direction.
All in all, an interesting lot.
