A New Moon in Pisces

Fish going about their daily lives on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

(photo credit: LCDR Eric Johnson, NOAA, October 2009)

It was at the prompting of one of you fine people out there in Blogland which got me to start backing up posts so that (as he put it) everyone would ‘get a bit of warning’ about astrological events.

That made total sense to me…which among other things, proves that I take requests. I may not do windows, but yes folks – I do take requests!

But in today’s case, there’s a very good and entirely different reason for the Pisces New Moon post to go up a prior to the event. What’s that very fine reason?

That very fine reason concerns the fact that while the New Moon itself will occur on March 11th at 7:52 in the evening UT/+0 time, the Moon’s entering Pisces on the 10th at 6:20 in the morning (again, UT/+0 time) will bring the number of personal planets in Pisces up to five.

And how many personal planets are there, astro-sports fans? Five! (If you answered ‘five, you get a gold star. Just don’t tell the Milky Way I’m handing out stars or I’ll probably get in cosmic trouble!)

So yes…as of early on March 10th, all five personal planets will be in Pisces – which means our sense of vulnerability is going to be up, even if we don’t feel it. And in case we don’t feel it, life is likely to toss things our way which cause us to feel our inner quease.

This doesn’t have to be a big deal. You may simply forget something at the store and get into one of those ‘yelling at myself’ moods. Or you may feel lonely. Or – given that Mercury is still in retrograde – you may be waiting for something to happen and be going through any number of moments about that.

It’s just a sensitive time. Some of us will use this as a cue to take a step back and do something thoughtful, for ourselves…or for someone else.

And some of us will realize that sometimes doing something for someone else is doing something for yourself.

It’s a good time for relaxation, whether that means meditation, gardening, cooking, watching a good movie, reading a book or just catching up on snooze time.

Seeing as Moon passages are often timers for ‘setting off’ physical energy modes, this may be a time when your body (never mind your feelings!) is sensitive too. So you may feel tired. If you’re one of those people who gets sick when you get run down, this is a cue to pace yourself.

Pisces being always a sign of permeability, this is a good time to talk something out with someone quietly – preferably in private. It’s a good time for nurturing relationships and mending fences too, so long as you are willing to own up to anything you may have done which was a no-no.

But there’s a whole other astro-side to this Pisces Moon period prior to the New Moon. And that concerns lunar phase theory. The Moon has eight phases, which gives us a 360 degree cycle divided not into twelve as the zodiac is, but eight:

 
Any time any cycle is close to finished, there’s a sense we get of ‘gosh, it’s almost done.’ Or the vacation’s almost over. Or I’m past mile 24 in the marathon – I’m almost there!

We understand phase theory in life, we just don’t think of it as phase theory.

Part of the zodiacal concept of Pisces – the ‘ocean of emotion’ as one might call it – has to do very much with this ‘I’m almost done’ idea.’ In Pisces we find all the relief, all the fear, all the wistfulness, all the pride in having ‘gotten through it all’ which we associate with the end of the zodiac. Pisces says ‘let go of expectations’ in part because it is the last sign of the zodiac. Yes, we will ‘recycle’ and start out again in Aries, but that’s something new. Aries is always supposed to be the new, the fresh, the innocent, the unknowing…just as Pisces is the old, the experienced, the theoretically wise.

(Yes, it’s all relative.)

As Aries is the spirit of the infant just starting out life, Pisces is the elder who knows life will in due time come to its end.

These qualities are imbued in the signs no matter how old we are, which is why a 92 year old Aries person will still have that touch of the child and the 6 year old Pisces person will already have that intuitive quality we associate with wisdom.

What we make of these things is up to us. But the native ‘qualities’ are always there.

In lunar astrology, the last lunar phase is called the Balsamic phase. Call it the ‘salad phase’ if you want (yes, I have!) but even there…well, if you know about fine Balsamic vinegar you know there is a sweet with the tartness which comes only with age. The keywords for the Balsamic phase are ‘finishing up and letting go’…it’s time to let go and let what will be, become.

In zodiacal terms, the Balsamic phase encompasses the last half of Aquarius and all of Pisces, which is why the ideas associated with the Balsamic phase sound so much like Pisces – and vice versa, yes.

So all of this brings us to think about how as the lunar cycle which began back on February 10th moves through it’s Balsamic phase, it’s also entering Pisces.

This may spell a trying few days for those who are of the distinctly sunshiny types. Instead of raining on your parade, life may sprinkle you with vinegar.

Going into this Moon-in-Pisces time, little mountains may grow out of molehills. But are they real? Or are they being magnified by our internal emotional focus?

The answer might be one and might be the other. Maybe even both. (Don’t you love this game?)

But then…in the middle of it all, we DO get to the New Moon. And that said New Moon is in the middle of all this personal Piscean pondering…specifically at a zodiacal point (21 Pisces) which wrests control from our hands…that puts the ‘Balsamic’ quality from the Pisces vibe into the this New Moon.

And thus the whole New Moon cycle, which is part of the reason I danced this whole verbal fandango. (Like my dance of the solar system?)

As if we needed another 'notification' that things are ending and changing, there's also the fact that this is the last of a series of New Moons at 21 degrees of successive signs.

 A list of New and Full Moons - the lunar aspects 'highlighted' in darker colors indicate eclipses

Next month's New Moon will be at 20 degrees of Aries. And by the time that happens, we will already be in the 6-8 week 'shake out' (or 'break down') period which precedes a solar eclipse. So this month is preparing us to deal with changes we probably know need making, but which we have some (Pisces) resistance to or fear of.

Lore tells us that 21 Pisces is a particularly potent degree. It’s got a little bit of insecurity (which seeks the known) and a little but of planning (which can be clever or cunning, depending), all of which is mixed with what we might call the ‘standard Piscean challenge’ to know reality from the cherished desire which though desired in reality, is really a fantasy.

With me?

Wrap all this up, then stick it in a cosmic container labeled “You Don’t Control the Outcome Here” which comes to us automatically whenever we’re talking about a degree between 20 and 29 of any sign. Ah yes…that 3rd decanate thing. You may have forgotten about it, but (unfortunately) the universe never does.

Ah, life…!

Anyway…on to the modifiers and other tra-la.

With Venus at 17 Pisces (behind the New Moon by degree if in front of it rising through the horoscope) the whole of this March 11 through April 10 lunar cycle…and especially the March 11 (New) through March 27 (Full Moon) period is going to be a test of our ability to interact with others and the world on many levels which could turn out very well for us, but only if we deal with our emotionality.

Venus as photographed by the Hubble Telescope in August of 2010

(photo credit: NASA-ESA)

Now as soon as I say that, I know a bunch of you are going to respond with ‘Okay – I’m going to put my game face on. They’ll never know what I’m thinking or what I’m feeling!’ But that’s not the point at all. In Pisces, and where anything having to do with Pisces is concerned (pssst! – that includes your natal 12 house and whatever house you have Pisces on natally!) …you need to feel your feelings. That’s how you’re going to learn better. In fact, you’re likely to commit mistakes and dig ever deeper holes for yourself in life until you feel your feelings because it’s that very sensitivity, that ability and willingness to feel your fears and feel the ‘ouch’ of it all and feel and own your mistakes…that’s the path to your wholeness AND your greater functionality.

Pisces is known by many names. One of the least graceful is ‘the garbage can of the zodiac,’ which as  Piscean person, I take great umbrage at!

However…as I’ve gone along, I’ve come to understand why people think of it that way. Pisces people and Pisces situations and Piscean places in your chart are the places where you want to just throw up your hands (or maybe just throw up) and throw the whole matter out of your life.

I know a couple of people who did that to me last year, as it happens. Since their Pisces issues remain theirs I doubt their lives are better for it, but since I haven’t heard from either one of them (yet), I’m guessing they haven’t figured out I wasn’t the problem.

We all have assumptions which are just foo-foo. We all do some pretty stupid things in life. We all make mistakes. We all get hurt.

The Pisces challenge is getting past that. With Venus involved in this New Moon conjunction, we have an opportunity to make huge gains in life and as people if we are willing to sort through the vagaries and not just go with the known, the comfortable or the ‘all good.’ Being a Pisces, I’ll put it out there that there’s a marked difference between being vulnerable and being dependent, and that that’s a difference not everyone understands. You don’t have to be best friends or lover or family to be vulnerable; there are plenty of times when admitting you don’t understand or that you aren’t sure about something will open the door to better conversations, better explanations and maybe just that bit of information which will allow you to make a solid decision, yea or nay.

With that said…some of us are people who in our own nature have un-reconciled differences. If your Sun and Moon are in square or inconjunct…or even in a trine which you aren’t using to its positive or fullest (trines can represent 'habitual ruts’), this Pisces lunation may well be a time when you begin to understand that things are not ‘all good’ onboard the Ship of You.

That Mars is at 29 Pisces as this New Moon occurs is an indication of our ‘pressing’ towards goals, towards our ends – or maybe…hopefully…better understandings on many levels. Given that Mars is here conjunct fixed star Scheat (the star we love to hate!), there is a distinct quality of being willing to move on even if or where your choice may not be ‘the popular thing.’

Right is right, right? Is it always going to be popular? No. And that’s the point. There are times and places where we have to compromise and times and places where we need to be able to stand for something bigger than ourselves.

Pisces is a universal sign. That ‘greater than our Self’ quality is very big in Pisces. It’s why this sign (and this lunation cycle) is all about seeing universal truths, not just those which fit you or your family or your group or your whatever. If it don’t work across the board, if it isn’t a universally held value, it isn’t Piscean.

Pisces isn’t about emotional lip-synching and Pisces isn’t about ‘going along to get along.’ But Pisces is also not about being the loner. The guru is honored in Piscean lore because the guru offers their knowledge freely. Because their wisdom is universal.

Fear is one of the great Pisces challenges, which is why so many Pisces situations tempt us to flee. It isn’t necessarily that the ‘thing’ is dangerous or the situation is dangerous – our feelings feel dangerous. It’s easy to walk away from the person or thing or situation which provokes the feeling. But when we do that, the vulnerability remains.

This month is a great opportunity to move past a few of those issues. With Pallas (dispassionate wisdom) conjunct Eris at 21 Aries (in an exact semi-sextile to the New Moon) with Pelion/Lilith on one side and Chaldea/Child on the other, we want to go back to the way things ‘used to be.’ That’s very Chaldea/Child. Getting past denial (Pelion/Lilith) is a big (Pelion) challenge, and surely a lot of us are going to want to insist that ‘they’re the problem, not me.’

 The idea of asteroid Pelion being 'a mountain which has to be climbed,' we will hope our

'mountain' isn't quite as daunting as India's Nanda Devi, which is the 23rd highest mountain

peak on the planet

(photo credit: Anirban C8, May 2008)

 
With all of this happening in Aries, the concept described is that we can fight for the betterment of all or we can deal with changes we don’t understand and probably have never experienced before (Pallas/Eris) shaking up our world.

These Pallas/Eris changes will have started ‘warming up’ in late February. They will test how much we know and how much we’re willing to learn (which expressed in Aries means learning about ourselves). With the arrival of the New Moon this Pallas/Eris energy will be ‘set off,’ and with the semi-sextile from the New Moon there is some sense of irritation OR obligation, take your pick.

Let’s also note that all this happens with Saturn still at 11 Scorpio, the degree it went retrograde at back in February and the degree of the solar eclipse which will show up this coming November.

That’s the…well, let’s call it the “longer dotted line.” And against that we have the ‘shorter dotted line’ which is rapidly carrying us forward to the solar eclipse shift which will happen going into/coming out of this coming May.

The emphasis here is on self worth and how that relates to our values and thus, how we are valued (or get along with) others.

It’s in the works. And as a step in those works, this New Moon leads us into deep emotional waters…so here’s to all things going swimmingly.
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