Here is a forecast, of sorts, for the month beginning with the new Moon in Pisces on 10 March, setting the scene for eclipse season. In the weeks before the eclipses I often feel a sense of anticipation and portent. Do you sense it too?
I have been delving into myth, old stories relating to Pisces, and the themes expressed through metaphor. How do you embody these powerful stories and myth-beings? And where in your world do they show up?
To help you with this, what is the house containing Pisces in your whole sign chart. If it falls on one of the angles the new Moon will potentially be felt more strongly.
With Gemini rising for example, Pisces is my 10H and MC, so naturally I’m thinking about it a lot, and writing about it here. My deepest wish is to inspire healing and soul growth.
But first let me give you a synopsis of the planets in their signs and configurations for this Water new Moon (skip/skim this bit if its too technical).
Synopsis
As I write we enter the final quarter and the Moon will be at the bendings, an unhappy and discordant place for the Moon, also in her detriment/exile—Capricorn.
Hardships, obstacles and disruptions can show up now, people are suddenly unreliable or cantankerous. There are very likely portents and omens regarding the eclipses popping up, so be alert for these.
On the 8 March, just before the new Moon, Mars moves into a square to Uranus and as its in fixed signs, expect to see frustrations, outrage, reckless deeds, breakthrough moments and maybe even a bit of mayhem. This is charged, yet blocked energy looking for an outlet, for release.
This Marsy-Uranus angle is classic for accidents, especially those relating to vehicles and electricity. Yesterday I managed to slam the car door on my finger tip (its going black, but won’t drop off), but that was when Mercury was more in the picture (Mercury = hands, digits). So please take care the next 5 days or so.
The Sun in sextile to Uranus simultaneously could bring some nice surprises and opportunities if you’re prepared to move fast.
Venus’ ingress into Pisces on the 12 March raises Her dignity. She is exalted in the sign of the Fishes (for reasons you can read below). She has an aura of glamour and shimmering beauty that no other sign quite delivers for Her.
Artists and musicians can rejoice for the next month, likewise cinema, art galleries and gatherings of the beautiful and bohemian are places to be. You will notice it’s quite a contrast from the eclectic, radical, novel, outlandish Aquarian scene.
If you are sensitive you will notice a sense of deep peace, a feeling of One Love that emanates from a connection to divine source, or a longing for more soul connection in relationships. You might start to feel disappointed with a love that seems too detached as Venus moves out of Aquarius.
This is when relationships can begin to dissolve. When you realise you need more than common interests to keep you together. Whatever the context, it’s a dreamy vibration with a feeling of elevation.
Mercury moves into Aries synchronous with the new Moon and is happier here too; more extrovert and perky, although fast and loud as well. This Marsy Mercury is a key player in the fiery eclipse story because of its retrograde backing up almost to the North Node and inhabiting this sign through to mid May.
Weaponised words are used in this space to make things happen, or to attract attention, especially on the Cazimi on 12 April, after the next new Moon, solar eclipse. I will write more about this in my next post. You can read my last post about Mercury Cazimi, with Saturn here.
The new Moon brings water themes into focus, and with Neptune and Saturn co-present on either side of the Luminaries, we are offered an opportunity to connect with our feelings, longings, imagination, and our soulful, creative, mystical selves.
Use whatever tools you need to honour it. In service to healing forgotten or submerged selves with empathy and compassion for yourself, with gentleness and kindness, forgiveness and gratitude.
Water, music, sound-bathing, singing, the beach, swimming, journalling, sketching, turning your phone off, going within, meditation and visualisation; and not forgetting a brew of your favourite natural medicine. Drink plenty of water, let the tears come, sit with the feelings without judgment or shame. Just a few suggestions that spring to mind.
Venus in her chariot will hopefully cruise past Saturn without too much bother on 22/23 of March. I only mention it because this can be when relationships that are having an other-worldly, romantic moment might turn serious.
My hope for you is that Venus will improve situations that have lacked structure or boundaries, especially if you are mesmerised by the dreamy-ness of it all (I am an incurable dreamer, I know how boundaries get fuzzy).
The Sun enters Aries on 20 March. This is the Equinox and the Astrological new Year, with zero Aries considered to be the first degree on the zodiac.
Symbolically, as day and night achieves balance, so we too find balance between our dark and light selves. Our day and night selves.
The lunar eclipse-full Moon on 25 March is a penumbral eclipse, so although faint and shadowy it will be visible in New Zealand’s night skies. The Moon in Libra close to the dragon’s tail requires us to make an effort to achieve that balance.
Whatever resistance shows up for you on the full Moon is pointing to how you can do a better job of holding opposing forces in balance. The dualities that we can hold gently allow us to rise above our suffering, to transform and grow.
How attached are you to ideas about relationships? About conflict and harmony? Peace and Justice, Fairness and Equality? Give and take?
Do you feel divided or conflicted? Pulled apart? Indecisive?
Here is where you can see how you can soften your grip and hold space for both sides, for alternate or opposing views.
Mercury turns retrograde in Aries on 2 April, then Venus conjuncts Neptune in Pisces on 4 April. Fire and Water themes abide, as we head into the last quarter. Emotional needs and desires are showing up as themes in our relationships still, especially in the ways we communicate and the choices we make.
Creativity expressed through language, music and the visual arts are part of the story as well. The sublime and the slightly ridiculous. Comedy and tragedy commingle (as they do in good drama), but it may not always be amusing, especially as we are in the midst of eclipse season. Jokes, like the wily dragon, can turn around and bite you, however we are all in dire need of some fun and laughter.
The chart for the next new Moon/eclipse on 9 April brings us some very exciting configurations. We can use this new Moon in Pisces to prepare for them. In the meantime here are some insights on the themes of Pisces to help you.
Pisces themes through myth
Typhon was a winged giant, said to be so huge that his head brushed the stars. He was man-shaped from the waist up with two coiled serpents in place of legs. He had a hundred serpent-heads for fingers, a filthy, matted beard, pointed ears, and eyes flashing fire.
He had two hundred hands consisting of fifty serpent-headed fingers on each of his hands and a hundred heads of bulls, boars, serpents, lions and leopards. Typhon, a volcano-demon, hurled red-hot rocks at heaven and magma boiled forth from his mouth.
Hesiod writes (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.):
"Now after Zeus had driven the Titans out of heaven, gigantic Gaia (Gaea, the Earth), in love with Tartaros (the Pit), bore the youngest of her children, Typhoeus."
Typhon is the progeny of Gaea and Tartaros, Earth Mother and the Under-underworld Father. His story is analogous to the battle between the Great Earth Goddess and the new comers, the Sky/Sun gods, the immortal dynasties of gods and goddesses, who evolved to rule the Greek and Roman pantheons.
He is a manifestation of the power of the Earth, which as we see, cannot be entirely vanquished, even by the might of Zeus. He could not be slain by the almighty Zeus, so lies imprisoned beneath Mount Etna where he forever tries to break free.
Typhon was mythic personification of volcanic forces, a symbol of the chthonic power of the earth.
So what is his connection to Pisces?
It was Typhon who drove Aphrodite into the river where she was rescued by the two magical fishes—the story of Pisces. Pisces is the preferred temple of Aphrodite (Venus), as well as her more ancient counterparts, and the symbolism of the Fishes tied with a cord includes themes of fertility and the Great Mother (Gaea), an ancient goddess with many names.
Ovid writes (C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
Once Aphrodite, in flight from terrible Typhon, when Zeus armed in heaven's defence, reached the Euphrates with tiny Eros in tow and sat by the hem of Palestine's stream. She pales with fear, and believes a hostile band approaches. As she clutched son to breast, she cries “To the rescue, dear Nymphs and bring help to two divinities.” Without delay she leapt into the river. Twin fish went underneath them.
So this is a more modern rendering of the very ancient Syrian/Babylonian tales of the goddess who is saved by two fishes or shape changes into a fish to escape catastrophe.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) explains how versions of the gods propagate throughout the known world in the form of mythical animals and shape shifting deities:
Typhoeus issuing from earth's lowest depths, struck terror in those heavenly hearts, and they all turned their backs and fled, until they found refuge in Aegyptus (Egypt) and the seven-mouthed Nilus (Nile)
Typhoeus Earthborn even there pursued them and the gods concealed themselves in spurious shapes; Zeus became a ram, lord of the herd, and so today great Libyan Ammon (the Egyptian god Ammon) is shown with curling horns. Apollo hid as a raven (the Egyptian god Horus), Dionysos as a goat (Egyptian Osiris), Artemis a cat (Egyptian Bastet), Hera a snow-white cow (Egyptian Hathor), Venus [Aphrodite] a fish (the Syrian goddess Ashtarte), and Hermes an ibis [Egyptian Thoth].
Stories in the form of myth are fluid, adapting and evolving to serve the purposes of meaning.
We still shape our stories from ancient material to give our lives meaning and purpose.
Aphrodite was carried aboard ships, worshipped at harbour side sanctuaries, and believed to help to bring whatever one desired, whether land, love or good weather. Her cult travelled from port to port around the Mediterranean, where Aphrodite was merged with Roman Venus.
Aphrodite had the largest number of epithets related to the sea: Euploia (good sailing), Pontia (of the open sea), Limenia (of the harbour) and Pelagia (of the sea). On the eastern face of the Parthenon frieze, Aphrodite also sits right beside Poseidon.
The Pisces myth has connections to the ancient Assyrian goddess Atargatis, a fish-water-life-fertility goddess over 3000 years old. She was venerated in the form of a mermaid and was most likely the original version of the Greek Aphrodite, who was born from sea foam, and was a coastal-maritime goddess in the Greek pantheon.
Atargatis loved a mortal shepherd boy, but he was killed in an accident, which she caused. Dying of a broken heart, she could not live without him and the grief she felt so she threw herself into the lake to drown. Here she was healed by the waters and was reborn with the tail of a fish.
Like Aphrodite, doves and fishes are sacred to Atargatis, and the Pisces subtext of lost love, grief, the power of emotion, transformation and transcendence through emotion symbolised by Water, is clear.
We may wonder where they are now, these potent myth-beings, in our rational and reductive world.
They are alive in us.
Awesome image of Typhon! Imagine how well he could play stringed instruments with all those fingers! I'm jealous :-)
I really felt the Capricorn Moon yesterday, all serious and concerned. Glad that we are all going to Aquarius together this afternoon. Although 3:30pm....... sigh.....