March 18: Pisces New Moon
The New Moon in Pisces at 9:23PM ET on March 18, offers a sanctuary, a moment of respite, that is sorely needed after the turmoil of eclipse season. This mystical lunation is ruled by Jupiter, who has recently stationed direct at 15°05 Cancer, in a trine with Mars in Pisces and a square with Venus in Aries. We're encouraged to lay down our burdens after the heaviness of Winter and release.
Pisces correlates to the lymph system and flow of fluids (water) through the body to expel toxins. There is a need to purify the system through flushing out what got stuck during the stiff stagnancy of Saturn's dark seasons.
Pisces correlates to the Major Arcana XVIII Moon card in tarot, but it also has a connection with XX Judgement because it precedes the rebirth of Spring. The compassion of Pisces teaches forgiveness for the past in order to transcend personal pain. One of the most effective methods for letting go of anger and resentment is to pray for the other person to become happy and free. It seems counterintuitive, but the wish for collective liberation helps us let go of individual needs and desires that can lead to unhappiness.
Mars is currently transiting Pisces but will move into Aries on April 9, where it will trigger a cascade of conflict as it moves ever closer to Saturn. See my previous post about my concerns. The Sun in Pisces is in an a partile sextile with Uranus in Taurus, encouraging us to open up to what change the universe wants to bring over the coming months.
When I lived in San Francisco in my 20s, I practiced yoga at the Yoga Tree in the Mission. My teacher, Dina, was amazing and would lead us through difficult classes that ended in a cathartic release. By the end, everyone would be super sweaty and blissed out as we finally collapsed on our mats for the final pose of shavasana. There was a true sense of surrender in laying down to integrate and often unexpected emotions would surface. In the warmth of the darkened studio, we were encouraged to just let them out. Sometimes people would weep, and, without knowing any of the details, the energy of the group held them in a womb like state of safety. I remember crying in shavasana after my friend unexpectedly died in a tragic bike accident, and the teacher came by and sat near me but never gave the sense that anything was wrong or I needed to stop. Everything was welcomed and accepted in that supportive space.
The gift of Pisces provides a gentle presence that witnesses suffering without trying to change it and thus allows it to be transformed. It is also the wisdom of the Major Arcana II High Priestess card that investigates truth by breathing into the cells of the body body. It is easy for humans to dissect things with our mind. But feeling what is true in our bodies is much harder. Our survival drives have programmed fear and avoidance into our DNA. Aries season will activate the need to control our environment and avoid pain in all its forms by getting into conflict that distract from the truth of our own vulnerability. Endless conflict uses us a tremendous amount of resources. It is exhausting to always be fighting and truly a waste of time and energy. At this stage of human development it is completely unnecessary to engage in wars to dominate land and people when we truly, truly, truly have enough for everyone. Our current behavior would not be possible if we understood ourselves to be as interconnected as we are.
Psychic seers and sci-fi writers have described life on other planets where people have evolved in the direction of peace by developing psychic ability. Through glimpsing the web of life that we are all part of, star being species became more compassionate and united. They are so tuned into each other that they understand harming another also harms themselves and is detrimental to the overall society.
This Pisces utopian vision of living from Oneness is what humanity is being led towards but many people resist because they fear losing their identity as powerful, successful, and superior. Humans don't understand who they would be without competition and domination. This is why the right wing imaginations of matriarchy are merely the reversal of patriarchy. They believe that feminists and the "woke left" want a world in which women and queer people dominate men and straight people, rather than everyone cooperating around ideals of respect, dignity, and love. They can't imagine us forgiving them for what they have done enough to move forward to a better place. Probably because they can't forgive themselves.
Forgiveness is not easy. My yoga teacher Dina, also challenged us around this. In the final moments of class she would encourage us to dedicate the benefits of our practice to whoever needed it most, or, gasp, someone we didn't like. I worked at a human rights organization at the time that was actively opposing the war in Iraq initiated by George W Bush. Everyday we dealt with the human rights injustices from the imperialist interventions, and it felt like his administration broadly, and George W in particular was my enemy. I remember struggling with my yoga teacher's assignment of wishing well to someone I didn't like, and then eventually deciding to dedicate my practice to George W's spiritual development. (I think we can see by his incredible bathroom self portraits that it worked, lol).
It is now 20 years later and we are in much the same predicament but somehow worse. Our current leader is so hideously evil that I can't imagine dedicating anything but a curse to him. The world stage is dominated by billionaire pedophiles who start literal wars to deflect from their own crimes. Most days, I don't feel like forgiveness is something anything in his administration deserves, and, with the torture and suffering they inflict on innocent people, especially children, I don't even understand how they are human.
The difficulty of the predicament we are in is not going to abate any time soon. If anything, it will get worse before it gets better (April's astrology is some of the worst of the year). But there are, and will be, moments of peace, calm, and connection that we need to breathe into if we are going to make it to June (there's some nice astrology at the end of May and start of June).
It takes time to assimilate and integrate the chaotic movement of eclipse season and we're in for a bumpy ride. It might seem counter intuitive, but the brain can not help us out of the mess we're in. If it could, logic and reason would have prevailed long ago. We need a strong heart to show up for the world right now. So take every opportunity you can to relax, release, and detoxify. Including as many media breaks as you need. The news is designed to stress us out and incite fear. Pisces gets easily overwhelmed and with the Mercury retrograde cycle, we have all been more in touch with the sensitive parts of ourselves.
Mercury is conjunct the lunar North Node in Pisces at the New Moon, urging us towards greater imagination and magic. This entire retrograde cycle, from February 26-March 20, has been teaching us a new way of learning that has nothing to do with the brain. Great spiritual teachers have long advised to drop out of mind and into heart to get to truth. According to my own teacher, Amma, "Intellectual prowess has its limitations. Thus, do not limit the scope of your learning to the realm of the intellect."
All reactions are born from a ground of identity. Our responses are conditioned by who the ego believes us to be. When Mercury is retrograde we drop down into this ground of identification and are able to glimpse the issue/belief/story that is triggering our feelings and creating reactivity from a place of believing this is true about me.
The Sun moves into Aries on March 20, at the Vernal Equinox, initiating us into the solar time of the year. Mercury stations direct just a few hours later. The Sun will immediately conjoin Neptune and Saturn, reactivating their historic merging on February 20, and making this an especially intense Aries season.
Before then, be as gentle as you can with yourself. Drink water, cry, sweat, flop around, and try to shake off any tension and stiffness from Winter. Whatever will replenish your inner resources is a nice idea this week. We will need flexibility and an openness to evolving in directions we never imagined in order to navigate what's to come.