Two other aspects play into this same story. While so much is happening in the world of structure, and with the concept of self being turned inside out, there's another area of the sky that describes a profound inner pull.
Reading what I've written so far, you might get the idea that everything of any significance is being externalized, but in Pisces, there are developments that describe the inner environment and its most intimate expressions. Slow-moving (and therefore especially influential) planets are gathering there as well.
The two best known are Neptune and Chiron, which ingressed Pisces between 2010 and 2012. Pisces is the inner cosmic realm—the closest thing you can call spiritual in the sense of direct experience. Neptune is the modern planet associated with Pisces, which amplifies the effect. There's a lot more Pisces than usual to go around—it's as if a fresh ocean of water has been added to that inner realm that Pisces represents.
Chiron has a focusing effect. Pisces is not always easy to grasp; Chiron is much more obvious. A good example of Chiron in Pisces is the effect that the Beatles had on the 1960s, the last time Chiron was in Pisces. The Beatles took that message of peace and love, focused it and made sure we all got to see it.
There's a planet similar to Chiron, called Nessus, which is going to enter Pisces early in the year. Nessus has a focusing effect similar to Chiron, but what it focuses is the theme of accountability. The message is that we are all responsible for attending to that inner realm that we possess. Both Chiron and Nessus come with a caution, which is that the space they are occupying is not optional. Tuning into one's inner space is a necessity.
Life cannot be lived exclusively outwardly. At a certain point, you must regard your inner life as real. There is a fourth slow-mover in Pisces, called Borasisi. That has the message that you are responsible for what you believe and the effects that it has on you.
Surrounded as we are by many distracting, perhaps useful technologies, the invitation of the planets in Pisces is to use that technology for creative purposes; for humanitarian purposes; for awareness.
Marshall McLuhan was fond of two concepts, both of which are described by these Pisces planets. One concept was the way in which the environment we live in tends to be invisible. Pisces tends to be invisible. Yet Chiron in particular focuses awareness of the environment and our relationship to it.
The other concept was pattern recognition. Overwhelmed as we often are, sometimes the only thing left to do is to notice the patterns of your life and of the world you live in, and see what you can observe. There's too much going on to take on one item at a time. Confronted by all experience being simultaneous, awareness of patterns is one of the few things that can keep you from drowning. This kind of consciousness is the morph of self-awareness and that of your environment.
Here in the early 21st century they have very nearly merged into the same thing—and that process is just getting started.
