Amanda Painter
Tuesday night was the Pisces New Moon with a total solar eclipse. This puts us in ‘the eclipse zone’: the two weeks between a matched set of eclipses, one solar and one lunar.
The corresponding lunar eclipse will not take place in Pisces. Rather, it will span the Aries-Libra axis -- a Full Moon with the Sun in very early Aries and the Moon in very early Libra. In fact, the Sun and Moon will be early enough in their signs for this to count as an Aries Point event -- the Aries Point being that first degree of the zodiac in the sign Aries where personal and political events seem to intersect and magnify to impressive effect.
I’ll cover that Full Moon and lunar eclipse in greater depth next week. For now, it’s enough to take a look around you (literally and figuratively) and within you in the wake of Tuesday’s Pisces eclipse as we head into the weekend.
Did you notice any unexpected synchronicities, particularly vivid dreams, or compelling fantasies that seemed to hold a clear message? Did you notice any insights about your past, especially something that seemed to release its hold on you?
You might want to explore anything that got your attention. Notice these next couple weeks if anything else rings the same bell that got rung for you Tuesday or Wednesday.
The two weeks between eclipses can sometimes feel rather like another dimension, one where life can shift markedly. It could be easy to read a statement like that and begin to worry that you’re not ‘doing enough’ to launch your life into a new phase, or that you missed some magical opportunity if you slept through the eclipse or did not even know it was happening.
Relax.
For one thing, not every eclipse is going to unfold dramatically for everyone. You might just be keepin’ on keepin’ on, doing your thing. After all, Pisces is all about flow. If you’re already flowing, there’s probably little need to question it aggressively.
Also, the universe always offers another opportunity down the road to learn important lessons. That is not to say you shouldn’t bother trying; more like, don’t freak if you notice a spiral-type shape to your path. Each time you meet a situation with a familiar theme, chances are you’re encountering it in a slightly different way and can apply more of your acquired understanding to dealing with it better.
This weekend’s astrological highlights include more Pisces events, as if to underscore the eclipse and the overall vibe for the month. That said, the Moon has already left Pisces for Aries; Friday it moves into Taurus to offer some grounding and earthy tangibility that might help balance you if the seas you’re sailing have felt rough or unnervingly bottomless. There’s a lot to love about Pisces (creativity, passion, empathy), but when things get too boundary-less, it can feel a little overwhelming if you’re already a very sensitive type. Take care of yourself.
On Thursday, the Sun conjoins centaur planet Chiron in Pisces at 11:27 pm EST. An hour and a half later, at 1:01 am EST Friday, Mercury conjoins Neptune (modern ruler of Pisces).
This presents a curious combination of a diffusion effect on mental processes (Mercury-Neptune), with a focusing effect on ego consciousness (Sun-Chiron).
In addition, Venus ingresses Pisces at 5:24 am EST on Saturday. So that extra-romantic, sensitive and poetic influence gets layered into everything else.
First thing I’m seeing is that you might get a wake-up call regarding giving yourself permission to heal, to stand out and, indeed, to exist at all as your whole self (Sun-Chiron). For men, this could relate to feelings about your masculinity, your sensitivity, and any past injuries to your integrated embodiment of those two facets of self. For women, questions about how you relate to your father and subsequently other men in your life, and where you place your identity in relation to them, might arise.
The tricky part, thanks to Mercury-Neptune, could be separating logic from illusion (or recognizing denial) as you encounter these themes. In other words, how can you know when you’re being honest with yourself, versus when you’re trying to escape the questions facing you?
With so many planets and points in Pisces (including Nessus, Neptune, Mercury, Ceres, Chiron, the lunar South Node, the Sun and, after Saturday, Venus -- plus others), the sky is practically begging you to indulge your creativity -- paint, sculpt, play music (or listen to it deeply), make movies (or watch them), get on stage, dance, write, collage; perhaps have sex.
Whatever your chosen medium, and whether you participate actively or observe others doing so, ask yourself: Is what you are encountering taking you deeper into yourself and closer to your questions and their answers? Or are you indulging in escapism to distract yourself from certain truths that keep dipping a toe into the ocean of your consciousness? It might be hard to tell this weekend. But come March 23, that Aries Point Full Moon and eclipse could very well ask for some clear action using what you’ve learned.
