This New Moon in Pisces is the marriage of practicality and magic, of form and the formless. There is no use for having your head in the clouds if that high-mindedness isn’t informing the more mundane aspects of your everyday life. That is always the caution with Pisces—daydreaming in a way that makes the mind fertile for imagination, yet does nothing to fertilize the actual ground, the one we must stand on, the one from which the structure of our lives is erected. Done right, this New Moon can set the trajectory for a lived experience that is imbued with spirituality and creativity. In proper doses, Pisces acts as the lubricant for our drier, uninspired places. The agility and mutability to move through the walls and blockages in our lives by finding the nooks and cracks that will allow for progress. This lunation will ask what edifices in your life could use the steady erosion of Piscean water, carving out curves and softness where rigidity and rough edges impeded your movement. Equally so, this lunation may ask you to build a more practical spiritual life with the softness and structure of a sandcastle, with the insight to continue to sculpt and re-mold, to let what washes away wash away. Not too close to the ocean, where all form is destroyed, yet not rooted too firmly inland, where we deprive ourselves of hopeful hydration.
If floating in or even being around all this water intimidates you, as Pisces season naturally seems to correlate with heightened sensitivity, then buoy up buttercups. Jupiter rules and squares this lunation from Sagittarius, meaning there will be no lack of hope and optimism, should you activate it. The natural osmosis of Pisces also absorbs positive feelings, so do not resign yourself to sadness and tears, confirming pop Astrology’s bias. As uncomfortable as vulnerability can be, it is the gatekeeper to experiencing true happiness, even bliss. So let the floodgates open and you may find that tears create space for joy, the small erosions of your emotional life carving out exquisite form, whether you see it now or not. Jupiter also loves a teaching moment, an intermission wherein hardship is replaced by wisdom and guides your story towards a happier ending. Look upon your experiences, good or bad, with compassion, building firmer understanding of yourself. Overtime, this mindfulness can become spiritual practice, a piece of Pisces always present as your life unfolds, watering the rough patches in anticipation of the bloom.
And what of all this scaffolding? A sextile from Mars in Taurus ensures none of this is wishful thinking, bringing in the element of doing. And not doing for the sake of doing, for Mars in Taurus is slow and deliberate, its war path paved with stability and security. This sextile gives the lofty Pisces ideals a soft landing place, ensuring that intentions made here aren’t superfluous and can actually take form. And unlike Saturn, forming the other end of a supportive sextile from Capricorn, asking us to make our goals regimented and sturdy with a dispassionate glare from across the solar system, Mars here is more concerned with making sure we feel good. That is the Taurus way, indulging the senses, not in ways that impede our growth, but in ways that can beautify our experiences. Candles, walks in nature, cozy blankets, massages, nutritious food, holding hands with a loved one—and all the myriad of ways that Taurus takes the spiritual initiatives of Pisces makes them physical, fusing magic into matter. You could also say that Taurus makes sense of the nebulous nature of Pisces, where ideas can fail to be downloaded into actual action plans. Mars in Taurus makes these dreams tangible, slowing down where slowing down is needed, and charging forth with tenacity where Pisces can become passive. Though sitting unbothered in Aquarius for this lunation with a fading square to Uranus, Venus and Venusian qualities still provide a backbone to this lunation. Venus exalts in Pisces and domiciles in Taurus, a correspondence worth noting, especially as Venus’ higher octave sibling, Neptune, sits right next to this New Moon and since she presides over Mars here. More so than ever, this can be a day where the sky dazzles with grace and beauty, fairness and love, compassion and diplomacy, coloring the intentions made here with rose gold. And with Jupiter already in the picture, I firmly believe this Pisces New Moon can be a cosmic influx goodies. Oh, goodness!
Of course there is no getting around a newly retrograde Mercury. More likely than not, you are already familiar with all the supposed negatives of this movement, and are probably scattering to finalize big plans or purchases. You probably also already know that Mercury is in fall in Pisces and are hunkering down, doubly so. All these tantalizing headlines will command your attention, so I will instead point you towards my byline, and note the positive potentials of Mercury RX in Pisces. Retrogrades can correspond with times where the energy of the planet is focused inward, and with Mercury it can be a magnifying glass on your cognitions. In Pisces, Mercury is intuitive, prone to truth-seeking with emotion. Since all emotion starts first with a thought, this is a prime time to uproot or otherwise review those beliefs, perseverations, and old stories that have bounced around between your ears and become aware of where they are not serving you, how they inform your moods either correctly or incorrectly. Mercury in Pisces is also a keen observer of body language, or otherwise the ways in which we can communicate without words. This is a highly specialized skill, and turned inward, can make this a heightened time of intimacy with yourself and others. You may come to find out things that have eluded articulation, or tap into wellsprings of tantric communication. Where garden-variety Astrology outlets warn of confusion and missteps, which are possible, I invite you to also lean into the possibility that Mercury RX in Pisces can also provide clarity, as you dive deep into information that is normally obfuscated. With a heavy Earth signature, and the natural spirituality of Pisces, this lunation paired with this retrograde can be alchemical, transforming density into something magical. And simply, this can also correspond with a time of profound creativity—poetry, painting, singing—all the ways Mercury in Pisces turns art into conversation. When Mercury last transited Pisces, though not retrograde, I found a meditation practice that continues to provide dividends. Take advantage of Mercury’s languorous walk through Pisces. May what you intuit here bolster you into fresh and new expressions in time for Aries season, where what Pisces waters eventually becomes blossom.
Lastly, and as if this point hasn’t already been hammered in enough, Neptune’s conjunction with this lunation makes it ripe, again, for spiritual growth and all things psychic and holy. This is also a signature of prolific creativity, with the potential to be deeply touched by art, or to create the art that deeply touches. Neptune is where we idealize, which is where the planet gets its dubious associations from. But like with Mercury’s retrograde, it is more productive to me to point out the positives here rather than lumping on to what we already fear about Neptune. This lunation may put you in contact with people, beliefs, ideas, communities, publications or creations that serve the awakening of your spirit. If Jupiter teaches your mind, then Neptune teaches your soul. This New Moon, more than any one in 2019, lifts up a veil between the immaterial and your physical incarnation, providing intentions set here with a hefty dose of divinity, held in trust by mighty cosmic companions. Neptune, like the archetype of Pisces, can be a great healer, surpassing three-dimensional understanding with broader, more transcendent truths. Adjust the scope of your life, where tunnel-vision and ruts keep you small, let Pisces help you expand and stay flexible. There is medicine in the sky here, and an inherent sensitivity that wants to help you soak it all in. Do not fear these feeling times, or cast doubt upon your emotions—instead, let them lead you. Only then can you learn to stop swimming against the tides of your life.
“Sometimes we are lucky enough to know that our lives have been changed, to discard the old, embrace the new, and run headlong down an immutable course. It happened to me...that day, when my eyes were opened to the sea.” –Jacques-Yves Cousteau