Precious Portal of Healing

Astro Notes for Pisces Season 2023 (February 18-March 20)

We’ve entered Pisces season, the final season of the astrological year. It’s a time of wrapping things up, bringing things to completion, and letting go into the mystery before a new cycle begins again with the Spring Equinox in March. This year, in addition to the Equinox, March brings several of the most powerful and dramatic transits of the year. In March, everything changes. There is therefore in the air a sense of needing to tie up loose ends and complete lessons so we can be ready for the big changes just around the bend.

Pisces is the final turn of the astrological Wheel of the Year. It represents the last stage of life, or any creative process, when there is a release of attachment to form and a surrender to the mystery. It is less about doing than being. From the perspective of the world of accomplishment, Pisces can seem like a realm of loss. But from the perspective of being, it is where we gain everything.

Pisces is the ocean that dissolves all boundaries that keep us in the illusion of separation. It is the awareness of the consciousness that underlies everyone and everything. As such, Pisces carries the energy of universal compassion. Pisces heals through the recognition that we are all ultimately part of the one reality, the one mystery. We are never alone, never truly separate.

Pisces season this year brings a very special and poignant opportunity to heal our deepest wounds. On March 12, Jupiter is conjunct Chiron in Aries. Chiron is the archetype of the Wounded Healer. The position of Chiron in our chart represents the location of our core wound. We all have one somewhere, it’s part of the cosmic design. Jupiter expands whatever it touches. When Jupiter meets Chiron, our very deepest core wounding will come to the surface – you can count on it.

Yet the magic of Chiron lies in the fact that our core wound is — very precisely — also the location of our deepest healing gift. And while Jupiter may magnify our wound and even blow it up out of all proportion, it is considered the Great Benefic in astrology for a reason. Jupiter’s encounter with Chiron brings with it a tremendous opportunity for healing our core wound and uncovering our deepest healing gift.

Although the Jupiter-Chiron conjunction is exact on March 12, the transit is operative for several weeks on either side of that date. So if you’ve been feeling a lot of emotional vulnerability lately — even to the point of desperation — know that you’re not alone. We’re all being initiated into a deeper level of service than we’ve known before. And the way through is to embrace the place of our deepest shame and inadequacy with as much compassion as we can muster.

But the Jupiter-Chiron conjunction is not the only big event taking place this Pisces season. On March 7, Saturn enters Pisces after being in Aquarius for the last two and a half years. Saturn is the sober taskmaster who assigns us lessons in maturity. Over the last two and a half years, we’ve all been asked to grow up in a particular area of our lives and put things in order there. (The particular area is shown by which house Aquarius falls in in our charts.). These lessons are now drawing to a close. However you did on your ‘exam’, when Saturn moves into Pisces on March 7, you will feel the focus shifting to a different area of life and new life lessons. The next two weeks thus represents a final chance to complete your current lessons and submit to the universe your Saturn in Aquarius ‘assignment’.

On the collective level, Saturn entering Pisces will be felt as a notable shift in the zeitgeist, a fundamentally new phase. Saturn began its journey through Aquarius in March 2020, coinciding with the beginning of lockdowns and the global pandemic. When Saturn moves into Pisces, it will also mark the beginning of a new era. With Saturn in Pisces we will likely be challenged to fully deal with our emotional reality and outgrow our escapist tendencies. There will no doubt be a lot of reckoning with the emotional trauma of the last few years. On the positive side, that process may lead to a collective spiritual maturing that will enable us to move forward more in alignment with reality.

Toward the end of March, Pluto enters Aquarius. Now this is BIG. Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008. So this represents the beginning of another MAJOR cycle, one that we will be in for the next 20 years (more or less). I’ll have much more to say about this next month. For now I’ll just note that we are all likely sensing this transit subliminally like an approaching earthquake.

Big change is on the way. Big challenges. Big opportunities. Use this next month to deal with any unfinished business from the old cycle and to find support to help heal your core wounds and uncover your deepest gifts. That way the new energies rising in you will meet the new energies rising in our world, and you’ll be able to catch the huge wave of opportunity rolling in.

After the Storm, a Rainbow

If you’ve experienced a sluggish start to 2023, you’re not alone. We entered the New Year with both Mercury and Mars in retrograde, which threw a big wet blanket over our forward momentum. Mars represents our initiative, drive, and energy; when in retrograde it makes forward progress more difficult. With Mercury (the planet of communication) in retrograde at the same time, it was likely a frustrating time for many, requiring us to let go of our action plans for a more internal and serious time of reflection, consolidation, and review.

At the start of the month, in addition to Mercury being in retrograde, it was also in a triple conjunction with Pluto and Venus in late Capricorn. Pluto brings an intense drive to get to the bottom of things, to confront whatever is out of alignment with reality, even (or especially) when it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient. With Pluto conjunct Venus, this confrontation with reality may have occurred in the context of our relationships. We may have felt compelled to look honestly at what is not working in a close relationship and hopefully talk about it (Pluto conjunct Mercury) with the other person. The positive potential of this transit is that, once the difficult conversations have occurred, there can be a sense of re-alignment in the relationship at a new level of honesty and openness. This all took place, of course, in the context of Capricorn season (December 21-January 19) which, being ruled by Saturn, already brought a more solitary, inward, serious, goal-oriented focus to this time of year. It’s the time of year that we tend to become filled with determination to clean up our acts — to begin that new exercise program or diet, set up a more disciplined routine, eliminate bad habits, or just generally aim to strive harder to make progress on our important life goals.

Capricorn also represents the current rules and norms of society which, for better or worse, tend to determine success in the eyes of the world. With Mercury in retrograde in Capricorn, we may have been reflecting on the extent to which we measure up to those standards and (with Pluto also in Capricorn) getting (ruthlessly) honest with ourselves about where we may fall short and what we are going to do about it. Alternatively, we may have been questioning our own relationship to those societal standards and how much we want to measure our value in those terms or not. Either way, with all the retrograde action stalling progress, Plutonic intensity driving us to look at our shadows, and general Capricorn seriousness, it’s been a heavy start to the year, one with every potential to have activated our inner critics. On the plus side, we may have unearthed a new level of determination within ourselves to stay in integrity with our deeper purpose in a way that could make all the difference to our ability to achieve what we truly want in 2023.

Thankfully, Mars started moving forward again on January 12, as did Mercury on January 18. With these two personal planets moving forward, we may have felt that the wheels started slowly to turn again. Yet some of the wheels may have seemed still stuck in the mud. On the same day that Mercury turned direct (January 18), the Sun was conjunct Pluto, re-activating the themes from earlier in the month of looking into the dark and sitting with uncomfortable feelings and truths. With this past Saturday’s new moon in Aquarius, however, we have finally experienced a noticeable shift. This new moon is significant because it offers a glimpse of the colorful new Aquarian energies that will arrive in force when Pluto moves into Aquarius in March. The seeds that we plant at this full moon are powerful because they may be ‘fertilized’ by Pluto when it enters Aquarius (which it does not only in March this year, but also twice in 2024). It would thus be well worth our time to place a special focus on our intentions at this new moon as they may bear abundant fruit in due course.

Venus is conjunct Saturn in Aquarius at the time of the new moon, which can admittedly bring a sense of emotional coolness and constraint. Yet it also offers an opportunity to create something that will have enduring value. By the end of the month, the Sun will be in a harmonious trine with Mars, Mercury in a trine with Uranus, and Venus will have entered Pisces, where she is exalted. Thus the heaviness we have had to endure at the start of this month will give way to considerably lighter and more dynamic energies as the month progresses. Everything changes in March, when Pluto enters Aquarius and Saturn moves into Pisces. When two heavyweight outer planets change sign in the same month, you can guarantee a tremendous shift in the zeitgeist. We will not miss it. January can be seen as a transition month that involves wrapping up and integrating many of the lessons of 2022. The new moon in Aquarius is the turning point. We are finally starting to open toward the creative energies of the dawning age, rather than being subsumed with the death of the old.

Out of the Muck Springs the Lotus

November 2022 New Moon Astro Notes

The intense purge that occurred in November during Scorpio season and the back-to-back eclipses may have left many of us gasping for air and needing considerable downtime to integrate all the changes. Fortunately, December significantly elevates the atmosphere and offers strong support for a renewal of faith in our vision.

The new moon sets the tone for the month ahead. Last Wednesday's New Moon in Sagittarius made a number of harmonious aspects with other planets, including a lovely trine with expansive Jupiter, setting the stage for smoother sailing in the cycle ahead. Sagittarius is known for its optimism and hope, enthusiasm for life, and an upbeat adventurous spirit. It's no accident that Sagittarius season coincides in the USA with the Thanksgiving holiday, an event associated with the joy and warmth of human togetherness and a general spirit of good cheer. Everywhere around the world there tends to be a mood of optimism and relief at this time of year, as the work cycle begins to wind down and many start to look forward to the delights of the holiday season ahead.

The deeper reason for the brightness of the Sagittarian spirit is that it carries the energy of rebirth or ‘resurrection’ after the encounter with darkness and death during Scorpio season. Sagittarius is so enthusiastic because it wants to spread the "good news" of the life eternal, the spirit that has conquered death and is now risen again. Having done our shadow work during Scorpio season (made even more intense this year due to the eclipses), it's now time to rest in gratitude for what we have accomplished and look forward with renewed optimism for the future.

This expansive mood is given a further boost on December 3 when Neptune turns direct for the first time since late June. Since Jupiter is also in Pisces and, as of last Thursday, moving direct, we now have the two planetary co-rulers of Pisces — Jupiter and Neptune — once again in their own sign and moving forward. This combination can open up the veritable floodgates of creative inspiration, bringing more faith in our dreams and visions. It's a beautiful opportunity to open our imaginations to the highest possibilities we can envision for ourselves as we look ahead to the new era dawning.

This window is open until December 20, when Jupiter enters Aries.

After expanding to unlimited possibilities in the ocean of Pisces, Jupiter emerges in Aries re-energized and inspired to take action. With Jupiter in Aries, we will feel motivated to back our entrepreneurial spirit and move forward boldly in the direction of our dreams. We will tend to be rewarded with good luck at this time when we demonstrate faith in ourselves and our visions.

To sum up: immerse yourself in the Piscean ocean of creative possibility for the first 3 weeks of December, then ride those waves of inspiration into the Aries field of battle to hit the ground running in 2023. We are finally starting to emerge from the ordeal of transformation we have endured these last few years. Something in us is breaking out of the chrysalis, and when Saturn moves into Pisces and Pluto enters Aquarius in March of next year, this process of transfiguration will be complete. Get ready for a new you.