There's a lot going on this week with not one, but two planetary ingresses and a Full Moon on the horizon, but in the days between we feel the full effects of the liminal.
Mercury is officially back in Aquarius,
a position it occupied this New Year's Day before the first annual retrograde pulled it into the chthonic depths of late Capricorn. We've talked a lot about the productivity trap of New Years but this year's transits made it particularly difficult to stay focused on what's ahead. Aquarius is stubbornly forward-thinking and Mercury in this sign is a font of inspiration towards improvement. But Capricorn is all about what's come before. It wants evidence of success, immediate return on investments. If you already feel like a failure this side of January, don't worry--a new wave of inspiration is coming. Use this time to revisit some of the goals you set for yourself around the New Year and evaluate whether they're still in line with the person you're becoming. If you're not sure, zoom out: Aquarius is more about concept than practicality and unconventional solutions are often the answer. You may be surprised to find you've put yourself in a box.
The Full Moon in Leo
on Wednesday may offer some clarity, especially if the box you're in isn't self-defined. We're asked to be a lot of things--by friends, by family, by jobs and peers and communities--and these voices are often far louder than our own. With the seasonal forecast, I wrote the following:
"This Moon--and this season--reminds us to liberate ourselves from the collective, to choose thoughts and values which are our own. It does not mean the collective shatters around us. This is a choice we make each morning, a vow we renew each time we turn off the streams which distract us from our purpose and disengage from the fear and anxiety the collective insists it can remove for us. Pisces Season begins on the 18th and with it comes alternative means of integration. Saturn may insist that its way is the only way, but there are plenty of planets which remind us that this is not true. They simply speak in softer voices. Listen carefully, find the voice within, and make your own choice."
The days between the perfection of the full moon and the solar ingress into Pisces allows us the quiet we need to listen closely. As we reach the end of the season we also reach the end of the astrological year. The upcoming season will beg you to find closure, but Pisces isn't exactly known for its rationality. Before we experience the radical empathy and compassion of the zodiac's final face, we need a clear look at the raw material. Take the last days of Saturnine Aquarius to assess.
Pisces Season begins on Friday the 18th
when the sun joins both the sign's traditional and modern rulers in their home territory. Over the last few years so many people have faced very real issues of scarcity--scarcity of money, scarcity of health, scarcity of love, scarcity of community--and all of these things have shaken our foundations. It's hard to feel joy when you're worried about the foundations of your livelihood. Just as the body shuts down "superfluous" systems when faced with resource depletion--limbs lost to cold, functions lost to malnutrition--the mind often shuts down systems of the spirit when it feels overtaxed. The first thing to go is usually identity, chipping away little pieces of the self in favour of survival. But this can only happen for so long. Once life becomes robotic, drained of the joy on which the soul feeds, we risk very real crises. Pisces is a season of transition and its correspondence to the chart's 12th House can feel like an underworld journey. But remember that on the other side lays rebirth. Use this season to return to conscious living. Shed the shades of survival and reevaluate who you are underneath. Chances are it won't look like the version of self you remember from so many years ago--you've grown and changed, your priorities have shifted, and your identity should reflect that. Get to know this new version of yourself, mourn what was lost, but have compassion and patience for the person who survived.