Pisces' New Moon, Mercury's Move Direct, & Spring's Equinox
The New Moon takes place at 28° 27' Pisces on Wednesday, March 18th at 6:24 pm Pacific and 9:24 pm Eastern, just two days before the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
Looming fog hangs over the forest like a too-big shirt ready to slip off someone’s shoulder. Shrouding the mountains in a mystical veil (or, shall we say mist-ical?), this silver haze seems to swallow the dark evergreens just beneath, hiding them from view. Yet it also leaves space for something else—something many of us feel daunted by, or if we’re honest with ourselves, something we’re outright terrified of. That which lives just beneath the surface of our experience, which we cannot see but that gnaws at our conscious selves from the shadows. What I’m referring to is not death, nor is it the dark, though those may come in a close second and third. Here, I’m referencing the great mystery, the vast unknown. And in this time, we are given an opportunity and a choice to befriend it.
Have you ever noticed how busy you keep yourself? How packed with meetings and obligations, tasks and commitments each day becomes? How even days off seem to take on a rhythm that leaves no time for anything but constant activity? And when you have a free moment or two, how often you pick up your phone, only to be drawn in for just a few more? How you run from one thing to the next without a second to spare, only to end your day feeling more exhausted than you thought possible? Yeah, me neither. But seriously, what is all this running around about anyway?
When it comes to the Piscean frequency of the zodiac, all of this busyness is exactly what keeps us too preoccupied to tune in to the great mystery. From the ongoing narration that our minds bring to each and every moment, to the ways in which we keep ourselves occupied with ‘stuff’ that’s outside of ourselves, the writing is on the wall, or shall we say, the social media app: we are a completely distracted and distractible society. But that’s not the way it has to be, even in modern times. There is a deep place within us that already knows why we distract ourselves so readily—and it might tell us that facing, sitting with, and eventually uniting with the great mystery is quite an unnerving task. Yet it’s one whose rewards far outweigh the alternative, both individually and collectively. I mean, imagine the world we’d share if everyone knew how to sit with the unknown, willing to let go of everything their minds thought was true in order to bear witness to the All That Is.
This isn’t new information, nor is it unique to our modern lives. For eons, humans have run from the simple truth of our innate being, mainly because we’ve been taught to do so. Living in a culture that teaches us to forget the intrinsic gifts we each bring in to share with the world only encourages us to look outwardly for fulfillment, validation, and security. Yet many great beings—some whose names we’ll never know—have walked the well-worn paths of Eastern traditions and those of a mystical nature from many parts of the world, serving as beacons whose light continues shining brightly upon the way forward. This isn’t an exposition on going back to a simpler time, but a testament to the practices and rituals that have been proven to bear fruit since time immemorial. And Pisces is the sign that most needs, wants, and identifies with the boundless intelligence that is alive in all things, that which cannot be named but that dwells in the hearts of us all.
Pisces is the place where we return to the remembering that within us, we hold the thing that most of us are seeking without. It reminds us that here, in this very moment, is the presence we’ve been running from and looking for at the same time. It holds the essence of the mystery within it, inherently knowing that opening to, connecting with, and merging with this ‘place’ is exactly what we’re here to do. And rather than run to a cave to hide from the world in order to make this happen (though it’s not a bad idea every now and again), it invites us to bring this divine presence from the depths of us to life in the world of shape and form. It recognizes that when we live from this place of knowing, all that we do in the world is an expression of the innate intelligence that is our birthright. It knows that the great awareness is alive and well within each and every being, but how it moves each is as unique and varied as we are, and this only makes the ride more interesting, the creativity we nurture and express more beautiful.
Pisces reminds us, too, that we are here to see clearly through all the misperceptions of our own minds, recognizing them for what they are. Though the intricate web of conditioning created by our ancestry and epigenetics, culture and karma, is impossible to resist, Pisces shows us that our deepest, truest Self ultimately can and does just this. This part of us knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is pure potential; it expands in the face of what would otherwise shut us down with grace and ease, shining brightly in the face of the most challenging scenarios and situations. And in moments such as this, we are given greater access to these flashes of awakening, insight, and opening—but we have to put down our phones and busy lives—in order to receive the magic that’s within them. If we do this, the repercussions are great on so many levels. Not only do we access the unknown, tapping into its vast reality, but we carry the experience with us from this point forward, knowing there is truly nothing to fear. We remember how to move like the universe moves simply by virtue of being who we are, and how we view all of life and ourselves within it is changed forever, and for the better. In other words, nothing stays the same, even though everything appears to stay the same. And Pisces is just fine with this.
Now, Mercury has been retrograding in the sign of the Mystic since February 25th, moving back from 22.5° to 8.5,° and it’s due to go direct on March 21st, just in time for the Spring Equinox! The swift planet has taken us on a deep, internal ride down to the core of our own realities and back again in just a few weeks. It asks that we bring the perceptual awareness we’ve tapped into with us as we make our way to Aries Season and the Spring, taking the time to envision and co-create reality in the ways that only we can. It asks us to embody our deepest, truest selves, for the world is on fire, and we are no longer meant to sit back on the sidelines, waiting for our dreams to come true. We are meant to weave their magic into being, remembering the innate potential that we carried here and that lives inside, making our world better because we choose to show up for the hard but rewarding work. Saturn and Neptune in Aries will ultimately assist us in our efforts here, encouraging focused, decisive action in the direction of our most aligned visions. The immaterial shifts that took place within us during this Mercury retrograde and eclipse season are ready to be lived in the world, and there is no time like the present for this manifestation.
Uranus forms a sextile with the new moon from the sign of Taurus for the next to last time for many decades, reminding us that regulated nervous systems and clear embodiment is key for this time. All the tools we have for staying healthily in our bodies will be important as it moves into Gemini until 2026, the energies of which we are certainly already feeling.
As Spring beckons us into its abundant embrace, the seeds of intention we planted at the Winter Solstice continue to stir, reminding us that so much happens in the unseen places. This will continue to be so even as the life force reawakens and nature is revivified. For the great mystery will always be that, but our relationship to it is meant to shift and evolve, and as it does, a more clear and conscious, vibrant and aware being emerges, one who is not afraid to walk the path with courage and resilience, but perhaps most importantly, with the remembrance of who we truly are. With this, anything becomes possible in time’s infinite unfolding.
