New Moon in Pisces | February 23, 2020 - endings, healing, an old dream re-imagined, an ancestral inheritance re-invented, leaning into the future, genie out of the bottle, divine inspiration, watering our own roots

On Sunday, February 23, 2020 at 10:31AM EST, the Pisces Moon will meet the Pisces Sun at 4 degrees giving us this year's New Moon in Pisces.

Pisces is a mutable sign. The mutable signs prepare us for the change into the next season and this Moon really has her work cut out for her!

New Moons are the time to set new intentions and working with Pisces themes (and the theme of your Pisces natal house) NOW allow the natural energies to flow with us.

All beginnings are endings, too, and since Pisces collectively rules our 12th house of endings, Pisces new beginnings often have more to do with the ending (!). Maybe something needs to be forgiven/dissolved/discarded/fully grieved. And something wants to START. Think seeds into the ground. A new chapter. Here we go.

As the Moon naturally waxes (grows) over the next two weeks, and over the next 6 months until the Pisces Full Moon, so does whatever our intentions have set into motion - thoughts becoming things/our words energetically lining us up with what we are seeking, which is, of course, seeking us right back.

Besides the monthly lunar energy of "new beginnings" this particular Moon has its own relationship with the other players in the heavens based on its position. That is where the real juice of any particular New Moon can be found. We talked about some of the energies in play as we moved through the week.

Now let's unpack the chart!

Mercury is retrograde in Pisces right now (and conjunct the Moon/Sun), so this New Moon beginning could have a connection to something from the past (an old dream re-awakened maybe?) or there could be some delays/kinks to be worked out as we move forward with whatever gets started now.

We have the New Moon/Sun sextiling Mars (in ambitious Cappy) and Mars just past his trine to Uranus and square to Chiron/Black Moon Lilith (Chiron/BML and Uranus are semi-sextile each other).

The New Moon/Sun is trining the North Node. Venus is squaring Jupiter. Neptune (ruler of this New Moon) is sextiling Jupiter and semi-sextile Venus. Mars is conjunct Pholus.

The New Moon's position between Mars and Uranus, both in Earth signs, in very grounding. With Mars in Capricorn, our actions will be ambitious/serious. Our results will come over time. With Uranus in Taurus we might expect opportunistic changes with our money, our values, our resources - what we own. Expect a smooth move in a fresh direction/future focused. Coincidences/serendipitous situations plus our own intentions and actions are pulling us forward.

With Venus squaring Jupiter there is the possibility that we are expecting too much here or we over-do something/over-promise, etc, but these are both benefic planets, so even a square won't be too bad. This can also be about too many options.

Neptune rules Pisces and so is ruler of this New Moon. His position now is mega-important and remember we have talked about this year's best aspect which has just gotten started - his sextile to Jupiter. How often do we get a Pisces New Moon, with Neptune in a sextile to expansive/lucky Jupiter?! Not very often folks!

And Neptune is semi-sextile Venus. Not all astrologers think positively about semi-sextiles, but I like them. In this case we are talking about Pisces/Aries. Semi-sextiles kind of even each other out a bit so if Neptune goes too Pisces - too dreamy, pie-in-the-sky, escapist - Venus in Aries is here to pull us back into the reality of what our first/next step should be, giving us the initiative/passion (even sometimes the anger) to get moving with something, to remind us that we might have to do quite a bit of this sh*t by ourselves and that's ok.

We also have Pholus (asteroid like Chiron) exactly conjunct Mars in this New Moon chart.

I am not sure if I have ever written about him before, but because he is conjunct my natal Sun I have researched him quite a bit.

Conjunct Mars, he likely speaks of important changes through our own initiative or actions, coming from something that doesn't seem of major importance at the time we are doing whatever it is we are doing.

Like a snowball effect to give this New Moon an extra WHALLOP.

Pholus is also about situations - and you can Google his mythology for more info - where afterwards we might find ourselves saying/feeling something like, "I never would have done this if I knew what I was getting into, but now I am glad that I did it."

(famous for his 'uncorking' of the wine that leads to the battle between Hercules and the Centaurs - he is thought to represent something of a genie coming out of the bottle energy - rapid transformation, wanted or unwanted, that we ourselves initiate - he is conjunct my natal Sun and I started a jewelry line called Uncorked back in 2007 during a Pholus transit - with no knowledge of Pholus at that time - which totally changed my life)

Because his wine had been kept for three generations, his transits/aspects are also thought to connect us back to our ancestors (and/or past lives) and in Pisces, which speaks of this also, this energy is amplified. The influence of our ancestors (past lives) upon our present circumstances, even issues relating to our entire 'tribe' could come into play now (also possibly connections to addictions, viruses, healing).

Pholus's orbit connects Saturn to Neptune - again the dream being made real, and also touches Pluto - karma/death and re-birth/soul purpose and Uranus - radical/fast change/chaos.

His placement re-affirms the other aspects in the New Moon chart I think, since his signtaure seems to echo the entire chart quite nicely.

We also have the New Moon trining (brakes off) our North Node in Cancer and this one is waxing. We can trust what is unfolding now to be leading us to our most authentic and secure future.

This is a WONDERFUL New Moon for real and positive growth, change and healing. Merc retrograde may slow things down a bit, but might bring us back to an old dream that needs to be re-imagined. 

There is a new chapter starting and we won't have to beat our head against the wall to get it moving. Things should flow. But that doesn't mean we won't have to take action - we will.  

Patience. Persistence. Help from the past and from behind the scenes.

Small moves, or what seems at first rather inconsequential, can lead to very BIG things.   

Think - genie out of the bottle with this one.

With Pisces especially, this can all work backwards, too. Changes we set into motion now impact our past, past lives and previous generations. 

Can we water our own roots? Oh yes, we can!

What house does 4 degrees Pisces reside in your natal chart? What is the theme of that house?

NEW MOON INTENTIONS

This is an excellent time for energetic support to make changes with things ruled by Pisces (and your Pisces natal house theme!) including our imagination, art, music, the past, compassion, releasing our victim stories, releasing self-sabotage, healing our ancestral wounds, healing addictions, spiritual healing, sensitivity, trust, escapism, our lymphatic system, colds, our feet, toxicity.

AFFIRMATION TIPS: get into a positive frame of mind - meaning both happy and certain - a quiet, clean space where you can be alone - write your affirmations down by hand in script, speak them out loud - then let's release our attention from these things knowing that your intention is known.

Know these things are already yours.

xo all

For the first time in a long time, I am not going to set any intentions this month. Time to shut up for me I think. I am just going to do my normal clean my space/not use too many words the day of the New Moon/burn a white candle and just ask life/my higher self/my ancestors/God to guide my journey this cycle ....

Today's Astrology Forecast | Friday, February 21, 2020 - painful actions, take care with accidents, lean into the future, a green light somewhere, new ways to make money, surprising resources

The Moon, is in Aquarius now -

so nurturing us through our groups, friendships, through technology and detachment, through creating enough emotional space from the past that we can view things from a different perspective and leave the past in the past, through a future-leaning focus,

the Moon squared ruler Uranus last night (9:13PM EST) and moves through the day unencumbered, just the way an Aquarius Moon likes it - until she goes void off a sextile (opportunity) with Venus at 11:08PM EST. 

Today's big news - which we talked about in the WEEKLY for the latter part of this week -

is Mars (in ambitious Cappy) square to hurting/healing Chiron (in independent and 'me' minded Aries) and trine to 'expect the unexpected' Uranus (groups, tech, change, disruption) in Taurus - ruler of our resources, our money, our values and self-esteem. All happening at 3 degrees.

The square is the frustration/tension, so maybe our serious efforts/moving toward our goals or stepping into our authority trigger painful situations or we are pushing/taking action propelled by our fears/anger. Our vulnerabilities (and some very old wounds) are activated.

The trine - the way through this - is SMOOTHLY moving us toward something new.

It's a time to focus our actions on what feels more liberating - keep going. It's a time to focus our efforts on a group or cause or on a new technology. - keep going. It's a time to focus our efforts on something ELSE.

It's not always easy to work with Uranus, because Uranus rules our stored trauma/chaos. Uranus will drop us on our ass and carries our collective and personal memories of times we took a much harder hit than that. 

If we work with this energy - a trine doesn't require any herculean efforting - move toward the new and untested - something should fall smoothly into place now. Some kind of support is there. But we DO have to take some kind of action. Trines are easy to miss entirely if we don't.

CHANGE IS GOOD.

The detached Aquarius Moon is helping us with this, but it's a dark Moon, so we can't see what we can't see, don't know what we don't know.

And keep in mind, I can't see what houses (themes) this is happening for you personally, but collectively we are talking about new values, new ways to make money, new resources that we are propelled toward through career/authority/goal challenges and frustration.

Venus is moving toward a square with Jupiter, the Moon is waning and Mercury is retrograde, so we don't need to go too big, too fast.

Heads up - the Moon will be void all day Saturday.

A New Moon this weekend - that post is next!

xo all

photo by the amazing oprisco

Today's Astrology Forecast | Thursday, February 20th - longish void moon, making the dream real, establishing a ritual practice, working for what we want, going back to old information

The Moon in sober Capricorn met Pluto while we slept (EST) and goes void off her meeting with Cappy ruler Saturn at 9:08AM EST. She will be void until 2:42PM EST when she moves into humanitarian, detached and forward-leaning Aquarius.

The void is an excellent time to focus on our goals, production, routine issues. It would NOT be the time to launch anything brand new, if we want something to 'come of it'. Once we get into Aquarius we are in a balsamic (dark) Moon cycle, which could be challenging this month with the Sun in Pisces and Mercury retrograde (in Pisces, too).

Again, if something needs to be wrapped-up this would be the time.

I wrote about the Balsamic Moon phase a few years ago, on another artist's crafty blog HERE.

The big news today though, is we have the first exact sextile - an aspect of opportunity  and there will be three, with the last coming in October - so this is almost a year-long invitation - of Jupiter (in Cappy) and Neptune, home in imaginative/spiritual Pisces.

Since Jupiter went into Capricorn late last year he (as us) has been working to expand something/increase our faith/get us 'lucky' in our Capricorn house - either through the collective Cappy theme of our goals, work in the world, our authority - or our personal natal Capricorn house theme.

This is a year long process.And since Jupiter, being made entirely of gases, likes things kind of easy, peasy and Capricorn, especially this Jupiter cycle while Capricorn still houses Saturn (he is moving on within weeks, folks!), Pluto and the South Node, this is everything, but easy.

This looks like a giant fly in the ointment (and, yes, I know I have to find another metaphor because, yes, this one is grossing me, out, too) because we get the energy we expect to work like Santa Claus answering to Ebeneezer Scrooge. And after the year we had last year this "the harder you work, the luckier you get" thing, might sound even more exhausting - although with Mars in Cappy - it should sound a little energizing, too, right now!

We have to keep in mind, just as there is always a fly in the ointment (yuck), there is always a silver lining, too. This year's Saturn/Pluto is being buffered by Jupiter in Capricorn. It's like your favorite cousin is home for the funeral ... and easing tensions with his confidence and enthusiasm and maybe, because he has no lack of faith in himself, he's even got an idea about what to do next!

This year's Jupiter in Capricorn cycle has two UBER important repeating aspects - one is Jupiter conjunct Pluto (Jupiter won't meet Saturn until they both get into Aquarius at the very end of the year) and the other is Jupiter sextile Neptune. 

So, today starts - although, of course, it actually started during the build-up - the Jupiter/Neptune cycle. This is the one with both planets direct and we have Neptune sitting with rebellious Black Moon Lilith. So, there is alot of power here.

This is the final Neptune/Black Moon Lilith in Pisces (purging victim consciousness, surrendering to our inner wildman, transcending anger, radical forgiveness, an unshackling from guilt) before she moves on to Aries.

Jupiter/Neptune - especially with Black Moon Lilith here at the kick off - has huge manifestation potential. Normally these two titans meeting would be alot of hot air and water, but here's where Santa Claus wearing his three piece suit, or coveralls, and working for a living, is going to pay off.

Here's where the grounding Jupiter gets in Capricorn can produce something radically stable and, dare I say it,  REAL.

Because Jupiter/Neptune is not usually such a good thing. It would be too much Santa Claus - like Santa without the naughty list - too much imagination which would be delusion. This is why Sagittarius (Jupiter ruled) squares Pisces (Neptune ruled). There is no opportunistic sextile here. It is only Jupiter being in Capricorn that brings the opportunity - the SOLID GROUND to Neptune's idealism/imagination. This is why Capricorn DOES sextile Pisces.
 
We get something we can hold in our hand, hug goodnight and take to the bank.

Now, this is still not saying this is all going to come easy - like POOF, here it is. There is going to be work. There are going to be responsibilities that must be attended to. There is going to be risk because Cappy's climb up the mountain is inherently risky.

There are going to be limits. But Jupiter and Neptune sometimes need limits. Limits are our friend here.

Jupiter in Capricorn isn't going to open ten doors for us. He is going to open one door, maybe two, and they are only going to open an inch and then they are only going to creak open slowly through our own efforts and faith - the good news, to keep in mind, with these heavy/slow opening doors is that once we get them open, their heaviness/slowness tends to work to our advantage because they STAY OPEN.

For today - reach for the POSITIVE - lean toward a goal. Focus on what you do want, not on what you don't want. It's important to be working for something and not against something.

(This is good advice for our political leanings, too. All this talk in the press about the Dems need to elect the candidate who can best beat Trump, this talk always pointing to the most corporate-friendly/middle of the road candidate, isn't what the astrology is saying gets us to what we want in 2020.)

With Jupiter in Capricorn our faith is tested this year. We have had to do alot of growing up.

What do we believe in now?

Working on new plans and goals is good because we know we have Mars (in Cappy, too, now) approaching his square to Chiron - this is going to hurt - and his trine to Uranus (brakes off on something new).

Something is expanding/changing in our Capricorn house.

It might involve a change of beliefs, a focus on what we believe in, practicing forgiveness/compassion, combining the real and the spiritual (a good way to do this would be through daily ritual), offering/living through a sacrifice, expanding our imagination.

This is a process.

Mercury is retrograde. Information is coming back or we are going back to old information. We won't have all the answers yet.

xo all

photo by the amazing sea-of-ice

Today's Astrology Forecast | Wednesday, February 19, 2020 - going back over our plans, re-dos and re-visions, finishing up, a nudge toward something else, making the dream real

After the Moon, in serious and work-motivated Capricorn, and a tense square to Venus in Aries this morning (in the mood to start/to fight/to get something going), moves on to easier energy, hooking up with expansive and confident Jupiter at 2:49PM EST and then an opportunistic sextile with idealistic Neptune at 3:05PM EST - she is activating tomorrow's exact Neptune/Jupiter sextile (the first of three direct hits this year and in play through October).

Here's something from the weekly post about tomorrow, but in play all week - "with Capricorn/Pisces - a dream can become real, IF we are willing to work for it - work within the rules and limits. Step into our responsibility. Possibly make a sacrifice first. This is not fast energy, so we need to have patience. This process will carry us through October."

And if this sounds something like last year's Saturn/Neptune - it is, because it's Capricorn and Pisces, and it isn't, because it's Saturn and Jupiter -

which is like the difference between Scrooge and Santa Claus.

(keep in mind alot of this year is like last year, except now we are 'past the death' or about to be)

Now, Santa's in Scrooge's office this year (Jupiter in Capricorn), so not quite doing his North Pole 'free toys' bit, because the elves are busy doing Scrooge's paperwork, but Jupiter (ie Santa) is still Jupiter even with a cranky and demanding boss breathing down his neck.

And now with this sextile to Neptune kicking in full blast - it can be like the boss is on vacation and Jupiter gets a little of his Sag boundlessness back.

The thing to look out for with this and especially because we have the Sun in Pisces and the Moon waning and Mercury retrograde in timeless Pisces is - we don't want to get caught up in all our old victim stories. We are probably going to be talking/thinking a bit about the stuff that didn't work out - par for the course with Mercury retrograde in Pisces - but we don't want to get stuck in this stuff.

Keep in mind, even retrograde, Mercury is MOVING.

And Mars is on his way to an aspect with Uranus, indicating this is a good time to take action with something new/something forward leaning. And this will be harder to do if we are 'all in' on wallowing about the way something didn't work out exactly as we had hoped, or what we lost or what we didn't get.

Now with the Moon waning and Mercury retrograde - doing the re's (re-viewing, re-vising, etc), tying up loose ends and getting stuff done will probably dominate our agenda. 

This week's Mars/Chiron could open some old wounds just as the Mars/Uranus will open up new possibilities. 

And with all the Capricorn energy, there will be certain restrictions here we will have to live with/work with and that's OK. That's life on planet Earth. 

It's up to us how we want to look at this. Glass half-empty. Glass half-full. Either way there is something in the freakin' glass, right?! 

Will we use Mercury retrograde in Pisces to re-imagine our dreams/to go on a vision quest or spend it wallowing in what didn't work out exactly the way we wanted it to, what we lost, yada yada (and I am not minimizing these losses because some people lost actual people and animals).

But what have we gained through what didn't work out/through the losses? There is something liberating here, too. How can we use this?

Mercury is going to sextile (opportunity) Pallas in Capricorn today - so MORE CAPRICORN/PISCES - making the dream real! We had this aspect back on February 9th when Mercury was direct, so this is the second hit - the "re-view" hit we skip at our own peril. Pallas is all about winning through strategies and patterns and with Mercury retrograde in Pisces stimulating "old dreams", there could be some gold to be mined here. We will have their final meeting in April. For now - what needs to be re-viewed, re-vised, re-visited? Cappy adds structure and boundaries to Pisces imaginings and driftiness. 

Whenever we have more than one aspect saying the same thing we know we need to pay attention.

We can notice how life always sends us a lifeboat, except of course those times we are required to swim or to learn how to swim, and those times are more recognizable in your natal chart than by looking at collective energies, we can notice how there is ALWAYS  a way through. And also notice how we MADE IT THROUGH. Or we can notice what is missing now that we are in the lifeboat. That part is up to us.

Pisces season is the time to give our problems/baggage to a higher power through prayer/meditation. We are not going to have all the answers now. Mercury retrograde in Pisces at the same time Jupiter is aspecting Neptune is offering us A VISION QUEST. Mars/Uranus is opening a door. Mars/Chiron and Venus/Jupiter are giving us some tense/challenge to push against/to stand up for, cautioning against going too big/too fast. Requiring us to have faith.

Even as we are doing the re's and finishing something up, something is pushing/nudging us to grow/expand into a new area. Pay attention.

And keep in mind always that North Node in Cancer - caring for ourselves as well as we would care for someone we love.

xo all

photo by the talented LloydHughes