As the Sun enters mutable, integrating Pisces on February 18th, 2013, Saturn will be stationing to turn retrograde in emotional and intense Scorpio. A few days later, on the 23rd, Mercury will follow suit and turn retrograde in Pisces. But the planet influencing the cycle ahead most will be Pisces’ ruler Neptune. The oceanic planet of dissolution is after all now at home in Pisces. There it will connect directly with the Sun on the 20th and Venus on the 28th. Moreover, its considerable, if imperceptible magnitude will resonate throughout this cycle as the Sun, Mercury, Mars, Chiron, Venus and the new moon of March 11th travel through Piscean realms of creativity, compassion and completion.
Concerned with all things esoteric, Neptune imparts a sense of the Oneness. Under its influence we can easily experience altered states of awareness. In them, we can feel unconditional love for others and perceive the shapes of things to come. Notoriously nebulous and deceptive, Neptune is also the planet associated with addictions, religious cults and delusion. In 2013, escapist tendencies will be kept in check by a full moon in orderly Virgo working in concert with expansive Jupiter is in sharp-witted Gemini. From there the planet of opportunity will cut through the confusion and challenge unrealistic aspirations and unhealthy diversions when it squares the Sun on the full moon of February 25th, Venus on March 4th and Mercury on the 9th.
March 6, 2013
Also adding sobriety to the mix will be Saturn and Pluto. These planetary guardians of discipline and truth will be well-aspected during the cycle ahead. On March 6-7th Venus and Mercury meet at 11 degrees of Pisces where they trine Saturn at 11 degrees of Scorpio and sextile Pluto at 11 degrees of Capricorn. Neptune is reputed to require a sacrifice. What is standing between us and our bliss? Where are we failing to take practical action in order to attain our dreams? What are we willing to give up to get from here to there? Saturn’s retrograde through fixed Scorpio, occurring under a simultaneous Mercury retrograde, is asking us to take an honest inventory. Transformational Pluto in austere, structuring Capricorn is echoing the Piscean call to release that which is no longer serving us. The purging and assimilation are preparing us for the new astrological year ahead and the Lightwork we came to do in 2013.
While the Sun doesn’t enter endeavoring Aries until March 20th, the new moon of March 11th will give us a glimpse of what’s in store. On that day, bold, decisive Mars emerges from the Pisces fog and makes its homecoming to Aries. The planet of courage and audacity takes two years to orbit the zodiac, so its return to initiating Aries is auspicious and enlivening. But before we move into the fiery domain of the Ram, it’s time to pay homage to Neptune. In this year of the coming Grand Water trine and the further seeding of the Divine Feminine on planet Earth, the planets are gathering in the reflective and regenerative waters of Pisces. As we embody their waves of forgiveness, release and peace, we merge with the Oneness.
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