Celestial Notebook Overview March 2008

In going the great round we eventually come to the last sign of the zodiac: Pisces, the sign of the fish that swim in the universal sea of consciousness. Pisces is the sign of consciousness – this is where we take stock and put it all together!

Through our Pisces () portal we raise our intuitive knowing, leaving behind the safe and the familiar of the material world. The Piscean goal is to truly understand that the only reality is our own consciousness and that to bring the soul’s potential to life within us, we must create space for our self and for others to be, we must engage in the activity of love.

The Sun (), representing both our ego and our divine essence moves through the sign of Pisces until early morning on the 20th when it ingresses into Aries, the advent of the Spring Equinox and the birth of the Astrological New Year. While the Sun is in Pisces it is time to reflect on and evaluate the cycle past with a view to becoming clear on what we envision for the next round. Against the backdrop of the seasons March is always a time of transition: winter dies before spring is born.

At a solar eclipse the light of the Sun, the light of consciousness, is blocked by the Moon, symbol of our deepest emotional nature. In the two weeks preceding the eclipse and up to six months afterwards we create unexpected events that open Pandora’s Box: any psychic or emotional facets of our self that we have ignored will explode into consciousness and demand our attention.

Especially now we need to dedicate our self to building a bridge between our spirituality and our physical reality by visualising ways in which we can concretely express our compassion and idealism in our daily interaction with the world.

The only planet reversing this month is Saturn (), The Cosmic Anchor, in Virgo (), the sign opposite Pisces. Opposing signs operate in relationship to each other, they support each other to create a healthy balance and bring completion to the continuum. Whereas Pisces knows that imagination is more important than knowledge, Virgo recognises the sacred dimension of ordinary, practical life: Pisces envisions heaven, Virgo grounds.

They are both signs of service and Saturn in Virgo is concerned with how to be of service without being servile. Many of us will become aware of how overworked and undervalued a father figure was – very often one who worked in the service industry – and how that impacted on his health, his parenting and our own belief system.

With so much Pisces and with Saturn in Virgo we will be prone to imagining the worst case scenarios, constantly worrying, over-thinking and creating anxiety. Saturn rules time and with Saturn in Virgo we can become weighed down with trivial matters and a resulting anxiety about not having enough time. We may be caught between our Virgoan perfectionism and Piscean idealism and we will need to consciously give our self permission to be perfectly imperfect. When our Piscean compassion and Virgoan self-improvement orientation are turned toward ourselves, we may discover that only through self-acceptance and constructive loving criticism can we and other people transcend limitations.’ Tracy Marks

Although only exact in November, Saturn (form) and Uranus (reform) are in opposition by sign (Virgo-Pisces) until October 2009. This opposition relates back to their conjunction on 12 February 1988 at 29° 53’ Sagittarius and their square on 18 July 1999 (15° 36’ Taurus-Aquarius). Events that triggered life-changing circumstances then, that in time brought new perspectives and new wisdom will now be deepened and anchored in the body.

The suffering that followed the dismantling of our defences then will be healed by a growing consciousness of how to be with our broadened belief system: we will be applying new procedures and creating new forms.

With Chiron, The Go-Between for Body and Mind (Saturn and Uranus), at 15° Aquarius and Pluto reversing back over 29° Sagittarius during the second half of this year, we will be going through a healing (Chiron) transformation (Pluto). It is a quantum leap to a new stage - we will be going back again and again, licking our wounds as many times as it is necessary. From an earthly (Saturnian) point of view, this is a painful process but one that cannot be skipped. Suppressing the last vestiges of anger, pain and the desire to retaliate can only create physical illness.

Life is for loving, living, learning, enjoying, for entering into. We are permanently at the beginning of a new cycle. At all times we live against the backdrop of the void: the potential within that is ever becoming. To love our self is the eternal imperative. As we accept the all of us – the light and the shadow - we open up to the love that asks for no guarantees or assurance, a love that only loves. Within that love we birth to a new level: it forever opens us to new heights of feeling and wholeness.