Tomorrow morning, the New Moon in Pisces arrives. Coming at the end of Pisces, the Moon and Sun at 26, and conjunct Chiron the wounded healer at 28, this New Moon will transition us into new beginnings.
First, though, we notice where we are now.
New Moons tend to be quiet affairs. The night sky is dark. As we watch the Moon disappear, each night shaving a little more from her crescent, we turn inward. We plant seeds in the dark, having faith that something will come of it, with no clear idea what that might be. This is how New Moons are.
Pisces is the mutable Water sign that comes at the end of winter. All the Water signs carry emotion. Notice I didn’t say they were “emotional,” a phrase that usually means “too much” emotion, feelings that overwhelm reason and rationality, those beloved qualities of the modern world.
In recent years, we have learned important things about emotions: They encode memories, are stored in our bodies, are fundamental to learning and even thinking, are essential to our humanity.
Yet how we feel and what we feel still trouble us. Since the Age of Enlightenment enshrined rational thought as the key to human progress, we’ve struggled to get free of the shackles of untrammeled emotion. How many novels, poems, songs, plays, films, operas show us how terrible feelings run amok can be? It’s a long list.
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Today we know that emotions denied, suppressed, buried, or shamed are at the heart of some of our most dangerous issues. Alienation. Isolation. Polarization. The difficulty in building true community. Toxic masculinity. All the “isms” that depend on treating someone else as less than human.
So what do we do? How do we find balance in our individual lives and in society?
This is a key question at this New Moon.
The chart shows how strong the emphasis is in Pisces. The Sun and Moon are tightly conjunct Chiron, all three poised at the end of this sign which is also the end of the Zodiac.
The astrological year begins at the Spring Equinox when the Sun enters Aries. This year, that will happen March 20, just a few days after the New Moon.
We have journeyed through another round. This cycle of experience is complete. As we look at what we have learned, this New Moon points us to emotions and to healing.
It’s true, we have a New Moon in Pisces every year, so you might say this is a recurring theme. But not all Pisces New Moons happen at the very end of the sign, nor are they conjunct Chiron, or flanked by Neptune, ruler of Pisces, who adds even more depth to the water we’re in.
And other important transitions are about to occur. Chiron himself is about to leave Pisces after eight years traveling this sign. He enters Aries on April 17, one month after this New Moon.
So this New Moon asks, what have we learned about emotions and healing in the last eight years? This is a much wider, deeper question. One worth feeling our way into.
It is possible we may feel a lot of stuff at the New Moon. We might feel triggered, have old wounds poked, or generally feel highly sensitive. This is a time when substances like alcohol, recreational chemicals, and medicines might affect us more then usual. Not a time to take chances.
Yet, this New Moon offers us more.
Chiron is not interested in making us hurt. Chiron’s mission is bringing us to a place where we understand, integrate, and heal our broken places.
We all have them. And we’re all working on them, one way or another. So let’s ask a different question. Where are we on our healing journeys today, compared to eight years ago? What have we learned? What have we integrated? Where are we healed?
That review is likely to give a different perspective than looking only at how we feel right now.
These journeys don’t happen in straight lines. Lives bring traumas. If you are in the midst of challenge, be gentle with yourself and consider what resources you are bringing to your current situation you didn’t have eight years ago.
For those of us in a relatively good place, I offer the question: Where do we go from here?
Chiron can invite us into places beyond personal healing, to offer healing and mentorship to others. How can we, at this New Moon, plants those kinds of seeds? How do we bring our strengths into our communities? What do we want to grow out of the soil of our own healing?
As always, check your birth chart. Seeing where the New Moon falls, in which House, and which of your own planets are connecting, will point you to areas of your life in which these questions might apply.
We are not meant to wallow in the swamp of unprocessed emotion. We are, instead, poised at the beginning of a new cycle. The chart also shows a focus in Aries, cardinal Fire, the sign of the new thing about to be born.
Venus and Mercury are already in Aries, diving into springtime, ready to burst into bloom. Oh, wait … Mercury is about to turn retrograde, isn’t he? March 22, in fact. But that’s OK. This is one more indication that we are in a transition. Mercury takes this time to make sure no Aries babies have been tossed with the Pisces bathwater. He will turn direct on April 15, right before Chiron enters Aries.
Pisces is full of emotion, and is also spiritual and magical and all about connection. This is a New Moon for planting seeds in all these areas.
What spiritual practices have you wanted to try? Or already know are good for you and wish to deepen? Where can you bring magic into your life?
Where can we build connections with each other, deep ones, ones that make space for all of who we are? And, yes, how can we feel deeply, honoring our emotional lives and emotional selves?
Ponder these questions in a place where you feel good: Calm, supported, safe. Your meditation cushion. Anything immersive will feel attractive this weekend. If you go with binge watching, choose something life affirming. Other kinds of immersion work too. A bath with healing salts, say. Forest bathing would be awesome.
This New Moon might feel quiet, but carries within it a song. Many songs. Music of memory, feeling, connection, and love. These songs can carry us into the new cycle about to begin.
I use Unsplash for almost all my photo illustrations. All astrological charts are my own. The images in this post include the title, created from the photo of the water droplet on grass by Aaron Burden, the photo of the ripples in water by Linus Nylund, the blue lotus by Ahmed Saffu, and Capture the Light by Yeshi Kangrang.