The Moon enters its next New Moon phase on Saturday 13th March at 2:21a PST in the sign of Pisces (23.05°). Pisces – the 12th and final sign of the Zodiac – is often associated with inspiration, imagination, dreams, aspirations, artistry, and Higher service. Yet Pisces is also associated with idealism, fantasies, delusions, and avoidance or escapism when things don’t go as hoped or envisioned. This sign represents the ethereal state of collective consciousness right before the submergence back into self-awareness, and combined with the New Moon energy of new beginnings, this is a very unusual energy to be living with and through as it marks a major transition – a “leveling up” in how we see and experience ourselves and the world. There’s a lot of all of that happening right now, so let’s dig deeper to better understand what’s going on.
Unlike the during the 2021 Virgo Full Moon a couple of weeks ago, the emotional tether to practical reality isn’t so present right now, so the Pisces Sun combined with the Pisces Moon brings all of Pisces’ visionary idealism to the fore and all of the emotions that come with it. Many of us have our “heads in the clouds” without our feet on the ground this time around, and it doesn’t only feel that way – it’s visible and audible in our actions and communications. Everything seems a bit surreal, maybe even unreal…
…which is why this 2021 Pisces New Moon feels a bit more unusual and ethereal than its predecessors. After a year of worldwide pandemic discombobulation, this experience of less structure and “certainty” than many of us were used to has almost become our new normal. This de-structuring has lent itself to more flexibility and creativity for some, but more anxiety and fear in others as their old “normal” routines and habits were forced to change and new ones still haven’t stabilized. Many of the façades and pretenses most of us used to be “who we are” in the world came crashing down in the last year, and most of the facades and pretenses those in our social and societal leadership were using were exposed. Reality was a harsh wake-up call from our dreams and delusions, especially from the idealistic beliefs we may have held about certain structures, systems, groups, and individuals in our societies. As result, many of us still aren’t really sure of where we stand or how we should proceed from here, many of us are grasping to anything that gives us hope that our past sense of normalcy will be restored, and many of us still aren’t willing to take the risks to venture out into the uncertain future.
So, you’re likely hearing a lot of fear-speak right now – fears being expressed as confessions of assumption or prejudice, and/or fears being expressed as personal or social cautions or warnings. What we’ll learn about fear through this Pisces New Moon is that fear is a powerful drug. Fear can cause us to begin imagining all sorts of reasons why we couldn’t possibly move forward, why changes would be bad ideas, why we shouldn’t let go of the past, why we shouldn’t try something new, etc. If and when you hear yourself or others making excuses for not moving forward, fear is likely the reason.
Yet fear especially seems to be manifesting itself in one particular and very intriguing type of behavior – the aversion of personal and social responsibility. When I use this term “personal responsibility” or “social accountability”, it’s not only about holding individuals and groups accountable for their actions, it’s also holding them accountable for their inactions. Yet in response to calls for accountability and responsibility, self-victimization and self-persecution are emerging – very Piscean traits which contribute directly to two other very Piscean traits – avoidance and escapism.
- Some people or groups are oblivious (or faking oblivion) of the negative impact their actions and words have on others, and become upset, claim offense, and play victim when they are held accountable for their actions and behaviors. These folks often believe they shouldn’t be held accountable for how their actions affect others when they’re only taking care of themselves and/or doing what they think they need to do to get themselves ahead. They believe their intentions or positions should make them exempt from criticism.
- Other people are offended by others encouraging them to take action to positively change their circumstances by standing up for themselves in the face of the powers they resent and complain about, they consciously choose to do nothing out of spite and claim “no one is going to tell me what to do”.
- Others are so paralyzed by fear, they’re terrified to take action – fearful of losing what they have and ending up with less or nothing…
- …while others still are so driven by fear of loss and/or the actual experience of loss, they become angry and militant – acting in hostile or socially-detrimental ways – feigning offense and staving off personal responsibility by throwing tantrums to keep power and accountability at bay… or to keep changes to power and accountability at bay. They believe they’re “defending” what’s “theirs”, regardless of how they attained it (especially when it comes to who they may have had to hurt or hold back to attain it).
- And many people are turning to substance excess/abuse (alcohol and/or drugs) to deal with emotional and/or spiritual disillusionment – to numb out the pain of not knowing how to deal with the changes to one’s lifestyle or circumstances, to numb out not knowing how to change one’s current circumstances for the better, to numb out the pain of realization that others they may have counted on for provision or protection aren’t coming to the rescue, to numb out the feelings of invisibility, inadequacy, and/or failure… to escape the pain of emotional upset, yet in many cases, that upset is the result of an inability to escape personal responsibility for one’s beliefs and/or actions.
All of these fear-based behaviors are driven by a fear of personal responsibility which is really more a fear of facing the consequences of one’s choices and actions – choices and actions may have been driven by narrow-minded self-advancement or ambition rather than how self-development can make an individual and/or group contribution to the greater whole of your community or organization, humanity, or the world/planet. The big picture is being mentioned because Pisces’ mutable water energy also strives to bring everyone together in co-creative peace and harmony. It reminds us of and seeks to heal our collective Oneness with compassion, empathy, and kindness for All, including ourselves.
It’s the “including ourselves” part which is especially important during this 2021 Pisces New Moon phase. It’s easy to get focused on serving others from a sense of Higher purpose and forgetting that you also get to receive service. Whether it’s through philanthropy, spirituality/religion, or otherwise, when we give of ourselves with compassion, empathy, kindness, and genuine selflessness, we must remember that service to Oneness also means allowing ourselves to be served – allowing ourselves to be given to and to receive from others as much as we give to others as we are also part of Oneness. It’s the belief that we are all separate from each other that causes so many of us pain, and it is why clarifying the intentions behind our acts of service are paramount. This 2021 Pisces New Moon brings attention to how we feel about our personal and social values and how they come into play in our choices and actions to be of service (or not). In serving/sharing/giving of ourselves and our resources, we may not receive in the same way we gave, but what we give does come back the way we need it when we need it most – that’s how it works when everyone and everything is interconnected, and we are aware of that interconnection.
The interconnection component is significant because as much as we may want everything to move smoothly and easily without conflict or challenge, it’s vital to recognize the role of discord in your life – to recognize how people and events that may be challenging, frustrating, or upsetting you may actually be helping you by pushing you out of your familiarity (resurrection, stagnation, or repetition of the past) and/or out of your delusion (denial and/or ignorance of factual truth) and/or dishonesty with yourself and others, and into better alignment with Universal Truth and the awareness of Oneness within you. Awareness of your interconnection with Oneness can build your self-acceptance and self-confidence…
…which is why this 2021 Pisces New Moon also brings an abundance of inspiration and hope as well.
Once we allow ourselves to accept the factual reality of what really is in our lives, we can eliminate the fear that tends to hold us back, or at least we decrease it to a point where it can be worked through. You may have heard the phrase “knowledge is power”. Empowerment comes once we know and accept the factual truth of the present moment. We can feel an emotional and sometimes spiritual burden lifted when we do. We can begin to dream and imagine and envision what may be possible again. We begin creating again. We find inspiration to move forward instead of fear which keeps us in place or moving backward into a new version of the past.
Those of us who are willing to listen and learn about why certain subjects are of interest to so many in the present, and those of us willing take a chance or two to try something new or different than the socially-accepted norms, may now may find ourselves developing more trust in the unknown as result of making those efforts and taking those chances to become more aware of the evolution that’s in progress now. It may seem like an oxymoron – trust and unknown in the same phrase – but the more we learn to trust in taking steps on an unknown path, the more we learn we can trust ourselves to move through it, be supported by it, and possibly even inspired by it!
Most of all, Pisces’ mutable water energy encourages all of us to go with the flow – to allow ourselves to be guided forward not only by our inspired visions and our inner knowing, but also by our subconscious awareness of and sensitivity to the events happening around us. It may have us feeling as if we’re all floating through life right now without much to keep us in the here-and-now. There also seems to be a disorientation with time and space right now, with many of us feeling as if we’re either a bit disoriented and perpetually late or perpetually early. But as events play out, we may be discovering that synchronicity (a.k.a. – “coincidence) is affirmation of being exactly where we need to be exactly when we need to be there – the right place (for us) at the right time. After all, Pisces is water energy, and water tends to find its way to its intended destination in very unexpected and imaginative ways.
This 2021 Pisces New Moon is happening on a numerological 3 Universal Day in pretty much the entirety of the world – a day of learning, growth, and expansion. Three has a child/student quality about it – it’s an excellent day to ask questions, to keep and open mind and an open heart when receiving the answers or when exploring new subjects or places. Again, knowledge is power, especially in this 8 Universal Month of power and influence – the more factual truth you know, the more power you have to make autonomous choices in your own best interests and in service to the greater whole of All-That-Is. There will also be shifts in the power dynamics of some if not all of your relationships and partnerships as one or both of you become more aware of and awakened to Truth. All of this is happening under the influence of a 5 Universal Year of change, versatility, adaptability, and surprising activity. Information and inspiration come through in very unexpected ways throughout this whole calendar year, but for this 2021 Pisces New Moon, you may receive your best, most profound lessons about the power of communication, information, and influence from people, places, and experiences you likely assumed would have nothing to teach you or inspire you.
To explore the energetic specifics of this event in more depth and detail, here are the astrological transits in play as the 2021 Pisces New Moon reaches its maximum phase:
Interesting note: There are 5 celestial bodies in the sign of Pisces at the time of maximum phase – Pallas Athena, Venus, Neptune (Pisces’ ruling planet), the Moon, and the Sun – revealing how our collective “norms” are rooted in and fueled by our individual and collective emotional and spiritual ideals; three celestial bodies in Aquarius – Saturn, Jupiter, and Mercury – revealing the growing efforts and effects of mass/social media as well as collective consciousness/awakening; three celestial bodies in Aries – Ceres, Chiron, and Eris – revealing the power of individual action, especially when enough has become enough. These energies will have major roles during this New Moon phase.
STELLIUM: (Pisces Sun conjunct Moon conjunct Neptune) square Sagittarius Juno (20-23°) – A vision for the future is gaining strength as more and more people seem to be realizing they share a similar vision for what the future could be or become. Yet as more Light shines upon our truths, we also begin to see how delusional some of our perceptions and beliefs which have led us to this moment in time may be or have been, and that the Light is awakening us to the Real Truth of what is. Many of those delusional perceptions and beliefs are being challenged by a renewed commitment to experience. This seeking of experience will likely lead some people to take risks in order to discover Truth for themselves. This is the best way to go about it, but taking risks and being reckless are not in the same category, and quite a few people may find themselves learning lessons for better and worse. Yet some will grow from the experiences they have, and those experiences will also likely challenge if not dispel their delusions. This will make it difficult to for you to be clear on what you believe in and are committed to in life.
Sagittarius Juno trine Aries Eris (21-23°) – There may be some people acting out in frustration and fear as they begin to realize the “truths” they’ve been committed to aren’t as True as they believed. The anger is born from the fact that the “wisdom“ they believed in is no longer credible. The fear is born of recognition that the experiences they were led to believe were factual and true were actually anything but. The good news is that this righteous anger and genuine fear can encourage and empower people to shift their focus to seeking out what is earnestly and factually True. Though great conflict may arise within them and around them as they move away from long-held beliefs, increasing numbers of people will be moving toward the future when they begin seeking inspiration elsewhere, not in the “wise elders” who are trying to hold us or bring us back to a past that is familiar to them, trying to prove their correctness and intellectual superiority when, in fact, they are only proving they may have been nothing but wrong all along.
SEQUENCE: (Aries Ceres conjunct Chiron) semi-sextile Taurus Uranus semi-sextile Gemini Mars (5-8°) – Value yourself because no one else will seems a bit harsh, but it’s recognition of this fact which strangely enough brings people together to demand social change. It’s often said that people can’t truly understand something until it happens to them. Well, when you experience the pain of knowing you don’t matter to a person or people, that pain leads to actions to dismantle the social constructs which diminish your value. Yet to learn how to take it apart to build it anew, you must learn new ways, seek new voices, and take smart actions to implement what you see to be possible.
Aquarius Saturn sextile (Aries Ceres conjunct Chiron) (7-9°) – New social structures are needed for new values to emerge – values which heal instead of wound individual’s trust in the greater whole. This is a call for individuals to discipline and focus themselves – to channel their anger and frustration into something positive and productive; into actions to bring about the healing changes they want to make to society and humanity.
Aquarius Saturn square Taurus Uranus (8-9°) – Social and societal changes long-resisted are now beginning to occur in earnest. The anger, pain, and dread we may be feeling are actually challenging us to reassess both our social priorities and values and our resource priorities and values; encouraging us to align with naturally-occurring human evolution rather than fear-driven regression.
T-SQUARE: Gemini North Node square Virgo Vesta Retrograde square Sagittarius South Node (12-14°) – The determination to make things work (Vesta in Virgo) now gets external feedback through the retrograde. Feedback comes from those trying to keep the past in place, as well as those striving to move toward the future.
We talked about fear earlier. This T-Square reveals to us how that fear is often hidden or masked, labeled as “wisdom of experience”, or as “I’ve been on the planet longer – I know better”, or “This is the way things are and you need to learn”, or “This is the way things should continue to be.” All of these statements are used to cover up the fear of change, the fear of being left behind, the fear of no longer being relevant, and most of all, the fear of no longer being in control of how the world works. Fear is an attempt to escape from those realities of natural order and Universal Truth.
But there are also the very real fears of not being able to move into the future. “What if all of this outdated stuff stays in place?”, or “How am I going to move forward if they keep putting things in place to block me/us?”, or “Things cannot continue to be this way! Something’s got to give…eventually, right?!?” These fears of not being able to progress the natural order of things and evolve in Universal Truth are just as present as the fears of that progression and evolution happening at all.
The key to moving through both sets of fears is to avoid self-victimization. Under the influence of the Pisces New Moon, it’s easy to play victim or to claim to be “confused”, but it’s harder to stand up for yourself and say, “No, this doesn’t work for me!”, or to defend others against injustice, or even to apologize for your own actions and words which may have hurt others. It may require disturbing the peace and harmony Pisces strives to bring and achieve. It may even seem to create division between you and those who may be trying to hold you back or keep you down. Yet it’s necessary to allow the discord because complaining alone has never solved much – action is what gets the job done. Action is what’s needed now, and the emotions you feel must be channeled into focused, committed action… which is difficult to do with your head in the clouds, still trying to cling to or return to the past. The Vesta Retrograde position allows you to receive the feedback which could help you clarify what it is you really want, and could also help you formulate a realistic and effective plan of action.
Aquarius Jupiter semi-sextile (Pisces Venus conjunct Neptune) (19-20°) – People are coming together through an increasing awareness and a welcoming embrace of a call to Higher values and Soul-level connection in their 1-on-1 relationships of all kinds. Also, the more people are becoming aware of how our societies have operated over time, the more they seem committed to change it to make society more collectively inclusive. Yet there’s a lot of idealism to break through, and while this strengthening evolution of humanity is a dream come true for some, it’s a nightmare for others as their own personal gain is dependent on humanity’s stagnation or regression.
Capricorn Pluto semi-sextile Aquarius Mercury (26°) – As more of our societal structures show their wear, tear, and outdated approaches to very current events, the call for societal transformation amplifies. This call leads to a greater interest in mass communications with a desire to reach as many people as possible with the intention of sparking exchanges of ideas and information and increasing analysis of what is actually being communicated to the masses.
Capricorn Pluto square Aries Eris (23-26°) – Yet the efforts to prop up weakening societal structures are challenging people to stand up for themselves. The frustration and anger is palpable and intensifying, and something’s got to give at some point… hopefully sooner than later. It’s difficult to say how much longer people will be able to settle for the status quo before they realize they need to break it to move forward.
Aquarius Mercury sextile Aries Eris (23-26°) – The more people learn about what is happening on societal, social, and humanitarian levels, the more people will be speaking up and speaking out about how the structures and institutions have been and are failing, how they may have to take matters into their own hands, and supporting up their words with actions in order to get things started moving forward.
The energy of this 2021 Pisces New Moon phase will be felt most strongly from Wednesday 10th March through Tuesday 16th March. Make the most of this energy by giving yourself the time and space to consider your beliefs, your values, your choices, and your actions. Assess whether you’re in this for yourself alone, or if you’re in this for yourself and All. It makes a difference – and you can make a difference – now more than ever. Recognize this 2021 Pisces New Moon as an opportunity to embrace a new vision of yourself, the world, and yourself – and all of our selves – in the world.
Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers. Until next post…
~ Light, Love, and Blessings,
Grace
