Sun in Pisces, Mars Retrograde
“‘Who
are You?’ said the Caterpillar... Alice replied... ‘I hardly know... at
least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must
have been changed several times since then.’” - from Alice in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
Pisces solar month: 2/18/14 - 3/20/14
If you
relate with Alice’s response to the Caterpillar, congratulations - you are in
alignment with the current energetic thrusts. When the Sun transits through Pisces, it’s time to let go of
who you think you are, and put your energy and attention into merging with
whatever presents itself to you. Only through surrendering your perceptions of
yourself can your new true self emerge in the Aries month.
It’s
time, now, to pay attention to your dreams, & to direct the flow of your
life through the realm of visions, insights & inklings. Pisces is the
master of ambiguity, with one foot in this world & one foot in the beyonds.
Until Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, enters Aries in 2025, we are in a time of
all things Pisces intensified. So forgive everything & everyone, exercise
compassion with yourself & others, & walk the razor’s edge of the
mystic: absolute awareness with utter surrender.
What
new levels of forgiveness can you reach this month - towards both yourself
& others?
How do
things shift when you tap into compassion in difficult situations - for
yourself & others?
Do you
have any addictive or escapist tendencies?
How can
you cultivate more presence & acceptance?
What is
arising in your dreams these days - both in sleep & in waking?
What is
arising in your imagination these days?
Can you
surrender to what these images, themes & energies suggest?
Nodal shift into Aries/Libra: 2/18/14 - 11/13/15
This
month, we begin trekking through the foothills of the energetic mountains of
2014, so let your heart open wide (Leo rules the heart) with the Leo full moon
on 2/14, interestingly falling on that day that people think about romance
& companionship. That, friends, is some cosmic foreshadowing because four
days later, the lunar nodes (points indicating karmic release & evolution)
enter the Aries/Libra axis of self/partnership, where they’ll transit until
late 2015.
With
the south node in Aries, it’s time to let go of “my way or the highway”
behaviors & attitudes. If you have story lines about being a survivor, a
hero against the odds, or a renegade all on your own against the world, it’s time
to change your story. Instead, tap into Aries’ most positive traits - courage,
loyalty, enthusiasm, vitality & vision to help you tap into your Libran
side. With the north node in
Libra, it’s time to develop your capacity for compromise, your ability to
instigate peace, your aesthetic sensibilities, your embodiment of grace, &
your relationship skills.
The
great key to evolving through the Aries/Libra axis is allowing your
relationships with others to expand who you are as an individual through
accepting, understanding, & eventually embracing their differences. Once
again, the Alice & the Caterpillar theme of surrendering who you’ve been
& who you think you are presents itself.
Do you
see yourself as a survivor?
How
might your life change if you saw yourself as powerful instead?
In what
ways have you experienced grace?
How can
you invite more grace into your life?
Do you
see yourself as heroically facing the world all alone?
How
might your life alter if you acknowledged all the help & support you have
received from others?
How
might your life alter if you learned how to effectively ask for help?
How can
you cultivate peace & beauty in yourself, in your life, & in the world?
Mars retrograde: 3/1/14 - 5/19/14
Just in
case you were planning on slacking on the lunar node work, the planets have
aligned a few persuasive arguments in favor of evolution. Mars, the ruler of
Aries, will be retrograding through the sign of Libra for two and a half
months. He stations retrograde very close to the degree of the next lunar
eclipse in Libra (4/15/14), and opposite Eris, a modern ruler of Libra. The
next day, on 3/2/14, Venus - the traditional ruler of Libra - makes an exact
square with Mars, still almost stationary in the sky.
In
layperson’s terms, what all that means is your relationships will be your main
source of growth right now. You will experience that as challenges in existing
relationships, new relationships that stretch both your strength & your
level of understanding, & also great rewards in/through relationships after
you’ve put in much honest effort. Eris’ presence in this configuration suggests
that if you are experiencing strife in your relationships, it is because you
are not seeing the whole picture. In that case, find the missing piece that
alters your perception. Depending on the situation, that may necessitate
leaving a relationship, surrendering to being wholly in a relationship,
changing the nature of a relationship, or changing your role within a
relationship.
How do
you direct your energy in your relationships?
Is
there any strife showing up in your relationships?
How
might you need to shift how you direct your energy in your relationships, based
on that strife?
How is
your balance of compromise & self-advocacy in your various relationships?
Which
relationships might need to alter form, either ending, committing deeper, or
shifting gears?
What
roles do you play in your relationships? Do these seem appropriate, or do they
need to shift?
Do you
assert yourself gracefully?
Are you
courageous in your compromises?
Other events worth noting:
Mercury stations direct in Aquarius
on 2/28/14. Please wait a week to celebrate that fact because it takes a while
for him to get back up to speed. By then, Mars will be retrograde, so remember
to be patient & flexible through the first half of 2014. We entered
the year of the horse and a new elemental cycle in the Chinese astrological
system recently, but we still have a mass of retrogrades to contend with. There
will be movement, but it will be two steps forward, one step back until roughly
July. Then it’s time to hold onto your hats because the pace will be wild.
Until then, try to enjoy the slow pace, & surrender to the setbacks as they
are ultimately leading you to a truer alignment with your own heart.
Bay
Area folks, I’ll be teaching a class on energetic applications of herbs for
current astrological trends at Homestead Apothecary in north Oakland on Thursday, March 13th, 2014 at
6pm.
Next
month’s posting will cover the explosive eclipse in Libra that occurs in tandem
with a Grand Cardinal Cross (Want change? Here it comes!) & a farewell
solar eclipse in Taurus. By the way, you are already feeling that Libra
eclipse.
As for
this month, when in doubt, surrender.
Surrender
to what is present & current with awareness & grace.
For
more personalized insight, you may schedule a private astrological
consult, healing session, or healing intensive in person, over the phone, or
via Skype. Feel free to like, forward this page on &
repost it as you see fit. Until next time, wishing you insight &
heartsight. Thanks for reading, Rae Diamond
