MOON / PISCES / OSTARA

Instinct, emotional vicissitudes.

DELUSION, DECEPTION

OSTARA begins at the end of Pisces, at the Aries cusp, Key 4

• The moon is shown in all three phases, looking down to the world.
  
  
• The back of the head holds the primitive brain, controller of the autonomic functions, which keep the body running at all times, even during sleep.
  
  

• "Qoph" is the back of the head, as the next letter, "Resh," is the front of the head; the face. Pisces, and the 12th house, are the "backside," or "shadow" of the personality: Aries, and the first house. This is where the beginning and the end meet.

  It is the beginning of the beginning of the beginning of the beginning of the beginning..."
  George Harrison

  
  
  
• Key 18 is the realm of sleep, and dreams. It is the instinctual drives we have, which we can learn to work with.
  
  
• The falling Yods, which correspond to the Hermit (and Virgo), represent the "Amrit;" the nectar of cosmic consciousness which falls constantly, and is strongest just before dawn. That is why the best time for Yoga or meditation is before and during dawn, when most people are sleeping. The Hermit's realm. This time is called in Sanskrit the "Amrit Bela."
  

  
  

• The water is the primordial sea, and the shellfish represents the earliest, instinctual life. The crayfish represents Kephera, the prime mover in the Egyptian pantheon.
  

  

  Kephera, "having union with my own hand," masturbates the universe into existence, "embracing my shadow, I poured my seed into my mouth my own," then "ejecting air, and spitting out moisture," creating the first two ingredients. These tears, in jealous rage at having to share the universe with their creator, induce him to "find a higher place for him on my brow," giving it authority to rule over all creation, becoming the third eye, the eye in the pyramid, the Eye of Horus, the Wedjat, the "apple of my eye," and the Apollonian Eye.

  from "Primal Myths: Creating the World," by Barbara C. Sproul.

  
  
  
• The winding path rises and falls, ulimately reaching mountainous heights in the distance. This describes the ups and downs of spiritual development, always aspiring.

• The path touches the feet (Pisces). It first passes between a domesticated dog and a feral wolf, referring to the difference between Nature and Art. The dogs also guard the water, the region where fantasy loses itself.
  
  
• The towers are a human version of the shellfish's armor, representing a boundary between the animal and the human. They also represent artificial human constructs, which can distract from the path.
  
  
• The Moon as a planetary influence is discussed in Key 2.
  

PISCES

February 19th to March 21st.

Ruled by Neptune.

I believe.

Savior or Victim.

Mutable Water. Emotion, sensation, power, communication, ideas, depth, all concerns of water, scatter in Pisces, to the seven seas of the earth. Pisces seeps into every crevice, and connects everything. Pisces is the fluid that connects all of life. Pisces influences in the chart (Twelfth house, or planets in Pisces) create an emphasis on transpersonal subconscious. This can manifest as a deep, satisfying internal life, a connectedness to humanity, harmony with dream and superconscious realms.

Pisces, when active in the chart, is loving, caring, communicative, easily influenced, easygoing, dreamy, pleasant, comforting, philosophical, idealistic, creative, volunteering, contemplative, spiritual, reverent, empathic, devoted, unpretentious, visionary, romantic, versatile, musical, open-minded, gentle, polite, charming, gracious, lucky, enthusiastic, prosperous, tactful, healing, trustworthy, psychic, and tolerant.

Unfavorable Pisces can be manipulative, passive-aggressive, timid, helpless, degenerate, psychotic, ungrounded, have poor concentration and follow-through, procrastinating, bad with money, lacking in goals, undefended emotionally, lazy, indulgent, gullible, tearful, impulsive, unreliable, airheaded, unsettled, indecisive, confused, superficial, melancholic, inconsistent, addictive, overzealous, a loner, uncommunicative, bad with details, and misplaces trust.

Domains of Pisces are in the world, moving through every level, usually in a passive way. Pisces follows its instincts, and goes where it wants, gets what it needs, then moves on.

Pisces, ruled by Neptune, is symbolized by two fish, swimming in opposite directions. Fluidity and the seeming reconciliation of opposites is shown in this image. Cycles of change, replacement, and periodicity are referred to.

Scorpio, Cancer and Pisces influences all can bring problems with addiction, psychological imbalance, and isolation.

Pisces is open to moods and impressions from others, and can take on personality traits from the environment. They are sensitive, and can be overwhelmed by stimulus or people. Pisces can be extremely poetic or romantic; with structure and motivation, we get musicians, or film makers, for example.

Lessons for Pisces include being more careful, accepting life on earth as it is, finding shelter. They must beware of avoiding self through immersion in others.

For Pisces, the Shadow takes the form of Other's critical attitude towards you. Scientific skepticism and brutal, cold-blooded logic threaten your dreamy, sometimes illogical world view. Work with your shadow, and the people you project it onto, by clarifying your beliefs, what you accept and what you question. The more you deny your Shadow, the more it will manifest itself and attract what you will interpret as disruption or pain.

Pisces rules the feet.

The Twelfth house has the character of Pisces; planets in this house are concerned with Contemplation; this is where the soul has reached the last moment of interior reflection before bursting out into Aries. This reflection begins when the mind gains objectivity at the Libra cusp; the soul sees itself in the eyes of others. The objectivity of the upper hemisphere is about to give way to the subjectivity of the lower, and being in the world leads to retreat (Twelfth House), then rebirth. The Twelfth house culminates the Utopian trend of the last four houses.

The Twelfth House is said to represent the pre-natal epoch, or part of life spent in the womb. It also is called the house of Karma; it is where past deeds are reckoned with and the balance is paid. Pisces dabbles in the underworld, the dissolute, the hidden. The twelfth house shows what is hidden, hangovers from the past, self-undoing, frustration, limitation, confinement, charity (given or received), and circumstances over which the native appears to have no control.

The Twelfth House, in mundane astrology, is said to be the realm of prisons, self-undoing, and secret enemies. Indeed, 12th house aspects do often bring misunderstandings, feuds, impacted hard feelings, insanity, and/or isolation. The lesson is always release and transformation; it is hardest and most urgent in the 12th house.

Personal planets in the 12th house can bring self-delusion, living in a dream world, mysticism, melancholy, precience or psychic ability, creative genius, or chameleon changeability. Saturn here is deeply buried, and shows an "old soul." Saturn in the 12th is easier to process if it's in a mutable sign, giving flexibility. A fixed Saturn in the 12th can seem to be a curse, but there's always hope. Jupiter or Venus here is a "guardian angel" - there is a sense of light in the darkness.

The Aquarius/Pisces cusp is an especially tough place for some people. All of the cusps are meeting places of opposites, but Pisces and Aquarius are at the epitome of difference. When the two energies are mixed in a chart, the native has special issues with mind vs. emotions.

The water triplicity is Pisces (mutable), followed by Cancer (cardinal), and then Scorpio (fixed).

In the natural order of the signs, Pisces is water, preceded by Aquarius (air), and followed by Aries (fire).

The opposite axis, or antidote to Pisces, is Virgo.