Backbone > Panet Waves

The Pisces Point
By Eric Francis Illustration by Emil Alzamora

There was a time not long ago when astrology was used for three main purposes: prediction, the answering of specific questions (called horary astrology), and to select the best times to do things (called electional astrology). In our culture, through the course of the 20th century, astrology was given a few other jobs.

One was to look at the natal chart and provide advice on a wide variety of domestic and professional subjects. Rather than telling the king about a good time to go to war, natal astrology was used more generally (and, this was new, used by the common folk rather than just by royalty) to help them choose careers and spouses, and to select good times to have children. As the 20th century progressed, this developed into a more complex method of personality analysis, which then became a fairly sophisticated tool for psychology or, in some cases, home psychic surgery.

Soon after, with the help of the Human Potential and New Age movements, astrology began to go past its groovy image and be thought of as something distinctly spiritual, as a tool for measuring or cultivating personal growth, and for aligning with what some Native American traditions call one's original instructions. The growing use of Pluto and Chiron by astrologers has helped this processes enormously, since both planets address themes of the soul's growth mission on Earth and the healing of deep wounds.

Now for the next step: astrology as a visioning process. What happens when an astrologer discusses a chart or the current transits with a client? Well, for one thing, both are agreeing on a vision. This is, I am certain, one reason why so many astrological predictions come true; two people join their all-powerful minds and set the vision in motion. Why call this prediction when we can call it just what it is: the creative process.

Now is a great time to apply this theory. The astrology of spring, summer, and fall 2003 is something very different than we've experienced any time recently, and it's going to get more different as these three seasons unfold. In the immortal words of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." So let's have a look and see what we can vision.

First, a brief recap of the recent past, in five words or less. Most of what we experienced between mid-2001 and earlier this year was the infamous Saturn-Pluto opposition. I described this as the immovable object meets the unstoppable force. What did we see? Among other things, the fall of the World Trade Center, the conquering of Afghanistan and the recent military coup and colonization of Iraq. And America, whether you realize it or not, with our new Homeland Security Department, the Patriot Act, the Total Information Awareness project (headed by Reagan-era felon John Poindexter), and its security alert system, is something of a different country than the one you grew up in.

The Saturn-Pluto era doesn't really end; it was a doorway. On this side of the time threshold, we've experienced another significant opposition. As of June 1, Jupiter (in Leo) is about to make the last exact pass of its somewhat rare (every 14 years) opposition to Neptune (in Aquarius). These two giants are now face-to-face like the sun and moon at the full moon, with Earth rotating between them like a chicken on a rotisserie. Jupiter and Neptune are both 'rulers' of Pisces, and Jupiter has a leading role in the affairs of Sagittarius as well. Most people consider these two of the more spiritually oriented signs. If anything has the mitigated global disaster with we've been flirting with in recent months, we can look to this aspect.

Pisces is the hot spot of the astrology for the rest of the year, which highlights the theme of visioning and the clearing of karma. Pisces is the last sign. It's the place where all our socks ultimately go, and where the most mysterious themes can be found (some would say that distinction should be Scorpio, but Pisces is so secretive and mysterious that few people know how strange it really is).

Here is the scenario. In March, the slow-moving planet Uranus made its way into Pisces for the first time since the (roaring or spiritually bereft, depending on who you ask) 1920s. This is such big news that anyone remotely following astrology is aware that it's happened. Transits of Uranus through any sign are deeply influential in helping define an era, and this one continues for the next seven years. How much can this change the world? Well, consider that at the beginning of the Uranus in Aquarius era, the Internet was something that some people had heard of. Now it's something that just about everyone in Western culture depends on every day.

In Pisces, the Uranian shift will be much more internal, like a vast Internet opening up inside us and among us. How is that for a vision? Please, hold the spam. I don't need Magic Mala or Lifetime Yoga Mat ads coming in while I'm meditating. Those of us working on spiritual paths know that all minds are joined all the time. Uranus in Pisces is going to do quite a lot to revolutionize that. Pisces, when expressed on, shall we say, the lower levels of its potential, also has a lot to do with anything beginning with a D (my teacher David told me this): drugs, drink, delusion, denial, defensiveness, and dependency. America has been saying no to drugs for 20 years and, meanwhile, just about everyone has been taking more and more drugs (predominantly antidepressants, but I doubt—another good Pisces word—that any category of drug sales has gone down in 20 years). Sounds like denial.

Uranus has the power to shock us out of that haze. Some say this planet should have been named for Prometheus, since all the metaphors we actually call "Uranian" are actually Promethian: sudden flashes of insight, revolution, playing with the divine fire, profound foresight, inventiveness, and an utterly rebellious spirit, even against the gods themselves. This is frightening energy for most people. If religion (as Jung suggested) is the substitute for religious experience, then all things Uranian are one big reason why religion is so popular. It's entirely predictable. It's safe. It's easy. And usually quite boring.

We normally think of Pisces as being rather passive. Yet there is nothing passive about Pisces these days. As if Uranus were not enough, Mars enters Pisces on June 17, just before the summer solstice. So in the solstice chart, there is a very close (one-time-only) Mars-Uranus conjunction, with Mars now moving slow and steady because it's about to make a long retrograde in that sign. The exact retrograde dates are July 29 thru September 27). In all, Mars will remain in Pisces for six full months (one quarter of its entire orbit!), including the phases before, during, and after the retrograde. Mars, which doubles as the sign on the door to the Men's Room, is the quintessential Yang energy. Its glyph is a picture of a cock and balls. It rules Aries, but it has a distinctly watery and transformational side as the co-ruler of Scorpio (along with Pluto).

This is a heck of a lot of Pisces power all at once. Pisces is about the imagination, inspiration, art, music and the deepest levels of erotic expression (that's why we need all those drugs—to tune out the best reasons we came to play on Earth). Now let's add one last factor to the brew, the serious touch, the guardrail and the near-guarantee that we're going to get some results as a result of all this hot, electrifying astrology. Saturn has been in Gemini for the past 30 months or so. On June 11, it will migrate into Cancer, another water sign (all the signs of one element work closely together like one energy field). So, after quite a few years of having no slow-moving planets in the watery signs, we're now experiencing some major events that will potentially do something exceedingly rare in the age of free-floating information packets: ground us in our emotions.

Looked at another way, Saturn in cancer will help us ground the burning visions of Pisces in something real, in a structured reality, like a business, a gallery, a studio, a workshop, or a project with a distinct goal. If there is one key to success, the stars say it's experimentation. I was going to say innovation, but the two are very closely related. To experiment means to be guided by experience. That opens the way to originality. It also opens the way to the unexpected, and the unexpected is just what's coming when so much Uranus lights up the world.