When the New Moon goes into Pisces on March 10th to March 12th to we will have seven of the stellar wanderers in Pisces: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Neptune, Moon, and Chiron. This is a tremendous amount of Piscean energy. Pisces has access to the unconscious and I usually write about the mystical, creative, and spiritual essence of Pisces, and that is still true. But the unconscious is also the realm of the Shadow, and with this many planets in Pisces, the door to the unconscious just became thrown open.
The Shadow is made up of the dark and unwanted parts of ourselves that we refuse to acknowledge. In order to not deal with these undesirable parts we reject them by pushing them out of the light of our consciousness and keep them buried in the basement of our unconscious. The Shadow is the reservoir for human darkness that lies deep within ourselves.
The Shadow is scary since it is the part that we don’t want to accept as true. But an awareness of the Shadow is necessary. If we don’t get to know it and understand the weakness it holds, then we project these weaknesses outward and spread our fears into the world instead of dealing with them ourselves. And we can end up making decisions and taking actions based not on our greater vision and higher purpose, but from the Shadow’s unacknowledged influences.
Everyone has a Shadow and discovering, acknowledging, defeating, and integrating the Shadow is an important part of our growth and transformation. The Shadow is found in myths, fairy tales, and religion. We have the Wicked Queen, Evil Witch, Beast, and Big Bad Wolf. Tolkien gives us Sauron the Deceiver, and J.K. Rowling has He Who Must Not be Named. Facing the Shadow becomes a central part of the story, which is why it is so important to see it clearly. The Shadow is the flip side of God. Every light has a shadow, and if there were no light within us, there would also be no shadow. So every encounter with your own Shadow is an opportunity to know God.
For You: This visible presence of the Shadow is actually a real opportunity. Normally the Shadow is down in the dark and hard to see clearly. But now the Shadow, both personal and collective, is up in the light of consciousness and easier to identify. Normally our Shadow is influencing us from down in our unconscious, but now our fears are out in the world in the light of day, and that gives us a chance to examine them and notice their causes and their consequences. Be willing to face your fears, look at them clearly and they will loosen their hold on you. This is not the time to be afraid of your own Shadow; this is a time to see it clearly. Take some time to consider: What is my Shadow? What are the qualities that I don’t like about myself? What part of myself have I buried and don’t want to acknowledge? What is it that I fear? What qualities in others most irritate me that might be a projection of myself? Create your own mythic story and have your Shadow be the nemesis. Tell the tale of how you overcome and integrated the Shadow, accepting both dark and light. Since the Shadow lives in the underworld of the unconscious you can learn about it by going down into the underworld through your dreams. One reason working with dreams is so powerful is because it gives you a doorway to explore the unconscious .
Susan Seddon Boulet
Into the Mystic: Neptune will stay in Pisces for another 10 years, so we will have plenty of time to get to know the Piscean energy much better. And Pisces is the sign that connects us to the mystical and spiritual aspects of ourselves. Mercury, the messenger between heaven and earth, is diving into the mystical realms of Pisces from February 5th to April 13th. This gives us nine weeks to deepen our connection to the divine and open up the portals of our imagination. This will be a particularly potent time since Neptune is also in Pisces and will give extra depth to our insights and help us with integrating these mystical connections into our daily lives. Pay attention to synchronicity and signs. There will be longing for mystical, intuitive, and spiritual experiences during this period. It will be a wonderful opportunity to begin the meditation practice you’ve been thinking about, or deepen the one you already have. Go back to church, or spend time in nature, especially near water. And since your creative juices will be flowing, make a special effort to set aside time for creative endeavors. Be sure to pay attention to your dreams over this period since you are especially open to receiving messages from the unconscious.
As a Pisces Sun, with Mercury, Jupiter and the North Node in Pisces, I have a special connection to Neptune, which is the ruling planet of Pisces. To me it feel like coming home, or a visit from a very old and wise teacher, an honored guest. In keeping with this feeling I set up an altar not only to honor Neptune, but also to set my intention of what I wanted Neptune to represent for me. I’ve posted a picture of my altar here. I will be sharing more what I sense about Neptune in upcoming posts, but for now, I’ll wanted to share my altar with you.