New Moon in Pisces 12º 10:35 am MT conjunct Jupiter; Mercury conjunct Saturn; Venus + Mars conjunct Pluto

This new moon is a bit of a paradox, on several levels. Pisces is the end of the zodiac, the end of the astrological year, the last stretch before Aries begins the spring, the birth of a new cycle. Pisces, like all mutable signs, is the brink, the edge, the liminal in-between as one season bleeds into the next. The winter melting, almost without notice, into spring.

Mutable signs are the ecotones—an amazing ecological word a dear friend taught me—the transition site between one biological zone and another—where the field becomes a forest, where the river slides into the sea.

And Pisces is the ecotone between ending and beginning, between life, death and rebirth. It is neither/nor. It is both/and.

And yet, a new moon is a new beginning, a new cycle, a planting of the seeds that will grow into our futures. With several other conjunctions happening at this new moon as well, this is a fertile time of seeding our new beginnings. While it is, concurrently, a time of release, of letting go of the old, of letting die and fade away.

How can we hold both at once? Pisces asks us to live in this paradox. To understand every ending is always a new beginning. Every death always contains a birth. When one door closes, another opens.

This new moon falls on Ash Wednesday and begins the liturgical season of Lent. I find it quite interesting that Lent falls in Pisces season (Christ, the fish), and Easter (typically) in Aries season, the new year, the rising, the resurrection. Spring awakening from the death of winter.

(Side note: Easter falls on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. The equinox marks the beginning of Aries season and yes, the astrological new year.)

Pisces season is a time of surrender. Of releasing our pasts, our mistakes, our sins. Of relinquishing control to something larger, grander, than us.

The moon is conjunct Jupiter (only two degrees away from the planet in the mathematics of the cosmos), ruler of Pisces and in its strength and power here. And Jupiter’s benevolent power is expansion, growth and luck. Making this a beautiful time for manifestation.

And, as the paradox continues, at the same time, Mercury the messenger, ruler of communication meets up with Saturn, embodying restriction, boundary, conservation.

Meanwhile, (yes, there is a LOT happening this new moon), Venus, Mars and Pluto meet to dance in the underworld. Mars and Pluto together speak to destruction and violence.

Venus can soften this blow—or not. She emerged just yesterday from her travels into the inferno (retrograde shadow) and as she breaks the surface, she meets with Pluto (Hades, lord of the nether realms) one last time to evaluate all she has lost, all she sacrificed in her heroine’s journey—and into what new beginning she is now reborn.

And for me, that is ultimately the signature of this new moon and all that dances in the skies around it.

This question: What has been lost, what have we sacrificed, offered or given, what has been taken, ripped away—and, now, what new beginnings, new dreams, new visions, new versions of ourselves arise, phoenix-like from those ashes?

If we are being asked to be reborn—who and what do we want to be in this new life?

If we are being asked to rebirth the world—what new versions and visions do we want to sow for the next generations to reap?

And what do we need to surrender, to sacrifice, to lay on the altar as an offering, in order to plant these new seeds?

This is not a question for today alone. We are in a remaking of reality. The old world is dying, and that is terrifying and consequential. We can all feel ourselves living on the brink, in the liminal, Piscean in-between. The unknown can fill us with existential dread.

And, at the same time, what absolute wonder, what wild potential, to live at a time where we can play some part in crafting the new. The next chapter of our lives. The next chapter of this planet, this universe. How awe-inspiring, how terrifying, at once.

New Moon in Pisces Ritual + Writing Prompts

New Moon Ritual

I recommend doing the journal writing prompts below first, or as part of this new moon ritual.

1. Light a candle.

2. Freewrite on the journal questions below to clarify both what you want to manifest, and what you need to surrender in order to do so.

3. Now write on a piece of paper your intentions for the new moon.

4. List one or two things you’d like to seed for the next two weeks, six months (new moon), the next year (Venus + Pluto in Cap), the next 12 years (Jup + Sun in Pisces), and the rest of your lifetime (Mars + Pluto in Cap).

5. Add to the list two to three things you want to sow into the imaginative possibilities for this world, for your lifetime and beyond.

6. Add to the list a new world order rooted in interdependence and equity (opposed to domination and hierarchy).

7. Write and/or say a prayer to all those in the world, of all races, cultural backgrounds and countries, suffering the effects of war, imperialism, poverty and oppression, due to the power plays of the few.

8. Let your candle burn itself out.

New Moon Journal Writing Prompt

Freewrite on the following questions, whichever speak to you:

1. What has been lost, what have we sacrificed, offered or given, what has been taken, ripped away?

2. What new beginnings, new dreams, new visions, new versions of ourselves arise, phoenix-like from those ashes?

3. If we are being asked to be reborn—who and what do we want to be in this new life?

4. If we are being asked to rebirth the world—what new versions and visions do we want to sow for the next generations to reap?

5. And what do we need to surrender, to sacrifice, to lay on the altar as an offering, in order to plant these new seeds?

New Moon Speculative Writing Prompt

1. Imagine a world with its laws, social mores and infrastructure rooted in a deep belief in interdependence, with other beings as well as with the planet/world itself. (It may feel difficult to imagine this, but once upon a time this was the shape of all human communities. Many indigenous traditions still today are a guidepost and teacher for this way of relating.)

2. Write a scene in the day of a life of a character in this world.

3. Somewhere in this day, however, something changes, some new people or beings arrive, with a very different worldview. (Aliens, invaders, power-hungry beings within the community?)

4. Explore what happens when these worldviews collide.