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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 the new moon in 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.
As is always the case with a full moon, the moon sits across the sky from the sun in the opposite side of the zodiac, staring each other down, and therefore shining the full light of the sun onto the reflective moon. The moon rules Cancer, so it doesn’t fare well in the opposite sign, Capricorn (it’s in its fall here, a debilitated placement). Capricorn is rather dry and harsh for the watery moon. Ruled by Saturn, planet of boundaries, Capricorn is known for rational thinking, rules and structure—quite different from oceanic Cancer.
On December 21, the winter solstice (in the northern hemisphere), one of the most important astrological moments of our lifetimes will occur. This moment is the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. Jupiter and Saturn conjunct (meet together in the sky) and meld their very different energies approximately every 20 years. They last conjoined on May 28, 2000. Making this a generational cycle at any time—however, this year they meet in an air sign, setting off a new pattern that will last for the next 200 years.
Pisces is the fish, fully submerged in the waters of the other realms, the subconscious mind, the oceanic tumult of the body and its feelings. Pisces is also the sphere of the psychic, the intuitive, the home of the medium, the dominion of the muse. Pisces is the watery womb where all dreams gestate. It is our job to choose which ones will be born.
One thing that I’ve come to love about the cycles of the moon, that at first confused me, is the pattern of where the new and full moons fall. Each month, the new moon is in the current sun sign, and reflects the current season (in the northern hemisphere). We are currently in Taurus season (sun sign), the earthy sign of springtime, growth, birth and generation. Taurus is the farmer, the gardener, sowing the vernal seeds.
Then, the full moon that follows always occurs in the sign opposite the sun, representing the seasonal inverse. This month, the moon reaches its fullness in Scorpio, sign of deep autumn, of decay, of death, of the underworld, the nadir, of transformation.
