A Dream Within A Dream

Pisces Season + New Moon in a New North Node

Margo Selski

Pisces is NOT the cry-baby that pop astrology likes to scapegoat but an Oracle, a now impossible archetype in a vat of chaotic uncertainty.

Pisces’ connection to the flow of Time, however, effortlessly generates a safe wall of sea-foam that bubbles back to memories of our happiest, most creative states of being. The tried and true of Youth before exposure to the cruel World still exists in us all, though a bittersweet and often buried diamond deep down in the water and under many layers of sand of our many Selves. It feels foolish to latch onto nostalgic innocence when times are horrifying (to say the least). Oppression aimed at minorities and reversal of resources being dragged out by DOGE finds each day a new surprise in the shit-show we are collectively trudging through. The undoing of structural safe guards will cause harm to millions and thus we exist on frantic hyper-vigilance, only able to imagine the worst.

Pisces, a Princess of Everlasting Hope, of course has a hard time surviving on Hope alone when there is no reason to have any.

The hatred scorching the land will eventually destroy the Earth; powers are hard at work destroying the hearts and homes of the people trying their best to survive. How CAN we have faith in humanity when it’s being bull-dozed by a police state of apathy and greed? Those who do not seem to recognize how much is hanging on by a thread are likely in their ivory tower which shall eventually go up in flames, too. By the time the sheltered CHOOSE to realize, it will be during their own demise. Not only does privilege and propaganda work against education and empathy, the efforts to correct course takes so much energy that encouraging hope when the facts are constantly being debated is a time-consuming mind-fuck of great proportions.

Perhaps we should not have hope. Perhaps not having hope is too easily giving up. This is one of mankind’s greatest internal debates, the longest running question in the history of human hardships. Hope is the hardest path to pick. Though being a staunch realist might actually lead to solutions, the worst thing to do right now would be to close our hearts altogether just because we could not find a silver lining super-quickly. Maybe the silver lining is only in our hearts, maybe the stars in the Dark will be enough Light to lead the way. If anything, the act of being vocal, hands-on and getting involved in the name of HOPE ITSELF leads us to each other. That is what community does after all: it connects us in hopes to live to see another day.

You are not alone. We’re in this doom together.

Mars is now direct after a tumultuous backspin in a Cancer and Leo.

And if we learned ANYTHING from the Action/Porn Planet in reverse cowgirl it is this: harboring (Cancer) or dominating thru (Leo) resentment will NEVER be a part of our purpose, only a pain that festers inside us. Anger can be alchemy but if this anger is brewing as an inactive irk and held onto for too long, it ends up becoming a wound. Cancer’s passive-aggressive bottle-up-and-explode vs. Leo’s ego-ic want-what-it-wants destruction may SEEM more surface level than value-based at times, but resources ARE a human need (tied to our root chakra) and VERY EMOTIONAL. Resources = safety!

Either Astro-placement in Mars may have found us vying for attention from unhealthy sources, perhaps not out of honest need but misguided want. Whether romantic, professional or social, the dead-set desire to prove our value stems from inner child “wounds” shrouded in sparkly motivation. Venus Retrograde will pick up where Mars left off in a lot of ways… Situations that felt stuck will gather momentum soon either by reconciling or moving us forward as Mars Retrograde is exemplary of not dealing with or dealing too much at a pace that is not comfortable either way, the double-edged sword.

Pisces Season, the New Moon and the North Node in Pisces, is a gentle swim in emotional processing instead of just grasping at straws in an attempt to be ~if not just feel~ in control, a very fleeting concept.

As Aquarius slipped back into its comfortable outer space place, the Sun entered the final Sign of the Zodiac on Tuesday February 18th.

We are a week into Pisces Season, though so much happens lately that each 24 hours feels like an entire week since Trump took office. For a moment in the Southeast, Fake Spring was my only sustaining sweetness and it swiftly faded back into a weird Winter, the cold seeping into my bones where the sunshine and premature blooms gave distraction from the loop of insane news, the doom of this planet, this country and powers that are falling faster and faster into fascism. I am close to many trans people and have worked in the gender-affirming care telehealth business and I can not even express the anxiety that anti-trans bill proposals are creating for the trans community in this country. We are watching a nightmare unfold in real time on many levels (for refugees, national parks, bodily autonomy, social services, environmental concerns around oil and clean water, the list is LONG). I can FEEL myself dissociating, bartering with my brain as this absurdist terror doesn’t feel like it is even allowed to be real. How in the fuck did we get here?

“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality”, said Pisces Sun and Rising Albert Einstein.

As Pisces Rising, I am very affected by my environment, whether it be temperament of the physical or emotional, the interpersonal or the political. I previously loathed this placement more than any other in my chart and sometimes I curse my on-brand Pisces’ sensitivity. I joke that the shocking lack of fire in my astrological make-up contributes to my freeze and flight instead of fight, but over time I’ve learned that Pisces’ sensitive gifts DOES drive me to healing, to nurturing, to loving. Pisces’ ancestral attunement, the Old Soul that contains child-like eyes, infinitely and inherently wise, has no need for capitalism or criticism. Pisces peaks on growing and giving. And the cliche when we allow ourselves to experience appreciation for the small minute details, we appreciate everything so much more, is universal for a real reason. Appreciation fosters a passion. I passionately believe that everyone deserves to live even against all odds. It is difficult to fight if you aren’t passionate about the right to live, the right to safety, the right to dignity. It surprises me that a chunk of the population is not on board with the basic right to life. What have we become? How is this happening?

As much as I love “love” and gravitate towards the light, I am whole-heartedly against “Love and Light” culture.

“Love and light” is just another re-brand of avoidant attachment in the macro sphere and there is no Light without the Dark. Not only is Shadow Work integral for full integration in itself, being AGAINST exploring the “negative” aspects of Self or (HELLO!) reality is pure delusion. I do not think the “love and light” approach is a result of sensitivity persay… though at first glance it may seem that way. In my eyes, it is the opposite of sensitivity. A refusal of it. A rejection of reality. A fear of being vulnerable. The irony that truly seeing the grim realism of this World or being challenged in a dynamic is somehow “toxic energy” to the “love and light” cult is hilarious to me. What is truly “toxic” in my honest opinion is how “love and light” people are utilizing censorship and covert methods of gas-lighting to “protect their peace”. No, I do not think it is healthy to stare at the horrors of our reality or not let problems between people or parties evolve through exploration.

To side-step the truth altogether is the most unrealistic and irresponsible approach I have ever heard of.

This combative world can create a tendency to wallow and this is a natural response when waking up every single day to horrific news loops. It is normal to want to shut down the “negativity” as it is far too easy lately to drown in it. Whether our reaction to unfavorable circumstances is at large or in the interpersonal, whether we be aggressive or avoidant, there seems to be a lack of space for processing what the general population views as “negative” emotions. These unfavorable feelings are met with insane resistance or seen as problems to handle RIGHT AWAY. Compartmentalize ASAP and then HOPE it drifts away out to sea somehow… except now it’s pooling in a corner of your heart and transforming into sludge and it will eventually eat you alive in one way or another. How about that for a boomerang effect?

The Pisces New Moon pushes us in the deep end to return to ourselves again. Your feelings aren’t your enemies, even the “bad” ones.

In the dark, we percolate thru the murk to reach solutions by pondering possibilities. We are powerful in vulnerability when we are open to feeling it all, even the scariest pits of despair and disillusion. A dark night of the soul is an initiation into transformation. And when the Sun rises the next day we also awaken with every angle we could not conjure before. We are still allowed to process in a gentle manner even when the content is anything but. However, ignoring the horrors of the reality unfolding around us (an understandable want) will not protect us. Ignorance has NEVER protected us (and absolutely will never protect other people). Allowing ourselves to feel our grief leads us to accept grief as a guide. And grief is another form of appreciation for what was, what never was or what could be.

Our sensitivity is not a bane but a superpower that will set us free.

WHAT: Pisces New Moon

WHEN: Thursday February 27th, 2024 7:44 PM EST

THEME: When One Door Closes, 1000 Portals Open

The Pisces New Moon conjures care before competition, giving before greed, active listening instead of unaccountable avoidance. This portal into the themes of the new North Node and the 18-month cycle of Pisces-Virgo is one of the most important opportunities to re-acquaint with both our Light and our Dark, to see both the Light and the Dark around us as necessary, and instead of frantic manifestation or urgent responses, allow ourselves to be still and reflect. The Pisces North Node will ask us many questions over this year-and-a-half period but the underlying ask will be how we can learn to process and procure a spiritual path. How can we sustain our inner Light in the Dark so that we can show up for the possibility of peace in not just ourselves but our community and the World?

Using these few retrograde-free days to “just be” will honor this important Pisces New Moon as a reset towards the Lunar Nodal cycle ahead. As hard as many Astrology accounts are urging us to MANIFEST for the Pisces New Moon, I think the best practice for me personally is to just to open my heart to source. To let the emotion, the lore, the information, the unsettled energy all swim around and immerse. When it decides to settle, I want to be able to show up to sort it all out lovingly and without judgment or fear. I want to know it will be okay if I have to go through this process again. And again. And again. And again.