During a recent session, my therapist looked at me and said, “You’re extremely sensitive, you know.” My migraines recently returned with a vengeance and I was once again confronted with the fact that I am only a mortal. I hate the memory. I don’t wear sensitivity like a badge of honor, even though I know it’s a gift (which often feels like a curse). I come from a very solid working class background. My dad is actually Paul Bunyan and my mom is always on the road. I am their porous child and have always felt a sense of personal decline as a result. As an adult, I can of course see how this sensitivity has been a gateway to every blessing in my life. But subconsciously I still try to mold myself into two people with a much more robust constitution than me. I still judge myself by an imagined standard of sustainability. I’m still trying to keep up.
If I’m honest, I’ve never felt so stretched. Since I’ve gotten older, my ability for what used to be mundane activities has decreased dramatically. Since October 7, I have been reeling. When something extra comes up during the day (and it always does), it has the ability to knock me down and pour me out. I know I’m in a pre-pre-burnout phase. I’m not there yet, but I feel how precarious the well-being of my system is. I know that if I don’t prioritize rest, friendship, and more rest, there will be hell to come. I also know that given the state of the world, I am not alone. I don’t want to repeat Elmo’s latest social media mistake, but I can’t help but wonder: How are you all doing?
Pisces season reflects a time when our defenses are weakened, when we become more vulnerable, overloaded, and hopefully a little more compassionate. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac. It is the end point before the wheel starts again. It’s a cocktail of everything that came before, and a kind of cosmic melting pot. This Pisces season I’m feeling like (not-so-cosmic) goo.
On March 17, one of the most important transits of this season will take place: the Sun and Neptune will meet in the last degrees of this water sign, forming a so-called cazimi. Neptune is a planet of delusions, fantasies, ideals, divinity, intoxication, escapism, reverie and bewilderment. Pisces is known for its limitlessness, mysticism and penchant for shapeshifting, evaporation, convergence, feeling, crying and waxing poetic. It wants to become one with something bigger than itself and often tries to do this by becoming absorbed in everything around it: wounds, worries, wonder and so on.
You could say that Neptune and Pisces are a perfect match. Or an overly indulgent one.
Moments in time that have a big Pisces signature, like this week, often correspond with events that describe amazing altruism and loving-kindness – but they can just as often connect with confusion, burnout, deceit, and sacrifice. It’s a slippery slope that teaches us that little can be taken at face value and that we must prioritize our boundaries.
A saving grace: Venus in Pisces
On March 11 (six days before Neptune’s cazimi), Venus will join the Sun, Saturn and Neptune in Pisces. Because Venus rules beauty, art, culture, love, relationships, and pleasure – and because Pisces is the sign of its exaltation – all things it represents are now meant to take on superior prominence. Venus in Pisces signals a time when love flows from the tap. This might sound like an incredibly callous prediction for a world ravaged by war, famine, genocide and violence, but I also hope it can lift our spirits and focus our attention on the sweetness amid the bitter. Venus in Pisces heralds a time when the need for beauty, love and connection – and the healing power of art – reign supreme.
It reminds me of a quote from Toni Morrison that I have seen posted countless times since October 7: “This is exactly the time when artists get to work. There is no time for despair, no room for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” Born while the moon was in Pisces, Morrison never lacked insight into the pain inflicted by the violent and unjust systems we live in, but neither did she become transfixed or immobilized by their devastation. She was therefore always able to help with what could solve the problem.
Although this sign can make us vulnerable, Pisces’ strength lies in its ruthless kindness, adaptability and creativity. Like a wave repeatedly crashing against the shore, there is a unique kind of fortitude in this sign that eventually wears out the harshness it encounters. I hope that this week’s astrology heralds a time when some of the calcified cruelty of this world has worn off (while keeping ourselves intact), that we come to understand the power of our own sensitivity, and that we work with this moment to to make sacrifices. the belief that violence could one day achieve something other than more of the same. May we offer all the trinkets, trick mirrors, and illusions this world offers us for our complicity – and in return, may we amplify every act of goodwill, every vote for solidarity, and every step toward a more caring and just world.
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