Be Water, My Friend/ Body Astrology: Pisces

This is a Pisces season like no other so dive in and swim! The sun enters Pisces on Monday, February 18^th and joins Mercury and Neptune (Pisces’ co-ruling planet) in an exact conjunction in the sign. That’s a boatload of slippery unprocessed feeling and intuition that will be floating up to the surface, most likely wanting a hug. Most likely the feels will be formless and flowing; all encompassing one minute, nowhere to be found the next.

This will definitely be hard to control, channel and focus. But that’s the point. Pisces is asking you to surrender; not as weakness but as a decisive act. The act of surrender can be a proactive choice when coupled with clear intention. No one knew this better than martial artist and philosopher Bruce Lee:

“In order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and not against my nature.”

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” –B.L.

We’re being asked to dissolve because we’re at an end. We’re being asked to let go of the rigid shapes and unnecessary armor that protects us from a new beginning.

This Pisces season is prolonged, due to a retrograde Mercury that doesn’t leave the sign until mid-April and 3 weeks of Venus sharing the same space (late March). Pisces wants us to do an incredibly thorough job of cleansing and releasing this coming spring. Even when our consciousness (the sun) moves on to Aries, our hearts (Venus) and minds (Mercury) will still be soaking in Pisces (this could be a very soggy spring).

Next week Body Astrology monthly workshop culminates with our study of Pisces. Margherita and I have spent the past year tracking the sun's journey through the ever-changing rhythms of individuation and coalescence. We've learned so much from each other and everyone we've worked with. I really appreciate Margherita's uncanny abilities to find just the right blends of somatic work, choreography, movement study, and music to animate what could so easily be just a concept. Join us on Wednesday February 20th at Juniper at 7PM for our final meditation on the radical inclusivity and merging principle that is Pisces. PLEASE SIGN UP BEFORE the 20th. And be on the lookout for other Body Astrology workshops that will engage astrology from the lunar and elemental perspectives... and more!

Here are some recommendations and strategies for flowing with the celestial weather of radical healing, gentleness, and imagination.

EMBODIED Pisces

Body parts: feet, lymphatic system, immune system (Vedic).

Key words: 

Permeable: sensitivity, sympathy, empathy, tenderness, dissolve, blend, merge, blur, soft, compassion, peace, confusion (with fusion), gentle, absorbent, osmosis, receptive, borderless, surrender, tolerant, vulnerability, supple

Movement: fluidity, flexibility, adaptability, mutability, formless, timeless, nebulous, slippery, circuitous, meander, elliptical, oblique, flow, dance, lyricism, musicality, tangents

The Unseen: the hidden, the sequestered, shadow, subconscious, imaginary, exiled, avoidant, escapist, evade, everywhere and nowhere, dreams, fog, illusion, delusion, deception, hallucination, intuition, spirit, soul, mystical, transcendent, vague, fantasy, the divine, the sublime, secluded, concealed, isolated, remote, retired

The Whole:  one with everything, alpha and omega, paradox, the “dustbin of the zodiac”, all-encompassing, selfless, sacrificial, healing, unconditional love, holistic, the culmination, the repository, perfection, idealism, romanticism, complete, union, flux, ebb and flow, inhale and exhale, totality, absolute, sickness and health, omnipresent, ubiquitous, infinite

Polarity: Yin.  Absorbent energy that allows things in.

Modality/Element: mutable/water. Pisces is feeling in constant motion. It takes the totality of experience from the last 11 signs and prepares for an absolutely new beginning by dissolving boundaries.

Ruled by: Jupiter and Neptune. The symbol is two fish swimming in two different directions. This represents the paradox of moving in two directions at once, constantly. I also think it represents the water the fish swim in; something so ubiquitous and all-encompassing that effects everything we do…yet we forget it’s there.

Embodied explorations:

Dance to music! Especially non-choreographed or improvisational dance. Pisces rules dance and music. Allow yourself to be guided by the feelings that rhythm and sound inspire!

Allow yourself to be emotionally moved by engaging with or making art. Pisces is about emotional flushing. Whether its (Pisces-ruled) poetry, photography, films or painting, surrender to emotionally powerful experiences to keep the feelings supple and circulating.

Volunteer, serve, and sacrifice. Practice putting yourself (ego) second to remind yourself that you’re part of something bigger. Pisces needs to dissolve the confines of the ego to feel like it can truly merge with something greater than itself. A lazy astrology trope for Pisces is “serve or suffer.” But I find it to be true.

Reflexology and foot care. Go barefoot (somewhere safe and comfortable). Many holistic practices assign the soul to the sole of the foot. Movement specialists have named the soles of the feet “the seat of the nervous system,” and reflexologists believe the entire body is represented there. Whatever you happen to believe, the feet are our foundation and where most of us come into relationship with the earth. Our feet need strengthening, massaging, stretching, cleaning, and love!

Manual therapy and self-massage is great for keeping the lymph moving.

Floatation therapy and hydrotherapy. Hydrate!

Yoga is wonderful for practicing the union of attention, sensation, movement, intention, and breath.

Psychic self-protection practice and building healthy boundaries.

Swimming, baths, or being near water.

Sleep and sacred napping. Keep a dream journal.

Spend time alone in reflection or working consciously with your imagination. Remove yourself from the mundane world.

Practice indirect or felt forms of communication with yourself and others. Intuitive exercises and practices, sound healing, deep listening, somatic practices, all forms of art, music and dance therapies, aromatherapy, vision boards, and collages.

Pisces season can be a magical, heart opening time. It can also be overwhelming and confusing. There are fewer boundaries between our unconscious and conscious selves. Please be mindful when using alcohol, hallucinogenic or psychotropic drugs. We are super sensitive right now.