wishing wells & WILD PEARLS : the ripple effect of the new moon in pisces

“The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms,

it has its tides and in its depths, it has its pearls too.”

—Vincent van Gogh (Venus/Mars/MC/Neptune in Pisces click to have a look at his chart)

new moon in pisces

February 19/20, 2023

This new moon feels like a wishing well. sometimes, the ideas we build about what we should have, who we think we are, dissolve. and when they do… a world beyond our control allows for something more than we could have imagined. maybe in that dissolution we find peace, but there’s no fighting it. “All castles built upon the sand fall in the sea, eventually.”

when what is no longer aligned for us dissolves, and we surrender, what might appear in its place? The transfer of that energy is the wish… letting go in order to fully arrive in this moment. beyond the walls you’ve built, what does the house hold? set it free, and maybe it will reveal something greater than your wildest dreams.

This new moon in Pisces is an opportunity to make an offering, a prayer with an echo. It feels like a moment to anchor your intentions & beliefs… and then surrender to the possibility that believing them is the gravity needed for the cards to begin to fall into place.

A few degrees from the fixed star Formahault, there’s a magical boom awaiting the energy just beyond this moment. While the weekend speeds through Venus’s exaltation degree on Friday and lands at 29° of Pisces at the exact new moon moment, this could be a reflective moment of culmination, a sort of bounty that collects around topics of relationship, money, value, art & creativity. A vibe check, tuning into the subtle energy around you which informs how you flow.

How do you value your gifts? Are you able to give and receive in equal measure? Do you feel that you understand the value of what you offer, and do others seem to respect the boundaries of the value you create? Do you truly know & acknowledge your worth, and are you able to stay in your worth when doubt and tests arise? Do you have healthy boundaries around who you are and the sensational energy that moves through you? Can you stay grounded in that energy when others (consciously or unconsciously) push and pull against those boundaries?

The first decan of Pisces is about the abyss of potential in the oceanic all-ness of humanity. In it we find the wandering drift of daydreams and the lovely ramble, ‘not all who wander are lost.’ It represents a moment of surrender, knowing sometimes that to find what you seek requires surrender to the unknown, a trust fall that the universe often provides the answer we need in the places we can’t find with a map, a plan, a straight line. Even surrender has guiding potential. Intuition & inner knowing, cast a vast net in the inter-connected waters of experience. In the all-ness, we find compassion & the truth that no matter how alike or different we are, we are all in it together, and the gravity of letting go often exceeds our limited ability to perceive & manifest results. If we make a wish, tossing the coin into the waters is not a lost resource, it is an exchange of value… an offering to the cosmic forces which often respond in metaphorical miracle making.

Pisces is a sign known for its sensitive, emotional, compassionate and ethereal wonder. The watery edges of piscean depths are changeable, and like a drop of water in the ocean, difficult to hold on to tightly. Pisces dissolves us into the whole. From the perspective of the Pisces part of your chart, you melt into the overwhelming vastness that we are woven into a grand cosmic web. As a mutable/nocturnal water sign, much of what Pisces preaches is felt, and not seen. These are the ‘elephants in the room’ moments, the vibe from someone you just met giving you another layer of information that can often be difficult to put into words. Pisces does not excel in clear cut edges. It softens into and around what is firm. It submerges the things in life that have hard lines. Pulling upon the immensely felt pressure, a fathomless embrace, around borderline… knowing that there is power un the formless which goes beyond the known shape of a thing.. A kind of power that pulls things deeper, and works upon their material edges like objects which eventually land at the bottom of the ocean. The metal hull of a ship will slowly dissolve along the alchemy of salt water and sea creatures… after centuries. The edges of the ship itself transform on the ocean floor becoming an ecosystem. We don't see the results of this transformation right away. That sunken treasure could very well remain hidden from sight for the rest of time. Some may never discover the treasure of these underwater worlds. Some may never be brave enough to venture into the depths to find it.

energy work : a practice

I recently came across the work of Cyndi Dale (through Maryam Hasnaa), and wanted to share a very simple and powerful practice she offered. The human aura is an energetic field that extends a few feet around the body in all directions. According to Cyndi, the very outer edges of the aura are connected to an energetic point at the center of your heart, the very center of your chest, which she calls ‘the God point.’ In yoga, this point is also referred to as the cave of the heart or the seat of the soul.

If you are unfamiliar with energy work, start simply by taking a few breaths and as you inhale, notice the quality and texture where the air meets your skin. With each inhale, notice the experiences of that air moving through your body, and with each exhale notice any changes in the quality of that space around you. As you begin to subtly tune into that space, you can extend your awareness to the whole concentric field of your aura. You may notice that the space closest to your body feels different than the spaces farther out, or it may feel similar… there is no right or wrong discovery. On average, the human aura extends about 3-15 feet from the body, but can be larger than this as well. Using your imagination, allow your awareness to map the outer edges of your energetic field. Just simply notice what is there for you.

cyndi dale’s god point energy clearing technique

Bring your awareness to the center of your chest, a subtle point of energy that sits just in front of your spine & just behind the breast bone.  Begin to imagine a point of light radiating from this place. Intuitively allow a color to begin to radiate from this point. Pink, gold, silver & green are some of the resonant colors to this chakra, but you may choose any color that feels right to you in the moment. As you breathe deeply allowing your lungs to expand, with each exhale imagine the color growing outward to fill the space of your aura… extending to the outer edges of your felt energetic field. Allow your self to bask in this color, letting your attention rest at the god point, the center of your heart, and allowing the color to extend outward washing through the space around your body. You can do this practice anytime you’d like. With a sense of gratitude, release any expectations and allow yourself to be just as you are in this moment. Close with thanks to yourself and the higher source of energy which moves through your awareness. (God, spirit, universe… you name it.)

the heart cave

Monica Bietti, the current director of the Medici Chapels museum, examines the sketches on the chamber walls while holding a book of Michelangelo's work

From this central place within, we reconnect to truth. We meet ourselves just as we are. We recollect our energy, processing what we have gone through and what we will carry moving forward. In 1975, Paolo Dal Poggetto (then director of the Medici Chapels in Florence, Italy) stumbled upon a trap door. Inside the secret chamber, Poggetto uncovered drawings hidden beneath layers of plaster that were reminiscent of artworks done by Michelangelo, Pisces Sun, Moon & Mars (see his chart here). “When we have very old buildings, we must pay attention,” Poggetto recalled, as his attuned senses granted him an advantage to what might be hiding beneath the washed walls.

Michelangelo, who had designed the tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici in the New Sacristy above the hidden room, may have escaped to this room to hide from the Medici family. He may have come here to have private moments of reflection. He may have come here to brainstorm his ideas, to immerse himself in a place undisturbed.

This New Moon is a moment to explore a world of one’s own. Like Michelangelo, to carve space to look at and process the ideas you have circulating, to take a moment and reflect on all that creativity stirs in you. In the inner world, amongst the quiet of the self, truth emerges without interference from the outside. When we tap into this essence, it strengthens our ability to take authentic action. When we reconnect to our true nature, we establish a relationship with loving ourselves without the need for others approval or patronage. To find beauty within precedes the creation of beauty in the world around you.

post-production: saturnian forecast & other stellar events

As Saturn gears up to enter the first decan of Pisces on March 7 (to stay in Pisces through 2026), the new moon provides a moment of clarity into those depths of the quiet inner peace. Do you trust your own senses well enough to navigate dissolve? Could dissolve… letting go… be the very thing that allows the grit or the irritation to initiate the process of the pearl? Earlier the in the day, moments before the new moon, Venus will sextile Pluto from 29° Pisces to 29° Capricorn, further emphasizing the power of crafting an intentional process with how we respond to transformation at this time.

As the new moon arrives, notice what lands in your life. It’s a good moment to recognize the impressions you carry at this time. What is yours, what has entered your feild that is not yours? Does it irritate or inspire… is it possible to be inspired by irritation? Notice what feels inspiring, what feels deeply felt & what feels as though it needs to be cleared. Find what feels as though it needs your response at this time… and consider what it might take to thoughtfully embrace this as a collaborative effort. How my your response weave this moment into the fabric of what aligns with your essence… and prepare yourself. Let the process be precious. Guard your way with compassion, tenderness, and care. When Saturn enters the picture, what doesn’t get washed away under the pressure stream of limitations, loss, and restriction (some of Saturns more challenging significations) may indeed become the grain which initiates the pearl of your imagination to begin to take a masterful form.

It is this which causes the mollusk to make the pearl, layer by layer, the mollusk responds to an irritant (a foreign object trapped in the inner layers of its shell) by sending something called ‘nacre’ - the material which makes up the ‘mother-of-pearl’ of its own shell to the area of the debris to protect itself. This protective mechanism is actually what creates the pearl. Each layer is an attempt to encapsulate the the foreign object… and the result over time is a beautiful form. An opalescent surface glimmers with hardened hope from the response formed through care & protection.

Imagining that the center of a pearl is actually an intruder, a grain of sand, a seed, a parasite, a foreign object which does not belong… seems like the medicine of this new moon. Something enters your life now that will require your attention. A sudden realization of … oh, I need to tend to this. That focus and attention will initiate the ‘nacre’, the material of your essence beginning to build.

The key is go slow. Respond with gentleness, let your instinct guide your choices on your own time. The more intentional you can be with your energy in response to this moment, the more subtle and nuanced the process… will allow what forms now to reflect more light, to carry more intelligence. The intention you hold as you respond to life now will color the form of your life. The quality and rarity of a pearl is determined by the environment the mollusk is in. The more stressed and overwhelmed the mollusk, the more likely the pearl will reflect less light. The mollusk will send dense layers of nacre to respond quickly, the layers are less translucent & nuanced, forming a more opaque pearl. But… if the conditions in the environment are supportive to the mollusk, the response is more gentle, the layers formed are of a thinner material, and through the process of layer the very translucent nacre… the opalescence is enhanced. How to we encourage light to enter as a collaborative material in response to irritation, protection, and patterns of defense which typically keep us safe? How do we respond with more intention?

pearls of pisces of wisdom

Pisces are known for their creativity. It is said that the best art triggers a reaction in the viewer, and often the art is created along this same vein. It’s the reaction that opens the conversation to change, allowing something to move through your perception. How you formulate the response is the creative act that makes the art what it is through the eyes of the viewer. As Kaitlyn Coppock writes “the Eye as the Wand”, it is the line of energy between self and other that harnesses the power to yield the tool.

Take time to scan the world within you and around you & recognize what requires your attention, care, focus, and response. A quiet discovery. A commitment to encasing this thing in an opalescent cocoon. And by doing so… engaging with the thing… creates something of potential beauty and value. At the center of that was an irritation, a call to action. Each response to it becomes the art, one layer at a time.

We’re in it for the long-haul. There is a need to rise to responsibility to your dreams, focus your imagination, & the things you believe that emanate from the center of your heart. Commit to examining them, shaping them, refining them, and in doing so building a world which can promote a beautiful refinement the collaboration required to allow life to influences you and in turn move through you to carry that energy onward. To become changed through you, made of your material, imprinted codes of response encasing the very thing which urged you forward. A dream becomes strong, resilient, iridescent, alive, a thing of value. In this moment, it is an anchor, a hope, a wishing well. Stay open, and guard your gleaming flashes with the knowing that they are yours and yours alone until the pearl forms. Take your time.

Hans Erni b. 1909 (Italian) Pisces Sun & Moon

xx, alexandria