The Moon begins a new phase with the Sun at 9 degrees, 40 minutes of Pisces on February 27, at 4:45 PM Pacific time.
Pisces is the mutable water sign, the last sign of the zodiac, like a wave that has risen and is now hitting the shore. The glyph for Pisces is two crescents facing opposite directions, united by a horizontal bar.
The name Pisces comes from a Greek myth in which the gods were plagued by a monster named Typhon. Aphrodite and her son Eros were running to evade capture when they made their way to a river. As different versions of the myth go, they escaped the monster either by jumping into the water onto the backs of two fishes, or by shape-shifting themselves to become the two fishes. Either way, they were spared from disaster by diving deep and changing into something new.
Pisces as a strong signature in a birth chart is associated with qualities of empathy, acceptance of harsh realities, and artful imagination. On the flip side, a Piscean personality may be naïve, prone to martyrdom, weak boundaries, and fuzzy or delusional thinking.
This year’s Pisces New Moon is unusual in that it’s part of a stellium as Saturn, Mercury, the lunar north node and outer planet Neptune are all lined up in Pisces. So many planetary bodies and points in a single sign make for an obvious emphasis on that sign, and its element. There can be too much of a good thing.
Two transiting aspects are prominent at this New Moon. The Sun and Moon are applying, or moving toward, a tense square with Jupiter, the traditional planetary ruler of Pisces. Jupiter is now in Gemini, the mutable air sign (from May of 2024 until June of 2025). Jupiter, while in Gemini, brings expanded thinking and the telling of big stories, whether they are true or not. With so much Piscean energy at this time, the Moon’s square with Jupiter in a cerebral air sign may bring a brief respite from what may otherwise be too much emotional overwhelm.
At this lunation, the Sun and Moon are also applying toward an encouraging trine aspect with Mars in Cancer. Mars is moving direct after a long retrograde period over the past few months. A trine is formed when planets in signs of the same element are about 120 degrees from each other. A trine is an aspect of balance. The Pisces Moon trine to Mars in Cancer spells an inclination toward courageous, compassionate action and an abundance of motherly feelings. With Cancer, the mothering needs to be checked, though, as loving feelings may also include worrying. Cancer’s a style that likes to dig its crab claws into a mission and not let go.
The Pisces stellium at the New Moon includes Saturn in Pisces, a transit of about three years, during which time we’re seeing the dissolution (Pisces) of reliable institutions (Saturn). Mercury, the fast-moving planet that travels close to the Sun, is currently in Pisces (from February 14 to March 3 and then again from March 29 to April 16). Mercury in Pisces can be a tricky placement because Mercury is associated with finite details (as with Mercury’s home earth sign Virgo) and Pisces can be like a puddle of spilled milk, spreading and dripping off a table. Mercury in Pisces is more poetic than factual.
Neptune, now in the very last couple of degrees of its long voyage through Pisces (from 2011 to 2026) is conjoined with the north lunar node, now in Pisces from January 11, 2025 until July 26, 2026. One might have a sense of being out of control in the face of unstoppable waves of change.
With each New Moon, there’s an invitation to focus one’s awareness on the sign – and element – of the two lights, the Sun and Moon. All the more so when there are multiple bodies and points in the same sign.
Spiritually, each of the four elements (earth, water, fire, air) has many dimensions. For the water element, this includes purification. There’s the initiation ritual of a baptism and the catharsis of having a good cry. Water purifies by dissolving what’s crusty, waiting to be released and carried away. To be practical, water needs containment, and that usually takes form in something of the earth: a cup, a bowl, a wall, a dam.
On earth, life now faces too much uncontained water as many of the climate catastrophes involve floods and hurricanes. Psychologically and socially, there are actors afoot who flagrantly “flood the zone” with waves of disinformation. Personally, I need ways to contain the feeling of overwhelm.
There are hints in the symbol for Pisces, and in the myth of Aphrodite and Eros. Faced with danger, the two gods, mother and son, dive into the water. They do what they must. They swim, and they shape-shift into something new. But not alone.
Like the two opposing crescents bound by a horizontal bar in the glyph for Pisces, the fates of the two fish are forever tied together. As are ours.
Blessings for the Pisces New Moon!
~ Sara
Sara R. Diamond, an astrologer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a life-long student and practitioner in several esoteric paths. Her style of astrology combines modern-psychological astrology with insights from traditional astrology. Sara is also an estate planning attorney. In addition, she has published four books on right-wing movements in the United States and earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. You are invited to contact Sara via her website at www.SaraDiamondAstrology.com.
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