Mercury and Mars Swim with the Fishes

3.11.09


Everything's about to get a whole lot more Piscean!

Yes, folks, both Mercury and Mars head into the sign of the fishies, lifting us from this most recent ultra-super-Aquarian (read: cerebral) moment…and into one where our thoughts and actions are much more easily swayed by emotional context.

Whether that will make any one of us more idealistic in our actions and more compassionate toward others' plights, or whether it will befuddle our clarity beneath wishful self-delusion or melodramatic melancholy, is anybody's guess. It will depend on the situation, on who the other players are and if they have your mutual best interests in mind—or if their truer, more selfish motives are also hidden by the fog.

Among all the signs, Pisces is the most easily influenced by outside factors. In an astrology chart, for instance, a soft Sun in Pisces is sometimes outshone by the rising sign, a 1st-house planet, and/or a particularly strong Mars placement. Out in the world, Pisceans will often assume the outward traits or sensibilities of the people they hang out with…just as they are likelier to suffer personal discomfort if there's 'bad energy' in a space or a toxic individual nearby.

This impressionability stems from Pisces's recognition of the unequivocal interconnectedness of All That Exists. Incidentally, this is not an intellectual recognition for Piscean types; it is a psychic one. In other words, Pisceans feel this innate identification with everyone and everything—whether they like it or not—which is why they are so instantly affected by other people's vibes, and why they may at times shape-shift in order to sustain a feeling of connection, rather than discord, with people they care for.

At its highest, then, Pisces is the sensitive soul who cares for all living beings, sees beauty and promise everywhere, and dedicates one's self to making the world a better place. But Pisces can also be a martyr, a doormat, a sucker, a 'poor me' whiner, or hopelessly addicted to helping 'fix' other people so that, one day, the interpersonal bliss can be turned eternal (though, sorry to say, everything is temporary).

The key distinction? It all boils down to wisely choosing where to channel one's compassion. (Remember : emotional context.) It's important to spend our energies helping those who are also helping themselves…who, if need be, are also willing to help us…and who, in the end, are duly respectful of this whole 'universal interconnectedness' consciousness. Otherwise, we're sinking our heart-and-soul into people and projects that do not serve us. We waste our life-essence on currents that run counter to our truest beliefs. We dwell in the land of rose-colored illusion, rather than real-life hope put into action.

Mercury entered Pisces last Sunday (Mar 8)…a place where, truth be told, he is at a major disadvantage. Mercury's main purpose is to help us process, filter and communicate information, and as such, he tends to function best when he can get a bit of distance from a situation. In Pisces, he is never afforded such distance. The thoughts we produce under his reign are highly subjective, though we may not always be aware of that fact. Our statements and opinions may vary, based upon that day's mood or who's asking. And we may lapse into saying what somebody else wants to hear, rather than what's true for us—without necessarily knowing what our 'real truth' even is.

Needless to say, this is a marvelous time for those artistic types who, in the world of their magical creations, are able to mold outer reality to their evocative inner visions. Poets, ahoy! Painters, hail! Performers, stage center! It's the fact-based, care-filled analyses of tangible stuff that's probably not going to go so well.

Mars follows suit, moving into Pisces this coming Saturday (Mar 14), further exposing our actions and assertions to the sympathetic influence of moods and feelings, both ours and other people's. In Pisces, Mars's best approach to action-taking and decision-making is (of course) an intuitive one, based on discerning the emotional distinction between a choice that feels 'right' and one that feels 'icky'.

Yet, in a seeming conundrum I've already alluded to, sometimes we go for what feels 'good' in a moment (especially under a Piscean sky)…though, deep down, we know there is some other truth we don't yet want to acknowledge because, for the moment, 'it all feels so good!' As you can see, this is quite different than something that feels 'right'. In fact, many times, the thing we know is 'right' actually doesn't feel that good in any immediate sense, like owning up to a responsibility or staying sober in a roomful of drunks.

I do believe we all possess a knack for identifying what's 'right' for us, though we may actively or unconsciously choose to silence that intuition because our ego instead insists we continue down the path of present desire. With Mars in Pisces, that 'right' feeling is liable to come on stronger. Meanwhile, Mercury in Pisces could spin a convincing tale that falsely interprets our feelings, leading us to still do what we'd wanted in the first place.

Here's where a faith-based appeal to spirit guides, guardian angels, or the Great Almighty might come in handy (and if that thought makes you gag a little, try to combat your cynicism, since Pisces is also a sign of the divine): 'Please help me to see which choice is right for me, and please support and protect me on my path so I may have the strength to make that correct choice, even when temptation beckons.'

Mercury remains in Pisces through Mar 25. Mars stays until Apr 22. And please don't forget to read all this astro-info against the ongoing backdrop of Venus retrograde.