The dark side of the moon is on the rise, folks.
On March 10, 2024, the new moon in the sweet cereal milk of Pisces peaks at 4:59 AM EST, hours after we spring forward into Daylight Savings Time.
Ruling the twelfth house of secrets and endings, karmic reckoning, the subconscious and the supernatural, Pisces is a threshold sign, through and through.
The following weeks will see us welcome the spring equinox, which ushers us, torches blazing, into the adrenaline, cocaine heartbeat of Aries season — and later, a penumbral lunar eclipse and full solar eclipse.
Thus, this new moon lands/anti-shines on the precipice of great change and a baptism by fire.
Aries is the firstborn sign in the zodiac, synonymous with spring and the visceral, glorious violence of live birth.
By contrast, Pisces is the still sea before that storm, the cauldron that begets the stew, the seed in the dark soil that holds but hasn’t hatched. That energy of potential and the feeling of the thinning of the veil will be heightened by the proximity of the sun and moon to Neptune, planet of dreams and dissolution.
Spiritual meaning of the new moon in Pisces
The new moon is always a time of introspection; when things go dark, we go in and dig deep but never is that call more powerful than in the moment of the Pisces new moon.
As Pisces operates from a place of intuition rather than logic, it feels before it thinks, it imagines before it analyzes, receives rather than reacts. This is the same modality we adopt when the lights go out and we must rely on sense rather than sight.
In astrology, the equinox signifies the true onset of the new year; in this last new moon before that year begins and the holy wheel spins anew, what are we integrating and what are we obliterating?
The intuitive, introspective energy of this new moon calls to mind the Buddhist belief in the 12 nidanas that make up the Wheel of Life and the sequence of all existence.
Also known as the 12 links of dependent origination, each link is the result of what came before it and the cause of what will come next. If we extrapolate this to the zodiac wheel, Pisces is the end of the line, or jaramarana.
It is here that the cycle completes itself, death transpires and the paths of involution and evolution present themselves.
In astrology, the upcoming spring equinox signifies the true onset of the new year; at the end of this line, in this last new moon before that year begins and the holy wheel spins again, what are we integrating and what are we obliterating? What have we learned and what are we prepared to lose in service of coming through anew?
Divergent fish
The highest expression of Pisces is boundless compassion and universal, unconditional love while the slick belly of the fish is helplessness/victimhood bordering on nihilism. What divides these two expressions is not the experience of pain but a willingness to deepen and develop through it rather than to be defined by it.
Wisdom versus wallowing, if you will.
Dead still
Pisces is synonymous with deep dives, with aggregates and endings — we can honor the metaphor of death through stillness. Etymologically, the word stillness is “to put in order,” as it is in the ceasing of momentum or motive that we are able to regenerate.
A gentle suggestion; under the new moon and the influence of the ‘possibilities without boundaries’ energy of Pisces, let yourself come down to the ground and into corpse pose or slip into a bathtub with the lights out.
With the earth at your back and the sky above, there is no limit to what can be found and felt, learned and left behind.
Pisces new moon through the lens of Baduizm
Artist, musician, doula, and self-professed “UNICORN Mutant Cobra jumpin time lines,” Erykah Badu was born with both her sun and moon in the tidal pools/pulls of Pisces.
When asked via Vulture how she views herself today versus two decades ago, Badu responded, “I’ve learned so many things since then. I’ve changed in a way that involves elimination for the sake of evolution. There’s less emphasis on trying to figure things out. It’s about letting things be. I’m focusing on listening to the silence underneath everything. That’s what I try to connect with. I can listen to the silence right here, right now while we’re talking, and it feels so good. I’m in love with the silence.”
“I’m focusing on listening to the silence underneath everything.”
Erykah Badu
On the edge of spring and the lip of this moon, I hope you will make like this Pisces prophet and eliminate to evolve, surrender needing to know in favor of wanting to accept, and find ways to sit still in the dark and listen close to the quiet.
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience. She is also an accomplished writer who has profiled a variety of artists and performers, as well as extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling. Among the many intriguing topics she has tackled are cemetery etiquette, her love for dive bars, Cuban Airbnbs, a “girl’s guide” to strip clubs, and the “weirdest” foods available abroad.
