Pisces - from the Box of Stars

Sensitivity, psychic powers, compassion, dreams, intuition,
other-worldliness, mysticism, empathy

As the last sign of the Zodiac, Pisces completes the cosmic cycle, which begins once more in Aries.

The Sun in Pisces

With the Sun in Pisces, you relate to life with your emotions and your intuition, rather than your reason. Like the ocean, which is Pisces' natural domain, you resent boundaries and restrictions, seeing life as one great whole. You do not pigeon hole existence into good and bad and black and white, and you are more aware than any sign of all its subtle, varies shades of meaning. Also like the ocean, you are hard to fathom or pin down and you need to dream to maintain contact with the well-springs of your own being. For it is through your dreams and intuitions that your real creative inspiration comes.

You are also highly sensitive to others' feelings and your compassion and your sympathy for suffering is profound. Because you absorb the atmosphere around you with such ease, it can be easy for more driven, tougher people to take advantage of your sensitivity and kindness. You also tend to be at the mercy of your moods, which can change from sun to rain and back to sun again without much warning.

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The Myths and Legends of Pisces

Christ, the Fisher of Men

The fishes are both a Christian and a pagan symbol. They date back to the dawn of civilisation and first appear in an early myth, pushing a giant egg out of the waters of the river Euphrates, in what is now Iraq.

From the egg emerged the love goddess Atagartis. Both she and her son-lover, Ichthys, took the form of fishes and in all her temples there were sacred fish ponds. This early fish cult, which centres around the mother goddess and her son, who dies annually and is reborn, has many things in common with the Christian story, and Christ, the Fisher of Men who divided the loaves and the fishes, was known as Ichthys, which means Fish, in early Christian times.

The Age of Pisces and the Star of Bethlehem

The beginning of the Age of the Fishes, when the spring equinox moved on after its 2000-year stay in Aries into Pisces, roughly coincided with Christ's birth, now dated by most people at around 7 BC. In that year, Jupiter and Saturn met, at the point marking the new Piscean spring equinox in the skies. Their combined light appeared to make one exceptionally bright star which, in the winter months, could have guided the three Wise Men due south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.

Pisces is a water sign and ruled by Neptune. It is considered to be the most mystically inclined of all the signs and, as the last of the twelve, it represents the return to the great ocean from which life first evolved, and where all boundaries are dissolved.

Neptune, Ruler of Pisces

The ruling planet of your personal chart is the one that rules your Rising Sign.

However, if Pisces is your Sun Sign, its ruler, Neptune, will also play an important role in your psychology.

The most spiritual of all the planets, mystic Neptune, rules imagination, dreams, ideals and the whole psychic realm. As god of the oceans, Neptune knows no boundaries and urges us to see beyond our day to day existence. It also governs magic, glamour and illusion. Its position at birth reveals the spiritual side of your nature and your psychic powers.

Its house position and the links it makes to other planets in your chart, show how it affects you personally. It describes what kind of imagination you have, what inspires you, your particular kind of idealism, and your dreams. It is also concerned with all that is unseen; your intuition and your sensitivity to the atmosphere around you.

While Saturn stands for boundaries, Neptune, the ruler of the ever-changing oceans, yearns for freedom from restrictions.

The Stars

The two fishes of Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac, swim in different directions, but bound by a cord. Al Risha, 'the cord', which is Pisces' leading star, marks the knot which ties the Fish together. The nearest star to Aries, it was here that the conjunction between the two great planets, Jupiter and Saturn, occurred in 7 BC, which may have marked the birth of Christ and led the three Magi south to Bethlehem.

To Locate

Pisces lies between Aries, the Ram, and Aquarius, the Water Carrier on the zodiac band.

Best seen looking south between October and December in the northern hemisphere. The 'circlet' of Pisces, which is the head of the Western Fish, lies just to the south of the 'Great Square of Pegasus'. South of the equator, they are on view while looking north in spring.

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