True Tarot Tales

Bringing in Beltane…Magical May Eve

30 April is known as May Eve, marking May Day and the beginning of the ancient Celt festival of Beltane.

Beltane begins at dusk on 30 April and is matched by its European counterpart, Walpurgis Nacht, or St Walpurga’s Night in Germanic tradition.

St Walpurga or Walburge was born in Crediton in Devon, but travelled widely as a missionary in the service of her uncle St Boniface, and eventually became abbess of a monastery in Heidenheim in modern Bavaria where she died 25 February 777 or 779. She was canonized 1 May 870.

Walpurga is reputed to protect sailors in storms at sea, reputedly thanks to a miracle when she was sailing to Germany and a terrible storm broke out, and she knelt on deck and prayed and the storm cleared as if by magic…

And yet, interestingly, Walpurga is also a protector against witchcraft. Curious, isn’t it. That someone’s holy prayer is someone else’s satanic spell or witch’s invocation.

Origins

Two great festivals in northern Europe long pre-dating Christianity were Samhain (Halloween) marking the start of winter, and Beltane (April 30/May 1) marking the start of summer.

Beltane ‘the fires of Bel’ began as an ancient fire festival celebrated since at least the Dark Ages if not long before. The celebrations began at dusk on April 30^th when great bonfires were lit to welcome the height of spring now associated with the zodiac sign of Taurus the Bull, representing the fertility of spring in full bloom.”

Traditionally,” writes Glennie Kindred (in Sacred Celebrations), “all fires in the community were put out and a special fire was kindled for Beltane. This was the ‘balefire’ or the Teineigen, the ‘need fire.’

Bel or Belenus (Celtic: possibly, Bright One) was a deity associated with pastures, meadows and animal husbandry and other agriculture. He was a fire god rather than a sun god as such, though the sun was used as a common motif in religious imagery.

The cattle were walked between two bonfires in a symbolical purification ritual, to be protected by the smoke from Bel’s fire before being put out to the open pastures for the summer. Bonfires were lit on sacred hills too, and the smoke was considered a magical blessing on the fields, animals, and community, and was also supposed to maintain a fragile balance, keeping up a smokescreen, literally, between the human and faery realms.

The month of May got its name from Maia, also called Flora, the Greek goddess of spring and new abundance. Maia was the oldest of the seven sisters known as the Pleiades, and she was the mother of Hermes (Mercury.) The last zodiac sign of Spring, Gemini, is ruled by airy Mercury, as the air fills with butterflies and pollen.

The name ‘May’ has been used in English since about 1430. Before this time the name of this month was spelled Maius or Mai. The Anglo- Saxons called it Tri-Milchus because all that lush new grass meant cows could now be milked three times a day.

The celebration of May Day has its roots in astronomy, celebrating the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. It has been celebrated in the British Isles and through much of Europe as a fertility festival since the Dark Ages, and probably before that, with many stories and superstitions attached.

Superstitions

Like Halloween, May Eve and May Day is a magical time of year, liminal, when the veil between different worlds and realities is thinner than at other times of year.

Beltane or Walpurgisnacht is the mirror image, the spring season’s equivalent of Halloween when witches are said to dance at the Devil’s Sabbath.

This is a time for ghosts, but this is also the time of year when folklore suggests you are most likely to meet a supernatural being from the realm of ‘faery.’

The Fae are an ancient race, and they do not like humans whom they view as destructive, and who is to say they do not have a fair point there. The Fae are afraid of iron. To keep them at bay-

Touch wood no good

Touch iron, this you can rely on…

In this sense the Fae could be said to represent the spirit of humanity before the Iron Age.

They are not the cute creatures of fairy tale. Encounters are dangerous and are best avoided – or you may never be seen again. Do not, whatever you do, go to sleep on a fairy hill at any time, but especially not on May Eve or May Day and especially beware of going to sleep under flowering hawthorn bushes ….

Sex and Scandal

The Christian church made attempts to ban May Day festivities outright because of their overtly pagan nature and “lewd” context as an open celebration of male and female sexuality and fertility – ‘a heathenish vanity generally abused to superstition and wickedness.’

May Day meant drinking and fighting, another reason for the church’s disapproval, but this in itself harks back to the ancient traditions of the sacrifice of ‘The Green Man’ – a mythical figure representing the eternal battle waged between summer and winter, feast and famine. Many pubs in England are still named The Green Man.

In Padstow, Minehead and some other places in the UK, mischievous hobby-horses (‘osses) roamed the streets in search of unsuspecting young ladies to ‘carry away’ for undisclosed purposes.

*Morris dancers up to no good riding with hobbyhorses, Richmond embankment,1620*

Men who had been disappointed in love would make straw men representing their rivals and stick them on bushes. These depictions were needless to say, often deeply unflattering, and fighting might well follow once they were discovered and identified and the maker was known.

May Day harks back to the ancient traditions of the sacrifice of ‘The Green Man’ – a mythical figure representing the eternal battle waged between summer and winter, feast and famine. Many pubs in England are still named The Green Man.

This splendid depiction is on a boss in Rochester Cathedral, thanks to Wikimedia Commons.

The Puritans banned May Day under Oliver Cromwell but Charles 11 brought it back into custom after the Restoration.

Maypole Dancing goes back at least to the 14th century, but it seems the custom was very old even then, though the dance as we know it today, so pretty and decorative(and tame) -children dancing in village squares, is probably a Victorian invention . The maypole is generally assumed to be a phallic symbol, but the Norse peoples connected it with tree worship, and this connects British and Germanic tradition going back to a shared proto-germanic culture which is part of the common root culture in British life even today.

The Maypole dancing which so upset the Church and the Puritans comes down to us from the rites of spring dedicated to Freya.

The maypole originally represented a living tree, in particular the giant ash tree Yggdrasil, the great “world tree” of Norse myth, linking the nine worlds of the Norse cosmology including Asgard, land of the gods, Midgard, or Earth and Hel, the underworld.

“Ygg” means terrible. It was on this tree that Odin chose to hang nine days and nights, thirsty and fasting in exchange for the knowledge of the runes. The Norns sit beneath it and when every new person is born, carves their names into its bark…and with it, their destiny, although this can change. The Norns will allow us to rewrite it, unlike the destinies woven by the three Fates of Greek mythology.

Walpurgis Night

Also In the Germanic tradition, Walpurgis Night, on April 30th is a moon festival sacred to the goddess Freya.

“Walpurga” is another one of Freya’s names. The re-dedication of the holiday to “St. Walpurga” was a later Christian addition.

Freya (Old Norse, Freyja meaning “Lady”) is one of the pre-eminent goddesses in Norse mythology. She was the goddess of love and beauty in Norse mythology, the goddess of marriage and family and a great prophetess – a seeress. She taught her husband Odin how to read the runes, and like Odin, she had a fiercer aspect as a patron deity of war and death in battle.

Freya wears a cloak of falcon feathers and has a magical gold necklace called Brísingamen. She rides in a chariot pulled by two cats and a sacred boar called Hildisvíni runs alongside, though he is not shown in this picture.

The cats, it has been speculated, were two male kittens found by Thor. They had been abandoned by their mother and he took them to Freya. What kind of cats? I’d have thought Norwegian Forest cats, but legend suggests the kittens were grey-blue and on that basis it’s speculated they were Russian Blues.

Bringing in the May

I washed my face in water

That had neither rained nor run

And then I dried it on a towel

That was never woven or spun

The rhyme suggests we go out barefoot very early on May morning and wash our faces in all that magical dew (or late snow) Your complexion will instantly improve. Let the wind and sunshine dry our faces and we’ll have good luck all year.
Bringing in ‘the may’ means gathering cuttings of flowering trees for magical protection of the home. Bring in branches of forsythia, magnolia, lilac, or other flowering branches. Decorate the doorway to keep away unfriendly fae and other spirits
Make garlands or decorate a basket or a ‘May bush’ with flowers and coloured ribbons. This would often be a hawthorn bush but it doesn’t have to be.
If you need to move a bee hive, May 1 is a traditional day for doing it, hopefully clement for the bees.
Turnips are traditionally planted on May 1. Plant now for lovely mashed turnip later. What are you waiting for?
Fishermen expect to get lucky with catch on May Day.
It’s a powerful day for spell-casting…any spells to do with bringing in health, wealth, and abundance. Light a red or pink candle for love or passion…but be careful what you wish for, and it is unlucky to try and take what is not rightfully available to you.
Traditionally it is unlucky to get married in May. ‘Marry in May, regret it for aye.’ But not to panic if you’ve got the date already booked. The writer of this article was born on May Eve and got married in May – 30 years ago this year- and like all of us, has had mixed luck in life. But so far at least is still married.

This Beltane, Venus has moved into her astrological home turf of Taurus. Good for money, the Stock Exchange. Good for all things green and growing. Good for glamour…an old term for magic. Venus will stay here for almost a month. And Mars moves into its home sign of Aries on 30 April. Pow. Action time. Vim and vigour.

This Walpurgis baby turns 61 on 30 April. Vim and vigour, not feeling it so much, but we shall see…..I may report back.

Wishing you the best of Beltane 2024

Until next time 🙂

The Cards say Coronavirus 2-an update

I Tweeted earlier today 28 April 2020:

“When will we see blanket lifting of lock down? (Esp UK) Prev readings posted here & on my blog indicated sharp rise to 7 April, initial peak easing post 23 April with partial lifting. Wider lifting by/b4 c 21 June (during Cancer) Today’s cards show little change 2 that story.”

So what are these cards telling me?

9 Clubs: a heavy burden. We’re taking this to town, staggering beneath the burden. Stamina required, and a strong sense of duty, a card of physical and moral fortitude.

6 Spades: a slow and solemn journey into previously uncharted territory, scientific research, illness and a road to recovery. I drew this card in my posting here 6 April when Boris Johnson went into hospital, ‘for further testing,’ when I wrote that this looked very serious but his recovery was indicated by this card, although it might well take him 3- 8 weeks to feel fully recovered.

A nurse from the ICU in St Thomas’s hospital has recently told a news programme that there had been one night when Boris Johnson was in the ICU when it could have gone ‘either way’, something no-one told the public at the time – but speculation was rife and many guessed it was worse than we were being told.

Jack of Hearts: good news, healing, a baby, early summer. This is the hinge card in the reading and suggests June. Pages indicate beginnings (and births) while, keeping to the original question – when do we sense the blanket lifting of lock-down…this will be happening in stages. That is clear, but the Hearts suit is the suit associated with summer, the equivalent of the Cups suit in a tarot deck.

6 Diamonds: medical diagnostics. The timing of the lifting of the lockdown will depend on the data. And the interpretation of that data

2 Hearts. The suits indicate different speeds or time-frames. Diamonds is the fastest suit, and Spades is the slowest. If I’m asking when or how long and I draw Hearts, the time-frame is read in terms of weeks at the fastest, and in terms of months at the slowest. This suggests further selective lifting of the lock-down may be phased in or tested within the next two weeks but for the broader picture, since we are now at the end of April, this brings us to late June before the UK as a whole, is declared out of lock-down, though it is evident it will not be business as before.

Tweeted 16 March

“Covid-19 UK via Tarot. Graph climbs- Full Moon 7/8 April- New Moon 23 April, peaked by late June-late July (the healing Queen Cups card = dates of Cancer) then post-peak phase till late Nov/early December 2020 (8 Wands Rx =Sagittarius) As ever naturally only Time will tell.”

The Queen of Cups from The Golden Tarot.

Seen on Twitter earlier today, a comment echoing that Full Moon date of around 8 April:

Professor Karol Sikora @ProfKarolSikora·7h The peak was around the 8th of April. Since then we have seen a gradual, but steady decline in fatalities. This isn’t blind positivity – the numbers tell the story. It’s been a horrific month, but we have got through the worst of it. Now we need to look to the future.

Professor Sikora directs us to a recent graph presented by David Paton tweeting as @cricketwyvern. He is Professor of Industrial Economics Nottingham University Business School

I may previously have muddled case incidence interchangeably with the lock-down, and right now I may feel less optimistic than Prof Sikora.

Yes, that heaviness, the feeling of dread is retreating even as the wailing rises. Yes, it looks set to improve in weeks rather than months, yes, the lock-down looks like it starts/continues in stages over the coming 2-8 weeks. Collectively we’ll be ‘out of jail June 21- July 21, some of us much sooner, but we’ll need to stay on guard for quite some time to come…I feel that could be next February/March 2021.

We can all see this is a particularly horrible virus, a Frankenstein creation, natural yet unnatural, born out of unimaginable suffering, whatever the chain of provenance between live animals in the Wuhan market, wild and domesticated, and an accident in a nearby lab.

As an instance of a genie let out of a bottle, or a demon, or bad karma, this could hardly be worse, though we’ve seen it before in other places, as with with the horrors of CJD for example after cattle were fed bone-meal…herbivores were fed BONE-MEAL from sheep infected with scrapie and farmers had not been told what was in that feed.

Covid19 has, some might feel, been rather too anthropomorphically characterized as malign and malevolent. It behaves with apparent cunning, determination and subterfuge. As to its sentience, we assume a virus has none, but it demonstrates a drive, it has particular modes, it seems likely that it can mutate, and it has an agenda, the same as we do arising at least in part from consumption of bats which like many rodents, have a truly ancient and for them, largely benign history with coronavirus, and the illegal hunting of endangered species such as tigers and pangolins for food or traditional Chinese ‘medicine.’.

Lords of the Atlas, but it is not ours to rule.

Back to the original question: it still looks as though the situation will be judged sufficiently manageable that the general present lock down is significantly lifting or lifted by or before late June-into July.

Stay safe.

Until next time 🙂

The Seasons in the Stars- Hey Toro! The Star-Bull Taurus

Common Associations

Dates: April 21-May 21 The cusp is April 19/20
Element: Fixed earth (mid spring)
Ruling planet: Venus
Body: neck, throat, tonsils
Birthstone: Emerald
Metal: copper
Flower: the Daisy; innocence, sanctity
Tree: the Apple Tree; youth, beauty, happiness, immortality. Avalon, resting place of King Arthur went was the ‘isle of apples’
Colours: pastel blue, green, pink
Famous for: strength, stamina, stubbornness, practicality, thoroughness, duty, honesty, sensuality, money sense, a pleasant speaking voice, artistic/singing ability, green fingers, good cooking, independence
Professions: Politics, Banking, (also think Bull markets) Agriculture, Construction, Arts, Musician, Entertainment, Beauty, Fashion, Restaurants
Tarot card: The Hierophant- Tradition, Received wisdom, Books

Astronomy

Taurus (Latin for Bull) is a large and prominent constellation between Aries to the west and Gemini to the east. It ranks 17^th in size of the 48 Greek constellations recorded by Ptolemy in his introduction to the Mathematics of the Heavens, the Almagest, written AD 150.

The stars of Taurus depict the face, horns and forepart of the bull’s body. His face is made up of a triangular cluster of stars called The Hyades. There are no legs. The bull is imagined half submerged. He is the mythical Bull from the Sea. A second cluster of stars, The Pleiades, known as The Seven Sisters, swarm like bees above his back.

The best time to observe Taurus in the night sky is during the months of December and January. By March and April, you might see it in the west in the twilight.

To find Taurus first the three stars of Orion’s belt. That’s usually easy on a clear winter’s night. Now look up to the right, looking north- east, See that bright orange-red star? That’s Aldebaran, ‘The Follower,’ a red giant, the biggest, brightest star in the constellation, the red eye of the Bull, glaring in the direction of Orion.

Should the Bull escape his heavenly pen, said an ancient Arabic legend, he would stampede the universe to pieces, and it would be the end of things for all time. Let’s hope nothing upsets him.

Wiki Commons: the horns, face and the giant red star, Aldebaran, the Eye of the Bull, glaring menacingly in the direction of Orion the Hunter

Taurus has been recognized as a sky bull since at least the Early Bronze Age. Historians think the figure of a bull was first discerned in the stars by the Sumerians around 3000 BC and was recorded in cuneiform by the Babylonians.

Ancient History

In modern astrology Aries is the first sign of the western zodiac, ushering in the spring (vernal) equinox along with the first lambs.

However, 4000 years ago it was Taurus, not Aries that coincided with the vernal equinox, and for Babylonian astronomers Taurus was the first sign of the Zodiac, ‘the Bull in front,’- leading from the front.

The Bull was also the first sign for the early Hebrews, who called it Aleph, as in A, the first letter of the alphabet.

Taurus coincided with the start of the calving season.

The bull, like its ancestors, the wild aurochs, is a potent symbol of strength and fertility, but where Leo the lion, represents wild strength, Taurus the bull is domesticated, controlled strength, as harnessed in oxen or a bull with a ring through his nose. One of the several archetypes associated with Taurus is ‘The Farmer,’ and many a bull has worn a ring through its nose for the sake of the farmer’s safety. The dairy bulls, breeds such as the Charolais for instance, are especially to be handled with care where the famous black bulls used in bullfighting are by comparison, more easygoing.

The bull has exerted a magical influence on human imagination even before the dawn of agriculture. Aurochs, the fiercer, wild ancestors of the modern bull, were painted in the Lascaux caves in France, in paintings thought to date from 15000 BC.

The most famous section of the Lascaux caves in the Dordogne in France is the Hall of the Bulls, featuring four black bulls, or aurochs. One of the bulls is 5.2 metres (17 ft) long, the largest animal discovered so far in cave art.

It is thought that the aurochs migrated at this time of year; a dangerous but potentially highly rewarding hunting opportunity. Not only did the aurochs provide the luxury of meat, but the horns and hide had many uses.

Hunting gave way to farming of animals, guaranteeing supplies with less risk attached. The first ever cattle, goats, sheep, and pig- farming began in the so-called ‘Fertile Crescent;’ a region covering eastern Turkey, Iraq, and south-western Iran about 12000 years ago.

These farming practices spread westwards, and in time had a genetic effect on the human population, with the sudden appearance of a gene mutation that enabled humans to digest raw cow’s milk. It’s not known when this first occurred, but it probably happened first in Northern Europe and today 35 % of the global human population can digest the milk sugar, lactose. Click on this link to find out more on this subject.

The Cult of the Bull and related Worship

The bull was considered a divine animal throughout antiquity and was a symbol of the moon, fertility, rebirth, and royal power, while today, the Lithuanian word ‘taurus’ means ‘noble.’

There is evidence of bull cults throughout the Mediterranean starting in Anatolia, dating from at least 70000 BC. From the worship of the Apis bull in Egypt, to bull-leaping in Knossos and the sacrificial portrayal in Roman Mithraism, the bull has been an integral part of many diverse and important religious traditions.

Greek legend associated Taurus with the legend of Zeus and Europa, in which the god Zeus, up to his sneaky tricks yet again, disguised himself as a beautiful, gentle white bull, coaxed the princess Europa into climbing on his back, then abducted her, swam away with her to Crete, and made her one of his mistresses. The many gifts Zeus gave Europa included a pet dog that later became the constellation Canis Major. Their children supposedly included Minos, King of Crete, the builder of the Labyrinth and the famous palace at Knossos where the bull games were held.

Bull worship, or rather, the concept of the bull as divine concept gradually migrated ever westwards and northwards. The Celtic druids held Tauric festivals at least 2000 years ago, and there is archaeological evidence of bull worship near Newcastle and York in the UK.

The Buddha was born when the Full Moon was in Taurus (Vesak) and his birthday is celebrated at the Vesak Festival which occurs on the first Full Moon in Taurus.

Beware of the bull

Like the Bull himself, the classic Taurus subject, male or female, is generally peaceable, pleasant, even placid. But Taurus will not be disrespected, pushed or driven. Other people can get a shock when Taurus suddenly sees red …and they don’t give a lot of warning. The mistake of the other person was in underestimating them, taking their good nature for granted once too often.

Bulls cannot physically see red. It is the movement of the toreador’s cape that provokes them, and not the colour. But when the human bull ‘sees’ red, they either dig in hard, or may charge head on.

Taurus in a full-on rage is a ‘bull in a china shop’ – the Earth sign that will withstand or demolish the opposition of other more famous ‘fighting’ signs, Aries, Leo, and even lethal Scorpio, its opposite number in the zodiac.

Taurus doesn’t like to fight but doesn’t lose in a fair fight. The bull ring is not a fair fight; that’s the tragedy of Taurus. But if a Taurus is being unreasonable, misbehaving, or being a ‘bully’ quietly stand your ground. It should pass. Taurus is not at all vindictive as a rule.

But why upset the Bull? Look at him, quietly grazing. Taurus is not a saint, and can be difficult or grumpy sometimes, but he’s really not looking for trouble. Do as you would be done by, and everything should be buttercups and daisies in your everyday dealings with the Taurus subject, man or woman.

Mirror, Mirror in my cards….

Last night we heard that the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson went into hospital for ‘further testing.’

What does this signify?

Social media is a shocker. The sheer venom and schadenfreude of those sitting in judgement, ill-wishing another. There has been so much sad news already. We don’t need more, although more is surely coming.

For those declaring the PM caught it from flouting his own advice, speculation is rife, and it is possible Boris Johnson caught the coronavirus following a meeting with Michel Barnier, who subsequently tested positive and went into self isolation, and I would also wish M Barnier well.

I drew the following playing cards last night about 9.30, asking for the oracular ‘take’ on this unsettling development, and was struck at the way the cards mirrored the facts as reported, though also with an undertow not reported, but which could be inferred by any one of us in contemplating this situation.

Let me briefly explain again for any new visitors on this site: I ask myself a question, the cards are shuffled blind and drawn entirely at random, and I lay them out left to right in a schematic representation which can be read in a number of ways; eg, Past-present-possible future, or I may interpret my line of cards as representing: problem- crisis-resolution.

The first card supplies my baseline, and if it is obviously relevant to the matter in hand, this lets me know if I am on the right track.

I generally use 5 cards but here you will notice I have pulled extra cards, for no particular reason, except as prompted by my intuition, in seeking further clarity.

Cartomancy spread for Boris Johnson 05/04.2020

The Top Row, reading left to right…the outcome is indicated by a combination of the central card and also the final card in the row:

The Ten of Diamonds = Number 10 Downing Street

The Three of Swords = pain of separation, Carrie Symonds and Boris Johnson, perhaps also a reference to the PM’s recent divorce.

The Queen of Spades= Carrie Symonds. Experiencing considerable stress, as one might imagine, and we know she has also been ill. This also refers to other family, BJ’s mother, and to his former wife, Marina who has had some very serious health difficulties. BJ is mindful of all three.

The Ace of Spades Reversed: Crux of the matter. Spades is the suit of Air. An Ace is a breath. It suggests Boris became breathless, and it was this that necessitated the removal to hospital. Further testing may therefore suggests testing for a subsequent bacterial infection…possible secondary pneumonia and a possible need for antibiotics. I heard mention today of oxygen therapy for Boris, and if this is correct, it would seem to support that interpretation. The Ace of Spades is notorious as the card of endings. But reversed, it additionally suggests this is ‘not the end.’

The King of Spades is Boris himself; a Gemini subject, a king of the suit of Air. Mercurial, so intellectually agile, his speech cannot always keep up, and his capabilities may be mistrusted, misjudged or underestimated. He is buoyant, some might say, and indeed they do, unduly so, and his resilience in based in a native physical energy and a temperamentally innate optimism.

Two of Clubs: well it is serious, but it is not the Ten of Spades. That is an utter stinker of a card…it might only mean a migraine (only!) but it can be worse than the Death card – which when it denotes real, actual human mortality (and often it does not) refers to a natural, timely passing, in my experience

I am a sceptical psychic practitioner, and that is not mutually exclusive except in binary thinking. I am extremely conscious that young, strong people are succumbing to this horrible viral pneumonia, and if we hear the PM is on a ventilator, well, it’s bleak news indeed,but others have come back from that. This reading is mirroring what we already know, which serves to illustrate the synchronicity that happens in a reading….the common experience of an apparently random but oddly meaningful coincidence.

The Bottom Row

The Joker: This card is representing both the ‘wild card’ of the coronavirus, and also the Prime Minister himself. The Joker or the Fool as it is known in Tarot is not to be mistaken for a fool in the sense of stupidity. The Joker is the most powerful and most numinous card in the playing deck, just as the Fool is in a tarot deck. There is no predicting the Joker. It is the ultimate Fate card; the hand of destiny.

The Ace of Hearts Reversed: Loss of wellness, sadness and worry, concern for a child (or in this case existing children and a new baby on the way)

The Ace of Diamonds: This is a positive card when read in it’s own right, indicative of medical diagnostic expertise. Read in conjunction with the Seven of Diamonds, I read it as ‘fever/contagion’.

The King of Diamonds means a doctor, and probably refers to one or more medical advisers currently in attendance.

The King of Clubs refers to another doctor, and also a senior government figure being kept closely briefed (Clubs = the business of government)

The Three of Clubs There is a key team at work here; an inner team of 3 government figures keeping close counsel.

Let’s turn to my Tarot cards….better pictures. So read us a story, morning glory.

From The Legacy of The Divine Tarot, artist Ciro Marchetti

Card 1: The Ace of Pentacles Reversed = head of government absent, someone left home, the physical body is topsy-turvy, one cannot eat, business is not as usual. Money is lost. Sadly true for too many.

Card 2: The Fool. Aha, Here we have another face of The (totally serious) Joker. Boris Johnson, and look, he has his little dog Dylan right there with him. He has been a bit ‘out of it’ with this fever.

Card 3: The Six of Swords; a solemn undertaking, a journey into the unknown. Styxian, but I strongly relate to this card, and based on past experience of this card, more often than not it signifies the road to recovery. Time frame 6 days-6 weeks.

This morning I read an ominous prognostication via an esteemed colleague on Twitter, Kyra Oser; a psychic tarot reader in the US :

Fasting Fridays for Future@KyraOser·3h Today’s #Tarot: Tower, Devil R, 4 of Pentacles R This week brings the fall of more than one leader. The demise will come in threes. Mass unemployment of millions more will expose the greed of extreme wealth. The systems of past times will be overturned in an economic revolution.

Kyra does not name names, and she is quite right. Those cards are utter stinkers. I tend to be a sunny side up reader. I could be entirely wrong about that too, but if I have bad news to share with one of my clients, that is different. They have sought out the reading, I am trying to identify the answer to their question, and I am also working to identify their options in any given situation.

As with medicine, the aim in card reading is to do no harm. This looks as though it could be very tough.

All the very best to the PM, and to you too at this deeply unsettling time.

Update: 20: 30 and the PM has gone into special care.

The Norse runes in question: Elhaz/Elk, (protection) Uruz/Auroch (strength), Eihwaz/Yew (regeneration)

Until next time 🙂

Seen by The Light of the April Moon

Astrology

Astrology is about the search for meaning on earth as seen in the sky; seeking to understand human behaviour through the influence of planets and other celestial objects, Luna, our Moon being the .

Astrology began as humanity made conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by paying attention to astronomical cycles.

Early evidence appears as markings on bones and cave walls 25,000 years ago; an early step towards recording the Moon’s influence upon tides and rivers, and towards creating the first calendars.

Symbolically, because it has no light of its own, The Moon represents our shadowy side, our dreams, hidden health, and the impulses that drive our behaviour whether or not we are consciously aware of them.

Why do astrologers study The Moon?

Humans have been studying the Moon since at least 25 000 years ago as the closest celestial body to Earth, exerting a physical gravitational effect on the tides, and on every living thing. Our bodies are largely water, subject to the pull of the tides, and we are no exception.

This affects men and women alike, but is more is readily noticeable in women, through their menstrual cycles.

The Moon in April: The Headlines

There is a lot of lunar drama going on this month, just as there is down here right now during this coronavirus pandemic.

This month’s Full Moon is a Super-moon, a Pink Moon, and it is also the Paschal (Easter) Moon

The Full Moon this month will be in the sign of Libra.

The New Moon this month will be in the sign of Taurus.

The New Moon is the first/last lunar phase when the Moon is located between the Earth and the Sun and the moon is largely invisible, hidden in the sun’s glare.

The Full Moon occurs when the Moon is on the opposite of the Earth from the Sun on the same celestial longitude and we can see the entire illuminated portion of the Moon.

Key Moon phases in April:

1 April First Quarter Moon (waxing moon)

7 April Full Moon (in Libra)

13 April Last Quarter (waning moon)

23 April New Moon (in Taurus)

29 April First Quarter Moon (waxing moon)

What is a Supermoon?

A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee—the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its elliptic orbit—resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size as viewed from Earth.

What Is A Paschal Moon?

Easter is observed on the Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon, which is the first full Moon that occurs on or after the March equinox.

This year, the March equinox occurs on Thursday, March 19. The first full Moon to occur after that date is 7 April UK time.

So that Easter this year is the first Sunday after 7 April: Sunday, April 12.

What is a Pink Moon?

Historically, full Moon names were used to track the seasons and, for this reason, often relate closely to nature. The Moon names that we use today stem from Native American and Colonial-era sources and apply to the entire lunar month, not only the full Moon itself.

April’s full Moon coincides with the first appearance of the “moss pink,” or ground creeping phlox …early spring flowers.

Public Domain

What does this mean for you and me, personally?

In general terms the New Moon and waxing Moon phase building up to the next Full Moon is the optimum time to make a new plan, to initiate or apply for something, or to grow, make or get something.

A Full Moon is in general the optimum time to take stock and evaluate, or to gather, collect, harvest or cash in on something.

A Waning Moon is the optimum time for ending something, releasing something, or clearing out what’s no longer wanted or needed.

7 April: Full Moon in Libra

The Justice card: Rider- Waite Tarot

This full Moon shines a spotlight on the rule of reason, law and order, fair play, give and take, diplomacy

It can suggest romance in personal relationships, or repairing a disagreement. The sign of Libra, ruled by the planet Venus, is all about creating balance, harmony, and keeping the peace.

Libra is associated with The Justice Card in Tarot, which is about respect and fair play, following procedure, and applying logic and reason to problem-solving.

This is an unsettling time but The Justice card says, above all do not panic.

The Justice card suggests there will be added paperwork or other personal administration for most people one way or another in direct consequence of this situation. This paperwork may be legal in nature, or it may be financial, business or personal administration. It may be related to consumerism and provisioning, online shopping etc.

For small businesses and the self employed, the Justice card suggests special measures put in place in the next few weeks, according to each country’s own national decision-making processes.

The pendulum swings. A degree of disruption and anxiety is natural and inevitable. Uncertainty makes us anxious, but the only real illusion is certainty. Nothing is certain, as the old saying goes, but Death and taxes.

Let’s keep our cool, look out for one another, and pay attention to process, procedure and detail. Dot the i’s and cross the t’s to get the very best we can from this April Full Moon in Libra.

Professor Karol Sikora is Professor of Medicine at the Uni of Buckingham, an oncologist for 50 years, he tweets @ProfKarolSikora:

I can’t tell you how helpful the social distancing is. If we all keep it up, I think a feasible scenario is a return to some normality at the beginning of May. As long as we keep to the rules now, we’ll end up in a much better place after Easter than is feared. Social distancing works. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimate that before the lockdown one positive person would infect 2.6 other people. Now it is 0.62. This means the virus is cornered and will burn out.

23 April: The New Moon in Taurus

The Hierophant: Rider-Waite Tarot

The Hierophant card is associated with Taurus, a warm, earthy but creative, artistic and highly instinctive sign. It is about tradition, sticking with tried and trusted methods, creature comforts, and for many of us, these may have been in short supply, and there has been an unusual degree of extra stress and strain in recent weeks and months, with fire and flood wreaking havoc in 2019, all before Covid-19 showed its ugly face in December, and through its inexorable spread, reminding humanity that we are inextricably interconnected, and distance is no object.

Perhaps afterwards, when things have returned more to normal, as they will, it will be time to review a few of our global, national and personal practices, habits and expectations in respect of animal husbandry and global travel, and perhaps in time there will be some new normalities.

The Hierophant is the card of hospitals, publishers, universities and schools. Possibly things may enter a new phase, and in some cases, start to ease or start to return to normal in these sectors after this date.

In other news

A New Moon in Taurus suggests taking it easy. Don’t complain of boredom. Make an art out of staying home, making and doing new or quiet things, creating as the alternative to consuming.

For losing a little weight without a lot of effort, try working with the Moon, and limit your calorie intake for a 3-day diet once the New Moon begins.

This is also the card of formal studies, traditional crafts and universities and can signify a good time for starting a new study project or recreational group project, such as joining a choir for instance, or an art class.

Taurus is zodiac the sign of mid-spring, and everything alive and green. It is the ultimate zodiac sign of food and agriculture, matched only by the harvest time of Virgo. Why not discover your green fingers, or even experiment with growing a few of your own foodstuffs. You can always start small says the New Moon. A few seeds in a container, and see what happens.

People have been panicking. The supermarkets have been selling out of dried goods, but there will always other ways of doing things, or new recipes, or new ways of cooking or doing things to try out.

We can adapt. We can improvise. What did the Romans do before toilet paper had been invented? They worshipped Hygeia as the goddess of Health. And they had no loo paper, but still, they had ways….

And if that didn’t spoil your ‘bon appétit’, the April New Moon in Taurus says, ‘Eat your greens.’

Until next time 🙂

Aries: Fiery Sky Ram of Spring

I am running a few days late with this. Strange times for us all.

This is a revised and updated article, first published AskAstrology.com

Most of us know our sun sign, or sign of the zodiac, but what does it look like in the night sky, and what is the story behind it? The spring equinox was on March 20. Time to talk about Aries the Ram, the first sign of the new astrological year…

Common Associations

Symbol

Date of Birth: 19/21 March to 20 April

Ruling planet: Mars

Lucky Day: Tuesday

Energy: Yang (Masculine/Extrovert)

Element: Fire

Quality: Cardinal (the start of the season of spring)

Key phrase: I am

Body: Head, neck

Birth Stone: Topaz, Aquamarine, Diamond

Colour: Red

Herbs/Flowers: Honeysuckle, tulip, thistle, bryony, peppermint, tiger lily, geranium, hops, impatiens, onions, hollyhock, thorn-bearing trees/shrubs, some firs

Tarot Card: The Emperor (Masculinity, Fatherhood, Government, Law and Order, Courage, Stability)

Note the rams heads adorning his throne.

If I am asked ‘when?’ during a reading and I draw The Emperor, the time-frame suggested is Aries.

Emperor Rider Waite.png — Public Domain: Rider-Waite Tarot

Astronomy

aries-constellation 2.png — Aries, with the head of the Ram pointing downwards. The two bottom stars are the horns

Aries is located in the Northern Hemisphere between Pisces to its west and Taurus to its east.

It is not a specially bright or large constellation. The brightest star in Aries is Alpha Arietis, or Hamal, from the Arabic Al Ras al Hamal, meaning “the Head of the Sheep.” Hamal is a red giant with a magnitude of 2.0, visible to the naked eye, which is about as bright as Mars when the planet is at its farthest point from Earth. The other two brightest stars are the horns of the Ram, Sheratan and

Between 2000 BC and 100 BC the spring equinox used to be April 24 when Hamal was conjunct with the sun, but now the spring equinox is 20 March when the sun shines in front of the constellation Pisces on the border with Aries.

This is because the sun moves westward in front of the backdrop constellations by about one degree (two sun diameters) every 72 years. This drifting is due to a motion of Earth, a wobble on its axis, called the precession of the equinoxes.

But for historical reasons the spring/vernal equinox is still referred as the First Point of Aries.

The Aries constellation contains a galaxy about 100 million light-years from our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and it also a planetary system called 30 Ari, which consists of a gas giant and four stars.

A supernova in Aries was recorded in May, in the year 1012 AD.

The best time to see Aries.

Look for it in December around 9 p.m. local time, rising in the east. A Northern Hemisphere spring or Southern Hemisphere autumn is the worst time of year for viewing Aries, when it is lost in the sun’s glare. December is an especially good month for viewing Aries, when the Earth is on the other side of the sun. In late October, Aries rises in the east at sunset, reaches its highest point in the sky at midnight and sets in the west at sunrise.

Aries reaches its highest point in the sky about 10 p.m. local time (the time in all time zones) in late November, 8 p.m. local time in late December and 6 p.m. local time in late January.

History and Mythology

The spring equinox was a time of renewal throughout the northern half of Earth, an event of great significance to people who were much more aware than we are nowadays, of human dependence on the land and sky.

Once upon a time Aries marked the end of the wild sheep main lambing season in Europe, 21 March – 20 April.

Below, in this rather humorous and charming illustration from India, is surely the least ever fiery ram of a wild sheep.

Humanity made connections, looking up and making patterns out of the skies overhead at that time, matching these to such significant natural events on the ground.

The Sumerians are one of the oldest known urban civilisations in what is now called Southern Iraq, during the Neolithic-Bronze Age, 4500 BC to 1500 years BC. The ancient Sumerians called the sun, Subat, meaning the Ancient Sheep or Ram and the planets were the Celestial Herd.

The brother and sister Phrixus and Helle were the children of the Boeotian king Athamas and the cloud fairy, Nephele. She died, the king remarried, and his new wife, Ino, feared and hated them and planned to kill them as a perceived threat to her own two children by the king.

They fled, rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Hermes at the plea of the dead Nephele, watching in anguish from the other world, but Helle fell into the sea below and was lost in the Dardanelles, named the Hellespont in her honour. Later, safely in Colchis, Phrixus (rather ungratefully) sacrificed the Golden Ram, returning it to the gods, and presented its fleece as a gift to King Aeetes, who placed it on a tree in a grove under the guard of a dragon, the hideous Hydra, whom Jason later killed in order to steal the magical healing fleece.

In ancient Egyptian astronomy, Aries was called Lord of the Head, and was associated with the god Amon-Ra, depicted as a man with a ram’s head and representing fertility and creativity. And because it was the location of the spring (vernal) equinox, it was also called the “Indicator of the Reborn Sun.” The position of Aries at the zenith coincided with the rising of Sirius in the east and the flooding of the Nile.

The Temple of Amon-Ra at Karnak bore the likeness of the supreme sun-god with the horns of a ram. The road to Karnak was formed from the wings of two granite sphinxes bearing the head of Aries.

However, Aries was not fully recognized as a constellation until classical times when the ancient Greeks from about 1580 B.C. to 360 B.C. oriented the construction of many of their sacred temples in relationship to Hamal.

In Hellenistic astrology, the constellation of Aries is associated with the golden ram of Greek mythology that rescued Phrixus and Helle on orders from Hermes, taking them to the land of Colchis.

The brother and sister, Phrixus and Helle, were the children of the Boeotian king Athamas and the cloud fairy, Nephele. Athamas was unfaithful and Nepehele left. Drought followed but Athamas remarried, and his new wife, Ino, planned to kill Phrixus and Helle as a perceived threat to her own two children by the king.

They fled, rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Hermes at the plea of Nephele, watching in anguish from the other world, but Helle fell into the sea below and was lost in the Dardanelles, named the Hellespont in her honour.

The magical ram, Krios, spoke to Phrixus to calm and comfort him as they continued on their way. Later, safely in Colchis, Phrixus (perhaps rather ungratefully) sacrificed the Golden Ram, returning it to the gods, and presented its fleece as a gift to King Aeetes, who placed it on a tree in a grove under the guard of a dragon, the hideous Hydra, whom Jason later killed in order to steal the magical healing fleece.

The name Phrixus means ‘curly.’

Astrological Personality

There is no such thing in reality as THE Aries personality and the same goes for all the zodiac sun signs. Your sun sign is an archetype, a keynote, but of course it is not your full astrological portrait. We are all unique and it could never be the whole story.

Aries is ultra-virile, with a warrior spirit, just as a ram will charge headlong, at an intruder, and may even kill a person who enters his field, threatening his ewes and his territory at the wrong moment.

Aries is known for its determination and zest for life, and in the same spirit, Aries can be reckless and with it, accident prone in its general haste to get on and do whatever is the next thing. Aries are at a statistically increased risk of accidents, especially with head and neck injuries in comparison with other signs, largely due to impatience and risk-taking behaviours.

Aries is ready to experiment or pioneer but may not finish what it starts. They are determined but can be diverted by their own impatience if they don’t get quick results.

In their personal relationships Aries are lively, pleasant, frank, direct and generous. Full of wit and bravery and bounce and joie de vivre, there is much to love and admire about the early springtime subjects of fiery Aries, the Mighty Ram.

This concludes my series exploring the science and history of the Zodiac. Browse the archives for the astronomy and ancient stories behind the other signs of the Zodiac.

Back soon.

Until next time 🙂

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrueTarotTales

The Cards say 'Coronavirus.'

Tweeted 16 March

I understand this is roughly in line with the current scientific modelling, in which case, the congruence is an interesting coincidence.

The timing associated with this card is the zodiac sign of Cancer. This means late June- 23 July, and suggests the imminent acute medical emergency seems likely to pass its peak and start to resolve by midsummer, though the economic ramifications continue throughout 2020, and almost certainly, well beyond.

The Eight of Wands, planes above the clouds, The Tarot of the Divine Legacy

The Eight of Wands reversed is associated with Sagittarius, the bright and breezy, free and easy cosmic traveller, and indicates we are still having this conversation late November/early December 2020, and this card specifically references a continued downturn in global travel. Worst case risk detected here is a second phase, starting late Nov/Early Dec as has happened before with other pandemics.

Astrologers have been commenting since 2017 in some instances, speculating in respect of an ominous outlook for 2020; a challenging conjunction of Saturn in Capricorn coming up at intervals during 2020. They are seeing parallels between the astrology of 2020 and prognostications made by UK astrologer William Lilley from 1648 onwards.

Excerpt via astrologer Jessica Adams.

“Astrologers are here to serve. It’s part of our professional code. When William Lilly predicted back in 1648, that in 1665, “so grand a catastrophe and great mutation unto this monarchy and government as never yet appeared” would come – it did.

Lilly wrote“it will be ominous to London, unto her merchants at sea, to her traffique on land, to her poor”. He actually wrote “by reason of sundry fires and consuming plague.”

The Company of Astrologers still holds a church memorial service in his honour on Lilly Day, every year.

What is really interesting in 2020 is is his prediction in a 1648 London pamphlet. This was the astrologer’s equivalent of a website today.

He saw, in the year 1665, “so grand a catastrophe and great mutation unto this monarchy and government as never yet appeared.” Note his use of mutation. Viruses can mutate.

Lilly went on, “it will be ominous to London, unto her merchants at sea, to her traffique on land, to her poor.” He actually wrote “by reason of sundry fires and consuming plague.” In 1665 the woodcut of bodies in shrouds came to pass and in 1666 The Great Fire of London began.

The Bubonic Plague of 1665 has thus passed into the history books as a date-stamped, illustrated, astrological prediction.”

Covid19

This new coronavirus sub-type arose in a ‘seafood’ market, according to the poor young doctor Li who identified it, shared his findings in a restricted online conversation with colleagues, and was either spied on or reported, rebuked by his manager and threatened by the police for expressing his concerns.

The same young doctor returned quietly to work and kept his mouth shut, only to die, infected by a patient who had been a storefront seller in this self same ‘seafood’ market, leaving a pregnant wife and small children. A man of his age could have been expected to survive, but this particular patient is thought to have carried an unusually high viral load, by reason of his market stall.

Such has been the anger in China, the Chinese Government exonerated Dr Li yesterday, 10 March, and scapegoated those who rebuked and threatened him, much good does that do him and his family.

HONG KONG—Weeks after Chinese social media erupted in grief and rage over the death of a doctor reprimanded by police for raising early alarms about the new coronavirus, Beijing is seeking to assuage public anger by rescinding his penalty and punishing those who rebuked him.

By Chun Han WongMarch 19, 2020 1:05 pm ET

Read more about Dr Li HERE

And what about this market? The market at Huanan.

List of items for sale for consumption derived from a sanitary inspection.

Bats, Badgers, Beavers, Camel, Chickens, Civets, Crab, Crocodiles, Dogs, Donkeys, Fish, Foxes, Giant Salamander, Hedgehog, Marmot, Ostrich, Otters, Pangolin, Peacock, Pheasant, Pig, Rabbit, Rat,Sheep, Shrimp, Spotted Deer, Striped Bass, Turtle, Venomous Snakes, Wolf puppies.

The Huanan market was closed 1 January. On 24 February 2020, the Chinese government announced that the trade and consumption of wild animals would be banned throughout China, but made no announcement in respect of a ban on the use of animals in Chinese medicine, and the closure of the market has not been announced as permanent. The Chinse government says it has been closed for ‘renovation.’

Let’s watch that space.

Back to Sylvia Browne for a moment. Did she suggest this ‘severe pneumonia like illness’ marked the beginning of ‘The End of Days’?

No, she did not. Or not exactly. But she did see it as a kind of a canary in the mine, a signpost of a coming decline in the global human population during the coming century, and I am inclined to think, based on the assumption that we carry on exactly as we are doing, she was on to something there.

This thing has leapt from animals to humans and ultimately kills by thickening and hardening the mucus in the throat, chest and lungs. There is a cytokine storm and suffocation. And yet again, as with SARS and Swine Flu and Ebola, and the Spanish Flu which was carried far and wide on returning troopships after the war, a pandemic of two phases, it begs the same kinds of questions.

From the Huanan market to the globe. Modern work and leisure travel habits have carried this new virus, which is basically a new form of pneumonia, pretty much right around the populated world.

Deaths from coronavirus worldwide are today estimated at 10 000. And this is extremely serious but it’s not the Spanish Flu of 2018 which accounted for 50 million and possibly as many as 100 million.

It is not the Black Death, or as it was called at the time, The Pest (Yersinia Pestis – bubonic plague) which came out of Central or East Asia in 1347, travelling the trade route along the Silk Road into the Crimea and delivered into Sicily by 12 ships from the Black Sea reaching England in 1348. This great plague killed more than 30 % of the entire population of Europe. Some estimates suggest it was as many as 60 %.

This is not that. I do not see that it will become that.

But I won’t be remotely alone or unusual in reading this as another warning. The global human population at the time of the Spanish flu in 1918 was 1.7 billion and today it is 7.8 billion.

Freedoms we have come to take for granted, or have come to regard as our inalienable rights, including cheap travel in massive numbers wherever we like, whenever we like, how we like and for as long as we like, are overdue a fundamental re-think. We want to do what we like when we like, at least with our free time. But we are over-extended.

The Queen of Cups says Home is where the Heart is.

But where is the heart?

A citizen of everywhere is a citizen of nowhere, a consumer first and last, carried aloft in the capacious claws of a doubtful new freedom, as contrails track and line the sky, the real and honest price tag not yet known.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 
And Eternity in an hour.



William Blake: Extracts from Songs of Innocence

Meanwhile spring is here and that may help resources in the northern hemisphere, by seeing the easing off the annual caseload of seasonal flu.

The spring equinox was yesterday.

Back soon with more on that, and the story of the Fiery Sky Ram Aries…..

Stay safe

Till next time 🙂

Psychic Pisces, the Zodiac Fishes

Most of us know our zodiac or sun sign, but what does it look like in the night sky, and what’s the story behind it? This month it’s the turn of Pisces the Heavenly Fishes…

Common associations

Symbol:

Date of Birth: 19 Feb to 20 March

Ruling planet: Neptune (before Neptune’s discovery, Jupiter)

Element: Water

Quality: Mutable (read on to find out more)

Lucky Day: Monday andThursday

Energy: Yin

Key phrase: I believe

Body: Feet, eyes, bladder

Birth Stone: Aquamarine but also amethyst, ruby, bloodstone and jasper. Aquamarine is the blue variety of beryl. Emerald is a green beryl. The aquamarine is believed to enhance foresight and clairvoyance, and a sense of happiness.

Colour: Purple, violet, sea-green

Herbs/Flowers: the water lily (associated with Neptune)

Tarot card: The Moon: ebb and flow, cyclical shifts, intuition, dreams, visionary capabilities, fertility, difficulties with travel, uncertainties, shadow boxing, wild creatures, instinct v civilisation, genius, delusion

Moon card rider waite.jpg — From The Gilded Royale Tarot, Ciro Marchetti

Public Domain: Rider-Waite

The Astronomy

In the sky, Pisces is represented as two fish swimming at right angles to each other, one to the north and one to the west and attached by a cord. The fish are most usually depicted as koi.

Pisces, named for the Latin plural of fish is the 14th largest constellation overall. Pisces is in the first quadrant of the Northern Hemisphere and covers a large V-shaped region. While it is a fairly large constellation, its stars are faint — none are brighter than fourth magnitude — making it challenging to see in the sky with the naked eye.

Even so, its brightest star, Eta Piscium, also known as Alpherg or Kullat Nunu, is a bright giant star (G class) 294 light-years from Earth and has a luminosity 316 times greater that of the sun. Kullat Nunu is its Babylonian name. ‘Nunu’ means ‘fish’ and ‘kullat’ is a bucket.

Pisces second brightest star is Gamma Piscium, a yellow giant about 130 light-years from Earth.

Alpha Piscium is the third brightest star in Pisces, and is made up of a pair of white dwarf stars in close proximity. Its other name is Alrescha (“the cord.”) It lights the spot where it appears that the tails of the two fish are joined or tied together.

The best time to see Pisces in the Northern Hemisphere is between 6-9 November at 9 PM below the Square of Pegasus.

Pisces is notable for containing the point at which the sun crosses the celestial equator into the Northern Hemisphere around March 20 each year.

Image from the Atlas Coelestis, posthumously published by astronomer John Flamsteed, 1729, illustrator John Thornhill.

Astronomer and author Ian Ridpath explains: A cord joins the tails of Pisces. The horizontal dashed line passing through the southerly fish is the celestial equator, and the diagonal dashed line is the Sun’s annual path, the ecliptic.

The point where they cross is known as the vernal (spring) equinox.

History and Mythology

The fish of Pisces are attached by a cord of stars, just as life and death, and winter and spring are conjoined and cannot be separated.

Salmon spawn from October- December onwards. The last of the Atlantic salmon spawning happens late February, after which the salmon die. Perhaps there is a connection here.

Pisces is a mutable sign. These are the signs that mark the end of a season; the other mutable signs are Gemini and Sagittarius. Pisces marks the end of winter, leading up to the vernal equinox. Of all the zodiac signs, mutable signs are traditionally the most flexible and adaptable, the ones most at ease with endings and transitions and change.

Pisces is not only the last sign of winter, moving into spring; it is the last sign of the whole zodiac year, the culmination of all the signs that came before it. Symbolically therefore, Pisces has one foot, or fish in the death of the old year, meaning the last of the winter, pre-spring equinox, and one foot or fish in the quickening of spring, post-spring equinox.

Winter often brings mourning, as it carries away the frail and the old.

Psychic Pisces straddles the season of that winter’s grief and the new green shoots of spring.

The sign of Pisces is Babylonian in origin. Enki, the Sumerian god of wisdom, and the alleged true father of mankind, is associated with the planet Neptune, which astrologically rules the sign of Pisces.

To the ancient Greeks, the fish themselves were the goddess Aphrodite and her son, Eros. They were walking by the Euphrates one day when a terrible monster, Typhon, suddenly rose up out of the water to destroy them.

The gods of Olympus were no match for this particular very ancient monster, a son of Gaia, or Earth herself. He was as tall as the heavens and his eyes shot flames. Instead of fingers, he had 100 dragon’s heads sprouting from his hands.

None of the Olympians had the power to destroy the ghastly Typhon, or confront him, not alone, and he tried to kill them every chance he got. For a time, all they could do was flee, often by transforming themselves into animals, and Aphrodite and Eros, in this case, transformed themselves into fish and swam away.

Another version of the story says they dived into the river, and were rescued by two friendly fish that carried them to safety, and were later placed in the sky, their tails intertwined, to commemorate the day when Eros (Love) and Aphrodite (Beauty) were saved from a hideous fate.

Ultimately, Zeus managed to imprison the terrible Typhon beneath Mount Etna…and he is still very much alive down there to this day.

The Astrological Personality

There is no such thing in reality as THE Pisces personality and the same goes for all the zodiac sun signs. Your sun sign is an archetype, a keynote but of course it is not and never could be the whole story.

Pisces combines imagination with determination, charm with depth, and at times there is a certain passivity, even inertia, which may actually serve them very well at times, but may in some cases degenerate into a trap or a kind of darkness involving depression, alcohol or other substance misuse.

These individuals are talented, natural artists or musicians. They are famously loyal once committed, compassionate and sensitive.

Pisces has steel. This doesn’t get mentioned much, hardly ever, if at all, but Pisces has a quiet steel. They may tire, but they endure, and try taking them on, they may not say much, but watch their face harden, and, should you cross the line once too often, again, they may not say much, but you are gone.

Their instincts are kindly, and they have a soft spot for the underdog. Where they demonstrate a lack of proper consideration for others, or undue stubbornness, it is not due to any lack of goodwill, but because they are not paying attention, too focused on their inner preoccupations.

Pisces needs variety, and structure must allow them room for a degree of autonomy. Many police officers, arbitrators and judges are born under Pisces, as well as artists and musicians. Administrative work, although Pisces can do it, is really not their sort of thing by and large.

Pisces can make excellent and approachable leaders of small teams, loyal to their staff. They will take on injustice, take on those superior in status, but Pisces, unlike, say Aquarius, confines their remit to action on an individual basis. Pisces are not temperamentally disposed to mount group actions, campaigns or crusades unless perhaps, they are early Pisces, born on the Aquarius cusp, but the later subjects of this sign, born close to the Aries cusp, are very much the ‘doers’ of Pisces.

Pisces is brave but their physical energy must be guarded. It can be erratic, and once depleted, is not always easily restored. If they are prone to headaches at the back of the head, there may be related bladder infections or other hidden issues. Pisces needs longer to recuperate from illnesses than some other signs. It needs plenty of rest, music and relaxation time near to rivers, ponds and sea.

Weaknesses – Depending on their other planetary placements, Pisces may be prone to falling prey to either wishful thinking, or gloom or unhealthy lifestyle habits, especially when struggling to recover and regroup from setbacks. Lacking a clear sense of purpose or direction, Pisces can drift loose from their cord, becoming detached and living too much in their own imaginary world.

Until next time 🙂