Most of us know our zodiac sun sign. But what are its stars, what do they look like in the night sky, and what’s the ancient story behind it all? Time to go fishing with Pisces.
Traditional Associations
Dates: 18/19 Feb to 20/21 March. Variable cusp depending on the leap year cycle
Ruling planets: Jupiter and Neptune (before Neptune’s official discovery in 1846, it was Jupiter)
Zodiac House 12. Endings, Resurrections, the Unknown, all that is hidden.
Element: Water Quality: Mutable – versatility, changeability, the ending of one season and the beginning of another Energy: Yin -receptive
Key phrase: I believe
Body: Feet, eyes, bladder
Birth Stone: Aquamarine (‘the water of the sea’) A blue variety of beryl (Emerald is a green beryl.) The aquamarine is a hexagonal crystal structure, sometimes confused with blue topaz, believed to enhance foresight and clairvoyance.
Tarot card: The Moon
Meanings: The Moon, Mondays, tides, cycles, ebb and flow, feminine cycles, fertility, instinct, wildlife, walking on the wild side, hunting, fishing, psychics, ghosts, visions, dreams, delusions, madness, contamination, fever, food poisoning, uncertainty, danger, confusions with documentation, risks in travel.
Astronomy
Pisces, the Latin plural of fish, is the 14th largest constellation overall, covering a large V- shaped region in the part of the sky known as The Sea or The Water. Its stars are faint —hard to see with the naked eye.
The fish of Pisces are depicted as freshwater fish, koi carp, swimming at right angles to each other, one to the north and one to the west, attached by a cord. 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.
The vernal equinox currently occurs during Pisces, 19-21 March, the astronomical marker of the start of spring in the northern hemisphere.
History and Mythology
Pisces is the sign of the thaw, the freshwater melt and the first spawning of the freshwater fishes, though depending on latitude and therefore temperature, some species may spawn sooner. Fish may rise again to the top to feed. Frogs and Toads will spawn. The fish of Pisces are attached by a cord of stars, just as life and death are conjoined and cannot be separated. 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.
Egypt
“It (Pisces) is one of the earliest zodiac signs on record, with the two fish appearing as far back as c. 2300 BC on an Egyptian coffin lid ” -(Wiki) The two fish of the constellation Pisces were the offspring of the Great Fish. In Egyptian mythology, this fish saved the life of the Egyptian goddess Isis, and she placed this fish and its descendants into the heavens as a star constellation.
India
In Hindu mythology Matsya is an manifestation or avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu the Preserver who rescued the first man, Manu from a great deluge. (…and here we are again, back to the great flood stories of Aquarius) The Matsya may be depicted as a giant golden fish or as a merman, half- fish half humanoid Lord Vishnu. Vishnu is the second god in the Hindu holy trinity (Trimurti) Brahma was the Maker, god of creation and passion, Vishnu, the face of light and preservation, and Shiva, the face of the dark, and destruction.
Greece
To the ancient Greeks, the fish were the goddess Aphrodite and her son, Eros, who were out walking by the Euphrates one day when a terrible monster rose up out of the water. This monster, Typhon, had been terrorizing the gods of Olympus ever since the war with the Titans. Typhon was a Titan, a son of Gaia, and he hated the gods of Olympus as invaders and upstarts who had overthrown and dispossessed his own, more ancient race of Titans. 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 -for which one could read ‘flames,’ or magma.
Not one of the Olympian gods had the power to destroy Typhon, not alone. All they could do was avoid him or flee for their lives, which they often did by transforming themselves into animals. Aphrodite and Eros now transformed themselves into two fish (koi) and swam away. Ultimately, Zeus imprisoned Typhon beneath Mount Etna, but Typhon is still very much alive down there. As of February 2021 there was much talk about such seismic activity as a potentially major global influence in 2021. We are seeing again, warnings of a potential volcanic eruption in Santorini and beyond in the Aegean, in Aquarius and Pisces season in 2025.
Rome and Early Christianity
Early Christians used the Fish as a symbol of their faith and called the TWELVE apostles of Christ the Fishers of Men (Pisces as the twelfth sign.) The secret code name for Jesus, Yeshua Ben Joseph- was Ichthys from the Greek meaning fish, it was an acronym Jesus- Christ- God- Son- Saviour.
The so-called Age of Pisces began 1 AD and- depending on your source, will end in 2150 when we enter the so-called Age of Aquarius, though some astrologers say we are already in that Age. Read more about the astrological ages HERE
The Age of Pisces saw the rise of the Monotheistic religions, Christianity and Islam. This current, much discussed brand new mini Age of Aquarius, 2024-2043, is supposedly a secular age, all about technology and collectivism. But religion shows no sign of going away. Islam is fast on the rise in the west, Christianity on the wane, with vacuums filled by socio-political ideological transmutations of the religious instinct. Identity politics.
The Archetype
In Tarot, whether the subject of any inquiry is male or female, Pisces is embodied as The Knight of Cups. In Arthurian legend this would be Sir Percival, or in later versions of the legend, Sir Galahad. This knight is a champion of the underdog, a protector, a lover, a bearer of grace. The healing chalice. This card generally translates as good news, a happy situation, recovery from illness, a new friend, an admirer, possibly a marriage proposal, news of a baby on the way, “my cup runneth over”.
Pisces combines imagination with the determination and self-sacrifice of a salmon fighting upriver to spawn, even at the cost of its life. New life must come, says Pisces, even if the death of the self is the price. Paradoxically, there may be a certain passivity, even inertia. This serves Pisces well at times, but may, in some cases, degenerate into the shadow side of Pisces, depression, alcohol or other substance misuse.
These individuals are natural artists, writers or musicians. Compassionate and sensitive. But while their steel may be hidden, all the same, it is there. Not much is said about this scaly Pisces steel. They can be tough, even hard in a quiet way. They don’t say much but watch the eyes harden. Cross the line once too often, you are gone. That is it.
Pisces needs variety. Structure must allow them room for a degree of autonomy. Desk-based work, although Pisces can certainly do it, and with considerable efficiency, it is not really their thing. They like to be on their feet, which are ruled by Pisces. They make excellent and approachable team leaders. Passing the buck is not their style. They will take on injustice, taking on those senior to themselves in status. But Pisces, unlike, say Aquarius, acts on an individual basis. Group actions, campaigns or crusades do not sit naturally with their temperament, except just possibly for early Pisces, born on the Aquarius cusp. Later born subjects especially, born close to the Aries cusp 20/21 April, are especially the ‘doers’ of Pisces, and Pisces is brave. Very brave indeed. But these watery denizens need to guard their physical energy. It can be erratic, and their reserves once depleted, are not so easily restored as other signs. If they become prone to headaches at the back of the head, there may be related bladder infections or other issues.
Famous Pisces in history
Michelangelo, Amerigo Vespucci, Copernicus, Vivaldi, Handel, George Washington, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Albert Einstein, Nat King Cole, Elizabeth Taylor, Nina Simone, Harold Wilson, Yuri Gagarin, Sidney Poitier, Steve Irwin.
‘No man is an island,’ wrote John Donne. Yes and no. We are both the ocean and the land. Islands in archipelagos. But there are bridges. There are boats. Sometimes we are islands. Sometimes we are the bridges and the boats.
Pisces Season 2025
Neptune is another name for the god Poseidon, known as The Earth-Shaker, associated with earthquakes in not only the literal sense, but also the metaphorical sense. We have been navigating fathomless Pisces waters for quite some time now. Uneasy times. Borders and boundaries dissolved. Norms overturned. Our instincts are increasingly on edge. Right now we have got…
Saturn in Pisces (from March 7, 2023, to May 24, 2025; and then again from September 1, 2025, to February 13, 2026) After February 13 next year, Saturn will not be back until January 10, 2053 to March 22, 2055. Saturn periods are intense. Demanding. Life-changing. Character building. Giving structure to what is shapeless. In infrastructure terms, building a dam to contain a reservoir.
Neptune in Pisces (from April 4, 2011 until 2026 but with a break May 2025) Last time Neptune was in Pisces (in the mid-19th century) marked a time of many European revolutions, the Civil War, and a resurgence of mysticism. Neptune in Pisces this time round has marked a time around a global pandemic and lockdown, binge-watching on devices, addiction to escapism via non material digital routes. Fewer physical books, fewer actual cinema seats. In infrastructure terms, removing a dam.
North lunar Node in Pisces (from January 11, 2025, to July 26, 2026.) Dreams and visions. Going deep. Thinking and acting in terms of the big picture. Letting it be. Letting go.
Mercury in Pisces (February 14-March 3, 2025 and again, March 29-April 16.) Intuition first, explanations second. Feelings work faster than thinking. Dreams are vivid, speaking in metaphors.
There is a deeply uneasy, foggy lull for the time being, but we know big things are stirring, churning beneath the surface. Back channels on overdrive. We all know it, we can feel it. Putin is looking ever more highly likely to consolidate his unlawful annexation of Crimea, plus Luhansk and or Donetsk.
Attitudes, if not policies, could start to shift from the end of next month when Neptune leaves Pisces and enters Aries, aka The Emperor, the Ram. This is young energy, new starts, masculine energy, potentially war energy. Potentially War at sea. “Emperors” rise, and new Empires. Emperors do action. Unilaterally. They incur risks for sure, above all betrayal, and they may accept advice, but they operate in relative freedom of the constraints of bulky process consensus. Action is the only way to meet the Ram, should it decide to charge head down. Meanwhile, Saturn and Neptune in Pisces demand we cut out the deadwood, look a problem squarely in the eye and call things by their “proper” names.
This is all due to heat up, not quite yet, but soon, possibly for worse on the world stage, but also for better, Mars going direct again at last February 23 will start burning off the fog. Physical energy starts picking up soon, we can get more done, sort out stuff that has been hanging over us since at least early December 2024.
Neptune is associated with The Hanged Man in the Tarot deck. I have had a feeling about the Pope since Christmas, about his health come early spring. Hope to be wrong but it comes to us all. The Hanged man is about taking time out. Sacrificing something for a greater good, or accepting great losses as a necessity. Looking at things from a new and different perspective. Hard won wisdom. Swan’s feet working furiously beneath the surface. Extraordinary times requiring extraordinary measures.
March is looking pretty extraordinary.
The old order is fast disappearing. On an everyday level, old ways of doing things are not working like they used to do. We need new tools and new methods. The new order is not yet quite here, but we are getting an ever clearer sense of what it looks like.
