Pisces

There is no sign more elusive to try to describe than Pisces, the Fishes, for this section of the Zodiac is as mobile as the astral world.  On the physical plane, the oceans are its counterpart, the seas that toss and surge in sounding, raging fury; yet, the same waters may sometimes reveal the placid power of sweetest peace in idyllic, silvery calm, and the lovely lull and lakelike beauty that make cognizable the tune, tempo, and harmony of the spiritual worlds, calling up a vision of the divine, a touch with the transcendental, a union with the one life of love through the Word of the world, sounding as tranquil tone.  This sign of spirituality is fittingly called ‘The Great Deep or Depth’.

The signs of the Zodiac most intimately connected with the psychic nature of man, the side least seen, yet incessantly active for good or ill, are the water signs, which with their houses and the planets therein, may be called the dispensers of destiny.  In persons lacking in spiritual discernment, these forces may seem to suppress the personality whereas in truth they enhance and enlarge the soul.

Pisces is a dual sign, as the two fishes indicate.  The fishes are bound to each other, denoting the destiny restriction, which gives less freedom of choice than is granted in the outstanding dual sign Gemini.  The twins have a free relationship; not so the fishes.  Dual experiences arise in Pisces, bringing extremes in kind and nature, the native often being torn to shreds between conflicting emotions.  The Piscean rarely gains a true grasp of himself, for emotions play through his soul as the winds through an aeolian harp; his soul is easily influenced, or played upon by sympathy, for it is easy for him to put himself in the soul of another who suffers.

This is the sign that causes one to be keenly receptive and impressionable to the moods and soul-conditions of others.  Psychic supersensitivity and immense emotionalism are forces that need control and direction, for Pisces puts the soul en rapport with the soul world.  As a result, one feels the forces of other souls here or elsewhere, be they embodied, moving on the physical plane, or in the world of the soul called dead.

In this dual sign there sound the forces of destiny and divinity.  It is here that the lowest and the loftiest reside.  Man is chained to an earthly destiny so long as the darkness prevails and earthly desires are not exhausted.  When the Ego begins to transmute its earthly desires and evolves toward the purity needed for a spiritual birth, then the light is perceived shinning in the darkness, the light that ‘lighteth every man that cometh into the world’.  This is the direction towards divinity.

In this sign of destiny one realizes the need for earthly birth.  The limiting conditions of personal earthly expression are picked up here as the ‘moral bundle’ of past lives, the moral bundle that was checked in the soul world after last death, before one entered the spiritual world.  It is taken up again as one returns once more through the soul world to earthly incarnation.  The law of rebirth, of repeated earthly lives, each one of increasing fineness, has nothing fatalistic attached to it.  On the contrary, it shows the definite and deliberate way toward the light that leads to liberation.

The working of destiny speaks of the God within, forever guiding and leading man toward the goal.  Magnificent Christ-alchemy shows itself in the spirit of sacrifice inherent in Pisces, the real royalty that originates in this sign of renunciation, for renunciation and sacrifice must be made freely or perforce.  The house on which Pisces stands, and also the position of Neptune, indicate the quality and type of sorrow, self-surrender, or sacrifice demanded.  No matter what the talent or genius of a Piscean personality, there is always a background of obstacles and adversities.  In Pisces, consecration through crucifixion leads to the consummate man.  People in the Fishes are seldom understood, or truly appreciated, yet these are the most self-effacing souls, giving with a joy in giving.  None ask less for themselves than they do, and none can be trusted more implicitly when living in the higher side of the sign.

In Pisces, one can realize the Great Ocean or Deeps of the Spirit and be aware of the spiritual man and the life hidden away and buried within the physical man – the Christ who lives in the Earth and in the souls of humanity.  The sense of universality makes Pisces the least personally possessive sign.  It calls forth marked hospitality and generosity.  The generosity of Pisceans extends not only to goods, but also to judgments; they are ever ready to forgive and to manifest their good will in loving deeds.

The divinity of Pisces is such that those strong in this sign have a constant aching yearning, an intense urge, to merge the soul entirely and completely with the soul of others, to form one universal spiritual union.  Pisceans, or those truly under the Neptune light, experience spirituality; thus they have the faculty and forte to commune and to unite with others on the mental and psychic planes.  The purer the Piscean, the more profound the communion and union with the feelings and thoughts of people and places and, yes, with the planet itself!

In this mergence with others on Earth and on the invisible planes, there lies danger and often damage, for if the Piscean soul is not positively endowed with the strong factor of a developed mind, if it is still tainted with atavistic clairvoyance – and these today are still legion – the risk of obsession by spirit controls and so-called guides, is great, and these forces are evil.  One must not remain negatively psychic.  So many, too many, born in or under this sign, or with the Moon in Pisces, are the victims of invisible spirits and of mediumism.  Then the sense of hearing, which is ruled by it, is perverted to undesirable hearing of what astral entities convey.

As Aquarius and Uranus emphasise the one in all, the individual as part of the whole, so Pisces and Neptune declare the all in which the individuality is merged in the collectivity of the Christ. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one” St. John 17:21,22

As Aquarius individualises and identifies the man in and through the Christ, so Pisces universalizes and unites the man in and with the whole Christ-life.  Man must first establish his Christ-egohood, his true self-identification in the Spirit, before he can universalize his love as a world and cosmic citizen, in the new and true citizenship that awaits him.  Enforced fusion is dangerous.  The Christ ‘I’ and the Christ ‘You’ are both paramount in the soul that is keeping pace with man’s proper development.

Pisces is called the ‘Universal Solvent’ or the ‘Great Deeps or Depths’.  It shows the inhibited, the silent, the secret, and all that is mute and powerless of expression.  Pisces is unlike Cancer, where feelings are awakened, and unlike Scorpio, where desires and feelings are brought to a center and concentrated, for Pisces turns everything into muted emotion, deep and silent as the ocean.  This is the sign of Parsifal, the ‘pure fool’, the guiless one, mute, timorous and helpless, until through search and suffering, ‘by pity enlightened’, and power to discriminate between good and evil.  Then he became the ‘help-bringing knowing one’, the saviour bringing salvation.

Very few Pisceans are egotists; in fact, they are in many instances deficient in self-esteem.  That quality of humility that abides here can in positive souls create a mystic mood and beautiful reverence.  Divinity and devotion resides here; but what if these forces are reversed? That reversal too often occurs and it tears the soul into shreads, rendering it lost and without true colour, definition, or self-identification.  Few souls can manage the mighty mood of this divine spiritual essence.  It is easy for many to become materialists, or worse, utter derelicts on the sea of life.  The psychic forces are too often negative and the sympathies unwise.  Without firm inner direction in the Piscean soul, dereliction in some form may easily ensue; thus the highest may become the very lowest.

The ear that is attuned to the divine knows instantly when Neptune and Pisces provide the power and inspiration, be it in literature, poetry, art or music.  True Pisceans are true teachers, for they carry within them a real priestly wisdom and love.  Understanding and wisdom are not the fruit of the intellect alone.  It is a strange paradox that, inherent in this sign of divinity, ruling this time, our present Piscean Age, there lie concealed the forces and facts of the cosmos, yet confusion and world misunderstanding occur.  Cosmos and chaos lie hidden here, in this sign of mighty mystery.

The light is not recognized by the physical, brain-bound personality, fear-filled and tormented and tossed by seething secret hates and emotions.  For perfect expression one must gain perspective both in the lower Ego and the Earth, and in the world of Spirit.  True balance between this world and the worlds of soul and spirit must be found if one would be whole, and this wholeness, this true health, is our need.  The Christ came for those who need a physician, to make them whole.

It is essential for Pisceans to become far stronger as physically conscious earthly Egos, and to use the mental forces far more effectively, so that they may stand stabilized as self-protected personalities.  If not self-protected through this proper I-consciousness, they are apt to become the sport and prey of evil entities in the flesh or in astral bodies, seen or unseen.  They often become lost to themselves in the surrender of their souls to others, for the great difficulty in their sacrifice and self-giving is to retain, at the same time, their own personality.  They need to learn to give themselves spontaneously in self-surrender, and yet to be their own selves and not to neglect themselves.

Pisces is a psychic-sensitive sign that evokes spirituality and tends sometimes to other-worldliness.  Pisceans are impressionable, and they ever seek to understand their impressions and intuitions, intimations that arise quite free of the brain and are realised, more often than not, as a psychic sensing.  Many Pisceans get lost in the maze of the multitudinous ideas and impressions they continually receive from all worlds.  They tend to become bewildered when there is confusion and pressure.  Their best qualities are evident when there is an undisturbed atmosphere; then their mood of peace is powerful and profound, and their inspiration most active.

The sign of the Fishes rules the feet.  The feet denote an inner understand-ing of life, also ‘treading the Path’, and making progress.  In this respect, they are symbols of the spiritual life, and they also indicate what we mean when we say that the feet should be firmly planted on the earth.  They give us our stance.

Jupiter and Neptune rule the Fishes.  The benevolent Jupiter is a planet of bonding good will, reverence, and creative cosmic thought.  Neptune denotes idealistic devotion.  In general, one may say of Pisceans, that they love beauty and refinement in all things.  Evolved Egos have a wonderful capacity for quite, tactful persistence when dealing with others.  In spite of being shy and timid, they can show considerable dignity if anyone presumes to take advantage of their good nature; they detest anything vulgar or violent.  Many have healing power, sometimes through their hands, but largely through their presence, which emanates peace and piety.

Those centered in Pisces confer the archetypal value of man, the formgiving cause, which brings him into earthly incarnation. Birth in a physical body is not ill fate if we take in the Christ; it is a real opportunity to grow in God through his Christ.  The choice is ours.  Destiny, or karma will not be deplored if we realise that it is a progressive, developing force, bringing the experiences that are corrective and drawing us nearer to the goal.

The dual effect of the Fishes becomes evident in the fact that, on the one hand, this sign holds the destiny that leads the Ego to an earthly birth and, on the other, it provides the means to overcome the evil destiny conditions, liberating one from the individual need for rebirth.  However, so long as the planet is not redeemed, the Christed soul will want to reincarnate for the sake of humanity and to aid the Christ in the work of redemption.

Pisces, the sign of ready renunciation and sacrifice, produces such saviours, as well as The Saviour, Jesus of Nazareth, who at the Baptism in the Jordan, sacrificed his body, so that the Christ could incarnate in it and consummate the Mystery of Golgotha, the greatest event of all Earth-evolution – the Sacrifice Supreme that brings salvation to our Earth and to mankind.

In Pisces, the destiny of repeated earthly births, according to true Christian teaching, becomes not ill fate, but the joyous avenue of Christ-alchemy leading mankind’s illumination and liberation.