17 Feb The Agony & The Ecstasy ~ Pisces Season ~ February 18th – March 19th, 2022

“Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.”

-Michelangelo

On February 18th, 2022 the Sun will slip into the vast oceans of Pisces, where time dissolves into eternity. Pisces represents the abyss, swirling and surreal.

In the oceans of Pisces, the Sun’s light is absorbed, moving through expansive depths that are devoid of solid surfaces. In that dissolute place, the dreamworld emerges.

After a long journey through the zodiac, the Sun’s transit through Pisces signals the end of its journey. The Sun has grown weary of becoming and finally surrenders to the bliss of sleep. In Pisces, the Sun dreams of all that has been or ever shall be.

 

“Do not suffer, for God has not made us to abandon us.”

In Pisces season, you too may feel weary of becoming. The climate of emotional turmoil over the last two years has been exhausting. The world remains caught up in a great storm, where the raging abuse of power threatens from above while whirlpools of despair suck you down from below. 

Major shifts in history do not happen quietly. And for all the destruction that this storm has summoned, it has also stimulated tremendous growth. This storm has banished complacency, churning the waters of the collective imagination, dredging up wisdom from the primordial past and stirring the soul of the world to rise. 

Even in this dangerous hour, many can feel that a great renaissance is drawing near.

In the weeks ahead, the Sun no longer illuminates your individual story. Instead, you will merge with the whole human story, feeling the agony and the ecstasy of all ages. 

This Pisces season in 2022 will be extraordinary, full of great emotion and inspiration. And the Sun’s transit will be made prismatic by the presence of Jupiter and Neptune, blessing this time with divine grace and moments of transcendent bliss.

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

This season, you will dilate upon the agony and ecstasy of life. You will see that the highs and the lows are but a singular process of creation, one in which every pressure put upon you is like the hand of a sculptor carving out a beautiful form. Every strike of the chisel and all the roughness of sanding is for the same end: to find the divinity within crude matter. 

A powerful strike of the chisel arrives on February 22nd, the date of the US Pluto Return, when Pluto returns to the exact degree it was at when the Declaration of Independence began in 1776. 

This is a moment of truth.

In 2022, Pluto’s return represents a climax amidst this storm of global transformation. And it is manifesting in the ultimate power-struggle for the fate of humanity.

The US Pluto return will heighten the clash between competing dreams for the future.

The techno-totalitarians have made it clear that their dream is for world-domination and slavery. The Plutonian shadow looms in their gross addiction to power and in how desperately they claw for more through censorship, mandates, surveillance, and war.

Meanwhile, the true heart of humanity dreams of expanded freedom and prosperity, where peace, love, and unity can flourish. No matter what troubles may emerge, the oceans of Pisces have a heart whose love is infinite, soothing the pain of the past into compassion and transforming grief into deeper wisdom. 

At this crisis point, the future can not be left to the dim imagination of tyrants. Their vision is artificial, cruel and myopic.

The dream of the future born from the heart of humanity and the soul of the world is much more powerful, resonant and true. 

In Pisces, to dream is not oblivion but a return to the most primal form of consciousness. The language of dreams is imagination. Enfolded within the depths of imagination is the yearning for intimacy with the universe, a relationship with something greater than one’s self.  

“Your gifts lie in the place where your values, passions and strengths meet. Discovering that place is the first step toward sculpting your masterpiece, Your Life.” 

When you remember the power of dreaming, you see that the planets are thoughts whirling through the inner space of consciousness. In this way, the whole world and its future can be ordered and ordained by divine imagination. In the ocean of consciousness, tiny ripples can become great waves. This means the fate of the world is as much in your power as anyone else’s. Dream of peace, light and prosperity.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

The soul of Pisces can best be appreciated through immersion into the life and art of the great renaissance artist, Michelangelo, who was born with his Sun, Moon and Mars in Pisces on March 6, 1475. 

His relationship to sculpture (not to mention painting, architecture, and poetry) perfectly articulates the immensity of human will in such tension with pure imagination that an explosion of magnificence poured forth as a never-ending fountain of divine creation.

“All of his fluid strength, love, passion, desire had been poured into the nascent form . . .  giving of its inner heat and substance and fluid form, until at last the sculptor and the marble had totally coalesced, so deeply penetrating and infusing each other that they had become one, marble and man and organic unity, each fulfilling the other in the greatest act of art and love known to the human species.”

– Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstasy

It is in the dreamworld of Pisces where individual consciousness becomes merged with the infinite, thereby overflowing with inspiration. 

Michelangelo’s tremendous gift reveals how immersed he was in the sea of images. He must have slipped easily into half-lit dream worlds, yielding to the flow of the currents, trusting that he would be carried to wherever he needed to go. 

“My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth’s loveliness.” 

It is pleasant to imagine that all the art created during the High Renaissance was for purely spiritual reasons. But the art was funded by wealthy patrons, thus tainting all of it with political motives and intrigue. Even in the best of times, there are the worst kind of people in power.

Michelangelo was notoriously rebellious, often encoding messages in his art that insulted the political tyrants and even the Pope, whom he had a personal dislike for.

So numerous were Michelangelo’s contributions to Florence, it is difficult to say which of his works is the most beautiful or iconic.

But his statue of David may be his greatest sculpture, fully embodying his genius and the tension with the politics of his time. 

“Genius is eternal patience.”

David and Goliath

It was through his art that Michelangelo was able to bring to life a perfect world that seemed to exist only within the realm of dreams.

His masterpiece David was as much a political statement as it was an artistic achievement, and its message is just as resonant today as the Psalms attributed to the Biblical legend of its subject and namesake.

Constructed at a time when Florence was still recovering from the tyranny of the Medici banking dynasty, David stood erect in front of Florence’s town hall as an apotropaic talisman to ward off political oppressors and foreign invaders.

Michelangelo was not the only Florentine who had David on his mind at the time. In one of the most remarkable cases of historical synchronicity, Niccolò Machiavelli was invoking the Biblical legend in his masterwork of political philosophy, The Prince. 

In the Bible story, David rejected the weapons offered to him by Saul, opting instead for his own sling and knife to defeat Goliath. Machiavelli interpreted the legend as a political metaphor for the city-state and how to defend it. “In conclusion,” he said, “the arms of the others either fall from your back, or weigh you down, or they bind you fast.”

There was already a long standing tradition in Italy of depicting David as the patria or father and protector of the Italian cultural heritage. While Michelangelo’s statue was his contribution to the patria tradition, he deviated from traditional depictions of David by chiseling the Biblical legend moments before he slew Goliath rather than standing victorious over the giant’s head. 

It was a strange artistic decision. Without Goliath present in the work to demonstrate the giant’s behemoth size, there was no frame of reference with which to perceive David’s truly heroic feat.

Art historian Saul Levine suggests this omission was deliberate, as absent at the time was the true Goliath of Florence: the Medici family. A decade prior, the banking dynasty who had ruled over Florence for generations—were expelled during an uprising led by the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, of the bonfire of vanities fame. Determined to reclaim their seat of power, the Medici family fled to Rome.

It is said that David’s eyes were watching Rome due to its strategic location outside Florence’s town hall. The statue was originally commissioned to be part of a series of Biblical prophets to adorn the roofline of the Florence Cathedral. However, when builders proved incapable of mounting the 12-ton 17-foot statue, a new location for David had to be determined.

A special committee (that included Leonardo Da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli) met on January 25, 1504 to determine the ultimate location of David. The Florentine republicans wanted David placed in front of the town hall as a symbol of their government and a protector against foreign threats. 

Medici sympathizers, however, felt it would be safer to place him off to the side in a nearby sculpture gallery, ostensibly out of concern that Michelangelo’s masterpiece might deteriorate if not protected from the elements… but likely out of fear that it might offend their masters.

It was ultimately decided that David be placed in front of Florence’s town hall, the Palazzo Vecchio. Michelangelo’s work displaced an earlier work by Donatello depicting Judith and Holofernes, a “deadly sign” that symbolized Medici rule. 

The family had commissioned the earlier Donatello work and, according to the historical record, placed it “in its position under an evil constellation,” suggesting that the banking family employed a knowledge of astrology when electing a time to erect a statue that would symbolize their dominion over Florence. Some things never change. 

It’s amazing to think of David as a protective talisman against exiled banking elites more than 500 years after it was erected in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. 

In 2022, what the Medici family was to Florence, Italy has evolved into multinational investment firms like BlackRock and Vanguard. Yet their tyranny remains unchanged.

While the Medici dynasty returned to power in Florence less than a decade after David was erected, the vitality of art to transform the world must not be forgotten. It may not be accomplished in a single generation, but we can follow Michelangelo’s example and slowly chisel away at the raw chaos of existence to create a world worth living year after year, century after century, epoch after epoch. 

To channel this divine power, you are invited to pray the most notable Psalm attributed to David this Pisces season:

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”

Pisces Season Forecast

The Sun enters Pisces on February 18th, beginning its transit through the dreamworld of the zodiac and pulling you back into the primal power of imagination within. This is a very important season in 2022, one that will reach the highest highs and the lowest lows.

February 22nd ~ US Pluto Return

The US Pluto Return will be exact on this day, bringing a process that began in 2008 to a climax. 

Back in 2008, a long shadow fell across the national psyche. This was the dawn of the Obama era, when the US economy hemorrhaged in the housing crisis and a cloud of cognitive dissonance lulled the anti-war sentiment of the public into apathy and ignorance.

Now that the Pluto Return is culminating in 2022, the United States will begin the final stages of this test. 

The paradoxes between its high ideals of democracy and the brutal ideology of global imperialism can no longer be ignored. 

As the astrologer, Michael Lutin describes: “We’re rich and generous and protective, and dangerously hostile at the same time? How could we bomb an enemy one day and send coffee and sandwiches the next?”

The Pluto Return is the era of confronting the collective dissonance, watching many institutions of power crumble. The tremendous loss of trust in politics, mainstream media, education and medical science are just some examples of what Pluto has been turning to dust. 

What credibility and authority remains intact after this difficult transit is over in 2025 will have truly stood the test of time. 

The US Pluto return is the time to be the change you want to see in the world. And since this falls in such a blessed Pisces season, it is the time to dream the change you want to see in the world.

March 2nd ~ New Moon in Pisces

The month of March gets off to a refreshing start with this dreamy New Moon in Pisces. 

This is a seed moment of great potential for blessings and expansion because the New Moon is conjunct to Jupiter in Pisces. This expands and nourishes your intention and the seeds of your desires will find themselves landing in fertile soil.

With Mercury conjoined Saturn in Aquarius, you may feel rather serious. But the mental focus available at this moment will be masterful. Meditation, study, and intense conversations are highly favored.

In addition this New Moon is the day that Venus, Mars, and Pluto are conjunct in Capricorn. This intense influence from Capricorn will summon enough primal power to accomplish any goal or break through any obstacle in your path. Your shadow will probably emerge, challenging you with the laws of power.

In the wide world, it may be a day that stirs conflict and tension. Nevertheless, this is a powerful day, one to take action, write a manifesto and etch your intentions deeply into the heart of the universe. 

March 5th ~ The Sun conjunct Jupiter in Pisces

This is another beautiful seed moment when Jupiter is in the heart of the Sun. Pisces is a strong placement of Jupiter, the planet of blessings and expansion. Thus, you will be able to tune into divine providence and expand your faith in the benevolence of creation.

This is a moment for spiritual revelation and divine communion. Artistic inspiration will flourish. This is a day to come into harmony with divine will by surrendering to a greater love, a greater beauty, and a greater mind than your own.

“Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.”

March 10th ~ Mercury enters Pisces

Mercury finds the watery abyss of Pisces to be a strange and difficult place. Mercury’s role as a problem-solver and navigator is deeply humbled in Pisces, for without solid surfaces for the Sun to reflect upon, there are no points of perspective to guide one’s way through. 

The only way through is to allow your mind to wander and get a little lost. This opens your mind to surreality, to the transparency between dreams and waking life.

Far out in the oceans of Pisces, Mercury discovers the primal consciousness that precedes language. It is image, feeling, and deep knowing.

But when you yield to the currents and let feeling be first, the words you share will be exquisitely beautiful, coming forth like loosely strung pearls from the deepest layers of consciousness.

This is a creative and dreamy transit for Mercury. 

March 18th ~ Full Moon in Virgo

The Full Moon occurs at the end of the season, when the Sun and the Moon are directly opposed to one another. 

This opposition between the Sun in ethereal Pisces and the Moon in analytical Virgo represents a union of water and earth: an experience realized in the poetic truth that “we are spirits in a material world.”

The law of correspondences between spiritual and material things will be revealed with utter clarity. 

With the Sun, Mercury, Jupiter, and Neptune in Pisces, powerful intuitions and insights will inspire the health conscious Moon in Virgo to dissolve negative emotions and clear the mind for the coming of spring.

March 20th ~ Sun moves into Aries 

The Sun enters the cardinal fire sign of Aries, leaving behind the watery dreamworld of Pisces. This begins the astrological New Year, a new cycle of the Sun’s journey through the zodiac! 

This is the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, when the Sun’s rays begin to quicken the pulse of life on earth. 

The start of this new season begins with a fresh optimistic outlook and a deep sense of faith.