Endings and Beginnings by Lisa Karmen
We are living in extraordinary, evolutionary times.
It is important to know and to see that there is new life (and vast potential!) growing in the rubble.
2017 was a “1” year in numerology representing the beginning of a pioneering new cycle.
2018 was a “2” year representing the Divine Feminine and the development of peace, balance, cooperation, partnership, and unity between differing entities.
2019 is a “3” year. 3 is the first number given the meaning ALL, it represents creative power and growth. 3 is a moving forward of energy overcoming duality, it is manifestation and synthesis. 3 is also the number of cycles: birth, life, death; beginning, middle end; past, present, future.
Astrology is the art and science of cycles; it teaches us that energy is constantly evolving and devolving from formless to forming to form and back again. Understanding this mystery is the key to being able to best utilize the guidance offered by the planets and signs as well as the creative “3” energy vibrating throughout 2019.
As of this writing, 3/5/19, we are in the energetic ending of the year as the Sun travels through the last sign of the zodiac, Pisces. The Solar New Year will begin on March 20, 2019 when the Sun enters the sign of Aries on the Spring Equinox. But before we get to the beginning, we must pass through the ending.
Today Mercury turns retrograde in the sign of Pisces… at the very last degree: 29° Pisces. The last degree of any sign is the most potent as it embodies the full potential of that sign. Pisces is the sign of Universal Love, of the hidden, of the unconscious, of the past, of fantasy and escapism, of inspiration and spirituality. Pisces can be our undoing as well as our salvation. Pisces is compassion and dissolution and ultimately LOVE.
Retrograde is when a planet appears to be moving backwards in its orbit, which symbolically means that the energy is reversed implying that it is a time for inner work. Retrograde periods are best navigated by focusing on things with “re” like review, reorient, reassess, reevaluate, reorganize, release etc.
Mercury, the planet of communication, retrograde in Pisces indicates that our deep subconscious is undergoing a review and renovation. The next three weeks is a time for reflection. It can be a time of inspiration, a dreamy imaginative time, or it can be a frustrating, non-rational time motivating us to escape pressures through addiction and/or passivity and avoidance. Pisces can be our undoing and with Mercury there, asking us to review our past and our core being, it can be challenging; a time we don’t want to deal with… Or it can be a time of surrender, of letting go of trying to control that which we cannot control. Since we can’t push the river anyway, why not relax into the fact that we are still in the hibernation mode of winter? In this dark and fertile place, invite your unconscious to communicate with you and trust your intuition even when your rational mind questions or contradicts what your gut is saying. Learning to discern instead of judging is essential in this “3” year of creativity and growth.
Deep in the shadows of Pisces the seeds for the new year are gestating. They will energetically sprout at the Spring Equinox when the Sun moves into Aries (the fire sign of action, initiation, and the Self). Before that archetypal beginning, we have tomorrow’s New Moon, also in Pisces, reinforcing these themes. New Moons represent beginnings and give extra manifesting energy to where we want to go next. Take some quiet time in the next few days to consider where you are in your life and where you want to be/go. What is calling to be born? You do not need to answer this definitively yet… it is more important right now that you open your heart and mind to inviting in the new growth because it is happening whether you acknowledge it or not.
In conjunction with the New Moon, tomorrow is the day that Uranus, the planet of evolution and revolution moves into Taurus, the earth sign of the material world, our senses, our physical body, practicality, stubbornness… Uranus will travel through Taurus for the next 7 years…
“Taurus — the sign that, out of the entire zodiac, is the most resistant to change — meets the planet that insists upon it. Uranus challenges the status quo and forces both the individual and society to change and, in particular, to break with the past. Uranus always awakens us to the truth.” – Sue Tompkins, Astrologer
“Uranus is the planet of destiny and is the only planetary energy you cannot control. The only thing you can control is your reaction to it. Uranus represents intuition that comes like lightening in a flash of knowingness.” – Isabel Hickey, Astrologer
In the birth waters of Pisces, with Mercury retrograde and the New Moon… and with Uranus changing signs, the psychological, emotional, spiritual task at hand is to reexamine everything. Reexamine and release that which no longer serves individually and collectively. Reexamine and revive community and compassion. A new chapter is beginning. How are you going to contribute? Who will you be if you could be your best self? What do you want to manifest? What do you want to surrender? Be gentle and compassionate with yourself and others. Take the time to meditate and focus your intention so that when the Spring Equinox arrives you are ready to shift your energy and take up the task of creating the foundation for this new chapter. In this “3’ year, with Uranus travelling through Taurus, the cosmic truth that everything is connected will be indisputable.
Every month the Full Moon sheds light on that which is hidden in the unconscious providing the opportunity for new awareness, deeper self-knowledge and growth. The next Full Moon is especially powerful as it occurs on the day of the Spring Equinox. This Equinox Full Moon will be in Libra, the sign of relationships and balance. Another part of our creative journey in this “3” year is to redefine and recreate how we relate to ourselves, to each other, and to the natural world. Remember, every day, by word and deed, we have the choice to live in the good reality or the bad reality. Given the archetypal forces at play with this Full Moon and the Spring Equinox we are being reminded that we have this agency. We have the power to create light from the darkness and to bring a higher vibration into our individual lives, into our relationships, and to the planet.
Lisa Karmen is an astrologer, artist and teacher living in New York City. She has a lifelong interest in wellness and has studied Green Medicine at the NY Open Center, Bach Flower Remedies, and Homeopathy. Lisa is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts with a focus in Psychology, Mythology, and Ceramic Art.www.selketconsulting.com