Hi, doll.
I’m still in a fog as I type this. Last night downloaded me with dreams within dreams—so many that part of me believes I’m going to wake from this dream, too.
It makes sense. Early this morning, we didn’t just lose an hour. A new moon also joined the Sun and Saturn in dreamy Pisces—she who opens our hearts and minds.
As groovy as this may sound, few of us dig involuntary expansions of our reality. Any good shrink can tell you: People are attached to their limitations, even if they don’t like them.
But Pisces season doesn’t just celebrate spirit. It enforces our awareness of it, often via challenges that call upon our faith.
In these weeks leading up to the vernal equinox, scarcity is the name of the game. We are listless and low in resources. Cue emotional losses, material shortages, domestic instability. There also is an uptick in deaths, particularly among the very ill and very aged. (Light a candle for Iris Apfel and Richard Lewis.)
It is a time of endings preceding the reboot of March 19, when spring and the zodiac year officially begins. You can see it in the greenmarkets. New crops haven’t kicked in yet, and all that remains of last year’s crops are wormy apples and mealy potatoes.
Perhaps this is why so many religious holidays occurring this time of year ritualize a form of abstinence—to extend the scant resources of late winter for its adherents.
Easter is preceded by Lent, in which Christians give up something they regularly partake (often meat). For Passover, Jews eschew foods made with leavened grain. For Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”—Carl Jung
There’s also a wonderful logic to giving something up to create room for the new life of the vernal equinox. This act of purification clears a path for better perception, which is perfect for a Pisces new moon keen to download us with omens and visions.
Anyone who’s had a reading from me is familiar with my distinction between projection, in which the ego colors your impressions, and perception, in which you see beyond your preconceived notions. Think of it as the distinction between magical thinking and magic.
The angelic, ethereal lunar cycle beginning today can teach you this distinction by amplifying the greater forces always moving through us.
This cycle bridges Pisces and Aries season, as well as the old and the new, the dead and the living; all binaries, really. It is a holy hallway by any measure, resplendent with the miracle of birth and rebirth. It dissolves our resistance and ushers in the most dazzling change.
It only makes sense to commemorate its healing alchemy by purifying our temples. Our hearths, yes. But also: our bodies.
Rituals, not Rules
Even if you’re not the restrictive type, consider giving something up today through the vernal equinox. It can be anything you regularly partake or practice—weed, TikTok, sarcasm—but I’d recommend a habit or substance that’s become palliative rather than sheerly pleasurable.
The key word for this Pisces new moon is enchantment—a ceremony invoking our deepest psyche.
Ask yourself: To make room for what I want, what must I temporarily give up? Once you’ve decided on what you’re “lending,” give that exact thing to the moon herself by writing it down on a piece of paper, burning it in an unlit room or beneath tonight’s unlit sky, then planting the ashes or giving them to a body of water.
For the next 10 days, if at all possible, commit to this abstinence.
Pay attention to any detox symptoms you experience emotionally, physically, even metaphysically. What we shed offers mighty insight into the obstacles and illusions holding us back from the expansion we most desire. Thank them for keeping you safe and grounded before you were ready to progress.
Once your unconscious—the part of you that’s actively plugged into the divine—knows you’re serious about clearing a path, it will start sending blueprints, signposts, and tools for your stabilized expansion. Keep an eye out for unusual birds!
Metaphysician, Heal Thyself
I got the idea to suggest a personal “lent” from a download I received a few weeks ago that I needed to temporarily give up booze. It’s not that I drink addictively—my drug of choice was sugar before I gave it up—but ethanol is poison, and there have been so many viruses flying around NYC that I wanted to unburden my immune system as much as possible.
A few days into abstinence, I realized that, though I only drink a wine or whiskey every few days, I’d been relying too heavily on that periodic shift in consciousness. I also realized that I’d been given the download smack in the middle of Lent.
The body remembers dates even when our minds do not. To wit: the four-year anniversary of the inception of Covid, not to mention the one-year anniversary of a difficult breakup, was hitting my nervous system hard.
I was crabby, drained, and anxious, and could feel my angst more intensely once I stopped anesthetizing myself. The resignation and rejection came roaring to the forefront and I cried and raged more than I had in a very long while.
I won’t pretend I’m perfectly at peace now. I’ve been sleeping and meditating better, though, and have experienced more powerful intuition for myself and my clients. Rich, specific details that suggest our immediate future really doesn’t have to resemble our recent past—personally or even (gulp) geopolitically.
Discretion prevents me from sharing what I’ve seen on behalf of others, but I will say I’ve espied new lovers on my horizon for the first time in 12 months. (Like I said, that breakup was bad.) I’ve also clocked a few “attagirls” from the multiverse—like a pair of doves nesting on my fire escape for the first time in years.
The strongest message I’ve channeled is that sometimes it’s best to pray to want what you want. As in: to align with desires that serve your highest self. In my case, this entails a partner who is spiritually, ideologically, erotically, and aesthetically resonant rather than pathologically familiar.
If only there were an app for that.
“Sometimes
Although we can’t pray
A prayer utters itself.”
—Carol Ann Duffy
During this transition to spring, we all are experiencing potent dream medicine. Those who have received intuitive readings in the last 12 months can schedule guidance sessions to interpret these treasure maps from the sleeping self—not just the psychological data being transmitted but the psychic data as well. Even a seemingly ordinary dream proffers vital intuitive information, and it is my honor to teach you to decipher it.
It also is my honor to activate your practical magic through personalized vernal equinox rituals, tools, and divinations. Book a reading for yourself or a loved one, and share this newsletter with whomever it may help.
No matter how blocked and despairing you feel, new life is right around the corner. I am so glad to grant you a glimpse.
With waggling eyebrows and slow kitty blinks,
P.S. For the Oscar watchers among us, tonight’s Pisces magic will pitch major curve balls into the Academy Awards. Expect at least one massive awards upset. Perhaps Ryan Gosling will prove more than Kenough, beating out the odds-on-favorite Robert Downey Jr for best supporting actor. You better believe RG will charm everyone when he takes the mic. Behold the rest of my predictions on PBS.