[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ere we are in our last days of winter and the last week of Pisces. Before Pisces waters turn to Aries fires, let’s talk a bit more about Pisces. So we understand more.

Wednesday, March 14, is Einstein’s birthday. Einstein, a most brilliant thinker, was Pisces Sun. Most people consider Pisces too confused to become a brilliant scientist. But, there are heights and depths within Pisces hardly anyone ever knows or comes close to understanding. Pisces is the two fish, one masking the other. Pisces’ nature is fluid. And, this fluidity is what enables them to swim deep into darkness while reaching up to the highest star (Sirius). Because of these journeys, Pisces is able to understand all realities, both dark and light, inner and outer, above and below, known and unknown. This is where the two fish swim. Pisces, when directed by the Soul, becomes powerful, like the force of an ocean. Often, people turn away when in the presence of Pisces. A spiritual Pisces (Pluto ruler) understands why. Pisces must withdraw often, eliminate all that has been absorbed from the environments, and gather themselves back together again.

Saturday is the Pisces new moon. So many “lights” both in Pisces and in Aries. The Pisces waters prepare us for the fires of Aries. The keynote for Pisces is, “I left the Father’s house, the bliss-filled Oneness. I returned to the Earth in order to serve the Plan and to save humanity.”  Monday is St. Joseph’s Day, honoring all fathers as they cherish their children.

Tuesday, March 20, at 9:15 a.m. (West Coast), the zodiacal year ends, the Sun exits Pisces, enters Aries and the new season of Spring begins. The seasons are all about the elements. From Pisces water to Aries fire, from the end to a new beginning. The new zodiacal year begins and Archangel Raphael assumes his Spring post as protector of the Earth.

ARIES: Rest and relaxation are most important. Retreat continues to be a need. No matter what you attempt, veils drop in front of you. Should you push forward, you only find clouds of confusion. Go slowly, use your heart, slip into a comforting environment (and shoes), and dance and sing to the sounds of kirtan (holy music). The best is by Krishna Das.

TAURUS: Your entire focus is on group work and the creation of community. This is Right Action, for it will be through intentionally creating, building and working within community that sustainability will be assured in the coming years. There is a need to tend to health, be in the sun and exercise to assure that you will continue with the vision and leadership needed to get us from here to there, from darkness to light.

GEMINI: The planets in the sign of saving the world are in your house of friends, hopes, wishes, and how you’re recognized, seen, needed and remembered in the group you belong to. What are your thoughts these days concerning those you associate with? How do they impact your profession, leadership skills and public life? During this new moon, serve those around you with great dedication and love. Make food baskets. Distribute them.

CANCER: Maintain simplicity this week. Tend to easy chores, seek help if needed. You must maintain health, well-being and strength. There’s a possibility of restriction walking or accomplishing tasks or getting from here to wherever, for something unexpected may have occurred. This calls for patience and strength of character that can ask for assistance. If traveling, be sure to have the best of shoes. Drive with care.

LEO: Saturn and Mars have been affecting your day to day life. Have you found yourself working slower, having to redo, review, reassess and create a calm sense of inner patience these past months? What is occurring with money and finances held in common? Something unexpected, expansive, confusing or illuminating? Did financial news from family emerge? Do you need tax help?

VIRGO: Pisces is your opposite sign, your hidden self, the other half of you. When Sun’s in Virgo, an integration takes place between yourself and all those close to you; intimate friends, those you work and live with and even enemies. Virgo and Pisces, like all opposite signs, shadow each other. The gifts each one possesses the other needs. Each shadow of the other gradually fuses and integrates.

LIBRA: With multiple Pisces and Aries planets you could be involved with lots of water (or fire). You could be engulfed in drugs or alcohol or a flood of tears for something sad occurring. You could be learning to swim or riding the waves. You could be turning into Mother Teresa saving the world. You could be lost, confused or realize you’re being refined, purified and prepared. On the burning grounds. Wear veils for protection.

SCORPIO: Creativity should have slipped into your life quite easily, taking you by the hand, creating new interests and goals, having you mingle with artists, writers, musicians, and performers so that you begin to identify more specifically as highly creative and not just a dark stranger behind sunglasses and long black coat in the winter cold somewhere. Now you’re in the bright golden Sun.

SAGITTARIUS: Many opportunities seem to flow into your life. So many you may feel under/overwhelmed. Don’t be. Some you’ll understand, some you won’t. Some are good, some confusing. As the blessings continue to appear, you find yourself learning to be quite at home with style, glamour and dazzling beauty. At times, you do need to retreat, hide under covers and simply swim toward Seas of Tranquility.

CAPRICORN: You like to maintain customs and traditions. Soon it will be Easter. It’s time to create Easter baskets, growing little grasses (barley and wheat), thinking about filling the baskets with homemade foods for family and friends. Easter is Sunday, April 1. In our family, our mother made walnut and poppy seed strudels, she grew radishes and parsley for Easter breakfast, and we walked around the neighborhoods, collecting wild fruits and spring onions. You might do this too.

AQUARIUS: Should you feel overtaken by either sex or intimacy, by money or finances, and/or by confusion in either of these areas of life, give yourself time to acclimate because something’s unfolding and something’s being refined in those areas. Keep close and careful tabs on all money, received and spent. Try not to be taken over by a desire for a very expensive object. It’s an illusion. Wait a month.

PISCES: This new moon brings the hidden out into the open. Perhaps a new self-identity. Pisces is so often veiled, people don’t really know them. They live behind veils (Neptune) for many years. Then one day Pisces emerges, knowing what’s ahead, what came before and what just passed everyone by. There’s lots of work ahead. Get yourself thick boots, something cashmere and a new car. You know which direction to take.

Free Will astrology for the week of March 14, 2018.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The British science fiction TV show Dr. Who has appeared on BBC in 40 of the last 54 years. Over that span, the titular character has been played by 13 different actors. From 2005 until 2010, Aries actor David Tennant was the magic, immortal, time-traveling Dr. Who. His ascendance to the role fulfilled a hopeful prophecy he had made about himself when he was 13 years old. Now is an excellent time for you, too, to predict a glorious, satisfying, or successful occurrence in your own future. Think big and beautiful!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): New York City is the most densely populated city in North America. Its land is among the most expensive on Earth; one estimate says the average price per acre is $16 million. Yet there are two uninhabited islands less than a mile off shore in the East River: North Brother Island and South Brother Island. Their combined 16 acres are theoretically worth $256 million. But no one goes there or enjoys it; it’s not even parkland. I bring this to your attention, Taurus, because I suspect it’s an apt metaphor for a certain situation in your life: a potentially rich resource or influence that you’re not using. Now is a good time to update your relationship with it.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The iconic 1942 movie Casablanca won three Academy Awards and has often appeared on critics’ lists of the greatest films ever made. That’s amazing considering the fact that the production was so hectic. When shooting started, the script was incomplete. The writing team frequently presented the finished version of each new scene on the day it was to be filmed. Neither the director nor the actors knew how the plot would resolve until the end of the process. I bring this to your attention, Gemini, because it reminds me of a project you have been working on. I suggest you start improvising less and planning more. How do you want this phase of your life to climax?

CANCER (June 21-July 22): If all goes well in the coming weeks, you will hone your wisdom about how and when and why to give your abundant gifts to deserving recipients—as well as how and when and why to not give your abundant gifts to deserving recipients. If my hopes come to pass, you will refine your ability to share your tender depths with worthy allies—and you will refine your understanding of when to not share your tender depths with worthy allies. Finally, Cancerian, if you are as smart as I think you are, you will have a sixth sense about how to receive as many blessings as you disseminate.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): How adept are you at playing along the boundaries between the dark and the light, between confounding dreams and liberated joy, between “Is it real?” and “Do I need it?”? You now have an excellent opportunity to find out more about your capacity to thrive on delightful complexity. But I should warn you: The temptation to prematurely simplify things might be hard to resist. There may be cautious pressure coming from a timid voice in your head that’s not fierce enough to want you to grow into your best and biggest self. But here’s what I predict: You will bravely explore the possibilities for self-transformation that are available outside of the predictable niches.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Cultivating a robust sense of humor makes you more attractive to people you want to be attractive to. An inclination to be fun-loving is another endearing quality that’s worthy of being part of your intimate repertoire. There’s a third virtue related to these two: playfulness. Many humans of all genders are drawn to those who display joking, lighthearted behavior. I hope you will make maximum use of these qualities during the coming weeks, Virgo. You have a cosmic mandate to be as alluring and inviting as you dare.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I suggest you gaze at exquisitely wrought Japanese woodcuts . . . and listen to jazz trumpeter Miles Davis collaborating with saxophonist John Coltrane . . . and inhale the aroma of the earth as you stroll through groves of very old trees. Catch my drift, Libra? Surround yourself with soulful beauty—or else! Or else what? Or else I’ll be sad. Or else you might be susceptible to buying into the demoralizing thoughts that people around you are propagating. Or else you may become blind to the subtle miracles that are unfolding, and fail to love them well enough to coax them into their fullest ripening. Now get out there and hunt for soulful beauty that awakens your deepest reverence for life. Feeling awe is a necessity for you right now, not a luxury.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the Sikh religion, devotees are urged to attack weakness and sin with five “spiritual weapons”: contentment, charity, kindness, positive energy, and humility. Even if you’re not a Sikh, I think you’ll be wise to employ this strategy in the next two weeks. Why? Because your instinctual nature will be overflowing with martial force, and you’ll have to work hard to channel it constructively rather than destructively. The best way to do that is to be a vehement perpetrator of benevolence and healing.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In 1970, a biologist was hiking through a Brazilian forest when a small monkey landed on his head, having jumped from a tree branch. Adelmar Coimbra-Filho was ecstatic. He realized that his visitor was a member of the species known as the golden-rumped lion tamarin, which had been regarded as extinct for 65 years. His lucky accident led to a renewed search for the elusive creatures, and soon more were discovered. I foresee a metaphorically comparable experience coming your way, Sagittarius. A resource or influence or marvel you assumed was gone will reappear. How will you respond? With alacrity, I hope!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The Velcro fastener is a handy invention that came into the world thanks to a Swiss engineer named George de Mestral. While wandering around the Alps with his dog, he got curious about the bristly seeds of the burdock plants that adhered to his pants and his dog. After examining them under a microscope, he got the idea to create a clothing fastener that imitated their sticking mechanism. In accordance with the astrological omens, Capricorn, I invite you to be alert for comparable breakthroughs. Be receptive to help that comes in unexpected ways. Study your environment for potentially useful clues and tips. Turn the whole world into your classroom and laboratory. It’s impossible to predict where and when you may receive a solution to a long-running dilemma!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed to the top of Mount Everest. They were celebrated as intrepid heroes. But they couldn’t have done it without massive support. Their expedition was powered by 20 sherpa guides, 13 other mountaineers, and 362 porters who lugged 10,000 pounds of baggage. I bring this to your attention, Aquarius, in the hope that it will inspire you. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to gather more of the human resources and raw materials you will need for your rousing expedition later this year.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Although her work is among the best Russian literature of the 20th century, poet Marina Tsvetaeva lived in poverty. When fellow poet Rainer Maria Rilke asked her to describe the kingdom of heaven, she said, “Never again to sweep floors.” I can relate. To earn a living in my early adulthood, I washed tens of thousands of dishes in restaurant kitchens. Now that I’m grown up, one of my great joys is to avoid washing dishes. I invite you to think along these lines, Pisces. What seemingly minor improvements in your life are actually huge triumphs that evoke profound satisfaction? Take inventory of small pleasures that are really quite miraculous.

Homework: Describe what you’d be like if you were the opposite of yourself. Write Freewillastrology.com.