After our 11-month journey through the first 11 signs of the zodiac, we finally come to the last sign: the fish. It’s the quintessential symbol of Christianity. A symbol often branded on the bumpers of vehicles, presumably designating the religious affiliation of the drivers.
Interestingly, I once read that the symbol was used by Christians back in the bad-old-days when they were being persecuted. To identify themselves to each other silently, one person would draw one curved line in the dirt with a stick. Then the other person would draw its mirror image to create the classic two-lined symbol.
As always, I prefer the original, deeper spiritual meaning of the myths and symbols that pervade religious belief. For Pisces, I like a passage I found by Alvin Boyd Kuhn in Shadow of the Third Century:
For these people, “Scorning astrology as heathen superstition, (they) will have to scan the zodiac and re-learn the symbolism of Pisces and the star Fomalhaut, in the mouth of the Southern Fish constellation, and the River Eridanus (the Jordan), which flows out of this piscis vesica or fish’s mouth, and runs clear up to the feet of Orion, and which must be traversed or ‘crossed’ by all souls to pass over the watery course of evolution from their birth out of matter up to their deification in, and as Orion, the Christ, if (they are) to understand why its own founder and savior was called by the Greeks Ichthys (Greek, ‘fish’), the Divine Fish, and why the twelve disciples were ‘fishermen,’ and much more of its own detail in the Gospels.”
Once again, we come face-to-face with an ongoing problem in modern “religion.” They take ideas meant as mythology or symbolism as if they were literal. In this case, the symbolism of the fish is the idea that each of us, after completing our journey on this earth, can only return back to our divine origin, by crossing a river. It is the final step in the journey. And what is the best way to cross? To swim. Hence, the symbol of the fish.
And why can we only cross this river after we’ve passed through all 12 cycles of the zodiac. Kuhn explains:
“Man is to evolve in his entire life course 12 distinct forms or faculties of higher consciousness, to which he will give full function as he becomes the god he is destined to be. This basic knowledge was the ground and origin of all the divisions of 12s in arcane literature and religious symbolism. It is generic for the 12 months of the year, the 12 hours of day, the 12 hours of nite, the 12 tribes of Israel or sons of Jacob, the 12 stone pillars in ancient temples, the 12 lines of the four faces of the great pyramid, and the 12 disciples of the Christos — who were ‘shepherds’ under the sign of Aries, and ‘fishermen’ under that of Pisces.”
That, in essence, is the entire purpose of the 12-part Zodiacal series of articles I’ve created to help all of us understand each divine intelligence we need to acquire and activate as we traverse each sign in life after life.
Lack of Confidence in the Self
This idea flows into that of Reverend Bill Darlison, in his book, The Gospel and the Zodiac.
“Water symbolizes emotion, and the Mutable Water sign is the sign of ‘flowing’ emotion, of reaching out to others in their distress, of concern for the suffering world. For modem writers, in fact, the faults of Pisces are really just expressions of the sign’s extreme sensitivity. Such faults spring from his being a victim of the world, in a sense — in being a sensitive soul lost in a world that has little respect for sensitivity …
“The diffidence which the Piscean so often displays is our key to understanding the spiritual lessons of this sign. Lack of confidence in the self, or in the future, is characteristic of most of us, particularly so when one cycle of life is coming to an end. Part of us wants to stay in the security of the past, preferring the devil we know to any merely promised angel.
“This is one of the Piscean fishes, swimming backwards into the safe waters. But it is at this point that we have to steel our resolve, to face the uncertainties of the future with confidence, to swim with the other fish into the open waters, which beckon us to a newer and fuller life.”
Buddhist meditation master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche speaks to the spiritual lesson of Pisces and the soul’s bind at this point in the journey in a more direct, hard-to-hear, way:
“The problem is that we tend to seek an easy and painless answer. But this kind of solution does not apply to the spiritual path … once we commit ourselves to the spiritual path, it is very painful and we are in for it. We have committed ourselves to the pain of exposing ourselves, of taking off our clothes, our skin, our nerves, heart, brain, until we are exposed to the universe. Nothing will be left. It will be terrible, excruciating. But that is the way it is.”
Down into Death and Back to Life
Davison reminds us: “The sun’s emergence from Pisces to Aries at the spring equinox symbolizes the eternal longing of humanity for resurrection to new life … our present suffering is cathartic, purgatorial perhaps, but not permanent: it is just the anguish of anticipated transformation.”
The overall point is that our journey from Aries to Pisces, with all of its wisdom gathering, and pain, and strife, is a critical step in our spiritual journey into this realm and back out again.
“Each (journey) involves going down into death and coming back to life again: the end of one cycle and the beginning of another; winter to spring; Pisces to Aries. These stories are not to be dismissed as ‘mere’ myths fit only for the entertainment of children. The fact that they are so widespread points to them being expressions of the deepest hopes and aspirations of all humankind. To say that they are originally metaphors drawn from the observations of farmers is not to belittle their spiritual significance in any way.”
This is why the intelligence that we have to awaken in Pisces is fearlessness. We need to be fearless for the final step of our arduous celestial journey — crossing “over the watery course of evolution from (our) birth out of matter up to (our) deification.”
SignsofIntelligence.com offers great insight into Pisceans who’ve advanced on their journey:
“Those driven by the higher calling of Piscean inspiration are drawn towards conquering the inner dragons of self delusion, addiction, self pity, pride and vanity, so that that which is false or has been acquired wrongly through the influence of others, is dissolved leaving in its wake the pure essence of one’s Soul and Destiny. This is akin to being in an enlightened state of inner peace and understanding.
“Through the dissolution of her false personality and all its accompanying negativity, comes the spiritual recognition of her affinity and unity with all people and how she can best serve others. It is through this great journey of inner alchemy that Pisces experiences the innate suffering that all humans are subject to. By consciously working to transcend her personal neurosis, consciously working to transform her acquired patterns of suffering and confusion into positive self-expression, Pisces grows a soul of deep compassion, one capable of forgiving those that have injured her.”
Out of the Darkness Comes the Light
Davison teaches us about Pisces hidden in the Gospels:
“In the gospel story … a series of transformations culminates in a ‘symbolic death’ on the cross, leading to a resurrected life. … (Similarly) As the old sun goes to its death in Pisces only to be reborn at the spring equinox; as the Israelites cross the Red Sea before entering the Promised Land; as Jonah spends three days in the belly of the fish only to be vomited out, transformed, on to dry land once more; so the old, carnal self is crucified and the new, redeemed person is reborn.
“This is the secret message of the Gospel narrative, a message which it shares with the dramas of the mystery cults of old, that a new kind of life eternal life, resurrected life — is available to those who are brave enough to embrace the way of the cross, the painful destruction of the ego and its appetites, so that the Christ-spirit may come to birth. This ‘resurrected life’ is not a post-mortem state. It is offered to us while we are still in the flesh. …
“Other characters in the drama play out the Piscean themes. Judas’ treachery and Peter’s denial both illustrate the cowardice we all exhibit when faced with the prospect of any kind of suffering. The sleep of the apostles in Gethsemane, which can hardly be historical in view of the danger they were about to encounter, is itself Piscean, and contrasts with the wakeful agony of Jesus who is prepared to undergo his destined transformation regardless of personal cost. ‘The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,’ Jesus’ words to his sleepy companions, epitomize the tensions inherent in this sign.”
In the end, the Gospel contains a simple message about Pisces: It is a dramatization of the Piscean lesson for the spiritual seeker — “the pain which inevitably accompanies the end of any cycle has to be encountered. Evasion, denial, or ‘sleep’ cannot lift us to the next phase of our existence.”
If you miss the journey across the river this time, don’t worry.
“Our post-resurrection journey, like that of Jesus to Galilee, takes us back to where we started from. The cycle has ended only to begin again as we continue to spiral, onwards and upwards, (or backwards and downward) — towards our eventual liberation.
Don’t be afraid.
You’ll just start the whole zodiacal journey again in Aries.
Eventually, on one of your many journeys, you’ll finally rise out of the darkness and into the divine light.
