one thing about me is I won't allow any Pisces slander
your witchy writer friend checking in: end of Pisces season edition
Hi and welcome! There are a few new faces around here 👋🏼✨ this is Cosmic Kudos, a newsletter about astrology, spiritual expansion, magic, and the making of our own personal mythologies. Plus, specially curated recommendations, various writings, and thoughtful cultural criticisms delivered straight to your inbox 💌
Reading this in Gmail? Be sure to move it over from your Promotions tab. If this was forwarded along to you, pls subscribe below. And if you’re already a subscriber, welcome back! I’d be over the moon if you shared this with a friend.
Hi lovelies,
What is it about this time of year that always feels so sticky? I often joke with friends that there’s something about Pisces season; you can start with the best of intentions, and yet everything still eventually descends into a strange and soggy mess. I mean, just imagine if Valentine’s Day took place in March. It’s a good thing it doesn’t, because we truly don’t need things to be any messier!
This year, with some major transits occurring—especially with generational mover and shakers like Saturn and Pluto changing signs—and very little astrological sweet spots to work with (Venus in Taurus notwithstanding), it feels as though we’ve all been plunged into a Neptunian fog from which we’ll emerge into an entirely new environment. And by “fog,” I mean that the sun, Saturn, and Neptune are all currently in Pisces, so if things are feeling just a little murky, if it’s as though the ground itself is shifting beneath your feet, well… you’re certainly not alone in that.
A few notes about Pisces before I discuss some of these transits, though, because the thing is: I will not allow any Pisces slander. Maybe it’s because I have so much lovely Piscean energy in my life (my mom is one, as well as several good friends), which I count myself grateful for. And if you have a Pisces—or Taurus—moon, I trust you implicitly. It just goes without saying.
Really, I don’t look at astrology as a kind of mining for stereotypical attributes, the way that so many seem to and even more take issue with. My preference has always been to use it as a tool, a sort of blueprint, a map of potential traits one may have, in addition to ways in which they may experience the world. Not to mention their relationships with others, which is undoubtedly very important to Pisces.
This is what Pisces spends their time thinking about and enamored with. They are concerned with how it all feels, how it may feel, the potentiality of the thing, any and every dreamy or poetic quality they can parse from an event or person or possibility. They are much too busy in the realms of all things fantastical to return your text messages in a timely fashion. We love them regardless, because they are so goddamn lovable, and because you actually really don’t want to mess with a Pisces. Like Gemini, they have receipts, honey. These receipts may be gorgeously, painstakingly, and artistically curated, but receipts they are indeed!
In a similar vein, Pisces can nurse a grudge; they are the type of person who can go to their grave with a secret only the closest of their friends or loved ones may glean even the tiniest sliver of information about. There’s a very high likelihood that you will never discover all of Pisces’ secrets—and they prefer it that way, of course.
Key recent and upcoming transits (please note this is by no means a comprehensive list):
On March 7, Saturn exited Aquarius and entered Pisces. If you’re like me and have a natal Saturn in Aquarius, then congratu-fucking-lations, you’ve just ended your Saturn return. If your Saturn is in Pisces, well… the fun is only beginning. (Don’t know? You can check what sign your natal Saturn is in right here.) More on this to come.
As of March 23, Pluto will move from Capricorn, where it’s currently situated at the 29th degree, into Aquarius. What does it mean when something is at the 29th, or anaretic, degree in astrology? Also known as the “degree of fate,” this is the final placement of a sign before a planet moves into the next one.1 (What else is taking place on March 23, you ask? Congress’ decision as to whether President Biden can ban TikTok.2) More on my thoughts about Pluto in Aquarius here.
Mars is still in Gemini, where it’s been since August 2022 (!). The warrior planet usually enjoys a far more zippy transit of around 6 weeks, though because of a retrograde period from the end of October until mid-January 2023, it’s experienced a much longer stay this time around. It will finally change signs, moving into Cancer, on March 25.
As of March 16, Venus has stepped into Taurus, where it is more than ready for some TLC. In earth sign Taurus, with its penchant for sensuality and creature comforts, Venusian ideals are centered around things and relationships that bring us nourishment and help us feel revitalized and truly cared for. You know, the high-quality stuff, that which we normally keep stored on the top shelf. Is it time to bring it down, dust it off, and treat ourselves now? Venus in Taurus says yes!
The start of Aries season, or the astrological year; vernal equinox; Wiccan holiday Ostara; and Persian New Year are all taking place this Monday, March 20, the first day of spring.
And a reenergizing Aries new moon quickly following this up on March 21.
So yeah, not a whole lot going on right now, or anything.
It’s a time of endings and the definitive closing of cycles, in order to make room for the new—as March always is, though this year is even more intense than usual. If something is leaving your life at this time, trust that it’s meant to leave. I’ve heard this month referred to as a “slingshot” time—as in, we are poised just now in that very moment before movement, before being flung into the next phase, into wherever our life’s evolution is taking us next. It certainly does feel that way.
[current reads]
Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi, is incredibly immersive, and I keep finding myself sinking further into a deepening appreciation for her deftness with language. It’s hard enough to keep the entirety of a novel chronicling the events of a single character’s life, or that of a group of characters, in one’s head while writing; to span the experiences and trauma and painful memories of whole generations in this way is just… whew. The work of immense skill.
Tell Me I’m an Artist, by Chelsea Martin. When I tell you I’m obsessed with MFA novels—! For her class project on self portraiture, Joey, a young art student in San Francisco (hmm… sounds familiar) decides to “remake” Wes Anderson’s Rushmore, a film she’s never actually seen3. Martin poses the question, what does it mean to succeed as an artist today, and just how much privilege is required? Can the making of “good art” be taught? Does it matter if you’re even “good” if you’re lucky enough to be affluent and/or have the right connections—or are adjacent to them? An extremely meta and incisively funny read, though if you go into this expecting the protagonist to have something to say, i.e. a clear and vivid message she’d like to convey to the world vis-à-vis her art, you may be disappointed. That’s kind of the point.
[errant links]
12 Books That Illuminate the Long Road to Becoming an Artist, via Antonia Angress for Electric Literature. Antonia, who wrote Sirens & Muses, one of my favorite books of 2022, shares here a list of Künstlerromans, or novels about the artist coming into maturity. (Please see my above comment about MFA novels!) I’ve always enjoyed this kind of fiction, but it became a full-blown obsession last year, one whose grip I have yet to relinquish. Nor do I want to.
Can’t stop, won’t stop, reading Joy Harjo. Here, her prose poem Grace. Okay, now that you’re back, did you just get chills? I’ve got full-body chills.
Novelist
shared a great piece about this sociocultural phenomenon that we’ve found ourselves in today, sunken into the consumerist trap of “too much”, whether it’s information, options, and/or stuff. (Suddenly I have an urge to get right back to spring cleaning/clearing out a ton of junk from my apartment. I’m in dire need.)
[binge watching]
I’m several episodes into Fleishman Is in Trouble and intrigued so far, although I can tell it’s going to get a whole lot better once certain shifts in perspective occur. And yes to block universe theory!
Is there a better time to rewatch Greta Gerwig’s 2019 remake of Little Women than during Pisces season? I think not. (I’m a ride or die for Jo March. Forever and ever always.)
[tuning in]
Adriatique’s Cercle set at Hatshepsut, or a mortuary temple known as the ‘Holy of Holies’ in Luxor, Egypt, has been on repeat since it dropped. Production value for Cercle sets are always top notch, and the locations they choose all across the globe are, too, though this one is controversial, that’s for sure. Location aside, though, the set is absolutely stellar.
I simply cannot deal with the sheer and absolute majesty that is this slowed-down and souped-up Florence Welch x No Doubt cover for the Yellowjackets season 2 soundtrack.
This episode of Between the Covers (Tin House’s literary radio show and podcast hosted by David Naimon), featuring Gabriella Bates, where she reads from her debut poetry collection Judas Goat, is full of so much goodness. Holy wow.
[creating ritual with]
In this week’s nice things, I offered up a suggestion as to how to energetically cleanse your front door, and I thought I’d point out that if you’re not feeling particularly ✨motivated✨ for spring cleaning this year, you most definitely wouldn’t be alone.
Taking on one thing at a time—even if it’s a single task a day—and being far more mindful with each has done me wonders. If I’m fully engaged in each task, perhaps by putting on my favorite song while I do it, or treating myself with a little gift after it’s done, then I’m far more likely to enjoy each as a kind of moving meditation, or at the very least as something I won’t put off doing for longer than I need. (Not that I seem to do that regularly…) And at this point, I’ll take my victories where I can, as significant or as small as they may seem.
xx Kimia
Liked this post? Please feel free to click the ❤️ button so that more people can discover it on Substack! If you’re viewing in your inbox, I’d love if you could FWD it along to someone you think may enjoy it. Want to support my work in other ways? You can make a one-time donation for the price of a cup of coffee (okay, so maybe not the price of a coffee in San Francisco, unless you’re feeling particularly generous!). Thank you for reading—and for supporting the work of a growing independent artist and writer.
It’s sometimes referred to as the “fame degree” as well, along with 5 and 17, the other “Leo degrees.”
I have so many thoughts about this, but for now we’ll just leave it at that, because you really can’t make this shit up.
Please note, dear reader, that I have not seen it either!
Homecoming is my favourite book and Yaa Gyassi is a standout author. Transcendent Kingdom, her second novel, which although very different, lived up to it's predecessor and find me at the perfect time.