Reconnecting Under a Pisces Sun

It was time to go back to Oz. My partner and I take a yearly trip to remedy the pressures of daily life, this year we chose to go back to his family home of Australia. It was also our way of trimming the hedges in our relationship, and digging out the overgrown weeds, chocking the healthier growth of emotions was long overdue. It was a way to firmly replant our love. We planned it around his birthday in early March, as all he wanted on his day was to swim along the Great Barrier Reef.

Depending on the month(s), if you pay attention to the overall mood—with slight accentuations of all the major aspects at the moment, you’ll notice it can change. At the end of March and beginning of April, you may feel a bit more active, become more impulsive because these months fall under the Aries sign. When November rolls around you may feel swept away with deeper, intense emotions or your sex drive is at a high because it’s the Scorpio season. Your mood can then lift the next month thanks to the optimistic Sag energy that follows. Whenever the Pisces spirit comes around, there’s a sense of fluidity, laziness may set the theme for your days. Personally, I found it’s one of the better times to get away from it all. 

Going away at the end of February and most of March can result in either frustration or the most relaxed vacation, depending on the traveller you are. It means things may not go according to plans, you may be less active, finding yourself sitting by the pool all day and forgetting that you had a whole itinerary mapped out. There’s a quality of magic in the air , a sense that things will unfold as they should, a rhythm sparkling in the stars. Considering that the sign of Pisces is pumped with Neptune energies as it travels in its home sign, it gives the watery flow of Pisces that much more power. It sits in my ninth house of journeys, letting me know to trust the flow when in foreign lands. 

After trial and errors from our previous trips, I yielded to the Neptune flow from the moment we were thinking of booking a ticket—being conscious of this made the process smoother.

As a couple, we are notorious for getting into a bits of tiffs right before we leave to go anywhere—even more pronounced when we’re pressed for time. Seeing that my partner is a Pisces himself, both moon and sun being in the 6th of daily routines and in the 7th house of relationship, he can be pretty laxed with time, often having no concept of the clock. I, on the other hand, have Mercury in my sixth, comfortably neurotic in his own house. He also conjuncts my aggressive, energetic Mars in Sag. And despite having 3 Sag planets there, Scorpio sits in the cusp of my 6th. This accentuates how active I am on a daily basis, I like to plan things especially when it comes to traveling(Sag) and when there’s a wrench thrown in I get anxious(Scorpio). This, not only gives us a huge conflict on a daily basis, but more so when we travel, my fixed Aquarius 9th house cusp wants to keep with the itinerary that my Mercury has planned out and I can be aggressive(Mars) about it. This goes against his fixed Taurus in the cusp of his 9th house who is happy to be on chill mode, a lazy desire further supported by the easy-going Pisces in his 6th.

Since considering his wishes and desires, it’s been an easier flow this time around, despite hurdles thrown our way. I held it together after he lost his passport inside the Vancouver airport. Though, he was too calm for my liking, remaining as poised as I could, kept the frustration from further aggravating the situation. I kept thinking that this is part of our trip. The situation reminded me of our trip in Costa Rica—while lost in a car ride—that we should just let this be part of the adventure together, resulting in fun times. Once I started to surrender to the currents of the Pisces energy, the situation became what it was, then fixed itself and we eventually got on a plane to Manila with the help of a very attentive flight agent.

The overwhelming feeling subsided quickly. However, a few hours into the flight, the initial tranquil waters were turning into high tides as he was tossing and turning on unforgiving seats during the 14 hour flight, also causing his nicotine fit. It was easy to step away from the situation as I was already riding the Pisces energy. I withdrew from him, became receptive and he responded by simmering down. A great move as the tides became rougher when he was restricted from going outside for a cigarette after landing at the Manila airport. He was so desperate for a butt, he had bribed the security guard to let him out. It wasn’t happening. Being around someone under a nicotine episode isn’t fun. I swam deeper to feel the placidness down below, intuitively waiting for the the rapids to calm. Grumbling and cursing filled the thick air above our tight space. I was starting to choke in it. Thank the Universe that landing in Sydney came just in time. Tension was slowly released from the cool summer breeze and the first few puffs of salvation. 

But it wasn’t long until we were truly challenged to ride each killer wave. It wasn’t the labyrinth search to find the keys under mental fatigue, after a 27 hr plane ride or the soreness of my body while walking up endless dark staircases with heavy luggages. The real test was after we flicked the light switch to a roach infested Airbnb we booked for the next four days. 

They were everywhere, some scurried away in fright, others seemingly disgruntled, slowly crawled back under some safety. Though we were both shook by our plight, we concluded that it was better then the -17° weather in Toronto, but mostly we were tired from a 27hour flight and a bed in the middle of roach city seemed better than being in an upright position. 

The next four days, he slept and I left him to acclimatize. Though, I was paranoid about tiny legs crossing my face or slipping under the covers, I wanted to wake up and enjoy that dawn, and watch the yellow-mohawk cockatoos past. It was a great relief to be wrapped in the warmth of the morning while sitting on the terrace with my cup of joe. The impending light rain didn’t dampen my thoughts, instead washed away the tensions that came in the beginning of our trip. I was in pure acceptance of the moment. I just wanted to soak in it, breath it and feel the sun kissing my face. I was drenched with a poetic sensation. The soft lyrics, unfortunately, wasn’t reaching his ears.

Adjusting to the pace is always hard on him. He tends to not know what to do with himself so he gets frustrated from the withdrawals of a busy mind and schedule. Well acquainted with this, I knew what I was up against for the next few days. When we got into our first disagreement, I knew if I didn’t remind him what the whole trip was about, the whole day would be shot. It turned out, there wasn’t much  effort required. This time around the air seemed to dissolve that anger. It felt like we had become more understanding about the situation and so we just let things go. By not letting our selfish emotions drown the garden of our relationship, we started to see the new buds spring up—most of it came in the form of laughter, finding the humor in our roach-filled situation.

This helped us when we went on a 1 hour1/2 ride towards the Great Corals. I never thought myself as someone that gets seasick. But sick, I got. A bag full of my breakfast later, it became one of the funniest and deepening moments on our trip. He too saw the return of his morning meal. There we were on a rocky boat, with our stomachs just as rocky, wiping the goo off the others chin, poking fun of the our situation again, while simultaneously comforted by the joy of sharing a normally embarrassing moment together.

The next days felt lazy to a point that I had no intention of making any plans. I was happy just sitting in our hotel room until the next meal. He was feeling the same way, but was also willing to do whatever I wanted. We were receptive to each other, though we have been together for almost 7 years, this was the first time I ever really felt we were truly synched and not trying to override the other’s energy.  

As we felt like creatures swimming in the oceans with no words needed to communicate, we were truly synced to our second Reef excursion. It was characteristic of the giant clams filtering the water, the beauty of the submerge corals and the free-ranging sea turtle we encountered. We were starting to swim in clear waters by starting to act on the reason for this trip. We were able to witness the bright and colorful growth that we have both been planting with our love, accomplished by being open to what was unfolding between us, and being nourished by the experience. 

Do you prefer a certain astrological season to travel in?

Art: Audrey Kawasaki