Pisces

Just as the first sign of the zodiac, Aries, represents a new beginning so the twelfth and last sign, Pisces, is the end of the circle, the sign of eternity, reincarnation, and spiritual rebirth. Many astrologers say that Pisces is a link to the spirit world and that you who are born under this sign are old souls, for they believe Pisceans to have experienced other lives in the past. Pisceans have an otherworldly quality. In mystical terms, you are described as being half-body and half-spirit, pulled between material existence and spiritual concerns, possessed of the knowledge that you will never be entirely at home in the real world. Like natives of the other water signs (Cancer and Scorpio), you have the ability to see deeply into the human psyche. Subtle and intuitive, you are born with the gift of prophecy, and may even become involved in the occult, ESP, and spiritualism. Because you have a close relationship with astral forces, you feel things before you know them and your feelings are rarely wrong. If you get a hunch, others would be wise to pay attention. Part of your clairvoyance stems from the fact that you understand first with your heart, and only then do you rationalize what you know intuitively. Ruled by Neptune, planet of mystery and illusion, your personality is elusive, fey, and quicksilvery. Your element is water, and the imagery of the sea is evident in how easily you adapt to the ever-shifting currents around you. More than natives of any other sign, you are enormously influenced by your surroundings and by the people who touch your life. Indeed, you have a unique ability to get under another person's skin, to take literally as your own another's problems, joys, and woes. You have tender sympathy for anyone or anything that hurts; sick plants, hungry animals, and friends in need — they all find a home with you. At times you give away the very strength and emotional security you need for yourself. You possess superb intuitions and a seemingly bottomless understanding of other people, yet your extraordinary sensitivity can be your most vulnerable point. You are too impressionable to each passing influence, too susceptible to someone else's hard-luck story or plea for help. For you, learning to say no can be a lifetime project and you may never learn how to do it at all. Ancient astrologers called Pisces the sign of Sorrow from SelfUndoing, and you can easily become the creator of your own downfall. You are impractical and fall prey to overindulgence. You also have a penchant for picking the wrong companions. A fatal flaw in Pisces is the tendency to flee from what you don't want to deal with, and this can lead you into a world of addictive behavior. At times, your life may become so punctuated with trouble and heartache that you try desperately to escape, and then you are like Eliza jumping from ice floe to ice floe, with no clear sense of where you are headed. Your symbol, two fishes tied together swimming in opposite directions, represents conflicting emotions and desires that pull you to and fro. You must fight hard for stability, for the strength of purpose and balance needed to combat the negativity of laziness, carelessness, and emotional confusion. You need to develop a positive self-image, play on your strengths and ability to take responsibility, not let yourself fall victim to bad choices and your predilection for self-undoing. Your life lesson is to learn self-doing. Certainly, you do not lack backbone. Indeed, you are capable of great sacrifice and hard work in the service of a cause or an ideal. Intellectually you are curious and like to explore the unusual and hidden. Although you can be impractical, even lazy, you are also capable of prodigious work when you are involved in a project you truly care about. The thing is that despite the fact that you work unselfishly for others, you find it hard to be strict and disciplined with yourself. Not many natives of this sign are suited to the harsh, rough-and-tumble world of business and commerce. Pisces is the mystical sign of the poet and the dreamer, and you are more successful as a writer, musician, or artist. You're intensely imaginative and addicted to make-believe, and you strive to create a world that comes closer to your own unique vision. When you put your energy into creating fantasies, you're the most creative artist in the zodiac. Among famous Piscean creators are Pierre -Auguste Renoir, Frederic Chopin, Enrico Caruso, Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolph Nureyev, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. Because you blend compassion and understanding with great verve, you exert a unique power on people whose lives touch yours. You may feel you lack self-confidence to be a leader, but you are definitely a guide, teacher, and role model to many. You are also a fey charmer and a mischievous wit who loves to laugh. Yet because you are fundamentally unsure of yourself, you prefer to work alone rather than with people. You have an instinct for finding what appears to be the easy way out, and founder in the shallows of least resistance. This is why so many talented, charming, superior natives of this sign never attain the position in life to which their gifts entitle them. You are a very special person whose sensitivity and awareness will always appeal to a select group. You are capable of high intellectual achievement and your magnetic, mysterious, engaging and delightful personality is heightened by an intriguing sense of drama. You are also loyal, unselfish, and generous, always ready to help a friend who has fallen on hard times. In fact, you often create a special kind of magic — when you concentrate on the best and reject what is ugly and meanspirited, people are likely to live up to your vision. You have a deep appreciation for the inner qualities of others; you are not concerned with the superficial and with what others see on the surface. You look at the inner soul, the essence. There is no more sensitive, perceptive friend, nor one more warmhearted, caring, devoted, and sentimental.