Pisces's glyph shows two fish hooked together but swimming in opposite directions. The image is a metaphor for the Piscean character. One part of it swims wide, toward the edge of the universe, while the other dives deep seeking some mystical substratum of reality. Ideally there is a rhythm to the journeys: the fish reunite and share their discoveries before setting out again on their separate missions. Lacking the rhythm, however, it symbolizes unbalanced extremes: the voyager wandering aimlessly and the unhappy intorvert deep in the abyss.

The Fish as cosmological voyagers are exlemplified by some of history's great students of the universe--Copernicus, Galileo, Einstein. Einstein was, perhaps, Pisces at its most evolved--a complete human being, scientist, and mystic, who joined intution to reality.

But not all Pisceans are so comfortable in the cosmos. Some are hypersensitive even to the point of being psychic. Edgar Cayce, for example. Piscean minds are so receptive that as children, Pisceans may have trouble distinguishing their own thoughts from the thoughts of others. This confusion can spur a headlong retreat from reality as Pisceans seek to escape the clamoring mental static. They may then become withdrawn, submissive, anxious, and disorganized.

When it does not run to extremes, however, Piscean intuition is strong and redemptive, endowing the individual with intellectual and artistic gifts. On a larger scale, it instills profound understanding and compassion. And Pisceans are in touch with what the culture has forgotten or repressed--the magical, irrational world of unconscious longing and subterranean dreams. Pisceans have the ability to retreive the dreams from the depths and return them to consciousness, revealing a cosmic unity that alleviates human alienation.

The Fish are the sign of wholeness. On the zodiacal wheel, they lie opposite Virgo, and share a love of minutiae. Unlike them, Pisceans are able to see the cosmos as a grand and beautiful design. Ironically, they may have trouble fitting into the external world. If certain negative aspects afflict their birth charts, they are prone to childishness, dreaminess, fear of responsibility and feelings of discontent or victimization. Free of negative influences, however, they are cheerful and sensual and quietly appreciative of life's pleasures. Romanticism plays a role in their lives. Nat King Cole and Maurice Ravel were both Pisceans. In love, Pisceans act out their yearning for absolutes and perfection.

Pisceans are above all else visionaries; they often find it hard to live in the present or to interact with people less spiritually inclined than they. Many Fish have an acute tendancy to self-denial--and sometimes and almost messianic need to save. Indeed, they may be driven to share their spirituality--to save souls, for instance, whether they want salvation or not. Pisceans thus inclined would be wise to learn to impart their mystical vision of awe and wonder without forcing it on hapless friends.

The Fish mark the end of the progression of the zodiac from birth (Aries) to reunification with God or the cosmos, which astrologers liken to the sea.

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