Pisces season, February 19 to March 20, is the last month of the zodiac: the Sun's final stretch before it reaches the March equinox and the cycle starts again in Aries. Pisces is mutable water, ruled by Neptune in modern astrology and Jupiter in the traditional scheme, so astrologers associate the month with imagination, compassion, rest, dreams and letting the old year go. Its first day can move by a day either side of February 19.
Think of it as the white space between the end of one chapter and the start of the next.
The end of winter and the end of the zodiac
Pisces is a mutable sign, and mutable signs close the seasons. In the Northern Hemisphere its month is the tail of winter: snowdrops, mud, the first mild afternoon that tricks everyone into leaving their coats at home. In the Southern Hemisphere the same weeks are the end of summer, and the season closes at the autumn equinox instead.
Pisces is also the twelfth sign, which gives its season a second ending. Astrologers link it with the twelfth house of rest, solitude, retreat and what happens out of sight, and many describe Pisces as the sign that holds a little of all the others. On that reading, the season is less about building than about dissolving: finishing, forgiving, sleeping on it.
There's a sky-watcher's twist as well. Because of precession, the slow wobble of Earth's axis, the March equinox point that begins Aries season now lies among the stars of the constellation Pisces. That's where the popular idea of an Age of Pisces slowly giving way to an Age of Aquarius comes from.
Jupiter, Neptune and an exalted Venus
Jupiter, the traditional ruler, gives the sign its faith, generosity and wide sympathy. Neptune, found in 1846 and given to Pisces by modern astrologers, adds dreams, music, mysticism and the blurring of edges.
Venus is exalted in Pisces, which astrologers read as love at its most forgiving and art at its most moving. Our guide to Venus in Pisces shows how that plays out in a birth chart. Mercury, on the other hand, is in both detriment and fall here: facts blur, plans drift, and intuition tends to beat the spreadsheet.
The symbol is two fish tied together and swimming in opposite directions, which many astrologers read as the pull between the everyday world and the inner one. The Greek story told by Hyginus has Aphrodite and her son Eros escaping the monster Typhon by leaping into the Euphrates and turning into fish, and later retellings add a cord so that they couldn't lose each other; the Roman poet Ovid has two fish carry Venus and Cupid to safety instead. Its tarot card in the Golden Dawn tradition is The Moon, a card of dreams, half-light and things not yet clear. The shadow side follows from all of that: escapism, vagueness, taking on everyone else's problems, and saying "it's fine" when it isn't.
St David, St Patrick, leap day and spring cleaning
- St David's Day, March 1, is Wales's national day, with daffodils, leeks and children in traditional dress.
- St Patrick's Day, March 17, always falls in Pisces season, parades and all.
- Leap day, February 29, belongs to Pisces whenever it comes around, so leap-day babies are Pisceans.
- Spring cleaning before the equinox has deep roots. In Iran and other places that keep Nowruz, families clean the house from top to bottom in the weeks before the new year, a custom called khaneh tekani, "shaking the house." It's a fitting Pisces habit: clear out the old year before the next one begins.
Gentle ways to use Pisces season
Pisces season tends to reward a softer pace. Some ideas:
- Sleep on it. Literally. If a decision can wait a few days, let it.
- Make or listen to art. Music, painting, poetry, a film that gets to you.
- Help quietly. A donation, a favor, a visit, done without needing anyone to notice.
- Take a real day off. Not errands disguised as rest.
- Write down your dreams. Not as predictions, just for the images. Pisces is the sign of the dream journal.
- Finish, then forgive. Close one loose end, and let one old grudge go before Aries season arrives.
One boundary to keep: helping is lovely, but not at the cost of your own sleep or budget. Pisces gives easily and forgets to stop.
Pisces birthdays on the year's last page
A Pisces birthday comes as the zodiac year winds down, so it's a natural time to look back over the whole cycle. Our solar return birthday ritual gives that a simple shape: review, mark the moment, set one intention. Born around February 18 or 19, or March 20 or 21? Check a chart, because the boundary moves, and the March edge is the equinox itself.
Your Sun sign is only part of your chart. A Pisces Moon carries the sign's sensitivity whatever the birthday. For the sign, see Pisces traits; for the month, the Pisces monthly horoscope.
Questions readers ask
Why is Pisces the last sign of the zodiac?
Because the tropical zodiac starts at the March equinox with Aries, and Pisces is the sign the Sun crosses just before it gets there. Astrologers read that position symbolically, as the sign of endings, release and whatever is left over at the end of a cycle.
Is Pisces season a good time to rest?
Astrologers often describe it that way: the end of the cycle, mutable water, a twelfth-house mood. In practice it's late winter in the north, when many people are tired anyway. Rest is a sensible use of it.
Is someone born on February 29 a Pisces?
Yes. The Sun is always in Pisces on February 29. In other years many leap-day babies celebrate on February 28 or March 1, and both of those dates fall in Pisces season too.
What comes after Pisces season?
Aries season, from the March equinox, when the zodiac starts again; our spring equinox rituals cover ways to mark the turn. Before Pisces comes Aquarius season, the friendly middle of winter.
