Maybe it’s the suggestion of spring that’s beginning to crack the facade of our cold, dead hearts, but empathy is about to replace sardonic contrarianism as our monthly M.O.

You may know Pisces for its dreamy, barely-tethered-to-Earth comportment, and you might have one or two fishes in your life who can never seem to resist a good sob story. Pisces people are probably most stereotyped for their crunchy hippie ways and their ability to get along with just about everyone they meet. You’ve probably also heard the one about the prototypical sponge, absorbing all the water (read: emotional energy and psychic Morse code) around them.

But to understand the Pisces archetype, you literally have to understand all the other signs that came before it. As the final sign of the zodiac, Pisces is a reflection (and a summation) of the entire circle of life, containing the imprint of every other astrological element that once passed through it. It’s no wonder Pisces can strike a chord with anyone — they can actually see parts of themselves reflected in other people.

If you treat the zodiac like a human life cycle, Pisces is more or less about dying, but not in a majorly intense Scorpionic way. This is a much milder form of release that’s less concerned with rising from the ashes than it is with merging into the great unknown, or into the unified consciousness that is the afterlife. What we really talk about when we talk about Pisces is ego death. When you understand that part of the equation, then the rest of the stuff about compassion, old souls, spirituality, and the “we are all one” of it all begins to make a lot more sense.

It’s precisely because of this boundlessness that Pisces is so often moved by the pain and suffering of others, making sacrifices and giving selflessly of itself. It requires little explanation, then, to say that Pisces is associated with Jesus and Christianity. In fact, it was during the 2,000-year period known as the Age of Pisces (preceding the contemporary and decidedly more scientific Age of Aquarius) that Christianity flourished.

Having said that, there’s something in here for everyone, even if your eyes are glazing over with all this talk of organized religion. One could say that glazed-over eyes are also quite Pisces-like, given the heightened susceptibility to escapism of all kinds. The fish can be slippery and elusive — even a little flaky — but it’s also impressionable and porous as fuck.

“Impressionable” could mean gullible, but what I’m really talking about here is that this energy lends itself to being influenced by everything else around it. Sometimes, the pull of these imaginative and subconscious forces make it all too tempting to swim around aimlessly in an ocean with no structure. But that’s the challenge of dealing with two fish swimming in opposite directions: either the Earthbound version of you leads the way, or you give yourself over entirely to the soul. For now, while we’re still mortal, reconciling the two is task enough.

This post was originally published on 2/17/2017 on thedailyhunch.com.