Pisces: The Zodiac Series, #3

THE ZODIAC SERIES

The Zodiac Series is a collection of twelve speculative fiction anthologies, each focusing on one of the Zodiac signs. The anthologies feature short stories and poems inspired by each sign, and retellings of the various myths behind those signs.

Capricorn  Aquarius  Pisces

Aries  Taurus  Gemini

Cancer  Leo  Virgo

Libra  Scorpio  Sagittarius

The Zodiac Series has been produced by Aussie Speculative Fiction, and each anthology contains a diverse selection of tales by talented writers from Australia and New Zealand.

First published by Deadset Press in 2020.

© Deadset Press 2020

All rights reserved.

Cover design Copyright © Alanah Andrews.

Edited by Austin P. Sheehan and Nikky Lee.

Foreword by Sasha Hanton.

I am Pisces

Zoey Xolton

Iam the Fish and my constellation is Pisces.

My tarot card is The Moon; I am a dreamer and an intuitive soul.

At my best I am compassionate, creative and wise.

At my worst I am fearful, escapist and over emotional.

Fluid and balanced, like my element: Water, mine is a Mutable sign.

I appreciate solitude, sleep, art and spirituality.

However I dislike cruelty, criticism and bringing up the past.

I am ruled by Neptune, and am guardian to the fourth day of the week.

My colours are purple and teal.

About the Author:

Zoey Xolton is an internationally best-selling Australian speculative fiction author, and award-winning poet, with a penchant for the dark fantasy, paranormal romance, and horror genres. Her works have appeared in dozens of themed anthologies, with many more due for publication. She is especially fond of short fiction, and is working on future story collections, as well as a series of novelettes and novellas. She is a proud mother of two, and is fortunate enough to be married to her soul mate. To find out more about Zoey and her growing list of works, please visit: www.zoeyxolton.com!

Foreword

Sasha Hanton

The twelfth and final sign of the zodiac, Pisces, the mutable water sign, is represented by two fish with their tails tied together. Overseen by Neptune and Jupiter, Pisces is one of the three star signs ruled over by two planets.

Pisces mythology has a central tale that appears in both Greek and Syrian mythology. The Greek telling of the story has three different interpretations following the escape of Aphrodite and her son Eros from Mount Olympus during the attack of the monster Typhon. 

In one version, two fish lead them to safety—the fish tie their tails together to avoid being thrown apart in the current. In another, they turn into fish and tie their tails together to avoid separation before swimming to safety. And in the third variation, Aphrodite and Eros turn into fish and are led to safety by two fish—the two fish guiding them have their tails tied together so that in the chaos they can’t be separated. Either way the result and core details remain the same; two fish who tied their tails together to avoid being separated, and in honour of their action, Zeus placed them in the sky as a constellation.

Syrian mythology has two different versions of the myth for the constellation. The first is the same as the Greek with two fish, known as the Ichthyes, who saved the Goddess Ashtarte by leading her down the river Euphrates. In the second, Ashtarte appears as an egg in the Euphrates, which is then carried to the bank by either two fish or two fishermen. There, doves tend to the egg until it hatches to reveal the Goddess. As a reward the two fish are placed in the sky as the Pisces constellation.

Besides mythological roots, all the constellations of the zodiac have ties to the Major Arcana of the Tarot. Pisces shares a special connection with the 18th card of the Major Arcana, the Moon. This card is depicted as a moon above with a shellfish emerging from a pool of water; a path leads from the water and off into the distance between two towers. A dog and wolf baying at the moon complete the scene. It is a card associated with the subconscious, imagination, dreams, secrets, and one’s shadow self.

Fittingly with its relation the Moon card, Pisces is the ruler of the 12th House—the house of privacy and secrets in astrology. The depictions of unity between the two towers, the wolf and the dog, are meant to symbolise the balanced life most people lead, and the path between the towers a symbol of the path we desire in life. Pisces and the Moon’s connection is symbolic, the depictions in the card display Pisces nature to always dream of something more. As for the shellfish emerging from the waters in the card, it symbolises coming into consciousness and is linked with a tendency for possession of psychic powers.

Those born between February 19th and March 20th, under the Pisces constellation, are often remarked to be the most compassionate individuals possessing a true sense of understanding. 

As with Aquarius and Scorpio, Pisces is ruled by two planets that can cast different influences on an individual, depending on what planetary aspects they lean towards. 

Jupiter—named for the Roman God of sky and thunder, whose Greek counterpart is Zeus—is the planet of faith, positivity and optimism. It held the position of ruling planet for Pisces up until the discovery of Neptune in 1846.

The modern ruler of Pisces, the planet Neptune is associated with idealism, spirituality, empathy, and imagination. Named after the Roman counterpart of the Greek God Poseidon, ruler of the ocean, Neptune lends a sense of mysticism to those born under its planetary rule.

As one of the most spiritual and imaginative signs in the zodiac, there is no question the stories within these pages will engage and reveal the seemingly endless depths of Pisces. 

About the Author:

Sasha Hanton grew up in the tropics of Darwin, Northern Territory. From a young age, she devoured books and iced coffee, both of which she continues to intake on an almost daily basis. Now living on beautiful Bribie Island in Queensland, her time is split between writing and spoiling her puppy Miley.

Sasha, who has a Bachelor of Journalism from Bond University, has dabbled in the journalistic profession but finds fiction far more fascinating. Her first published work The Short Story Press Collection draws on her love for a diverse range of genres and passion for short stories. Coming from a multicultural background (Eurasian) she aspires to make her writing inclusive for people from all walks of life and to bring a unique blend of eastern and western culture to her writing.

Throughout her life, she has been a lover of history and mythology, and at any time will find some way to worm one or the other into her storytelling. When she’s not writing or reading she can be found walking her dog and volunteering. You can keep up with her writing over on www.theshortstorypress.wordpress.com

The Fish and the

Water Carrier

Fallacious Rose

She was a Pisces. I was Aquarius.

We didn’t believe in all that rubbish.

No wonder you’re so cool, I used to say. You’re like a fish, all cold and slimy.

No wonder you’re an Aquarius, she’d say. You’re so damn weird. And water carriers – what do they do with all those buckets, anyway? It’s like, so third world.

And so it went, each slur sillier than the last. We lived in our own world, like a long-running Broadway show in which we acted all the parts. She was Caesar, I Brutus. She was Laurel, I was Hardy. She was cool, I was strange.

In the school quadrangle, with its bolted steel benches and adolescents clustering like grapes, we sat apart. We acted our way through Ancient Greece and Imperial Rome as if we were exploring past lives, laughing. I was always the iconoclast, she the upholder of civic values. An Aquarius, after all, always chooses the wrong shoes.

To those on dry land, the ocean is a mystery. You splash at the edges, guess at the depths. But to us who live there, you’re just a shadow on the sun, a pair of waving legs. We were sufficient unto ourselves. We ignored your nets, laughed at your bait. When you asked us, What do you talk about, for all those hours! we said, lipstick and doubled over, sniggering.

To you, our schoolmates—no, not mates, strangers who amused us with their fashion sense and boy-band posters—we must have seemed as eccentric as those spiny whiskered monstrosities that pass by the portholes of submarines. To us, you seemed dull earthlings, confined by your own space, time, and tight jeans: we despised you, a little.

All things end—including friendship. The play is over, the audience files out. When school finished, she got a job, and I got a boyfriend. We began the slow and awkward process of learning how to fit in. 

The last time we met, we had nothing to say to each other. She was a fish. I was a water carrier. Turned out that ocean we used to swim in was only an aquarium after all. 

About the Author:

I live on a rural property on the south-east coast of NSW, Australia, and write under the pen name Fallacious Rose. My elder sister reckons nobody will take me seriously with a name like that but then, I'm not sure I want them to—at least, not always. My brand is 'eccentric', my genre is 'everything', and the only thing standing between me and a career as a famous singer is. . . that I can't really sing. You can find out more, and download a story or two, at www.fallaciousrose.com.

A Gift for Aphrodite

Aiki Flinthart

Ihook my toes beneath a coral-crusted rock; cling to the ocean bottom, so I won’t float away. Today is my sixteenth birthday and I sit there in the cold gloom and wish for my father. Just for a moment of his star-eyed attention. An instant to acknowledge me. To show more than infinite