Neptune Invites us into Relationship with the Mystery
Named after the mythological God of the Sea, Neptune cannot be understood through the rational mind: he belongs to a place beyond linear time and space, to the dimension of mystical experiences and altered states of consciousness. As the modern ruler of Pisces, the last sign of the Zodiac wheel, Neptune is a transpersonal planet, associated with non-duality and with the dissolution of the separate sense of self we have come to identify with.
In Astrology, Neptune is associated with the impulse to spiritualize life, transcend the physical reality, and connect with something greater than ourselves. Expressed through the realm of music, dance, and the arts, Neptune speaks through dreams, feelings, and symbols, and invites us into relationship with the Mystery. In a distorted expression, this planet correlates with the tendency to deceive ourselves and others, get lost in fantasy and illusion, and gravitate toward escapist behaviors, addictions, and a victim-mindset.
Neptune’s transits reveal collective and generational dynamics that operate beyond personal will or conscious control and shape the emotional and spiritual atmosphere of roughly 13 to 14 years, the time he spends in one sign. During this time, Neptune colors our collective dreams, longings, and disillusionments: his transits give us information about what we idealize, what we long for, what we yearn to transcend, as well as how we escape and what we escape from.
Neptune leaves Pisces: The End of a Journey
The most mystical planet of the Solar System, Neptune has been navigating through the Mutable Waters of his home sign of Pisces since 2011. This transit has magnified our empathy and sensitivity, deepening our ability to attune to the collective unconscious and feel other people’s feelings.
Neptune in Pisces has asked us to surrender control, trust divine timing, and allow what is no longer meant to be in our lives to fall away. As it marked the completion of a long cycle, this transit has fueled a general sense of confusion and disorientation. Many of us have been feeling lost and adrift, particularly during the last weeks and months of the transit, as Neptune was on the 29º of Pisces, the final degree of the entire Zodiac.
During this time, we have been asked to leave behind the old and surrender our attachment to the known, before knowing what is coming next, before having a backup plan. Neptune’s final weeks in Pisces invited us into a liminal space and challenged us to become comfortable with not knowing, not doing, and not forcing. As Neptune completes his journey through the Zodiac wheel, we experience a powerful cleansing, release dead weight, and have an opportunity to leave behind old stories and beliefs that have been limiting us.
Neptune in Aries: the Birth of a New Dream
Aries is the first sign of the Zodiac: it symbolizes the moment of birth and the emergence of a new and separate consciousness out of the collective womb, the collective ocean. The sign of the Ram is a Yang sign, whose energy is directed toward action, forward movement, self-discovery, and initiating new endeavors. Aries acts before thinking: it is instinctual and immediate, and lives in a continual present moment where what matters is me, here, and now. Every planet entering the sign of the Ram goes through a rebirth process and invites us to explore new ways of relating with its energy.
Neptune’s ingress into Aries ushers in a new collective dream. While Neptune in Pisces inspired us to long for fusion, transcendence, and dissolution of boundaries, Neptune in Aries shifts the focus toward initiation and grounding the dream into reality through conscious action. During Neptune’s transit through Aries, our focus will no longer be on returning to the oceanic oneness we come from: we will be asked to act from the awareness that, on a higher level, we are not really separate, but also to work on individuating, on becoming who we truly are as individuals.
Neptune in Aries will inspire the birth of new collective movements and motivate us to follow new visions and paths. It will also invite us to make sure we can clearly discern between fear-based reactions and the guidance of our intuition. Distortions of this combination of energies can lead to the spiritualization of conflict and the justification of impulsive, destructive action through a savior or victim mindset or our religious beliefs. During the coming years, it will be easier to mistake urgency, reactivity, or self-serving impulses for divinely guided missions.
