Neptune In Aquarius – One Last Time
Neptune In Aquarius – One Last Time
Neptune entered Pisces, as tentatively as a cat sniffing the air through an open door, in early April. Immediately, the cover of TIME magazine blazed with the question, “What If There Is No Hell?” Neptune’s passage into its own sign is a complex subject, but the bottom line is the turning of the collective consciousness of humanity in the direction of life’s ultimate questions. TIME’s cover story reflected that principle nicely — and if you want to know more about Neptune’s passage into the sign of the Fishes, you might take ten minutes to have a watch me talk about Neptune in Pisces.
Neptune in Pisces
With all the recent astrological focus on Uranus and Pluto, it is easy forget that mystical Neptune will be a major part of the mix for the next thirteen years. As the planet of dreams and visions enters the sign of its modern rulership, its impact on everyone becomes more powerful. What will Neptune’s passage through Pisces add to the current cultural mix?On June 2, 2011, not even having reached one degree of Pisces, Neptune got cold feet and started heading back toward Aquarius, where it has been since 1998. It re-enters Aquarius on August 4, turns around again on November 9, and enters Pisces definitively early in the coming year, on February 3, 2012. Once back, it will remain there for about thirteen more years.
Aquarius is an Air sign, so it is about ideas and concepts. It is also a Fixed sign, which indicates sustainment and stability. As with all the pieces of the astrological puzzle, there are potentially good things and bad things about this combination. On the dark side of the equation, when Fixity and Air combine, we can find ourselves in an arid wasteland of bodiless, lifeless intellect – rigid (Fixed) ideas (Air) can freeze out all vitality. Think of the most boring class you ever took in college. Think of the dried out academic prune of a professor who was teaching it. Now mix that ugly elixir with mystical Neptune. Not easy, right? Well, in Neptune’s 165 year cycle through the signs of the zodiac, its passage through Aquarius is the salad course for its arrival back on its home ground in Pisces.
In Pisces, we see an explosion of enthusiasm around mystical and spiritual subjects – a vast visitation of energy. Think of St. Paul coming to the “seven churches of Asia.” Think of the meteoric rise of Islam. Think of the Protestant Reformation, the coming of Buddhism to Japan, the rise of Spiritualism in the 19th century. All these events occurred with Neptune in Pisces.
What sets the stage for such a renaissance? In a word, boredom. When religion takes over from spirituality, when things that separate us from each other are mistaken for a spiritual path, when being “right” becomes more important than dissolving in ecstatic relationship with the Divine, when we have all mistaken ourselves for ideas and position papers, the stage is set. Thus the dark side of Neptune in Aquarius triggers the readiness and openness that allow Neptune to work its Piscean magic.
Between August 4 and February 3, 2012, with Neptune back in Aquarius for one last time, all of us can participate actively in helping humanity achieve this spiritual renewal. We can do that by reflecting on our own attachment to increasingly useless and dysfunctional theologies and beliefs. We are all invited to root out the inner Fundamentalist, the inner Inquisitor, even the inner Expert Philosopher. We are invited to clear away all the mental debris that insulates us from each other. We are invited to become beginners again.
- Steven Forrest
Featured Audio Release
Jupiter: How Have You Been Underestimating Yourself?
Are you underestimating your potential? Explore the role of healthy grandiosity and heroic vision in the spiritual journey. Learn how to make the most of Jupiter in your birth chart. MP3 Download. 80 min.
Neptune Transiting the 12 Houses
Neptune entered Pisces in 2011. For several years to come, the transits of Neptune will take on heightened prominence. Follow Steven on a mystical journey with Neptune on its transits through the 12 Houses.
