Neptune Stationary Direct
Neptune, God of the Sea and brother of Jupiter. The mighty blue giant turns Prograde today after about
spending the past 6 months in Retrograde motion. He initially moved Retrograde
at 09°49 Pisces back on June 12th of this year. This was after the final Uranus Pluto square in March, a time when all three of our Transpersonal planets were in transition phases. That was quite a time!
Neptune is about dissolving boundaries & dipping into the infinite realms of the imagination & dreamworld. Neptune rules the 12th House and the sign of Pisces. You could say I have a certain affinity for this planet, but not without reservation. Most of my lessons in life have been Neptunian and they are hard lessons to deal with, as anyone with a very strong Neptune/Pisces/12th House knows. We are sensitive, intuitive, usually introverted, often off in another world, and understand suffering on both a personal and whole world level. We often heed the call of cosmic servitude in some way, or are drawn to being of service in some way beyond ourselves. Most of these people, depending on chart placement, are not generally selfish people. Neptunian & Piscean types will give you the shirt off of their back, and are very passive types.
Yet I think often Neptune gets somewhat of an unfortunate wrap. Like Pluto & Uranus, Neptune should be taken seriously in interpretation & transit influence. Most especially, in fact, because Neptune is the planet where we will most likely NOT want to face reality. The house where Neptune is currently transiting in your birth chart, is where you will see the influence of this Retrograde cycle the most. Also, if Neptune aspects any natal planets (conjunction, opposition, square, trine, sextile), you will feel this particularly.
Where to Look in Your Own Chart
 |
| Cephalopod Waltz |
You want to know HOW transits effect you & your own chart. Transits effect us all differently. No two people will experience a transit or retrograde period in the same way. This is because you are a very unique blend of celestial energies. You are tuned in a specific way, unlike anyone else. So I've provided questions to ask yourself when reviewing your chart, to see if you have any connections to the current transit of Neptune.
Use the following questions to see how you are connecting to Neptune's move forward again:
- In your birth chart locate the sign of Pisces. Neptune is currently transiting 7° Pisces, however his retrograde phase began at 9° Pisces. Locate these two degrees on your chart.
- Conjunction :: Do you have any natal planets, calculated points (like Lilith, Point of Fortune, or the North/South Node), or angles located in the sign of Pisces? If you do, see if they are located between 3-5° of Neptune's current location (or up to 10° from Neptune if your Sun or Moon are there). If you have a planet that is located at the end of Aquarius to the middle of Pisces, you have a conjunction with transiting Neptune. What house does Pisces rule? This is an area of life where you will see the most influence from Neptune, following the houses where planets who are aspecting Neptune are located.
- Opposition :: Look across your chart to the sign of Virgo. Which house does Virgo rule & what planets are located there? Do you have planets located from the end of the sign of Leo to the middle of Virgo? These objects are likely opposing transiting Neptune.
- Square :: Look three signs to the Left & three signs to the Right of Neptune in Pisces. You will be looking at Sagittarius & Gemini. Do you have planets, angles or objects located at the end of Scorpio to the middle of Sagittarius, or at the end of Taurus & beginning of Gemini? These objects or angles are in a Square with transiting Neptune. The houses that these signs rule will feel the influence of a Square to Neptune, depending on the object in aspect.
- Trine :: Lastly, look to other water signs: Cancer and Scorpio. Do you have plaents, angles or objects here located at the beginning of these signs? Even planets at the end of Gemini & Libra will often act into the next sign (due to chart progressions), so planets at these points will also be influenced, by creating a trine with transiting Neptune.
It should be noted, there is no such thing as a "good chart" and a "bad chart". Tense aspects are often the friction we need to create change. Those born with heavy squares can often make the greatest achievements. We hear encouraging stories of individuals who have triumphed adversity & difficulty time and time again. Conjunctions, Oppositions & Squares are often the most highly charged & initially disharmonious aspects in a birth chart. Yet, when mastered (through transit activation over time), these tense aspects can be a great source of energy & hidden gifts for the chart holder.
Even if you do not have close aspects with these planets, if you have a strong 12th House, Neptunian, or Pisces influence in your chart, you will undoubtedly be effected & will feel this. It may not be instantaneous, like a sudden feeling, but Neptune's movement back over the degree's he's already passed will unfold wisdom overtime.
Sabian Symbols for Neptune's Retrograde Period
 |
| NC Wyeth, Air Mail, 1938 |
Neptune Stationary Retrograde
June 12, 2015
09°49 Pisces
"An Aviator Pursues his journey, flying through ground-obscuring clouds"
The Sabian Symbol for 09°49 Pisces, where Neptune turned
Retrograde, speaks to the real influence of Neptune: “An Aviator pursues his journey, flying through ground-obscuring
clouds.” Dane Rhudyar describes this degree as “man’s ability to develop
power and skills, which by transcending natural limitations, allow him to
operate in mental-spiritual realms” (1). He goes on to explain:
“This symbol in a sense synthesizes the implications of the four preceding ones: the dedication to the community of men (present and future), self-assertion and the ambition to reach a social goal. Man is seen mastering difficulties implied in a type of operation transcending his organic limitations and the narrow boundaries of a localized "living space." He does so as an individual in command of powerful energies, but also as heir to the industry of countless innovators and managers.
This is the last symbol of the sixty-eighth five-fold sequence of evolving stages of consciousness and human activity. It evokes the achievement of MASTERY.” (1)
 |
| Zazzle |
November 18, 2015
07°01 Pisces
"A girl blowing a bugle"
Neptune initiates this forward motion today on 07°01 Pisces,
the Sabian Symbol for which is “A girl blowing a bugle”. Rudhyar describes this
degree as “A call to participation in the service of the race, as an
evolutionary crisis approaches” (1). This, again, speaks to clearly to Neptunian themes & influence, on
the coattails of the recent events in Paris, Lebanon, and the Syrian Crisis. Rudhyar goes on to note:
“This symbolic picture presents another aspect of the emotional relationship between the individual and the collectivity of human beings. It can also be related to the old feminist movement or the present women's liberation. In traditional symbolism the woman refers more specifically to the biological and psychic aspect of human life; she is seen primarily as the mother, and/or the intuitive or "psychic" type of person. A new race of human beings may well be slowly unfolding some of its potential of consciousness and fulfillment. The individual who envisions this evolutionary development "sounds the call." He or she is both seer-herald and mutant. In that sense such a human being is both an individual true to his original nature and a dedicated person — dedicated to the future he or she holds in latency as does a seed in mutation. At this third stage of the sixty-eighth five-fold sequence the two preceding phases blend in a new form of consecration of the individual to the Whole. Tomorrow acts through today; it SUMMONS men to rebirth.” (1)
Behind Neptune's Veil
Neptune is the great dissolver, a planet of cosmic servitude whose keyword is to "Serve or Suffer". Isabel Hickey describes this planet as “ruling the next dimension, the astral plane, and finds it difficult to be
earthbound” (2). A
Retrograde planets cross over the same zodiac degrees 3 times during a Rx period, first forward, then backward, then forward again. Therefore Neptune is now reaching the place where it initially entered it's shadow face. The first time we came to this degree was back in February. A planet enters it's Shadow Phase when it crosses the degree that it will, eventually, return to during the end of it's retrograde cycle. This Shadow Phase covers the entire degree span that a planet will travel while in Retrograde motion. This is a time of integration, often these effects are felt internally. We will begin to see things unfold overtime & a sense of renewal is often felt once the final degree of the Shadow Phase is reached again (the degree where the planet originally turned Retrograde).
"The positive aspects of Neptune show wisdom beyond reason, genius, creative ability in the literary, poetic and musical fields, intuition, clairvoyance, contact with the higher invisible realms, and the realization of the Unity of all life. Not everybody can respond fully to the higher vibrations of Neptune." - Isabel Hickey
 |
| Tumblr |
I look back to where I was in February, when Neptune last touched this degree, entering his Shadow Phase. This is so very different
from where I am now. Last December, January and February were some of the
HARDEST times in my entire life. Hands down, I was treading water. I nearly
gave up on 12th House! I also proceeded to ACCIDENTALLY cut off over
7 inches of my hair, do not ask, it was horrible. So to fix it, I got two impulsive hair cuts in a row, attempting to correct my mistake in my high-anxiety state. I basically went from having hair down to my waist, to
having hair above my ear. My sense of identity was really wrapped up into my
long hair, as a healer/artist/person who knows hair has energy. This may sound
completely mellow dramatic, it’s hair, it grows back, but it takes a LONG TIME
TO GROW BACK. Yet like the aviator in the symbol I pursued on. Hair grows,
things change, I grow, life moves on. Like the aviator, I couldn’t see the
ground, but who needs the ground when you have wings to fly for a time?
"When afflicted, Neptune cloaks the issue with vagueness, obscurity, illusion, confusion, misunderstanding, intrigue and fraudulent appearances. The worst afflictions of Neptune indicate fearfulness, morbidity, introversion, sensuality, indulgence & obsession." - Isabel Hickey
Things were very confusing during February of this year, not just for myself, but for many people in my life as well. As Neptune initiated this backwards motion later in June,
he began to replay the lessons & energies of the previous 2 degrees. Like a re-charge, back scratch, like reparking the car so it sits in the spot just right. I like to think of retrograde periods as cosmic re-set buttons.
They
may not seem like much, these two degrees, but Neptune is potent. He moves slowly, which means he spends a lot of time on a particular degree & within a particular sign, upwards of 13-14 years. It’s an
outer energy, a transpersonal planet, that we struggle to attempt to gain control of. Neptune is highly karmic. It represents both the final sign and final house of the Zodiac. It likes to dissolve what it touches, often making things vague and hard to navigate. Like the Aviator of our Sabian Symbol above, we continue on, though we cannot see the ground. We know there is a higher purpose to our journey, a divine order to things, even in the chaos, even in the fog & confusion of Neptune. It is divine disorder.
 |
| Nequest |
Boundaries & Egos dissolve with Neptune, as it's prerogative is the service of the All, not the Self.
By All, I include everyone, even those individuals in society we don't want to think about. Neptune rules the institutions that manage these shut outs of society: prisons, psychiatric hospitals, medical hospitals, treatment centers, and nursing homes. These are often the places where individuals arrive when no one quite knows what to do with them. They have lost control of themselves, or perhaps the ability to care for themselves in some way, may it be through injury at no fault of their own. Perhaps they have committed a crime, caved to addiction, suffer from mental illness, or are crippled from old age.
I notice when my Neptune is being triggered, I have a tendency to really want to check out and escape. Reality becomes hard and I will often get lost in a world of imagination. In my younger years, this was generally a pretty self-destructive process, as Neptunian people can often allow themselves to dissolve time and time again. It's generally very obvious to those around the individual, but the Neptune person often can't see this themselves in a downward spiral. That has been the case with me time and time again. I try to be self-aware as much as possible, and have become much better about this as time progresses. I've also learned, overtime, how to channel & give something tangible & material for the strong Neptune energies to work out when this happens, like my wire art, writing, etc. I have learned to channel these excessive higher octave energies that I, myself, am so heavily influenced by in my natal chart!
As Chiron follows suit, moving forward next week, we will begin to see the gifts of this cosmic re-set button unfolds. What happens inside manifests eventually outside, and vice-versa. Dare to dream, but also dare to act & manifest. Dip into the vast unknown, explore, but also come back to reality & share. Attempt to balance what is real with what is not, now you are much more equipped to do so!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I hope that you have found some inspiration and insight within this latest article, perhaps even you learned a little about astrology. If you care to share anything from this article, please do so by also citing 12th House Studio as the source! If you have any questions about what you have read here, please do not hesitate to email me: twelfthhousestudio@hotmail.com. Please see my cited references below, two great books that I encourage you to read!
Be well,
Sources:
Hickey, Isabel M. Astrology: A Cosmic Science. Sebastopol, CA: CRCS Publications, 1992. Print.
Rudhyar, Dane. An Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformations and It's 360 Symbolic Phases. New York: Random House, 1973. Print.
No comments
Post a Comment