The Sun ingressed Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac, on Tuesday. As a water sign, Pisces is the delta that refuses no river or stream, and is the spiritual headwaters of the psyche, from which all creative potential flows.
Neptune, the modern ruler of Pisces, is a long-term visitor in its home sign. Neptune is providing a fresh inflow of watery energy into Pisces.
The Sun will make a conjunction to Neptune this Sunday at 1:11 pm EST, though we’re definitely feeling its effect now. This pairing can feel emotionally and psychically sensitive, wide open and creative. It can also express itself in darker ways as depressive, or given to denial or overindulgence.
With strong Neptune events — and this is one of the most influential — it’s necessary to stay alert and watch for less-than-wholesome influences.
This strong Pisces influence may heighten your sense of empathy or influence you to become more concerned with the welfare of others than with your own. The world could use more of that. If your work focuses on helping others, Sun-Neptune will strengthen this ability.
But for anyone who is already very sensitive — especially psychically — and who struggles with being wide open to the energy, emotion and unspoken agendas of others, Sun-Neptune might feel overwhelming. Being highly intuitive and empathic can be exhausting, especially if your inner/subconscious boundaries are not strong (Neptune tends to dissolve things like boundaries, hence the increase in psychic sensitivity).
If you’re in that boat, consider taking some time for yourself this weekend to meditate or simply gather yourself away from social overstimulation. The urge to escape will be stronger for everyone — including escaping into things like movies, daydreams, fantasy (sexual or otherwise) and artistic play. Neptune rules alcohol and drugs, too, and our culture happens to prize those forms of escape more highly than, say, meditation.
There’s a real potential to overdo mind-altering substances this weekend; notice whether you’re trying to numb yourself. There are other ways to handle feeling sensitive or ‘too open’ (such as a mini-retreat out in nature), but they’re not as socially popular as getting blitzed. It can take a little gumption to break from the crowd.
Finally, pay attention to your inner honesty meter. Neptune’s negative incarnations include delusion, denial and dishonesty. When the Sun, representing our consciousness, interacts with Neptune (especially via conjunction), sorting out illusions from logic gets challenging. We tend to be more impressionable and subject to both our own wishful thinking and self-delusion, and to that of others.
With Mercury still retrograde for another week, you’ll want to track your thoughts carefully. Notice when you stray from verifiable facts into the realm of wishes or fears. Let daydreams fuel your next screenplay or painting, not your obsessions.
— Amanda Painter and Eric Francis
The Sun will be making its way through Pisces all month; find out how this affects your Sun and rising signs by reading Eric’s monthly and weekly forecasts, available through a free one-month trial membership to Planet Waves.
Thanks, Brendan! Nice to see you!
No wonder I’m so tired this week. Absorbing the energy of high school drama queens is hard work, especially since they are under this influence too. Events outside have also taken a toll, and I’m sitting here with a bunch of pulled back muscles, which only adds to the general feeling of ‘down’ energy.
Happy Solar Return, Aword!
With the Sun in PISCES is the invitation to the magic and the realization of a dream that the lampa Aladdin will grant us. The fish has something exceptional with his master Neptune and Chiron to heal mankind from his original injury…
Thank you Amanda and Eric and good Weekend to all the team of Planet Waves 🙂 )))))))))
thank you for this information. …as a native piscean, with cancer rising, I often feel like a walking sponge — and lately, a rather limp one–never realized what a strong depressive influence neptune could be. it also makes sense after reading this, that I struggle so with boundaries — having such a strong neptune signature, I unconsciously dissolve boundaries and absorb whatever is around me, and then wonder why I have no energy …. with neptune creeping into a transit of my natal sun / saturn / mercury this spring I might need to become a hermit altogether !
Thank you Amanda, this is very useful. As an empathetic natal Piscesean (solar return tomorrow) the recent transits (and a lifetime of work!) are helping me to feel just where the boundaries are–and how much “other people’s stuff” I’ve been hauling around as though it were my own. But this is not a moment of feeling burdened by that, rather it’s as though I am standing tall in a cold mountain stream washing away the sludge, leaving (what I hope is!) clarity of my own image.
Gorgeous photograph, Amanda, and thank you for the clarity of Sun/Neptune. One thing I am finally surrending to is a need for more sleep. My mind and body have been wrecked by the winter and the astrology! Since this is birthday festival sign for me, over indulgence is a great tempation, but the clear message for Sun/Neptune/Chiron transists in Pisces is cleanse and rest, and work with Saturn and Mercury when I am awake.
Kizzy, you are not the only one. I’ve really retreated and felt very vulnerable these past days. I also have Saturn conj my natal neptune in my 12 house, squaring off with my Sun the same time it squares retro Merc. Most days, lately, I wonder why I’m even getting out of bed.
Thanks for the heads up on this one, my son is part of the Pluto in Scorpio generation of 1990 consequently has Natal Neptune conj.Pluto in Cap. what does this mean with Sun conj. Neptune in Pisces. He has a tendency to always put others before himself.
So that explains it! Yes, am feeling both overwhelmed and and really drained by others’ needs and energies, and pretty down, too – but reading your piece helps a lot, dear Amanda. Thank you so much.