At Last: Neptune enters Pisces

The water wall at Gurney's Inn, Montauk, New York. Photo by Eric Francis.

Today is Friday, Feb. 3, 2012. Neptune enters Pisces today at 2:03 pm EST. After fourteen years in what may be the least comfortable sign it could travel through (Aquarius), Neptune is finally coming home for a long spell. The sky is strong and favorable with Pisces energy, rolling out a welcome mat for this transition.

For one thing, Jupiter and Chiron are still in a sextile from Taurus to Pisces, respectively – and each has a strong association with the other’s current placement. Jupiter is the traditional ruler of Pisces; Chiron was discovered while it was in Taurus – right in the degree Jupiter now occupies. It adds up to a lot of strong Pisces energy all at once, but the sextile makes it accessible, and Jupiter in earthy Taurus provides some real grounding for it. Chiron provides a complimentary grounding in the form of focus and a consciously applied visioning power.

The configuration, with Neptune blending into the edges of the aspect, translates to applied creativity for a purpose. Remember: unlike some aspects that can feel like a kick in the ass and others that seem to slide right by, a sextile is an energy you can actually use. And just in case you needed an extra boost in that, Uranus is right at the midpoint between Jupiter and Chiron, urging you to reinvent yourself.

The rest of the sky is a reminder to get that ball rolling in other ways. Mercury is just a couple degrees from its conjunction with the Sun in mid-Aquarius (exact Tuesday). We’re midway between two Mercury retrogrades, so if your reinvention/reorganization/relocation requires any significant purchases, don’t dally. The next few weeks will fly by.

Of course, Mars is still in the early days of its own retrograde in Virgo. When it comes to the inner work that transit represents, however, you do have time. It’s long-term work; keep taking steps as they present themselves, with an eye toward your process more than any goal, for now.

The waxing Moon is in Gemini today, adding a sense of mental duality to complement the emotional/spiritual duality represented by all the Pisces activity. Tomorrow it enters its own home sign Cancer just before 1:04 am EST, reinforcing the sky’s watery welcome of Neptune. Monday morning the Moon slips into Leo, on its way to the Leo Full Moon in Aquarius (which is a Sun-Moon opposition). Track any emotional agitation or sensitivity this weekend, and as you head into work Monday morning, let your foreknowledge of the coming Full Moon temper any ego flare-ups – whether your own, or your reactions to others’.

For its part, the Sun is now halfway through Aquarius, which means we are halfway through the season. In this case, in the Northern Hemisphere, that means we’re halfway through winter, and at a point known as the cross-quarter holiday Imbolc.

Circling back to Neptune for a moment, most of us are wondering what the god of the seas in the most watery planet will be like. What can we expect? Outer planet sign changes are big; they set era-defining events in motion. Neptune is a little bit of an exception in the prediction game, though, mainly because it tends to operate under the radar much more than, say, Pluto or Uranus. With Neptune, you often can’t see what’s going on until after the fact. Even if we all did tune our sixth-sense antennae to its frequency, chances are the markers of Neptune in Pisces will unfold gradually enough that our everyday consciousness may be too busy to fully register whatever our Spidey-senses are picking up — until we’re well into the transit.

This does not mean Neptune – or Neptune in Pisces — is weak. We can still keep our eyes out for what’s going on in the world as Neptune makes contact with other outer planets, and that will give us clues to the final puzzle picture.

Consider, for example, the role of Neptune in world events of the late 1980s and ‘90s, when it was in Capricorn. We tend to think of Pluto and Uranus as the only revolutionary players. But guess what aspect was exact when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989? Saturn conjunct Neptune in Capricorn. I mean, it was exact: When Günter Schabowski, the party boss in East Berlin and the spokesman for the SED Politburo, had the task of announcing new, looser regulations for private travel between East and West Germany – and mistakenly stated that the changes were effective immediately – Saturn was within one quarter of one degree of an exact conjunction with Neptune. Within four days, the conjunction was precise to the arc minute – and the wall was being torn down, chunk by chunk, along with a couple generations’ worth of psychology.

That conjunction was at 10 Capricorn; Pluto is currently only two degrees away from there now. As Pluto activates that chart from 1989, keep your ears tuned for echoes and your eyes peeled for moments asking you to apply your Neptune-in-Pisces-inspired creativity to a world that is ripe for your participation and vision.

Looking for insights on how this week’s astrology affects your personal Sun and rising signs? Eric Francis interprets the signs every week, every month and every year. Weekly and monthly horoscopes are in Planet Waves and Planet Waves Light. Annual readings are in a special edition called Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check.

9 thoughts on “At Last: Neptune enters Pisces”

  1. Ah just sat to read finally. Wonderful! Thank you all! PW, Be, Len and LindaGM – all so upbeat – just the way I’ve been feeling. Something has passed. Something new has invited us in.

  3. Many thanks to Daily Astrology for the excellent rundown of the planet roster for today and the impending. The point about the Berlin Wall is especially important because Saturn was also conjunct Neptune on Neptune’s discovery chart. Thank you for demonstrating the historical fact that Saturn potentiates our awareness of Neptune. Today’s ingress of Neptune into Pisces features an out-of-sign trine with stationing Saturn in the last minutes of Libra. What does that mean to you? Well, if you take asteroid Dionysus and Uranian point Hades (both in the first degree of Cancer) into account you have yet another grand water trine which could correspond to a historical experience in madness with the feel of a whirlpool and a chthonic influence. The question is whether this is divine madness (such as practiced by artists and prophets in reverie) or just plain intoxicated with no redeeming grace.

    be: Thank you for one of your most insightful and educational comments ever. Thank you for taking us back to a prime lesson from the School of Fish. Thank you for reiterating the T-square as one of the most distinguishing factors of the Neptune ingress chart (as well as Fe’s Feb First birthday chart). Thank you for introducing us to another composed aspect (the see saw really works on so many levels). Thank you for the nice catch on Borasisi coming ’round the bend (hopefully NOT intoxicated). Thank you for invoking Chiron and his best student.

    Most of all, be, thank you for one of the most coherent and compassionate representations of human progress on our earthly pilgrimage. You have stimulated my mind and filled my heart.

  5. I sense more reliance on dreams among the general populace and, as Linda says, we fish-in-the-water can’t see, so Len’s advice to listen will grow in popularity too during Neptune’s stay in Pisces. A developing reliance on alternative ways to perceive the world and even the Universe could make the way we relate to each other less dependent on the spoken word. There is a tight square between the Moon (what we need) in Gemini (of 2 minds), and Venus (what we desire) in Pisces (not exactly sure) in the chart for the 2nd coming of Neptune to Pisces, suggesting a confusing conflict within.

    This square between the two primary symbols of the feminine nature must include the retrograde Mars in Virgo, creating the T-square pattern which will likely come to identify the Neptune transit of Pisces. This is a less aggressive Mars as we have discussed, and more inclined to examine the details of the yin nature of Virgo. Although there is much duality in the chart (a See-Saw pattern to start with), the distinctions, like Neptune and Pisces, are fuzzy or a bit unreal. Why would that be do you suppose? What would be the purpose of blurring the differences between us?

    Borasisi is on the midheaven of the chart for today’s Neptune ingress (when based in Washington DC) and we know from what we read, that this is a symbol drawn from a work of fiction. At 12 degrees of Pisces, he is mid-way between the north and south node, specifically on the north bending. This position allows the distant Borasisi the great freedom to recieve information and express his energy. On this chart’s Cancer ascendant, we have Askalaphus, a symbol with two identities, one as a healer and the other as a whistleblower. This repeats the effect of a watery blur of vision, although it works in harmony with Neptune in Pisces and even more so with the healer Chiron in Pisces. All in all, our senses will be going through some changes for the many years of Neptune in Pisces. Again, what is the purpose do you suppose?

    My guess is that the human race will learn to identify itself less based on either/or genders and more on commonalities shared. Less important will be the color of skin and hair, or the age and gender of someone else, and more important will be the perceptions and values of others. Distinctions that once separated will dissolve and a blending of virtues and attributes will make differences in someone else harder to detect. We are already experienceing the beginnings of these changes as you are well-aware. However, I’m betting my bathtub that Neptune will greatly increase this growth in homogeneity, but it will do so in a more subtle, less subjective way. If there is a goal or purpose for Neptune in Pisces I would say it is to balance the extremes of polarity in all its forms and bring together these energies for a common good. After all, we are all one.
    be

  6. Cap 10 On the deck of an old fashioned sailing ship seamen are taming an albatross that feeds from their hand

    Holy cow.

  7. Thanks Linda. Actually, the ONLY time when Romans drive carefully, is when it snows! Love your story about the breakthrough course, so true. Keep warm in those lovely mountains!

  8. Agree on Huffy’s comment on the photo – at first, I thought it was some sort of montage of Van Gogh’s Starry Night!

    A wonderful reminder that the power of our perception shapes what we see.

    In September 1989, I was up in the Sierra Nevada mountains doing an international break-through course called The 6 Day with 100 others. On the last day, one of the participants shared about their family history and about half the room exploded with suppressed energy. All these participants were from Germany. It was my first experience of the lineage and legacy of family history and how it shapes one’s life – mostly unconsciously.

    Just like fish in water, we can’t see it!

    It’s -6 in the French Languedoc mountains this morning with 30 cm of snow. However for here, that’s pretty normal. Hope everyone in Rome stays warm and drives more carefully!

    Brisk cheers,

    Linda

  9. Thanks for this wonderful blog and gorgeous photo – a lovely way to see in Neptune’s sign change. May it bring all of us the watery inspiration and transformation we seek. Snow forecast in Rome today, which happens once in a blue mooon… Love to you all.

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