Reader Reflections on the Last Day of Neptune in Aquarius

Today is Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012. This is the last day of Neptune in Aquarius; Neptune changes signs into Pisces Friday just past 2 pm EDT, beginning an era that culminates in 2025. Let’s do a quick almanac check with the rest of the sky and come back to Neptune.

At the moment the Sun is in mid-Aquarius. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is a time of year called Imbolc — which means “in the belly.” We are in the belly of winter, and this is the midwinter holiday, which was in later times called Candlemas. It’s the midway point between winter solstice and spring equinox. The ridiculous tradition of Groundhog Day is a throwback to when these particular points in the cycle of the year were used for divination purposes — that is to say, this is traditionally held as a good time to read tarot, cast runes or throw the I Ching.

The Moon is now moving slowly through Gemini and ingresses Cancer Saturday at 1:03 am EST, where it will immediately pick up on Neptune, newly in Pisces, and Chiron in early Pisces, through a water-to-water trine aspect.

Yet before that happens, we have one more full day of Neptune in Aquarius, where it has been since 1998. In Tuesday’s subscriber edition we asked readers for their comments on this transit. Here is what some of them said.

“Humanity has become apathetic and believes in we need to kill Muslims because they are terrorists. In other words, kill them before they kill us. All war should be stopped, humanity should pray for peace and the divine light to shine on this beautiful planet before we blow ourselves to smithereens along with all the plant and animal life here. I am going to pray every day for World peace. Please spread this message to your readers. Drop the divine Christ light on the planet, surround it and all its inhabitants. Maybe then we have a chance at becoming a true human being. America has lost its way and lost its touch with God and their own source of divinity.”

“I used to be so angry with the system. Mad at the lies, and afraid my life would end in a nuclear explosion. I chose not to have children when I was 12 because I didn’t feel it was responsible to bring anyone into a climate of such intense hatred and fear. Not just my own dark paranoia, but to my young mind what felt like the world teetering on disaster. I was a vegetarian and believed I was making my own statement. At some point I guess I just got overwrought with the misery, I got worn down wanting so much to believe in humanity but seeing the worst of it. Today I feel a great sense of balance. I have made peace with so many of the issues I used to rage against. Maybe it was the generic blurring caused by the medicine. I hope not. I do feel loved and like I am a part of something vast and good.”

“Now it’s 2012. We don’t do those street drugs anymore, of course. I have a medical marijuana card like any self-respecting adult. My partner struggles with alcohol and tobacco and Oxycontin now, just like most office workers. We haven’t worn our wedding rings in over a year. I bought myself a simple hematite band for Christmas, a commitment ring to myself. The last twelve months have been like some enormous bill coming due. When he left me last winter, I fell for ever and ever. Days and days of crying in the car after I dropped the kids at school, nights of screaming and sobbing while he looked through me with hard eyes that said he was done with it all, no matter how close we’d once been. And then, somehow, in mid March of 2011, I landed on my feet, and they held me. I took a photo of them that day, in my work boots, standing in the Prayer Garden at work, and every time I felt like I might fall again I pulled out my phone and looked at the picture.”

“I just grabbed my copy of Edward Edinger’s Anatomy of the Psyche. He explains that the crucial feature of sublimation is that it is an elevating process whereby a low substance is translated into a higher form by an ascending movement. This is very much Aquarian territory — getting ‘above’ the matter in order to or by seeing it objectively. This is obviously a very necessary process (and actually, he says that it is where modern culture is predominantly stuck)! But while dissociation is not inherently dangerous, our culture seems to encourage it in so many ways. As much as I see people in my own little bubble ‘waking up’ to higher-octave Neptunian themes, I also know quite a few incredibly intelligent atheist-types who are totally dissociated. Edinger says: ‘The ability of the psyche to dissociate is both the source of ego consciousness and the cause of mental illness’. That’s an essay in itself, but I keep thinking of just how much our culture seems to completely avoid the descent that has to follow ascension, getting trapped in the urge to illuminate and liberate us from matter, while distancing from the idea of divine love/heaven/cosmic consciousness. I guess another way to say this would be that we’re dissociating from cycles. It’s fantastic to get above the situation, to look at our beliefs and inspirations objectively, but when we begin to dissociate – to brush aside ideas of indefinite detention — well…that gives me some pretty terrifying images of the shadow side of Neptune in Pisces — people literally plugged in to their computers, with touch screens in their arms and ear buds strung through their nostrils or something.”

“The Internet. Isn’t it kind of awesomely scary to look back and see how far we’ve come with this thing in so few years? How it’s there, slightly addictive in nature, endlessly expanding with any search for knowledge. It might be Uranian in energy, though I think there’s a whole lot of Neptune caught up in the internet as well. We can spend all day in it, making connections all over the world, but no face-to-face contact, no sharing in one another’s space. Together, but is it real? Now we are all connected, to one another, though I think we don’t know all we can do with it. It scares me that the US government tried to take it over two weeks ago like that. It’s vulnerable, and that makes everything on it vulnerable. Including our information. Who owns information? How is it controlled? Where does information come from? I wish more people would ask that. Especially about the internet and information.”

“As far as changes in the past 14 years, the the realm of film, movies comes to mind along with the word ‘saturation’. One could watch a different film (on computer , without leaving the house), nonstop, back to back for the rest of ones life and still not be able to see everything that was ever made, not even close. It seems that this saturation has led to greatly diminishing quality of experience. I remember as a youngster getting excited about things that only came around once in awhile , like Christmas, or The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday night. The entertainment powers that be are trying to give us this sensation 365 day per year, i.e., non-stop. What about the extreme discrepancy between the way stores, fast food restaurants etc are portrayed in television commercials with the the actual places themselves? Geico insurance has set some kind of record for sheer number of ads, to the point of unbelievability. I see or hear them every time I turn on the radio, TV, computer, drive by a billboard, even trailing behind an airplane flying over the city. Unbefuckinglievable. And, yes, I remember thinking after the 2000 election that shit was really going to hit the fan and there were going to be some massive uprisings. I remember watching some of Bill Moyers programs about the secret government on PBS and why weren’t we outraged ? And were the streets always this empty? Is everybody somewhere looking at a monitor? The other day some kids were out in the street throwing a football back and forth and making noise and it was so amazing, so rare.”

“I am much more real now than I was in 1998. Neptune in Aquarius brought me a long series of major introspection and spiritual work that has left me far more free and authentic than I was in 1998. However, your explanation of the negative aspect of Neptune in Aquarius give me answers to the questions I’ve been pondering for the last few days. I did allow myself to be deluded, and as a result was shocked when it didn’t work out. I felt I was much more in tune with the Universe and that the Universe was ushering me along in accordance with my will. But apparently, I was deluded as to what my true will actually was. I brought a 7-year desire to fruition, only to have it ripped from me — I thought unexpectedly. But in retrospect, I see that the handwriting was on the wall all along, and I just chose to ignore the blatant warnings, deluding myself all along into thinking that everything would ‘work out’. Interestingly enough, I’ve been wondering the past two days what astrological influences were coming to bear right now. And you have answered it. You don’t say much about what to expect with Neptune in Pisces, but I hope it keeps my adventurous spirit inspired but more grounded. Neptune in Aquarius allowed me to have my little fling with fantasy fulfilled, yet it remained fantastic in it’s unreality. I pray now for further clarity, to be able to regain the power that I so easily give away, and for the wisdom to find the real deal as to where to put my many talents and energy. Please show me through the stars how to stay grounded, keep it real, and to be more aware of my ‘true will’ and the fulfillment thereof.”

“Neptune in Aquarius! Now it all makes sense. Sort of. What I have felt through this is that *I* myself have walked through a fog that was made of fire. I decided to do what my deepest promptings called for (Neptune in 1st house, dicey) and embarked, precisely in ’98, on learning concretely about what I ‘know’- which is healing work. In the process I have come to feel much more connected to everything although I can see the deep folds of not-knowing surrounding many, it makes no sense to me that they can’t SEE, right? And in terms of my work I have gone from “thinking” things through to ‘asking’ for Guidance. When that comes it’s pretty amazing. There’s a feeling of being at one and at the same time being alienated from the Culture at Large. Also, clearly my aims are not in synch with the larger Demo Project, and we’re on the knife edge of money. But something huge has been assimilated and gained, and we are definitely walking into….Something. Something different, new paradigm…totally unknown but for the tools I now have from the past 14 years of work and study and being.”

Additional coverage of Neptune in Aquarius is at the Reality Check diary.

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.