Neptune enters Pisces tomorrow. Fans of astrology consider that to be a big deal. Whether you are among the enthusiasts, a skeptic, or just curious, all of us are in a position to ask the same question. That common inquiry is what the ingress of Neptune into Pisces could possibly mean in your life.
Today is a good opportunity to develop some answers that anybody can understand. We shall begin with two fundamentals, your time and your consciousness. We will then build on those two fundamentals to consider two other things that are a part of everybody’s life, water and thresholds. Let us start with time.
Time matters because you are a mortal being. Putting aside all the technical, philosophical, scientific and religious stuff, we all know that there is finite period between birth and death. Within that period other things begin and end, and many events repeat. There are important times that repeat frequently, like getting hungry, thirsty or sleepy. Then, there are occurrences that are important because they don’t happen very often. The motion of Neptune fits in that latter category. It does not change signs every day or even every decade, and it enters Pisces far less frequently. That tells you the first thing about what Neptune means in your life. It is associated with big chunks of time.
Neptune takes about 165 years to go around the Sun and, hence, through all 12 of the signs in the zodiac. Ask yourself, how many people live even half that long? Neptune has been nowhere but Aquarius since 1998. Ask yourself again, what in your life has and has not changed in the period? That is one way to feel how the astrology works. Your existence, however, is more than just time; it is also consciousness.
Many equate consciousness to being awake. Most of us consider ourselves awake if we are functionally aware of what is going on both within and outside of our bodies. That awareness not only fills your life’s time, it gives you information about your existence in relation to what you perceive. For many of us, Neptune is part of that information, but a special case. That’s because most of us have never seen Neptune, and before the invention of the telescope, no human had. Neptune in the consciousness of humanity, like you in this life, has a birthday. After you were born, you became a separate presence to be perceived by others. Similarly, after Neptune was discovered in 1846, its existence became available to human awareness.
You may have learned about Neptune in school. Humanity learned of Neptune only after it had been seen but not recognized several times over more than two centuries, an example of big chunks of time at work in reality. Finally, a mathematician predicted its position, told astronomers where to point their telescopes and how to know what they were looking at. That tells you the next thing you need to know about what Neptune means in your life. It existed in the human mind before it was perceived with awareness by the human eye.
Think about a thing that existed only as information before you looked for it. Recall how it was that you used that information to find the actual thing, and know when you found it. That, along with big chunks of time, is what Neptune means in astrology and in your life. It’s the abstract idea that you can follow to discover or make something real. Neptune is just as real as the place indicated by a dot on a map, or a person represented by a telephone number. That’s a concept anybody can grasp, regardless of how much you know, or how you feel about astrology. The trick to working with that construct is to build on it, connecting to other ideas that correspond to your tangible reality. Today, we shall offer two notions that not only symbolize Neptune’s entry into Pisces, but also exist as real things in your life: water and thresholds.
Water, as any thirsty person will tell you, can exist in your mind before you find it. The many qualities of water can in turn can serve as symbols. The flow of emotions and the undercurrent of intuitions and mysteries below the surface are just some the many things that water can mean in astrology. It is one of the four elements (along with fire, earth and air) that are alternately and evenly distributed among the signs. Pisces is one of three signs associated with water as part of its identity, and by benefit of its position, the deepest, broadest, and most evolved expression of water’s quality. Neptune. in turn, is named after the Roman deity who ruled the seas. Hence, with Neptune entering Pisces we have the idea of a ruler taking residence in its realm, but it does not stop there.
In the event chart for tomorrow’s Neptune ingress, Varuna (a body literally more distant than Neptune, and mythically Neptune’s distant progenitor) and main belt asteroid Osiris (named after an Egyptian god closely associated with the Nile River) will also be in water signs, Cancer and Scorpio respectively. Those two objects, in turn, will form an equilateral triangle pattern with Salacia, the wife of Neptune, already waiting for him in Pisces. Topping off the tank, Venus, born of the surf, will be right next to Salacia. In other words, four prominent pieces of the solar system, associated with water by name, will be forming a grand, flowing trine aspect connecting all three water signs to welcome Neptune home. That image seems to be leading somewhere wet. Given how Neptune has been demonstrated to work, you can bet your bath tub that water and the qualities associated with it are going to be an issue in your life for a long time, but not right away.
Before you start building your ark, remember, long periods of time usually correspond to a gradual process. Tomorrow is a threshold event, or rather, three of them. When Neptune enters the door to Pisces, the Sun will enter the middle degree of Aquarius. That will put us at the midpoint between the Capricorn solstice and the Vernal Equinox, an event celebrated by many cultures as a threshold between seasons (and known by some as a cross-quarter day). In addition, Mercury is just a few days away from being on the far side of the Sun and halfway between retrogrades. Taken together, Neptune’s ingress, Sun at cross-quarter, and Mercury’s exterior solar conjunction say we have only just begun. We have time to use what we know and make plans.
So what does Neptune into Pisces mean in your life? In sum, it means a liminal experience. It will be to your advantage to know that you are crossing a border of some sort and avoid tripping. It will help to be conscious that a big chunk of time, and what it contained, is now ending and another one beginning. It will come in handy if you can take some of that time getting to know water better instead of taking it for granted. Finally, it will be of immense service to all if each of us can be conscious of the fact that we are in the same boat and privileged to be a part of something our grandparents did not see and that our grandchildren will not witness. As far as Neptune is concerned, we are the generation in the doorway. It is up to us to determine where that information leads and make it real.
Offered In Service
Thanks dear Len. And a very very Happy Birthday to you on Sunday! Love Liz xx
Ah Len, thank you once again for the deep cool drink from your well/fountain/river of wisdom.
Be – you cracked me up totally! Thanks for that.
Gma – wonderful beautiful story! Thank you.
Swimmingly,
Linda
mysti, from what i can find on the interwebs,
Neptune was found on the night of Sept 23, 1846 at 25 degrees Aquarius, 52 arcminutes.
2012 -165 = 1847, so it might have been in Aquarius the year before – in 1846. Given the theory & calculations that resulted in its discovery, that seems apt.
Do we know what sign Neptune was inhabiting when he was discovered on Sept 23, 1846?
Hi Guys,
I’ve been thinking about Neptune’s return to Pisces, and the way I see it, if Pisces is the sign of collective consciousness and wisdom (being The Eldest), then Neptune’s long journey around the signs is like a cycle of the “gathering of wisdom” – something he must do. One doesn’t become wise by sitting in one spot, one gains wisdom through experience – which usually comes from “travelling” through life consciously, and in Neptune’s case (and I’d posit the same applies to the other planets and their signs) means the long trek through the signs (think of them as “experiences”), in order to then come home and apply what’s been learned.
A great deal has changed since Neptune first left home, and I’m rather inclined to see this journey as a “learning cycle” for humanity – in fact, I wonder how this pans out historically.
And that is actually how it feels on a personal level for me – a culmination of learning. I feel as though I’m on the threshold of a new era myself – a chance to apply all the things I learned from that long trek (some of which I experienced first-hand by living it, some of wich came from books, some of which came from other people directly – elders – and so on).
And like every home-coming after a long time away, there’s a sense of slowness – as though we now have to learn about the changes that took place at home during the time we were away – things that give us pleasure (“my how the kids have grown”), or “goodness, is that hinge STILL creaking??” – that sort of thing.
I keep meeting people from my past – and we talk and share our experiences and lives, and we find that we’ve grown up, and only now, through that sharing of experience, are beginning to understand what that – growing up – actually means. We’re finding that it’s our place now – the world – ours to sort out. We’ve gained in confidence and strength – those of us who took the journey that is – those who sat “still” – reluctant and afraid to move – they’ve barely changed, but even there, time has not sat still – they’ve been affected by the passing of time, the way a rockface or a cliff might be affected by the sweep of the ocean – but they have been diminished. We look back at them, and there they are, still caught in that whirlpool, while those of us who dared (or were pushed) learned to swim.
We’re home now – and seem to feel a great yearning to be there – at our real “home” – the spiritual home – and honestly, it feels as though that’s where we’re headed.
Can’t wait – it’s been so long – nearly there now.
Happy homecoming to you all.
xox
be: Thank you for mentioning Vesta coming up from behind. You should be careful with the Gin, the first aspect Neptune makes after entering is a trine to Dionysus (with Bacchus conjunct the Galactic Core).
granma: Thank you for sharing a beautiful story. It must have been a beautiful place among the olive trees.
Hugging Scorpio: You are very kind, thank you.
Carrie: Good question. Oil does seem to be part of the Neptune archetype for several reasons. Apam Napat, one of the intermediaries in the possible genealogy between Varuna and Neptune, was a diety associated with natural petroleum springs in Eurasia. Also, the late, great astrologer Rockie (Rachelle) Gardiner connected the inherent oily nature of fish with both Neptune and Pisces. Finally, the discovery date of Neptune corresponds to the birth of the petroleum industry.
Yesterday, our bathtub wouldn’t drain, we spilled water by the coffee pot and overflowed it twice, and we spilled hot chocolate. Seems like water was trying to tell me something eh?
Does Neptune rule water only or all liquids because if it is the latter then oil will also be in focus along with water.
This is amazing Len, I can always count on you to make sense of things.
I have a pretty good idea what this means for me. I also know that I have been preparing for it since 1998 when Neptune entered Aquarius, and when Saturn entered my opposite sign Taurus. During Neptune’s transit too I had my Saturn return, my Scorpio eclipses, and my Pluto square. Neptune’s placement was in my solar 4th which watered my spiritual roots, created bonds and nourishing structures at home in which to create. But it also challenged my identity and individuation by many times immersing me in a haze of confusion and isolation. As I anticipate my own emergence, I am grateful for my journey. I’ve done some hard work, as many have. But I feel enormous gratitude for everything that has made me who I am and given me the strength and resolve to see an envisioned future arrive. A future that I was a bit scared of because I thought I wasn’t strong enough to handle. I think I’ll be okay now.
Thank you Len. Also, have a wonderful birthday on Sunday!
Hugging Scorpio
My first conscious memory of water:
1975 – my partner, our baby girl and I were living in a VW van. We drove from Switz. down to Greece – heading away from winter, for warmth and sun.
We found a tiny house at end of road up a mountain, over-looking the Bay of Delphi. No plumbing – just a roof over our heads in middle of olive trees, lizards scuttling up the walls inside and out.
To get water, we had to walk 300 meters further up the mountain to a well. Because they had been blasting, way below us, with dynamite to prepare for a road, the water table of the mountain had changed from the time the well had been created. It meant, on any given day, we weren’t certain we’d find water.
There were beehives on the mountain, and a herd each of goats and sheep. They all took precedence. If I got to the well and it was swarming with bees, I’d have to try again later. If the goatherd or shepherd was there with their animals, I’d have to get in line behind them.
I’d throw a wooden bucket down deep into the well to find water, then haul it up with a rope by hand. I filled two large clean plastic canisters with water and walk it back down to our house. With those two cans of water, we could drink, cook, wash ourselves, and baby diapers (pampers didn’t exist – at least not in Greece). Nothing wasted.
I treasure the memories of that time. It was hard work getting our water, but it made me conscious of how much we needed it, how we depended on it, how precious it was.
These days, I sometimes slip into forgetfulness, being able to simply turn the faucet at the kitchen sink, but deep in my body memory is the act of hauling water from the well.
Great Len, I’m draining my bathtub of gin, even as I’m typing. Wow, when you connect all the dots like you have done here, there’s no way to miss the message that water is going to be what it’s all about for a long time to come. Not that there haven’t been clues for some time now, and water, in all it’s forms is so powerful, you would think that even the great unwashed masses (heh heh) would welcome the focus of attention it is on-the-threshold-of getting.
Like the gin in my tub, it is a vital necessity. I thought you were going to hypnotize me when you wrote “like getting hungry, thirsty, sleepy”, and that would be very Neptunian, wouldn’t it? Like my gin even. Perhaps we have all been hypnotized to a certain degree to think that water, water is everywhere. But not so the good, clean water. Plenty of water that’s been fouled by pollutants of all kinds, but not enough to go around that’s pure enough to drink. These gods and goddesses of water that are harmoneously arranged in water signs right now, are they not blissed out by the arrival of the big guy Neptune? We can see from the years he was in Aquarius that he canchange things, dissolve stuff and wash stuff away.
Little Vesta is in the Pisces water too, and very near Venus and Salacia, so I take it she is working hard towards awakening us all to invest in our survival before it all gets flushed down the toilet. So, yes, I’ll bet my bathtub that Neptune in Pisces will make his point about the value of water, however long it may take. Thanks Len for getting that wave started with your powerful foresight.
be