Neptune stations retrograde today for the first time since entering Pisces in February. That means Earth is approaching its annual passage between Neptune and the Sun, which will take place in August. The reality of Earth catching up to pass creates our illusory perception of Neptune moving backward. Illusion is a characteristic associated with Neptune, making its retrogrades especially meaningful in general. Another quality of Neptune that pertains to this particular retrograde is that, as Eric recently wrote, “It has a way of disappearing.”
You may therefore find this time of your life not only tinged with confusion but also distinguished by what is hidden in plain sight. Neptune’s reversal today is practically hidden amongst the most amazing astrology of your life. Neptune’s retrograde follows a solar eclipse by two weeks and a lunar eclipse by 10 hours, while preceding Venus transiting the Sun and a lunar occultation of Pluto by two days. It’s the sleeper that pervades this auspicious time.
It is not an overstatement to say that Neptune is pervasive right now. Of the three ruler planets with orbits exceeding the average human lifetime (the other two being Uranus and Pluto), Neptune was the last to change signs for the long term. Pluto’s last Capricorn ingress in 2008 saw the beginning of a world-wide financial meltdown still in progress. Uranus’ final commitment to Aries in 2011 was precisely concurrent with the Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdowns, also still in progress. Neptune’s ultimate entry to Pisces was in February of this year and that event appears to coincide with the meltdown of progress itself as we have come to know it since Neptune was discovered.