Over the last several years Neptune has been traversing its home sign of Pisces. Neptune is a bit of a conundrum as a planetary influence. Just like Uranus and Pluto, Neptune cannot be seen by the naked eye. You need the assistance of a very powerful telescope to see it. This gives us a hint to how Neptune projects its influence onto our world. It is considered a generational planet, because it takes such a long time to move through the zodiac, so you will find many people who were born within a particular generation that have the same Neptune placement. For example, Neptune moved into Pisces on February 4, 2012 and will remain there until January 27, 2026. This means that all of those who were born in this time frame will have the same Neptunian influence. What is most important to understand about this transit is that Neptune in its own home sign can signal either an intensely elevated spiritual awareness or an intensely delusional, ungrounded fog. While this transit has been going on for quite some time now, the more I observe what is happening in the world today, the more I see its effects. These effects drive us towards two opposite ends of the spectrum. Either we become spiritually elevated, or we become utterly delusional.
First, let's talk about the planet Neptune. As a celestial body, Neptune governs the imagination, the immeasurable spiritual dimension, and elevated spiritual consciousness. It also rules our capacity to see beyond physical limitations and act with unconditional love. Neptune is considered the higher octave of Venus. If Venus represents our ability to discern between good and bad, or love based on give and take, Neptune represents our ability to see only good, and love based on one's universal humanity. Neptune represents the parts of ourselves that need to be purified in order to connect to something higher and more spiritually attuned. It gives us a pathway by which we can access an elevated level of consciousness that is unhindered by the physical limitations of the material world. It sounds super deep, and it is. But it is also rather simple to understand. Neptune is the planet that assists us in brining the essence of unity and connectedness into our world by elevating us beyond the physical separation that we believe makes us different from another person. It is our capacity to love for no reason. Pisces is very similar to Neptune in that Pisces is also the sign of imagination and compassion. Pisces channels the energy of self-sacrifice and putting someone before ourselves. It is the sign of submission to the will of the universe and passive resistance. It is also the sign of forgiveness of those who have wronged us and the cleansing and healing of karma. Both Neptune and Pisces are indicators of psychic clairvoyance and spiritual perceptivity.
It all sounds so amazing, doesn't it? These two serene energies coming together to bring us what seems like peace on earth and goodwill towards men could be a sign from heaven that pain and suffering are coming to an end here and now! But, then why does there seem to be so much more pain, suffering, anger, and war in the world? The simple answer is that we live in a physical world where these things can exist, and the dark side of Neptune in Pisces can give way to events and, more importantely, modes of thinking that not only allow for such atrocities to happen, they can become the direct cause of it.
You see; Neptune as a planet purifies whatever it touches. It takes what is physical and makes it less physical and more metaphysical. It swims through the zodiac removing impurities and brining each sign all the way up to an almost immaterial, metaphysical state. While at first this may sound good, think about what happens to gold when it is purified of all other additive metals. It becomes brittle and overly malleable. It stands up to nothing and has no lasting power of its own. Many of the negative events we see happening today can be traced back to a desire to purify one group of people from another. One only needs to turn on the news to hear about civil war, genocide, and ethnic cleansing rearing their ugly heads. The combination of Neptune and Pisces can also make us overly submissive to an authoritarian power that poses as a savior, and mind you, this power does not have to be overt. Many of us find ourselves addicted to technology, social media, and news channels that are feeding our minds information that we are not actively working to discern what is truth from what is fiction. Our media outlets have purified themselves of opposing view points, and now we are left with fruitless echo chambers where all we hear are the reverberations of our own ideas without the conscious vetting of what may be true versus what may be total illusion. This can obviously been seen in the phenomenon we now call "fake news." In generations past, there was never a question of whether or not one could trust what a news caster was saying. News was fair and balanced and sought the absolute truth by looking at situations from both sides of the story. Now that this cleansing of our senses and tendency towards passive submission to familiar ideologies have permeated our consciousness, we are no longer able to receive a true unbiased news story. Just as we need the mediator of a telescope to perceive Neptune, we often turn to a mediator to help us understand what is happening in our world, and, unfortunately, we tend hear what we want to hear, PURE and simple.
The key is understanding the underlying negative aspects of Pisces. The sign is notorious for its penchant for falling into the self-sacrificial illusion of its own desire. Many of us have known friends who are Pisces that were absolutely sure the man or woman they loved was right for them, only later to see after years of sacrificing their own personal needs for the needs of their lover, the love and adoration that they so willingly and unconditionally gave was never reciprocated. Sadly, these relationships collapse under the weight of their own delusional idealism. Kabbalistically, Pisces and Neptune are connected to the realm of the Tree of Life known as Binah. In this level of consciousness, there is no good or bad, everything is perfect. If not channelled correctly, this lack of connection to the physical reality can give way to a point of view that is overly idealized and completely disconnected from our messy physical world we live in. Idealism is truly a double-edged sword, and our consciousness is overrun with it. And what makes it worse is that very rarely are we even aware that we live in such a delusion.
In our world, we must learn to discern from what is good for us versus what is bad for us, which is a tricky subject in and of itself, and the Kabbalists have spent oceans of ink writing about it. During these years, we are being given the chance to purify our own personal negative desires, but unfortunately, we are purifying and removing the opposing voices that actually help us to see what we need to change about ourselves. According to the Kabbalists, spiritual elevation comes when we are able to purify OUR desire of selfishness and ego, not when we purify the selfishness and ego of others. As we continue to move forward in this transit, it will be increasingly difficult yet increasingly more tempting to operate within the confines of our own illusionary worlds fueled by self-serving delusions. The Zohar speaks of our time as "Oy ve Ashrei." Translated, it means, "Woe unto he who lives in that time, and praiseworthy is he who lives in that time." This is an allusion to two parallel universes that coexist within the same reality and are actually spoken of in the book of Genesis. The Kabbalists call one universe the Tree of Life Reality, and it includes those who embrace spiritual transformation and work to purify themselves of their negativity, selfishness, and ego. These souls will see growth, prosperity, and abundant love. The other is called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Reality, which includes those who choose to embrace their selfishness, pride, ego, and the idea that if they can change what is outside then they will be happy. They will be met with more pain, more separation, more anxiety, and more chaos. What makes the difference in determining which reality we live in is our consciousness and our behavior as a result of it. In our days, the transit of Neptune in Pisces affords the opportunity to make the conscious choice of which reality we live in. For if we choose the Tree of Life, elevation is that much easier and that much more rewarding.
Moving forward, take the time to be aware of why you are perceiving a situation in a certain way. Make an honest effort to see if your bias is influenced by your ego, or if you are listening to the voice of your soul. When we make the effort to tune in to the guidance of our spirit, we see through the delusion and connect to spiritual elevation.
If you are interested in understanding how Neptune in Pisces is affecting your consciousness, check out my Natal Chart Consultation here.
Wishing you all the best in your spiritual growth.
With Light,
Josh