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Neptune in Pisces

 

Every planet is associated with one – or sometimes two – signs of the zodiac, and when a planet is in its own sign, its energies operate very strongly at both the positive and negative ends of the spectrum.  On April 4, 2011 Neptune entered its own sign of Pisces, and except for the period between August 5, 2011 and February 3, 2012 when it retrogrades back into Aquarius, will stay in the sign of Pisces until the spring of 2025.  The last time Neptune was in Pisces was shortly after its discovery in 1846, a time when anesthesia was first being used for surgery, impressionist painters like Monet and Cézanne were flourishing, and Charles Dickens was writing novels like “David Copperfield” that exposed the social conditions of the time for what they were.  Since we’re heading into a fourteen-year period where the volume is amped up on Neptune/Pisces themes, let’s take a look at them, so we can each individually, and as a part of the world around us, be sure to get the most out of the positive potential, and minimize the low-end expression of this passage.

 

Watery, sensitive, spiritual, compassionate Neptune, swathed in clouds of dreams and imagination, represents the part of each of us that seeks higher levels of consciousness and inspiration.  Neptune thins the veil between ourselves and Spirit so that the Universe can speak to us from the deep, intuitive place inside us where the vastness of our inner world is linked to the vastness of the Universe and its wisdom.  In so doing, it helps us recognize the presence of Spirit in each other, and feel compassion for our fellow man, individually and collectively.  

   

Neptune also represents the unconscious, that part of ourselves which, by definition, we don’t know much about.  It is where the connection between our body, mind, and spirit is made, which is why Neptune is one of the planets associated with wholeness and healing.  It should come as little or no surprise that therapy of all kinds is one of Neptune’s most powerful tools.  So is creativity, because Neptune is all about inspiration – literally, the “drawing in of Spirit. Neptune helps us build consciousness, heal wounds, claim strengths and abilities that we didn’t even know we had, feel compassion for others, and create a vision for our future. 

 

But we must also explore the “dark” side of Neptune in Pisces, for its temptations and vulnerabilities are doubled-up as well.  The very sensitivities that facilitate consciousness and inspiration can feel like a fog attack, confusing us and leading us down a softly-sloping, unconscious path to a whole laundry list of delusory and illusory self-defeating dead ends:  escapism, apathy, depression, unwarranted pessimism, “why me?” consciousness, self-pity…the list seems endless.  At this low end, Neptune can be an energy vampire, seductively sneaking up on us individually and collectively, draining us of clarity and initiative and optimism.  It can amp up our sensitivities to our own and others’ pain to the point where, lost in a self-created or chemically-induced, overly-comfortable, apathetic drift, we become too confused to be objective; too weakened to act.

 

Neptune will make an especially strong impact as it passes through the in the areas of our charts where Pisces – and planets in the sign of Pisces – are located, but it will affect all of us living during these times, infusing the culture and society with its potential. Will we use Neptune/Pisces ability to dissolve boundaries to drift into all manner of escapist, loss-of-self, abdication-of-responsibility behavior, or will we put its enhanced compassion and sensitivity to the goals of becoming aware of our connection to Spirit, to increasing compassion, and to envisioning the scenario that can rescue our planet and our world and ourselves?  Will Charlie Sheen remain a cultural icon, or will Dick Cheney start to meditate?  The choice, as always, is ours – one individual at a time.

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Here are some strategies to help you make the most of these Neptune in Pisces times:

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  • Slow down. Spend quiet time in soothing, calm surroundings, or out in nature, near water.  Meditate or start a yoga practice.  Pray. Unite the body, mind, and spirit.

  • Dream a big dream for your future and the future of the world you live in.

  • Let intuition guide you.

  • Do something creative.  Don’t worry about what you produce: it’s the doing that counts, because it brings something from within you out into the world.

  • Be mindful of what you’re doing so that you don’t drift into negative Neptune behaviors and feelings. 

  • Accept necessary loss.  You might not realize it at the time, but it may be for your highest good.   Honor the experience and move on, focusing on new opportunities

  • Discover what you don’t know about yourself: untapped treasures and gifts; hidden, self-defeating saboteurs. Therapy is one good tool for this.  There are others. 

  • Be patient with the “Neptune Fog.”  Clarity will emerge, and until it does, don’t get lost or discouraged in the drift.   

  • Do something charitable and compassionate.  Help others any way you can.

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