“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
― Edgar Allan Poe (Capricorn sun; Pisces moon, Venus, Jupiter and Pluto; Neptune in Scorpio likely conjunct his presumed Scorpio Ascendant)
At the start of this month of extremes (see my April 2022 Creativity Forecast), I thought it might be helpful to spend some time with one of the main players of April, Neptune in Pisces, whose deceptively low-key presence has been in the background for some time now.
Neptune has been hanging out in Pisces since 2011/2012 like a psychedelic stained glass window, dappling the Pisces whole sign house of our charts with rose-colored, romantic, or idealized lighting.
This house has been experiencing, since that time, a gradual process of reorientation via dissolution. Think of it as a redecoration project that turns a respectable living room into a theatrical space, a seance chamber, or an opium den. It’s been subtle, though, happening in the background — there’ve been lots of other flashy astrological events since then that have grabbed our attention.
But this month, as Jupiter makes its one and only conjunction with Neptune in Pisces for the next 165+ years, it’s a moment to reflect on what Neptune has been up to in Pisces for the last decade plus and what it might mean in our lives.
Neptune or Dionysius?
But first we need to understand what Neptune is all about. Discovered in 1846, the second of the modern outer planets, Neptune was named by astronomers according to the convention of using names of Roman deities.
However, as astrologers began working with Neptune, some questioned whether the name Dionysius would have been more appropriate than the Roman version of Poseidon, who in myth is the god of the sea, storms, earthquakes, and horses.
Austin Coppack has been one such voice among contemporary astrologers, noting that the significations of Dionysius, as the god of wine, vegetation, fertility, festivity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theater seem more appropriate to the way that Neptune behaves in a natal chart.
Like the other two outer planets, Uranus and Pluto, Neptune’s nature can’t be reduced to either purely benefic or malefic, since these slow-moving planets seem instead to represent society in all of its complexity.
Yet, if we accept that Neptune, the planet, may be more akin to Dionysius, the deity, in its significations, its potentially disruptive quality quickly emerges. This is not the Great Disruptor quality of Uranus, which forces change through innovation, inspiration, and sudden events.
Instead, Neptune’s brand of disruption involves rejecting whatever is socially acceptable, everything that one “should” do, and embracing that which wildly calls to your heart.
If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, go and reread The Bacchae by Euripides (which premiered 405 BC), in which followers of Dionysius, inebriated and fueled by religious zeal, dismember a king who has insulted their cult leader.
“He is life’s liberating force.
He is release of limbs and communion through dance.
He is laughter, and music in flutes.
He is repose from all cares — he is sleep!
When his blood bursts from the grape
and flows across tables laid in his honor
to fuse with our blood,
he gently, gradually, wraps us in shadows
of ivy-cool sleep.”
― Euripides, The Bacchae
Neptune in the Natal Chart
Like its Dionysian antecedent in myth, in a natal chart, Neptune sweeps us away from the normal, quotidian responsibilities of life, offering up a romantic fantasy instead.
Wouldn’t you rather join the circus / become a dervish / loose yourself eternally in your preferred substance? Neptune asks, dangling those rose-colored opera glasses in front of us.
The sign and house where Neptune is located show us how and where in life we experience a dissolving of boundaries, spiritual inspiration, artistic imagination, intoxication, or self-delusion. For example, with Neptune in the seventh house of marriage and partnership (Gemini rising), marriage and partnership represent a spiritual or romantic ideal, with the potential downside of losing oneself in the other.
Planets forming close aspects to Neptune show where else neptunian inspiration or dissolution manifest. Harsh aspects — conjunction, square, and opposition — indicate where this is experienced as difficult (sun conjunct Neptune, for example, shows a potential diffusion or lack of focus of identity and self).
Meanwhile, soft aspects — sextile and trine — can highlight neptunian interests and talents (Neptune sextile or trine Mars often shows up in the charts of dancers, for example, turning athleticism artistic).
Unlike my usual monthly spotlights, most likely no one reading this has Neptune in Pisces in their natal chart (unless I have some very young readers). Folks reading this likely have Neptune in Libra (born approximately 1943-1957), Scorpio (1955-1970), Sagittarius (1970-1984), Capricorn (1984-1998), or Aquarius (1998-2012).
Neptune in Pisces is currently squaring the natal Neptune of those born with Neptune in Sagittarius, one of the classic “midlife crisis” aspects, when un-lived-out dreams from youth can present themselves in midlife, demanding action. [All the other Neptune placements are receiving either positive aspects from transiting Neptune, or are in aversion, out of sight and mind.]
Wherever your natal Neptune is, transiting Neptune has been grooving like an underwater deejay in Pisces for over a decade somewhere in your chart. The issues arising are likely connected to a dissolution of some type, an artistic or mystical inclination, or some type of escapism, expressed through the issues connected to your Pisces whole sign house:
Pisces Rising - First House: body, self, character, appearance, spirit. Who am I, exactly?
Aquarius Rising - Second House: finances, possessions, income. What is a bank account again?
Capricorn Rising - Third House: siblings, short trips, early education, communication, feminine spiritual practices. Dude, where’s my car?
Sagittarius Rising - Fourth House: parents, home, family, private life. What if I turned my home into a speakeasy?
Scorpio Rising - Fifth House: children, creativity, pleasure, sex, recreation. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?
Libra Rising - Sixth House: illness, injury, work, daily routine, subordinates, pets. Does lying in bed and watching telenovelas count as an exercise regimen?
Virgo Rising - Seventh House: relationships, partnership, marriage, the “other.” Want to merge with me?
Leo Rising - Eighth House: death, inheritance, assets of others. What if death is a portal to another state of being?
Cancer Rising - Ninth House: travel, foreign things, higher education, religion, astrology and divination. What is the meaning of life?
Gemini Rising - Tenth House: career, reputation, public life. What if being an itinerant musician/magician actually is my calling?
Taurus Rising - Eleventh House: friends, groups, alliances, hopes. Who wants to step through the doors of perception with me?
Aires Rising - Twelfth House: enemies, sickness, loss, seclusion, exile. What if I took the next three years off to meditate in a cave?
[As always, there are endless ways in which the archetypal patterns manifest; book a consultation with me to unpack Neptune’s specific journey in your chart.]
Working With Neptune
As I’ve written before, one of the best ways to deal with planets constructively is to give them something productive to do. Proactively imagining what a positive scenario for your natal Neptune, as well as transiting Neptune, might look like can help keep Neptune from dragging you off into the Land of the Lotus Eaters too often.
Art and spiritual practice are two activities that can contribute to positive expressions of Neptune’s tendencies. Giving yourself permission to float away to that zone of creativity, where the writing/painting/music/dance/sports/whatever flows, or tapping into a spiritual or mystical practice (ideally without the violent tendencies of the bacchae, of course) can help Neptune express itself in a way that improves your life and keeps Neptune’s darker impulses at bay.
Speaking of which, it’s always important to be aware of the potential downsides of Neptune’s seductions.
Nightmare Alley, the recent remake of the film noir classic, is a master class on the temptations and pitfalls of Neptune, in its illusionist, occultist, magician, con man capacity (with some Pluto power dynamics and Mercury’s Jack-of-all-trades ethos thrown in as well).
The downside of Neptune is that fantasy becomes reality, that we delude ourselves or others.
Indeed, we are most certainly living through a neptunian moment, as the past decade of conspiracy theories, misinformation, propaganda, and spin seem to be spinning out of control on the world stage. Neptune’s conjunction with Jupiter on April 12th may herald an expansion of these tendencies, so to speak, a moment when Neptune’s delusions get Jupiter’s seal of approval.
In our own lives, more positively, this conjunction could represent an opportunity to have the imaginative or spiritual flights of fancy you’ve been on recognized or validated by the powers that be in some sense. Alternatively, there could be a magnification (Jupiter) of some self-destructive tendencies that have been brewing. We always have to balance Neptune’s potential for inspiration and illusion.
Neptune in Pisces’ Agenda
Neptune will enter Aires in March 2025, so there are a few years left of Neptune’s Pisces vintage. This month, with Venus and Jupiter joining Neptune (and Mars soon), represents a moment of heightened neptunian activity, an exclamation point in the story of Neptune in Pisces. Tune in, and you’ll hear what Neptune has been whispering to you. It will most likely be seductive music to your ears.
Here are the highlights of the remainder of Neptune’s Pisces adventures:
April 12th - Neptune conjunct Jupiter: dream big.
April 27th (and 2/15/2023, 4/3/2024, 2/1/2025, 3/27/2025) - Neptune conjunct Venus: artistic flights of fantasy abound.
May 18th (and 4/29/2024) - Neptune conjunct Mars: channel your athletic and assertive impulses into something mystical or artistic. Synchronized swimming, perhaps?
Castles Made of Sand
In formless, boundary-free Pisces, Neptune experiences one of its most ephemeral transits. The neptunian work done during this time may feel, ultimately, like a beautiful dream (or a strange trip), once all is said and done.
As a neptunian musician, Jimi Hendrix (Neptune in Libra in the eleventh house of friends and fans exactly trine innovative Uranus in Gemini), once sang, “and so castles made of sand / fall in the sea eventually:”
Thanks for reading Fifth House Astrology!