Neptune Directions: Right vs Real

Ephiphanie

A triptychon by Hieronymus Bosch (1475-1499)

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Just about the time we feel like we’re going to move on and get past whatever we’ve been dealing with, suddenly life takes a turn.

No, you’re not so sure, life says. So are you sure you want to…(choice of one or more: let go of, start to do, look at, talk about, ignore, go about being)…that?

There are two sets of metaphysical concepts involved here…the first being all about our relationship to reality. Do we see only that part of life we want to see? If so, why would we do that?

Whatever your coping mechanism (and we all have one or two)(or three or four)…the ‘why’ behind why you even need to cope is the sort of discomfort with how you feel about life which is plainly and uniquely Piscean.

It’s also 12th house. And yes, sort of Neptunian.

In this triad, Neptune is the verb – the ‘to 12th house’ where the 12th house (of any chart) is where the sign on the cusp describes the situations we set up in life in order to test our own vulnerabilities.

Why would we do that?

Answer: so as to grow. There is a wellspring of spirit of life seeking to exist which animates our existence in this time and moment. And that quotient both knows that we can survive most of what we fear and that we need fears. Fears are what allow us to feel ourselves feeling our feelings and reacting in real time…and in highly memorable ways.

We learn a lot through reflecting on own own emotions. Good or bad, we learn.

Considering how Neptune is going direct so soon after the Scorpio solar eclipse, whatever else is happening in your life it is likely that ‘structures’ are now beginning to crumble or become (at some level) less viable. Or maybe less ‘strict’ by definition.

In fact, Neptune going direct about a week after Jupiter goes retrograde is somewhat akin to whatever process in life is melting (Neptune) away some of the barriers which have stood in your way.

And yet…at the same time, that very same Neptune-Jupiter relationship also recalls some of the ‘unveiling’ qualities which suggest we may (Jupiter retrograde) learn something worth thinking about… often through others.

Probably most tempting-taunting-beckoning of all, however is the fact that Neptune is going direct on November 13th with Mercury having gone direct on the 10th.

This sort of begs a personal question: are you on the verge of creating something magical? Or maybe you’re someone poised to experience several very personal-feeling days where you find out you’ve lied…most of all to yourself…about something.

Oh, the good and bad of life. How often they coincide.

(Augh.)

(Yes, I just had to slip that in.)

Mercury-Neptune connections are famous for illusions, delusions, lies and deceptions. But all is not lost here: Mercury-Neptune…especially as presented here in Scorpio (Mercury) and Pisces (Neptune) is equally a representation of deep, emotionally resonant,

And this is no entirely uncommon common water sign trine we’re talking about, neither. No…this one i s where both participants are at 2 degrees of respective signs.

So…whatever else happened between…well, between November 8th and 15th (taking both stations into account)…it would be likely for these days to just feel personal. Everything may feel like it’s a critique. Or maybe you’re feeling the tug (good or bad) of everybody needing you. Or maybe you’re behind on things you had wanted to get done by now.

Some of us will experience these days as frustration, others as a revelation. Some of us will go through these days just happy to be reasonably invisible. Neptune-Mercury effects can herald the terribly good day, the inordinately magical day, the utterly helpless-feeling time.

It all depends on where 2 Pisces (Neptune’s position) and 2 Scorpio (Mercury’s degree of station) fall in your personal chart. And where both planets are in said natal chart.

Beyond that, there is the matter that Neptune is also in opposition to Pallas going into this station – with Pallas having entered Virgo just as the eclipse moved through.

It would seem to be a time which is whispering to us about all and everything we need to be smarter about with regards to the ‘who it is’ we’re being.

And how important it is to be that person not superficially, but genuinely – at your core, no matter how difficult that feels like it is.

One way or another, we’re going to get there. With and within the uncertainty and illusory delights of a Neptune station so closely associated with the kind of human ties emotional…evocative…thought provoking…which we experience with-and-through our ties to others now, at this turn of a Mercurial tide…

It could be one or many things. You may become overly aware that your life is driven by one or many things…and how some of them are assumptions.

Or realities never dealt with properly as realities. Wherever we have kidded ourselves, particularly where that concerns relationships and what parts of our own psyche we are willing to experience through our relationships with others…maybe not the actual situation, but the feelings which remind you of ‘something else’ now echo again through life.

It’s a freshly bitter rain. There are times when we need to be strung along the ragged edges of our soul so that we can experience growing up through coping with trials and disappointments, whether big or small.

As represented by Ceres at 3 Libra, plans (Ceres) now reach a moment of (Neptunian) uncertainty. There are lots of questions you could ask yourself about your uncertainty, yes. I suggest putting ‘what can I learn which will help me going forward through not just the responses I get, but who I get them from?’ on the list.

The other way to see this is in the Neptune-to-Ceres (8th derivation) sort of way. There, all Neptune’s ‘dissolving’ qualities would seem to be highlighted in a (Pisces)water-on-air(Libra) sort of way.

Water, meaning emotion...plus air, meaning communication?

One wonders what will come of that. I could hope for plans on how to deal with feelings or feelings about things, but how many people are actually that constructive that often?

I can hope, yes.

And yet, having learned so painfully and completely that even someone with strikingly good intentions can fall off the face of their personal Earth when they least expect it…I wonder.

Mercury in Scorpio expresses a certain kind of strength, a certain kind of emotional strength with others and with ourselves. Theoretically, we are now capable of great achievements moving forward providing and to the degree that we are willing to get our Neptunian ego – including ego-driven fears for/about Self – under control.

Or better yet, released. You know, so we can fly away on our own wings, wings unencumbered by our own sense of the improbable reduced to impossible by our unwillingness to try. 

Though a graveyard is just another piece of land, the feelings about them and the

indescribable senses we get when walking through one are very real... and very Neptunian.

(photo credit: an Easton Maudit church yard by R. Neil Marshman, November 2005)

The thing hardly anyone talks about when they talk about Neptune is its relationship to Saturn. I wasn’t surprised when NASA (bless their chip-driven heart) released news that Neptune has rings. And I don’t have to do a bunch of fancy math, though you know me, I’m devilish.

Maybe my favorite portrayal of the Devil ever to grace the silver screen, the above photo is Elizabeth Hurley as the satanic one in the Warner Bros/Regency film

'Bedazzled.' I'm pretty sure every woman has wanted to be her kind of

Devil at some point!

I like a fair slosh of math here and again, just to wallow in the glory of universal communication. (But I do know – generally – that that’s just me. I’m muy geeky. About my only question there is whether I’m a nerdy geek or a geeky nerd.)

Back to the metaphysical point, a point maybe best illustrated by a question I fielded years ago (and yes, I still remember it) about the ‘allowing yourself not to know’ quality which is so very and innately Neptunian.

Question: can’t we ever know anything Neptunian?

Answer: No. Once we can identify it, it’s no longer a Neptunian precept – it’s Saturnine. Neptune is ‘non-reality’ and Saturn represents reality and all you ‘know’ as real…right down to the realities of life created through how well or how badly aligned we are with others in relationship/s (….which would be why Saturn is exalted in Libra and the “LIbran” 7th).

This is the concept which defines this time as a time when nothing is really….defined. It’s all in flux. 
Everything is up for being…redefined.

And that’s just the thing – this is a time about the flexing and the fluctuating, the eternally knowing that you’re about to know how to make ‘it’ work…with only the barest sparkle of humor most painful at the thought that in you dedication you may also be seeding, building and carefully tending to that which will blossom into your very worst friend.

You just don’t know. None of us knows – that’s the Neptune issue. So long as we are focusing on our Self (or that which will benefit that Self) Neptune becomes the soggy mass of self-tying rope which has just planted itself around our feet.

So maybe you really want everything to not only just be right and run right and go right and feel right (and all that)…but that doesn’t look to be the undercurrent of most of what life is likely to handle us in this next little while.

Yes, for some of us this station will represent the sure and final finish to some process which has (probably) been dragging on and causing much angst. Maybe even just more burden to your schedule – whatever. I have one friend who got a languishing, lingering, really unhappy-making court matter settle as Mercury went into retrograde and the paperwork will now be settling out. The issue which brought about that lawsuit is finally over. As soon as the last envelope finds its file, the entire matter begins to melt away into memory.

That’s the sort of ‘before’ which dissolves now, leaving room for…

….well, that’s up to you. Once Neptune goes direct, our lives can become however much more we want them to be. They can grow and blossom and expand to include vistas only before suspected until now.

For that to happen, all we have to do is learn to tolerate more of life than we deal with now. We have to be willing to experience it and then (as if that’s not enough) also be willing to think it through and learn something, from which we release our boundaries on what can or “should” be.
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The 25 Aries Lunar Eclipse

A Lunar Eclipse (photo credit: Abdallahh, February 2008)

Surely you’ve felt it - the rising tide of vibration… the subtle increase of intensity… the ratcheting up of life’s processes and the need to focus on who and what you’re supposed to be, do, aim for and want?

Why all that would be is rather simple: it’s lunar eclipse time.

October 18th will be the date – at least if you’re in the UT/+0 zone or anywhere west of there. Considering that the eclipse occurs at 11:39 p.m. in that zone (which seems a good sort of time for anything lunar…) it will already be the 19th in points east – true.

But the effect will be what it is, and that’s why we’re discussing it.

First of all, any lunar eclipse is a variation on what otherwise we would call a Full Moon. And what is a Full Moon? Astrologically, that’s when the Sun and Moon are exactly opposed to each other’s zodiacal positions – an even which happens once (at least once) every month.

We do get months now and then which include two Full Moons, and when that happens, the second such event is colloquially known as a “blue moon,” as in the expression: once in a blue moon.

Personally, as an astrologer, I’ll raise that ‘blue moon’ concept to eclipse status by pointing out that we have two (not 12) eclipse ‘seasons’ every year – and every once in a while one of those ‘seasons’ includes a pair of lunar eclipses.

So what would we call that 2nd Full Moon – a blue eclipse moon? A blue moon eclipse?

Whatever that may be, in this case this eclipse is occurring with the Moon at 25 Aries, we know the emotional core of this eclipse is all about tests of emotional realism. The ‘standard’ sort of lore on this degree speaks to a tendency for there to be such pride and arrogance that it’s really hard to stop and make ourselves really think through who we’re being and who we need to be.

So we may cling to some position or insist something is right just because…well, because it’s easier to ‘default’ to that position than anything else.

HOWEVER…(yes, there’s a ‘however’ in this mix!)…because the Moon is pictured as being conjunct Eris (aka Eris Discord) it’s likely that if we just knee jerk our emotional way through this time without really considering the parameters and (since the lunar eclipse is a Full Moon format) the ‘other side of the coin’ which in this case would be Libran – if we don’t think things through, we’re likely to experience Eris as Discord instead of Eris’ ‘higher power,’ which is the ability to get us to think outside our (Aires/Self) box and in doing so, grow, enhance and otherwise empower our life through recognizing that though things aren’t quite as simple as we thought them to be…well, better is better and the life is actually a whole lot richer and more enriching when we don’t deal with things in abstract, but in the reality of human life.

That said, the other side of this Full Moon format is Libra. And the whole of this Lunar Eclipse is being shown to us in a 3rd decanate, ‘it isn’t all about us’ sort of degree format. So between the 3rd decan thing and the interactive Libra quotient, this moment (or period) plainly isn’t just about us.

It’s about who we are and what we bring to life…or our life…or the lives of those around us – and how (aka how well) all that works.

The solar side of this metaphysical equation is poised at 25 Libra – a degree which tends to be inconsistent and manifest as being compromised until we learn how to live with that level of compromise which is truly part of life. Libra being an air sign, the ‘idea of the thing’ is paramount – and the ‘purist’ aspect of whatever ideas are now at hand are likely to be the highlighted issue.

25 Libra is also a degree about the quality of relationships. Here we are challenged to at least know the difference between surface relationships or those which are more shallow (or even one-sided) and those which are deeply important to our being, our understanding, our vital experience of life. Oddly enough, the ‘test’ of this seems to be all about how we react to flattery and what ‘sounds good’…or even what ‘looks good’ – which is probably particularly important in today’s media-driven, “lookist” culture. While physical beauty has always been prized, it has hardly ever played so much of a ‘ticket to success’ role as it has been playing of late – hence the old expression ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’

Getting back to the Moon side of things, there is also to consider the idea that Aries is ruled by Mars.

In the image of this lunar eclipse, Mars is situated at 2 Virgo, a degree which is about analysis of a type which is the very antithesis (opposing factor) to the kind of headstrong energetic we are told the Moon at 25 Aries may well put in play.

So…are you meeting up with that energy now in the form of someone else or some situation? Or are you embodying it? Have you embodied it and are you thinking it over? Are you thinking of some decision which depends on some quality in this mélange – or something which perhaps you’re realizing is valuable simply because it doesn’t to ‘any of the above’?

Considering how astrology works, you could be running into all of the above. Or you could be involved with someone or some situation which is manifesting or demonstrating all of the above.

And then there’s Regulus.

Royal star Regulus promises success ONLY and IF we don’t embody one very important principle: revenge. That being true, whether this moment turns on something which shows…or very much avoids the concept of revenge (vengeance, spite, etc.) show be highly revelatory.

Certainly if we’re going to think through the ruler of Aries (which we just did) we should also think through the ruler of Libra, which is Venus.

Ruling the Sun’s side of this equation, Venus is at 12 Sagittarius, which being a 2nd decanate degree (a degree between 10 and 19 of any sign) emphasizes the emotional value of learning (learning something, learning about something, learning why something does or doesn’t work) … but which at the same time tests our ability to understand that we may be barking up a wrong tree or be needing to face that we’ve invested time, energy and though in some goal or some process which isn’t going to get us where we want to go.

Considering that 12 Sagittarius is a sensitive…yea verily passionate degree, there can be much frustration or much altruism involved in dynamics of the moment – particularly I/thou situations or relationships. Interestingly (seeing as this is Sagittarius we’re talking about) lore also says there’s a pronounced ‘health’ quotient to 12 Sagittarius which tends to focus on bodily health but which can also be an outgrowth of psychic or emotional or psychological factors.

Doesn’t sound exactly like a calm and unbiased moment so far…does it? I think not!

Even so let’s continue…

Now that we’ve looked at the points and the rulers of said points (and gotten a bit of a headache doing so), then come the aspects – the first and most obvious one being Neptune (at 2 Pisces and retrograde) being in perfected opposition with Mars.

(I’m not sure whether I should utter a heartfelt ‘oooh-ahhh’ or a ‘yikes!’ here.)

Neptune retrograde – under any and all circumstances, is the disillusion or dissolving of that which has either kept us from reality or the truth…or our ability to deal with same. Positioned in Pisces, we know the game which is afoot (Watson) is whether we are willing or even able to tolerate dealing with how we feel about our feelings – whether that’s present tense, past tense or cumulative.

In opposition to Mars/Regulus, the simple ‘read’ is that there’s no one to blame in particular and that we simply have to grapple with the facts. At the same time, it’s likely that this combination will spell some tendency to exhaust ourselves emotionally – or physically because we’re exhausted emotionally and cannot support the ‘weight of our functional necessities,’ to be all philosophical-sounding about it.

2 Pisces as a degree is a wavering sort of influence which waxes and wanes unpredictably and which is at its best when we are willing to do what needs doing as determined by us…which means everybody else should keep their mitts to themselves (physical, financial, psychological, emotional and otherwise) and that we should both require that AND require of ourselves that we take whatever separations and solitude we come up with as the moment in which to think for ourselves, decide for ourselves and to accept that whatever our choices are, they’re ours.

This very much echoes Neptune in Pisces in general, as Neptune in Pisces is all about raising the specter of ‘perfection’ in order that we can learn that it’s the thing we humans aspire towards while we’re living a true and human life. Learning that we are not alone in our fears, in our disappointments, in the recognizing that we’re mortal is essential – as is the sometimes hard-won lesson that good is good no matter what it looks like or whether it “fits the mold” you have somehow adopted as the ‘way things should be.’

Neptune is never in favor of that sort of emotional expectation. Its symbolism – by sign – is always about the area of life (in the case of Pisces, our experience of our feelings) where we will construct that ‘perfect life’ image and then realize that’s a dream and that reality – the reality of something which makes you happy or satisfied or comfortable with your life and Self…that whatever that ‘looks’ like (physically, socially, economically, etc.) is less important than the business of being who you are.

Being human…and a human being who understands being human, in other words.

One more piece to this puzzle...

Neptune trine the North Node at 7 Scorpio (a degree which is mystical, strong and unwavering) speaks to our need to understand the underlying process of our essence and who we really are instead of what others project as what we ‘should be.’ You may be a lot or a little of that ‘should’ thing, and where you subscribe to ‘should’s, understanding why you have done that and whether that is truly valid – whether it matches who you truly are – is truly important.

After all, 7 Scorpio is part of the complex which is involved in the solar eclipse soon to come. So it’s flux and shaking up of our lives and assumptions and assumed ‘bedrock’ constructs is in full progress.

Sometimes the lunar eclipse occurs before the solar eclipse. Sometimes it’s the other way around. When the lunar eclipse comes first, we would guess that we’re needing to be ‘shook up’ so that we will let go of whatever life is telling us is outmoded or no longer applicable or just plain not in keeping with who we are.

Lunar eclipses tend to show up right on schedule and fade out pretty quickly. If your natal chart has some important placement either between 20 Aries and 0 Taurus or 20 Libra and 0 Scorpio, you’re likely to feel this eclipse very much as an ‘experience’ which – though it may be ‘garbed’ in the form of someone else is really about you.

For those with placements between 20 Capricorn and 0 Aquarius or 20 Cancer and 0 Leo life is throwing something new into your mix or tossing you a curve ball. Think it through and work through the challenge and all will – in time – be more workable.

The time frame given for lunar eclipses is generally about three months – as opposed to three years for a solar eclipse. Though lunar eclipses often represent moments which feel like tidal waves, and while they may represent a ‘change of course’ in the doing-this-not-that sort of thing…they very seldom change your life, life standing or life force – that’s a solar eclipse thing. Yes, given this is an Aries lunar eclipse (which by definition faces off against a Libra Sun) others may well be involved in what goes on now. But – to choose an extreme sort of example here…lets say you decide to marry or not marry someone at this point. The issue is still whether that marriage or that person fits your life…and if they do (or don’t) why that is.

This lunar eclipse is about us, and about our experiencing how we feel about who we are and who we’re being in that world we call ‘my life.’

Whatever happens, it’s a reflection – but whether that’s of who we are or what we do or don’t want to be? That’s individual.

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P.S. If you understood the above theory-building process, you've

just learned how astrologers formulate interpretations.

In other words, yes, you too could be an astrologer.

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