On February 3, 2012 Neptune moved into the sign Pisces, where it will be at home for the next 14 years. Neptune takes 165 years to travel through each sign of the zodiac, and Pisces is the natural ruler of the twelfth house. Since Neptune is at home in Pisces, the energy here will be stronger than in any other sign. The sign of Pisces is two fish swimming in opposite directions, describing its dual nature.
Pisces is the natural ruler of the twelfth house-things secret and hidden, the subconscious mind of the collective. Here things will play out secretly, and we will feel urgings deep within our individual souls and the collective soul. The twelfth house rules mysticism, hospitals, isolation, secrets, and secret enemies which at times can even be ourselves. It is sacrifice, suffering and confinement, and will lead to new compassions. When a planet enters the twelfth house is entering the last phase of its cycle in preparation for new beginnings. It’s like clearing the deck for a new start. Neptune cycles are long in duration and a new cycle will not begin until Neptune enters Aries in 2025, which will be the start of a new 165 year cycle.
When Neptune changes signs it is a major planetary shift, and a very big deal, astrologically. It will change the lives of everyone reading this, and those who are not. It signals a change in our deepest psyche and a new direction in thinking and feeling. Neptune briefly entered Pisces in 2011 April-early August. Since 1998, Neptune in Aquarius has urged us toward personal and collective freedoms, ideas, and changes in viewpoints. Collectively, we have felt the deep seated urge to seek freedoms for ourselves, and in over the past few years we have urged freedom for others as the Middle East erupted in Arab Spring of 2011 and protestors lines the streets of Europe and the US. Aquarius is ruled in part by Uranus and takes on the attributes of the planet: upheaval, disruptions, change and rebellions.
Pisces is another story altogether. Pisces is an ego less sign rather than one of personal gain, and the spiritual becomes the goal rather than the material. It is a mutable sign, meaning the energy is flexible and chameleon like, and adaptable to change. It is an idealistic, sensitive sign that is self expressive, dramatic, compassionate and intuitive in nature.
As Neptune moves through Pisces we will become more aware of the need for sacrifice and forgiveness, compassion, and understanding. Neptune in Pisces inclines itself toward romantic ideas, glamour and will be a dose of compassion in a very angry world. Many will strive for a more beautiful world. Music, movies and art will go to new levels, and we may see new art forms. As the Uranus-Pluto square shakes the world for the next four years it will continue to bring anger, disruption, and explosive situations in our lives and around the globe, Neptune in Pisces will bring an element of compassion, forgiveness, and working toward the greater good with a non selfish approach. Of course, not everyone will automatically change personalities to personify this description, but there will be a collective element in the world that will that will bring these qualities to life.
Neptune is the most complex of planets, its energies working on a very subtle level. Neptune transits bring about a deep seated and sometimes subconscious desire to merge with something other than the self. Whether it is a lover, marriage, family, idea, or purpose Neptune causes a yearning at a soul level to join with something bigger than the self. We will feel this longing and in ourselves and the world as a collective. One of the greatest dangers of Neptune relates to the false glamor and delusion the planet tends to generate. It may cause a person or group to follow an ideal, but the over idealization of the dream can lead to great disappointment and total lack of clarity.
Neptune in Pisces will be about art, glamor, romance, creativity, cinema, photography, spirituality and religion, mystics, psychics, dreams, compassion, illusion, religion, transcending of egos, spiritual illumination. The world however, is not a linear place, rather multi dimensional, and where Neptune is involved there is great depth and many layers of truths and illusions that stand in the way of truth. Where there is light, there is dark, and where there is darkness there is a lack of clarity.
Neptune always has a duality of nature that inclines toward illusion, delusion, confusion, lack of focus and clarity, deception, lies, and self deception. Neptune in Pisces rules drugs of all types, prescription and illegal, addictions of all types and alcohol. We will see an increase in addicted individuals, and be forced as a collective to deal with these issues. It rules chemicals, gasses, oil and salt water.
Neptune can also bring deception, strange thoughts, events and trickery. Neptune in Pisces will also be about the more sordid side of life: Prostitution and gambling, narcotics, trafficking of all types, and pornography. Neptune rules mists, fog, and the seas. Pirating will increase and we are at risk of oil and chemical spills. Water, oil, nuclear weapons, chemicals, and diseases, both air and water borne will come into focus one way or another over the next 14 years. When Saturn squares Neptune in 2015-16 water will become an important commodity, and we may be called upon as a civilization to afford greater protection toward our most vital asset.
Neptune and Chiron- Neptune is within a few degrees of conjuncting Chiron, known as the wounded healer. Chiron has been classified as both an asteroid and a comet and its influence can intensity issues that are already challenging. The effects of Neptune can make it difficult to evaluate the challenges rationally and with clear thinking. So, in essence the challenges may become worse before they get better or are evaluated for future growth. Spiritual growth and healing seldom occur as quickly as we would wish.
Sir Winston Churchill once said “those who fail remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” Never is this saying more applicable than when looking at astrological trends. Neptune was in Pisces the following periods: 1029-1042, 1193-1206, 1356-1370, 1520-1534, 1684-1697 and 1847-1861.
The last period saw the rise of the industrial revolution, and was the pre cursor to the civil war in the US. Labor conditions began to change and the world morphed into a different time. The Underground Railroad was shuttering slaves through a series of safe houses in the US and out of the country. The abolition of slavery occurred in the French colonies in 1848. Mysticism took hold America. Cocaine was used as a drug and freely prescribed. The Age of Enlightenment occurred in Europe during 1650-1700.
It is within these boundaries we will walk over the next 14 years of our lives as the world shifts into a new age in front of our eyes. (posted 3-2012)