Starsailor: Love is Here

Starsailor's Love is Here was released in 2001, and it was also their debut album; the group is based in the U.K. The first time I listened to this album, it was markedly, Neptunian. The lead singer has the voice of an angel and his songs are about losing one’s way in life, falling down, suffering, sadness and alcoholism. The record isn’t the type of thing you would play getting ready for a fun night out. The lyrics on this album could be ripped straight out of any astrological text-book on Neptune. For example: “When you’re so sensitive, it’s a long way to fall.”

The songs talk about a fall from the grace, which is particularly apt for Neptune, considering Adam and Eve’s sudden eviction from the Paradise Garden. Love is Here has a melancholic sound, that is drenched with emotion, and the vocals induce a sad mood. Through our Neptunian function we glimpse other dimensions and higher states of being, entering into this magic, indefinable world. This gives inspiration to the poet, artist, or musician, and to the seer and mystic. Neptune is associated with the flight from realty, loss and grief. The lead singer, James Walsh, has Sun and Venus opposite Neptune, along with Mars and Saturn square Neptune. James has four hard aspects to Neptune, so we can safely call him a "Neptunian".

The person is, however, usually compassionate and sensitive and is often characterised by high spiritual, aesthetic, or humanitarian ideals.  By Stephen Arroyo, Astrology, Karma and Transformation.

Sometimes Sun-Neptune people can resist forming as a defined individual, and usually there is an inherited gift of creativity, that needs to be expressed. Deep down in the collective there is a dim awareness of the divine, mystical and spiritual, it’s the longing for the ideal and notion that there is ‘something more than this ‘. Without Neptune we would have no inspiration, and it’s the embodiment of the imagination and artistic expression. We could all do with some escapism at times and Neptune has the ability to sweep us away…

Neptunian Relationships: Women Who Love "Too Much"

Women Who Love Too Much is a self-help book by Robin Norwood, and it was first published in 1986.  The author is a licenced marriage, family, and child therapist and she specializes in love relationships, as well as addiction, co-addiction, compulsive eating, and depression. The archetypal pattern in these relationships is related to Neptune’s patterns of idealisation, sacrifice, illness, breakdowns, violence, alcohol problems, and terrible disillusionment.

The main premise of the book deals with relationship addiction, and describes loving too much as a pattern of thought and behavior which certain women develop as a response to problems from childhood. The author views these women as destructive as heroin users jabbing needles in their arms. The characteristics of women who love too much are those that come from a dysfunctional home of alcohol abuse or other drugs (prescribed or illicit), growing up around the compulsive behaviour of a parent, and domestic abuse. Furthermore, a child treated as an adult and raised to the level of a parent, heavily burdened with too much responsibility, can grow up as a woman who loves "too much".

The woman has a strong attraction to men who are “needy” and she needs to be needed and is drawn to unstable relationships and damaged men. The woman often feels that she can redeem him through her love, but the relationship turns into an all-consuming and desperate yearning for the beloved, who is perceived as mysterious, and elusive. Compassion and pity are powerful components in what these individuals define as love.

Another indication of Neptune’s role in a relationship is the willingness to endure pain and hardship for the sake of the union. Suffering in love and yearning for more than is available is another characteristic of those involved in unhappy and destructive relationships with men. Neptune glamourizes the bond and she offers unflinching devotion to him.

In childhood the woman may have been subjected to eternal chaos and she has developed an overwhelming need to fix everything and take care of everyone, and she is far too willing to take on his burdens and emotional problems. The denial of the problem is undeniably, Neptune. Robin Norwood’s books have received some criticism from feminists and women's rights groups. However, there are highly relevant psychological themes that can be applied to Neptune in relationships. 

Neptune is “hooked” on these type of relationships and the dream of saving someone and seeking redemption, slowly turns into their worst nightmare. The waters often turn dark, murky and treacherous, and her overwhelming and chaotic feelings leave her in despair and she slowly drowns in her misery. Neptune has great difficulty seeing what is actually there, so she falls in love with someone who later turns out to be not at all like the person she imagined.

Whitney Houston has Pisces rising and Sun and Venus square Neptune, and she had a squeaky clean image, until she married bad boy, Bobby Brown. Whitney has been abused frequently over the years and shown a decline in her mental health, she doesn’t even show up on time for appointments, interviews and other important schedules. Pluto is in the 7th house and describes some of the complex and obsessive patterns in her relationship. Tina Turner has Venus square Neptune (exact) and she was beat up by her husband for 16 years.

Not all Neptunian relationships are this complex and co-dependent, but we often wonder why it’s so difficult for a woman to leave an abusive relationship, even when she is given all the help that she needs. The powerful emotional compulsion shouldn’t be underestimated, and the woman often commits to such a relationship even if all the warning signs are flashing. Those who work with victims of domestic violence understand the frustration of this woman’s compelling attraction to her abuser, and even after all their best efforts to counsel her and provide a safe haven, she goes back to him.

Pisceans and Neptunians are not afraid of plunging into the world of feelings, and the archetype describes universal love and compassion. Commonly, martyrdom and taking care of others can also hold great emotional and manipulative power over loved ones. The subject is not black and white and I have only explored some of the darker themes in this topic, which relate to addiction in relationships and the role that Neptune plays.

Stir of Echoes

Stir of Echoes is one of my favourite films, and after recently reading Liz Greene’s “The Astrological Neptune, and the Quest for Redemption”, it helped me greatly with some of the astrology themes in the movie. The obvious connection involving Neptune is the link with the paranormal, “psychism” and spiritual side of the life. However, the process leading up to this opening of the mind to a profound psychic experience is related to hypnotism. Kevin Baker plays Tom Witzky a phone lineman who is sceptical of all things paranormal and unexplainable. Tom challenges his sister in law to hypnotize (Neptune) him and after putting him under she gives him a post hypnotic suggestion to be more “open minded”. However, this opens the flood gates of his latent psychic ability (Neptune). Tom begins to have visitations by a teenage girl who is trying to communicate with him. The story unravels to reveal that the girl who is visiting him, had a mental disability and regressive childlike personality (Neptune), and she was quite a naïve and innocent girl. I won’t spoil the whole plot-line for those who haven’t watched the move. I do sometimes tend to ruin the story-line for others; it could be my own Mercury-Neptune aspect which is to blame. However, if you haven’t watched it, definitely check it out.



My favourite chapter in The Astrological Neptune, and the Quest for Redemption is, The Discovery of the Unconscious, and I will type up some relevant points about the art of hypnotism, relating to this film:

The term Hypnosis (from Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep) was coined by the Scottish physician James Braid during the 1840’s, coincident with the actual discovery of the planet Neptune. The discovery of this gateway into the unconscious, which had such profound ramifications for psychology, psychiatry, medicine, and spiritualism in the centuries which followed, is a fascinating one. It is useful to examine certain aspects of the phenomena of hypnosis. Sometimes it seems that the Neptune-dominated personality walks about in a state of perpetual semi-hypnosis, terrifyingly suggestible to just about anything passing by. Hypnotists generally agree that certain types of people are extremely difficult to hypnotise. The psychotic, the drunk, and the drug addict may pose insurmountable problems because hypnotic trance requires a relinquishing of ego control to the hypnotists, and in the three conditions mentioned above, there is no ego left to give away. In contrast the hyper rational temperament is equally difficult to hypnotise, although this is due largely to extreme defensiveness rather than lack of suggestibility. By Liz Greene, The Astrological Neptune, and the Quest for Redemption

Subjects in a state of hypnosis show an increased response to suggestions and the hypnotic state can also be used to heal morbid phobias, pain and other health Symptoms. It may even be used as a mild anaesthetic and the person under a trance can be poked with needles and not feel a thing. The hypnotist can even induce the senses into to believing that they feel, itching, burning, and other bodily discomforts. A bond between hypnosis and subject is apparent through the way the individual follows the instructiions of the hypnotist, even it means embarassing himself. According to Liz Greene, sometimes clairvoyant and telepathic phenomena occur. It is highly fascinating exploring how hypnosis works and its relationship to Neptune and the unconscious. It is also suggested that people who have Neptune powerful in the chart, aspecting one of the luminaries (Sun and Moon) or placed on a angle, are extremely open to psychic experiences.

The belief in spirits is widespread and it dates back to ancestor worship (12th house). It is linked to the afterlife. The spiritualist movement reached its peak by 1897, it was said to have more than 8 million followers, this occurred under the Neptune-Pluto conjunction in Gemini. I feel there has been a resurgence of popularity in the supernatural since Uranus’ entry into Pisces. I would say during its sojourn in Pisces we have had some strange imagery on our screens, it has also been in mutual relationship with Neptune in Aquarius. Series like Supernatural, Ghost Whisper and Medium are examples of this. Transits involving Neptune can also be present during psychic activity, and psychics are commonly known as “Sensitives” possessing the ability to perceive things hidden from the conscious and rational mind. Stir of Echoes is a great film that relates to some of the astrological themes relating to Neptune, and the ghost affects are fantastic. This Neptunian individual has it listed as one of her top movies. I watched Paranormal Activity for the first time a few weeks ago. I was putting it off because I hate all the jerky filming, maybe we can blame Uranus in Pisces/Neptune in Aquarius. I wasn’t a big fan of previous camcorder movies. However, after watching the film, it had its genuine scary moments. I should lay off the ghost movies; I won’t be able to sleep at night.

Neptune in Pisces: The Great Flood

As you all I know I have been reading The Astrological Neptune and Quest for Redemption by Liz Greene. The Great Flood myths that colour our view of the cycle of life are particularly interesting, and these are clearly evidenced through-out history in the ongoing sagas around Apocalypse day, Judgement Day and End of the World predictions. The Neptune symbolism of the slate being wiped clean and starting again is a common metaphor for everything in life that we wish to heal, cleanse and atone. Take the alcoholic anonymous groups and the 12 step programs which support the belief that a greater power than the self is an essential part of recovery. Case studies on the after-life have reported that we face a kind of judgement of the Self when a soul reviews its life-time. The twilight years are viewed as a time when we are more reflective and it is seen as a winding down period as the completion of a lifetime nears the end of its cycle and reaches Pisces. We clean out the psychological closet, so to speak.

American T.V Evangelist Jim Bakker has written a book on the ‘coming’ apocalypse. The preacher has Pisces rising with Mars in Pisces conjunct Jupiter opposite Neptune. Mercury is in Sagittarius in a tight square with Neptune. Jim’s mutable T-square involving Mercury-Mars-Jupiter and Neptune is probably a large indicator of the deception and fraud that landed him in prison. Neptune is prone to being indirect, deceptive and this highly religious individual, siphoned 3.4 million from his ministry. Apart from his nebulous behaviour he very much believed in the end days. Jupiter needs a sense of meaning in life and Neptune yearns to merge once again with that unseen force. Musician Oliver Messiaen created a piece of music which he felt captured the moment of the end of the world in all its terrifying and heavenly manifestations. The music had its premier in front of 5,000 prisoners. I guess in some way it was an appropriate audience. The 12th house (Neptune) rules institutions, places of exile and solitary confinement, and no one awaits judgment day more than those who are guilty of crimes. Messiaen had Moon conjunct Neptune in Cancer and Sun and Mercury in Sagittarius square Jupiter.

The 2012 speculation of the world coming to an end could be insanely heightened due to Neptune’s transition into Pisces. Neptune enters Pisces at the beginning of April 2011, and in August of that year it retrogrades back into Aquarius. It re-enters Pisces in February 2012. This may indicate a more fervent interest in the after-life, judgement day and ‘spiritualism. Perhaps people will be swept away by a new spiritual wave of some kind. I believe we may be entering the end of a cycle and sense a kind of collective sense and general feeling of cleansing, cleaning out the closet and washing away our sins and redemption will probably be in evidence. The onslaught of predictions for the End of the World is looming large due to the upcoming Neptune in Pisces transition and collective feeling of being deluged by the Great Flood.

The Astrological Neptune

I have challenged myself to finally read The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption, by Liz Greene. I have had the book in my possession for quite some time now, and I have never managed to read it from beginning to end. The book is nearly 500 pages long and contains everything you would probably ever need to know about the planet Neptune, from both a mythical and astrological perspective.

I am a Neptunian personality and can relate to this phenomenal piece of writing. The author began the process of putting the work together under a transit of Uranus conjunct Neptune. The explanation of water for its healing, cleansing, redemptive and destructive qualities is succinctly explained by the author. I have always enjoyed the mermaid myths in connection with Neptune, probably because I am a female and prefer the feminine motifs. Greene disagrees that a male god should rule over Neptune and that she should preferably be represented by a female deity. Of course Jaws and other less pleasant water creatures are also related to the darker face of Neptune. What is interesting is that some of the mythical stories surrounding the planet, paint reality as an illusion.

“An individual life is nothing more than a dream among many, dreamt by the cosmic sea; and the events of that life are the emanations of her substance, just as we believe our own dreams arise from the human brain. An individual death is thus only the end of a dream. Just as a psychologically sophisticated Western person might sift through a dream to distill its meaning, forgetting the images once the essence has been gleaned, so the cosmic sea draws the essential meaning from the dream of a human life which is quickly forgotten.”By Liz Greene, The Astrological Neptune, and the Quest for Redemption

I am currently in the process of reading about the Paradise Garden and Adam and Eve’s extinction from Eden. The story is compared to Prometheus’ rebellion against the Gods and his excruciating punishment. In The Mythic Tarot the author uses the image of Prometheus chained to a rock in the Greek version of the cards to depict the hanged man, that's if my Mercury in Pisces memory serves me correctly. I do have a memory like a fish, but I do tend to remember symbols and imagery more than concrete facts. The curse which God inflicts on Adam and Eve as "punishment" is the pain of childbirth and the struggle to earn a living. Liz Greene relates these experiences and the whole process of maturation to the cycle of Saturn. In Greene’s other book, The Mythic Journey she also compares children leaving home to the story of Adam and Eve.

“On one level, this story describes the first loss we must face - the separation from mother’s womb at the start of existence. In the womb, life is pleasant and without stress or strain. There is no need for clothes, as there is no extreme heat or cold, nor is there any experience of hunger or thirst. Life is peaceful without loneliness, conflict or suffering. And then comes the shock of birth. Just as Adam and Eve are propelled unceremoniously from Eden, so the baby has its first taste of loneliness as well as physical pain.” The Mythic Journey by Liz Greene and Juliette Sharman

I actually have two copies of the book, for some reason another book was posted through my door, so perhaps next year, I will give the other copy away on the blog. It is a fascinating book and I am reading it slowly to absorb all the information fully. It is definitely a worthwhile read for astrologers and Neptunians, or both in my case.

Neptune in 8th House

The individual with Neptune in the 8th house has a water planet placed in a watery house. Neptune dissolves boundaries in the areas of sex, intimacy, shared finances, and death. Neptune can create confusion, deception or disillusionment in all of those areas. This person may feel over-whelmed and susceptible in transactions with others. Sex may used as a way to transcend ordinary reality, or heal emotional wounds from the past. Sexual fantasies longed to be fulfilled through merging with others in a spiritually satisfying way, although Neptune’s longings are difficult to achieve. Sometimes there is a death-wish or suicidal longing in the personality. Demi Moore has an extremely powerful placement of Sun conjunct Neptune in Scorpio in the 8th house. At aged 15, her mother left her stepfather, who committed suicide two months later, a month before Demi’s 16th birthday. Demi also starred in the smash hit movie Ghost, and as most people know the film is about her husband, Sam, who is a banker, he discovers discretions and deception in some of the accounts at work. Sam advises his colleague to investigate, but soon afterwards he and his wife (Demi) are mugged and Sam is killed. However, he remains on Earth as a Ghost and meets con-artist spiritual medium, Oda Mae Brown, and enlists her to help him warn his wife that she is in danger. The film is very descriptive on Demi’s 8th house planets, it’s almost like she was born to play the role.

Those with Neptune in the 8th house may be interested in psychology, occult subjects and yearn to explore the hidden dimensions of life. Some astrologers believe the individual is very open to spirits, poltergeists or other eternal unseen forces. Death and spiritualism may exert a powerful fascination over the personality. Hitler also had Neptune in the 8th house conjunct Pluto. Hitler’s mother’s marriage was close to being incestuous and she called her older husband “uncle” so there was a lot of guilty feelings attached to sex. The women in his life suffered terrible fates (8th), his half-niece and romantic obsession Geli Raubel was found dead in her bed with his gun lying next to her. A mysterious darkness surrounds her death and reporters could not decide whether her death was murder or suicide. Hitler’s sex-life is also surrounded with confusion and it was rumoured he had a huge collection of pornography. Hitler met Renate Muller, 29, an established star in German movies. The actress either jumped 40 feet out of a Berlin window to her death or was pushed. Hitler’s final girlfriend had repeatedly attempted suicide and she followed Hitler into death. Some people with placement my be confused by their sexual identities and find it difficult defining sexual needs. Sex may also be disappointing and never live-up to their fantasies.

The yearning for the source may take the form of literal courting of oblivion - as is often the case in deaths caused by overdose. A sad illustration of this is pop singer Janis Joplin, who died in 1970 from an overdose of heroin. In her birth chart, Neptune, which forms a grand trine with the Sun, Mercury, Saturn and Uranus, and also squares the natal Moon, is placed on the cusp of the 8th house. Neptune’s quest for the waters of Eden was enacted in her life as well as her death in a particularly poignant way. A more horrific example is the chart of Jim Jones, the leader of the People’s Temple cult, who committed suicide with his disciples in 1978 by drinking cyanide. Here we also find Neptune in the 8th, but its only major aspect to other planets is an exact trine to Mercury in the 4th.When Neptune is placed in the 8th, the redeemer may appear as death itself. By Liz Greene, Neptune and the Quest for Redemption

Death, reincarnation, astral experiences, and anything connecting the secretive, mysterious, or hidden side of life are attractive. All types of therapy and healing methods may be sought; the longing for complete transformation through sexual merging, healing and other symbolism may also be explored with this placement of Neptune. There can be great sensitivity towards a partner and even psychic attunement.

Cheryl Cole: The Flood

I watched Cheryl Cole’s video for The Flood  yesterday, from her second album, Messy Little Raindrops. I thought it was beautiful and visually stunning. The video contains scenes of the sea and underwater-like imagery. It obviously appeals to my natal  Moon in Pisces square Neptune. Neptune was officially discovered in 1846. Mythological Neptune is the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Poseidon, ruler of the sea and brother Zeus (Roman: Jupiter). In modern astrology the planet Neptune rules Pisces, the traditional domain of Jupiter. Wherever Neptune is on the chart, there is often idealism about an area not found anywhere else. Neptune’s main characteristics are the disillusion of boundaries and it can indicate great compassion, sensitivity and empathy. Artistic inspiration, musical talent and a rich dream life may be indicated by Neptune. Its Negative manifestations include over-idealization or worship, delusion, deception, neediness, martyrdom and identifying with the role of the victim. Neptune rules anything to do with sea, floods, actors, movie, fashion, chaos and secretly undermining activities or influences. The magic of art, cinema and music provide a refuge from life’s coarseness, taking us into the imaginable realm.

The mythology of Neptune begins with the mythology of water. In astrological symbolism, Neptune is the ruler of Pisces, the third sign of the watery trigon; and the god after whom the planet is named is the lord of the ocean depths. But even if this planet had been called by another name, the language of water arises spontaneously on the lips of those experiencing important transits and progressions involving Neptune. Over and over again I have heard people completely unfamiliar with astrology describe their feelings and perceptions at such critical times with images such as drowning, flooding, drifting, dissolving, swamped, inundated, and flowing with the current. Their dreams at these junctures also reflect the domain of water: tidal waves, sinking ships, leaking pipes and overflowing toilets, flooded houses, torrential rain. By Liz Greene, The Astrological Neptune, and the Quest for Redemption

Twelfth House Dreams

Dreams are said to be the mind’s way of making sense of the various types of input we receive in daily life. Astrologically, we would look to the Twelfth house, Neptune and Pisces for the unconscious aspects of the personality. Much of what lies dormant in our conscious minds becomes accessible to our rational mind through the imagery of dreams. It has been proved that the human being needs sleep in order to function successfully. Indeed sleep deprivation has a profound effect on our ability to function effectively in daily life (6th house). Mental and physical breakdowns occur very quickly without the relief of the dreaming process. The link between the twelfth house and dreaming is quickly understood by the confusing, illusory, colourful, weird and disorganized content of a dream.

During waking hours we are continually taking in information which must be stored somewhere until we can categorize and fit it in to our lives. Most of the mental organizing and sifting of information involves Mercury, Virgo and the 6th house. The sixth house is opposite the twelfth house, and polarities always share a common ground. Virgo is a negative, earth sign that provides structure, order and routine, however, polarities are never a one way street. Often people look at Pisces and remark how they look like their off in some dream world. The unconscious is like the ocean and Neptune rules the imagination, photography, music and film. Most movies are based on imaginary characters and stories that are condensed into just less than two hours. Neptune also signifies timelessness, glamour and illusion. Music and film are good examples wherein people are swept away, elated, enchanted and inspired. The twelfth house is one of the most inaccessible houses to understand because the very things it represents are by nature hidden, illusory and tend to slip from view.

Higher Self and Drive Towards Wholeness

Some people do not believe that dreams ‘serve’ any function in our lives other than providing us with confusing, disordered and random images. Most people don’t even remember their dreams and cannot see any connection at all between dreams (12th) and daily life (6th). Thousands of years ago people paid sharp attention to dreams and believed they contained valuable, prophetic or clairvoyant information. It was also believed the information was sent by gods as warnings and guidance. In the light of modern day knowledge we believe it to be the Higher Self that guides us through life, and the drive towards wholeness was influenced by certain themes within this great unconscious. Jung believed that there were dark and repressed sides to our personality that would trip the individual up. In traditional astrology, the twelfth house is described as the house of self-undoing, the dissolution of the ego, sacrifice and suffering. The concepts are not easily digested, but it was thought to represent unlived energies as if it were some kind of dustbin of the astrological houses.

Most of our lives are so busy, filled with tasks, chores and responsibilities, that we don’t have enough time to analyze or ‘pay attention’ (Mercury, Virgo, 6th house) to the symbolic meaning behind dreams. In addition, we tend to associate our most imaginative, colourful and vivid dreaming with that bit of undigested food in our stomachs (6th) and some don’t consider a dream to have any real significance at all. It has been suggested that dreams are a sort of self-cleaning, self-clearing process which makes room each night for the next day’s information. Moreover, dreams are thought to be a storage house for all the undigested and unprocessed contents of the psyche. Symbolically, dreams also point the individual to something that they are ‘not paying attention’ to in their waking life (6th). If we suffer from repetitive dreams it is said that the ‘message’ and significance of the imagery will not leave until we confront what the dream is trying to tell us. Astrologers associate the 12th house with cleaning out the closet, in particular, everything that is unacknowledged, ignored and repressed in ourselves.

The Collective Unconscious

Dreams often bring up images of people from our past, and they may wear the face of a loved one that has passed on, and retrieve buried memories. It is thought that they present a way of solving problems which may seem impossible on the conscious level. Jung labelled this level of ‘reality’ the Collective Unconscious. The Greeks believed that many dreams are the wondering soul through the astral realm and many of our dreams reflect the landscapes and images that are found in the astral world. It is said that the astrological gods appear in our dreams in different forms according to the modern day symbols of the planet. Mercury can now appear as a text message, but hundreds of year ago, he was more likely to be seen as a letter received. Anger in a dream can be timelessly seen as an image of Mars, and represents passionate emotions that are distressing us. Poison in a dream is symbolic of deep buried resentment and emotion that is not good for us, other people’s beliefs and attitudes contaminating us, vengeance and hatred (Scorpio, Pluto and the 8th house). In dreams we play multiple selves (Pisces) and we need to identify with everything in the dream as belonging to us. We are all parts of the dream, and we also need to understand the emotional charge and images that speak the loudest. The symbols of any dream are highly significant and loaded with psychological meaning.

Neptune in Aquarius

Read this great article on Neptune's transit through Aquarius:

"Gemini, the first of these air signs, deals with the development of personal communicative skills, speech and articulation, the training of the nervous system, writing and learning.

Libra, the second of the air signs, raises the singular development of Gemini, focused their own skills, to interpersonal communication and cooperation. The scales have come to represent the courts and the legal system, wherein its idealized goal is that before the law, everyone is equal. This can mean individual vs. individual, corporation, or national government. Each carries equal weight in court. Marriage and divorce are the other areas which are most often placed in Libra's camp. Here, the one-on-one associations are obvious.

Aquarius, our final air sign, is concerned with collective communication and what's best for the society. It, too, represents the nervous system and equality, but its concern is less personal or interpersonal, but rather of what's good for the majority. It is for this reason that we find education, and the diversity of everyone within society, coming into greater focus under the vibration of Aquarius."

Neptune in 1st House

Those with Neptune in the 1st house often feel lost and confused around their identity. Neptunian's are not always clear about what they want in life. The lines become blurred when the individual attempts to establish a solid and grounded sense of self-definition. The Ascendant is our place of birth; it is the house of identity, potency, approach to life and personal outlook. If Neptune conjuncts the Ascendant there may be a dreamy, sensitive, other-worldly, mysterious and far-away quality in their appearance. Neptune in the 1st house often mirrors the needs of others unconsciously, rather like slipping in and out of character. The trait was particularly evident in Marilyn Monroe's personality. The Hollywood pin-up, actress and singer had Neptune rising in Leo.

Thousands, even millions of American men projected their internal feminine onto Marilyn Monroe. Projections without personal contact can damage the person receiving them. We have to say that Marilyn Monroe called for these projections as a part of her power and longing, and her disturbance must have gone back to victimization in childhood. ~ By Robert Bly.

In Bly’s view such projections can be dangerous. Nonetheless, Marilyn had the gift of pleasing others and ability to mirror others emotional needs whilst fulfilling untold fantasies. With Neptune here the individual may be a channel for the expression of ideals, longings and dreams. Neptune in the 1st house represents a mutable, feminine, water planet and is both sensitive and impressionable, but others may play on this vulnerable exterior. This person is also uniquely gifted in picking up the emotional tone in the atmosphere and responding sensitively. Neptune acts like an emotional sponge and tends to pick up the qualities of the last person it has come into contact with, representing the chameleon and watery side of the planet.

The Ascendant will often describe one's birth and the circumstances surrounding it. This can even stretch into early childhood events.

The experience of physical birth may be felt by the person with a 1st house Neptune as a process in which he or she has no volition or choice. It is the mother’s will, or perhaps that of the doctor or midwife, but not one’s own; and the archetypal Martial component of struggle, inherent in the birth process, is often curiously absent. I have seen this placement in the charts of many people whose mothers were drugged into unconsciousness during the birth process, and both mother and infant share in the topor and lassitude which results. The whole experience takes place, as it were, under the water. Later in life the individual tends to deal with external reality with the same lassitude and passivity. ~ Liz Greene

Life possesses a strange unreality when viewed through a cloudy and emotional lens. Neptune in the 1st house lies directly opposite the house of one-to-one relationships, both public and personal (7th). Relationships are sometimes comprised of the victim/saviour dilemma, and with Neptune’s addictive propensities, it can lead an individual to be dangerously needy of others and emotionally manipulative. The fear of separateness can dominate and the need to fuse with others can be just as powerful.

However, Neptune here may also indicate a highly compassionate nature and someone who looks to others for an emotional connection. This person may be attracted to healing and counselling roles that suit their capacity for empathy, sympathy and ability to enter into another's feelings. Neptune has weak boundaries and merges with the immediate environment.

Imaginative, artistic, psychic or even musical, those with Neptune placed here can happily drift into different spheres of creative expression. Neptune also rules escapism and so some may be drawn to drugs and alcohol as a way to escape the challenge of life. On this path, the individual will take the line of least resistance and has a tendency to drift. The Asc rules the physical body and so there is sometimes tiredness and general lethargy and sometimes confusing illnesses. A bove all, the sensitive qualities are highly unique and when used positively this person expresses great compassion towards everyone thy meet.

Courtney Love has Neptune in the first house in the fixed and intense sign of Scorpio. The singer is most famous for her dangerously "addictive" and toxic relationship to partner Curt Cobain, he committed suicide and possesses a very Piscean chart (Neptune).  According to Love, her mother named her after the alcoholic, fledgling debutante protagonist of a 1956 "dime-store novel" called Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore. Love’s family separated after her birth, and her mother and friend presented letters implying the father had given the three-year-old LSD.

The allegations were denied and he passed a lie detector test. However, it did lead to he mother retaining full custody. Neptune's involvement here describes plenty of scandal and deception around the star's early childhood. Love has also been treated for an accidental overdose of Oxycodine. The physical health of Love has raised many concerns and she has been warned to stop her smoking and heavy drug use after looking particularly frail and weak in appearance. River Phoenix is another Neptune in 1st house; he collapsed outside of a nightclub and was full of heroine and cocaine when examined. Obviously some of these cases represent the more negative, extreme and addictive personality types.

Pisces Quotes

In Roman times, Pliny is the story of the boy and the dolphin, which connected the sea creature to death and the afterlife. This story evokes such a powerful image in the unconscious that even today we see fountains featuring the boy and the dolphin. In Pliny's story, a small boy, very likely an orphan, went each day to feed a dolphin and enjoyed a ride on its back. One day when its human friend failed to appear, the dolphin went in search for him. It finally found the child, drowned. The dolphin brought the boy to the shore and remained with him to die itself. On Greek funerary vases, Hermes, Guide to the Souls and the dolphin appeared together, the two friends to mankind who aided departed souls to find their way into the afterlife. The dolphin is a peculiarly Piscean type of kindness, for it laid down next to the boy and died. It did not distinguish between its own life, its own interests, and the boy's. In the cosmic ocean of feeling, there are no boundaries, no limits between one creature and another. A Pisces hearing a friend tell of his pain will soon be in tears along with the friend out of sympathy and empathy. If Pisces lies down and dies with the person rather than distancing himself mentally (establishing boundaries) it becomes difficult to help the friend find a solution or a way to cope with the problem. By Kathleen Burt, Archetypes of the Zodiac

No matter what the individual behavioral pattern, all Pisceans must occasionally retreat from people and be totally alone. Pisceans are so prone to assuming the feelings of others and thinking of these absorbed vibrations as their own that they need regular periods of solitude in order to get back to themselves. They must retreat to build up their strength so that they may again face the onslaught of the outer world. This cycle is essential with periodic cleansings, his waters would soon become polluted by his and other people's negativity. Pisces is a psychic sponge; for this reason, he should use great discrimination when choosing his friends and environment. By Alan Oken, Complete Astrology

Extreme Piscean defences might look like they are anti-relationship mechanisms. There is nothing particularly relationship-facilitating about locking oneself in one's room and shooting up, or falling down in an alcoholic stupor. But these may be attempts to preserve a state of ecstasy, which is really a relationship with a primal source. This state of fusion is the very first state we experience, first in the womb and then at the breast. In this blissful place there is no pain, loneliness, suffering, conflict, or mortality. It is the Paradise Garden before the Fall, and at all costs one must defend that place against the intrusion of the outside world and the suffering that actual relationships might bring. Liz Greene, Barriers and Boundaries

To you everyone deserves a second chance. Water has always been associated with a fresh start. Out of the flood that carried Noah's ark a new world rises. Baptism-a sacrament integrally connected to water-signifies spiritual birth. Forgiveness is your way of wiping the slate clean. Under the healing waters of Neptune, grudges lose their shape and grievances their force so that all emotional energy is recycled-like water evaporating into air. Forgiveness is a strength not a weakness. And it's your particular challenge, as a child of Neptune, to practice something that others will often deride. Forgiveness has its roots in our imperfections, not our perfections. Your sympathies lie with the underdogs and the outcasts. There-and with the grace of God-go you. By Christopher Renstorm, Ruling Planets

Like a multi-faceted crystal, the Piscean lives inside a twelve-sided geometric figure which encircles him or her. Thus, each time an attempt to take action is made, all twelve windows must be considered. If Libra is lost in a two sided process of indecision, pity the poor Pisces, lost in twelve! However, the gift of Pisces is not the ability to see clearly from a rational point of view, but rather to look within and answer from the heart, a gift founded upon the belief in a higher power which makes things right. And no matter how out of control humanity seems to get, this underlying theme of the inner saviour's reappearance has kept things going for the last 2,000 years-the Piscean era. By Ariel Guttman and Kenneth Johnson, Mythic Astrology

In many fairy tales there is a peculiar and enchanting figure, sometimes called an ondine or melusine, sometimes called a mermaid, who lives in the depths of the sea or a vast lake, and falls in love with a mortal man. This legend may also be seen in the legend of the Swan Prince-although here the creature from the 'other realm' bears feathers rather than scales. And these ancient stories, in all their various forms, have the same basic theme: the union of a mortal, an ordinary flesh-and-blood human, with something from another level of reality. This meeting is fraught with difficulties. There are always conditions attached. And it usually ends in disaster or difficulty, not because it is doomed from the start, but because of the ineptitude of the mortal who attempts to impose his laws and values on his mysterious, other-wordily partner. Usually the melusine agrees to live on dry land, and inhabit a mortal body, so long as her mate observes one special condition. He must not ask her a particular question, or look in a particular box, or enter a particular room at a particular time. In other words, there must be respect for the mysteries of this other realm. And the mortal, driven by ordinary human curiosity and lack of respect for this dimension, inevitably asks the question or opens the box. So the bond is broken, the melusine disappears into the depths again, and he is left to sorrow. Or, sometimes, she drags him down with her, drowning him in her embrace. By Liz Greene, Astrology For Lovers

The End - Letting Go

Post contains spoilers on Lost. Do not read any further if you don't want to know what happened. The End of Lost aired during the transit of Jupiter conjunct Uranus in the last degrees of Pisces. Remember my post on the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction and I described it as a time we gather around our T.V sets for some event or important long-running series coming to an end. The ending for Lost was simultaneously aired across different countries and we waited in anticipation for the answers to finally be revealed. However, Lost is one of those programmes that always leaves more questions - unanswered. It has to be one of the most confusing television series to have aired. And true to the sign of Pisces it has held us in suspension and has left a cloud of mystery and confusion surrounding the whole show. The first episode aired in September 2004, during Uranus’ first entry into Pisces. 

In the final sixth season, we saw the Losties still living on the island and also in another alternate reality, and we found out at the end of Lost, that this “other reality” was the afterlife, a place they built so they could find each other again, and let go. Another supernatural series I have always enjoyed watching, is Ghost Whisperer with Jennifer Love Hewitt. Melinda is a psychic who mediates between the living and the dead and helps ghosts still here to let go of the past and move on. The ghosts are earthbound and unresolved issues leave them hanging around in a kind of limbo state, suspended between two worlds. Some ghosts are lost and confused and others are angry, jealous and annoyed. All of them need closure, but a whole host of emotions keeps them locked in suffering and unable to find peace in the “light“. We could use this metaphor when we have to face our own ghosts from the past.



The Lost survivors were living in an afterlife scenario, and when they each made contact with those they had shared a close bond with, all their past memories flooded back and they were suddenly at peace, knowing it was time to leave. It was a fitting end for a Piscean show, but it wasn’t a satisfying end for all Lost fans. We were told everything would be answered, but we were left with further questions. Letting go means to relinquish something, to give it up, to stop the battle or struggle and to find release. You have to stop holding on to something that only causes you suffering and pain and know when it's time to let go. I think it refers to unfinished business or unresolved issues. When something is left unfinished it isn’t brought to the final desired state. There is no end or conclusion and things are left in limbo.

“We can never turn back the pages of time, though we may wish to relive a happy moment, or say goodbye just one last time, we never can, because the sands of time continue to fall, and we can’t turn the hourglass over.” – Unknown

Forgive me Father for I have Sinned

When a person is gone from our life we need to both resolve any left over feelings “within” and find release.  The twelfth house represents the last sector on the wheel. Absolution belongs here and signifies - forgiveness. It’s comparable to a cleansing of the soul by confessing all our sins. So we can find release and move on. I don’t think we are all "sinners" but perhaps there are things we have done that we cannot forgive ourselves for. Alternatively, we cannot forgive others for what they have done to us. We have a lot of religious themes bound up in the image of Pisces, Neptune and the twelfth house. I do think we find a strange duality in Pisces, with souls longing to escape earth-bound reality, and those finding it hard to let go of their physical life. Flesh is viewed as a virtual prison for some Neptunians.

The twelfth house has to do with acceptance and this refers to a situation that is often unchangeable, and forgiving ourselves and others allows us to move on. There is another word called sufferance which is derived from suffer and that means to patiently endure pain and distress and accept the situation. Surrendering may imply weakness but sometimes we are not strong enough to carry our personal struggles. I think it can be one of the most emotional experiences we can ever have, it takes a lot of strength to find forgiveness. When we let go and forgive we release the iron bond that binds us to others through hate, resentment and fear. A lot of tears may flow out of us and the experience can be overwhelming. I believe Pisces and the twelfth house accepts human flaws, and offers compassion even to those who we believe least deserve our love. Pisces doesn’t give us all the answers, and it leaves many questions unanswered. Maybe it’s part of human nature to order and find a compartment for everything in life. However, is this feasibly possible? I think life would be boring if we knew all the answers.

The process of letting go seems to lead from the 8th house, and this is the sector of the natal chart that we feel “tested” by fire. Scorpio and the 8th house represents something hard and frozen, and therefore immovable, but at the same time it is immeasurably deep. The art of forgiveness involves forgiving those for something they did or didn’t do. Forgiving others also allows them to move on. Letting go implies we place trust in a higher being, beyond earthly life and find that unfailing supply of strength and solace, and have faith in a power greater than ourselves. We don’t allow those that have hurt us to have power over us anymore. We don’t lock ourselves in suffering and we put old ghosts to rest.

Twelfth house/Pisces involves working with dreams and forgotten memories even repressed and unhappy ones. The flood of memories can threaten to overwhelm our personal identity and everything we choose to hold on to. Everything we believe defines us as an individual. It’s a huge task facing the past, and it can be done through silence, spiritual soul-searching, music and dream work.  Maybe Pisces is about reaching our absolute and that means something that is perfect, complete and pure and we release ourselves from guilt, obligation or punishment. There are heavy themes underpinning the twelfth house and Lost touched upon the Piscean dilemma of letting go.

“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell

Twelfth House Isolation

I had a question about twelfth house isolation, and I do feel this needs explaining, as there are a good deal of negative connotations connected to it. Many new students to astrology are left worried and confused by the “misunderstandings” that occur trying to interpret the twelfth house. I will answer this question from a modern astrological perspective but will quickly explain the old view of this house.

In traditional astrology the twelfth house is an unfortunate house, in fact, all the cadent houses (3, 6, 9, and 12) were seen as less fortunate and weak houses in astrological interpretation. The word cadent means 'fallen' and any planet placed in a cadent house is weakened in power and expression. In practice, the twelfth house, in particular, can show hidden strengths rather than “perceived" or imagined "weaknesses”. A planet in the twelfth house behaves subconsciously, vague and unclear and this may be viewed as a weakness in character.

Henry Kissinger has Mercury (communication) in the twelfth house and his private conversations “behind the scenes” helped to bring peace between warring countries and he has won awards for his verbal and negotiation skills. By contrast, in Kissinger's early childhood he was shy, withdrawn and hesitant to speak and teased by other children because of his funny accent. Therefore, others may not recognize the gifts that are concealed in our twelfth house, and we may not even know about our hidden abilities. The meaning behind the last house in the nativity can be rather paradoxical.

The twelfth house is associated with sad events, sorrow, anguish, imprisonment and persecution. The only other house that receives the same extreme negative interpretation, is the 8th house. However, these houses are associated with transformation and transcendence. The eighth house is affiliated with the process of metamorphosis and ultimately the changing of form. The twelfth house describes moving beyond our boundaries and letting go of our attachments. The 12th house may involve suffering in silence, and living in isolation and thrown into a state of disorganisation or incoherence. Another end state to this journey is reaching what the mystics and religious call redemption. The two houses maimed with the “worse afflictions” are also the largest in meaning, but they can be painful nonetheless. The house of "death" and the house of "self-undoing" are not easy to understand and how do you go about explaining what transformation and transcendence mean for each of us.

The twelfth house can be both voluntary and involuntary confinement. If you have watched Hurley in the series Lost, he is always trying to return back to the womb of the twelfth house institution, and some individuals physically slip away when in desperate need of escape from the daily grind of life. The twelfth house famously houses those with psychosis and other illnesses and rules over mental institutions and hospitals. The 12th house house people unable to adjust to daily living (6th). Likewise, physical illness is also a time of deep reflection through suffering, helplessness and despair, when the physical body is weakened, we begin the work of reconnecting to our inner spiritual selves.

We are susceptible in the twelfth house of losing ourselves and coming apart at the seams. The use of drugs, alcohol and other stimulants which help people achieve a temporary state of bliss accordingly leads to dissolution of the self. In the story of Adam and Eve, they ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge and were both exiled from paradise (fall of man). The twelfth house relates to this sense of isolation, rejection and abandonment form that higher power and our subsequent attempts to reconnect with the source of creation. The sixth house reflects self-analysis and self-work in the earthy domain and the twelfth house symbolizes introspective soul-searching.

A criminal released from the confinement of prison (another 12th house institution) has the chance for freedom and redemption, but when he can’t hack it in daily life or handle the burden of living a productive existence. He will commit another crime that sends him right to back to jail. It makes no sense to the rest us, but the twelfth house is associated with the house of “self undoing”. It concerns time in social isolation and introspection (Pisces) which is another form of self-examination (Virgo). When we punish disobedience in society we take material comforts taken away from an individual and everything that sustained him. In the biblical story of the fall of man, we were banished from our spiritual home.

Twelfth house isolation and confinement can also be “voluntary” and the individual may be unaware that he creates this situation himself. Isolation is not just for the criminally insane and people choose to live in a monastery or in solitude away from the hustle and bustle of the city and to live in a state of peace. Twelfth house energy operates behind the scenes and is hidden from public view. Still, the 12th house often demands a sacrifice of some kind, which often creates suffering, loneliness and isolation. Once more, it is all paradoxical because the meaning behind the 12th house is “oneness” and a feeling of unity with life. We are breaking down barriers that separate us from one another.

In this view, the twelfth house person may need isolation because he is so sensitive to his surroundings and he can’t erect strong barriers to protect himself. Other twelfth house individuals commune with an invisible entity and it takes great faith to do this work and it is often done alone. However, a lot of people with twelfth house energy do live very public lives, but they may sacrifice a large part of their own identity. There can be a deep sense of isolation and loneliness when no one understands us or “sees” us for who we really are. Any planet in the 12th house feels unknown, unseen, unheard, unnoticed and unacknowledged. You know that saying of being in a crowd of people and still feeling alone.

On the other hand, twelfth house people are incredibly sensitive to everything around them and this includes joy, happiness and sorrow. These individuals also have great sensitivity for those lost, shut off from society and rejected. Therefore we may find twelfth house people working in hospitals, institutions, foster care, etc. Individuals sacrifice their own personal lives to help others, and in an act of selfless service they serve something greater. The process is perhaps a necessary journey that all of need to go through in order to reconnect with the invisible world of dreams, subconscious memories and spirituality.

The twelfth house represents complete integration with life. Necessary seclusion from the world helps the inner process of purification and this is silent development. It is work that needs to be done alone in quiet and “behind the scenes” and as corny as it sounds, we are never really alone in life. We have physical loneliness and material poverty and at desperately low points we may have no-one in our life that we can turn to for help. We may feel isolated, stranded, seperated, but in those poignant moments we connect to an invisible source.

The twelfth house is the area of LEARNING on the EMOTIONAL and SOUL level. This learning takes places through gradual growth of awareness that accompanies loneliness and deep suffering, through selfless service, or through devotion to a higher ideal, and through freedom from ghosts of past thoughts and actions. By Stephen Arroyo

The 12th house involves the process of letting go, but the terrifying fear of losing reality and the ego dissolving can be frightening to lose our sense of identity. Some may feel their sense of isolation is some kind of punishment. The 12th card in the Tarot deck shows The Hanged Man suspended in the air, signifying a sense of hopelessness and despair and is perhaps the best pictorial image for the astrological twelfth house.  The twelfth asks us to give up our defences and journey into self-doubt, isolation, abyss and loneliness to learn about what really supports us at a time when we feel most unsupported and to trust in what we cannot see.

“We have identified ourselves with our body, mind, and personality, imagining these objects to constitute our real ‘self,’ and we spend our entire lives trying to defend, protect, and prolong what is just an illusion. Contrary to most professional opinion, this knowing dissatisfaction with life is not a sign of ‘mental illness,’ nor an indication of poor social adjustment, nor a character disorder. For concealed within this basic unhappiness with life and existence is the embryo of a growing intelligence, a special intelligence usually buried under he weight of social shams.” Ken Wilber

NEPTUNE IN THE FOURTH HOUSE

Neptune in the 4th house is placed in the personal home, and it represents our inner feelings and relates to the past, family and close relatives. The hazy mist of Neptune surrounds the family home, and home life doesn’t always provide a solid base. Often, there is deep inner confusion around the past, father, and the family background in general. A parent may be physically absent through separation, divorce or death. This represents Neptune’s elusiveness around the personal father and his innacessability. There can also be a deep sadness surrounding him, and he may be unreachable to us (physically/psychologically). Usually there is an unconscious over-dealization of  him, and on some level a solid relationship with him has been sacrificed.

The father may be artistic or he had dreams that went unfulfilled and has many longings. Another possibility is that he might have been experienced as weak or disappointing to us in some way. A gentleness and ethereal quality can be terms used to describe the father. All these associations are vague and the natal chart will need to be looked at in more detail. Most often there is more than one aspect to represent the father in a natal chart, showing us the different dimensions to him.

Neptune in the 4th house can be a signature for a nebulous feeling surrounding the home. Sometimes childhood is veiled under a web of confusion and misunderstandings. The fourth house relates to nurturing and security and here the longing to be protected by the unity of life is powerful. A longing to remain in the comforting arms of childhood is another manifestation. If there are trines to a fourth house Neptune there will often be an all too comfortable feeling of emotional well being.

Neptune here also shows a deep fragility at the base of the personality and it may not always be obvious in 'tougher horoscopes', but it still exists and forms the base of their inner selves. Also this placement can show a sensitivity towards a parent, and the individual may have deep empathy for his suffering.  A parent shown by Neptune can show an adult who is ill or addicted to alcohol/drugs, and so the nurturing element is hard to obtain if a parent is lost in Neptune's world. Neptune has a powerful hold on the parent, and the victim/savior archetype falls close to home.

Depending on how heavily aspected Neptune is in the fourth house, there can be soul weariness and depressed feeling in the family home. The father may have faced early retirement from his career (opposite 10th) through ill health. Often feelings of disillusionment, disappointment or deep sadness surround your Dad and how you relate to him. Neptune rules redemption in astrology and you may have an emotional need to redeem the father. Childhood needs are often sacrificed and  major adjustments are made in the home. A family member may have fallen ill and needs to be looked after. Therefore, a parent can show quite deep dependency needs which could arise through addiction to drink/drugs. The child sometimes has to take care of the parent and sacrifice his/her own personal needs in the home. All of this can generate feelings of guilt if they don’t take care of the parent's demands.

Neptune in the fourth house represents the search for a spiritual home and dreams of finding the perfect home, and perhaps creating the ideal retreat that we have always  longed for. Often it can take some time before the dream we hold inside materializes. With watery Neptune in our “home” we need to watch out for floods and make sure the foundations are stable. We may even have to give up the home we cherish and the dream slips through our fingers. A Neptunian home needs to be a spiritual and restful place, for this is the place of retreat. Dreams can materialize once we work through our nebulous feelings from the past.

Another thing to watch for with Neptunes slippery boundaries is deception from those who we live with. Stay on guard and don't be too gullible. If you invite (out of sympathy) others to stay in your home, be aware if is anyone taking advantage of your kind hospitality. Those who have alcohol and drug problems or illness could mistake your kindness and sympathy for weakness and take you for granted. Too many great sacrifices can be made on behalf of someone who is inhabiting your abode. The real aim of this placement is to feel spiritually secure from the inside and let that feeling fulfil you. Your home is merely a reflection of the beauty and tranquillity that exists within.

NEPTUNE IN THE TWELFTH HOUSE

The Floodgates Are Wide Open

Neptune in the 12th house is the most sensitive place for Neptune, as this is it's natural ruling house. Neptune here makes you incredibly sensitive to the forces operating in the unconscious. Dennis Nilsen (serial murderer) has this position of Neptune (unaspected) and he described himself as the "drowning boy".  Nilson's victims were only discovered through the blocked drains in his apartment building and no one could work out why. The reason soon became clear when they found the remains of dead bodies floating under there. Nilson's victims (Neptune) were also hidden in his closet (12th). Neptune in the twelfth house has a deep sensitivity to society and is highly attuned to victimisation, suffering, loss and chaos. Neptune in the twelfth house has the ability to formulate collective dreams into art. Artist Dali Salvador has Neptune in the 12th house - and he describes his imagination as so intense that he can remember the intra-uterine-images. He described it as Paradise with the colours of hell.

Neptune here can overwhelm the sense of ego and the floodgates are left wide open, this can leave you feeling vulnerable without protective barriers. Neptune knows no boundaries and a vast array of images and collective feelings run through you. Imagine the tap that is left running the entire night and portrays the constant stream of the creative unconscious that Neptune is tapped into.

Lost Descendants

Being so close to home means you are closer to that feeling of oneness, fusion, compassion and united love. It is the powerful urge to be connected to the universal source. Some twelfth house Neptunes are incredibly spiritual and need to feel close to the source that resonates deep within. Others may feel vague in describing what this feeling is - and are often overwhelmed (drowned) in the unconscious of the 12th house.  The memory of the garden of Eden and paradise is vivid and there is a strong urge to reconnect to this lost world. The 12th house also relates to our ancestors, and it is the past that stretches far beyond our conscious memory.

Neptune’s world can be sought through different “mediums” and there may be very real spiritual gifts here. Artistic and musical aspirations are strong too. Religion may also be important to these individuals and all these activites help you feel closer to the source. You can connect to the "source" more easily thean the rest of us and you can bring that inspiration into the world. Falling ill can be a symbol of that longing to escape from harsh realty. When the world becomes too much to bear there is a powerful longing to retreat (with a viable excuse), and live in solitude away from the chaos. Other Neptune retreats are sought through alcohol, drugs or any other form of escapist behaviour.

Neptune in the 12th can be a symbol of the descent into schizophrenia or other related psychiatric disorders. The necessity of providing and carving out a living for themselves and learning how to cope with mundane life is sacrificed for seclusion. The 12th house is associated with institutions, charites, orphanages and prisons. A strong compassion for people who have been discarded from society is another manifestation and they are drawn to working in hospitals or other helping professions, alleviating the separateness and loneliness of others.

A Flowing Vessel

There is a strange haunted feeling about the 12th house and it reminds me of steps through time. Neptune here can act as a sort of medium for long forgotten ancestors a flowing vessel of collective sorrows, sadness, sacrifice, inspirations and dreams. The 12th house is the house of self-undoing and planets here are in danger of becomong the victim/scapegoat for far reaching family conflicts. There may be emotional, mental, drink and drug problems in the family history. You can be victimized and labelled the troubled one and the source of all the problems in the family. The family may have a long history that contains mental illness, dreams unfulfilled and longings never materialised.

Victimisation, self-inflicted isolation, guilt, martyrdom, and unnecessary suffering. The 12th house has an abundance of meanings from spirituality, religion, mental health, institutions, and the unconscious past . Inner loneliness, and the feeling of isolation often exists. It has often been said that the best remedy for feeling victimised and overwhelmed by the sufffering of others is to go out there and help society in some way. There are great spiritual rewards to be gained from this work. Don’t let too much suffering overwhelm you find an outlet for this dissatisfaction.

Spiritual guidance can help with decisions in life. However, a continuous connection to the “divine” can make it difficult to function in the physical world (the whole horoscope is needed to judge this). You have the gift of connecting to the intangible world of the spirit and afterlife,  and you have a relatively easy access to this world. The boundary line between this world and the next becomes less defined. The house of Jupiter and Neptune is the search for the absolute. With Neptune it is the emotional and eternal absolute. You have the ability to take us closer to the divine. Let the water run through you, and make sure it runs back out again.

Mercury-Neptune

Merging with Something Greater

(A personal account of Mercury-Neptune)

In astrology Neptune is the desire to go beyond the self and merge with something greater. It is the urge to lose ourselves and dissolve all boundaries, to be one with all life. Neptune breaks down barriers and can overwhelm us by flooding our conscious selves with images of the unconscious and unseen. Under Neptune we feel that there is a deeper emotional connection to the world and we have empathy for all people no matter their class, race, or religion. Neptune represents our universal feelings and it is primarily the ruler of water, this element in astrology symbolises all that is emotional, feminine, and mysterious. Water has the ability to flow through, over and round objects, it can wear away anything which gets in the way, and water can create new life in response to it’s own inner urgings. Deep water often signifies being out of our depth or entering into our subconscious. Spiritual rebirth is represented by the cycle of water, and the sea represents our cosmic consciousness, the original chaotic state in which all life emerges. Inherent in that state is all knowledge and completeness, although it may be obscured by our fear of it’s depths. The rise and fall of the tides is to be conscious both of the passage of time and of the rise and fall of our own emotions. Neptune has a dissolving effect on personal identity, motivations, clarity and ego. When we are under Neptune natally or by transit, it often describes the strange feeling of being lost and hopeless in the great sea, and it becomes more and more difficult maintaining our physical reality.

Early Education

The Gifts

1. Mercury in combination with Neptune shows a powerful imagination. The storyteller.
2. The minds sensitivity & receptivity is enhanced.
3. There is often an interest in the spiritual and the occult.
4. A deep appreciation of art, music, and beauty, in general anything which uplifts the mind. They may favour fictional writing especially of the mystical kind.


Personal Creativity

During my school days I was alaways chastised by my teacher for drawing the same picture over & over again. I always used to draw a house. My school teacher called me unimaginative. Drawing a house is a pretty common theme for all children. A house represents security and safety, and it has been said to represent the protection of the great mother. Children’s early drawings are a form of non-verbal communication. I was terribly shy as a little girl and my head was filled up with all sorts of images that I could not communicate about to others, and so drawings, poetry or play are often expressions of this vivid and colourful world, and can it can also be used as a marker for a child’s emotional state. Mercury-Neptune is learning the “art” of communication on many levels, and learning how to communicate a symbolic world that is difficult for many minds to reach, this can be through literary pursuits such as storytelling, poetry, or spiritual subjects. Pursuits that allow the imagination free rein are favoured. Mercury-Neptune may simply mean the individual is overcoming emotional complexes and sensitivity around communication.

The Challenges

1. The mind can be distracted from the ability to focus or concentrate by the need to escape. Listening can be difficult, especially if the child is not interested in the subject or the person.
2. Thinking may seem vague and unclear.
3. A sensitivity to drugs, and may have problems with substance abuse.
4. Learning difficulties can sometime be indicated, speech and hearing problems, dyslexia and other related conditions which may refer to confused or disorganized thinking.

Neptune and the Quest for Redemption, by Liz Greene:

One of the most profound and disturbing ways of gaining insight into Mercury is to work with severely autistic children, who have appeared to put the planet into cold storage. Little or no communication passes from the autistic child to the outer world, nor does any external event intrude upon the child’s enclosure in uterine waters. Emotional experiences cannot make their way past the barriers to produce recognisable responses other than terror and rage. On some level we all have elements of autism within us, where the lines of communication have broken down, or where our perceptions are no longer of what is there. Mercury-Neptune can provide a channel between the imaginable realm and the intellect, and between the individual and the oceanic source. Equally it may reflect broken bridges and severed telephone lines, where the individual is locked into the paradise garden and can perceive nothing outside it’s walls except the threat of extinction.

Constant State of Confusion

The feeling of being in a constant state of confusion can mean that on a deeper level Mercury-Neptune is refusing to deal with mundane relaity, and they can be confused by external matters -  forgetting to pay bills, or losing objects and experiencing misunderstandings in communication. Outer events mirror the deep mental disorganisation inside. Mentally they can feel weakened and lethargic. Neptune dissolves the mental capacity and the level of clarity is decreased. In the worse cae scenario they can become abnormally forgetful and detached from reality. Such mental confusion indicates that inwardly they have lost direction and the ability to make clear decisions. To reach a state of wholeness in communicating Mercury-Neptune has to repair the bridge between thinking and feeling and between conscious awareness and unconscious motivation.

My personal Struggles in Communicating

As a child I needed a minor operation on my ears, and after the surgery I had to attend speech therapy lessons. I am completely healed today but I still found it difficult communicating to people verbally. I think this sensitivity has stayed with me for a long time and I still have that an internal fear that others would not understand me. I have always felt intellectually inferior, and this has been one of my greatest challenges to overcome. My communication is fine now, but those haunting inner messages still live on. I am very sensitive to people and the enviroment, too sensitive at times. Most of the communication problems may not be this evident with other Mercury-Neptune's and the level of disorganization may not be so servere. Someone can be completely business like at work and at home they can be disorganized.

Water on the Brain

The hard aspects involving Mercury-Neptune are more troublesome than the easy flowing aspects. When an aspect forms between Mercury and Neptune we are bringing the conscious (Mercury) and the unconscious (Neptune) into conflict. Some of the effects of this can be quite disturbing to the rational mind (Mercury). Fear, doubt, and confusion can take over the mental reasoning. And at it’s most extreme level the Mercury-Neptune individual can feel as if they are losing their mind. Yet Neptune can add a rich quality to the imagination, and such great sensitivity and receptivity can prove to be of immense value to the individual, and it is well worth developing. If the ego is not contained or strong enough to handle the oceanic waters then there is inevitably a severe threat to the individuals sense of reality in everyday life. Neptune clouds the conscious mind and rational thought processes are overtaken by emotional complexes that are unconscious. There is often a powerful need to escape from everyday reality through drugs, alcohol or losing the mind in television & movies and becoming absorbed (Neptune) in fantasies and daydreams.

The Collective Unconscious

Neptune in astrology is called an outer planet and this means that the planet has a collective meaning for all, to explain this further I will reference some of Carl Jung’s work on the subject. According to Carl Jung the collective unconscious contains archetypes. Jung believed that important creative ideas come from influences greater than those in the mind of a single individual. The images, figures, and characters seem to be remnants of the experiences of our ancestors, it’s a place were all souls are connected and have been through the ages. These are the archetypes you find in stories, myths and legends. According to Jung this explains the similarities of the creation myths, the resurrection and flood stories found in widely separating cultures. Jung believes the collective unconscious was inherited rather than developed. It’s a knowledge we are born with a container of our experiences as the whole human race. Jung believes that whoever speaks in primordial images (Neptune) speaks with a thousand voices, he enthralls and empowers while at the same time he lifts the idea he is seeking to express out of the occasional and into the transitory realm of the ever enduring.

Jung believed that individuals tapping into the collective unconscious, are those most adept of high quality creative activity. Thus many individuals with Neptune connected to personal planets in the chart or Neptune on an angle or in the 12th house, have a connection to the collective unconscious where deep reservoirs of images and archetypes exist in a flowing motion. According to Jung, the aim of an active imagination is to find the middle position between “conscious” and “unconscious” having a quality of conjoined opposites. Jung also spoke of a transcendent function of opposites. A precondition for the success of active imagination is that it shall not be a pretext for flight from life. “Fantasies are no substitute for living” they are the fruits of the spirit which fall to him who pays his tribute to life. The shirker experiences nothing but his own morbid fear, and it yields him no meaning.

Collective Dreams

The collective unconscious (Neptune) has been likened to a “world spirit” or “world soul”. Something which flows from the divine into the human subject, and the unconscious begins when emotions are generated. Jung put his hypothesis of the collective unconscious on solid ground and in reality by observing and investigating the dreams of modern men and women. Unconscious material is often repressed and forgotten and it often appears in dreams. The individual with Mercury in aspect to Neptune can have a difficulty judging whether the conscious is predominating over the unconscious, or the unconscious over the conscious. According to Jung, in coming to terms with the unconscious the ego takes the lead but the unconscious must be allowed to have it’s say.

Fairies don't Exist: Disowning Neptune


Individuals with this aspect can deny the unconscious exists. There will be a deep fear of anything spiritual, psychological and what the person may call irrational. The intellect may be used to combat Neptune. The truth can be distorted in this area and the individual holds on desperately to what can only be perceived as logic. This type of individual may accuse others of being gullible wishy washy fools for indulging in the Neptunian world of dreams, fantasy, art, music or the whole of the imaginable realm.

Related Posts:

• If you like Jung, read Lynn Hayes great chart analysis here at Astrological Musings.