Neptune's Station
When a planet stations, it slows down, and its energy is intensified. Neptune is stationing retrograde on Friday, June 21st. We’ve been feeling its effects for the past couple of weeks, and we will continue to feel them through the next 2-3 weeks. Neptune’s archetypal field is more prominent in our collective awareness now. The positive expressions of Neptunian energy are spiritual connection, transcendence, compassion, empathy, and acceptance. Some of Neptune's shadow attributes are deception, self-delusion, confusion, denial, and hopelessness.
In synchronistic fashion, I have had more than the usual number of clients recently with “lots of Neptune” going on in their charts. For example, I’ve had quite a few people who are undergoing some part of the “Neptune Square” Midlife transit.* This is a cyclical transit that everyone undergoes near Midlife. For the current generation, it’s happening around age 40. The transit spans two years, wherein we can experience a crisis of faith. We are addressing the big philosophical and spiritual questions during that time: What gives my life meaning? What do I really believe in, and why? How can I find a sense of connection to Spirit/Source/God? Do I even believe in a Higher Power?
Photo by Kadir Celep on Unsplash.
Throughout the duration of the Neptune Square Midlife transit, as during any challenging Neptune transit, we often feel that we are lost. Things that gave us certainty are taken away. We are forced, then, to go inside ourselves to find meaning. We can’t rely on external barometers. We have to figure out the answer to these Big Questions on our own. What is at stake is our ability to move forward into the second half of life with a clear sense of meaning and purpose.
My Neptune clients – some of them with multiple Neptune influences in their charts – are telling me they feel confused and soul-weary. They can’t see which way to go next.
Adding to the potency of this station, it comes during the peak of a collective Neptunian event: The Jupiter-Neptune square, exact only a few days ago, and peaking all through June and early July. The Jupiter-Neptune square has been in play since January 2019, and will be in range through October 2019.
Jupiter says: “Think big. Push beyond limits. Believe in yourself.”
Neptune says: “Use your imagination. Open to the transcendent. Play with reality.”
Jupiter in Sagittarius emboldens us to take risks, to go where we not have gone before.
Neptune in Pisces invites us to open to the world beyond the five senses. Under this aspect, we are invited to explore (Jupiter) the invisible world (Neptune). The magical and mysterious are more available to us now. It’s time to question our assumptions and beliefs about how It All Works.
Through the square, Jupiter magnifies the Neptunian and Piscean qualities of empathy, compassion, and surrender. We find ourselves more able to feel what others are feeling, and to tap into empathy.
But also magnified are Neptune in Pisces’ shadow attributes: self-deception and confusion. Neptune and Jupiter may egg each other on, puffing up our illusions.
This aspect is a tricky balancing act. We must somehow open to the mystery while staying connected to reality. We will be challenged to find our true center within the topsy turvy nature of the world around us.
So even if you are neither undergoing your Neptune square nor a personal Neptune transit, you are likely feeling these Neptunian themes alive for you this month, and into July.
The message of a planetary retrograde is to slow down and work consciously with its archetypal field. Unpleasant experiences arising during this time may be pointing toward what needs Neptunian medicine in our lives.
And Neptune medicine, in brief, is:
Surrender.
If you have been struggling with a problem, it’s time to let go. It’s time to give it over to ... (God, Goddess, Nature, the Mystery, Higher Power). It’s time to be aware of the big picture, rather than making mountains out of molehills. It’s time to cultivate humility.
A Neptune time brings us to full awareness that we are not running the show. That we are only part of a greater whole. To connect to that Something Greater...that is the work of a lifetime. We’re all getting a concentrated dose of that lesson now.
*I spoke about my own Neptune Square transit on my podcast back in 2010. Here’s a link to that, if you’re in that age range and want to know more:
