Chart Synthesis ✦ Dawn Bodrogi ✦ The Inner Wheel
Updated
Neptune wants you to get out of your own way so you can live life as a vehicle for a vaster connection. The goal of Neptune is not to replace Venus’s value system, but to find a balance. When Neptune drives us to surrender, it is to understand that a greater love will take the place of a lesser one. We no longer need to own because we have what we need within us at all times.
This Is How Neptune Works
He seeps into everything. He can be as welcome as a beautiful wisteria or as insidious as black mould rotting a basement corner. Neptune can overtake a life because, where he resides, we lose not only our defences but our common sense. He doesn’t just strip us down like Pluto or remove awareness like Uranus. Neptune is here to destroy the I.
Under Neptune, we experience dissolution, loss of direction, and the need to evade. If we don’t escape, we arrive at Neptune’s other option: sacrifice. We bargain with the universe, believing that if we surrender our gifts, we will be repaid with the love we deserve. This is the first lie of Neptune.
— Dawn Bodrogi
That sacrificing ourselves without discrimination earns us a coupon for love — if a man made of seafoam offers you this coupon, tell him to take a long walk off a short pier. It’s a fake.
Transformation Through Longing
Neptune takes something away — but not with the trauma of Uranus or the struggle of Pluto. He gives us an early taste of what is possible, a deep, silent communion, and then spirits it away, leaving a mirage dangling just out of reach. He tops the other outer planets by never allowing us to let go. Where Neptune is concerned, we cannot be healed. We must be transformed. He shatters our naiveté, bursting our happy bubbles until we are left clawing for meaning at the bottom of our emptiness.
When we reach that bottom, we realise it isn’t emptiness at all. We come face to face with The All.
Venus and the Divine Discontent
As Jacques Brel wrote, there are those with hearts so vast they are always on a voyage and cannot do without mirages. Neptune opens the heart and sets it on a journey to the unknown.
In esoteric astrology, the ruler of Gemini is not Mercury, but Venus. Venus draws, seduces, and magnetises. We need her to stay grounded in the material world and understand our value. The goal of Neptune is not to replace Venus’s value system, but to find a balance. When Neptune drives us to surrender, it is to understand that a greater love will take the place of a lesser one.
See also: Uranus and the Path of Mind ✦ The Music of the Spheres: Octaves in Astrology
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If a man made of seafoam offers you this coupon, tell him to take a long walk off a short pier. It’s a fake.
So the coupon is not a fake after all? :)
The beginning of your post reminded me of my favourite book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and I remembered that it’s author Douglas Adams was Pisces too.
I’m comfortable with Neptune ways. After all it’s all about love even if you have to walk the cynic path initially. And yes I am Pisces too.
Uranus ways fascinate me – they are entertaining and Pluto – Pluto is all about cruelty.
I love reading your posts.
Hi, Helen. Well, like so many things where Neptune is concerned, it is and it isn’t. You get the keys to love, but they don’t open what you were expecting.
Pluto can be cruel, but Pluto can deliver the goods in a way the other two cannot. More next time…
Hi, Les. The only way to deal with Neptune is to open yourself to the Neptune experience and try to keep yourself grounded at the same time. Those of us who have gone through very heavy Neptune are always grateful for friends and family with a sense of humour to get us through. I once had a particularly tough Neptunian progression, and the thing that most got me through it, aside from meditation, was a friend who was happy to accept whatever it was I was going through and just listen, no matter how strange it seemed. And that’s what I wish for everyone going through a heavy Neptune time–an accepting friend with great ears.
This made me cry a little, but in the nicest way:
“That love isn’t an emotion, or an experience, or a state of being. Love is a power. A connecting power. It’s the ultimate creative force.”
Neptune has been living in my 7th house for a while now (and it still has five degrees of Pisces to get through before it hits the 8th). It has been incredibly challenging to say the least. Many, many, many disappointments and reversals of fortune with dating and love affairs. It’s led me to therapy and a lot of soul searching and spiritual work, but I still feel like this transit has been a lot of pain and no gain (probably my perception and attachment to what I want out of my 7th). Natally, Neptune is on the cusp of my 5th on my Vertex, sextile Pluto and trine my ASC. It squares Mercury, but otherwise it’s well aspected. My progressed moon is soon going to be conjuct progressed (and natal) Neptune opposite my progressed Mars. I shudder to think what’s in store for me . . .
It’s true that those of us who have lots of hard aspects to Neptune usually have an easier time with him later, because we take our lumps hard and early. I think you’re right about focusing on your attachment to outcomes in the 7th house. Neptune has a way of giving you what you want, but in a way you’d never expect, so it’s best to just let go and stay open. The square to Mercury means that your instincts are probably stronger than your logic, so keep aware. As for the progressed Moon, I wouldn’t fret too much about it–it’s only a three month influence (one degree applying, exact, one degree leaving) to each of the positions it touches. The positive affect of Neptune to Mars is that you follow your highest desires, rather than your lower ones. You have the ability to pursue your dreams now, or fight for what you believe, or strengthen your inspiration–there are a lot of possibilities, particularly with natal Neptune in the fifth. Your ability to express yourself according to the higher self, rather than the lower, will be there as long as the progressed Mars is opposite either natal or progressed Neptune. While the Moon is there, try to discover what that higher self wants.
I really appreciated this post, Dawn – on one of my favorite astrological subjects. Neptune is not the benign character some imagine him to be. And delusion, illusion and enabling as well as denial, avoidance and blame are definitely not the same as surrendering to an all-loving power greater than our own self-interest, which requires a *mindful* leap of faith and action.
Neptune plays a big role in my chart (as do all the outer planets), and I learned some hard lessons early on through disillusionment with the many false gods I’d created. Just recently transiting Neptune was square my natal Mars and some of the battles I once thought worth fighting no longer seemed so. I still value the underlying principles involved but realized aggression was not the way to achieve them. I get surrender.
Thanks, Dawn – well said!
Thanks, LB. I honestly believe that Neptune is potentially the most damaging of the three outer planets. It asks more of us, and tricks us into thinking that the poison it’s serving us is ambrosia. We all create false gods where Neptune is concerned, and dealing with that disappointment is the fast track to understanding what is really wanted from us. Neptune is not only the point of our greatest sacrifice but can also be the point of our greatest contribution, once Venus is elevated.
I found your post interesting and illuminating for another reason. My 2nd house Libra Sun (conjunct Venus/North Node/Neptune) sits at the Venus/Neptune midpoint (also the Saturn/Pluto midpoint).
I strongly related to what you said about Venus “walking her talk” (one of my favorite expressions) and how true compassion requires practical involvement beyond merely feeling compassionate. I understand and am grateful you said it. :)
It’s important to understand, when we’re dealing with these octaves, that the activated inner planets have a job to do. Inner planets have a lot of influence in the material world, and they’re meant to be the carriers of the higher energy. Their new awareness has to have a result, otherwise, they can cause confusion and disorientation.
I sympathize with your Venus/Neptune positions. I have a Sun/Jupiter conjunction in the 12th sitting right on the midpoint of a Neptune (2nd)/Venus (10th) square. As I said, Neptune and I are old friends…
No wonder you get it. Thanks again, Dawn.
What a magnificent gift that song was “don’t leave me”. A loving gift of generosity from a ego-less soul.
I’m breathless and touched.
I’m glad you liked it, Sass. It’s been my favorite song from the moment I first heard it. It’s otherwise known as, “If You Go Away” in a rather bad translation from Rod McKuen. But nothing touches the original. If you want to deepen your understanding, Brel had a 7th house Neptune, Moon in Pisces and Venus conjunct Chiron, and was very conflicted about power dynamics between the sexes, but yes, this one shining song is a gift.
This post brings a smile to my face, because I have been chasing someone for 5 years now whos’ neptune is conjunct my venus.
” And delusion, illusion and enabling as well as denial, avoidance and blame are definitely not the same as surrendering to an all-loving power greater than our own self-interest, which requires a *mindful* leap of faith and action”
We have reached the avoidance step at the moment. Of course, it doesnt help that they are being slapped up side the head by Uranus at the moment. Neptune tells me to hang on, that eventually everythig will work out in some manner. Of course, it doesnt help that I have neptune in the unrelenting sign of Scorpio.
Hi William. I think you may have missed the point. Neptune teaches you to love better, but mostly through loving without reward. The illusion of Neptune is that you will receive what you desire in return for your devotion and patience. It doesn’t work that way. Where Neptune is concerned, we learn that loving is its own reward.
Yes, that’s what I have learnt. Loving is its own reward. But I have also learnt about boundaries healthy relationships.
When Neptune is working properly, it teaches us all about appreciation–appreciation of ourselves as well as others. This is very much Venusian territory. In mythology, you’ll remember that Venus never had any self-esteem problems. Her desires didn’t arise from lack or emptiness. When we get past longing and back to healthy balance and boundaries, we know that Venus has been elevated by Neptune’s higher vibration.
I am inclined to thinking of Mercury and Neptune as opposites. the inward surrender into Neptune and the resulting trust gifts the finite Virgoan mind with a freedom from its anxiety and hysteria. the infinite seeps into the simple and mundane things in a way that builds faith.
Neptune and 12 th house have an ability to receive and unify the workings of Uranus and Pluto along with all of the other tensions and difficulties in the chart.
By polarity, Mercury and Neptune are opposites as representative of the Virgo/Pisces dynamic. Opposites are meant to work in tandem, when they’re working well. It works with the other Mercury polarity as well, the Mercury/Jupiter opposition, as Jupiter is the co-ruler of Pisces. The larger knowing and the lesser knowing must come together. This is very much the story of the mutable signs, which moves through two levels of Mercury through to Jupiter and then Neptune. But that’s a tale for another day.
The Twelfth house is a repository for all that comes before it. It’s the repository for the wisdom of the All, and for that, it holds a great power–but in order to access that power, there has to be an exchange, a sacrifice or surrender. We have to give something of the ego’s stakes away. This is why the 12th house is so difficult to access–its entire process is antithetical to what is acceptable in this culture.
yes – this culture is about enabling the perpetuation of fear. it really helps to recognize the emotional hungers we hold that bind us to culture – they are the ones to be sacrificed.
”Neptune teaches you to love better, but mostly through loving without reward. The illusion of Neptune is that you will receive what you desire in return for your devotion and patience. It doesn’t work that way. Where Neptune is concerned, we learn that loving is its own reward.”
That’s exactly what happened.
Maybe Neptune is even more so a Trickster then Mercury. Mercury tricks because it doesn’t want to be restricted but what’s Neptunes ‘ excuse’ ?
Ironically, the true Neptune isn’t about deceit, illusion, delusion or fog. The true Neptune is about pure clarity, the absolute, stinging clarity that sees and senses beyond all boundaries. The Neptunian fog is the vehicle by which our blindess is revealed. If we are betrayed by others, in some way we have betrayed ourselves. This is what Neptune asks us to see.
Thank you for your answer. It’spossibly also vice-versa? If we have deluded ourselves it’s easy to get deluded by others since they thought they saw the real us but it was only a smoke-screen….
It says the same thing, really. The problem is that most people, when they are betrayed, look outside for blame, when the fault really rests within.
I love this: “If we are betrayed by others, in some way we have betrayed ourselves. This is what Neptune asks us to see.”
-A Reluctant Neptunian
Would it be safe to conclude that Neptune is an eye-opener?
All of the outer planets are eye-openers. That’s what they’re here to do.
TAlking of the Virgo-Pisces polarity what could Neptune Northnode conjunction in the sixth house mean? please! Wanting to interpret it for a long time.
I mean psychologically how does neptune in 6th manifest?
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to answer this question without a complete examination of the meaning of the Nodes. In general, with a sixth house North Node, we are looking for balance. We may need to learn to bring the universal 12th house energies into a useful form in the 6th. With Neptune there, we may need to understand that the material world and the spiritual world are not in opposition, but one in the same.
Hi Dawn:
Great post! I remember you talked about how some people try to deal with neptune by becoming virgo (being analytical etc). I have natal neptune on my sun/moon midpoint, so although I do not have other natal neptune aspect (I’m a scorpio), I have struggled a lot with neptune issues. I’m also a virgo ascendant with mercury in the 3rd house scorpio, so I’m very intellectual and analytical. But I can’t seem to find a way to “merge” my mercury side and my neptune side. I either daydream and experience the most beautiful and divine emotions through arts etc., or I get down to technical research. I’ve tried to find ways to show neptune through my research and writing, but whatever I can write/say in those contexts can never be as beautiful/inspiring as I want it to be. This makes me feel so sad. I’m constantly swinging between the two poles.
Vivien
Hi Vivien,
I’m not sure what you want to do here. Add more Neptune in your day to day life? Neptune is all about longing. It’s about the ‘divine discontent’. We are never satisfied where Neptune is concerned until we give up the idea of perfection. You may be after an impossible dream, or your expectations may be too high. Neptune is attempting to elevate us, but there are sacrifices along the way. The best and most creative use of Neptune is to always try harder to embody his goals of higher love, sacred life, and the unification of the one with the all.
Thank you for your reply Dawn! I guess the thing I want to do is learn to reify Neptune–how to concretize his higher and sacred ideals through the mastery of material or technical means. And yes, as a result I’m totally in the divine discontent mode all the time–Neptune can’t be captured and manifested that easily. But I think the impossible perfection thing is very prominent in my life–I always hated myself after a performance or public engagement of some kind, as I never felt what I did was good enough, and felt very self-conscious and shameful at a visceral level about the distance between what I thought was good and what I actually managed to do.
http://www.livescience.com/47737-stephen-hawking-higgs-boson-universe-doomsday.html
Just thought that Neptune is the higgs field and its lower octave Venus signifies higgs boson particle.
Hi Dawn,
Thank you so much!
I love all your articles. The articles about outer planets are my all time favorites. When i started reading your articles years ago, you brought the Divinity in to my understanding of astrology. Something did opened up in me and i started consciously communicating with ‘planets’.
Outer planets – Divine Masters have entered my life all together at once. Uranus had opened the doors to me through transit with Venus (my chart ruler). Oooh, that was big struggle. He woke me up from deep sleep. I realized it’s nothing to loose, because my life is one big mess any way ( you would not say so from outside perspective). Uranus gave me a fresh eyes, new sort of brain rewiring to see the world differently. I saw that even if it seems, that it’s nothing to live for, LIFE it does exist and has truth in it. I did not have the permission to lie. I had to set everything straight. Uranus did let me feel, how would it be otherwise…
Then Neptune came in ( it’s another story: i was speaking to Water a lot to wake me up after Uranus shacked me up). Neptune is ruthless one. He told me, if i do not ” fight” and will keep dreaming, stay in naive believe that somehow everything will be alright, – nothing will be OK. As a matter of fact, – Neptune has told me:” You may keep dreaming, but do not expect anything truly beautiful to occur.” Then i have read a quote : ” The definition of insanity is – keep doing the same things all over again and expecting the change”. The message was loud and clear.
Pluto came right after. I had to search for power, still remaining humble. Pluto turned me upside down, inside out. I was ready to die… I was loosing “it”…Then, the moment i gave up the thrive for power, i gained the power. After some certain ‘mysterious’ events i have written down on a paper and had putted outside my window for me to see every time i approach the entry of my house : ” The abuse of power is weakness”.
I did loose a lot: almost everybody i thought who was my friend are gone. Only few people are left. I went through this with my intimate partner. We almost lost each other. We have very strong Neptunian chart. Aspects of Pluto and Uranus are also there. We are happy now. We are not “there” yet, but do know what we are doing, where we going and if we are waiting, we know what we are waiting for; taking little steps, enjoying every little success, staying present and aware.
Deep appreciation and gratitude to you, Dawn. You are one of the few people, which were teachers to me in my utmost challenging period of my life.
Love,
Tatyana
Thanks, Tatyana.