February Astro Tips

“I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.” [from “Open Mind” by Anahata Joy Katkin]

Neptune enters Pisces: Prepare to Dream!

On February 3, 2012 Neptune left the sign of Aquarius and began its fourteen-year visit to Pisces (2012-2026), the sign that Neptune rules. In the early morning hours of February 3, I dreamed I was locked out of the building where I live. Someone was telling me how I was going to get back in. First I would have to put my thumbprint on some pad. Next I would draw a series of pictures, all Egyptian hieroglyphics and symbols. In the dream I said: Isn’t that interesting….Neptune is right now moving into Pisces. There must be some connection between this dream and the new energy of Neptune in Pisces.

Neptune is about dreams and imagination

A funny dream! I woke up thinking, get ready to dream everybody cause here comes Neptune in Pisces. Neptune is dreams and imagination. Neptune is a Hollywood movie. Neptune is the veil separating physical reality from the numinous realms. Neptune is the ocean of love and mercy that can dissolve pain and suffering. It can also dissolve the ego and throw a person into psychosis.

The combination of Neptune and Pisces is the loss of boundaries; it is a dream world that lets us be creative; it is a land of addiction and escapism; it is fanaticism based on faith and belief; it is religion gone crazy; it is expansive compassion and service to humanity; it is sacrifice; it is the unconscious; it is confronting the mysteries of the Universe.

Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac

Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac. Virgo is the polarity of Pisces. Think Virgo—organized. Think Pisces, disorganized. Think Virgo, analytical. Think Pisces, feeling. Virgo tries to tidy up everything that is contained in Pisces: mystical experiences, suffering and pain, incomprehensible dreams, the clutter of the psyche. Virgo tries to understand and explain the mystery that comes from the Piscean experience. Pisces makes sure that Virgo never gets it quite right.

Keys for Pisces are compassion, universality, faith, renunciation and sacrifice. We have been living in the Piscean Age for 2,000 years. Pisces is a spiritual sign that seems to have gone crazy over the past two millenniums. Perhaps Neptune transiting Pisces is part of the final dissolving of The Piscean Age. Pisces is the sign of compassion and goodness. It is also the energy of fanaticism and sacrifice. It is the sign of addiction because so often we want to escape from this earthly reality. Sometimes we just can’t cope with what is going on in our lives. Finally, our interest in other realities, in spirituality, in Egyptian symbols (!) and all ancient knowledge is connected in part to the sign Pisces. We are always trying to understand life’s mysteries, as well as who we are, where we came from and our place in the cosmos.

Saying goodbye to Neptune in Aquarius

Neptune in Aquarius (1998-2012) brought us the web of connection through electronic media. Neptune dissolved the barriers between people. We are now connected globally through the internet. Planet earth is smaller now that Neptune travelled in the sign of Aquarius. We are closer to understanding that “we are one”! And since Neptune also rules illusion we might say we live in the illusion that our lives are better because of technology. When I call customer service and interact with a telephone menu, I am not convinced!

Neptune and Pisces rule the oceans

Neptune and Pisces rule the oceans. While Neptune spends time in its Piscean home, we can expect a lot of attention to our oceans and to water. Neptune tends to dissolve what it touches. Will the ocean be able to dissolve the radioactive waste from Japan’s damaged nuclear reactor? Neptune cannot dissolve all the petroleum products that have been dumped into the ocean. Perhaps the future years of Neptune in Pisces will bring awareness and action to clean up our oceans. New ways to manage our water supplies are on the agenda. New discoveries about the oceans are certainly going to be in the news.

Neptune’s downside: lies and manipulation

The challenge of Neptune in Pisces is this: How will we know what the truth is? Aquarius may be the hardware of the media, but Pisces is the message within the message. Think how crazy it already is. There could be more and more lies and manipulation in the media and on the internet. It could become increasingly difficult to decipher the collective, social reality. Maybe more and more people will tune out the media and begin to get information through other means: ESP!! Seriously, strange things could happen with Neptune in Pisces.

Another grave concern is the role of religion. Pisces is about faith and spirituality. On the one hand we will have more understanding and connection with the mystery and awesomeness of our galaxy and the universe. This is going to open us up spiritually in ways we cannot yet imagine. But Pisces is also organized religion based on faith in certain beliefs. Beliefs may have no reality base, but tie them up with faith and you have a weapon. Neptune in Pisces could make the weapon of religion stronger (for those who—consciously or unconsciously--use religion in this manner). At the same time Neptune will expose the negative impact of religion.

Neptune dissolves what it touches

Bottom line for Neptune: it dissolves what it touches. In Aquarius, Neptune dissolved boundaries between people through electronic and wireless communication. Aquarius is about fairness, freedom and liberation for all people and Neptune has been dissolving conditions that hinder the evolution of humanity. What will Neptune dissolve while it transits its home sign, Pisces? Will it dissolve spiritual boundaries so we can respect differing faiths? Will it dissolve the physical plane entirely, allowing us to connect with others without even using the internet? Will we begin to be able to know what another person is thinking and feeling? Will we all become psychic? Will Neptune dissolve the boundaries between humans and other species in the animal kingdom? (Let’s face it: some people already talk with the animals!)

When Neptune went into Aquarius in 1998 the internet was getting cranked up and look at it now. Can you imagine a world without email? According to Wikipedia, by 2007, more than 97% of all telecommunicated information was carried over the internet. With Neptune transiting Pisces we may begin to communicate in some new and unusual ways. In Pisces, Neptune may dissolve the clutter in our minds. It may dissolve our self-doubt about our intuition. It may also dissolve our need to sacrifice ourselves for strange, fanatical reasons. Perhaps Neptune transiting Pisces will open our feeling channels and we will begin to more deeply comprehend that we homo sapiens are morphing into homo spiritus, homo luminous, and home pacem.

“I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.” [from “Open Mind” by Anahata Joy Katkin