Neptune, the King of Mystery calls. But when he calls what is he saying? This is a question that astrologers have grappled with ever since the large gas giant planet’s discovery in 1846. Neptune may be noticeable in your experience over the next week as it is currently stationing in Pisces and will go direct in visual motion to earthlings on December 3rd, 2022. But what is this planet, what are its implications, what is its mystery and what does that Mystery mean for you.
The Planet Neptune
The planet Neptune e is the outermost planet in the solar system. It’s so far away that it takes 165 years to orbit the Sun once. Neptune has a diameter of 49,500 km, making it smaller than Uranus. Neptune’s mass is 17 times that of Earth, and it is 17 times as far from the Sun as Earth is. Neptune takes about 6 hours to rotate once on its axis. Neptune has a blue appearance because its thick atmosphere contains methane, which scatters red light and allows blue light to pass through. Neptune takes 60 years to orbit the Sun because it moves along an elongated, elliptical orbit that takes it farther from the Sun than Uranus. The last time Neptune was at perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) was in 1821, and it will not be at perihelion again until 2199. The name ”Neptune” comes from Roman mythology; the god Neptune was the god of water, and his name comes from the Latin word ”neputus” meaning ”son”. Neptune has a great blue spot on a planet that has surface features similar to those on Jupiter and Saturn: bands of clouds, rings around the equator. The Great Dark Spot was visible through telescopes as early as 1930; it has since disappeared but may return in future years. It to is a mystery.
Neptune’s atmosphere contains high altitude clouds made of hydrocarbons like methane, ethane, and hydrogen cyanide. At lower altitudes are clouds made of ammonium hydrosulfide and water crystals. There are also clouds made of crystals of frozen ammonia with water droplets on top; these form when temperatures in Neptune’s upper atmosphere fall below -235° C (-391° F). Underneath these clouds are layers of haze; scientists don’t know exactly what these hazes consist of but they may be made up of hydrogen sulfide mixed with silicates and water vapor.
Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, orbits Neptune in a direction opposite to that of all other moons in the solar system; Triton orbits clockwise while all other moons (and planets) orbit counter-clockwise.
The mythology of Neptune
In exploring the mysteries of Neptune we need to go deep into its experience, both its exalted qualities of spiritual delight, vision, and deep knowing, and its shadow qualities of despair, disillusionment, and escapism. This journey also leads into an exploration of how Neptune is a great chronocator, combining with Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto to speak of vast cycles of time that are not for the individual human to explore, but rather they measure the movements of humanity. There is excellent research being done currently by Dan Waites on this topic.
Naming the Planet Neptune the King of the Ocean is an unfortunate misnomer in my opinion. Neptune rules the sea, but the planet is not the ruler of the sea, rather it is better symbolized as the Ocean itself. The ocean is a vast mystery, the source of life that we can not fathom, and contains depths that even with all of our most modern technologies we can not understand. Only 5% of the Ocean has even been mapped, what an untold mystery!
It is thus that we may see Neptune as the planet of mystery, and for us, the mystery of what happens in the spiritual, beyond our mortal coils is a great and unknowable mystery. Here is Neptune, subtle, vast, moving imperceptibly through time. We see the waves but rarely do we ever see the underwater currents.
Neptune represents mystery in the astrology of chart
Take a look in your chart and see which house Neptune lay in. For there is a depth that calls to you. For those with prominent Neptunes that connect to the Ascendant, the Midheaven, the Imum Coeli, or the Descendant there is often a spiritual calling and an otherworldly quality as they will sacrifice all that we ordinary beings call a good life to become vast. There is also a magnetic power to them, for nothing draws us in deeper than a mystery that can not be solved. When Neptune is aspecting another planet, that planet then becomes deepened in its effects on the psyche and the soul. In any of these cases, and here is where interpreting Neptune is delicate, the end result is not known.
The shadow of Neptune can appear as illusions, disillusionment, becoming lost in substances or addictions, and not being able to see matters clearly.
Thus with Neptune, we are called to become comfortable with the unknown. To tread with gentleness upon the sands of the seashore, ever aware that our tracks will disappear as soon as the tide comes in. We are dealing with the images of being, which are ever-shifting forms of light and ungraspable. Do not seek to interpret Neptune, for mystery has no final answer. Seek to uncover your vastness here through images, and watch the images swallow certainty into the joy of possibility.
With Neptune going direct this week look for image messages to come to you through the house it is going direct in. Those images are guides in how the unfolding of your story will continue, but they are not the answers nor the ground. Instead, they are the lifting of veils and the laying of further veils, for is that not what myth is? The guidance that is not an answer, but further questions for us to live by.
This week, the first week of Dec. 2022 I can submit you will experience either a subtle or very visceral understanding of where you have been under an illusion and spell. This can be a great relief, as it provides an opportunity for moving forward in a clear way, viewing yourself and the world in a clearer light. This is from the motion of Neptune going direct in your chart.
If you would like to explore the topic of Neptune more in your astrology chart, feel free to reach out for a reading.
