I was requested by a few folks to write on the effects of Neptune going Retrograde. Seems some folks are taking this seriously. First, Neptune goes apparent retrograde in motion every 12.07 months. So whatever effects you are noticing, well, we would see variations on those effects every 12 months approximately. What are the effects of Neptune going Retrograde, this must be a matter of debate. Most people associate Neptune with either spiritual qualities, dissolving effects, or depressive qualities. Neptune is the fog bank, the fog bank keeps things hidden, it went retrograde while Trine Saturn in Scorpio (hidden secrets) and Square Mars in Gemini (Aggressive act of information or thought). So, in retrospect, we can say Neptune going retrograde revealed hidden secrets of aggressive information. This is a pretty objective reading, which is easy to do in hindsight. If Neptune did something spiritual, it would be hard to tell, it is not easy judging whether a spiritual event has occurred, because spiritual events always depend on subtle subjective phenomena and experience. Unless they portend miracles, but miracles are often illusions, which is also ruled by Neptune. Neptune going retrograde can create spiritual disillusionment. The judging of miracles as illusion, or spiritual delusion, the judging of illusion as miracles. I hope that last paragraph was not confusing, but if it was, confusion and uncertainty are ruled by Neptune.
But to whom and where does this stuff occur. Some folks like to give out broad prognostications. It does not work like that really, this universe, the universe of astrology, and its philosophical basis is more clockwork than that. We look at Neptune as a gear in that clock. Nations, cities, individuals, relationships are clocks. You are an astrological clock. If the Neptune going retrograde gear hits one of your gears, or a nations gear, then you can expect your clock, or the subject of astrological judgements clock to move. For example: Neptune when retrograde at 5*Pisces. The United States of America has Jupiter (justice, openness) using either the sibley chart or the Scorpionic chart at 5 degrees Cancer. The Neptune going stationary, then retrograde, gear fit into the U.S.A gear. The result is we got an event that is verifiable, not just an abstract positive or negative aphorism. However if you look at Canada’s birth chart, they do not have any planets aspecting 5* Pisces. For Nation charts to click, you want aspects with the outer planets to be very exact.
My own chart has Mercury at 3* Virgo ruling the 6th house of health and Saturn in the sixth house of Health at 6 degrees Gemini. Thus I got a gear connect with Neptune going stationary then Retrograde. What happened, in the middle of summer I came down with a debilitating flu. (I would like to postulate that Neptune rules viral infections. For instance, Saturn and Neptune were opposed during the Spanish Influenza.) So what is my take on Neptune going retrograde, that a Neptune and whatever other planet was involved event occurred when it did so, if you have a gear which connected with it in your chart.
Be well.