Neptune in Pisces

Neptune first entered Pisces in April 2011 before briefly returning to Aquarius between Aug 2011 and February 2012 when it finally remained in Pisces for this current period. That is, until January 2026 when it will move into Aries to begin a new cycle. So what is the deal with the transit of Neptune in Pisces? The final stage in the development of the themes related to Neptune. These themes include universal compassion or empathy, drugs, alcohol, medicines, deception, refinement, sacrifice, dreams, fantasy, escape and purification.

Of this transit, Howard Sasportas wrote “the desire to go beyond the sense of being a separate self and to merge with something greater”. There is an “urge to lose ourselves, to dissolve or transcend the boundaries of the isolated ego”. As a result, with a heightened imagination, we can lose perspective and the ability to focus and concentrate. Driven by a desire without much thought for the outcome, it can bring with it much confusion. But the outcomes of such a refining process actually brings a renewed clarity as you become more sensitized to your own expressions. Another way of thinking about this process is about challenging fixed thinking in order to see another perspective. This process will be highlighted in the area of your natal chart where Neptune is transiting. You also become more sensitized to the needs of others when transiting Neptune aspects your natal planetary positions. Neptune highlights universal compassion, the higher octave of Venus which is focused upon holding others or accepting influence from others. So Neptune is about merging with life, accepting influence from life, developing a mystical sense of oneness with nature. Accepting influence is the very essence of relationship as it is about letting something in by dropping your guard.

This refining process with the cycling of Neptune unfolds through the twelve signs, from Aries to Pisces over the planet’s 164-year transit around the Sun. So in our lives we will witness half this cycle, if we live to the average life expectancy. But it also reflects the larger themes in our society. These relate to our relationships within society and our orientation with nature or life. Such themes as rulership or leadership, politics, science or philosophical inquiry, spirituality and religion are profoundly influenced by Neptune’s transit. In terms of our relationship with nature, this specifically relates to developments in religion, spirituality, philosophy, medicine, biology, psychology and physics. The dominant religions are challenged by the leadership they offer as this in turn influences these institutions’ relationships to their communities. As spirituality defines our relationship with ourselves and the cosmos, the boundaries we have in place to define and protect ourselves. So Neptune defines this. The dynamics of all these fields reflects the struggle with our sense of oneness with nature. The crisis it brings forces us to re evaluate what we know of our relationship to everything else non-human. However, these broader understandings reflect how we also then treat each other and how this changes through challenge.

In Aries there is a crisis of ego consciousness as the two principles are quite counter to each other. What Aries does though is it brings to the energy of Neptune a pioneering attitude of no fear and so jumping into things with enthusiasm. Sensitized to the dynamics of ego, Neptune then allows for greater reflexivity or self reflection.

Then lastly in the cycle through the zodiac, in Pisces the focus is upon the unconscious mind, those unrationalized deep drives and urges. It appears shallow to achieve in a material way when a sense of incompleteness haunts us. It breaks down our sense of order and control in the world. Our sense of oneness with the universe and our spirituality also reflects the Piscean theme. Championing causes and crusades arising from an existential angst is very much a part of this unconscious drive. As Robert Hand put it, the problem of the sign of Pisces lies in that it “symbolizes the most difficult stage in human evolution, the transcendence of the self”. The symbolism of the two fish swimming in different directions reflects this struggle. This is an important pretext to transiting Neptune moving into Aries to begin the new cycle. Where the old reality has outlived its form and must change. Neptune is though aspirational, believing the new can have such an impact to help us to go beyond the limitations of physical reality and aspire us to greater ideas and ideals.