by April Elliott Kent A client of mine who has Neptune in the 10th house is the owner of an optical business, and she recently decided it was time to transition into a more spiritual career direction. At first, I was puzzled at how Neptune in the 10th house managed to lead her into the world of eye charts and frame fittings in the first place. Then it hit me: She’s been in the business of helping people see more clearly – a most literal expression of Neptune! Now she wants to work with that Neptune by assisting others to envision their lives and spiritual paths in a new way.
Today, transiting Neptune moves into Pisces. Neptune’s been in Aquarius for so long – since 1998! – that it’s almost undetectable to me; like air, invisible but omnipresent. I could no longer see it clearly; it was as though my Neptune eyeglass prescription was out of date. So I sat down this morning to review the years when Neptune has previously changed signs, to get a feel for what it’s meant to me personally – and what it may possibly mean for all of us as it moves into a new sign today.
Neptune’s sign tells us about the tools and conditions that will be offered to help you seek clarity – the eyeglasses. Neptune moves very slowly, only changing signs about every 14 years (or half a Saturn cycle). So even a dame of my vintage (pushing 50) has seen Neptune in only a fistful of signs over a lifetime. Neptune moving through the houses of the horoscope symbolize the areas of your life where you will put your eyeglasses to use, fine-tuning the prescription over the years until a new way of seeing your life comes into focus.
Neptune in Sagittarius: Jan. 4, 1970 – Jan. 18, 1984
Neptune entered Sagittarius and my first house in early 1970, just a few months before my father died in a car accident. His death led my family to California – where Neptune is precisely conjunct my relocated Ascendant. Moving from an Indiana farm to a California suburb was as disorienting and dazzling as that moment in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy opens the door and everything turns to technicolor. I was in a place far away (Sagittarius) from the landscape and people that had provided my sense of identity, and I spent the next 14 years coming up with an entirely new vision of who I was and what I could become (first house).
Neptune in Capricorn: Jan. 18, 1984 – Jan. 28, 1998
When Neptune entered Capricorn and my second house (and opposed natal Venus) in early 1984, I was at the nadir of a terrible, destructive relationship. But by September I’d found a new, much better paying job at a water company (Neptune!), and within a few months the relationship was history. My new workplace became my home for seven years, and during that period of my life I learned to embrace a vision of myself as capable, efficient, ambitious, and able to support myself financially. When Neptune in Capricorn trined my Midheaven, I was confident enough in this new vision of myself to surrender my day job set out on the choppy waters of self-employment. When Neptune trined my Mars a couple of years later, I got married and moved, again, to a new city.
Neptune in Aquarius: Jan. 28, 1998 – April 4, 2011
Neptune’s entry into Aquarius and my third house in early 1998 heralded my return to school, and I eventually graduated from college when transiting Neptune opposed my 9th house Sun. I also taught myself website design during this period, launched my own website in 1999, and paid for school by building websites for other people. It feels appropriate that at the beginning of this year, with Neptune winding up its sojourn through Aquarius, I let go of professional web design work – and even surrendered my own website to another designer, for a “new vision.” With Neptune in Aquarius and my third house, I’ve gotten a clearer vision of what I’m capable of learning and understanding. Finishing school (with a degree in communication), developing website skills, and publishing two books has helped me see myself as someone who knows a thing or two and can finish what she starts – not always the way I’ve seen myself!
As Neptune enters Pisces, it’s still in my 3rd house and will be until 2018. The next phase of this third house journey is, I suspect, learning to see with a more compassionate eye. Perhaps I’ll do some writing in another genre. Maybe my astrology work will take a more intuitive turn. I do know that by the time Neptune enters my 4th house, I’ll have learned to think, see, and communicate more clearly and logically.
Neptune: Deception and illusion… or clarity and purpose?
Neptune has a reputation as the planet of deception and illusion, where we peer through dense fog for the vaguest outline of our path. I think that’s true, but that it’s only half the story. Neptune’s also the planet that gives us the faith that a path does, indeed, exist – and the intuition to find our way even when our usual tools of navigation don’t seem to be working.
Neptune ultimately leads us, I believe, toward clarity and purpose. But this gift requires that we first let go. To learn who I am, I had to let go of my father and of the home I loved, where I didn’t have to fight so hard for an identity. To learn that I’m able to take care of myself and to manage my relationships, work, and everyday life in a responsible way, I had to let go of my vision of myself as impractical, weak, and dependent – and eventually, let go of my day job. And to finish school, get my writing published, and find my place in the crowd, I’ve had to let go of the vision of myself as someone who isn’t a very clear thinker (one of my proudest achievements in school was passing a math placement test!) and who doesn’t finish what she starts.
What’s next? I begin the era of Neptune in Pisces with a vision of myself as someone who hasn’t much faith, is fairly cynical, distrusts intuition, and doesn’t roll easily with life’s changes and challenges. The fog is thick just now, and I can’t see exactly what the universe will throw my way, or ask me to surrender in the years to come; but I fully expect to graduate from the University of Neptune in Pisces much kinder, gentler, and with a sense of belonging to something much bigger than myself.
What has Neptune’s transits brought to your life – and how will you reenvision yourself, your life, and your world in the years to come?
These date ranges also include some periods when Neptune retrogrades briefly into the previous sign.
- Neptune in Sagittarius: Jan. 4, 1970 – Jan. 18, 1984
- Neptune in Capricorn: Jan. 18, 1984 – Jan. 28, 1998
- Neptune in Aquarius: Jan. 28, 1998 – April 4, 2011
- Neptune in Pisces: April 4, 2011 – March 30, 2025
© 2011 April Elliott Kent