Neptune the spilt drink

The orb of Neptune is 25 degrees applying or separating from any aspect. The fact is that this planet colours the entire chart from any point. Although it is invisible to the naked eye, but like a spilt drink it reaches out across the signs and wets everything around it. Naturally the orb at which a planet has effect by transit and progression is no different from one planet to another, so exacting astrologers will give an orb of two-three degrees for the transit and one degree for the Solar Arc.

Having established a link between Neptune and Pisces it is no surprise that this planet acts on the emotions and on the feeling nature of man. The primary way that it does this is to raise expectations, and thereby distorting the “truth” of a situation or house. Neptune has domain over all forms of romance or romanticism. “Great expectations” are always followed by disappointment. Poetry and stories of course, are not real, so when you go to touch it and try to hold on to it, it disappears, whatever beauty and greatness that it presented, whatever glamour it gave off will leave you shivering and cold and in a dark room all alone with no comfort.

Traditional astrology holds that Saturn and Mars are the malefics which cause the greatest deal of suffering. While this is true, and the anguish which the two traditional evils of the Solar system cause pain physically, Neptune is solely responsible for that pain which gnaws at the psyche causing deep unhappiness and dissatisfaction. With Saturn it is always clear the reason for the misery, whether it be fear and inadequacy, dumbness, stupidity, with Mars the anger shows up and there is no mistaking it. Neptune though doesn’t let you know why. Neptune like the spilt drink will not let you see the table beneath clearly. “Why are you unhappy? I don’t know.”

Going into the psychology of Neptune one begins to realise that unhappiness is always causal. Downs are always consequence of ups. What was the high in the first place? The high was a detachment from the day to day reality of life. Fantasy. The mind, when Neptune is influencing is taken in very easily with its own creation.  We never realise it at the time.

A peculiarity of Neptune is that this planet has very high winds, of up to 1,000 miles per hour. There are wispy clouds on Neptune, but they move so fast that what you are actually seeing may have taken place some time ago. Neptune’s wind is so fast it beggars belief, winds that move faster than the speed of sound? The idea of Neptune as some kind of passive and tranquil lake is laughable. The slowest planet to travel around the Sun very strangely has the fastest moving elements on its surface.

The deepest form of Neptunian disappointment is being in love with something that has no physical reality on Earth. In the 5th house for example Love is coloured up, and coloured in. All of it is illusion, self created illusion. When Neptune acts on the faculties in this house it is the artist, dreaming of his muse non-stop. But the trouble is that of course, the artist will never, never be satisfied, because he will never be able to touch that mental creation, she doesn’t exist, not the way he sees her.

Neptune working in the 6th house has the same effect at work. The subject of the dirty Neptune deception will think that they love their job, when in reality it’s not that great. They might project a romantic persona among their colleagues, therefore deceiving them, or being deceived by them. But the reality is that all illusions are a departure from reality and the more you dream about it and romanticise it the greater the eventual misery that it will cause.