Star Goddess - Judy Lundquist
Professional Astrologer
JudyL@StarGoddessAstrology.com - 913-269-7390

Neptune and the Reality of our Dreams

The Manifestation of Our Illusions

How many of us as children have sat in a classroom and had the teacher snap at us “Quit daydreaming and focus on your math!” We grow up into adulthood and find ourselves at work, gazing out the window, fantasying about our perfect soul mate or imagining flying off to Paris for a romantic week-end (even though we have no one in our life) only to be snapped back into reality by a tap on the shoulder from our boss. Sometimes we even tell our far-fetched dreams to our friends who just chuckle and say ‘Oh, that’s just a pipe dream”! Why is it that some people seem to be so grounded and focused in reality while the rest of us are lost in a world of our imagination and daydreams?

Dreams, fantasies, illusions, we all have them in varying degrees. What is it that creates this tendency to escape from reality? From an astrological viewpoint, it is the planet Neptune , God of the Sea, (son of Saturn and brother of Jupiter). Neptune is the planet that dissolves the boundaries of our limited perception of reality, and is often referred to as the planet of illusion. Neptune wants to transcend the earthly boundaries of his father Saturn (the earth god) into the higher non-Saturnian realms. For us to incorporate these energies into our earthly reality can be quite a challenge. This can lead to prolonged daydreaming, feeling mentally ‘spaced out’, or having disillusional thinking ranging from psychoses to creative genius.

Individuals most affected with this tendency are those with strong Neptune placements in their charts. This would include those having the Sun or Moon in strong aspect with Neptune (by conjunction, square or opposition) or those with a heavy emphasis of Pisces in their chart, especially the Sun, Moon, and Mars (Pisces being ruled by Neptune). Those individuals also having a major emphasis of planets in their natal 12th house are strongly affected ( Neptune also rules 12th house). For the sake of brevity, I will call these individuals Neptunians. Since the planet Neptune often has an ego diffusing quality to those affected by its energies, Neptunians often lack confidence in their talents or abilities, have a strong need to seek approval from others and can be quite self-sacrificing.

As Neptune opens a cosmic doorway, Neptunians often feel the realm of cosmic energies affecting them quite personally and thus, may have difficulty integrating these non-reality based energies into reality. Perhaps that is why so many Neptunian types often struggle with living in a money based, status conscious society. We often see this in the creative but starving artist or musician syndrome. It is no wonder Neptunians feel like a fish out of water (to use a Neptunian phase!).

Connecting With our Soul Presence

Neptune is often called the planet of illusion or deceit but is also the planet of spiritual love and wisdom. Neptune is the planet most closely connected to the unfolding of our soul presence here on earth. Neptune resides in our subconscious being as that spiritual desire to return to the divine source of bliss. The higher dimensions of Neptune manifested on earth are often expressed through unselfish acts of service, healing work, a search for spiritual knowledge, and meditations that raise us out of our lower base desire natures. What Neptune offers us is that link to the cosmic connection of pure spiritual bliss, that state that brings us that union with the totally divine. In her book “Neptune: the Quest for Redemption”, Liz Green talks of Neptune as being the planet of Redemption - the deep spiritual longing to return to a transcendental state of bliss.

Those who are able to tune in to the higher rays of this nebulous planet find its energies coming to them in the form of imaginations, dreams and creative visions. Perhaps that is why so many Neptunian types resonate to music, art, composing, or writing as a way of expressing the higher octaves of Neptune . Throughout history we have enjoyed the inspiring music of Chopin (Sun in Pisces), the beautiful art of Van Gogh (Venus, Mars, Neptune in Pisces) and the extraordinary scientific breakthroughs of Galileo (Venus, Mercury, Pluto, Sun in Pisces) and Albert Einstein (Sun in Pisces).

The highest energies of Neptune inspire the great mystics and clairvoyants of our age, such as Edgar Cayce, “the sleeping prophet” (a Pisces Sun with a strong Neptune placement in his chart).

Venus is often referred to as the planet of love. In mythology, Venus is Neptune ’s beautiful sister. Venus loves for the sake of personal gratification, money or status. Neptune is the higher octave of Venus and loves for the sake of love itself. Neptune is the planet that goes beyond physical gratification to a more transcendental union and spiritual bond with another. Neptune teaches us that it is through pure unselfish, transpersonal love that an individual is transformed to his or her highest nature.

The Allure of Neptune

The negative side of Neptune can be one in which an individual is thrust into a world of drinking or drugs as a yearning to escape from what he or she perceives to be a shallow and meaningless life existence. As a form of intoxicating allure, these individuals often fall into the abyss of drinking, drugs, gambling, or wanton sexual patterns, leading to the destruction of our divine life force. It all goes back to our inner search to reach a state of divine euphoria; a state of pseudo-mysticism or “cosmic” consciousness.

Neptune in its lower realm is the escape into the void of formlessness and meaninglessness. However, there are those who have managed to transcend the more negative energies of this planet. This is through recognizing that drugs and alcohol are an illusion and such dependency will only impede not enhance their spiritual growth. The next step, for those locked into the lower base energies of this planet, is to give Neptune some boundaries (the job of Neptune ’s earth bound father Saturn). The individual enmeshed in Neptune ’s formlessness needs to find the sense of discipline, direction and boundaries (all gifts of Saturn) to direct the energies back up through the higher octaves of divine love and wisdom. Because it is often a hard spiritual road for these individuals to make this transition, Neptunians who have struggled to overcome their addictive habits are often those who have attained the most wisdom and spiritual knowledge.

It is not uncommon for me to see clients with strong Neptunian energies in their charts, who are creative, sensitive, and compassionate individuals, yet have spent years struggling with self-destructive behavior. Why is this? Perhaps a brief case study will help to understand this pattern (client permission to use this, of course). This client is a young man in his mid 30’s. His dream was to pursue art school. However, his father is a partner with a successful law firm and expected his son to follow in his footsteps. So this young man goes to law school but his heart is not really in it. He goes through the motions of being a successful lawyer to please his father (remember, Neptunians can be very self-sacrificing!), but inwardly he suffers from a gnawing depression because this is not what his Neptunian energies had in mind for him. He struggles to find the spiritual fulfillment in this profession. His strong Neptunian energies need to connect to something greater, to the cosmic whole, and it was not doing it through his profession as a lawyer. Not having the time to dabble in his true passion as an artist, depression began to set in. To numb the pain of feeling disconnected from his true sense of joy, his fell into the lower energies of Neptunian disillusion and reality escaping. As depression deepened, he found himself drinking heavily to numb the deep emotional pain he was feeling on a soul level in not being able to connect to his true source of cosmic bliss. It took him several years to work through the core problem but, happily, he is now following his path as an artist.

Spiritual Wisdom of Neptune

Neptune is the planet that can show us our ultimate spiritual joy or send us down the spiral abyss of self-destruction. Life exists in polarities, the yin and yang, the light and dark energies. Every positive has its negative. The choice is ours. Through the positive expression of Neptune, we can experience the process of metamorphosis whereby we reach the full actualization of the potentialities so long hidden within our innermost being. We become not only greater human beings, but become one with our divine spiritual essence.