Neptune in Aquarius

[Jim Eshelman]

Dates for Neptune in Aquarius...

Apr 20 1514 to Jun 1 1514
Feb 3 1515 to Sep 7 1515
Dec 1 1515 to Apr 7 1528
Aug 20 1528 to Feb 7 1529

Apr 3 1679 to Jul 14 1679
Jan 31 1680 to Apr 3 1693
Sep 20 1693 to Feb 3 1694

Mar 20 1844 to Aug 5 1844
Jan 20 1845 to Mar 23 1858
Oct 14 1858 to Jan 20 1859

Mar 9 2009 to Aug 24 2009
Jan 10 2010 to May 20 2022
Aug 6 2022 to Mar 14 2023
Nov 10 2023 to Dec 31 2023

[Jim Eshelman]

Apr 20 1514 to Jun 1 1514
Feb 3 1515 to Sep 7 1515
Dec 1 1515 to Apr 7 1528
Aug 20 1528 to Feb 7 1529

Just a start in trying to discern patterns in these Neptune in Aquarius years, by looking at what actually happened...

In Christian Europe during these years, the mark of the times was obvious: It was the immediate lead-in to and eruption of the Reformation. Erasmus' double-barreled shotgun in 1514, Leo X's excessive papal indulgences immediately after, and the eruption of Martin Luther were the primary marks in Europe. From 1520-1529, Monks were actually burned alive by the Church for following Luther's teachings. The Reformation was kicked off in Scotland by 1528.

In Persia, though 1514 marked Iran's defeated at the Battle of Chaldiran, this didn't seem to characterize the whole time. I can't see that there was much activity in that part of the world.

Less than a score of years after Columbus landed in the New World, Europe was just starting to wake up to the discovery. Under Neptune in Capricorn, the slave trade had started in Brazil <sigh>, and Ponce de Leon was already over here. Then, Peter Martyr's account of Columbus' discovery was published in 1516.

[Jim Eshelman]

A couple of items that seemed to really fit the window of the Neptune in Aquarius

1858 - October 13 and 15 were the last two Lincoln-Douglas debates. Lincoln lost the election afterward (Douglas would be sworn in on January, at the end of Neptune's time in Aquarius!)

1844 - March was when Joseph Smith tried to create a Mormon theocracy by starting the Council of Fifty on March 11. April 11 they select Smith as King. Smith was arrested for treason and murdered in June. This created the Succession crisis of 1844, and on August 8, a conference voted to make the Council of Twelve the leaders of the LDS church.

It doesn't really seem like a very good period for underdogs wishing to start revolutions. Lots of squashed rebellions.

[Jim Eshelman]

We're about half-way through this. I need to go back and do some closer examination as we head into the second half. I'm posting to float this to near the top.

It has occurred to me that we may not be able to distinguish Neptune in Aquarius clearly until Uranus leaves Pisces. (Uranus in Pisces and Pluto in Sagittarius are sooooo obvious, but with the Uranus-Neptune mutual reception, I don't know whether themes that might be connected to Neptune in Aquarius are just variations of Uranus in Pisces.)

[Jim Eshelman]

Av's "squashed rebellions" theme does seem to have some merit - especially after the last year's political races in this country. (However, the British might not think so, and a lot of people in mid-continent U.S.A. probably don't think so. But those weren't liberal rebellions.)

There does seem to be a sense of "squashing" with Neptune sign passages almost as if it were Saturn - but different. With Neptune we usually use words more like "diffusing, dissipating, atrophying, dissuasion," etc., and these distinctions are probably important; but the simple, gross observation is that things don't do too well with Neptune in their sign.

For example, I don't think for a moment that one's Neptune sign has to do with one's profession - it's too broad. And yet, curiously, in the mapping of Gauquelin data, both professions and character traits, some of the very strongest results numerically were the extreme (really extreme!) lows of artistic traits and the profession of artist for eminent professionals with Neptune in Libra, and seeming suppression of success in Virgo areas with Neptune in Virgo. These are semi-generational, not individual at all - and yet, the results were very large for the collective.

Looking back to past decades, Neptune in a sign certainly seems to hit the hot buttons as if it "aspected" the sign or its ruler. Neptune in Virgo was the post-WW II Cold War paranoia, McCarthyism, and more - just as if Neptune were transiting Mercury. McCarthyism was finally broken the year Neptune left Virgo and moved on into Libra.

I recently read a late-'60s Bradley piece characterizing Neptune in Libra as both "dawn of a new era" - something he thought major Libra transits always mark - and extreme polarization, too much A vs. B and not enough compromise and collaboration. He was playing up one side of Libra, but we could easily see this as suppression or erosion or distrusting of fundamental Libra traits of, oh, diplomacy and compromise. (That aside from the impact of psychedelics on the arts, giving an entirely new visual and musical panorama by the end of the transit.)

Neptune in Scorpio... what I most remember is paranoia, distrust of power, nuclear fears, suppressing presidential power concentrations post-Watergate, etc.

Neptune in Sagittarius - in retrospect I have a hard time distinguishing it from the Uranus-Neptune conjunction in that constellation. However, I just found a transcript of a rather excellent "What's ahead for the '80s" panel I was on in which I was talking mostly about themes of accelerated wealth inequity, politicization of religions and religious institutions, and increase class and institutional elitism.

Neptune in Capricorn is easy, although it seemed more to me at the time like Neptune colluding with Saturn than diffusing it. The keyword, though, was security, whether of the national type or in terms of computers or in terms of personal family survival. It was a time of intentionally intensified fear, fostered by governments as control. (Elaborate these two or three themes and you will see a great deal more.)

So, in Aquarius, logic would now suggest we think of this in something of the sense that Av' suggested. In past centuries, Neptune in Aquarius seems to have been the build-up to things like the Enlightenment because it is suppressive of true enlightenment. (I wouldn't have guessed it but for the record of history and, now, seeing this half century pattern in a different way than before.) It is a time that (amidst the ideological polarization and conflicts of Pluto in Sagittarius square Uranus in Pisces) has roused even socialistic-leaning liberalism, and has set the stage for future conflict, but has not fostered it. True universalism has not flourished, and yet remains the most important issue of our time IMHO. Ditto with futurism (e.g., a blind eye to climate matters and necessary social evolution). And it certainly has not been an era of dispassionate clarity.

And so forth.

Just thinking out loud to organize some thoughts.

[Jim Eshelman]

Erosion of universalism... This really does mark our time.

I also note that this period (essentially the start of the Obama administration through the present) has been --within the above ideas - the intense struggle (with inconceivable successes and ferocious backlash) of acceptance of what seemed extreme social outlier groups: gays, women (shocking half the race still fits that description), and now transsexuals.

[Jupiter Sets at Dawn]

Climate change denial. Feels like exactly right to me.

[Jim Eshelman]

Climate change denial. Feels like exactly right to me.

Sounds right. Anti-science in general.

Except that was going on all through Neptune in Capricorn, and I can't find similar, analogous things (obviously not exactly the same thing) in earlier Neptune in Aquarius passes.

[Veronica]

"the intense struggle (with inconceivable successes and ferocious backlash) of acceptance of what seemed extreme social outlier groups:"


I was very happy that the Organic produce movement has gained momentum. McDonalds and Taco Bell are closing stores.
the first Mcd' was a great little place to go in some small town, and it seemed like a great idea that should be everywhere, yet I know people who pride themselves for never eating one fry and sticking to thier homegrown carrots.

[Jupiter Sets at Dawn]

Climate change denial.

Except that was going on all through Neptune in Capricorn, and I can't find similar, analogous things (obviously not exactly the same thing) in earlier Neptune in Aquarius passes.

During Neptune in Capricorn, it wasn't a mainstream idea. It was treehuggers. Now it's mainstream, but reactionaries who will lose money if they have to change their ways have elected fools who will keep the regulations off them. It's sort of the reverse of Neptune in Capricorn, where trying to handle climate change was moving forward. Now it's moving backwards. Squashed rebellion, and erosion of universalism - we're fine who cares if Florida sinks.

Used to be crazies trying to save the climate. Now the crazies deny there's a problem or that we caused it and could fix it.

[Jim Eshelman]

Here' I think, is a clear mark of Neptune in Aquarius that has been in motion since 2009. It's one of the more insightful articles I've seen, and an example of things we've known and, yet, have perhaps been missing, based on the work of Soshana Zuboff.

'The goal is to automate us': welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... e-facebook

[Jim Eshelman]

I seem never to have put in this thread what I now consider basic to Neptune in Aquarius (since 2009-2010): Enchantment with and absorption in our personal electronics. We're living science fiction!

[Jim Eshelman]

I'm going to more systematically look at this through the ages.

1514 -1529
It is an era of awakening exploration, beginning less than a quarter century after Columbus discovered the New World and in the heart of the 15th-16th century Renaissance. That means a lot was happening but it seems amorphous on overview. Broadly, the spirit of Humanism seems entirely the symbolism of Neptune in Aquarius but its dominion of the time was not restricted to this decade and a half. (I skip over the various territorial claims and forming and dissolution of alliances that always happen.)

King Francis I and Pope Leo X sign the Concordat of Bologna, securing the formal relationship between church and state in France. Thomas More's Utopia published. Martin Luther published his 95 Theses (and many other stages of the Protestant Reformation following). Dancing Plague of 1518 (a dancing mania), many died. African slave trade began. Cortés enters Aztec city Tenochtitlan, captures and deposes Moctezuma, then loses the "Night of Sorrow" Aztec counter-attack before defeating them three weeks later (and eventually ending them and acquiring the Aztec empire for Spain - a great theme of "foreign," almost Sci-Fi, runs all through this). Stockholm Bloodbath (82 noblemen & clergy beheaded by new king for resisting Danish invasion). Magellan's journey. Martin Luther, after many insubordinations, is excommunicated; goes to Worms and affirms his commitment to the Bible alone, and is proclaimed an outlaw; in hiding, translates New Testament & Pentateuch into German. Zwickau Prophets preach the Apocalypse in Germany. Spaniards continue to explore and conquer Central America. German Peasants' War (failed because of intense opposition from the aristocracy). Protestant Reformation starts spreading.

The Protestant Reformation, then, is the primary event, concurrent with the flow-through of Spanish conquest of the New World, set against the humanism of the Renaissance.

1679-1694
Parliament passes the Habeas Corpus Act. King Charles II grants a land charter to William Penn, who founds Philadelphia. King Louis XIV moves to Versailles. Czar Peter the Great's reign begins in Russia. Mathematical development including the inverse square law and equations of planetary motion. Sir Isaac Newton develops Kepler's laws from his Theory of Gravitation. King James II enthroned, puts down Monmouth Rebellion. Louis XIV proclaims Protestantism illegal, an action against the Huguenots. James II suspended all laws against Roman Catholics and nonconformists against the Church of England. Newton published his theory of universal gravitation in full (effectively founding modern physics). The Glorious Revolution (William III of Orange assails England "to defend the liberties of England' - her Protestantism) Louis XIV declared war on Netherlands but attacks the Holy Roman Empire instead, beginning the Nine Years' War. After William's one military victory, James II flees to France; William enters London and is later proclaimed king of England by Parliament. Bill of Rights establishes a constitutional monarchy in England. All sorts of Protestant vs. Catholic fighting going on. Act of Grace forgive followers of James II. Salem Witch Trials.

This one is less obvious to me. Mostly it is reaction against the Protestant Reformation a century and a half after, with political and religious differences between Protestants and Catholics moving events. The real mind-blowing thing was what was happening in mathematics and physics, especially with Newton.

Mar 20 1844 to Aug 5 1844
Jan 20 1845 to Mar 23 1858
Oct 14 1858 to Jan 20 1859
Baha'i religion founded with the revelation of The Bab & birth of Baha'u'llah. Morse sends first telegram. Great Flood of 1844 hits Missouri & Mississippi Rivers. YMCA founded. Joseph Smith murdered in Carthage, IL. [Pick up in 1845]

Mar 9 2009 to Aug 24 2009
Jan 10 2010 to May 20 2022
Aug 6 2022 to Mar 14 2023
Nov 10 2023 to Dec 31 2023

[Jim Eshelman]

Here is the summary I have been using:


Neptune in Aquarius (2009-2023)
Suppressed or diffused social progressiveness, squashed rebellions, deranged concepts of liberty, all setting the stage for a future conflict or breakthrough after the transit is over. Imagined new vistas and possibilities without current capacity to reach or manage them. Roused socialist-leaning liberalism. Failure of universalism, futurism, or true enlightenment to flourish. Shortage of dispassionate clarity, fostered ignorance.

This transit reflects 14 years when most people feel like we are living in a science fiction wonderland, "imagining the inconceivable." Change happens so fast, technical progress accelerating far beyond any vision prior generations had of the 21st century (provided it doesn't involve transportation). One aspect of this is increased complexity with life changing faster than our neurology can grasp, manage, and keep up. Historically, Nerptune in Aquarius has fostered technological surveillance and loss of privacy.

[Jim Eshelman]

Neptune returned to Aquarius today.

[Jim Eshelman]

Besides what ive written previously, this was the ERA of social media as we've come to know it.

I write thst now because I think it's coming to an end -- as we've known it.

[SteveS]

Jim wrote:

I write that now because I think it's coming to an end -- as we've known it.

Do you have a link or thoughts which would explain?

[Jim Eshelman]

Jim wrote:

I write that now because I think it's coming to an end -- as we've known it.

Do you have a link or thoughts which would explain?

Oh, sorry, I thought I said that up above (I guess not LOL).

I'm beginning to think it was a Neptune in Aquarius phenomenon. With Neptune gone from Aquarius (other than a brief revisit coming up), the world is ready to move on to the thing that comes next.

This would have been clearer if I'd also written the few lines I have in mind for the Neptune in Pisces thread. I'll try to get to that this morning.

[Jim Eshelman]

The Hollywood writer and actor strikes are an outcome of the sort of "changing of the guard" I've been writing about as Neptune leaves Aquarius and enters Pisces this year and next.

The blend of fantasy and technology not only combines Neptune and Aquarius themes, it explains what has been happening in the economics and business practices of, first, Silicon Valley and, second, Hollywood studios chasing the same dream. The future of entertainment is surely still in cord-cutting home streaming entertainment, but it's going to look much different than we've been led to believe - and WAY different than venture capitalists have been led to believe - much as the Jetson's day to day life only matches almost everything we were led to anticipate except in the most basic look, feel, and life-quality issues.

Anyway - this LA Times excellent article - not sure how long it will be up without a paywall, but it's a good read that I recommend you read soon.

How Silicon Valley envy brought Hollywood to a standstill
https://www.latimes.com/business/techno ... _id=746993

[SteveS]

Interesting LA Times article. I am well over the hill with “old school” principles in the entertainment industry. My Era is long gone. But, I still have enough common sense to know Hollywood is collapsing in many different ways, and I feel the streaming industries are near a Neptunian Bubble. If there is a pro-longed strike from writers/actors this could be the agent that bursts this possible streaming bubble. Just my gut instincts at work, but with t Neptune partile 180 my Natal Sun, I want be surprised if my thinking is completely wrong.

[Jim Eshelman]

I thought you'd find that interesting.

[SteveS]

Indeed Jim, I appreciate.

[Jim Eshelman]

Neptune backed into Aquarius today until December 31 for one last taste for the next two and a half centuries.

Saturn and Neptune are now both in Aquarius. One wonders if this means some especially pernicious Aquarius manifestation during this time. Besides the interpretations of Saturn in Aquarius and Neptune in Aquarius in the forecast section, this may be of interest or use:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7814#p55513

[Jim Eshelman]

On New Year's Eve, Neptune left Aquarius for the final time in our lifetimes. Sayonara!

[SteveS]

Say what you want, but this transit sure brought the planet some strange, great, imaginative technology IMO, maybe with the culmination of AI.

[Jim Eshelman]

Yes, there was overlap - although the real AI explosion was, I think, especially Saturn in Aquarius. (See the Saturn in Aquarius forecast. Historic periods have marked the most significant turning points in democratizing of computer power.)

[SteveS]

I keep thinking what you recently said Jim: We are living in very interesting times.