Chapter 15: Neptune, Gateway to Cosmic Consciousness

Imagination, dreams, altered states of consciousness, inspiring music, ocean waves, starry skies, hearts swollen by beauty, deep longing – these are the realms of Neptune. This gas giant hangs out at the threshold of outer space, mirroring the vast expanse and depth of inner space. It is the interface between the Conscious and Unconscious, between Matter and Spirit.

The planets in our solar system are divided into three categories: the inner rocky planets, the mid-range gas giants and the icy dwarf planets way out in the Kuiper Belt. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are rocky planets, solid, foundational. These planets are the archetypes of our personal consciousness. Mercury is our thinking and communicating function. Venus is our relational self, drawing us into intimacy, sensuality, pleasure and beauty. Mars is our dynamic impulse pushing us ever forward to explore and go beyond our boundaries. Earth obviously is the ground we stand on, the three-dimensional stage upon which we play out our karmic drama.

Between Mars and Jupiter lies a relatively populated area of space known as the asteroid belt. These are rocky remnants of some explosion or other. Many subtle archetypal influences come from this realm, especially the Asteroid Goddesses who operate behind the scenes of our patriarchal world holding it all together.

Juno is the consort, the wife, the life partner. Her function is to teach us about intimate relationships through endless experimentation. Pallas, a daughter of Zeus who sprang from her father’s head, fully formed and stalwart. Pallas is the female warrior who holds the wisdom of balanced and integrated energies.

Vesta is the power of devotion. Her proponents honor the sacred in every day life. Everything is sacred to Vesta. She can embrace it all into her purity and divine love. Vesta leads us inward to our own sacred heart where she tends the flames.

And finally Ceres, the mother who loved her daughter so deeply she made a deal with the devil, so to speak. The Ceres myth explains the changing of the seasons on our home planet. Ceres symbolizes Mother Earth. She is the all-loving, providing, nurturing mother. She is a symbol of what has been called the Golden Age. This utopian dream has roots in our psychic past when our consciousness was enmeshed in one sacred whole. Our history traces the adventure of consciousness separating from the One, descending into matter, exploring this new niche of experience, and eventually reuniting with the One.

Persephone was the daughter of Ceres. She was abducted by Pluto who carried her down into Hades, the dark and mysterious underworld. Ceres was bereft and neglected the Earth. She wandered in grief, wailing for the return of her beloved daughter. Crops failed, the earth turned brown and withered. She appealed to Zeus to arrange hostage negotiations with Pluto who allowed Persephone to return to the upper world for half of the year. This is the birth of spring which brings such joy to her Mother that the whole Earth blooms in response.

There are so many more treasures in the asteroid belt, but we move on to the gas giants. Jupiter and Saturn are the “social” planets representing our collective consciousness and its products – the reality we are creating. They are the principles of expansion and contraction. They are duality in a nutshell. We make our way through this history, building civilization through times of ease and hardship.

Chiron is not a gas giant, but he visits this part of our solar system orbiting between Saturn and Uranus. He carries us from the material and social realms into the transpersonal realms of consciousness. Uranus wakes us up and alerts us to the vast unknown. Neptune stirs our souls with longing for the Divine. The far side of Neptune looks out at the cosmos, out into the Kuiper Belt. The Gateway to the Cosmos is hidden within this archetype.

The Kuiper Belt is much like the asteroid belt, loaded with mysterious objects all of which represent some as yet unrevealed aspect of consciousness. Some objects are comets; others are called dwarf planets, like Pluto, Eris and Sedna. Still others like Haumea defy definition due to their unique shapes. These icy objects may be debris left over from the birth of our solar system. Astrophysicists are eager to explore this new realm for clues to how planets and solar systems form. For the rest of us, this realm represents undiscovered territory in our consciousness. This is our new frontier – not outer space, but its equivalent: the inner expanded, multivalent, multidimensional, awakened and enlightened Consciousness that is one and the same in each of us.

So that’s the bigger picture, the metaphorical road map of the solar system as we know it. Neptune stands at the threshold of this new territory. He inspires awe at the vastness of cosmic consciousness. Neptune is considered the higher octave of Venus, a spiritual, unconditional love, what the Greeks called Agape. He envelops us in waves of divine energy, arousing a deep longing to connect with something that will make us whole. We seek it in relationship – a soul mate. We seek it in church – that deep, still and silent reverence for something we long to touch, to hold, to dissolve into. We seek it in drugs and alcohol.

That’s the essence of Neptune. He gestures to us, luring us inward, to follow the trail of longing to its heart. Everything that touches us with a sense of the sacred is part of Neptune’s influence. What do we love? What is sacrosanct? What do we long for with all our hearts? What inspires these feelings? Sunsets over the ocean, nature, our children, our beloveds, music that tugs at our hearts, acts of kindness that move us to tears, flashes of human dignity and courage . . .

Neptune is an ocean of unconditional love. It is always there. All we have to do is strip down and tip toe in. All that is required is surrender. How do we do that? That’s what we’ll explore in “Practicing the Future.” The process begins with Pluto in his depth psychology role. That’s the stripping down part – liberating ourselves from all the excess psychic baggage we carry. Tip toeing in begins with meditation, reflection, anchoring oneself firmly in the present and seeing the truth.

In the USA chart, Neptune is in the 9^th house, conjunct Black Moon Lilith. This feminine archetype is playing a big role in our history right now. Lilith represents the original, authentic feminine energy, uncontrolled, unconditioned, untamed. The story of Lilith was expunged from sacred texts, but can still be found in Hebrew lore. Lilith was the first wife of Adam. Both were created from “dust” or earth, simply meaning manifested into physical reality, grounded in matter. Because both male and female were created from the same source, Lilith considered herself to be Adam’s equal. Adam demanded sovereignty. Lilith refused, so Adam asked God for another, better wife, one that would obey him. Legend has it that Lilith went out into the world on her own. These same legends vilify Lilith as the mother of demons and like Eve, responsible for all the evil in the world.

Lilith is currently in Pisces, 3 degrees away from Neptune. In our nation’s natal chart, Lilith is in Virgo, 3 degrees away from Neptune. Virgo and Pisces are opposite in the Zodiac, so the current conjunction is opposite the USA natal conjunction, a perfect mirror in perfect timing!

Our nation is experiencing a full moon Neptune/Lilith, a relationship that is still growing to fullness through the coming year. The key to a successful outcome of this Pluto/Saturn initiation is found in the Neptune/Lilith partnership, in a recognition of the Divine Feminine and the integration of her qualities into our daily lives, our social interactions, our international relations. We will explore this theme as we begin to bring all the elements of the USA chart into focus. If we can identify the errors in our collective psyche, we stand a chance of transforming the whole system.

Speaking of Full Moons, tomorrow is the Full Moon in Pisces. Pisces is ruled by Neptune, it’s the sea in which he prefers to float. In perfect synchronicity, this Full Moon is conjunct Neptune and Lilith. All the personal planets are opposite, hovering around the Sun in Virgo, which is exactly conjunct the USA natal Neptune, right now.

In addition, transiting Mars is exactly opposite transiting Neptune in Pisces, while the Virgo Sun is opposite the Moon in Pisces. Mars and Neptune form an exact square to Jupiter. This is called a T-square. It means that Jupiter is the fulcrum upon which Mars and Neptune balance. This has the potential to create a crisis of faith, or a perfect balance of will and surrender, of conscious personal will and superconscious Divine will. To top it off Mars and Neptune form a “Mystic Rectangle” with the nodes of the moon in Cancer and Capricorn, tying our spiritual potential to the axis of destiny.

I know that’s a lot of arcane information. Don’t worry if you don’t understand the astrology. The point is that on Friday the 13^th, the planets are aligned to create a profound spiritual experience. A potent gateway is opening. This is a momentous opportunity.

Find some time for yourself in an environment that inspires you. Surround yourself with things that are sacred to you. Sink down deep into yourself and connect with that longing – for unconditional love, for sacred silence, for lasting peace, for the Divine within. The Cosmos awaits . . .