Chapter 16: Neptune’s Shadow

That sounds mysterious doesn’t it? A bit ominous. With all the ecstasy and beauty Neptune offers, comes a caveat. We must stay alert and make clear choices. We must take full responsibility for ourselves and our impact on others. We must be conscious.

We can integrate a healthy Neptune, draw his inspiring energies from our depths and express them, transforming them into works of beauty, acts of compassion, sacred offerings. Or, we can allow Neptune to draw us in, lure us to escape, go unconscious, create a fantasy inner world where all is hunky dory.

In Chapter 14, I referred to Neptune’s triptych of traps: illusion, delusion and disillusion. Images of Neptune depict him as god of the sea. Brandishing his trident, he stirs up the oceans. He swamps small boats. He inspires fear. If you displease him, you will know his mighty wrath. All of that is a metaphor alerting us to danger.

So let’s look at the insidious pattern in our nation’s chart that disempowers us – the interactions of Neptune, Mercury and Mars. Mercury lies between Mars and Neptune. These two seem to be “fight or flight” metaphors. How do we handle our experience? Do we react defensively, even aggressively? Do we face our challenges, stand up for what’s right, defend against injustice, speak and live our values? Or do we sink back into our ill-lit depths and dwell in fantasy?

The majority of us live in illusion. Our Ego brains talk to us incessantly, telling us the story of who we are and how the world works. The problem is that much of what we’re told simply isn’t true. We learned it from our parents, our teachers, our peers. It has been passed down to us for generations. We think we know who we are and how we got here. We share a paradigm, a set of beliefs based on a hash of mythology, religion, history and science. What we believe we subsequently experience, which reinforces the belief. But we experience reality this way not because it is this way, but because we create it this way.

Our paradigm is one of conflict and competition, survival of the fittest. We believe we are descended from apes. We believe we have to compete for resources. We believe the universe is vast and meaningless and we are but an insignificant speck. We believe we are flawed, tainted by sin and therefore fallen. We believe in enemies. We live defensively, in fear and anxiety. Moment by moment our minds are on the alert for threats. We conjure up fearful images, hidden motives, dangers lurking just out of sight.

When our fantasy world engulfs us we can move into delusion. The line between illusion and delusion is a fine one and it is fragile. At any moment it can shatter. If reality breaks our illusion we either dig deeper into delusion or become disillusioned. We lose faith in ourselves, in others, in our world. This leads to greater danger – depression, apathy, despair, suicide. Delusion leads to madness, possible violence and imprisonment. This is Neptune’s shadow side.

Please understand that I am not saying that Neptune creates suicide or inspires us to commit crimes. I’m saying that this archetype, that exists within all of us, carries energies that can turn destructive if we do not manage them consciously. Evidence of unconscious Neptune lies in addiction, whether it’s alcoholism, drugs, pornography, media, electronics. These are our escape devices.

The temptation to escape is with us every moment of our lives. It’s especially tempting right now. But this is exactly what we must not do. We have to wake up, face the facts, get a firm grip on the reality we have created and assume responsibility for it.

We need our Neptunian dreams, but we need our Mars to carry them out. Where we go wrong is with our Mercury, our thoughts, our beliefs and the way we express them. We are long overdue for a new paradigm. Science has already disproved much of our paradigm. The news just hasn’t reached the textbooks and classrooms yet. In addition, spiritual seekers and meditators have been exploring realms of consciousness beyond the ego. In Astrology, these are the transpersonal planets and the new frontier in the Kuiper Belt. We are on the threshold of a new age and our collective consciousness is evolving and transforming as we speak.

January 12, 2020 marks a milestone in our evolution. Saturn conjoins Pluto. These two serious planets come together to shake us out of our slumber. Pluto has been clearing the path for change.  Saturn reveals “the fruits of our labors.” Karma comes due and America is unprepared. (We’ll explore this topic in the upcoming chapters of this series.)

Saturn is approaching Pluto, but this is not the only significant relationship parading on the cosmic stage. Pluto and Neptune are intimately connected right now as well. Since 1948 they have been sextile. That means they have revolved slowly around 60 degrees of separation and will do so until 2029. This aspect is considered activating, meaning that these two archetypes stimulate and trigger one another.

This dance between our two outermost planets gives me hope. Pluto will deconstruct much of our reality in the next few years. It has been at work on our nation since 2001 and reaches its climax in a conjunction with its natal position. The USA will have a Pluto return in 2022. The good news is that Neptune is tempering the impact. Neptune acts slowly, like the action of waves that reshape our shores. Intuitively I feel this gentle energy buffering the Pluto impact. Neptune counsels unconditional love as the antidote to Plutonic fears.

It’s quite obvious that as Pluto hacks away at the foundations of our reality, we long more than ever to escape from it. But we must remember the caveat: Stay Conscious. This is our challenge. We must be informed. We must wake up and step up and speak up. We cannot dream our way into the future we desire. Dreams must be inspiration to action. We must begin to manifest our values and dreams in our daily lives. We must become the future we long for.

Next week I will begin a four-part conclusion to this exploration of the USA chart. Stay with me while we assemble a full portrait of the American psyche, warts and all.