Neptune in astrology
Neptune is retrograde in Aries until 13 December.
- Cycle
- About 165 years round the Sun
- Time in a sign
- About 14 years
- Rules
- Pisces, in modern practice
- Turns retrograde
- Yes
Neptune is the eighth and outermost planet from the Sun. Its position was predicted from the pull it exerts on Uranus, and it was found in 1846, the first planet located by calculation before it was seen. It circles the Sun in about 165 years and spends about fourteen years in each sign. It cannot be seen without a telescope.
In tradition Neptune stands for imagination, ideals, dreams and the dissolving of boundaries. The traditional keywords are intuition, compassion, music and illusion. Many modern astrologers give it the rulership of Pisces. Neptune turns retrograde once a year for about five months.
Everyone born within about fourteen years has Neptune in the same sign, so, as with Uranus and Pluto, astrologers look to its house and its aspects to tell one chart from another.
Neptune has been part of astrology only since its discovery, so every interpretation of it belongs to the modern period, unlike the seven classical planets.
Neptune through the signs
- Neptune in Aries
- Neptune in Aries is read as a generation that idealises the pioneer; personally it is read as inspired, impulsive imagination.
- Neptune in Taurus
- Neptune in Taurus is read as a generation that dreams about land and plenty; personally it is read as an idealised relationship with comfort and beauty.
- Neptune in Gemini
- Neptune in Gemini is read as a generation that blurs fact and story; personally it is read as a poetic, suggestible mind.
- Neptune in Cancer
- Neptune in Cancer is read as a generation that idealises home; personally it is read as deep empathy and a longing for a lost or imagined past.
- Neptune in Leo
- Neptune in Leo is read as a generation enchanted by glamour and spectacle; personally it is read as a romantic imagination and a love of the stage.
- Neptune in Virgo
- Neptune in Virgo is read as a generation that dissolves old ideas of work and service; personally it is read as compassion made practical and an uneasy relationship with detail.
- Neptune in Libra
- Neptune in Libra is read as a generation that idealises love and peace; personally it is read as romantic ideals that reality rarely matches.
- Neptune in Scorpio
- Neptune in Scorpio is read as a generation drawn to the occult and the taboo; personally it is read as an imagination fascinated by depth and secrecy.
- Neptune in Sagittarius
- Neptune in Sagittarius is read as a generation seeking a universal faith; personally it is read as idealism about distant places and big ideas.
- Neptune in Capricorn
- Neptune in Capricorn is read as a generation whose institutions are dreams and disappointments; personally it is read as ambition softened by ideals.
- Neptune in Aquarius
- Neptune in Aquarius is read as a generation that dreams of connection through technology; personally it is read as ideals about friendship and the common good.
- Neptune in Pisces
- Neptune in Pisces, its modern sign, is read as a generation open to the mystical; personally it is read as compassion without limit and a thin skin for the world's pain.
Neptune through the houses
- Neptune in the first house
- Neptune in the first house is read as a soft, elusive presence: a changeable image, sensitivity to the room, and a self that is hard to pin down.
- Neptune in the second house
- Neptune in the second house is read as an idealised relationship with resources: blurred boundaries around what is owned, and value found in the intangible.
- Neptune in the third house
- Neptune in the third house is read as a poetic mind: imagination in speech, intuition in learning, and facts that soften into story.
- Neptune in the fourth house
- Neptune in the fourth house is read as a dreamlike home: an idealised or elusive family past, and a private life rich in imagination.
- Neptune in the fifth house
- Neptune in the fifth house is read as romance and art as refuge: idealised loves, inspired creativity, and play that is a kind of dreaming.
- Neptune in the sixth house
- Neptune in the sixth house is read as compassion in daily work: service to the vulnerable, and a routine that needs rest and imagination.
- Neptune in the seventh house
- Neptune in the seventh house is read as the idealised partner: romantic hopes placed on another, compassion in bonds, and blurred lines between two people.
- Neptune in the eighth house
- Neptune in the eighth house is read as mysticism at depth: intimacy as dissolution, intuition about hidden things, and vagueness around shared resources.
- Neptune in the ninth house
- Neptune in the ninth house is read as faith as feeling: mystical belief, idealised distant places, and a philosophy of compassion.
- Neptune in the tenth house
- Neptune in the tenth house is read as a vocation with a dream in it: art, care or spirit as a public path, and an image others project onto.
- Neptune in the eleventh house
- Neptune in the eleventh house is read as idealised friendship: faith in the group and the cause, and friends who are also fellow dreamers.
- Neptune in the twelfth house
- Neptune in the twelfth house, its modern home, is read as the mystic's placement: compassion without edge, a need for retreat, and a porous inner life.
Astrology is a tradition of interpretation. What is written here is traditional, offered for reflection and entertainment, not advice and not a prediction.