So June 25 to December 1
Neptune is retrograding. Neptune retrogrades every year for about half the year. But wait… Who is Neptune? Excellent question my chickpea. Neptune is our friend. He’s one of the outermost planets in our galaxy. He rules ascension, otherworldly love, imagination, oneness, he also rules fantasy, idealism. He's the natural ruler of the 12th house and Pisces.
He’s kind of floaty, dissociative and ethereal, he’s a dreamy puppeteer, the man behind the curtain.
So… while the retrograde itself isn’t that shocking or incredible -hello, he’s going retrograde half the time anyway... it’s still an exciting time to shake things up. It’s like the man behind the curtain is yelling at you to not look behind the curtain. Illusions are coming to the surface, we’re going to be hit with a healthy dose of reality.
But, aren’t we designing our own reality? Yes my loves. But all good designers need to know the material we’re working with. Imagine you’re designing a beautiful purple ball gown, we can wish and wish and wish, but at some point we have to accept that we’re trying to make purple silk out of mouldy green fishing netting. A healthy dose of reality is just going to tell you where it’s time to let go of the things that are getting in the way of our dreams coming true… not our dreams. We’re still making the ball gown, this time with the right fabric.
It’s hitting us on a subconscious level, it’s almost like looking at things and being like “wait wtf, has this always been there?” or “I think this thing that I’ve been putting up with is really starting to bother me.” or… it might be more direct like “hold on, this person has been straight up lying to me.”.
Also… heads up if you’ve been lying to, (or about), manipulating or just generally mistreating anyone with strong mutable placements (Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius sun, moon, rising) you might want to get ahead of the game and apologise, because either way the truth is coming to the surface and you’re going to be caught out.
Subconsciously we’re dealing with some of Neptune's themes on a personal level. The retrograde is taking place in the sign of Pisces. The sign that knows no bounds, Pisces is this beautiful, ethereal, otherworldly love. While Neptune has been direct in this sign we’ve been experiencing double the idealism, double the boundlessness, double the dreaminess, double the dissociation. With this energy it’s easy to lose track of our self and become so connected to the ‘other’. This retrograde is giving us a second to establish some boundaries around yourself and your coping mechanisms, yourself and others and just in general, your sense of self.
Where are we gaslighting ourselves and doubting our own power? What areas of our lives are we going with the flow where we should be taking charge? Where are we outsourcing for advice and opinions when the truth is really within us? Where can we invest in ourselves, our own personal development and meeting our own needs rather than focusing all our energy on being of service to others or relying on people around us to make us happy? So… to find the area of your life this retrograde may be hitting go to wherever you keep your birthchart… My favourite is astro.com and find the house Pisces sits in in your chart. Pisces in the 1st house/Pisces Rising: Disillusionments on how you’re being received. This retrograde you may realise that there is a disconnect between the ways you think you show up in the world and the way others are receiving you. The retrograde is inviting you to get clear on who you really are away from the expectations and opinions of others. Pisces in the 2nd house/Aquarius Rising: Disillusionments around values and material. This retrograde is asking us to reflect on our personal and public values. What are our true needs and are they being met? What stories do we tell ourselves regarding money and objects? Are we aligned with that belief? Pisces in the 3rd house/Capricorn Rising: Disillusionments around communications. This retrograde is asking you to reflect on your communication style. Is what you're saying in alignment with what you really mean? Is your message coming from your heart and authenticity? Pisces in the 4th house/Sagittarius Rising: Disillusionments regarding family and home life. This retrograde is asking you to reflect on your family and your home life. How are you to live with? What are your opinions of your family? You might also be faced with some reality regarding family members or people you live with. Pisces in the 5th house/Scorpio Rising: Disillusionments regarding self expression, romance, children, fun and play. If you are thinking of having children (or attempting not to have children) You might be faced with some realities around this. You might realise that conceiving children is harder than you thought, or way easier than you may have realised. If you are a parent, or have children in your life, something may become apparent about your child that you may have missed. You may also feel like ideas and expression will flow more freely. You may face realisations regarding the ways you have fun and play. Maybe what’s playful to you is hurtful to others, or what you’ve been considering playful is actually harmful to you. Reflect on what your ideas and expectations in romance are. Away from the fantasy, what does it really look like to be in love? Pisces in the 6th house/Libra rising: Disillusionments regarding health, job, daily habits: Where are you neglecting yourself and showing up too much for others. Is your job meeting your needs? Do you need to ask for what you want? How are you, really? Are you eating properly? Enough? Are you moving? Are you looking after your mental health? Pisces in the 7th house/Virgo rising: Disillusionments regarding closest relationships, romantic partners and business partners. What’s real and what are you projecting onto your partner/those closest to you? Are you really in love? You may be faced with some reality regarding people closest to you in your life. Are you giving your power away?
Pisces in the 8th house/Leo rising: Disillusionment surrounding mystery, psychology and shared resources. What are you scared of? What are you ready to let go moving forward? Where are you giving your power away to the unknown? Basically, where are you leaning into fear where you could be leaning into love? Is it time to face the realities of what you're scared of and where you can relinquish the need to control every aspect of your life. Work out your boundaries around what belongs to you, what belongs to the collective and what belongs to others.
Pisces in the 9th house/Cancer rising: Disillusionment on expansion, higher knowledge, education and travel, 9th house rules our ideas of truth and growth. We may be realising self imposed limitations. Where we become narrow minded and so caught up in our ideas of what is right that we become intolerant to other beliefs. Equally this retrograde could be inviting you to seek ideas of clarity on your own personal truth, to stop outsourcing what is real and tune into your own intuition.
Pisces in the 10th house/Gemini rising: Disillusionment regarding career, public contribution, public life, place in the world. This is personally one of my favourite placements of this transit. This is really inviting you to reflect on your greater purpose and tuning into the legacy you want to leave in the world. It’s inviting you to be patient with any dissatisfaction, to wait for your soul to guide you. Regroup your personal power and work on your bravery for the upcoming shifts.
Pisces in the 11th house/Taurus rising: Disillusionments regarding friends, groups and networks and goals. This transit is inviting you to reflect on who you’re surrounding yourself with, and how are these people supporting or stunting your growth? Things are going to come to the surface regarding the people you have chosen to have in your life. If your friends have been talking about you behind your back, you're going to find out about it. If your community has been spreading lies about you, the reality is going to surface. You may find that your goals are shifting or that you’ve lost sight of your goals and your actions are no longer in alignment. The retrograde is inviting you to refocus on who to get to the truth of who and what you surround yourself with.
Pisces in the 12th house/Aries rising: Disillusionments regarding the subconscious and unconscious, spirituality and the paradigms within. The retrograde is inviting us to dive deep into our subconscious to find the ways we hold ourselves back from our own power. It’s about healing from the inside out and releasing ourselves from victimhood, blame and guilt. It’s inviting you to really look at the relationship you are in with your intuition. Are you listening to yourself, are you respecting your inner wisdoms and power?
So the man behind the curtain is just flirting with us. He’s dancing around and teasing us, saying “oooh don’t look behind the curtain” smiling as he pulls the curtain away, to reconnect us with our own personal power and truth.
