Neptunes House

"Abracadabra - a tap with a magic wand - gone!"

I am very familiar with the creative / spiritual / mystical aspects to Neptune, but I am curious about peoples experiences with the sometimes not so rosy effects that Neptune can have! In particular I wanted to ask if you are prone to experiencing confusion, fear and anxiety around the concerns of the house that Neptune falls in, in your natal chart?

For myself Neptune in the 6th house brings an oversensitivity to drugs (medications) chemicals, smells etc. It has always made any ill health I have had notoriously difficult to diagnose and that in turn has caused vague floating fears. Though I am very intuitive when it comes to other peoples health (and my amateur diagnostic abilities are usually excellent :-) - probable due to my Neptunes exact sextile to Venus conjunct Pluto in Virgo.) I don't seem to be able to see my own 6th house issues with such clarity!
These floating fears can also be pinned onto my pets if I am not aware and vigilant and I have trouble 'seeing clearly' if my concerns are valid or not. The sixth house is one place I sometimes have to ask others for a second opinion, as I know that sometimes reality can shift a little too easily there for me!

Some more thoughts based purely on observation of people close to me -

Neptune conjunct Ascendant / in the 1st house brings a shifting self image, a feeling of "I have lost myself again" - I was sure I knew who I was!
Fear sometimes comes from not having a clear sense of who they are and what they are doing.

Who are you? said the Caterpillar. Alice replied rather shyly, 'I - I hardly know, Sir, just at present - at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have changed several times since then' - Lewis Carroll

Neptune in 12th - if no time is made to allow Neptune activities into everyday life - meditation, creativity, daydreaming etc. then absent mindedness, forgetfulness and spaciness seems to seep through into day to day life - over tiredness and sometimes illness can be signs that these people need to retreat and look after their Neptune self. Vague floating anxiety can sometimes surface from the subconscious and fear can come from 'losing yourself' in things.

Some ramblng observations about how things can sometimes seem in Neptunes house

In the house of Neptune

Schrodingers cat
is both alive and not alive

*
nothing is solid
nothing is sure

*
morphing reflections
liquid truth

first I know
then I don't
maybe it will
maybe it won't

*
I had it a moment ago
now it has gone

*
It is true as long as you believe it
or until it dissolves before your eyes

I would love to hear about how it is for you!
What house is your Neptune in? Can you identify with any of the observations in this post? What effects do you notice?

Image and words - Susannah Bec

2009 - Synastry Revisited - Plugs and Sockets

Synastry - Relationship Astrology

I am revisiting this post from April of last year ( new thoughts added at the end)
I would enjoy hearing your experiences and observations - Susannah :-)

Every time we interact with anyone there is a 'relationship' going on. With some people this can feel easy and natural, we feel a flow, an affinity. Communication is easy. We feel understood, validated, appreciated.

With others we have to work at the interactions, it can feel uneasy or awkward, we have trouble putting our point across or understanding where the other person is coming from, there are misunderstandings. We feel the other person is just not getting us.

Then there are those interactions that are so difficult that it can feel as though you are coming from different planets! You seem to have no common reference points at all.

I have labelled this "Plugs and Sockets."

I coined this phrase while mulling over a relationship with someone, where no matter what I tried, I just couldn't establish a connection to effectively communicate.

It was like walking around this person with my plug (my communication) and just not being able to find the appropriate socket to plug into so that we could connect.

Believe me, I searched every square inch of the relationship and yep, just as I had feared, there was actually NO socket that fitted my plug.

So, I examined our synastry and guess what, my Mercury (communication and ruling planet) made No aspects at all to anything in this persons chart. There was literally no way this person could accept and truly understand my communication, they had no socket for me to plug into.

That got me thinking about aspects between people, (and plugs and sockets). Obviously, no two people will have sockets for every one of the other persons plugs, and vice versa. We don't need just 'one' person for all our plugs, that is why we have a variety of people to interact with, but in close relationships it helps to have the appropriate plugs and sockets (aspects) to make us feel understood, and to be able to flow.

If two people are spending lots of time together and one persons sun or moon does not have a socket (any aspects to anything in the other persons chart), then they can find themselves just relating from the parts of their personality/chart that ARE 'received'.

This can lead eventually to shutting down and not fully expressing the energy of their sun or moon. If this is ongoing in a close relationship, without other avenues of expression for the planet, then the energy involved could get backed up and blocked, if this is the case, appropriate alternative expression must be found.

Some people have lots of sockets we plug into, and we provide plenty of plugs for their sockets - this makes self expression and being understood and received, easy and nourishing and is the making of a good fulfilling relationship.

Further Thoughts and Observations

I have also been thinking about the times where the other person clearly has a socket for your plug but that the flow is not an easy one -

For instance, recently I was observing an interaction between two people who have each have mercury conjunct the others neptune. There is an strong and direct connection but they were obviously not receiving each others signals clearly, in fact they would have probably been better drawing pictures for each other to explain their points of view. I watched, as the very clear and concise communication left each person (mercury) but saw that as it reached the other it was not received clearly, it had become amorphous and distorted as though it had passed through some sort of filter on route. Both thought that they knew what the other was saying but they were both projecting their own interpretations, rather than hearing and processing the actual words spoken. . .

I have also seen this happen when a flowing easily expressed planet in one person, plugs into someone who has a saturn or uranus for instance as the socket - the flowing signal that is emitted by one becomes faltering and hesitant when they are plugged in to the other persons socket - it is as though a circuit breaker has been fitted.

Glimpses of Neptune

"I see myself as a sieve. Everyone's feelings flow through me." - Liv Ullman.

"I'm familiar with formlessness, with things that never end.
Boundaries, that don't exist. Realities that bend."

I lose myself - I slip under doors - through cracks - I have no container.

*

She sang her own song

no one elses would do.

She saw through walls

and conversations

and the look in peoples eyes.

Everything was stark

Uncovered

Understood

*

Me - Neptune opposite 12th house Moon.
Words & Image - Susannah Bec.

Can We Look At Uranus, Neptune and Pluto Objectively?

So, can we possibly view the outer planets clearly?

I have been thinking about the outer planets and have realised that I don't/can't view them objectively. Of course I have read all the text book definitions and recognise the essence of the outer planets but still believe that because of my chart placements I am not seeing the actual unadulterated energy.

URANUS - I have my Sun conjunct Uranus (20/21 degrees Leo trine Jupiter in Sag.)

To me Uranus energy usually feels liberating, exciting, creative.

I enjoy being an individual, I take "you're weird" as a compliment! lol.

I don't mind, going against the herd, standing up for what I believe. . . being different

Uranus transits for me are usually positive, though the early ones really didn't feel that way, more like a bomb had gone off destroying my life and everything I had clung to for security, family, home and lifestyle (I have Uranus in the 4th house.)

After the first major transit (which shattered my seedpod and changed the course of my life) I learnt some strategies and when I feel Uranus looming I 'let go and go with the flow'.

Uranus is great at sweeping me out of ruts and too comfortable comfort zones and whisking me off to new growth and lots of times a whole new life! Like Dorothy in a wizard of OZ - all of a sudden I am in a new place and everything has changed. When I look back these have been the periods of my greatest evolution,

I must say at this point that my Taurus Moon is NOT always so keen. :-)


Running softly, soundlessly, across the midnight rooftops, a dozen factory chimneys etched in black.

Through the silhouettes of night, my soul goes running, silence masking its footfalls. Far away a ship calls home, its cry echoing in the murky blackness, a pigeon roosts on a factory windowsill, its glass reflecting the moon.

As my soul goes running, no shadows does it cast, nor reflections are seen. For who will take the time in the dead of night, to look at midnight rooftops, and notice, as my soul goes running.


So for me Uranus is tied up with my Sun, my identity, it can not be seen separately, it is part of me. So I am unable to view it dispassionately.

I have observed people with Uranus in difficult aspects having trouble with feeling different, feeling like an outsider, wanting to fit in. I have seen it disrupt peoples lives and turn it upside down.

They would not view it as I do. I believe that like life itself, how you view things is filtered through who you are. (In Astrological terms - through your birthchart.) So, no absolute truths, just perceptions.


NEPTUNE - I have a 6th house Neptune opposite my 12th house Moon in Taurus both square my Leo Mercury/IC conjunction.

So for me Neptune is an emotional planet, a sensitivity, I feel people (sometimes too much.)

I have to be aware that I am porous on an emotional level, others emotions penetrate the thin membrane surrounding me.

My own emotions can be contained, worked with, healed and understood if I keep them safe within my 12th house cave and allow them to be nurtured by my grounded Taurus Moon.

But if, as in earlier years I externalise my emotions, try to share them, they become vast, amorphous, without end.

I lose myself, I slip under doors, through cracks. I have no container. If written down they can be captured, the paper gives them boundaries, I can see them.

For me Neptune is sensitivity, inspiration, intuition, compassion.

*

Navigate the darkness.

Edge your way forward, one sure foot in front of the other.

Eyes closed, you trust your inner light.

Immersed in feelings you have no need of sight.

Your inner navigation knows the route.

Intuition the compass of the soul.

Feel the direction, the magnetic pull on your primal instincts.

Trust the path, trust your gut, trust your self.

Keep walking.

*

Some Neptune transits have been more difficult for me than the ones from Uranus. I have in recent years lived through Neptune opposing my Sun/Uranus conjunction, and as it makes no aspect to them natally, this was an energy my Sun was unused to! I had a very physical reaction to the transit. Whereas Neptune aspects to a planet in my chart that 'knows' that energy is easier, it is recognised and can be worked with.

As Neptune is placed in my 6th house and also has an 150 degree aspect from Mars it affects my physical health - In fact the whole sixth house Neptune issue deserves a blog post of its own to explain/explore as I have so much to say.

I hear Neptune and attach emotion to it. Someone with Mars conjunct Neptune would see it differently.


PLUTO - Pluto is conjunct my Venus (5/6 degrees Virgo) and also part of a grand Earth trine with my 12th house Moon and 8th house Saturn.

So Pluto, I associate with relating, with relationships.

In my younger days I was taken down into the depths and reborn again through my relationships.

Destroyed and resurrected. I have no fear of the deep dark places of the human psyche, of the depths of emotion. I know that from the darkness comes rebirth, comes healing.

You just have to be willing to face the darkness. Sorry, I will change that. You have to endure the darkness, you have to be courageous and hold on and wait for the process to run its course and churn you out remade, renewed, reborn. Hopefully with a few nuggets of gold in your pockets that you saw glittering in the corners of that dark underground cavern and carried back safely into the light.

I like to relate on a deep level. I like to look beneath the surface.

*

Golden, I am golden,

a fiery sun burning with a never ending flame.

Red hot centre combusting,

radiating outward,

wave after wave fueled by a magnificient wind,

whirling, blowing life into the feeding flames.

I am alight, radiant, glorious.

Raging heat, the nucleus of creation,

throw me down into your molten heart,

transform me in your crucible.

Forged in the white heat to arise

a phoenix from your flame.

Base to precious,

lead to gold,

transmutation,

alchemy.

*

Pluto needs depth whatever it is attached to in our chart.

That is why text book definitions help us to get an idea of the 'nature' of a planet but observation of ourselves, others and life is needed to fully understand and integrate all the nuances of any one planetary energy.


QUESTIONS - How do the aspects from the outer planets to personal planets in your chart colour how you view them?

Do you notice the outer planet energies in your day to day life?

All poems taking from my poetry blog - Out Of My Ocean

All Images chosen from my artwork to express the qualities of the particular planets

That Night in the Bar

I'd been a long while away and as I stepped from the car

and pushed open the door that lead to the bar

the music, the smells, the dense smokey air

assailed all my senses, as I looked for a chair

I watched as my friend pushed through the crowd

and wondered why they needed the music so loud

I was finding it difficult even to think

as I sat in the corner and sipped on my drink

finally I got used to the sights and the sound

and started to take a good look around

there in the corners sat people like me

and at tables around, there were others to see

leaning on walls, they were not part of the din

glasses in hand, they were sinking within

I've seen musicians at work, channeling tunes

I've watched readers of tarot, casters of runes

I've seen people praying, down on bended knees

I've seen painters awestruck, before vast churning seas

and in that very moment, I began to understand

that life and that longing, walk hand in hand

what I saw in those faces, that night in the bar

was at the bottom of a glass, they were glimpsing that star

their eyes became shiny as they entered the zone

The gods were there with them, they were no longer alone

It was clear to me watching, that right there in plain sight

Neptune was there, in the bar room that night


Image - Saturday Night (Watercolour and Marker Pen)

The Outer Planets and Me - Neptune

Neptune comes in pictures, images, sounds, colours and feelings. It links me with the female, the yin, the intuitive.

It gives me a foot in both worlds. It understands and is at home in the world of dreams, archetypes and symbols, for they are its realm. It knows the "reality" behind the reality.

It enables me to see the "bigger picture." The drama that is being played out on earths big screen TV. Neptune hands me the remote control, enables me to switch channels.

I see pictures in everything. I hold the stem of a newly sprouted sunflower seed, and tears spring to my eyes, as I feel and identify with the life force within...striving to become.

Neptune in 6th house opposite Taurus Moon in 12th square Mercury/IC and MC. Sextile my Venus/Pluto conjunction in Virgo.

Too much Neptune

TOO MUCH NEPTUNE
She sat, huddled.
Her thin life coming apart at the seams.
She pulled it to her
for warmth and cold comfort.
A fragile shell,
that could neither hold her in,
or anything else out.
No division,
no exterior, no interior
no sanctuary
from the storms of emotion
from the weather of her moods.
She sang her own song,
no one elses would do.
She saw through walls,
and conversations
and the look in peoples eyes.
Everything was stark,

Uncovered
Understood.

Copyright © SB 2008

Moon opposite Neptune

Neptune has been my Mother
bought forth from her very womb,
I feel her every nuance,
whilst wandering in her rooms.

She has always been around me,
but I've never seen her face.
Her gentle arms, encircle me,
as I'm staring into space.

Oceanic energy,
that coddles, and reveals.
The masks are constantly changing,
depending how she feels.

I'm familiar with formlessness,
with things that never end.
Boundaries, that don't exist.
…Realities that bend.

She cossets my emotion,
whilst exposing every thought.
Dwelling in her special place.
High priestess…holding court.

(12th house Moon opp Neptune
both square Mercury on I.C.)

Copyright © SB 2008