Our ancestors were keen sky watchers, looking to the heavens for information and guidance. For them, the planets and stars took on lives of their own. Classical astrology included five planets. Yet modern astrologists have integrated newly discovered sky objects into their practices. Neptune, named for the Roman sea god, offers intriguing insights to contemporary astrology buffs.
A Planet Discovered by Modern Science
Currently, Neptune is the most distant planet in our solar system. NASA explains that the azure ice giant takes 165 Earth years to orbit the sun yet has a day that’s only 16 hours long. The planet sports 13 moons, six faint rings, a rocky core, and a mantle composed of icy materials. Surface temperatures are frigid, averaging at minus 392 degrees Fahrenheit. With its thick atmosphere of hydrogen, helium, and methane, Neptune cannot support life.
Owing to its significant distance from our sun, Neptune wasn’t discovered until 1846. EarthSky’s Daniela Breitman reveals that Galileo Galilei saw it through his telescope in 1612. However, the Italian astronomer mistook it for a faint star. In the mid-1800s, three scholars observed Uranus’s orbital irregularities with their telescopes. Each of them conjectured that there must be another object beyond it. Working independently, they calculated Neptune’s placement using their observations and advanced mathematics. Today, we credit its discovery to three individuals:
- Johann Gottfried Galle
- John Couch Adams
- Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier
Neptune and Its Mystical Meanings
It’s uncertain exactly when astrologers started to include Neptune in horoscopes and charts. Mystica Astrology’s Emma Wilson refers to the planet as a symbol of our dreams and fantasies. Wilson adds that this can play out in positive ways. It may gift exceptional creativity for producing groundbreaking artistic, musical, and literary works. Even so, Neptune’s energies could cause escapism, delusions, and unattainable fantasies.
AstroStyle remarks that it rules Pisces, but it also rules the 12th house of the zodiac. AstroStyle mentions that this house is the domain of endings. These include events, concepts, and institutions such as old age, the afterlife, hospitals, and prisons. Yet it’s also a house of creativity, ruling the imagination along with the arts and the subconscious mind.
Its Impacts in the Signs and Houses
Neptune’s energies combine with those of the astrological sign or house in which it is present. This holds true for both its transit as well as its position at the time an individual is born. In personal natal charts, astrologers tend to focus on house placements as opposed to sign placements. The Astro Codex describes each of these in detail, with impacts linked to the planet or sign that governs each house. Neptune in the 12th house at birth produces psychic, intuitive, and artistic potential. Conversely, this dreamy planet’s position in the Virgo-ruled sixth house could wreak havoc with employment and health.
Neptune takes around 14 years to travel through each zodiac sign. Astrologers believe that it influences generations, political events, and cultural developments. Astrologer Lynn Hayes points to alternative religions and cults flourishing during the 1970s as an example. She credits this development to Neptune’s presence in Sagittarius between 1970 and 1984. Individuals born during this time may seek higher noble causes and nontraditional belief systems. Ironically, one could credit these energies for the growing interest in astrology among younger adults.
Can Neptune Reveal What Remains Hidden?
While technology and knowledge have increased, the human tendency to look up at the skies remains. Science’s contribution to the depths of our knowledge doesn’t detract from the mystical and ineffable. Neptune is a great example of this, as astrologers have bestowed it with a unique set of meanings. This planet named for a deity of the depths may give us clues about what lies below the surface in our minds, hearts, and realities.