I think the best symbol for Neptune is the ocean. When the ocean wants to come and see you, you can't do much to stop it. Learning how to surrender to it is the ultimate art form. Neptune necessitates the dissolution of boundaries and opening up to the unseen. This can take the form of compassionate service, inspired artistry, humble wisdom, enlightened humor, and intuitive receptivity-- as well as utter crisis. Neptune's tides gradually push and pull us to surrender to the flow of life and allow it to guide us. When our Neptune is awakened, we are humble, open-hearted, relaxed, generous, intuitive, artistic, wise, and creative. When our Neptune is struggling, we are resisting our emotions--therefore suffering--escaping through various addictions, deluding ourselves about our lives, co-dependent, confused, manipulative, and unhappy. It's a wide chasm between an awakened Neptune and a sleeping Neptune, but of course this is "a gradual awakening."

In a birth chart, Neptune's house placement, like the other outer planets, is much more significant than its sign. The natal house that contains one's Neptune shows an area where one must be careful to have appropriate boundaries, not escape through addictiveness, be honest and clear rather than deluded or manipulative, focus on the present rather than nostalgically or tragically viewing the past, balance the ego, learn the balance of giving and receiving, embrace sorrow, remain objective, express creativity and compassion, and evolve spiritually. Any of these themes can come into play with natal Neptune. Just apply these principles to your natal house that contains Neptune, and notice the Neptunian dangers and gifts in these areas. Imagine that house being deluged with water, and it may help you to know the difficulties and potentialities of that placement.

To get a more holistic sense of what Neptune is like, read everything about Pisces/12th House in section one of the course/tutorial. Enter section one.

To study your Neptune, go through the first section of the tutorial (Using parts 1 & 2 of the Course/Tutorial Together) and consider the following things about the astrological letter naturally related to the house which your Neptune is in (see the diagram or the alphabet for help).
I recommend going through the list once:
1) Imagine this area of your life being deluged with water. See the dangers of addiction, emotional excess, lack of boundaries, and not facing reality. Think about how this department of your life is characterized by instability and unnecessary drama. Recognize how, if you dedicate yourself to clarity, sobriety, and consciousness, this area of your life can be infused with amazing compassion, creativity, humility, beauty, and wisdom.
Optional: Fit the nature of the sign of your Neptune in with this understanding of Neptune's house for a bit of added flavor.
Begin here

Neptune aspects
All the difficult aspects, which are the square (90) and the opposition (180) [you can also include the quincunx (150) and semi-square (45), but these are more subtle], to Neptune can be condensed as indicating a difficulty with, or resistance to, surrendering to emotions and/or Spirit. This difficulty/
resistance can then easily turn into addictive behaviors that allow one to escape the initial need to embrace emotion or open to Spirit purely, without the aid of external supports. Positive aspects, the sextile (60), trine (120), and quintile (72), to Neptune can have the same issues, but there is also an initially open channel for a very positive flow of Neptunian energy. Conjunctions with Neptune tend to have both the negative and positive meanings. Any planet aspecting Neptune must become spiritually elevated, normally undergoing crisis first, but then hopefully becoming infused with, and surrendered to, The Great Spiritual Mystery.

Neptune Aspects
This section is for those who can determine which planets Neptune aspects in their charts. Your chart printout may have something called an aspectarian, which looks like a stairway of many boxes. By cross-referencing the planets on the aspectarian, you can read which aspects Neptune forms in your chart. If you don't know what the symbol of Neptune looks like, you can look on the diagram page. For more info on aspects, see the aspects page.

Here is a very brief run-down of difficult (transformative) aspects involving Neptune (including conjunctions). This is only to provide a quick sketch and stimulate thought:

Neptune/Sun: Struggles around the ego, confidence, power. Too much or too little. A need to balance selflessness and selfhood. A general need to learn to feel one's emotions and/or surrender to Spirit. Therefore there is also a general spiritual and emotional strength if these issues can be faced squarely. This strength  should not be underestimated, but much clarity and emotional/spiritual vigilance is required first. Tremendous loving generosity can be the fruit of this aspect.
Neptune/Moon: Complex emotional difficulties, usually stemming from unhealed family history. A need to balance intense drives to both give love and to be loved. Hyper-emotional, co-dependent and addictive pitfalls are strong possibilities. Extra clarity, sobriety, and consciousness is required for healing; if this healing can occur the individual is capable of amazing love and compassion.
Neptune/Mercury: Mental clarity issues. The mind is intuitive, but needs discipline and focus to express itself coherently. Addictions which stimulate or blur the mind are a definite pitfall; if they can be avoided, the individual's creative gifts can be quite infinite.
Neptune/Venus: Relationship drama is the pitfall. A Cinderella complex is usually present. The person is usually too idealistic, too co-dependent, and too blind to reality concerning relationships. Poor emotional boundaries are common, as well as a savior/servant complex. Needs to learn equality and reciprocity in relationships. A need to be whole within, instead of seeking wholeness through relationship. By dedicating oneself to having only balanced, mutually-supportive relationships, much family dysfunction can be healed, and the individual's relationships can stand as beacons of true love grounded in reality.
Neptune/Mars: Difficulties with direct self-assertion, initiative, and direction. Great creativity and healing energy is present if the person can channel their addictive nature this way.
Neptune/Jupiter: Great spirituality, creativity, and intuition is possible, but so is a great indulgent streak. Again, the addictiveness must be channelled into compassion or creativity. The difficulty with positive aspects between these planets is that the person can 'get away with' a lot of indulgence with drugs, etc. This can be fun for a while, but it can also set up a habit that one may never be able to break.
Neptune/Saturn: All the great Neptune difficulties are exaggerated. The basic need to learn to surrender to emotion and Spirit is more basic, and greater. A need to integrate dreams with reality. Deep surrender and prayer is needed as a way of life to facilitate a very deep emotional-spiritual transformation to take place. The human ego-mind-will cannot succeed without a constantly strong relationship to a higher power here.
Neptune/Chiron: i haven't actually paid attention to this, but i assume it would be: deep woundedness and/or woundedness towards God/Spirit, excessive ideals of finding "the one" (the perfect person in whatever setting). Enormous healing and musical gifts are also probably present, along with a unique and deep orientation towards compassionate service.
Neptune/Uranus: At the worst, an oscillation between independence/detachment/mind and co-dependence/addiction/emotion. Mind, emotion, and spirit must all co-exist peacefully. Self and Other must be balanced. This integration is a big one, and great will be the spiritual pressure to unify these powerful and opposite principles. Immense spiritual and creative power is the reward for those who undergo this transformation.
Neptune/Pluto: (have been in sextile for a long time, thus no one really has these planets in a difficult aspect to one another)

Home