Neptune is currently transiting with the Moon’s South Node Ketu in the middle of sidereal Aquarius, and will be stationing direct on November 19, 2016. I have written about this extended transit before as a period ripe for mass deception, confusion or delusion amid political and social upheaval. Please refer to my September 13, 2016 blog about this transit which explains a lot about what is going on in the world right now. Neptune has been retrograde since June 13, 2016, and will station direct (appear to stop and move forward) at 11:38:06 PM ET on the 19th. This is an important astrological event for some personally and for all collectively, and it is not just the day of the station that can have an effect, but it lasts for about 12 days either side of the actual station while Neptune is moving exceptionally slowly from our geocentric perspective.
Followers of traditional Vedic astrology completely exclude the outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. On the other hand, Neo-Vedic or Contemporary Vedic astrologers like myself use the outer planets in their sidereal positions (not western tropical zodiac positions), but we do not assign rulership, dignity and debility to them. In natal astrology, I usually only pay attention to them when they make close natal or transiting contacts to the traditional grahas as well as the four angle (kendra) cusps of the sripati or chalit bhava chart.
These four cusps are power points of the chart and are known as the Ascendant/janma lagna.1st house cusp; Descendant/asta lagna/7th house cusp; MC-midheaven/madhya lagna/10th house cusp and IC-imum coeli/patala lagna/4th house cusp. I also use the outer planets in element analysis, assigning each outer planet one point in its respective element. I track the outer planets in all natal and mundane forecasting and understand their powerful influence based on my lengthy experience as an astrologer.
According to P.S. Sastri in his Textbook of Scientific Hindu Astrology, there is mention of the outer planets in the Mahabharata, though there is some debate over the identification of Varuna with the planet Neptune. Astrologer Dennis Harness has recounted in Pluto: A Neo-Vedic View that the late Vedic astrologer Narendra Desai “saw an ancient Vasistha Nadi palm leaf in a museum in Madras, India, which predicted that three important grahas or planets would be discovered by the jyotishis of the Kali Yuga. The great seer Vasistha was the author of a number of hymns in the Rg Veda (dated 3000 BC) and was considered a great priest of the kings. According to the ancient palm leaf the names of the grahas or planets would be Prajapati, Varuna, and Yama. The palm leaf went on to reveal that the jyotishi’s of Kali Yuga would need to decipher the significance and meaning of these powerful grahas.”
Why the ancient seers of Vedic astrology did not use the outer planets is a mystery that might be better understood in light of certain suppositions held within contemporary Western astrology, which is that the outer planets have been “discovered” at times in history when their particular significations became more relevant to the cultural needs of the time. For instance, Neptune’s discovery in 1846 correlates with developments of that era in Neptunian fields such as chemistry, pharmaceuticals, spiritualism and mysticism.
Neptune also relates to earthquakes, liquids, the ocean and bodies of water, oil and gas, socialism, communism, left-wing political ideas, vast schemes, large business conglomerates, exaggerated hopes and dreams, crime, mass delusion and mob psychology, secrets, floods, stock markets, liquids, inflation, espionage, slavery, voting and exiled people. It is also a significator of art, idealism, fantasy, spiritual love, compassion, mystical experience, alternate realities, confusion, drug use, delusion, denial and escapism. How it acts depends on the rest of the horoscope, the house and sign it occupies and aspects it makes. The problematical characteristics of Neptune can come out more if the native is not grounded in reality. A strong Saturn is important to enhance the positive qualities of Neptune.
In its current retrograde cycle, Neptune has transited back from 17+ to 15+ degrees of sidereal Aquarius. If you have important planets and points in your natal chart near the middle of Aquarius (*sidereal* not tropical) or in close aspect to this section of the zodiac, you will be the ones to really feel this direct station, which should bring a new wave of clarity, release and forward momentum. The USA chart has an Aquarius Moon, and as the Moon represents the masses, the Neptune forward station may start to bring new revelations about hidden political motivations behind the US post-election protests, and the protests will most likely soon reach a turning point.
One of my dear astrologer friends told me that “Neptune’s moving on from a planet always brings with it a very conscious feeling that you have gained compassion and more sensitivity to the suffering of the world.” I notice that this is true for me, that when it goes direct, I seem able to access a greater sense of hope and optimism. This is because Neptune rules our attunement with unconditional divine love, and also, Neptune’s nature can be very expansive like Jupiter’s.
In mundane astrology, a retrograde or direct Neptune station is quite often associated with important but often traumatic world events including damaging earthquakes and tsunamis. This time, it is of concern as Neptune will be in the fated nodal axis, squaring Mercury in Scorpio almost exactly (and widely squaring Sun-Saturn), in the same Rahu+Saturn+Uranus-ruled Shatabisha nakshatra where it stationed last November 2016, which can sometimes be associated with dramatic, violent and shocking events including such things as stock market crashes, terror threats and attacks, aeronautic disasters, and natural or man-made explosions or electrical or lightning shocks. Here are a few examples of significant events occurring around Neptune stations in recent years:- On Nov. 8, 2015, the opposition party won a landmark national election in Myanmar, the first time in over fifty years that Myanmar voters were able to freely pick their leaders through an election.
- On Nov. 13, 2015, three coordinated attacks by ISIS killed dozens in Paris.
- On Nov. 20, at least 27 were killed in a Mali hotel attack by Islamist extremists.
- On Nov. 24, a Russian warplane was shot down in Turkey.
- On Nov. 30, the United Nations Climate Change talks began in Paris, one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in history.
- It was announced that Verizon had been providing all communications traffic data from its business unit to the National Security Agency (NSA), pursuant to a top secret court order obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
- The Washington Post broke the story that the FBI and NSA have a top secret program called PRISM that has been operating for six years and directly connecting to nine private sector company servers (including Microsoft and Yahoo) and tracking video chats, emails, documents, phone calls over the Internet, photographs, stored data, and social networking data.
Neptune stationing and moving forward will reflect some significant events and crucial turning points for the world in the days and weeks ahead. For our world in transition, the best advice I can offer is from my guru Paramahansa Yogananda who always taught that if we are to create a more peaceful world, we must change ourselves and become peaceful within. He also said that “Thought has tremendous power. From thought all action springs. Everything in this finite world results from thought. It is the most potent force in the universe, with the power to affect lives, communities, and nations. How important it is, therefore, that our thoughts be positive rather than negative.”
