Neptune, the planet of dreams, drugs, visions and forgetting, is retrograde this summer.
This mysterious planet will slow down its movement from July 2nd to December 7th.
Neptune is the planet of illusion and avoidance, and when it goes retrograde we get a cold, harsh wake-up call: rose-colored glasses are shattered, feather pillows are unceremoniously plucked from under sleeping skulls, and beds are set ablaze.
But it’s not all bad, I promise.
What happens when Neptune goes retrograde?
Retrograde is a bit of a misnomer – planets never move backwards in the sky, they just appear to move backwards from our perspective on Earth. As such, retrogrades challenge our perceptions and, in the case of Neptune, upset our illusions.
In wayward Pisces, Neptune retrograde awakens us to things we’ve been trying to ignore and harmful programming we’ve accepted. It lifts the proverbial veil and shows us that ugly truths trump beautiful lies. What sweet but dreamy scripts have you written about relationships, jobs, patterns, partners, or situations? What traditions or ideals are you upholding that are ultimately holding you back?
Reality is harsh, babies, but the cold death of that fool reminds us of what we are made of and what we stand for.
Returning to the rose-tinted glasses metaphor, when we squint or miss the shadows and choose to only see the good, the false surface, the easy path, we delude ourselves into believing that half is better than the whole, resulting in a split that undervalues us all.
Luckily, although painful, Saturn will also be retrograde in Pisces this summer, meaning we might finally be able to recognize the critical work that needs to be done and organize ourselves around it.
When was the last time Neptune was retrograde?
The last time Neptune, the father of dreams, did the backstroke was from June 30th of last year to December 6th, 2023. Neptune stays in each sign for about 14 years and takes about 160 years to swim through the archetype of each sign.
Neptune moved into the murky, piss-and-champagne tub of Pisces in 2012, where it will remain until 2026.
What does Neptune retrograde mean?
The prefix re means “back” or “again.” A retrograde period heralds a time to look back, reassess, revisit, reclaim, reimagine, revise, and recalibrate all the actions that have set us back in order to move forward. If you’ll pardon my nerdy interpretation of the word, “again” comes from Old English. OnjanIt means the opposite.
In this sense, retrogrades are a second chance to set things right and follow through, based on information from the past. and A radical departure from that.
Overall, we tend to feel the influence of faster-moving transits than Neptune, i.e., Mercury, stronger and more directly. Neptune is slow moving, and this retrograde is a year-long transit that moves slowly and deliberately. Think of it as a gradual reveal rather than a lightning-like revelation.
Tell me about Neptune
When Neptune goes direct, especially in its home sign of Pisces, it heightens our imagination, encouraging flights of fancy, ecstatic dancing, blindfolded pottery, and whimsical play. It makes us creative and prone to dreaming without thinking of the consequences.
When Neptune goes direct, it clouds our judgment and thwarts our instincts. Neptune suspends reality and makes us imagine the impossible. So, full speed ahead, Neptune in Pisces is both a hell of a drug and a glamorous Instagram filter.
But as the planet slows down, we are prompted to become aware of the pitfalls, escape routes, workarounds, and reckless plans that are holding us back from our efforts to heal and expand, for Neptune is the planet of spirituality. and This self-destructive backspin asks us to consider how we are connecting or disconnecting from our true purpose and our soul’s coyote call.
Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea and fresh water, and metaphorically speaking, when we slow down, we cannot see clearly through turbulent waters, and clarity requires stillness.
Because this retrograde occurs in a mutable sign, mutable signs like Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces will feel its effects the most. To find out how this transit will affect you and what happy bandaids you might be about to rip off, look at the house ruled by Pisces in your birth chart.
Astrologer Leda Wiggle She studies and unapologetically reports on the planetary alignments and their effects on each sign, and her horoscopes are a blend of history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience.
