Neptune’s Role in Giving and Receiving

©2009 by guest blogger, Vivian Owen 

Back in the late eighties and early nineties I became aware that Neptune’s natal placement correlated with a person’s identification with the role of The Giver. I also noticed this same placement was where people had difficulty receiving.

Up until this time I had not really thought about the theme of receiving.  It was not a subject that came up in conversation.  And, I wasn’t even sure back then what receiving had to offer or how to think of it.  I simply noticed the theme itself.

My focus at the time was on the sacrificial themes connected to Neptune’s house and sign placement and with the aspects Neptune formed with natal planets. Victimization, deception and confusion were key Neptune concepts I was educated about along with issues of spirituality, addiction, and poetic or imaginative characteristics.

Through my study of astrology starting in the early seventies I had seen astrology move from a fatalistic world view, to a humanistic orientation, to a deeply psychological model by the time the theme of giving and receiving showed up on my radar screen.  It was with transiting Pluto’s entrance into Scorpio in the mid-eighties that the ideas and vocabulary of empowerment began to enter the culture. And with that, Neptune’s themes came under scrutiny also although the transformation of Plutonian concepts led the way.

There was a significant shift in the popular thinking about astrology by the mid-nineties that leaned in a distinctly spiritual direction. And this is the direction I began to lean also.  My inquiry began with the Neptunian concept of sacrifice. 

If Neptune represented spirituality and the boundary-less concept of Oneness, who were we sacrificing to I wondered? Ourselves?  And why were people deeply unhappy about their socialized roles that embodied sacrifice while at the same time turning down help when offered?

How did deception and victimization operate in an empowered person? And why were so many of us still operating from a model of an externally driven fate that robbed us of our free will – even though our understanding of the world had changed significantly and astrology had changed right along with it?

Pluto and Neptune had been traveling in a close sextile since the nineteen forties and it was clear to me that where issues with Neptune themes existed, Plutonian themes made themselves known also. In fact sacrifice and deception (Neptune words) and trust and the betrayal of trust and who owed who what (Pluto concepts) seemed inexorably linked. And with that I began to understand more deeply why the idea of receiving activated people’s vulnerability.

“If I let someone do something for me (receiving), what will I owe them?”

“Will I have to do something I don’t want to do?”

This is the fear.  Interestingly, an empowered person doesn’t have that fear.  But that’s for a later discussion.

So, it was through this examination of sacrifice and spirituality that I became aware that peoples’ lack of ability to receive (I include myself) was related to the lack of education, vocabulary and understanding of the value of what receiving had to offer.  I have come to phrase this dynamic in the sentence: The only possible match for someone who doesn’t know how to receive, is someone who doesn’t know how to give.

And I have come to understand the concept of receiving as a spiritual one. The spiritual connection that so many seek is actually blocked by an inability to receive. For a deeper understanding into this subject in your own chart, take a look at where Neptune resides and see if you can open to receive from those people and environments that are represented by Neptune’s house (and the one it rules), sign and planets that are aspected by Neptune.

About the author: For over twenty-five years Vivian Owen has been interpreting the astrological birth chart, helping people to create the life they want. She is passionate about educating the public about astrology and its modern-day application to peoples’ lives. Her astrological studies began in 1974 and she has maintained a private practice serving an international clientele since 1985. She’s the author of Lucky Stars: Use Astrology to Get the Scoop on Life, Love and Friendship (Three Rivers Press, 2001), countless articles and is currently a featured writer for the world’s largest astrology website www.astrology.com. Her website is http://vivianowen.blogspot.com/.