How Are You Using the Strengths of Neptune in Pisces?

©11-10-14 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

 In a recent article for the Mountain Astrologer, I wrote that Pluto in Scorpio—the sign it rules—wasn’t like Pluto plus Pluto, it was more like Pluto times Pluto in terms of its concentrated Plutonian energy. This morning I realized that having Neptune in its own sign, Pisces, is a similar concentration of Neptunian energy, perhaps like Neptune times Neptune.

An excess of Neptune can be expressed in extremely negative ways, no doubt about it. However, today let’s ponder the positive potential of Neptune in Pisces. It seems like we’re in an era when there’s little compassion, when the toughness of Pluto in Capricorn and Saturn in Scorpio creates an atmosphere of cutting no one any slack.

So perhaps Neptune in Pisces could be a way the Universe is giving us a break from the relentless toughness of our age. And when would be a better time of exploring how we can use Neptune’s energy for good than in the upcoming holidays? That’s a time of year that’s often difficult for the many who are suffering.

Here are some of Neptune’s more positive expressions:

Neptune’s roles: spiritual seeker, dreamer, visionary, poet, artist, dedicated helper.

Constructive traits: creative, artistic, compassionate, intuitive, imaginative, empathetic, idealistic, spiritual seeker, willing to serve, forgiving, accepting, devoted, meditative, non-materialistic.

For myself, transiting Neptune has been on my Pisces South Node, so I’m wrestling with serious burnout on service, but perhaps I will come to an understanding of how to do it without exhausting my own inner resources—a better model for service to our troubled world.

I’m also seriously burned out on writing, having months of mental exhaustion. So I’ve been trying to come up with other ways of expressing my creative energy—something with no words involved. Idly watching someone paint on PBS kindled my lifetime yearning to be an artist. I felt it was a hopeless dream, because my performance in art classes in high school was abysmally bad. Watching this man do a watercolor, I asked myself, “Why not try it? So what if your work is terrible? Why don’t you give it a shot?”

Two days later, I blundered into a meeting here in my senior residence, and I heard the words ART CLASS. The meeting was to discuss what to do with a small grant we had received, and one of the residents was an artist who was willing to teach a drawing class. (Serendipity, I am convinced, is the law of my life.)

The class is free, the materials are provided for free, and it’s held right downstairs in the community room, so I don ‘t even have to go anywhere. Unable to think of a plausible excuse, I signed up.

The first meeting was a week later, and we were encouraged to draw the vegetables the teacher had brought. I chose a small but beautiful ear of Indian corn and proceeded timidly to reproduce what I saw. I was surprised when it came out a great deal better than I thought–no Van Gogh, but better than the stick  figure I anticipated. Here’s my scanned copy of it.

Encouraged, I committed to attending the 8- week class and to drawing one small household object every day. So far, I’ve laboriously drawn a bar of transparent amber soap and a hair brush. I do love art and have an artistic eye, and so I think I may be on the verge of discovering a brand-new talent that does not involve words.

Readers, what positive ways are you using your Neptune in Pisces transits? What other good expressions of this once in 165-year occurrence can you dream up? Share your journey in the comment section. 

Other articles about Neptune and Pisces on Skywriter:

• How Strong is your Neptune? Here’s the Score!
• Neptune and the Cosmic Soup
• Relationship Patterns of Venus-Neptune Aspects
• 80 Qualities of Venus in the 12th or other Venus-Neptune Combinations
• Neptune’s Role in Giving and Receiving
• Difficult Neptune Aspects in Chart Comparison
• Viewing the 3rd House through Neptune’s Lens
• Getting a Grip on Saturn-Neptune Aspects
• Taylor Swift, John F. Kennedy, and Marilyn Monroe—a Neptune-Saturn Trio
• Blending without Drowning: How Saturn Saved a Neptune Type
• Neptune in the 11th House–Setting Boundaries in Friendship
• Neptune Squaring the Midheaven—How It Affects your Career
• Fog in the Workplace—Neptune or Pisces in the Career Houses
• Neptune’s in your Career House? It’s not a Transit, It’s an Epoch!
• Skywriter’s Readers share their own Neptunian Career Tales
• How to Survive a Pisces Dad—and How I Survived Mine