Neptune - Me and God, God and Me, are One

by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Number 31, February 28, 2001

Each planet represents a fundamental psychological human urge and set of human needs. Each planet is an archetypal symbol for a worldview or perspective of reality. Each has its own orientation and preferred pathway to growth, development and spiritual fulfillment. Every planet offers us a specific set of challenges and gifts.

Every planet and sign have their inherent duality that must be transcended. Their lower expressions must be confronted and their higher expressions must be embraced, if we are to claim the potential that the sign embodies, and the energy that the planet shares with us. Neptune and Pisces confront us with the polarity of divine support or self-undoing, sublime joy or devastating sorrow, despair or bliss. The chamber of horrors includes addictions, imprisonment, bondage, loneliness, and alcoholism. The gift package includes freedom from fear, experience of divine love, release from stress and worry, divine connection and protection.

The Outer Planets

The role of the outer planets - Neptune, Uranus and Pluto - is to expand, enlighten and deepen our experience of life. When these planets transit or interact with our inner personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) their mission is to raise their frequency and thus our awareness beyond our illusionary, separate, individualistic modes of existence.

Uranus jolts us out of our stupor and wakes us up. Pluto cleans the subconscious mind and enriches our life by giving it more meaning. Neptune is in charge of expanding our awareness and perception of reality. Uranus teaches us to define ourselves as planetary beings and international citizens. Neptune teaches us to find our identity as universal beings, and to expand our center of awareness to encompass the universal whole. Neptune offers us the possibility of seeing others and ourselves as expressions of the Source of Creation.(1)

Neptune infuses us with luminous spiritual energy, which makes it possible to experience that we are one with all life. Neptune is our gateway to higher consciousness. Neptune is the portal through which we transcend ego and material reality, and enter universal reality.

Understanding Neptune

Neptune is the hardest planet to understand, because its frequency transcends mental comprehension. Its vibration is even lighter than air. Through the element of ether, Neptune connects us to another reality. With the element air, we can at least follow our breath. With ether there is no string, no box, no object, no point of contact. We don't even connect with Neptune; We merge with Neptune, and in the process we often get lost. When we come back, we wonder what happened and where we have been. Merging with Neptune seems to require humility, self-sacrifice and renunciation, but if we try to engage in the above through our ego, we attract the same sorrow and dangers than if we had not tried at all. At this stage of our development, a little bit of consciousness can sometimes seem more painful than denial.

It is a traitorous path. How do we awaken ourselves out of our own ignorance? How do we renounce desires that keep the veil in place, and at the same time honor our desire nature? How do we keep on a spiritual path and not slide in the pit of self-deception? Neptune energy is seductive, but are we being seduced into Nirvana or our own created self-hell? If we make the wrong choices, we will be imprisoned, either literally or emotionally. We will make secret enemies, not the least of which will be God and ourselves. We will also be robbed of our divine connection and thus our vital energies. Wow that's heavy. Any clues on how to navigate Neptune's waters?

Requirements for Integrating Neptune

We have to submit, but we can't be submissive. A certain level of sacrifice is required, but a masochistic surrender to fate won't cut it. We have to be willing to enter the maze from which there seems to be no escape. We have to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together, even if it seems like they don't fit. Part of the game is not to be attached to finding our way out, or to getting the puzzle put together. Neptune offers us opportunities for self-enlightenment, if we play without knowing or desiring a specific result.

The problem is that there are no rules. There is also no measurable result. As soon as we try to hold on to something, Neptune takes it away. As soon as we try to figure it all out, Neptune will confuse us and dissolve our momentary reality. Anything permanent is always elusive, unattainable and transient in Neptune's world. No wonder the moment is so important. That is all we have, and the best we can get, when we are riding on Neptune's waves.

Neptune insists that we be alone and retreat into inner solitude. We can do this in our private meditation practice, or we can be alone in prison. We can be alone because we are in poor health, because we are a lone artist or poet, or because we have been carted off by men in white suits to a mental institution. Neptune imprints the saint, the criminal and the psychologically impaired. Whatever our conscious or unconscious choice, Neptune dictates privacy, rest, seclusion and behind the scenes action.(2)

Neptune demands introspection. Solitude, meditation and self-contemplation are requirements to deal with and integrate Neptunian energies. It is only through silent reflection that one can reach an awareness of the unity of life.

Neptune insists that we spend time alone, so that we can discover our own truth and be true to ourselves at every moment. It is not just Neptune that guarantees that we will suffer if we are unable or unwilling to follow our own inner guidance. Self-doubt is often a reflection of the inability to find our inner guidance, and the lack of willpower to follow it. Negative self-judgment is an indication that we are not aligned with the highest expression of our soul. The more conscious we are, the more we are in touch with our motives, and the more cognizant we are of the effects of our actions, the more skilled we become at choosing actions that support, not destroy, life.

Neptune's Path

The Neptunian path to universal understanding and cosmic love is traveled alone. Neptune requires us to cultivate a worldview that transcends rational materialism and personal gain. Neptune can not be fooled. We only temporarily deceive ourselves when we do not live by universal laws. Consciousness and compassion are required.

The adversity that we encounter in Neptune's waters, be it fear, humiliation, loss, sickness or defeat, empowers us to be compassionate towards others and ourselves. Hardship is a teacher, not a form of punishment. The trick, of course, is to meet our challenges with humor, trust and wisdom. We can use our challenges, either as a means of empowerment or as an excuse for victimization. If we choose to be a victim, we will engage Neptunian energy to pursue self-destructive practices such as drug abuse, alcoholism, food addictions, shoplifting and other criminal activities. When Neptunian energies are not used for constructive purposes, we can suffer not only inner torment and strange illnesses, but also public humiliation through slander or imprisonment.(3)

Neptune is instrumental in urging us to reorient our life to embrace a spiritual path. As we integrate and align our first three chakras, we are able to move our vital energy upward to the heart center. As our heart opens, we are able to use our passion energy for devotion. Devotion further opens the heart, and we experience transpersonal love. When the desires of the heart take over our consciousness, major changes occur in our lives. We are no longer controlled by compulsive desires and addictive habits. For our desire energy has another mode of expression. We are pulled toward more subtle energies, spiritual goals and aspirations of the soul. We identify more with our soul essence, and less with our physical body and personality.(4) When the will of the third chakra and the love of the heart merge, our personality becomes a vehicle to express our soul, and we are able to use our human life in service of the collective good.

Lower and Higher Expressions

If we use Neptune's mystical energies wisely, she is the benefic vehicle for the realization of Christ Consciousness. Neptune is the facet of ourselves that we pray to and evoke for nurturing, healing and spiritual sustenance.(5) The lower expression of Neptune is the illusion; the veil that keeps us from seeing and experiencing the light of consciousness. Neptune is either the mask or the true essence of divine love. When we remove our identification with form, Neptune ceases to be the mask. The veil is lifted and we encounter our divinity, our Self and our Soul.

The Emotional Body

Neptune operates through the emotional body. Neptune teaches us that we must take care of our emotional body if we are to live in the realm of pure spirit. There is a fine, but very real, line between being relaxed and lazy, between being present and escapist, between moving with spirit and creating fantasies in our minds. When we aren't really connected to higher spiritual vibrations, it is easy to slip into the quicksand of unrealistic dreams, destructive self-indulgence, deception and fraud.(6) On the other hand, mystical experiences and inspirations manifested through an integrated emotional body make us high. We have to have a balanced emotional body to consciously distinguish between these polarities.

At the lower frequencies, Neptune acts through the astral plane, which is characterized by emotional entanglements. If we want to free ourselves from delusion, obsessions, phobias and all the other manifestations of unhealed emotions, we must do our "inner work". As we purify our emotional body, this energy is more and more available for the expression of our soul. In its purest expression the emotional body is the soul. Our soul communicates with us through our emotions. It is our pure emotional body that makes it possible to merge with celestial music, to move in rhythm with our soul, to dance with the Universe as our partner, and to fire up our artistic brush with our creative imagination.

Neptune's Mission

Neptune is the planet of the mystic and the clairvoyant. Neptune inspires prophetic visions and writings, helps us realize cosmic truths, and connects us with Master Souls.(7) It is Neptune's job to connect us to the infinite consciousness of our Soul, and the infinite consciousness of the Universe. Neptune gives us a high by allowing us to experience the Light. He teaches us to be unattached, and to seek no external rewards for our humanitarian services. Simply giving, without the reciprocity of give and take, gives satisfaction. The idea of exchange gets in the way, because we must be detached to receive his reward, of communing with higher forces and receiving spiritual visions.

Neptune's ultimate mission is to help us dissolves all barriers - mental, emotional, physical and spiritual - that in any way prevent us from merging our individual self into the cosmic whole. Neptune wants us to connect with the ultimate source of universal power. To do so, we must identify with the Source. This is possible only through direct experience, which transcends any and all belief systems. Neptune helps us realize our infinity and immortality. Our awareness is expanded into the dimension of timelessness. The ego and even the soul merge with Source. We experience "what is, was and always will be".

The Resistance and Surrender Process

Sounds very enticing. The catch 22 is that separation (which is also necessary for our soul growth) breeds resistance to the merging process. Separation breeds fear of what we do not know. Fear of the unknown motivates us to try to stay in control. The urge to control prevents the surrendering process. Simultaneously, we realize something is missing. Life without Spirit is not real. We want connection, and our desire for it intensifies. Confusion and alienation add to insecurity. We try desperately to be in control, but our compulsiveness is doomed to failure. Neptune makes sure that some kind of breakdown or disintegration eventually occurs. We finally give in to being out of control.(8)

It is the surrender to the confusion that brings the metamorphosis. Something magically shifts inside. We become aware of a new dimension of ourselves. We have a realization that expands our perception of reality. Clarity replaces confusion. Integration supercedes disintegration. Where there was alienation, there is now connection. We are aware that we are part of a much larger whole. We experience ourselves as a wave in the cosmic sea. Our consciousness shifts from our person identity to infinite reality.(9)

We know we did not cause this transformation. It is the experience of something beyond our limited view of self that creates our shift in consciousness. Faith is not built on dogma. Faith is cultivated through direct experience. Our surrender to a higher power dissolves our fear, because what we feared did not happen. Instead, we have discovered a latent dynamic within ourselves, a richer reality within which to live, and a universal pulse that beats in our own heart.

Denial for a Limited Time Only

Of course, we can try to resist the evolutionary impulse to identify and merge with Source. We can use Neptune's energy for denial, and try to find meaning through fantasies and illusions. When we use Neptune's infinite energy to fuel our fantasies, they are distorted all out of proportion. When we glamorize our egotistical dreams, we delude ourselves. We may even succeed in living out our fantasies, in which case our delusion comes later in life.(10)

We can compulsively chase our dreams for a long time, and even be supported in doing so. We can, however, undermine ourselves with rose colored glasses only so long. Uranus colludes with willing Neptune to shock us, so we become aware of how and why we are blocking ourselves, and refusing to connect with Source. Sooner or later Neptune also makes sure that we exhaust ourselves, pursuing our "separating and avoidance oriented desires".(11) When we are disillusioned and weary enough, we finally turn to Source, face the abyss of the unknown, and seek a relationship with our own and cosmic divinity.

The Sea God

Neptune was formally known as the sea god Poseidon. Mythological Neptune was no pacifist. As lord of the ocean, Poseidon had a fiery disposition, and was driven by elemental instincts. This is important to understand, because we often think of Neptune as dreamy, tranquil and even lazy. However, if we are working through our Neptune issues, we can build up a lot of frustration, become highly reactive to stress, and our emotions can explode like the raging waves during a storm.

The Greeks edged the sea god out of first position and accorded rational Athena the leading role. This is symbolic of a major shift in Western civilization. The chaos of the sea and the unconscious mind was gradually suppressed, in favor of the rational mind and organized political city and nation states. For centuries Western civilization has attempted to tame Neptune's domain.(12) Through empirical science we have attempted to explain away the awe of the infinite. Through technology we have attempted to control and conquer nature. Religions have tried to organize our passion into socially acceptable expressions.

No planet or energy can be blotted out or controlled by other forces. They can choose to work together. For example, Saturn is Neptune's ally, if his capacity for organization and manifestation is used to bring Neptune's visions into physical expression. Neptune appears in weird, socially and self-destruction forms, when we prevent its natural expression. When puritanical Saturn is used to suppress Neptune, the latter's visionary talents are expressed in such things as fascination with ghosts, drugs, alcohol, manipulative advertising and numbing entertainment. Suppressed, Neptune terrorizes us with monsters of our own making, murder condoned as entertainment, and real live terrorism and vandalism.

The price we pay is extremely high. We destroy our sanity with drugs and alcohol. We destroy the sanctity of our own homes with guilt trips. We destroy the security of our schools, neighborhoods and cities with crime. We become lost souls, devoid of dreams with no passion for life. Escapism becomes our controlling strategy of life.

The most fundamental problem is that the rational, empirical, scientific worldview has no appropriate tools for understanding Neptune. We have emasculated and demonized Neptune, but the other world of Neptune exists, even if we can't measure it, explain it, see it, or talk about it. Neptune's world is subjective, universal and internal. We have to go inside ourselves to find it. When we do we find it everywhere.

Transits

A transit is the term used to refer to the interaction, with our natal planets, of the planets moving through the sky. During a transit, it is our natal planet that is being affected, and represents the part of our being that must be transformed. The transiting planet is the teacher, and our natal planet is the student.

External events, emotional challenges, and new levels of discontent are some of the ways that transits express themselves. Although our new life challenges may appear to come from our external environment, it is actually our psyche that draws circumstances to us. We magnetize situations that help create enough tension in our psyche, to force or prod us to look at what we have been creating, and hopefully change. When we find ourselves out of our comfort zone, there is a good chance that a planet is transiting one of our natal planets.(13) Assisted by our soul, and in fact divinely choreographed, we are alerted that it is time to release some subconscious programming, let go of some aspect of our familiar world, and expand our experience of life and our reality.

Neptune transits linger for a long time. Neptune is in no hurry. It may take several years. We go through our issues during the transit. Resolution happens when the transit is over. Neptune needs time to access our subconscious and provide us with in-depth awareness. Neptune is an expert at haunting our familiar territory. What we thought was safe can no longer be taken for granted. Common reactions to Neptune's stormy influences are emotional confusion, self-pity and victimization. The Sea God devours our cherished realities, so we can't damage ourselves any more with our misdirected choices. When our reality collapses, it is because we have mismanaged Neptunian energies.(14) It is also because we are ready to expand our reality by letting new energy into our lives.

Neptune transits can bring both loss and euphoria. In either case, we often feel overwhelmed. Neptune works, through both grief and ecstasy, to reorient us out of our narrow perception of reality. Neptune brings us peak experiences, that open our awareness to life at a more profound and expanded level. The apparent irony (from the point of view of our rational mind), is that fantasies full of denial and deception (love affairs for example), can awaken us out of our robot approach to existence. Neptune sometimes has to deceive us to get our attention. Once he has our attention, we are more available to be led into expanded dimensions of reality. Whether painful or pleasurable events open the doorway, we step into a world where we will be renewed, re-centered and recommitted to life.

Whether our experiences are harrowing or ecstatic, we enter through the narrow passageway, where only we as lone separate beings can maneuver. The only way out is through the broad double doors, where our identity merges with a greater whole. We leave our hollow dreams behind and emerge with more purposeful visions. Before we were alone. Now, somehow, we belong to the whole world, indeed the whole Universe. In our awe we feel compassion, gratitude and a sense of grace.

Neptune invites us into the unknown, to a world far beyond our familiar daily routine. Yet it is far away only because we have not experienced it before. Neptune's wish for us is that, once we have opened the door, we will not escape back to our limited perspective, but carry this expanded reality into our daily lives.

Spiritual Development

Neptune is one of the principal players in the evolution of consciousness. Neptunian energy is the most fluid among that of all the planets. Neptunian energy lightens our load by introducing more cosmic light into our consciousness. This process often processes confusion, ambivalence and insecurity. We aren't accustomed to undefined fluidity. We are programmed to find security in what we can measure, see and touch.

Neptune's territory extends from "dark night of the soul" experiences to awe-inspiring soul-moving moments. Whether we are confronting the shadows of our troubled psyche, or basking in the glory of our divine essence, Neptune's underlying theme is spiritual development. We must first recognize how our fragmented psyche has entrapped us in limited perceptions of reality, before we can achieve higher levels of integration and freedom.

Grounding in Earthly Life

Although Neptune embodies the infinite energy of Source, it challenges us to use this energy on the earthly plane. In fact Neptune and Pisces are associated with the second chakra, not the crown chakra as we might suppose. Neptune's role is not to provide an escape route to the other side, even though its energies are most useful when we get ready to leave. In the meantime, Neptune urges us to recognize that we are divine souls incarnated in human bodies, or spiritual beings having human experiences. Neptune enters our awareness through our imagination and our power of visualization. Imagining is the first step in getting touch with and manifesting our dreams.

There is a fine, but nevertheless distinct, line between illusion and discernment. Neptune offers us the quiet space to reflect on our dreams, and to evaluate what works and does not seem to work for us. The trick is to be true to ourselves and authentic in our choices. Neptune can inflate our confidence in our ability to manifest our dreams. Neptune lives in the realm of infinite possibilities, where the Saturnian obstacles of the physical world don't even compute.

Neptune doesn't encourage us to ignore or condemn physical reality. Our goal is to find spirit in the world, and not use material substitutes to try to achieve spiritual satisfaction. Neptune requires introspection and the quiet nurturing of our spiritual needs. It is in our solitude that we release our creative juices and connect with our higher purpose. It is in the moment that we evoke our inner spirit, operate beyond expectations, and are inspired by something beyond ourselves.

How can we respond to the urge to withdraw from the world, and at the same time live in it? We must learn to distinguish between retreat to refresh and revitalize ourselves, and desperate escapism. How can we trust enough to surrender to the unknown? We must believe in a benevolent, supportive universe. Neptune's job is to help us connect with guiding forces, so that we not only believe, but also experience, that we are not alone, and have the support of the invisible world.

Relax and be Happy

Neptune wants us to be happy and at peace. Neptune invites us to relax, to quit worrying, to stop over-dramatizing issues and overreacting emotionally. Neptune encourages us to loosen our control trips, and accept were we are at this moment, without trying to evaluate if it could or should be any other way. Neptunian magic works above time and space, out of the realm of control and manipulation.

To achieve Neptunian bliss on a regular basis, requires clearing our subconscious mind and the healing of emotional wounds. This isn't a one-time quick fix proposition. We have to identify programs that have stolen our energy, and patterns that have kept us passive and shut down. Most of these are concealed from our conscious awareness. To move beyond the denial and self-sabotage, we have to use Neptunian tools of meditation, self-contemplation, chanting of divine mantra and other spiritual tools that often don't even make sense.

In the spirit world, the fact that many spiritual practices cannot be rationally explained is one of the reason why they work. They bypass our rational mind so that we cannot control the outcome. They operate at a frequency that creates healing at a higher octave. Einstein's dictum comes to mind - that solutions to problems must be found at a level higher than the problem itself. Neptune offers us this gateway to higher dimensions of reality.

Neptune's power is not in action, but in non-resistance.(15) Awareness and alertness are two skills that help us gather information from the ether. If we want to float on Neptune's cloud, we have to let go of our psychological baggage that is weighting us down. If we don't want to drown in Neptune's waters, we have to be flexible, adapt to the flow of the moment, and be willing to adopt new patterns of being, that strengthen our psyche and deepen our consciousness.

Our Altar

Actually, if we simply observe where our minds are usually at, we realize we live most of our waking hours in Neptune territory. Our minds are constantly engaged in useless chatter. We create stories, fantasies and excuses. We are planning out our life moment to moment, forgetting to be in the moment. When we have exhausted ourselves with our mental trips, we try to escape our minds with our favorite addictions - drugs, shopping, eating, TV - anything to be transported to another world. However, escapist Neptune activities, don't give us much, if any, juice.

Neptune is our altar. If our altar is TV, food, or other drugs of choice, those are the gods that feed us. Our religion is really how we spend our time - our thoughts, our activities, our devotions. It is also the attitude we bring to our daily activities. Neptune doesn't expect us to spend all day meditating in deep contemplation. Neptune wants our humble lives to be filled with peace and joy. Neptune wants us to experience the awe of existence while we are washing the dishes. Neptune wants us to know we are blessed.

One of Neptune's mantras could be, "We are so fortunate to be confident that the Universe is taking care of us (it)". Repeat that every time your mind spins off on to a tangent, and see how it changes your inner space and outlook on life.

To access Neptune's gifts, we have to step into our personal sanctuary, away from the madding crowd, and away from our own desires for glory and relationship with others. We access Neptune's universal gifts by very personal experiences. This is the beauty, the paradox and the mystery of Neptune. It is only in our own hearts that we cultivate the capacity to access universal Source. It is only in the clarity of our neutral mind that we can distinguish between ego trips and divinely inspired direction. It is only when we have humbled ourselves that we get a glimpse of divinity. In is only when body, mind and spirit are integrated, that we can carry this sense of divinity in our being, and live it in the world.

If Neptune still sounds a little too airy-fairy, or too good to be true, we just have to look at some of the findings of quantum physics. The reality defined by the "new sciences" sounds a lot like the reality that the mystics have been trying tell us about - if we would just stop long enough to experience it. Reality is a field of infinite possibilities. The reality that we manifest depends on our intention and attention, and what we observe. We are not passive observers, but active participants. Everything is in constant flux and evolution. Everything is in relationship to everything else. Who said the above - the mystics, the quantum scientists or both?

Freedom from Fear

Neptune's mission is to feed us with unlimited divine energy, and to inspire us to live in our hearts. Neptune wants us to feel the presence of the Divine in and around us at all times.

We can experience Neptune as riding the crest of the wave. We are awe-inspired, as we dip into his holy waters and experience miraculous emotional cleansing. Our heaviness and fear vanishes. We feel inexplicably uplifted and transported into God's land. Contentment and compassion replace anxiety and judgment. We live in heaven and divine grace. We are at peace with ourselves, and with others and circumstances that once tormented us. Neptune's healing waters baptize us into a rebirth of Self.

These types of transformation require and create trust. If we are willing to swim in the ocean of the unconscious, we can manifest with the Universe, and receive Neptune's finest gifts. Our emotions become soulful tears of joy, as we realize that we deserve unconditional love. The love we receive is neither romantic nor personal. We are being blessed with the nectar of the gods. Amazing possibilities open for us, and we realize that the play is being orchestrated by the Home Office.

Our mantra becomes more and more real. "We are fortunate to be confident that the Universe is taking care of us".

PART 2 - REDEMPTION, A PARADIGM SHIFT

Mother Ocean

Water is Neptune's domain. Seventy percent of the Earth's surface is covered with water. When we are born our bodies are composed of 98% water. The vast, elusive ocean conjures up images of floating, flowing, drifting, dissolving, and drowning. In the ocean we also feel cleansed, refreshed, soothed and free.

In many ancient myths, water is associated with the Mother, Creation, the womb and the source of all life. These myths and images speak of a time before we were born. The archetype of Neptune thus represents the desire "to return to the source of life, the eternal world of water and womb, where individual identity is dissolved back into that Other which gave it birth".(16)

Our natal Neptune, the house of our natal Neptune, and planets in Pisces or the twelfth house, indicate the spheres of life where our unconscious projections of desire to return to Source will be the most powerful. In our Neptune territory, we are filled with dreams, longings, fantasies, terror and a deep desire to connect to unknown powers. It is in this area that we experience an intense identification with Source.(17) As we make this identification conscious, we are empowered to be co-creators of our reality. When our connection remains unconscious, we may suffer from deception, confusion and infantile passivity, in these areas of our lives. It is here that we are obliged to identify and debunk our fantasies, in order to work together with Source in this lifetime.

The Longing for Redemption

The longing for redemption is the response of the eternal cry of the soul, to merge back into the waters of the womb, to reunite with the primal Mother and to return home to God. The quest for redemption belongs in Neptune's territory. The innate longing for dissolution into the absolute is a distinctive and primal desire. We all want to return home to our Mother. At a very deep level, every human being searches for solace from "the harsh limits of morality and the frightening isolation of individuality".(18) This yearning to return to source is embedded deep in our subconscious.

Our human quest for redemption is confusing and ambiguous, and many times leads to behaviors that in fact take us farther from our goal. Our human attempts to reunite with the One lead us to attach ourselves to crippling fantasies, give our power away to false gurus, and commit heinous crimes against ourselves and others. This instinctual urge to experience the eternal leads us on many journeys, including addictions, alcoholism, and various pathologies and eventually death.

Paradise and Hell

Paradise is a human concept devised to deal with the human trauma on planet Earth, and the yearning of our soul to merge back into "the eternal embrace of a loving deity".(19) The theme of original sin is common to many cultural myths. The Fall attempts to explain how we alienated ourselves from God. It is our sin that is responsible for our separation from Source. We must atone for our sins through suffering and sacrifice, so that we can be forgiven and allow re-entry into paradise lost.(19a) Paradise represents the heavenly abode, which will welcome righteous souls after death.

According to this belief system, during our sojourn on Earth we must redeem ourselves by righteous actions and correct beliefs. We are motivated by nostalgia for our loving home, and our yearning to return to our innocence. Although many people do not buy the doctrine of original sin and redemption, the psychic pain of nostalgia and longing remain. The need has been relegated to our subconscious, which has resulted in our projection of this urge in other ways. Eden is now personified as Disney Land, an island vacation or a romantic encounter. The desire to be saved has been replaced by more modern and, hopefully, more immediate saviors. We search for the right partner, the right job, retirement or winning the lottery.

The Saturnine world of karma, physical reality and cause and effect is just too harsh for Neptune to bear. The promise of Paradise is not a frivolous pastime for Neptune. This quest is his reason d'être. He will be seduced into dead end fantasies, painful illusions and self-destructive journeys, but he will not give up his search for redemption and return to Source.

If there is heaven, there is also hell. The duality of existence evokes both polarities. In religious dogma, hell is where the unrighteous go. In Neptune's world, hell is separation from Source. Hell is the unmitigated anguish we feel when we are unable to connect with our Beloved.

Search for a Savior - Two World Views

The primal Neptunian pain is separation. The primal Neptunian quest is for union.

If we want to be saved, we have to find a savior. The most important Neptunian question is "How and by whom?" There are two basic approaches to being saved. I will call them the REDEMPTION WORLDVIEW and the CO-CREATION WORLDVIEW.

In the classical religious context, the longing for redemption implies that there is something we must be redeemed from:

• Some inherent flaw must be transmuted
• Some sin must be forgiven
• Some evil must be cleansed

When we believe that there is something that we, as human beings, must be forgiven for, intercession from outside seems to provide the only hope for salvation. Some figure or force possessing a higher level of wisdom, purity and holiness than ourselves must intervene on our behalf.(20)

For Neptune the primal sin is separation. This is true in both world views. Our desires, instinctual nature, body and material world are usually the ones held responsible for our separation from Source. This is always deemed the case in the Redemption Worldview.

Redemption means to "buy back". Our redeemer will pay our unpaid debt, and buy us back from our punishment of mortal life. The key factor in the Redemption Worldview is that someone else, other than ourselves, will save us. Some "Other will provide the energy, substance, and suffering that will make us feel clean and loved again".(21)

In the Co-creation Worldview, the redeemer is ourselves. We are the ones who have ignored our creator. The sin of disconnection is our own. The source of salvation is within ourselves. Because we are each a hologram of God, we have the capacity within ourselves to reconnect with Source. We are Source - "God and me, me and God are One". Neptune teaches us how to re-establish this elusive, but very obvious (once we have experienced it) connection, and maintain it during our human experience. We have to realize that we are divine, to operate out of the Co-creation paradigm, and allow it to work for us.

Desire and Instinct in the Quest for Unity

Neptune teaches us that we have to accept and embrace all aspects of ourselves and existence. This includes our desires, instinctual nature, body and the material world, for if we accept duality or separation in any way, we cannot achieve our goal. Partial connection does not exist. Either we accept everything, and become One with All, or we perpetuate separation. It is as simple and as difficult as that. The problem comes when we try to make exceptions. Exceptions kick us out of the cosmic game. There are no exceptions in the divine plan. To get to this point often requires a lot of work in the areas of self-love, self-forgiveness and non-judgment.

The Christian religion and Buddhism alike tell us that it is individual desire, and the autonomous force within us, that work against us to bind us to physical reality, seduce us into the pursuit of material and corporal desires, and blind us to our true nature. It is true that we have to carefully assess how we use our desire nature. If we use it to go after things and situations that perpetuate frustration, rejection and disappointment, we are not going to facilitate our connection to God.

However, the categorical rejection of our desire nature, as a means to achieve redemption and unity, is inherently flawed. First, it relegates us to a victim of some dark force that we cannot control. Second, it condemns the very driving life force that can also be our savior. For Neptune both this life force and the power of free will are neutral. Our instinctual self can be used to condemn us, or to liberate us. Our emotions can be used to chain us to illusions, or to direct us back to Source. Our body can become our divine temple, or demanding flesh that feeds our guilt.

Our quest for connection requires that we honor our instinctual nature as an expression of the Divine Mother. Unity requires unity at every level. "The sea-beast which must be destroyed, and the waters of Paradise which are the reward of he faithful are the same. Both are divine, and both are mother".(22) The split between good and evil, sin and redemption, must be transcended to achieve the unity we crave. The seed of our confusion is in the apparent separation we have created, in our minds and in our dogmas. Our torment will not end until we experience the inherent unity in Creator and created, God and human, spirit and body.

Empowerment or Victimization

If we feed our fear and sense of separation, our earthly torment may temporarily end in physical death from illness, addiction and madness. Neptune challenges us to confront our ambivalence regarding death. We are both afraid of death and entertain a death wish. Our guilt makes us afraid of death. Our loneliness drives us to secretly desire to return to Source. To reconcile this duality in this lifetime, we have to come to terms with our sense of powerlessness. If we feel impotent and helpless in the face of external oppressors, we will naturally try to find refuge in our fantasies, that attempt to compensate of our passive victimization. We can't be paranoid and free at the same time. We have to choose. That is what free will in all about.

The feeling of imprisonment in the body, the feeling of impotence in face of all of life's challenges, conspire to favor the choice of martyrdom over self-responsibility. However, the anguish of separation remains, and we are victims of our own self-imposed tyranny. Our internal battle between empowerment and victimization is an apocalyptic struggle. The most important use of our free will is to make the soul choice to take responsibility for our return to Source.

Deception, Illusion and Paradox

Deception and illusion are part of the Neptunian path. One of our tests is to learn how to distinguish between the above and authentic experience. How can we act in ways that lead toward, not away from, the Mother? One of the important touchstones is whether our experiences and actions are life enhancing or life destroying. Even there, the difference is not always clear. There is always mystery and uncertainly when we swim in Neptune's waters.

Neptune's domain is one of unknown and unsolved mysteries. Neptune is the master of paradox. His waters are often turbulent and muddy. How can we tell the difference between transpersonal longing and infantile desires? Do the latter help us get to the former? How can we tell the difference between psychic disintegration and life-transforming revelation? Maybe we can't. A deep unacknowledged thirst for spirit can be acted out as a compulsive addiction, and a helpless retreat from reality.(23)

There is a curious, flexible interface between madness, and union with the Divine. Neptunian energy can be used to express "the most desperate and destructively devouring impulses of which human beings are capable". Neptune can also facilitate our connection with the "most exalted manifestations of love, grace and creative vision of which human beings are capable".(24)

Self-sacrifice and self-destruction seem to be partners in Neptune's territory. Loneliness, separation and the fear of death lead humans to express Neptune's energies, in ways that are counterproductive to our overall goal of reuniting with Source. We must search deep into our hearts to identify the motives behind our actions, decisions and choices. Recognizing and accepting personal responsibility is particularly difficult in Neptune's territory. At the same time exercising will and choice is a requirement for safe navigation in Neptune's waters.

Sacrifice - To make Sacred

Sacrifice is a key Neptunian concept. Obviously something must change if we are to move from separation to unity with Source. Our attention is going to have to shift, in order to reestablish our conscious bond with Source. The nature of sacrifice is approached differently in the two worldviews. In the Redeemer Worldview, sacrifices, like redeemers, are external to ourselves. In the Co-creation Worldview, we ourselves sacrifice our false sense of mortal identity so we become vessels of immortal energy. We reconnect to our immortal essence. It is our personal merger with the Divine that satisfies our Neptunian urges.

The Redemption Worldview, which has been the predominant mindset of the Piscean Age, manifests in many ways. Redeemer-victims offer themselves to save the world from evil. Martyrdom gets a high rating. We are possessed by perfectionism. Visionary experiences qualify as "knowing." Sexual abstinence is espoused as a virtue, especially by those who don't practice it. Redemption is FROM the corruption of the body and the sin of the material world.

As we move into the Aquarian Age, we are becoming more aware that the Co-creation Worldview, with its emphasis on personal responsibility, choice and direct experience, is a more rewarding and empowering model.

A key to creating a shift in our approach to sacrifice, is to understand its literal meaning - to make sacred. "What has become profane and compulsive must be transformed into something holy and voluntary. It must be infused with a meaning greater than satiation or obedience to duty, by revealing itself as the expression of a higher or deeper source. This is rather different from giving something up. It is not the thing itself which must be given up; it is one's identification with it".(25) In other words, we don't reject a part of ourselves: we own it. What we have to "sacrifice" or give up are the thoughts, feelings and actions that lower our vibration. As we lovingly embrace life and ourselves, our frequency becomes more and more sacred.

Resolution of Spirit-Body Duality

The duality of every sign has an inherent resolution. Duality is a perception, rather than the essence of any sign. The entanglement will confuse us until we resolve the specific dysfunctions in this area of our lives. It is a psychological truism that if we identify with one of a pair of opposites, we will be unconsciously possessed or run by the other half.(26) The only escape is to not try to escape.

In the redemption model, it is our desire nature that we must sacrifice to attain our goal. The problem is that our desire nature is also our divine spark and soul essence. To attempt to suppress our desire nature only reduces are chance of connection, because we extinguish the flame that can burn a hole through our illusions, and connect us with the truth.

From the Co-creation perspective, there is no liberation with self-castration. Suppression and self-annihilation don't work. The key again lies in our definition of sacrifice. We must accept our body as the sacred vessel of our soul. The body and its pleasures cannot be renounced. We must integrate body and spirit in sacred union.

The problem is, if we have to leave our body and the earth plane, we aren't going to get redeemed in this lifetime, and that is a major difference between the two worldviews. The Co-creation Worldview believes we can achieve connection in the physical body in this world. The body-spirit split, on the other hand, condemn us to disconnection. No wonder we believe we need a redeemer and a miracle.

The rejection of our instincts is really an attempt to escape responsibility, for our ultimate task of reconnecting to the Divine in a human body. Denial is not real sacrifice, understood as making sacred. Renunciation is victimization, not empowerment. To condemn part of ourselves (the lower three chakras are the favorites) only creates perpetual frustration, and indicates that we have not learned to value life, ourselves and the Divine.

The body is the vessel for the highest expression of the Divine in human form. When we activate our body as a vital expression of our heart and soul, the Divine descends to Earth. When the Divine consciously lives within us, our "ordinary life is no longer ordinary, for each moment matters, and quality, rather than quantity, is the arbiter of choice".(27)

We can't Barter with God

It is understandable, from the Redemption Worldview perspective, that voluntary suffering, and the relinquishment of earthly happiness, are the prices to be paid for salvation. If we are already miserable and can't see a way out, we might as well accept life the way it is. Acceptance is critical, by the way. However, we must distinguish between resignation and allowing. The deprivation, martyrdom model, however, has another inherent flaw. It hopes that our inner torment and frustrations will go away if we abandon personal gratification. The problem is that they won't, and that we are attempting to barter with God to achieve the impossible.(28) Even redemption does not work like this.

When a pay off is our goal, our hope for an eventual reward kills the connection. The deeper message of Neptune is that we have to give up our ploy to barter with God. We don't have to give up our happiness, or things in life that give us pleasure. We have to give up our trip that we can manipulate our way to heaven.(29) We must recognize our unconscious internal dynamic to control our relationship with the Divine. In doing so, we gain a deeper understanding of love, ourselves and the eternal flow of life.

Control is the wrong game and a counter productive strategy. It leads us away from, not to, our goal. There is a very subtle, but profound reason why we cannot control our way to God. Control is masculine energy. Used exclusively, it denies the feminine. The Source we wish to return to is the Mother. We have to match the energy of her womb. We have to integrate our vibration with the vibration of Her waters. We have to operate from her essence, which is one of letting go, surrendering and going with the flow. This is not a passive, victimization mode. We must use our masculine energy to keep our selves present in our body and on the planet. We are not renouncing our body, our life or ourselves to attain nirvana. We are using our body and our primal energies to reconnect to Source.

In sum, our relationship with God is not one of negotiation. It is not a business deal. It is a question of frequency. Can we match our frequency with the Divine? If we can, we connect. If we can't, we don't.

Ultimate Stress Reduction

Neptune offers us the ultimate solution to stress reduction. The urge is always present to reconnect with prenatal bliss, and merge back into the oceanic experience of being with the Mother. Neptune's longing is a natural force in everyone's psyche that will eventually bring us to God. Longing fuels our inner journey. To facilitate our inner quest, we must identify some of the expressions of this longing that do not serve to lead us closer to our goal. Some of the false expressions include nostalgia for idealized lost love, romantic fantasies, flight from the feminine, self-pity, worship of an external god, guilt and resignation. These all create some form of separation and thus stress in our psyche and body.

Neptune invites us to return to unity. The ultimate stress reduction is to feel totally complete and whole within ourselves, and will the Universe. To do so, we have to make sacred that which we perceive separates us from this unity. What we do not embrace will only separate us further and create more stress. When we embrace our body, it relaxes its grip. As we allow our emotional energy to flow, it expresses itself as inner passion and aliveness. Our instincts cease to haunt us and begin reliable guides.

Unity with the Divine, our body, emotions and instincts brings a feeling of comfort. The physiological and psychological merging with the eternal frequency brings us an experience that transcends ego consciousness, suffering, anxiety and stress.

The Emotional Body is our Vessel

Each planet has npyj its destructive expressions smf its creative expressions. Neptune's problematic face is his extreme emotionality and disturbed emotional states, which can lead to psychosomatic illness. The inability to constructively use Neptunian energies makes us want to withdraw. When we escape, we are "no longer contained within the boundaries of a distinct identity". We become blurred and seem to dissolve and float away.(30)

The inability to ground Neptunian energy results in a loss of boundaries, that is both evasive and invasive. We cannot be contacted because we aren't here now. At the same time, the inability to stay present creates anxiety and overwhelmingness, which results in the unconscious invasion of others' boundaries, as we try to achieve energetic union.(31) The personality is undefined and incoherent, yet the emotional power over others is intense and commanding. Manipulation, deception, and emotional blackmail occur unconsciously.(32)

Fluid emotionality is the gift and the curse of Neptune. It allows us to connect to Source, and it keeps us dysfunctional in the physical world. How do we contain and constructively use our emotional energy?

The Neptunian dilemma is how to heal a divided will. On the one hand we want to live a functional life. On the other hand, the desire to remain an invalid keeps us in a state of confusion and victimization. To live an independent life, we must first confront the truth about our feelings. If our emotional body is not prepared to carry the higher frequency, we remain an emotional infant. We thwart our fusion with bliss, and attract caretaking substitutes that shield us from the pain of the world. If we are willing and able to achieve emotional maturity, the longing to reunite with Source can be achieved through a clear and coherent emotional body.(33)

Emotional Maturity

Longing is the compelling Neptunian urge and motivating force. If this emotional energy is directed in inappropriate directions, it can suffocate our partners and friends, who feel manipulated, used and devoured. The problem is that our efforts to get love, attention, affection and sympathy are expressed covertly. Honest, direct requests are avoided for fear of provoking conflict or rejection. Even differences are avoided, because they threaten the need for fusion. The problem is that, when we are not connected to Source through the powerful dynamic of our own emotional body, any degree of separateness from others provokes feelings of alienation, anxiety and aloneness.

It is our human responsibility and challenge to cultivate our own emotional maturity, so that we avoid this suffering within ourselves and in our relationships.(34) If we do not, our need to belong and to find unity with life also opens us up to manipulation by others. We can easily fall prey to religious indoctrination and commercial exploitation. We must consciously cultivate our individual values, and attain energetic self-sufficiency, to avoid the lethal consequences of naïve suggestibility. For this, we need the help of the Sun, Mars and Saturn. These "selfish" planets help us attain the individual identity, self-actualization and self-assertiveness necessary to reap the rewards that Neptune offers us at the end of our journey.(35)

Unbonding from Divine Substitutes

Neptune offers us the possibility, of using our emotional body to attain blissful fusion with an all-loving deity, only if we are willing to emotionally separate ourselves, from the human relationships that we have attempted to achieve this sense of unity with. Simply stated, we must unbond from our parents, especially our mothers, and quit looking for partners that are parent substitutes. We must become emotional adults. This is easier defined than accomplished, and some never achieve the psychological separation that is required, for sustained mystical union as a functional human being.

To achieve this emotional maturity, we must face our fear/terror of emptiness, aloneness and annihilation. If we do not, a non-violent death wish may become the unconscious expression of our longing to merge with our primal parent. We then use our Neptunian energy to escape into dissolution through drugs and alcohol. Instead of using our instinctual energy to create a substantive connection with Source, we shut off our instincts. To escape the autonomy and aloneness of selfhood, the addict and the alcoholic deaden the life force and sensations of the body, to reduce the pain of separation.

The body is Neptune's challenge. How can we stay present to our feelings in our bodies, when we are feeling anxious in the face of turmoil and conflict? The unconscious Neptunian response is to avoid physical reality, by whatever escape route is the most accessible; and there are many to choose from - the arms of a lover or parent, political ideology, religious dogma, spiritual gurus, or numbing substances. The Neptunian journey must begin by building the self, the body, the Soul, as the boat upon which we ride the waves of life. It is with self-respect and self-trust that we navigate our boat. It is through emotional honesty and awareness that we develop the capacity for self-containment. It is emotional containment that gives us the capacity to hold the divine vibration in our own being.

The Self as a Stepping Stone to Source

We must transcend the need for suffering of the Redemption Worldview, if we are to extricate ourselves from the downward spiral of self-punishment, self-pity, impotence, helplessness, repressed rage, and humiliation by external authorities or fate. To disentangle ourselves from our victim/savior trip, we have to learn to identify actions and attitudes that "help" others at our own expense, and preclude personal joy and fulfillment. For this we need to attune ourselves to our internal guide. There are no external guidelines, only internal feelings that indicate what works for us and what doesn't. Self-sacrifice motivated by shame and guilt belonga to the Redeemer Worldview, and does not get us the results we desire. Humility can open our hearts to ourselves and others. Humiliation cuts the connection with ourselves and each other.

Jung's individuation process proposes that we can heal our separation and division, by shifting our center from our ego to our Self. We do not lose our individuality; we attain it at the level of our divinity. Our connection with our Soul unites us with Source. We can have our cake and eat it too. We do not have to renounce our body or our human experience. We embrace it at the frequency of the Soul. Jung offers us a model of inner connection, not outer redemption.(36) The power lives within us, and the possibility is ever present. The choice and the responsibility are our own.

Neptune seeks to alleviate our loneliness and consciously connect us to our immortality. The trick is to do the emotional work necessary to connect on the conscious level, otherwise our hurt ego will unconsciously try to destroy this connection through fantasies, addictions and other helpless victim behaviors. Again Jung's identification of Self is critical. For, instead of annihilating the ego, we substitute the divine expression of Self. It is less threatening and it is more real. Maybe that is why getting rid of the ego never worked. From the sense of Self is born an inner sense of destiny and purpose, which is life-renewing and transformative. The Self is the boat that transports us not only through life; it is the vessel that delivers us to the ocean of the Mother.

Self Love

Self love and a sense of Self is a prerequisite for avoiding romantic narcissistic entanglements. If we are not real to ourselves, the other is not real either.(37) If we project our need for a redeemer onto a lover, we may find ourselves moving from one fantasy to another, for no human being can save us from our own inner work. Another human being can be a catalyst for opening our heart, but it is within our own heart that we turn off or on our love. If we think it is the other person, we will sooner or later end up disillusioned and feel abandoned, but it is our unrealistic ideas that are the cause of our problems, not another human being. We feel abandoned because we have abandoned ourselves.

Neptune requires that we learn to distinguish between ourselves, our loved ones and the divine Source.(38) One way to do so is to get involved in our own creative expressions. Neptune's imagination feeds our soul. The secret lies in how to use this primal energy. This creative energy can be expressed through poetry, dance, and music. Using Neptune's emotional energy for artistic and other creative expressions can be a very personal and workable path to opening one's own heart.

Life's Final Chapter

Neptune is the ruler of Pisces and of the 12th house, or the final chapter in the horoscope wheel of life. At the end of our journey, the parts merge into the whole. Hopefully, the composite of our life experiences leads us to transcendent, compassionate wisdom. In the final stages of our life, contemplative solitude is more appropriate than taking action. Our knowledge comes from our intuitive knowing. Our perspective is a poetic appreciation of the unity of all life. We are willing to make sacrifices for the common good and future generations. We meditate on the meaning of life, and attempt to embrace the mystery of death and possibility of rebirth.

The end of our life is a time of self-judgment. We must evaluate our actions, our decisions and the results. As we pull in our memories, our goal is to achieve a sense of satisfaction, completion and release. Feelings of success give us peace. However, the ghosts of loss and failure may also haunt us. Unresolved emotions come to catch us in the astral plane when we die, and oblige us to reincarnate until the emotional body is at peace. We cannot achieve liberation until we achieve emotional completion.

This Lifetime

Sooner or later we must all return to Source. Neptune urges us to do so before we die, so we can enjoy the rewards while on planet Earth. When we become aware of our true identity, and develop a conscious relationship with Source, our dreams are divinely inspired. Our actions are directed, and we are supported in carrying out some kind of mission for the common good.(39) When we learn to connect to and cooperate with Source, we can become co-creators of our reality, working in partnership with Source.

Neptune offers us a vision of life before and after death, but Neptune doesn't want us to wait until we die to experience this reality. Neptune wants us to know that impersonal transcendent love is available at all times, universally present, and the source of ultimate pleasure during our human existence.

Neptune's Challenge and Gift

Whether in this lifetime or the next, we all hope to transcend the suffering caused by separation, and merge back with Source.(40) However, if we live for some future time and not in the moment, we won't be able to reconnect with Source while in a human body. Neptune teaches us to "Be here now".

The Neptunian path is difficult to navigate. Neptune offers us the opportunity to experience the illusory nature of a separate material existence, so that we can tell the difference between illusion and spiritual reality, and make them one. The key to remember in navigating Neptune's waters is that it is an inner journey. Salvation comes through our own experience. Connection is earned, not granted. Once we are awakened and experience the reality of our unity, discrimination and judgment don't compute but, short of an act of grace and spontaneous awakening, we have to develop our capacity to love. We have to cultivate our connection to Source until it becomes a real on-going experience.

The human experiment is indeed a challenging path. We are given consciousness and free will. To exercise our free will, we must have a sense of our own individuality, which requires defining a separate sense of self. To merge with Source, we must give up our separateness and align with divine will. Neptune tells us that in dissolution we do not lose ourselves, we find ourselves. The question is how can we reach the consciousness where we experience that "Thy will and my will are one"? Neptune's gift is the experience that answers this question.

Mysticism

Mysticism is Neptune's territory. Mysticism is about first-hand direct spiritual experience. Neptune does not own exclusive rights on spirituality. There are many ways of being spiritual, but Neptune is the planet that offers us the gateway to the ecstatic experience of the Divine. Neptune offers us the opportunity to enter the womblike waters of creation, and be healed by the source of all life. Neptune is about "coming home". The question is how?

Is it necessary to suffer and sacrifice to experience God's love and light? How can we achieve a transformation of consciousness? How can we release ourselves from our ego identity, which separates us from a larger sense of Self? How can we permanently identify with our Soul, which gives a sense of destiny and meaning to life? How do we distinguish between life-destroying pathologies, and spiritual crises that force us to face our reality and uncover aspects of our psyche beyond ego and will? How do we integrate, instead of polarize, earthly and other worldly dimensions of reality?

Neptune teaches us that we can learn from teachers and gurus, but we cannot be dependent upon them. They are not to become another drug or addiction. We must take responsibility for our own lives, our own liberation and our own enlightenment.

The Neptunian urge to merge with the Divine is sincere, and must be realized if we are to find true peace and happiness in this lifetime. Neptune prepares us to die. When we are no longer afraid of death, because we have connected to our immortality, we are free to enjoy this precious human life.

Kundalini Yoga - Contemplative Meditation

Those who have a Pisces Sun, Moon, Ascendant or other planets in Pisces, may naturally have out of the body and other meditative Neptunian experiences. As my Pisces nephew told me when he was fourteen, "I live where most people spend their whole lives trying to get to. My job this lifetime is to come back to earth". For these individuals, bringing these experiences into the physical body is the challenge. For others, the task is to cultivate the experience of the Divine. For all of us, the task is to ground this experience in the body. Mantras and pranayama are particularity useful for integrating spiritual and physical energies in our consciousness.

The simple chanting of the mantra MAAAAAA establishes the vibration of the Mother in our psyche and body, and helps to heal emotional wounds. Just inhale deeply and chant MAAAAAAAA until the end of the breath and repeat.

This mantra helps us feel the presence of the Mother in our being. As we establish her presence, we release our emotional neediness and unconscious programming, that tries to get the need for connection meet through other human beings, instead of through our own connection with Source.

We can cultivate the experience of the eternal womb in our own bodies. This is done with the breath and the rhythm of the breath in the body. It is interesting that Pisces and Neptune are associated with the second chakra, not the crown as we might imagine. Feel your breath in your abdomen and relax into its rhythm. You can experience that you are in the deep, rhythmic womb of the Mother in your own body.

The following are some guideline to use for silent, contemplative meditation.

Activities

Clear and create your inner space by doing Kundalini Yoga exercises or meditation. Be sure to use the time between exercises to feel the inner connection. Close your eyes and look inside until you establish a connection with your inner space. Be kind and gentle to yourself. Nurture yourself. Take care of your emotional body. Soothe yourself with mantras. Take time for yourself. Pray with your presence.

Attention

Be still. Be silent. Listen to the inner sound of silence. Be with what is and enjoy it, especially the sensations in your body. Observe with and feel in your body. Develop our inner senses.

Intention

Let go. Surrender to what is. Allow what is happening. Give up control. Don't try to make things happen. Accept visions, but don't visualize. Let the Divine work for you.

Attitude

Do less instead of more. Don't force yourself. Use this time to relax, recuperate, regenerate and consolidate. Don't stress, force or over exert.

The above is a prescription for nurturing our feminine qualities. The Sun in Pisces (February 18 through March 19) helps us be gentler and establish our inner connection to Source. Of course, we need to use our masculine energy to make our feminine connection powerful. Use the power of your mind to hold your attention, to do the above consciously. By building our attention muscle, we consolidate our energy and our presence.

References and Footnotes

Alan Oken's Complete Astrology, Alan Oken, Bantam Books, New York, 1980. (Oken)

Alive and Well with Neptune, Bil Tierney, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul. MN, 1999. (Alive)

The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption, Liz Greene, Samuel Weiser, 1996. (Neptune)

The Astrologer's Manual, Landis Knight Green, CRCS Publications, Sebastopol, CA, 1975. (Manual)

Pluto - the Evolutionary Journey of the Soul, Jeff Green, Llewellyn, St. Paul, MN, 1993. (Pluto)

"The Living planets - Neptune," The Mountain Astrologer, Vol. 10/1, Dec/Jan 1996-7, Dana Gerhardt, pp.44-47+. (Living)

Soul-Centered Astrology, Alan Oken, The Crossing Press, Freedom, CA, 1990, pp.192-199. (Soul)

1. Pluto, p. 230
2. Manual, p. 151
3. Manual, p. 153
4. Soul, p. 320
5. Soul, p. 318
6. Oken, p. 224
7. Oken, p. 224
8. Pluto, p. 218
9. Pluto, 218-9
10. Pluto, 219
11. Pluto, 223
12. Living, 96
13. Alive, 29
14. Alive, 31
15. Alive, 26
16. Neptune, 16
17. N - 33
18. N - xi
19. N - 35
19a.N - 36
20. N - 65
21. N - 66
22. N - 63
23. N - xvi
24. N - xvii
25. N - 84
26. N - 76
27. N - 87
28. N - 96
29. N - 97
30. N - 117
31. N - 117
32. N - 118
33. N - 124-5
34. N -131
35. N - 137
36. N - 103
37. N - 119
38. N - 198
39. Pluto, 223
40. N - 39

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