“When Neptune transits Venus we are attracted to anything that takes us beyond the boundaries of our separate self, and this accounts for the enhanced religious, spiritual, or mystical longings some people feel at this time.”
– Howard Sasportas
One of the signatures of this week is the conversation between Venus, finishing up her days in Gemini, and Neptune in the oceanic waters of Pisces. They exchanged phone numbers back in late April, early May, and now they’re ready to talk again. What was happening to you back then? I bet it feels like another lifetime already, as we continue to live in this pandemic-perpetual-blursday.
During that time, it was just before Venus did her retrograde dance and set us up for a significant review of our values and desires. We’ve been on a crash course of improving our connections through communication (yay Gemini for the win!), but honestly, it’s been hard, as the contentious and frustrated vibe continues. Watching the news feels ever more disheartening and easy to lose hope.
Dissolving the boundaries
But Neptune & Venus come to remind us that if we continue to focus our eyes only on what is in front of us, we’ll miss the invisible helpers and unseen hands working the weavings of transformation. At its core, Neptune is a boundary-dissolver and dissolves the boundaries between us and others, us, and the imaginal world. It’s a solvent and dilutes the strength of the concentrated energy. While Venus is our culture bringer, working on the edges of what is acceptable and opening us to new encounters.
Plus, Neptune speaks to the part of us the yearns to dissolve the boundaries that prevent us from experiencing the oneness of it all. It’s about letting go of the Ego and its struggles to receive something bigger than our small self.
Neptune fuels the urge we have to pursue a particular path, but while we want the guarantees of success, Neptune will only reveal the challenges and obstacles along the way. Neptune teaches us that our dream or vision is not supposed to offer guarantees. What they do require of us is to let our Ego need for control go and surrender.
In other words, when it comes to Neptune, we pray and release it into the hands of the Divine, while we keep taking each step as it shows up on our path. Surrender to the baby steps, not the massive overhaul that your Ego may be anxiously wanting.
The core lesson with Neptune is that the solution you seek will only be revealed by giving up on trying to find the answer.
Why does this matter this week?
Firstly, we have Mars pumping hot and heavy through Aries, fueling our drive and assertive mojo. It’s moving fast towards the challenging conversations it will be making with Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn in Capricorn, which will take place in August. So the heat will go up a few notches on the Scoville heat units.
Mercury moving through the last degrees of Cancer will have its standoff against the heavy hitters in Capricorn, and our minds may turn dark, despondent, but also more pragmatically focused. (I’d advise you to increase your Vitamin C this week – aka Vitamin Comedy for the rescue!) The Moon continues to wax, and things are building up momentum.
We’ll need the help of Venus and Neptune, bringing in a desire to let it go, surrender, feel the feels, and imagine new possibilities.
Stop the fretting and try to listen to what inspiration is coming through. With Neptune, it’s hard to keep a hold, so you may as well release the grip. There’s a strong possibility of falling to pieces this week, and from the puddle, something new will come into being. Neptune dissolves and clears, as a way to make room for the new.
Pay attention and explore these themes this week:
* Idealization
Look to where you may be over-idealizing and not seeing what is really in front of you. We can be over-idealizing how bad or good something or someone is. With Venus and Neptune, not all is as it seems.
* Sacrifice in relationships
What aspects of your life, especially in relationships, do you need to make sacrifices and adjustments. Neptune/Venus often bring up experiences where an element of sacrifice and letting go is required.
* Make room for romance
Remember that the etymology of the word romance is linked to a story, a narrative, as well as a language (originating from Roman Latin.) So what’s the story you’re telling yourself about this relationship – be it with a partner, or your Inner Other – the Magical Other, as written by Jungian Analyst and writer James Hollis. Use this time to review the story you’ve been telling yourself about the key relationships in your life.
* Waiting to be saved?
Are you waiting for a savior/redeemer to save the day? Instead of waiting, become your savior and see what actions you can do for yourself, what help you may engage that will get you on better footing. As the old Sufi wise fool Nasruddin would say: ‘Believe in Allah, but tie up your horse.’
* Grief and melancholy
Take time to mourn and grieve what has been lost. Invite the melancholia for tea and biscuits. Dive deeper, with curious exploration, into any feelings of divine discontent you may be feeling, because honestly, living in this world is often so hard.
* Beauty and ritual
Bring beauty into your ordinary life. Look for the Divine in the details. Go to nature. Tend to your sleep and dreams. Dance, play music, journal, do art, have sex, and watch a movie that transports you. Renew/reengage with your spiritual practice through ritual, prayer, and meditation – whatever floats your boat!
* Look to the heart
Of your work and business. Doing business or working, as usual, is becoming a more and more a crumbling reality. Take this time to reflect and remember what your heart really desires and call in the changes you desire. Meditate, journal, do your magic to call in the changes you want. Venus/Neptune sure lift up the veil between realities. A good time to bring spiritual practice into your work.
* Magic is a state of mind
Our rational culture doesn’t care for magic. It says it’s for kids and naive, out of touch, folks. But is it? Look to the times in your life when something inexplicable took place, a miracle of sorts. Look also to the synchronicities that changed your life in ways that would have been unimaginable. Now, remember what state of mind you had when it happened?
Perhaps it is a surrender moment. A ‘thy will be done god’ lift your arms to the heavens and let it go of the struggle. Whatever it was, even if small, you’ve experienced some magical coincidence that has brought you to this place.
Now open yourself up once more this week, especially if you’ve been feeling heavy in your heart. Whisper your prayer to what you believe as Divine and surrender your Ego’s drive to make it just so. See what unfolds. Keep watch for the small, subtle details, because that’s where the Divine lives.
These are some of the ways you can honor Neptune and Venus in your life.
