Neptune is Entering Aries — A Historical Shift in Consciousness Under Way

Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology [https://nightlightastrology.com/]. Today we are going to begin our exploration of Neptune's upcoming entrance into the sign of Aries. This is going to be the first of a few videos we do when an outer planet changes signs. It's a pretty big deal because it takes a very long time for outer planets to go through any given sign of the zodiac. So their shifts are very significant, both collectively and personally.

We'll talk a little bit about why that is the case and why we're going to spend so much time on this topic in the next couple of months, but this will be our first sort of dive into the new space that Neptune is entering. So on that note, before we get into it today, remember to like and subscribe. If you're new to the channel, welcome! Your subscription means a lot. It's free to do so it really helps us grow, or the thumbs up, or both. Obviously, we appreciate that.

You can find transcripts of any of my daily talks on the website, which is Nightlightastrology.com. A couple of things I want to turn you on to over there today before I get into our talk for the day. Head over to Nightlightastrology.com and you're going to see a couple of things that we have coming up.

So if you go to the events page, first of all, we have a spring equinox gathering here in Minneapolis. It's free. Just click on the RSVP button there. This is under in-person events and under our events tab. We are hosting an evening of movement and meditation and some food and herbal tea afterward, a time to get together and reflect on the meaning of the equinox, as well as setting some new intentions and sort of consciously reflecting on the change of season zodiacally.

So it's at the Grapevine Collective at New City Center in Minneapolis. If you're in the area, we'd love to see you there again. Just click RSVP. It's free to attend. Also, if you go to live talks, you will see that coming up very shortly. I have a talk that is going to be taking place this Thursday evening on the third house.

So if you'd like to learn more about the third house, which was called the Temple of the Moon, we are going to be discussing what makes this house very unique and special and often misunderstood in terms of what its meaning was in ancient times. And so if you have third house planets, you want to learn more about this house and why it was called the Temple of the Moon, check that out.

If you can't attend live, of course, you get the recording. Click on events and go to Speaker Series, and you'll see that on March 15, 16th, and 23rd we're hosting three free Speaker Series, free for all of you. Our speakers are paid nicely thanks to the Kickstarter, but we make these free educational series each season for all of you, as a way of saying thank you for supporting the channel.

Also, if you go to book a reading, be sure you check out our need-based astrology readings. You guys also helped us build this through the Kickstarter. We have three different tiers of readings with our course directors, our tutors, and some of our promising alumni that allow you to find a reading at a flexible pricing point.

We know that there's a lot of people out there who could benefit from readings, and sometimes your budget is an issue. So that's what that service is for. It gives our people good experience, and they get paid, and then you get affordable pricing as well. So it's a win-win for everyone. And thanks to all of you, we have that service available.

So on that note, let's turn our attention to the real-time clock, and let's take a look at this Neptune and Aries transit that is coming up. So what I'm going to do, just for the sake of being easy with our eyes, is I'm going to remove everything from this chart, except for Neptune. Let's do that. You'll see that here we have Neptune is at the 29th degree right now.

So we speed this up just a little bit, and we're going to see that Neptune will be entering Aries on March 30. Let's see really soon. Now, once Neptune enters the sign of Aries, we're going to see that Neptune will get up to about the second degree and turn retrograde over the summer. Obviously, that would be the winter if you're in the southern hemisphere.

And then it retrogrades back into Pisces by mid to late October. And then it stays in the sign of Pisces at that 29th degree, and doesn't fully ingress back into Aries until right about here, which is January, late January of 2026, at which point now Neptune is here to stay. So we'll advance this forward. You'll see that Neptune does not regress or retrograde back into Pisces after that.

So this is a transitional year for Neptune that we're in right now, and we're going to get the first glimpse of the ingress as much like what we had a couple of years back when Pluto first entered Aquarius. You get that taste for the transit. You get a little preview. Then it backs off, and then it finally comes in to stay.

So when we take this forward, you'll see that Neptune will be in the sign of Aries for a very, very long time. This is all the way into 2039, and then, if we check out the retrograde here, I believe it gets back. No, let me see. I think it's 2039 that it fully moves into Taurus. That'll be interesting, by the way. But anyway, that's such a long ways off.

So we have a long, like 14-15 years of Neptune in Aries to come that's starting now. We're getting a taste for it. Let's go back in time just a little bit to refresh on how long Neptune has been in Pisces. So if you trace Neptune back, you're going to see that Neptune's entrance into Pisces begins. Here we go. First splash into Pisces is about April of 2011.

So since then, you could say, just broadly speaking, Neptune has been in Pisces. Now, I don't try to create super sensational titles. And one of the things that I do stand by, though, and I don't think is sensational, is that we're in a year, and you've probably heard other astrologers say this as well, because it's the big news of the year.

We're in a year where Pluto has just changed signs to stay. Neptune is changing signs. Uranus is changing signs, Jupiter's changing signs, and Saturn is changing signs. So all the slow-moving planets, anytime you get past Mars, you're into some slow-moving planets. Those planets are all changing signs, even if it was just a year in which Neptune was changing signs, that would be a signal, much like Pluto changing signs, that we are undergoing a shift in terms of the collective consciousness.

There isn't just one collective consciousness. There are many. There are many layers and levels. Consciousness is multi-dimensional, just like life, just like we are as people, just like the world is and the galaxy is. But there is a way in which so many planets changing signs really do indicate something like a shift of era, collectively, historically, a shift in consciousness that is both personal, of course, it always is, but also very collective.

So it's an important time to start thinking about what some of the features of this era change might look like archetypally. And we can start doing that for sure by looking at Neptune in Aries. So what I'm going to do is I am going to take some pieces from a presentation that I did last year, preparing us almost a year in advance for Neptune's entrance into Aries.

I did a webinar called "Neptune into Aries: When the Ocean Turns Red." You can find that on the shop page if you want, like a full two hours worth of that webinar, but I'm going to steal some of my notes from that webinar and share some of the archetypal signatures that have historical data behind them, in terms of what has happened when Neptune has been in Aries previously.

So first of all, and these are just kind of free-wheeling, so we're just going to talk about some of the things that you can anticipate archetypally and demonstrations of those themes historically under the last Neptune and Aries transit. So for example, as Neptune is a planet of tremendous mysticism, there is often a way in which the themes of mysticism and the themes of the warrior come together.

So you have one of the quintessential Neptune and Aries themes is that of the spiritual warrior. The spiritual warrior theme can include things like heroic spirituality or mission or quest-driven spirituality, where religion, spirituality, mysticism take on the qualities of heroism, courage. It's as though I have to individuate by doing things that are daring and courageous.

You know, not just physically, like what Mars in Aries can be very physical in that sense, but mystically, there's like a mystical adventure. Now, this could mean that you have to grow by doing things that take you into new spaces. There's a kind of risk-taking, pioneering quality on the personal level that many of us will experience, where the feeling of individuating spiritually will be very strong.

Now, I think of someone, for example, a great example of this was Swami Vivekananda, who was born when Neptune was in the sign of Aries, and was one of the main progenitors of yoga in the West. He felt he was kind of a missionary, who felt that he had a spiritual mission, crusade, quest, to take off on his own and come to the west and bring the study and practice of Indian religion and yoga in particular.

So that's he was born with Neptune in Aries, and is one of the great early pioneers of yoga in the West, who brought it with the sense that there was a risk that needed to be taken in an individual quest and departure from the known. Those themes are very Neptune in Aries, and many of us will experience those themes that the only way I can individuate, the only way I can become who I'm meant to be, is through some kind of spiritual or mystical quest or adventure.

And that quality can be absolutely captivating and wonderful and very inspiring, especially inspiring us to start or do new things, which is also the cardinal fire quality of Aries that comes through. However, there is one of the dark sides of this same thing, is the way in which whatever we are most passionate about or idealistic about, that we feel most fervent about, or where there's almost like a zealousness that can take over, and that quality of zeal can become fanatical.

And there can be a way in which being all-powerful and feeling like you have all of the answers, and it's like a god complex, basically, that can come up with Neptune in Aries. Now, the reason I say this is because, well, I'll just give you an example. And some of these are kind of dark. So just you know, be aware that we're going to go into some dark places here.

But there was a famous, the famous, earliest known American serial killer named H.H. Holmes, was born while Neptune was in Aries, and he famously said, "I was born with the devil in me. I was born with the evil standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since." So here is someone who believed that they were empowered by the devil who possessed and lived within them to do things in the name of a sort of demonic mission in killing people.

Now, I know that's really dark and really extreme, but I use it to sort of exaggerate and caricaturize how the spiritual mission can become fanatical and delusional at times, right? If it's not grounded in truth or love, right? Then you can get into things like a god complex, or, you know, God told me to kill someone. Or, you know, it can get fanatical.

So a dark side of Neptune in Aries is violence fanatically, you know, fanatical violence in the name of some kind of religious or spiritual vision that's delusional. So those are things that you know, on a very everyday level, we have to be aware of the potential to be captured by a very fiery, very impulsive and sometimes fanatical idea about what we ought to do, or what mission or like you can get captured by that in a way that's not always good.

So some discernment is going to be really necessary for how fiery and fierce and sudden and impulsive and quick-moving Neptune in Aries can be when we get captured by a vision or an idea. There's also, you know, just visionary leadership. Aries is the exaltation of the sun, the sign of Mars. There's strong qualities of leadership and courage, courage and decisive action and fighting or caring for things and stepping out in favor of things that you believe ought to light or lead the way.

Um, you know, for example, I think of W.E.B. Du Bois. I think that's how you say his name. I think it's like a French last name, but he was an early civil rights activist and the founder of the NAACP, and that's another Neptune and Aries signature right there on, you know, on the other hand, those sort of that, that leadership, that quality of doing something pioneering and stepping out as a leader in service of some greater cause, very Neptune in Aries can also be taken again in a sort of dark direction.

For example, Julius Caesar was also born when Neptune was in Aries, he slaughtered a lot of people. He forced a civil war. Started a civil war, forced his way to power, declared himself ruler, slash dictator for lifetime. Eventually was assassinated and has been noted as a key figure that led to the demise of the Roman Empire. I'm again, like the potential for someone to assert a God-like power as a leader that's unchecked or somewhat too tyrannical.

And, you know, in this case, he believed he was God, right? So, again, so these are things that are the duality of Neptune and Aries really fascinating. You know, championing underdogs is a huge Aries thing, and Neptune has that aura of universal compassion, love, care, tenderness, and paired with Aries that can be about this really profound, kind of spiritually fueled activism, compassionate, non-violent, but assertive, right?

It's kind of like not surprising that Gandhi was born with Neptune and Aries. He was a major political and spiritual leader in the Indian independence movement. He was also assassinated, which is interesting because a lot of the Neptune and Aries faith. Years, there's a theme of assassination that's also there, which is, you know, there's one of the ways that you kind of think about it is that Aries starts something.

And often the way that a revolution begins as Aries is a cardinal fire sign. And you think about when Uranus was in Aries, the kinds of revolutions that were sparked that Arab Spring, for example, Occupy Wall Street, blah, blah, blah. The spark that sets the fire of revolution or change is often happening when major transits go through the sign of Aries, again, Uranus and Aries being a pretty good one.

But whatever comes first is often sacrificed, or is often not the thing that carries it through. So there's this symbol of sacrificial New Beginnings, making a sacrifice to get something started. That's a big part of what Neptune and Aries can bring in. Neptune is also about saints and martyrs, salvation, and so those people who sort of sacrifice something for the sake of the collective, or who are made a martyr.

Somehow, that's a Neptune and Aries theme, and we can watch for these themes too, in terms of in our own personal lives, what are we willing to sacrifice? What are we willing to give up in order to create that new start, or that revolutionary new beginning? Revolution is a theme that was often associated with Aries, more so than you know, say, Aquarius.

So anyway, more on that. Maybe another time. I think there are, there are crusades and there are misguided crusades. Again, to go back to that theme. For example, the American Civil War began in 1861 as Neptune was first entering Aries, and many fought against the a part of that was the ideological opposition to slavery. And then also there was a part of that that was about the ideological drive to preserve the right to hold slaves and and so on and so forth.

So you have two sides fighting for things that they believed in. And, you know, the potential for people to be fanatical about things that are, that are dark, but they believe, like they believed it was a God-given right to own slaves, like that's that's a terrible thing, right? We think of that as a terrible thing, but there were people who died for that.

So, you know, these are really important things to take note of historically. That's a pretty massive historical event to think about and potentially compare to whatever is coming next, not that we're going to have a civil war. I certainly hope that there's nothing as terrible as that, right? But Neptune and Aries can be amplifying conflict over things that people get really fanatical about in also like in 1866 when Neptune was in Aries, The Lost Cause of the Confederacy, which is a pseudo-historical negationist myth, was enunciated and claimed that the cause of the Confederate States was just heroic and not centered on slavery, which is just clearly not true.

So there's ways in which people can become like, fired up about things that are like literally not true. So that's something to watch for. We have to be careful about how reactionary we get and sorting out truth from, you know, illusion, and being very careful about how quickly we act based on things before we know all the facts, that's a very important thing for Neptune and Aries.

There's also this amazingly pioneering, creative, entrepreneurial and kind of, yes, a pioneering entrepreneurial drive that Neptune and Aries has, or people get captured by a vision in music or art or industries or science or culture or film religion. I think, for example, of Marie Curie, who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields.

She was born with Neptune and Aries, and she did groundbreaking research on radioactivity. So you think about people who break barriers or boundaries, and they initiate a new era with something that is fiery and illuminated. This is again the exaltation of the sun and Mars. It's not just about athletic, muscular things. There's also a very distinct way in which Aries pioneers something new, which can be a new idea.

This is something Liz Green wrote about extensively that people always thought of Aries as more brutish and not as intelligent as it often is where Aries can represent the pioneering mind as much as the pioneering, you know, physical activities of like an explorer or something. I mean, Henry Ford was born with Neptune and Aries, he played a pivotal role in making automobiles available to the masses, whether you like these things or not.

You know another thing, though, is that some of the things that can come about, the pioneering can also have a real Marshall bent. For example, the in 1861 Richard Gatling developed the Gatling gun, which was one of the. Most, earliest, most deadly fire rapid, deadliest rapid-fire weapons that was ever developed, and the Spencer repeating rifle was also developed.

So there's, there was this pioneering in the areas of literal weapons that was really fascinating. Um, Alfred Nobel was a developed dynamite. Well, Neptune was in Aries, right? So there was also the earliest work that went into the eventual use of poison gas and chemical warfare. Sort of groundwork was laid for that during the Civil War.

So, yeah, I mean there, but you know, so there's that kind of like, I'm just trying to illuminate, like the the the light and dark of even the way in which we pioneer or move forward, because there can be that sort of Mars bent to what we develop, dynamite guns, right? I think also of the heroic nature of Neptune in Aries.

It really reminds me of the hero's journey from Joseph Campbell. If you think about that, it is a thoroughly and, you know, I can't remember what if it was, if it was, if it was sun and Aries, I think Campbell had some strong, let me look that up really quick, yeah, I'm pretty sure that Joseph Campbell had some strong Aries energy.

Let's look it up. Well, I'm just doing this. Off the top of my head, I should have looked this up earlier, but let's see, yeah, that's what I thought. So he has sun in Aries, mercury in Aries, Mars in Aries, Jupiter in Aries, right? So, yeah, you think about the hero's journey and of Joseph Campbell, and it's a thoroughly Aryan quality in his character that I think led him, in part, to excavate that mythology and that archetype so deeply and wonderfully.

But that is a theme that will come up, that that heroic, beautiful journey spiritually, that we're all here to go on. And the the reminder, you're on a quest, you're on a mission, you have things to do, the intensity of that will ramp up, I think, with Neptune and Aries for all of us. Um, when I think about some of the let's just move through a couple more of my notes here.

Yeah. I mean, there are also, like the anti-hero archetypes, where people believe they're heroes, but they're actually villains. For example, well, Neptune was in Aries during the Civil War. Nathan Bedford Forrest thought of himself as a Confederate hero that we massacred a group of mostly black Union soldiers who had willingly surrendered.

And then, of course, he also became the first KKK Grand Wizard. And that's another dark thing about that period of time. Is the KKK was launched during Neptune in Aries, so delusional, religious persecuting, God Complex, kind of, you know, white supremacy group. Now, at the same time, we also have the heroism of the Civil War itself, which was a huge step in the road of the path of civil rights unfolding, if we want to put it that way.

So it's like, there's, it's a little bit of each you know what I mean. So it's a it's a time that is noted for conflicts and sharp distinctions and separations and battles. A lot of that for us will be experienced within which is that hero's journey, that something we're wrestling with or battling within ourselves, facing your shadow, facing your demons, wrestling with them.

That's a very Neptune and Aries like theme, and you know, it's coming out of the much more feminine, poetic, romantic space of Pisces. It's going to be a distinct, noticeable change. Neptune in Aries can be very competitive, and is literally often connected with things like martial arts, Daredevil sports, sports in general. I think it's interesting that when Neptune was in Aries in 1867 the marques of Queensberry rules were published, which established the modern rules of boxing.

There was the National Association of Professional baseball players. Became the first pro baseball league, while Neptune was in Aries, the ascent of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps was accomplished, marking a significant point in the history of mountaineering in 1865 while Neptune was in Aries, David Livingstone was doing some of his most famous explorations and discoveries along the Nile in Africa.

And you know, there's maybe a kind of colonial aspect of some of that that's disturbing, but the theme that was very big in the collective was exploration, pioneering, mountaineering, Daredevil, types of things were peaking in a way. Now, the other thing is that Neptune in Aries can have literal connections to fire. So for example, in 1872 Neptune was in Aries the great fire.

Of Boston, destroyed much of the city of Boston, leaving 1000s of people homeless. In 1864 the folly powder Mills exploded. That was a major disaster at the time, killed quite a few people. In 1866 the Chelsea Piers explosions took place after a steamship carrying munitions exploded. Mount Vesuvius erupted again while Neptune was in Aries. The Great Fire of Chicago took place while Neptune was in Aries, burning for three days and devastating much of Chicago.

So I know that we just had a massive, terrible wildfire. So hearing in LA so LA area, so hearing that may be a little scary, but I think we have to be prepared for the fact that Neptune in Aries does have a strong correlation with fire. The paste ego fire of 1871 took place in Neptune was in Aries, which is still the deadliest wired wildfire in US history.

At the time that I made this killed 2500 people and but at the same time, along the lines of fire, there were major developments in gaslighting, coal-based heating and cooking that were taking place. So again, fire pasteurization was developed well Neptune was in Aries, which involves heating liquids to kill harmful bacteria. So heat and fire and important developments around those themes and elements.

Yeah, it's there was a whole bunch of groundwork laid for the equations of electromagnetism, which would lead to major advancements in electrical engineering. So you think about light and the major advancements that were taking place around light-based technologies. That's a very Neptune and Aries kinds of thing, kind of thing. Anyway, I wanted to introduce you to these things today, just so you can kind of get a feel for the archetype and just draw on some examples from that previous webinar.

I if you want to see the entirety of that webinar, if you go to the Nightlight shop page, let me take you over there right now so you can get the whole talk. If you're interested in it. I'll pull some things from it here or there. Let me see, here's the reading page. Okay, let's go up, go to the shop page. When you click on it, you'll scroll down and you will see previous talks I've done.

And if you go down far enough, you'll see Neptune in Aries when the ocean turns red. You can purchase that and get the recording, audio or video and watch a full two hours on this if you're interested. There's also one in there, excuse me, that I did fairly recently on Saturn conjunct Neptune in Aries. I'll be pulling some pieces of those talks into things that I do on the channel, like I did today.

But if you want the full treatment, you may enjoy those. Check those out. That's it for now. This has been just a little sample and taste of what's coming. I don't want any of this to scare people, but it is important to know how powerful a shift in the collective consciousness we are about to experience. I believe that I wouldn't put a sensational title if I didn't believe something sensational was about to occur.

And I do believe something sensational is about to occur in this case, if I don't, I typically won't act like I do, you know, but this is a big transit. It's a transit that can amplify the process of spiritual individual individuation, risk-taking in alignment with beautiful, transcendental ideals that come and grip us with the spirit of adventure.

I love this transit for those reasons to grow spiritually, because we take meaningful risks very Neptune and Aries to deal with the dark side of Neptune and Aries, the fire, the warfare, the division, the potential for delusional crusades. That's something we're all going to have to face together, but in my humble opinion, it begins by facing those elements of ourselves.

Where do we get fanatical? Where do we start developing that little egotistical God Complex, even if it's really little, the seeds of those things are, you know, in us, and getting to look at them and explore them and make sure that the good ones are taking root, and that we're weeding out the ones that are not going to lead us in a good direction will be part of what we discuss over the years to come.

But I'm excited for this, and I am excited to continue exploring it with all of you. So I hope this has been enjoyable for today, and we'll see you again tomorrow. Bye.