If Neptune is our (societal) ideals and fantasies, then it can speak to social, political, and cultural shifts, collective desires, pop culture, and group themes of that nature.
Neptune in Pisces emphasized themes of mass confusion/delusion, and conversely, heightened spiritual sensitivity, awakening and awareness. The archetype is more passive – perhaps because information is conflicting and unclear it doesn’t feel like its the time to act yet – and it’s inclined more towards reflection than action.
Neptune in Aries is more about action and course correction. It is more sure of itself (for better or worse), more absolute, tangible, practical and cut throat. Neptune in Aries wants to take matters into their own hands. If I can’t see it, wield it, act on it now, it’s frivolous. It idealizes independence, autonomy, and the image of the hero.
Lets recap some of the bigger themes of Neptune in Pisces first to determine how Neptune in Aries could progress.
Neptune in Pisces Themes
Scams: Neptune in Pisces has indulged our collective imagination and delusion for better and worse. We’ve seen the rise of (older) Millenial corporate scammers a la WeWork, Elizabeth Holmes, and Anna Sorokin girl boss a bit too close to the sun in order to grasp the last bits of what was left of the American Dream for their generation.
Toxic pining: Dreamy, emotionally toxic R&B a la SZA and Summer Walker, and a rise in popularity of neo-soul and R&B in general characterized so much of the music soundscape.
Divination: An enormous rise in the popularity and use of (improper or not) divination and more esoteric or occult arts – tarot, astrology, energy work, witchcraft – to cope with the uncertainty and paranoia of a changing world and also to touch the edges of a spirit world that felt more and more present to the collective.
Fake News: Trump’s presidency brought the idea of fake news which highlighted or created a lot of mistrust and confusion in what is truthful from the media. Statistically, use of divinatory elements in pop culture started to rise with his presidency which is fascinating and likely because when people are fearful and uncertain, they turn to divination to find a sense of control and understanding.
John Steinbeck said “I know now why confusion in government is not only tolerated but encouraged. A confused people can make no clear demands.” The exponential increase in gaslighting and paranoia that anything we read could be untrue no matter how credible the source seems, has been unbelievably damaging to people’s conviction to act in one direction or another and seems now very difficult to untangle. I do think that Neptune in Aries will help us start to move out of this confusion and inaction though. Aries will act without knowing for sure if its right, but the sentiment is that, if you don’t act and get it wrong or right, how will you know? You have to act, course correct, act, course correct, to ever get anywhere.
Pandemic: COVID was the perfect storm to highlight how unwell (Neptune is immune system) this country is – because of the health choices we make but even more so because of the choices we are funneled towards in many ways, and the deliberately confusing information we are given to make the best choices.
Eroding the American Dream: A deteriorating economy, growing health crisis, corporate greed and wealth being uncovered, and mounting climate disaster all contributed to our collective and individual desire to panic, dissociate, cling to coping mechanisms, delude ourselves and each other, and stretch our perception to sense what is unseen and delegitimized by modern science standards but nevertheless real and felt by very many other historical-cultural standards.
Transitioning to Neptune in Aries Themes
Where Neptune and Pisces (Jupiter) will spend time pontificating, fantasizing, procrastinating, and vibing, Aries wants to get to the point. It wants to know the present reality of the situation so it can act accordingly. Aries doesn’t usually get this attribute but I think many Aries are practical. If you’re always looking to act, you’re looking for a clear how – and if you’re extra efficient – a clear why as well. The hemming and hawing, the what ifs, and dwelling on details that haven’t happened yet is not very practical and only get in the way of action – an Aries main goal. Pisces would be more likely to get caught up on the vision they dreamt up in their head and be unwilling to act unless the circumstances were ideal, but Aries is more willing to make the current circumstances enough and take action regardless of how perfect things seem now. Done is better than perfect would be a helpful mindset of this transit.
Aries is more literal and wants to know exactly what you mean so they can figure out their next action. The bullshit detector will be on high alert and there won’t be a desire for fluffy, abstract or poetic words or visuals. Aries is bare bones, spartan, on the offensive. Aries values personal, experiential knowledge over hearsay. “Have you experienced it yourself or are you just reiterating something someone told you?” is a sentiment I imagine we’ll be valuing more as the era goes on.
Neptune represents an ideal image in our psyche. In Aries, it prioritizes autonomy, initiative, applying strength and courage in the face of hard things and living to tell the tale, battle scars, freedom, individuality, street smarts.
Neptune-Marsian qualities to be idealized and activated could be anarchy, dictatorship, self-sufficiency, offense, the 2nd amendment, spacial awareness, Hell yeah brother, bootstraps mentality, rub some dirt in it, do it yourself/just do it, work with what you’ve got, make it enough, realism, heroes, scrappiness, mob mentality, rights to individual freedom over you and your body and the right to defend yourself.
The idea of homesteading, intentional community living, and resourcing material needs on your own terms will likely become even more popular than it has during Neptune in Pisces.
These trends have increased during Neptune in Pisces, however the discourse around them often feels dreamy, idealistic, and done in an “escape the evil world” kind of way. Realistically though, shifting society entirely would be a lot of (absolutely worth it) hard work. Managing your own communities, growing, hunting, preserving your own food, building and fixing your own things – all that is an immense amount of work and the fruits of your labor are not necessarily guaranteed.
As Neptune moves into Aries, the motivation behind these ways of living feels more threatening than dreamy. A threat from the people to their government perhaps. People are tired of having things taken from them, burning out to get hardly anything in return, and people are getting more defensive, more willing to put their foot down and sacrifice or fight for a different way of life rather than fantasize about it. Especially with Pluto moving into Aquarius at the same time, we’ll likely see a pioneering spirit in people as they do the hard thing of breaking out of assumed ways of living and breaking into alternative ways, however big or small.
This means anyone has the opportunity to dig into how-to information and teach themselves how to live more independently or intentionally, but of course, the playing field isn’t equal. Wealthy, white folks having more power, resources and in some cases more education or comfortability to take over land, will be the first to jump on things. Fighting over who belongs where and who has rights to the land will continue. I’m looking at you Bill Gates, buying up the water supply in the midwest for privatization purposes. I’m looking at you Mark Zuckerberg in your $270m apocalypse bunker….
Lets look more specifically into some possible Neptune in Aries trends:
Self-Sufficiency: I’m hoping we’ll put even more efforts (personally and societally) towards Earth-based self-sufficiency by continuing to innovate with different energy options. Like hydrogen engines, large and small scale water conservation with catchment systems, prioritizing soil regeneration, local organic food sources, composting, more community gardens and community education programs, more skill sharing, bartering and trade.
Minimalism/Sustainability: The biggest issue behind so much of the climate crisis is the culture of maximalism and hopefully we start to shift toward more need-based consumerism, minimalism, no-buy periods, and buying things that last and are useful. Or community tool sharing like No Buy groups and the like. Its hard to imagine the US as a whole moving away from over-consumption unless we suddenly didn’t have any other choice – and being forced into something is never fun – but we’ll see…
This transit paired with Uranus in Gemini gives me hope that the energy would be right for sustainable technological advances! Pluto in Aquarius as well seems to break down structures that do not benefit the collective. Maybe we’ll stop pushing for one sustainable solution (mandatory electric cars) and be more mutable about it – using a mix of hydrogen, electric, and oil where appropriate, and acknowledging the different use cases for different materials under different circumstances.
Homeschooling: It makes sense that homeschool would continue to increase during this transit. Either because you are a religious or racist nut who thinks school is just a ploy to teach CRT, and indoctrinate your kids into secularism and homosexuality, or because you hate that conservatives are cutting school funding and your kids are being taught nothing of value. Or because, politics aside, school curriculums have for a long time been very limiting and stifling to the general learning and critical thinking process – in all these cases, more and more parents might want to take their child’s education into their own hands.
Fighting: We know political tension has been building in the U.S. for quite some time. In Europe and the U.S., right-wing movements have increased, as well as accusations of fascism and communism on both sides. We know the American Civil War happened the last time Neptune was in Aries with Uranus in Gemini. Revolutions happen when people are made so uncomfortable that what they were previously unwilling to do, they’re now willing to do.
I don’t know what will happen but this is the context we’re coming from.
Neptune’s ability to bring confusion and paranoia and Mars desire to fight can have us in survival mode and scarcity mindset. All the more reason we’d be defensive and willing to fight with those who seem to be trying to “take our stuff and freedoms.”
We need to remember our integrity, imagine up other possibilities for abundance, treat others with dignity and compassion, figure out how we want to contribute to society, and decide what are we protecting, who are we fighting, and why.
People want more control over their own destiny, and they’re becoming more willing to fight for it. If Neptune is group think then Neptune in Aries is mob mentality.
Trad-wife Era: I’ve heard there is a corner of TikTok that on the surface seems like harmless blond women baking bread and homeschooling their kids, but you follow them long enough and their cold remedies include drinking Borax. To be fair I’ve never seen this part of TikTok so I can’t say much more about it. I can understand how the crunchy granola hippie community and the conservative, bootstraps, religious community could overlap through their desire for certain freedoms, and become a community filled with dogmatic traditional values and anything ranging from totally non-sensical to simply non-validated (by the mainstream) health practices.
As we lean more towards alternative methods or personalized methods of taking care of ourselves via self-sufficiency, we need to be discerning of people and methods operating off of dangerous assumptions. At the same time, as we move into a more individualized era, what works for one person might not work for you and we have to give space for those truths.
At the end of the day, as long as one community isn’t overpowering another in any real political, material way or putting others in danger, I guess it doesn’t really matter what others are doing, but the fear is that it does inevitably become that…I don’t have a solution for this except that I will continually try to use my critical thinking and seek out research from all types of sources, not just the ones I’m generally inclined towards…
Individualism: It’s at once beautiful and terrifying to think of the individualism this transit will bring. On one hand, cultivating the presence, awareness, and trust inside ourselves to decide for ourselves is ultimately more fulfilling than always looking to others to tell us what to do. However, autonomy at its worst can become lonely, severing and egotistical. A wall we put around ourselves to keep others and their methods out.
A medicine of Aries and Mars is self-trust – daring to follow your own instinct, self-reflect honestly, and use your own abilities to act clearly and authentically.
A mindful Aries is present, observational, and spatially aware. All very helpful qualities when talking about discernment.
Personally moving from a place of integrity, courage, humility and authenticity can inspire others to do the same for themselves and that is individualism at its best.
Flipping Masculinity: Masculine archetypes are often associated with Neptune-Mars signatures, and so the way they’ve become twisted in collective consciousness have an opportunity to be flipped on their head now.
The idea of widening the definition of masculinity is exciting as it could lead us towards a way of being that is more authentic and sustainable to embody. Courageous and tough doesn’t just mean physically – it means mentally, emotionally and spiritually, too. Courageous and tough doesn’t mean enduring, ignoring, or taking on the pain with no rest or help. It means unknotting it, being vulnerable, asking for help, leaning into discomfort of something new and unknown, and trusting your capacity. It means acknowledging you don’t have an answer for everything and deferring to others with more knowledge. It means not becoming dictatorial about the way people should find success or healing. Chiron transiting Aries has been helpful in understanding this and will continue to help us work through these concepts until it leaves.
Solo Leisure Activities: Maybe backpacking and camping, solitary or independent activities will take off. Martial arts and fighting sports, probably a glorification of violence at least in some circles.
Edgy Art: Art might become darker, sharper, more rough around the edges – I can see the dreamy, pretty indie r&b and hip hop wave going out and edgier, more raw elements coming back – punk, rock influenced pop, rap, country, etc.
I’m looking forward to reading and writing more about all the art, music, fashion, tech and other trends that come to characterize this transit.
The Future of Astrology and the Occult
The Occult has seen a rise during Neptune in Pisces, so what’s next?
During Neptune in Aries, will astrology still be having a surge? Even as we near the end of Neptune in Pisces it feels like we are past the climax of its popularity. However, it seems fair to say that reverberations of its popularity during Neptune in Pisces will continue and its influence will stay more apparent in mainstream consciousness than ever before. I don’t see that going away, but the way we talk about and work with the occult will take on a Marsian flavor. It could wane in popularity again, as it did after the 1960s/70s, but I only imagine that happening under an extremely conservative government.
As we shift to a Neptune in Aries lens, I think astrology and the occult will not be so flowery and curated as its been in Pisces. Aries is more interested in use case and practicality, what is raw, personal, and instinctual.
Marsian Shifts: A pet peeve of mine during Neptune in Pisces has been the amount of abstract language used. I love poetry – that’s different – but too much abstraction can actually cover up a lack of true comprehension of something. How do I just “open my third eye” for example, with no other direction? Talking like that passes up the opportunity to really bring the language down into our bodies and talk through what we’re really doing. Abstractions rely on an assumption that everyone already knows what we’re talking about, and so you don’t stop to think if you actually even know what you’re talking about.
I hope Neptune in Aries influences us to poke holes in those abstractions and to say what we’re really trying to say, instead of reiterating what we heard someone else say. A trend of more literal speech could help bring down the illusive magic we got in touch with during Pisces, into truly workable embodiments.
Practical Magic: It makes sense that more practical magic would rise in popularity – like herbalism, daily folk magic practices, DIY spells, UPG (Unverified Personal Gnosis), DIY spiritualism/beliefs (like Chaos magic) and just generally bringing lofty ideas down to what’s useful and practical. I secretly hope more home-grown, rough, gritty, Earth based magics become the main topic of conversation over prettier, ethereal, in-your-head magics.
Neptune in Aries seems a good time to practice protection magic. Pisces is more receptive and boundless, Aries is more severing and on the offense. It’s possible that topics of spiritual and literal warfare and hexing could become more prominent so it can’t hurt to figure out what cleansing and strengthening practices work for you and your community.
If medicine and pharmaceuticals are Neptune, Marsian/Arien plants and cures will be helpful for us to learn and use at this time. During Neptune in Pisces, psilocybin, fungi, adaptogens and other mind-altering substance research has reached peaks in innovation and has started being integrated into the mental health field and also the environmental field which is so cool! I’m excited to see that progress and excited to see what plant medicine and innovations will be highlighted next.
Closing Thoughts
We can’t know exactly what Neptune in Aries will bring, but we know that its archetypes will be alive collectively and personally in obvious ways. The past does not have to repeat but versions of it likely will. If you want understand what is coming, be an active participant and observer to what is happening now. Based on where we’ve been during Neptune in Pisces, where might Neptune in Aries sensibly take us?
Neptune will transit Aries from 2025-2039. A lot can happen in 14 years that we have no concept of now! In an insane twist of events, Uranus moves into Gemini on July 7, 2025 so Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter are all in new signs for a short time summer 2025. We will get a glimpse at entirely new skies and what awaits us in 2026. This many planets changing signs around the same time is extremely rare. We truly have no idea what lies ahead from 2025 and forward.
I’ve had and still have plenty of fears around this transit, but I know and I hope you’d agree that many positive shifts can come out of this transit that we can lean into. Aries is a dynamic sign of outward action and if we can do anything to prepare for and live through this transit it’s is to figure out how we are going to contribute to our spheres and collectives for the better, be an example, be courageous, ask questions, and learn from the mistakes and successes of listening to our own instincts.
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