Article · Neptune
Neptune at a Glance
Twelve signs, six axes: a formula, a question, a scene
Pavel Medvedev · Published: · Updated:
Twelve articles on Neptune in the signs, on one page. The signs are paired with their opposites rather than listed in order: together, each pair resolves one question. Each sign has three lines: the formula used in its article, a question to ask yourself, and a scene in which you can recognize it.
Throughout, “the larger whole you are part of” means the same thing: lineage, country, profession, music, the work. What this is, and why it is “eternal”, is explained in Neptune: Eternal Contexts.
Aries–Libra: step and response
Aries. Your first step on behalf of the larger whole you are part of.
— As part of which whole am I taking this step?
— Marina opens a school as a person of music, and people who want to be part of music come. Had she opened it on behalf of a business, the announcement would have been the same, but there would have been no response.
Neptune in Aries
Libra. The common measure between us within the larger whole we are part of.
— What whole is present in our common measure? What do we both value?
— Two people play a piano duet, taking turns to give way. The music grows timid. They find a measure when the composition, rather than their pride, decides who should be louder.
Neptune in Libra
Axis. In Aries the whole stands behind the person taking the step; in Libra it lies between people. Those who respond to the first are the people with whom the second can then be found.
Taurus–Scorpio: passing on and keeping alive
Taurus. Making the larger whole you are part of a part of other people’s lives.
— With what whole am I filling the lives of those around me? What do I leave with them?
— In a large hall, the piece the pupil has learnt is lost in the reverberation. Marina does not correct the notes. She lets him hear the hall, and he finds the sound himself.
Neptune in Taurus
Scorpio. Sustaining what allows something larger to live through the work at hand.
— Is this value alive in me, or am I passing on something I do not live by?
— A teacher who knew how to kindle enthusiasm is leaving. They can replace an employee and preserve the hours. The question is whether the children will still want to play.
Neptune in Scorpio
Axis. Living things bear fruit: a tree sows the ground around it because it is alive, not because it is trying hard. Taurus sows; Scorpio makes sure there is something to sow.
Gemini–Sagittarius: the map and the road
Gemini. The movement of the larger whole we are part of, in our words.
— Where is the whole we are part of heading? What am I saying and thinking about it?
— “A program can already play any piece without mistakes. Is there any point in learning?” The pupil is not being lazy. He is asking where music is heading, and in his words it is moving.
Neptune in Gemini
Sagittarius. Choosing your own course within the movement of the larger whole you are part of.
— Where am I going within this movement?
— New pupils are shy about playing together; each stares at their own score. An ensemble emerges when everyone chooses where to lead, instead of waiting for instructions.
Neptune in Sagittarius
Axis. Because the whole is moving, we need a map: always incomplete, always going out of date. A map is for making our way. The article on this axis also includes the poems.
Cancer–Capricorn: our “we” and its structure
Cancer. The life of the larger whole we are part of, within our “we”.
— With whom do I share a whole? With whom do I truly form a “we”?
— Marina is offered the leadership of an association. Before saying yes, she finds out what kind of “we” has gathered there and whether music is present within it. The strength of a “we” does not come from numbers.
Neptune in Cancer
Capricorn. Our values in the structure of the larger whole we are part of.
— Do we judge what belongs by the whole or by the spreadsheet?
— The director cuts rehearsals and free concerts. He has done the sums correctly — for a business. Tell him what we are part of, and the same figures fall into a different pattern.
Neptune in Capricorn
Axis. We should form a “we” with people with whom we share a whole; the structure of that “we” is judged from the same whole. The article on this axis.
Leo–Aquarius: role and rule
Leo. Embodying in your role the larger whole you are part of.
— What whole determines my role? Where does the strength I act with come from?
— The landlord raises the rent. Marina has the lease and the figures in front of her. She is a school head because she is a musician, and music conducts the negotiations through her.
Neptune in Leo
Aquarius. Your rules and how you live by them within the space of the larger whole you are part of.
— On behalf of which whole does the rule I follow speak?
— The curriculum is designed for children who started young. A fourteen-year-old arrives who works tunes out by ear. Musical life is wider than any one curriculum, and the school explores what other forms of teaching it is allowed to offer.
Neptune in Aquarius
Axis. A rule you follow without knowing whose it is remains someone else’s rule. A rule of the whole you have accepted is your role written down for everyone.
Virgo–Pisces: value and participation
Virgo. The value that the larger whole you are part of holds in your own life.
— Has this whole become a value in my life? Am I glad it is there?
— Anton helps at the concert out of friendship with Marina: chairs, guests, the stage. At rehearsal he hears how a single pause changes the melody. He came for his friend and stayed for the music.
Neptune in Virgo
Pisces. Your participation in, and contribution to, the life of the larger whole you are part of.
— What does this whole do through me? Through what participation of mine does it live?
— Alone, a pupil finds the repeated notes in his part strange. In the full rehearsal he hears what his entry does for the whole, and comes in differently.
Neptune in Pisces
Axis. In Pisces, you are a way for the whole to live: it lives through you. In Virgo, the whole must become a value in your own life. Otherwise you fulfil the function, but someone else gets to live.
How this differs from familiar readings
Most accounts of Neptune say much the same thing. Almost none of it has proved useful here.
- The usual account: Neptune means fog, illusions, dissolving boundaries. Here: Neptune means that you are part of something larger. The boundaries remain; you also have a whole.
- The usual account: Neptune means spirituality, mysticism, the “higher”. Here: the larger whole is entirely ordinary: a school as part of music, a doctor as part of medicine, a family as part of a lineage.
- The usual account: Neptune means sacrifice, dissolving yourself for others. Here: acting on behalf of the whole gives you strength; it does not dissolve you. Leo’s card is called Strength.
- The usual account: Neptune means inspiration that comes from somewhere. Here: it comes from what you are part of, and only if you have accepted that whole in full.
- The usual account: the Hanged Man means sacrifice, stagnation. Here: the Hanged Man seeks an ordinary view that requires turning upside down: seeing what I am actually part of.
- The usual account: twelve signs mean twelve characters. Here: twelve situations in which the whole lives through you, resolved in pairs, by axis.
Where next
This page is about the signs. The others gather the material differently.
- Neptune: How We Give Life to Something Larger — the main article: twelve situations told through one story.
- Neptune: Eternal Contexts — the six axes at a glance: on behalf of which whole we live.
- Neptune: Questions and Answers — short answers, a guide to the axes and a project check.
- Six Problems That Already Have a Plan — what the unclosed axes correspond to in psychology, and what question the axes add.
- One Sign, Five Planets — the same situation seen by Neptune, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto.
- What Neptune Is Really About — what wholeness means and why knowledge has to be recognised rather than read.