Neptune made an historical entrance into Pisces on February 3, 2012 to stay through March 30, 2025. Neptune is the ruler of Pisces and when a planet transits the sign it rules the significance is amplified. The last time Neptune traveled in Pisces was in the mid 19th century from April 1847 through April 1862. Modern astronomy was in its infancy at this point in history and in fact planet Neptune had only been discovered 6 months earlier, on September 23, 1846. It takes astrologers time to understand the full implications of a new planet, so for all practical purposes Neptune was an unknown factor during this last visit to its home sign. (Jupiter was considered to be the ruler of Pisces before Neptune.)

Planet Neptune is the 8th heavenly body orbiting our solar system – beyond Uranus and inside Pluto, and is one of the gas giants, a swirling ball of hydrogen, helium, and methane gases. Neptune’s symbol (or glyph) looks like a satellite dish to the modern eye, appropriate to its astrological job of tuning into other levels of reality. Neptune’s action is subtle compared to most planets but the effects are there never-the-less. When you tap into your own personal muse, spiritual guidance, pure faith, heavenly grace, forgiveness and unconditional love you are tuning into Neptune’s wave length. On the other end of the spectrum when you put on rose glasses, prop someone on a pedestal, space out on mind numbing or mind altering substances, see what you want to see rather than reality, you can be sure Neptune has his hand in yours!

Neptune’s astrological job is to help us realize we are spiritual beings having a material experience and acts to dissolve the lower elements of a sign to allow for the highest vibration to manifest. Neptune is very ethereal (if you gaze at the photo of Neptune for a while, you’ll see what I mean!) and rules the non-material realm from inner dream life to super-conscious states. Neptune travels in a sign about 14 years and is considered the higher octave of Venus, bringing in even more refined values. Neptune’s span in a sign influences everyone on the planet and defines the higher values of the entire generation born during this period.

Neptune’s realm is far beyond rational understanding and is connected to religious and spiritual rapture, governs effortless creative abilities – the music of the spheres and transcendent works of art and poetry. Neptune is connected to healing and the selfless service of those who heal in hospitals, nursing homes etc. Neptune also rules illusion – photography, film and movie industry, magic (as entertainment and the actual variety too) and disillusion – rosy glasses, unicorn syndrome, and on the lower end – depression, addiction, delusion, even insanity. Above all else Neptune is the spiritualistic force influencing an entire generation and era.

Astrologers now understand Neptune’s connection to the higher octaves of healing, religion and love – both romantic and universal love of all humankind, in fact of all existence, animals, nature and the natural world in general. Flights of artistic beauty and creative fantasy where few ever go are pure Neptunian. Neptune, the old god of the seas, rules the oceans and the fluids of the earth – underground gases and oil, along with pharmacology. The etheric Devic realm of Nature (angels, fairies, elementals, etc.) is Neptune’s realm too. As the ruler of Pisces, Neptune moves this loving water sign in the same direction.

Even though most earthlings were unaware of Neptune at that time in the mid 19th century we can still be astrological detectives and look back to that era to find manifestations of Neptune’s former journey through Pisces’ wavelength. The Victorian Era was  gaining hold during this time and culturally there was a transition toward romanticism and mysticism in religion, social values, and the arts. Although there were local wars (the American Civil War began), in international relations the era was part of a long period of peace known as the Pax Britannica. Here are a few examples of Neptune’s Piscean influence which occurred during the span from April 1847 thru April 1862.

Healing/Medicine Medicine prior to this time in mid 19th century was very rudimentary and many people in rural areas had no access to health care at all. Doctors did not fully recognize the vital importance of washing their hands before surgery  (at that time  indoor plumbing was very rare) so infection and gangrene killed people as often as the wound itself, and frequently caused septicemia in child birth and in other procedures leading to death. There was not anesthesia to quell the pain of surgery which created hellish circumstances.  (We’ve all see those Civil War movies and documentaries about the horrible conditions during this time.) Vaccines had been invented but were not widely used until the middle of the 20th century, so in the 19th century millions still died from small pox, typhoid fever, flu epidemics, etc.

Modern medicine as we know it today, was born and bred during this era – the American Medical Association was founded and the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania opened as the 1st female medical school. The Sisters of Mercy established the West Coast’s 1st hospital in San Francisco. French neurologist Paul Broca discovered particular regions of the brain are specialized for particular functions. Florence Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment of her nursing school in London. The National Museum of Health and Medicine was founded in Washington DC to advance medical care during the Civil War. One of the first reports relating tobacco to cancer was published in France. John and Frank Wyeth established a drugstore in Philadelphia which grew to become Wyeth Laboratories. The Pfizer drug company was founded in Germany and modern anesthesia (in the form of ether) was first used to perform surgerie s.

Slavery which had been a part of human interaction for thousands of years began to dissolve, from African slave trade (the American Civil War started in large part due to the slavery issue), to the abolishing of Gypsy slaves in Romania and the Russian Czar freeing serfs working on imperial lands. Even flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the U.S. Navy as society gradually began to embrace the idea that all human begins deserve respect and dignity. In 1857 Abraham Lincoln first expounded on the idea of equality as equality of opportunity as opposed to equality of result.

Along the same line, women began to chaff against their form of bondage as subordinates to men. The first women’s rights convention was held at Seneca Falls, NY in 1848 led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who soon after joined forces with Susan B. Anthony and the women’s suffrage movement was launched in the US. Elizabeth Ware Packard led successful struggles in 13 states to obtain due process of law for women, who previously could be committed to mental institutions (ruled by Neptune!) simply on the word of their husbands. Gustav Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary, the first novel of a liberated woman in modern literature, was published. The British “Matrimonial Causes Act” proclaimed that a husband’s legal responsibilities went on after a marriage ended. And here’s a fascinating story with a combination of factors – in 1856 the clipper ship Neptune’s Car arrived in San Francisco after sailing 136 days from NYC. Mary Ann Patten the pregnant 19-year-old wife of Captain Joshua Patten commanded the ship for much of its voyage after the captain fell ill. Women simply were never ship captains at this time, so this was even more remarkable.

The downside of Neptune/Pisces in full evidence as well.

Addictions: opium and morphine addiction was common – the 2nd Anglo-Chinese Opium War ignited. Alcoholism rose prior to and during the American Civil War prompting more outcry from Temperance organizations, like the Sons of Temperance who had around 5000 chapters in the US and Canada by the 1850s, the Woman’s State Temperance Society in the US, and in the UK the The Order of the Sons of Temperance was introduced in 1849. At the same time the modern wine industry began when a group of Jesuit monks founded Chateau Ksara in Lebanon. In Germany H. Sichel & Sohne, the producers of the popular Blue Nun white wine, was founded. The martini cocktail was invented in France.

Delusion: Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, who claimed to be the brother of Jesus took the city of Nanjing in China as its heavenly capital triggering The Taiping rebellion which lasted 14 years and claimed 20 million lives. In the US James Strang announced he was divinely directed to become a king and arranged for his coronation on Big Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. In France Emperor Napoleon III decided to quell a revolt in Algeria by sending a magician, who would demonstrate the power of the Europeans to the natives. The “insanity plea” was 1st used to prove innocence. And here’s an interesting tid-bit from 1860, you can decide if it’s delusional or not: Queen Victoria decreed that men who chose to remain unmarried would not be welcome in Her Majesty’s Rifle Corp. She held that “normal married life improves a man’s marksmanship.”

New religious and spiritual movements and religion in general flourished during this Neptune/Pisces time span. The Mormon Church began to solidify and new religions were born such as the Baha’i Faith and Seventh-Day Adventists. In 1854 US Congress passed a resolution that declared: “The great and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” What was then called “spiritualism” began to pervade society. Helena Blavatsky who founded the Theosophical Society was traveling the world espousing her spiritualist philosophy. Mediums and talking to spirits from the other side were the rage, even Mary Todd Lincoln held seances in the White House. Bernadette Soubirous (age 14) claimed for the first time to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary near Lourdes. Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In India the 1st madrasah, religious school was founded.

The Piscean ideal of “all people interconnected in spirit” began to be recognized and promoted. It’s hard for the modern mind to grasp that people were basically on their own with no help from any agency or anyone else outside of family. Debtors prisons still existed in England and other countries and if you got sick and could not support your family there was no financial aid to call upon. But in true loving Neptune/Pisces tradition things gradually began to change during this era. An order of nuns who spent their time praying on behalf of others known as the “Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration” named after a 13th century saint who left her family’s wealth for a life of poverty was founded in France. The Children’s Aid Society and The New York Foundling Hospital began sponsoring “Orphan Trains” that relocated homeless New York children to adoptive homes in the sparsely populated West and Midwest. Congregation of the Children of the Immaculate Conception in Italy was founded to provide charitable health services to orphans and the poor. The socialistic utopian vision of all people sharing the world’s resources was launched in 1848 when Marx and Engles first published The Communist Manifesto. The first-ever World’s Fair bringing people together from all over the world, opened in London on May 1st, 1851. The World Alliance of the YMCA was established in Paris is 1855.

Nature was enthusiastically idealized. Thoreau published Walden Pond, Whitman published his poetry homage to the natural senses Leaves of Grass. Naturalist John Muir began his reporting and writing and Charles Darwin outlined his theory of evolution. The American Canoe Association was founded at Lake George, NY, the Grand Canyon was first surveyed and the first tourists visited Yosemite Valley.

A new phase in the Arts began to flower in painting, literature, poetry and music. Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissaro, Jean-Francois Millet, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Eugene Delacroix, Edgar Degas, Charles Dickens, Walt Whitman, Henry Longfellow, Herman Melville, Anthony Trollope Johan Brams, Franz Liszt and Giuseppe Verdi are only a few examples of a great multitude of creative giants during this period. In 1957 the Paris salon set standards so high that Emperor Napoleon III ordered the rejected paintings to be hung as a separate show later. In England the Covent Garden Royal Opera House was constructed in London. The New York Symphony Orchestra made its 1st performance. And here’s an example of art combined with the ethereal nature of Neptune – A woman singing “Au Clair de la Lune” is thought to be the oldest known recorded human voice. It was recorded in Paris in 1860 on a phonautograph, a device that created visual recordings of sound waves.

Neptune and Pisces are noted for love of beauty and adoration of the natural world . Napoleon III began to outline plans for the “strategic beautification” of Paris resulting in the beloved Paris we know today. In New York City Central Park was first opened to the public where this emerald jewel continues to make NYC the famous city it has become. In England the Crystal Palace, a glass and steel structure built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 was moved to the park at Sydenham, south London where the grounds, at the suggestion of Prince Albert, were landscaped with statues of extinct animals. (So Piscean!)

Even specific things which Neptune and Pisces are associated with were highlighted . The symbol for Pisces is The Fish. The first public aquarium was opened in the London Zoo and a sweeping craze for household aquariums followed. And here’s a weird one – there was a rain of tiny fish over England in 1859. The body part Pisces rules is the feet – the first shoe manufacturing machine was patented. Earth’s fluids – oil and gas began to be discovered and developed, the US oil business was born in Pennsylvania, and the making of kerosene was patented. Precious minerals gold and silver, perhaps not technically Neptune ruled but which certainly spawned a lot of delusion, were discovered as the first US gold and silver “rushes” began in the West. Photography is Neptune ruled – the first Tin-type camera was patented and the 1st US aerial photo was taken from a balloon over Boston.

Another major side-effect of this progress has resulted in the modern pharmaceutical industry’s over-reach. Many doctors, hospitals, and governments too act as virtual pimps to distribute information produced by the marketing divisions of drug companies while dispensing vast quantities of ever more complex drugs with lists of negative side effects pages long. All of which enables drug companies to make billions upon billions in profits.