What the Neptune Aries Ingress means for the coming generation

Astrology

Feb 3

Here's what's up now that Neptune is on fire. 🔥

I’m calling it: by the end of this Neptune in Aries Season, everyone will have shifted from therapy-speak to collapse-speak.

That’s my hot take ;)

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s the brief:

Neptune is one of the “outer planets” in astrology. This means that it stays in each zodiac sign for a pretty long time before moving to the next one — for Neptune, that visit is about 13-14 years.

Outer planets are seen as generational planets because the slowness of their movements means they affect the vibe of entire generations. These are the planets we look to as we track collective energies.

Since 2011, Neptune has been in Pisces. On January 26, Neptune moved into Aries, where it will stay for the next several years. Because Neptune will only change signs a handful of times within the average human lifespan, any change is a pretty big deal.

It’s been interesting to watch the astrologers discuss what this latest shift means for us: I find most reflections to be like a Rorschach test:

If your focus is on being a spiritual Insta influencer, you might talk about all the spiritual bypassing that happened in Pisces will shift.
If your focus is on arts and culture, you might predict that emotional, reflective content will lose favor to new spins on the hero’s journey.
If your focus is on politics, you’re definitely remembering the American Civil War.

So… this isn’t a complete guide to Neptune in Aries — many talented astrologers have taken the reins on this already. And…this isn’t a deep dive into the Saturn-Neptune Conjunction, relationship with Pluto in Aquarius, or any other specific celestial relationships that we’ll also experience in the coming months.

Instead, this is an exploration of the overall Neptune in Aries era, in which I fully indulge my own biases, exploring patterns of human consciousness and communication (hence my prediction about therapy vs collapse speak).

Ok folks. This is a long one. Grab a cuppa and settle in.

Understanding Neptune

To understand how Neptune in Aries impacts us, we have to understand what Neptune is all about.

In modern astrology, Neptune is the planetary ruler of Pisces, and as such takes on Piscean themes around spiritual exploration, dreamworlds, mysticism, fantasy, spiritual union, and intuition. It also carries the shadows aspects of these themes: deception, spiritual bypassing, rejecting reality, illusion, and lack of boundaries.

Neptune has a particularly complex relationship with illusion: Strong Neptune energy can succumb to illusion (we are deceived), reveal illusion (we lift the veils), and create illusion (we intentionally fool ourselves or others).

These Piscean qualities are pretty well known in pop astro circles — but they miss an important piece of Neptune’s kingdom: the meta-field.

Astro Butterfly explains what this means so eloquently:

“We have 3 outer planets, or 3 gods: Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Uranus is the sky. Pluto is the Earth. And Neptune is everything in between – oceans, movement, currents, connection, the invisible spaces that link one shore to another.”

Look at this list and think about what this might mean in our modern world: Neptune asks us to look at how things move and circulate. Think movements of ideas, people, technology, currencies, and power, to name a few. The zodiac sign Neptune is stationed in tells us where these movements will grab our interest, struggle, or flow.

All of this together makes Neptune an especially confusing planet. It’s really hard to think straight and take aligned actions in the area (i.e. the zodiac sign) that Neptune is visiting. Everything in the impacted area of life feels like it’s constantly moving and shifting direction. A dreamlike consciousness clouds clear thinking. Illusory veils come and go with such fluidity that it becomes challenging to track lasting truths.

Saying Goodbye to Neptune in Pisces

Neptune in Pisces was a dreamy placement, and oh did we dream during this era. Neptune likes to visit imaginal realms, and so does Pisces. So our imaginations went wild in ways that felt natural, fluid, and helpful.

But we also got really confused around what is real and what is fantasy — which is peaking right as we transition to our next era. But before we go there…

Let’s start by looking at how this placement led to therapy-speak.

Neptune in Pisces created a field focused on union, dissolution of boundaries, and explorations of the watery depths of our psyches and dreams.

The dissolution of boundaries can be seen in the walls we put up between our conscious selves and our inner, subconscious worlds. We ran to our therapists en masse to explore our shadows, inherited trauma from our ancestors, challenges in our relationships, and our chronic inability to live more meaningful lives.

Then we extended this dissolution of boundaries to the walls we had up between our private selves and our socially acceptable ones. We shared our insights online, slowly shifting from idealized self-branding to raw and real discussions of trauma, neurodivergence, anxiety, and depression.

I remember working for a spiritual publishing company during this time that encouraged us to “bring our full selves” to work: Be honest when you are having a hard time, take mental health days, use the community “meditation closet” (it was so stupid – no one could meditate in that thing). This, of course, directly points to the illusion of this era: that you could ever bring your full self to work at a corporation, even a supposedly “spiritual” one, is total B.S. Those that did were punished with lack of career opportunities and bizarre HR chats…but I digress.

In the Neptune-Pisces meta-fields, borderless communication boomed.

Remember: Neptune was in Aquarius from 1998 - 2011. This is when Aquarian tech-utopia seeds were planted. Facebook hit the market. The iPhone arrived. So did Netflix and Spotify — our first markers on the way to a subscription-based (own nothing be happy) economy.

Then, Neptune entered Pisces. By 2012, one year into Neptune’s Piscean transit, Facebook went public and smartphones were everywhere. Social media platforms shifted communication from primarily one-to-one to one-to-many. Smartphones made communicating our thoughts instantly possible no matter where we were.

In turn, we also became receptors of mass communication at a previously unseen scale — our human minds were not prepared to process the many-to-one flood of opinions, thoughts, brags, and essentially public diary entries that pinged the devices with us at all times.

Pisces isn’t great with discernment — but it is a deeply compassionate and caring sign. So what happened when we were flooded with everyone’s insights from their very personal therapy sessions during this Neptune-Pisces era? We became aware of the very real pains of the world at a massive scale. We felt the call to help each other, raise awareness of those less fortunate, and make a difference.

We authentically cared, and we didn’t want any historically oppressed group to be left behind and suffer. But we also didn’t personally want to be left behind either. We needed to fit in with these oppressed groups to stay relevant and be part of the collective movements we perceived as being necessary.

So we also shared our identity challenges. We spoke to our victimhood, our need to matter and receive care, too.

We learned the language to make this happen. We learn therapy-speak, so we could articulate the effects of systemic oppression, narcissistic abuse, dark triad personalities, neurodivergence, and collective trauma.

Then Neptune’s meta-field spread our therapy-speak with remarkable efficiency.

Everyone’s a Critic + The Gifts of Our Pisces Era

Long planetary transits mean long transitional eras, times when the influences of both positions — in this case Neptune in Pisces and in Aries — can be felt.

It’s normal to start majorly critiquing the era we’ve just come from during any of these transitions — especially one bringing in the fiery agro energy of Aries! The transition helps us squeeze out every last lesson hidden in the shadows.

You can see this happening right now: In spirit circles, the scales have tipped from learning angelic light language to discussing what it’s like to leave a cult.

The same is happening with “therapy-speak” — though in a bizarre twist, we’re using therapy-speak to critique it, labeling the influencers who share narcissism red flags as narcissists themselves.

Critiques of spiritual toxicity and our over-indulgence in emotionally manipulative language are everywhere. This is healthy as long as it doesn’t erase the very real gifts of Pisces.

Our task now is to integrate our Piscean lessons in a good way. Your spiritual expansion, emotional awareness, and ability to expand the circle of your compassion must be carried forward into our next era.

A Practice to Fully Integrate Your Neptune-Piscean Assignments:

Write your spiritual memoir from 2011 to now. Reflect on these questions:

Where were you in 2011? What did you believe, and what were you hoping to learn?
What learning stands out during this period — books, talks, classes and trainings? What impact did this have on your personal cosmology and spiritual practice?
Did you enter into any peak spiritual awareness, flow states, altered-conscious events, or other ecstatic experiences during this time?
What were the three most impactful steps on your spiritual journey during this era?
What have you started to question in recent months? What prompted this, and what is shifting as a result?
What do you believe now, and what questions remain?

Entering the Era of Collapse Consciousness

Neptune in Pisces didn’t just spread therapy-speak — it actually planted the seeds for the collapse-speak that we’ll see in our new Aries era.

Just as Neptune in Aquarius’s innovation created the foundation for Neptune in Pisces’s widespread social contagions, Piscean fantasies have made Neptune in Aries collapse consciousness inevitable.

While Pisces is ruled by Neptune in modern astrology, its classical ruler is Jupiter — and it’s worth looking at the Jupiterean qualities this brings to a Neptune in Pisces placement.

Jupiter is our great benefic planet, which brings expansive, hopeful vibes to anything it touches. This is where Pisces gets some of its “head in the clouds” reputation. Pisces is able to believe that anything is possible and everything will be wonderful. It’s a medicine we all need — hope heals.

Yet without balance, there can be a tendency to ignore very real warning signs that all is not well. And the double Pisces energy of Neptune in Pisces was not super balanced in this sense.

Sarah Wilson was one of the first people to popularize the term “polycrisis” as far as I know, and her Tedx talk does a really lovely job exploring the collective illusions we were under during Neptune in Pisces. She’s not an astrologer and doesn’t use this lens, but her systematic breakdown of the past decade is well worth the watch:

In short, Sarah shares that we all kind of agreed to believe this collective illusion around our potential for a greater future together, and now we’re waking up to the reality of the tragic and limited foundations on which all our “innovation” is built.

She compares us to a bunch of toddlers that got super excited about everything, couldn’t think past the moment to the consequences of our actions, and made a big fat mess. And, like toddlers, we’re waiting for the adult to come clean it up for us. Only there is no adult. We have to grow up and figure out how to clean up our own shit (Aries should help…more on that next.)

For more on the mess, I recommend Nate Hagen’s The Great Simplification:

Back to the astro overlays:

Let’s be clear that many of us did not buy into the tech and innovation will save us hype. My Mercury/Mars conjunction in Scorpio does not allow me to enjoy fantasy land as much as my dreamy Piscean friends (which is why I need their hopeful Pisces love in my life!).

Still, this fantastical, hopeful era fed us collective narratives around:

New communication via social platforms would unite the world, break down boundaries, and enhance equality
This, combined with new technologies, would expand our artistic landscape — less gatekeeping and more creativity
We just need communities — folks say this is an Aquarian Age idea, but the way “community” has been framed as a fix-all is very Piscean
Yes, hard times are upon us, but technological innovation (or spiritual salvation) would come to the rescue*

*This idea — that something will save us, that the “adult” will step in, takes many forms. It’s what Jamie Wheal calls “rapture ideology” in his book of a similar title, Recapture the Rapture. If you believe we’ll be saved by…

New technologies like carbon capture, fusion, or colonies on Mars
A widespread spiritual awakening where we choose the correct “timeline”
Massive earthly destruction where the worthy will survive through divine intervention
Benevolent alien interference because the “universe” doesn’t want Earth to explode
Or Lord Jesus himself coming back to help out

…then you have embraced a rapture ideology.

What do all of these have in common? They are Neptune-in-Pisces fantasies that might feel hopeful, but ultimately abdicate responsibility for the mess we’ve made. Bypassing and embracing the illusion to the extreme.

As with our emotional and spiritual development — let’s not throw this all out as fantasy. Pisces let us dream, and we must be able to dream and enter the imaginal realms to even begin to envision the world we wish to create.

And remember: Neptune both creates and reveals illusions. By the end of our Piscean transit, we were already seeing the signs of all these illusions breaking down.

Our Piscean dreams of a better future are needed and beautiful — now our Aries work is to face up to hard truths so our actions are wise and effective.

Welcoming Neptune in Aries to the Party

Ah Aries. The divine solar child comes to embark on their hero’s journey.

The optimism is strong; the patience is lacking.

This is at odds with Neptune’s meta-field-dreamy-confusing qualities. Neptune is water. Aries is fire. And Aries is probably going to feel pretty confused because their bright flame might feel more like watery steam during this era.

Aries loves the individual. It’s really good at boundaries (pretty opposite Pisces in this sense). The hero archetype is emphasized here, as is the mythic hero’s journey.

Plenty of signs embrace negotiation, compromise, balance, and unity when it comes to working towards goals and resolving conflict. Aries is not among them.

Aries is ruled by Mars, a martial planet. Conflict does not scare Aries — it provides the tension needed to overcome obstacles and reap the rewards.

Now, on its own, this energy is clear enough. We might see Neptunian meta-fields, movements, and dreams to become martial during this period. Movements clash, perhaps violently. Communication breaks down and turns to fightin’ words. Dreams become fantasies of individual vs collective liberation.

Many astrologers expect martial matters to be at the forefront of Neptune’s evolutionary impulse during these times. What happens when Neptune dreams of conquering the other? Breaks down boundaries around how we might manipulate matter, create new weaponry, or communicate war plans? (or we could just share war plants on Signal…jk, I laugh/cry)

All of these expectations make sense and are part of what we’re facing. But keep in mind:

Neptune always has confusing Pisces vibes, no matter what sign it’s in.
And we’re in the broader landscape of the Age of Pisces to Aquarius transition.

So our dear individualistic and martial Aries is living within the energetic domain of two very community-oriented and peaceful signs.

It’s likely that attempts to be more self-contained, to fight for what you want, and to strengthen boundaries will be met with what feels like cosmic sabotage at times.

The key to navigating this confusion is to align your individual desires with collective needs. When these two pieces come together, powerful forward action will be possible.

This is where we finally come to the collapse-speak I mentioned.

While Pisces has a tendency to avoid hard truths and replace them with fantasy, Aries doesn’t. Aries is ready and able to look at how the world we’ve created is killing us. And Aries is more than capable of doing something about it.

Aries loves a challenge, so yes — words like “collapse” and “polycrisis” kind of light Aries up.

Yet the confidence and clarity Aries is usually capable of get murky in Neptune’s waters. So our language is also going to reflect our confusion and attempt at stability. Get ready to see words like threshold, liminal, emerging, formation, and coherence everywhere.

(I’m also biased. These words are all over my offerings, lol. I succumb to the era as much as anyone.)

As Neptune spreads currents in consciousness, and Aries looks at the challenges before us, collapse-speak spreads.

It will also spread because with Neptune in Aries, people will be less afraid of saying what’s really on their minds — follower counts be damned.

Overall, this is a much-needed shift…though there’s a real concern here that collapse-speak will become suuuper egotistical — all about how I feel about it, how I process my emotional awareness gained in Pisces, how my needs aren’t being met, and why my ideas are the most important ones. We shall see.

Neptune’s Confusion + Aries Martial Vibes = War on Reality

I also predict that the spread of collapse-speak will end up with the same convoluted toxicity as therapy-speak by the end of this transit. And much of this will be a reflection of how deeply confused we are around what really is a crisis and what is a conspiracy.

Memes have been weaponized for years. Just one meme that hits you at an emotional level — which they are designed to do in ways pure words cannot — that makes you feel like something is true even if it’s way off-base or taken out of context.

When a core idea is delivered en mass with lovely a dopamine hit, it creates a widespread attack on our ability to think for ourselves. This happens over and over again until it feels not just habitual but addictive.

You already know this is getting worse with AI and the untamed power grabs of big tech. We’ll likely see increasing sophistication, new tech, and even more widespread and intentional attacks on our shared reality in years to come.

In a lovely synchronicity, a friend forwarded a recent post from Dr. Len Necefer to me just as I was finishing up writing this section — and this quote is a perfect illustration of what we’re up against:

“The second problem is that the internet is not a neutral place where ideas compete fairly. It is an adversarial environment. It is full of actors who understand how attention works and who can push narratives into your feed because your feed is optimized for engagement, not truth.”

Yes, the internet is already a confusing, adversarial environment. Imagine the acceleration in the coming cosmic era…

Aries in Neptune wants to fight for a better world — but its efforts will be sabotaged by war in the meta-field.

Neptune confuses and deceives. It points us toward one fight when we should be taking on another. It confuses trust in one another, which can be dangerous in an agro sign like Aries.

And it makes us believe things that aren’t true and question things that are. Iin an individualistic sign like Aries, this might show up strongly not just in what we’re told to believe about the world, but in what we’re led to believe about ourselves.

Please get really good at asking yourself the following questions:

If this is true, who benefits? Why and how?
If this isn’t true but I believe it, who benefits? How and why?

But ultimately, it’s all good.

Because the progression of Neptune through our zodiac is divine design. We’re blessed with the opportunity to learn sophisticated soul lessons through these cosmic movements. Trust that the lessons would not arrive if we weren’t ready to take them on.

Aries is brave. The Aries hero has a fearless nature that we all need right now. This is a good thing, and I’m excited to see what unfolds in the next decade.

Juniper Stokes is a botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, intuitive astrologer, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

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