Dec 1, 2022 | by Erik Roth
Neptune stations direct at 22°38’ Pisces on December 3, 2022. Neptune has barely moved in the sky over the last week, which is the biggest sign that its about to station in the other direction. In this case, it moves direct in apparent motion less than two weeks after Jupiter stationed direct back on the New Moon of November 23rd.
Neptune’s station point is still only 6 degrees away from Jupiter and Jupiter is also only barely moving in the sky. I’ve shared about Pisces in several posts this year due to Jupiter there with Neptune and Mars squaring Neptune three times while the red planet is in Gemini.
Back in April, Neptune and Jupiter were in conjunction and were within 10 degrees of each other for several weeks. This period marks the final leg of the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction time until 2035 rolls around, when they reconnect in the sign of Aries.
In its essence, Pisces can teach us a healthy way that this can be expressed. One way strength comes in through being sensitive to others and all that is around. It is in this, that Pisces gives one of its greatest gifts (all signs/archetypes have their gifts). With this connection over the next few weeks, it may not be entirely clear as to what the intent is except to embrace the unknown and having faith.
But Neptune’s “influence” in Pisces will continue until it transitions into the sign of Aries in 2025 and 2026. Neptune also brings in elements of confusion and illusion in the world. With our hold on the conventional material reality, Neptune’s points of direction changes, conjunctions and squares emphasizes these qualities.
Belief and its romanticism can have a very strong hold on humanity. The shadow of this can be an avoidance of looking at the reality of our own truths or the “bad stuff”. This can lead to believing in things that promise an escape from the reality. And by fighting the reality, we end up fighting ourselves. Then, the veil is lifted, and reality can hit us like a hammer. But our beliefs could be so entrenched that we may never find ourselves back into balance.
A piece of this also involves Mars in Gemini (still retrograde), as it still has a loose square to the later degrees of Pisces, especially with Neptune. This square can trigger more action and confusion wrapped up in one. Gemini is an initiating archetype but changes direction often. And in this combination with Neptune, at home in Pisces, it can really throw things up in the air as to where anything may or may not land around us. Mars will have its third square (while its in Gemini) of Neptune in March, 2023.
While Neptune stationing direct is annual event, the closeness of Jupiter in the sky and its square with Mars makes it more unusual. The Moon recently had conjunctions with Neptune and Jupiter on December 1st. In the conventional, rational world, we are uncomfortable with Neptunian initiations. But it is a part of who we are as human beings. In this time, having expectations about one’s life or how the world (even more so) is trending or an attachment to how it is supposed to go does us a disservice. A gift from Neptune is in our relationship with the divine and the unseen, allowing curiosity and wonder to be birthed from confusion and disenchantment with the daily grind.