what neptune in aries means for you

a q&a guide to this major astro moment

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ICYMI

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🗓️: We’ve Been Here Before: A Historical Retrospective on the Astrology of 2025 is now available for download! Particularly pertinent for ~this upcoming transit.~

This was supposed to be an essay, but then I remembered what a rough few weeks everyone has been having. Scroll to the questions/answers that most interest you. Rinse and repeat. You’ve got this; we’ve got this. Neptune enters Aries on March 30, 2025, and will be in Aries for a while, so read at your leisure.

Who/what even is Neptune?

Neptune, as a planet, brings a watery, walking-on-the-moors kind of idealism and romanticism. In this sense, Neptune’s desire to find The Dream can help reinvigorate a neglected or bruised area of life. But just as Neptune is the heroine in your favorite romcom, Neptune is also Cathy in Wuthering Heights: wandering on the moors a la the tarot’s 7 of Cups, lost in the misty fog of confusion and delusion.

When newly single folks say “I liked the idea of that person more than the person themselves,” that is Neptune, reminding us of how easy it is to prioritize the romance of the idea, the possibility, over the reality of the situation. And listen: the idea(l) is useful. Essential, even. To identify what we most desire is to be able to begin taking steps to make that a reality.

But the idea, alone, is not enough. It is never enough. And this is the central tension of Neptune: of being able to discern the ideal from the real.

Discernment is the primary lesson Neptune teaches.

There is a related question of sight and clarity when we talk about Neptune-coded experiences: of how easily we can see, or discern, the truth of a person, of an opportunity, of a situation. One common English-language idiom: “the wool was pulled over my eyes.” Another, rooted in the Bible, for the experience that inevitably follows: “the scales fell from my eyes.” That line from “Amazing Grace”: I once was blind but now I see.

Here, we remember that sight is not vision alone. The ability to see — to understand with crystal clarity — the truth of a person, of a situation, is not rooted in the function of one’s eyes, but in the discernment of one’s spirit.

How well can you discern the truth of a situation, sifting marketing copy from reality?

Why is Neptune’s transit into Aries such a big deal? (What is a “transit,” you ask? I answered that here!)

Because the outermost planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) take foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrr to complete a rotation around the sun and so only change signs like, once a decade, if that.

Neptune first entered Pisces in 2011, more firmly in 2012. And so for the last 14 years, Neptune has both exposed the old, crumbling ruins of ideals in the Pisces sector of your birth chart and brought new ideals to the foreground, instilled new beliefs and encouraged new seeds to be planted.

Neptune has only been in Aries a handful of times in the last thousand years: 1370-1383; 1534-1547; 1697-1711; and, most recently (!!), 1861-1874 (yep, the American Civil War was happening then). And at some of those points, Pluto was also in Aquarius (as it is now), and Saturn was also in Aries (which it moves into in late May of this year). Looking at these historical periods actually gives us a lot of insight into what’s coming up — and I already did a whole talk about it: We’ve Been Here Before: A Historical Retrospective on the Astrology of 2025. Highly recommended for folks who believe that to understand our future is to understand our past.

What’s the difference between Neptune in Pisces and Neptune in Aries?

As discussed above, Neptune is so much about what we idealize, what we believe in. I found astrologer Austin Coppock’s distillation of this on The Astrology Podcast quite useful: that this last Neptune in Pisces period saw everyone and their mother suddenly get super spiritual and “become an astrologer” (or witch or what have you), and that we may see a decline in that behavior as Neptune moves into Aries.

Neptune in Aries very much valorizes the Warrior — but also, to my mind, the front-line Activist. To me, this period feels very Joan of Arc: a young girl, driven by her uber-Neptunian spiritual visions, rises up out of nothing and nowhere to become an extraordinary leader. Ideally (there’s Neptune again!), with a more hopeful ending.

jeanne d’arc by albert lynch

Is Neptune in Aries good or bad?

Neither. Both. I’m so sorry!

If one wants to become a popular astrologer on Beyoncé’s internet, one should be willing to give people false hope while speaking in absolutes. Unfortunately/fortunately, I don’t believe in lying to people, nor do I find it easy to offer easy platitudes when I know that precious little in this life is certain. I’ll pick nuance over the soundbyte every time.

So I’m not going to tell you that this transit is an unmitigated good or an unmitigated challenge. Partly, because every planet has its banes and its boons. But also because the outermost planets are all profoundly neutral. For everyone.

There isn’t one sign that is going to have an ~easier time~ with Neptune in Aries. That, I can promise.

Will I feel Neptune in Aries right away?

Maybe! Folks who have either their ascendant (rising sign) or personal planets (sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) in the cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, Cancer, Capricorn) are going to feel this one the most intimately. And if you have, say, a 0* Aries or Libra or Cancer or Capricorn personal planet placement or ascendant degree, WHOO BOY yes I do expect that you will be feeling this one quite quickly.

Everyone else: it’ll probably take longer! The thing about these uber-long outer planet transits is that they take time to reveal themselves. Patience is key here. Patience and the gift of hindsight.

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What topics will Neptune in Aries bring into focus for me?

Aries Risings: ideals and beliefs around your self-expression, through anything from hairstyle to gender identity; energy levels and a general feeling of vitality (having it/not having it); new regimens for the physical body/health

Taurus Risings: ideals and beliefs around subconscious dreams, beliefs, and desires made more clear; mental health; old, forgotten ancestral patterns and traumas; visiting, working in, volunteering at, doing involuntary time in hospitals and prisons; finding spaces of spiritual retreats, such as at ashrams or monasteries

Gemini Risings: ideals and beliefs around friendships & relationship to community; professional organizations; the internet and digital organizing; volunteer work

Cancer Rising: ideals and beliefs around legacy work; “what you’re known for”; showing up as an authority in public, or reacting to authorities in public (e.g. bosses, parents)

Leo Rising: ideals and beliefs around higher education - pursuing, teaching in; systems of organized belief, e.g. organized religion; astrology; traditional publishing & legacy media

Virgo Rising: ideals and beliefs around shared material resources, such as inheritance, taxes, alimony, child support, royalty checks; shared emotional/psychic resources, such as grief, mediumship, and liminal work with the dead; client work; professional collaborations that are more project-based

Libra Rising: ideals and beliefs around long-term relationships, typically that involve contracts and paperwork (marriage, literary agents, business partners); your beliefs, values, and practices around such committed relationships

Scorpio Rising: ideals and beliefs around your day job and/or the labor you exchange for money/benefits; daily scheduling; chores and errands; physical health - the maintenance of; chronic pain and illness; pets; activism for labor rights and/or healthcare

Sagittarius Rising: ideals and beliefs around your erotic energy; creative work; sex; more casual dating/flirtation/erotic relationships; relationships with significant children in your life; your children themselves, if you have them; sports and games; pleasure and play

Capricorn Rising: ideals and beliefs around home - the literal space, also what it emotionally is; family, and who counts as family; parents, grandparents, and primary caretakers; direct, recent ancestors; cultural heritage; roots

Aquarius Rising: ideals and beliefs around your local neighborhood; your regular/daily writing practice; everyday communication; K-12 education; relationships with relatives, siblings, and friends who feel like family

Pisces Rising: ideals and beliefs around your relationship to money; material/liquid resources; less tangible resources like Time; income streams - developing or consolidating

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