Neptune in Aries: Highway to ... the Heart of the Cosmos
by Rosana Cueto Merayo
The Horses of Neptune
Source: Walter Crane, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; edited by Astrodienst
The time is now... And Neptune is performing the first of three wand hits on 0º Aries in a magical transit that will complete by the end of January 2026. It seems that we might literally take the “highway to hell” by confusing the godhead with our need for speed... Yet, alternatively, we could set out to feel our way into the Heart of the Cosmos, that mysterious centripetal point around which everything else revolves - also in our birth chart.
It might be hubris to pinpoint what Neptune is going to do in the 14 years ahead. A highly useful way to deal with Neptunian mysticism is through silence. However, as this article uses the written word as a vehicle, I will offer some clues to get more clarity in our lives during this time. This includes some caveat regarding what the water deities might like us to avoid, lest we want to invoke their wrath.
In this journey we will tap into the Heart of the Cosmos, which is also our own personal heart, while listening to uplifting, stimulating music from “down here”, the Earth. Simultaneously, we will be tapping into the harmony of the higher sacred spheres. To this purpose, my veiled reference to AC/DC´s iconic tune in the title might play a trick of sorts in the reader´s mind.
So, on one level, the heading will evoke the acclaimed tune by the heavy metal band that was put on the line by the more conservative and/or religiously oriented for allegedly spreading satanic messages. It became a hymn of rebelliousness and freedom for generations to come. Yet it also exposed the dangers of escapism, living on the edge and recklessly surrendering to the urges of the moment as Aries, allegedly again, would suggest. Base metals, if handled devoid of the finesse of intuition and the warmth of personal values, can be lethal, and Neptune tends to bring about both the best and the worst in human nature.
On a second level, the heading links the name of the band, AC/DC, with my point to advocate a richer, more versatile and life-enhancing appraisal of the sign of Aries.
Let me introduce you to some of the contents of this crucible by looking at the natal chart of a notorious personality born at the end of the 15th century, who also experienced the Neptune in Aries transit. For various reasons this horoscope, albeit 500 years old, seems to be more topical than ever.
The abyss posed by a “missing” feminine pole
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
Nietzsche
Birth chart of Henry VIII
Source: Astrodatabank
Henry VIII
Source: After Hans Holbein the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In the image, the natal horoscope for Henry VIII, king of England between 1509 and 1547, notorious for his six marriages and for having exercised the most absolutist power among all English monarchs. Preceded by the king´s cruel, bloodthirsty reputation, this chart may represent an emblem of the drive for self-preservation taken to the extreme, also featuring the mysteries of an “empty” 7th House, ruled by Neptune in Sagittarius. Hence, not only are the horses of Neptune definitely in the house, but the more traditional astrological view of a fretting matrimonial activity does seem to get challenged.
Indeed, several factors appear to have guided the monarch's tumultuous life path, cropped with adversaries. Some of these indicators are more obvious, such as the placement of the Aries Moon in the 8th House, with its ruler Mars in the 1st House as apex of the T-square, making the concerns about war and conquest, competition, and emotions at the rim coupled with huge physical and sexual energy take precedence over everything else. Life seemed to hang by a thread at court and among his subjects, who were at the mercy of his willfulness and ruthless appetites, which would only be checked eventually by a spearhead as he rode his horse in a joust.
Neptune entered Aries during Henry´s reign, while he was having his Uranus opposition, namely in May 1533, the very year he annulled his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and March 1534. Even though she was mostly eclipsed, it seems that the queen was a warrior woman of braveness, leadership and unwavering values herself, which must have felt deeply threatening to her autocrat husband.
Besides, any outer planet hovering over the Vernal Point is a massive event, which every individual can feel in every corner of their being, more or less consciously. The ground under our feet shakes because the lord who governs the underworld waters - the waters running deeply beneath all the earth layers - emerges from behind the scenes and makes its presence felt out in the open. That is a remarkably powerful archetypal experience, that was so vividly represented in the mythological imagery of the ancients, and which necessarily stirs the crocodile area of our human brains.
By exploring the myths of both the sea gods and the Water Mother deities, we begin to grasp the implications of Neptune hovering over the Vernal Point and its impact on our personal emotional life and collective yearning for redemption. In archetypal terms, the Zero degree of Aries triggers a desire to make tabula rasa, often driving us to ignore what we leave behind and the price that we must inevitably pay to start anew - a cost that, no matter for how long neglected, will have to be faced, eventually.
Now back to the chart at hand, there are more subtle, albeit no less decisive, indicators in it of the Aries predicament. This includes the fierce struggle and the driven quality of the Tudor tribal instinct of survival and preservation, which was passed on to him through the bloodline and tainted pretty much everyone around, for only few managed to escape the shadow cast by the king´s ever-growing suspicions. One of these subtler indicators is exposed by Virgo rising, which in my view operates in “hypofunction” mode, thus revealing a deep fear of social rejection, and a fear of loneliness, isolation and “not belonging”, emphasized by the condition of its ruler, Mercury. The Virgo Ascendant, generally, tends to conjure issues of service, humility - possibly coupled with humiliation - and mastering resources such as time. With these the native may have to grapple for a while.
Fear is described by experts in the field as a short-lived negative emotion, that immerses us in an intensified alert mode in reaction to a perceived threat. It can be a more transient state, or a trait that becomes chronic, as some people are more prone to fear than others. And since it is such a rapid-fire emotion, the physiological reaction may occur even before we know that we are afraid. Therefore, fear is, like the preeminently Aries gift of intuition, a precognitive response most of the time.
As astrologers, we tend to look to Saturn as the quintessential indicator of fear and, in this case, its opposition to Mercury in Leo in the 11th seems to reveal that the autocrat was no friend of surprises. Being surprised or shocked likely triggered a dread of losing control and center stage. Paradoxically, he might even have feared being center stage, since it could have stirred in him feelings of exposure and being a target. As a palliative, he seems to have sought uninterrupted relief and discharge through fast forward movement as a means to escape from a state of chronic anxiety, which was rooted in his own inner wrestling with the Feminine and the immense powers of the Water Mother he secretly feared. These are some of the markers of poor leadership, and the arena of yet poorer choices, which seem to have changed so little over the centuries.
Neuroscientific research explains that human beings experience both physical and social pain in the same parts of the brain. The potential exposure, the vulnerability, to either type of pain triggers the emotion of fear. If we add this to the fact that the archetypal function of the Ascendant is adaptive to the perceived demands of the environment, we see that this is someone whose life contexts replicated situations that systematically brought about cataclysmic emotions and feelings, which emerged in search of integration and healing... Yet he was always in DC mode, that is, he lacked the receptivity to accommodate and deal with the complexities of his own emotional system and, hence, impatience, frustration and coldness toward his fellow beings could only escalate.
But, even though the adrenaline highs were a source of imbalance and translated into the terror of his environment, these rushes seem to have become the antidote to the anxiety triggered by the prospect of falling into irrelevance and, finally, having to face the abyss. This abyss, which he might have rationally equated with falling into a "power" vacuum, was in fact the fear of owning the unknown oceanic depths of his own psyche. To such an extent that "the chaos in the streets" being fought with increasing ferocity, could well be seen as a collective reflection of the internal state of the one who would end up appointing himself as head of the church to satisfy the yearning for the godhead through his own persona.
So, might anything have helped modulate and assuage this inhospitable inner landscape constantly triggered by rapid-fire emotions, which seem to have become addictive in themselves? Could anything have helped to prevent the pain of an instinct that got ever deeper buried under the heaviness of such a helpless need for certainty and control, from being fueled until it reached such monstrous proportions?
For starters, it seems that choosing not to heed soulless, cruel, self-serving advice might have helped. Yet that seems hardly possible, since the Tudor´s yearning for the garden of Eden appears to have taken such abyssal proportions that the counselors he surrounded himself with only mirrored his own unconscious identification with the darker aspects of Neptune, which were hardly spiritual.
And, like the saying goes, “the rest is history” - a history which, as another saying has it, tends to repeat itself.
The fact that Neptune is archetypally also associated with cruelty, rather than just with the empathy and compassion he is best known for, may be shocking to the many. Indeed, accepting such an ambiguity may put most of us in the predicament of having to relinquish our idealization of this planetary principle as the kind, creative, love bestowing deity, who will take us back to paradise, where all will be well and, hopefully, we will be saved from the clutches of less popular gods with worse press and reputation. Moreover, Neptune´s compassion knows no exceptions or exemptions. It is in fact a compassion for everything that lives, whether that thing is liked or disliked. And that kind of neutrality is oftentimes hardly negotiable for our egos...
In any case, at this point in our human evolution, we are better suited to develop a more integrating 360º perspective - seeing things globally, from the standpoint of the core in the horoscope, where everything spiritual and material converges. From the heart of our charts, where time and space are transcended, we are graced with the capacity to perceive the mystical ways in which the boundaries between victim and perpetrator are blurred. Then, the projection that they were making on each other loses much of its weight and density, and we realize that human life is, essentially, a hall of mirrors.
From that sweet spot, it is also more likely that the fear of pain and being vulnerable, reminiscent of the monstrous, culprit-seeking water serpent loses a great deal of its charge and momentum. Hence, the space for the needed renewing, healing alternation is opened up.
And the arena presented by Neptune to make this ideal come true is the initiating sign of Aries. That may attest to many of us feeling so thrilled, as if we were contemplating the spectacle of a crowning baby.
Yet, it seems that before that “dream” can materialize, we will need to face the challenge of wrestling with the monster in the abyss. This broadly means that, with Neptune retrograding into Pisces in the months ahead, the temptation to fall into the clutches of our more deeply infantile, narcissistic longings and the collective yearning to be saved at any cost from the uglier, less aesthetic, uncomfortable pressures of life are likely to get as powerful as they might ever get...
Re-inventing Aries as a way to get past highly manipulative notions of hell
An urgent need to re-invent Aries seems to be in place. Remember that this positive, masculine zodiac sign has a double polarity in itself, like every other archetype or cosmic entity. It is true that this negative, feminine pole is less obvious or dominant, but it is there nonetheless, like the germinal disk in the egg.
Since most of us are used to projecting this receptive feminine side onto Venus and her domains, this notion may sound pretty challenging at first. But if you read on, you will see that the point is self-explanatory. Let me briefly share my own personal view of Aries, sign of my own Ascendant.
Aries is archetypally the primal stage in the overall sequential progression of our heroic journey of survival and self-realization. It symbolizes the moment when, as infants and in a state of utter dependence and fragility, we receive our first breath and are received by the earth plane, which lies under the protective mantle of the heavens. We are also received by those who, hopefully, will take care of us until we reach a certain degree of autonomy.
In order to undertake this quest brimming with risks and challenges we need to preserve our essential receptivity and thereby nourish and replenish ourselves. Then, we can alternate between this pole and that proactive, self-assertive and more visible facet of Aries and the 1st House. Under ideal conditions, this instinctual alternation would be transmitted to us by our first environment as the model pattern of a budding balance, that we may cultivate over time through developing our intuition, which is essentially a combination of the 4 Elements. Then, we would find it more natural to tune into the idiosyncrasies of our own personal heroic journey, which would provide us with a clearer, more vivid sense of our personal needs, desires and goals. We could then express them through our own personal modes, rather than acquiescing to the dictates of the collective on auto-pilot.
However, not many of us are graced to be born into life contexts in which intuition is allowed to sit alongside the pull of material considerations. Most of us arrive into environments where predictability and imposed survival drives prevail over individual values and goals. And such conditioned urge for security often suppresses the creative, inventive spirit of our heroic journey, discouraging us from listening to our heart´s subtle voice and taking those less travelled roads, which would let us formulate goals that are actually aligned with our own individual needs and desires.
This group inertia is by no means trivial and, as it happens with the inherently receptive, alternating (AC mode) quality of Aries that I am hereby advocating, it is mostly overlooked. Yet, opening up that sacred space seems to be a must now, so that we can tune into what lies in that ineffable realm - the source of life from which we all come and will be summoned back to. Indeed, when the connection to this source is lost or forgotten, the arena for new martyrs is set up and we are more prone to falling victim to the uninterrupted manipulation of those who, under the spell of their own illusions of power, exploit self-serving notions of heaven and hell as a means of controlling and subduing the peoples.
In our era of techno-feudalism we appear to be so evolved in many respects, whereas the crocodile area of our human brain seems to have remained pretty intact. Indeed, evidence shows that we are dangerously out of kilter, an imbalance that Neptune is likely to bring our attention to through pretty wild runaway horses, and not just in terms of earthquakes and tidal waves.
Thought and feeling, word and silence, mind and heart, the masculine and the feminine need to be merged within each of us. And we can do that through being present and applying an earnest compassion, rather than opportunistic crocodile tears. Accepting and owning the vulnerability to develop a genuine compassion through becoming receptors and conductors of that unseen cosmic current, which nurtures and replenishes our soul, is the miracle that we need in order to soothe the devouring urges of our personality in its desperate need for certainties.
Birth chart of Mozart
Data source: Astrodatabank Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Image source: Johann Nepomuk della Croce, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
I am wrapping this up with an invitation to let ourselves flow and reconnect with the mysterious throb of the cosmos. Solely a glimpse at the chart of yet one of those geniuses with a powerful Neptune, seems to bring Orphic sounds, rather than the mundane predictable cacophonies, into our ears.
In this case, Neptune in Leo is richly aspected both through the Saturn-Sun-Mercury opposition, and the fiery trine to the massive fertility of the Moon-Pluto conjunction in Sagittarius. The Sun is solidly escorted in his dignity House of creative expression, and it can therefore mediate with the oceanic depths of Neptune through formulating goals and developing - while also sticking to - individual values of his own. And a wounded, vulnerable mystical musician that this luminary was...
Sure as hell, Mozart´s unfathomable gift enabled him to tune into something not unlike Promethean fire coming from the depths of the ocean, an imaginal spot which, like the heart of the cosmos, we cannot locate, know or name. We can just, every once in a while, become entrained and re-connected to the source of all life by virtue of its magical flow.
About the author:
Rosana Cueto Merayo is a professional astrologer currently based in Spain, where she is an Intuitive Coach and Life Strategist. Holding a Bachelor´s degree in English Language and Literature by the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain, she studied in the Faculty of Astrological Studies, London. She has kept on enriching an ongoing learning through different alternative approaches to the spiritual realm, which include several oracular languages that she uses in a pretty unique interpretation of the cycles of time. She is also the translator of the Eclipse Report by Bernadette Brady into Spanish at Astro.com.
C.G.Jung, Caroline Myss and Liz Greene are the main pillars of her intuitive coaching and astrological practice. She is the creator of the multilayered “Tu MetaCarta Astral” method of astrological analysis, which features several original astrological reports. And she is also the author of the novel Las Intermitencias del Amor, and of three non fiction books: Relaciones Kármicas, Tus Citas con el Cosmos en 2023 (Una Agenda Mágica) and The Part of Fortune in Your Horoscope.
Her website is https://astroarquetipicaholografica.com/
© Rosana Cueto Merayo 2025
