Special Edition: Neptune in Aries

Slipping into a new era.

On Sunday, March 30th at 7:00 am Central Time, Neptune moves into Aries.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for some time, you’ve followed along as I’ve tracked the Sun’s movement through the Zodiac. This astrological technique, called transits, is a way that we can connect with the unfolding of time. Each time the Sun moves into a new sign, it ushers in a new season—a change in nature that we can embrace, respond to, and participate with.

Now it’s Neptune’s turn.

Neptune moves through the symbolic sky at a much slower pace than the Sun, spending around 14 years in each sign. This is important to take in, because it means the Neptune-in-Aries transit that is now beginning will only happen once in our lifetime. Neptune only briefly visits Aries this year, as it will turn retrograde and return to Pisces in October before eventually re-entering Aries in late January 2026. Until then, the next several months is really more like a preview of the kinds of energetic shifts that might slowly unfold in our collective consciousness throughout the upcoming Neptune-in-Aries season.

What Does it all Mean?

As an astrologer, this may be one of my least favorite questions. Being a human is so freaking hard, and I often feel like people are looking to me to give them a glimpse of certainty in an uncertain world. Sadly, I know I can’t deliver that. But I do believe that looking ahead at the upcoming astrological “weather” can invite us to imagine ourselves as an active participant in time. I like to use astrology to understand both my own story and my role in the collective’s story, so that I can respond intentionally. It’s less about predicting and preparing, and more about being present and engaging in the world around me, which in turn leads me to feel like I’m living my life on purpose.

So as this newsletter expands to share some of astrology’s symbolism outside of the journey of the Sun, it feels both timely and responsible that I invite you to join me in viewing the changes of the cosmos with less determinism and more gentle curiosity. Instead of searching for a definitive meaning, we might consider: how can I respond to astrology’s symbolism in a fruitful and creative way? How do I respond to change? What does a shifting energy bring out in me?

Although I can’t tell you exactly what will happen, I can invite you along with me as we imagine ourselves shifting into a new era. Let’s begin.

Neptune is a Slippery Little Sucker

In one of my favorite episodes of I Love Lucy, Lucy travels to Paris and pretends to be a local as she dines at a French cafe. When she’s served escargot, she reacts with confusion to the plate of snails presented before her. She says to the waiter, “Waiter, this food has snails in it!” and is comically confused about how to proceed with her meal.

Julia Roberts has another iconic scene with the French delicacy in Pretty Woman. She fights to get the snails in her fork, and accidentally flings one across the restaurant, calling it a “slippery little sucker.”

Trying to grasp Neptune might feel somewhat like your favorite funny woman trying to eat a plate of snails. The tricky thing about Neptune is that it’s not quite describable. It actually symbolizes everything about life that is indescribable. The Neptune process connects us with the transcendent arena of our dreams, longings, myths, images, ghosts, spirits and everything that feels beyond the scope of our material world. Creatives turn the contents from this ethereal space into form, which we call “art.” Mystics connect us to its power, which we might call “magic.” And if you sit quietly for long enough, you may notice this space invites you into a more objective relationship with your thoughts—a process some of us call “meditation.”

Art, magic, and meditation all belong to Neptune’s domain, along with the longing for redemption, something astrologer Liz Greene suggests is key to the psychological process of engaging with Neptune. Greene’s discussion of Neptune suggests that there is a part of us that in some way yearns to escape our individual circumstances and return to our source material, writing that “Neptune’s longing, as we have seen, does not recognise the otherness of the other. There is no “me,” or “not me”; there is only a unity comprised of both” (Greene, 2000, p. 144).¹

So, this is all to say that Neptune’s symbolism is imaginative, elusive, and spiritually connective, as it seeks to blur the boundaries that separate us. It’s slippery by nature, so if you don’t quite understand what I’m getting at here, you might actually be perceiving Neptune perfectly. The Neptunian influence often leaves us feeling confused or deceived as much as it leaves us feeling spiritual and inspired.

From Pisces to Aries: Emerging from the Waters

Neptune moved into Pisces back in 2012, inviting us into a time where dreams, mysticism, and spirituality took on new heights. Likewise, we may have been more susceptible to the delusions and confusion that Neptune can bring (cue the deep fakes and alternative facts). Because the symbolism of Neptune and Pisces have a natural affinity with each other, this era may have been especially connective, offering us easy access to a wide range of mysterious, mystical, and marvelous images. Now, as Neptune moves into Aries, we have an opportunity to emerge from that terrain into new, fresh territory.

In my recent post on Aries season, I wrote a bit about the Aries potential of emergence, and how we might embrace this season with a new dedication to our individual being. Neptune’s journey through Aries might reflect the ways that we can actually discover more of ourselves through our collective urge towards something greater, perhaps offering us ways to connect with each other over a shared dream of finding our individual spirit.

As we each embark on our own heroic quest, we might find that we deeply long for something we can’t quite describe—something that feels dreamy, elusive, and at times, deceptive. When Neptune influences something in your chart, it can often feel like a fog is settling in as you’re driving down a road. It doesn’t mean you have to pull over and stop your journey, but it might make sense to slow down, turn on your headlights, and patiently observe how the obstacles ahead of you begin to shift in and out of focus.

The seasonal shift that’s now upon us reminds me of a conversation that I had with my dad last Christmas. My dad is a yoga teacher, and we share a symbolic perspective in our understanding of the world. We talked a bit about the astrological shifts in 2025, numerology, our fears of the impact of the (then) upcoming administration, and the increased tension and anxiety we’d tracked in the collective energy of our respective communities. And he said something to me that I’ve been thinking about ever since:

“This is not the time to be numb; find something to focus on.”

I immediately thought of Neptune shifting from Pisces to Aries when he said this. Pisces’ healing waters can be incredibly soothing, but they also have a shapeshifting ability that might mask what’s really going on. Shifting into Aries energy feels direct, urgent, and anything but subtle. And wherever Neptune’s next move falls in each of our unique natal charts might be the domain where we’re due for a more focused, direct, and personally heroic dream.

There’s this quote I came by recently from the playwright Lorraine Hansberry that I think is a nice reminder for our current times. In a 1960 letter to a Chzekoslovakian theatre, she wrote:

“There is, as a certain play suggests, a great deal to be fought in America—but at the same time, there is so much which begs to be but re-affirmed and cherished with sweet defiance. Vulgarity, blind conformity, and mass lethargy need not triumph in the land of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman and Mark Twain. There is no reason why dreams should dry up like raisins or prunes or anything else in America” (Hansberry, 1995).²

While there’s a lot going on in the world that’s worthy of fighting for right now, each of us also carries internal struggles and complexes that require a worthy warrior. Perhaps if we can focus on the right images, that fight for our being can be cherished. Defiance can be sweet. There’s something about knowing what you long for and arming yourself to go after it that is beautiful in its own right. Neptune knows how to put us in touch with the ideals that we want so deeply, the urge to reach them becomes somewhat mythic. I’m not sure if longings on this level are ever sufficiently fulfilled, but perhaps they can drive us towards a sense of connection with each other that reality doesn’t quite seem capable of producing.

14 years is a long time for an astrological story to play out, so we’ve got some time to explore our role in this current collective chapter. Some of us may feel this energy subtly, while others will find that it lands in us quite personally, offering us an opportunity to embrace and contemplate Neptune’s mysticism. If you want to discuss where it’s happening personally for you in your unique natal chart, you can book a reading to discuss it with me here.

Meanwhile, I’ve included a yoga video from my dad that feels appropriate for this cosmic moment. A spontaneous filming taking place after a Midwestern storm, it’s a slow and gentle practice that serves as a little invitation into meditation, surrender, and intentional breath—all ways that we can begin to meet ourselves on Neptune’s subtle level and shift into a renewed sense of our personal power.

With love and wisdom,

Sunny

1. Greene, L (2000). The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption. Weiser Books.

2. Hansberry, L. (1995). To be Young, Gifted, and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words (R. Nemiroff, Ed). First Vintage Books.