According to ancient Greek and Roman myths, as reported on the Aquarian Age internet, Neptune was born at a time of great struggle and upheaval. His father, Saturn, had recently unseated his own father, Caelus, as ruler of the universe and when Saturn learned of a prophecy predicting his downfall at the hands of one of his children he responded with murderous fury. He swallowed his first sons and daughters including Neptune.
Saturn’s wife Ops managed to save her last child, Jupiter, and presented him to Saturn as a rock dressed in swaddling clothes. When Saturn ate the rock, he came down with an excruciating stomach ache that caused him to vomit up his children.
Neptune was reborn along with his brother Pluto and sisters Ceres, Juno and Vesta and he and his brothers joined forces and overthrew their despotic father. When Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune drew lots to determine the domains they would rule, Neptune picked the sea.
Neptune was the Roman god of waters and seas. He controlled all waters, from the smallest streams and springs to the largest well-known bodies of water. In terms of his characteristics and mythology, Neptune was an exact copy of the Greek deity Poseidon.
Neptune lacked political power but commanded the fear and respect of those whose fortunes were intimately tied to the seas. Sea travel was dangerous and Roman soldiers prayed to Neptune for safe voyages. In Virgil's Aeneid Neptune calms a storm that had threatened to destroy the fleet of the Trojan hero Aeneas.
Neptune’s consort, Salacia (Amphitrite), was a sea nymph associated with salt waters and they had four children Benthesikyme, Rhodes, Triton, and Proteus. They lived in the Mediterranean Sea in a home beneath the waves.
Benthesikyme, Rhodes were mermaids and Titon, who became a sea god like his father, and Proteus, who had the gift of foresight and prophecy, were mermen.
Neptune’s importance increased in the second and third centuries BCE but diminished in the early centuries of the Common Era, and fell completely out of favor with the advent of Christian dominance over the Roman Empire in the fourth century.
Ancient and modern seascapes picture Neptune, Salacia and Triton and some artists portray Neptune as a man carrying a trident.
An unknown planet is discovered
On October 1, 1845 John C. Adams, a British mathematician and astronomer, precisely calculated where an unknown planet would be located. He sent his findings to Sir George B. Airy. the Astronomer Royal of England, but they were ignored and nothing eventuated.
Then in the summer of 1846 the French Astronomer, Urban Jean Joseph Leverrier, unaware of Adams’ work, calculated the position of the same unknown planet and sent his findings to the Urania Observatory in Berlin.
On September 23, 1846 Johann G. Galle, director of the Observatory, and his assistant Heinrich L. d’Arrest found the new planet near the position indicated by Leverrier.
Shortly after its discovery the new planet was simply referred as ‘the planet exterior to Uranus’ or ‘Le Verrier’s planet’. Le Verrier wanted to name the planet after himself but later proposed the name Neptune. In early 1847 Neptune became the internationally accepted name.
At first Le Verrier got all the recognition but eventually Adams received the credit he was due. Astronomy books now credit both men with Neptune’s discovery.
Neptune, identified with the Greek god Poseidon, so, all the planets, except Earth, are named for deities in Greek and Roman mythology.
Neptune's discovery in 1846 was shrouded in confusion, mystery and scandal and ever since then Neptune has been adding an element of confusion to daily life and the world’s mundane affairs.
Neptune
Neptune’s discovery was a major astrological event. It stimulated and escalated its influence in human affairs and ushered in the Neptune period of the Mars section of the Age of Pisces.
During this period major events and developments here on Earth involved corporations, stock promotions, oil, gas, drug wars, spiritualism and aviation.
In 1846 Saturn was conjunction Neptune on April 4 at 1.43am GMT, September 5 at 1.36am GMT, and December 11 at 9.27am GMT.
On May 12, 1862 Saturn was conjunction Neptune at 5.09pm GMT.
On May 15, 1862 Neptune moved from south to north declination at 10.28am GMT. It was a short – 10-month Neptune cycle – that ended when Neptune again moved from south to north declination on March 15, 1863 at 9.34am GMT.
From 1861 to 1865 the American Civil War was fought over a long-standing controversy involving slavery (Neptune). Then came decades that saw the development of America’s first giant corporations, the railroads and the economization of oil and electricity.
In 1891-92 Neptune was conjunction Pluto on August 2, 1891 at 7.06pm GMT; November 5, 1891 at 7.36pm GMT; and April 30, 1892 at 5.20pm GMT.
Then on December 17, 1903, in the Age of Aquarius, the Wright Brothers took to the skies in their ‘flying machine’.
On August 1, 1917 Saturn was conjunction Neptune at 5.20am GMT.
In 1952-53 Saturn was conjunction Neptune on November 21, 1952 at 1.18pm GMT; May 17, 1953 at 5.29pm GMT; and July 22, 1953 at 1.22am GMT
Neptune’s orbit is highly eccentric making it more elliptical than most other planets in our solar system except for Pluto and for a 20-year period every 248 Earth years Pluto’s highly eccentric, oval-shaped orbit brings it inside Neptune’s orbit, a switch that happened from 1979 to 1999.
Symbolically at this time Neptune was relegated to the shadows of deep space and Pluto’s drastic, coercive, materialistic tendencies eclipsed Neptune’s utopian idealism. Pluto reached its closest point to Earth on September 5, 1989. The 80s are remembered as the Decade of Greed.
In 1989 Saturn was conjunction Neptune on March 3 at 10.47am GMT, June 24 at 3.10am GMT and November 13 at 11.42am GMT.
Saturn conjunction Neptune in 1989
In 1993 Uranus was conjunction Neptune on February 2 at 8.12am GMT, August 20 at 7.45am GMT and October 24 at 8.19pm GMT.
Now, in the 21st century, Neptune’s an Aquarian Age visionary playing a lead role in human affairs. It united with Uranus and Pluto to create a worldwide electronic communications network that resembles a human nervous system.
But in the age of knowledge, when humanity prides itself on its scientific understanding and technological progress, Neptune’s idealistic visions are just wishful thoughts and fanciful notions that are totally detached from cold hard reality.
Hermetic astrology teaches that Neptune transmits an astrological vibration that expresses in human life as the utopian urges, idealistic feelings that chase unrealistic goals and vagueness that encourages confusion and confusion.
In mundane affairs it rules socialism, promotion and stock companies, aviation, oil, gas, drugs, movies, fraud, exaggeration, mysticism and brotherly love.
Astronomical facts about Neptune
Distance from the Sun: about 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kms)
Diameter at equator: 30,200 miles (48,600 km)
Radius is 15,299.4 miles (24,622 kilometers).
Neptune is about four times wider than Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Neptune would be about as big as a baseball.
Length of year: about 165 earth years
Rotation period: about 16 hours
Average temperature: - 214ºC (-353ºF))
Neptune is 30 times as far from the Sun as Earth and is not visible to the naked eye. It’s a stunning blue color and has 14 known moons. It has an unusual ring system that contains clumps of material embedded within faint narrow rings.
It’s a frigid planet and its atmosphere is extremely turbulent, with storm systems comparable to those of Jupiter. It is the windiest planet in the solar system and a giant oval storm system, called the Great Dark Spot, is as large as the Earth. Its largest moon, Triton, is the coldest object in the solar system with a temperature of -235°C (-391°F).
Astrology for Aquarius – sharing our knowledge
