Neptune: From a Mythological and Symbolic Perspective
As I’ve been on my astrology journey, one of the ways I’ve connected to the planets has been through their mythological and archetypal correspondences, accompanied by the symbolism astrologers use to describe what the planets signify.
With that in mind, this series of posts about the different parts of astrology, where I’ll cover the luminaries and each of the planets in our solar system (including Pluto), I’ll write about their mythology, archetypes, and some general symbolism, including my own observations.
In this post, I will focus on Neptune.
[I will add to this post when I broaden my knowledge of myths, deepen my knowledge of the planets, and make new observations concerning them.]
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The Mythology of Neptune
Like Uranus and Pluto, Neptune is one of the more recently discovered planets in our solar system and may, therefore, not always have a clear-cut association with the deity it’s named after.
In Cosmos and Psyche, Richard Tarnas comments on the not always so clear-cut link between the more recently discovered outer planets’ archetypes and the deities they’re named after:
“Compared with the planets known to the ancients, with their Greco-Roman mythological associations and corresponding astrological meanings, the names and meanings of the three planets discovered by telescope in the modern era present a very different situation. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were named by modern astronomers without any archetypal correspondences in mind. They therefore inherited no archetypal meanings sanctioned by ancient tradition, meanings that were in turn affirmed, refined, and elaborated by continuing observations over many centuries. [...] While correlations involving the ancient planets out through Saturn consistently suggest a definite coherence between the planets’ inherited mythological names and the observed synchronistic phenomena, correlations involving the outer three planets point to archetypal principles that in crucial respects differ from or radically transcend their astronomical names.” (Tarnas, 2006, ch. 3).
Below, I’ll first write a bit about the deity the planet is named after, before exploring the archetypes that fit the planet’s qualities better.
Poseidon
In Greek mythology, Poseidon (known as Neptune in Roman Mythology) was the child of Kronos and Rhea. He was first swallowed whole by his father when he was born, and then rescued by Zeus and Rhea.
The siblings thanked Zeus, created a new world order together, and became the Olympian gods. When the three brothers (Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon) were to establish their individual dominions, they drew lots, and Poseidon became lord of the sea, “and thus necessarily the patron deity of navigation and maritime battles” (Giesecke 2020).
Poseidon could be like the oceans he commanded. His state of mind and his mood could change in an instant. Just like the other gods and goddesses, he also had a wide variety of emotions, from being stormy and vain to feeling deep love and bodily lust and everything in between.
While Zeus was wielding thunderbolts that the Cyclopes had made for him, Prometheus received a trident from them, which became his weapon. And while he was associated with the oceans and all the storms, whirlpools, and untethered waves, he was also associated with earthquakes:
“As he had the ability to calm and stir up the seas, he was both savior and potential nemesis of sailors and fishermen. Poseidon was also the god of earthquakes, described by Homer as the ‘Earthshaker’ who caused the earth to tremble when he struck it with his trident” (Giesecke 2020).
Just like his brother Zeus, Prometheus spent most of his time pursuing beautiful girls and boys and fathering many demigods, monsters, and human heroes.
“While the sea goddess Amphitrite was called his consort, as well as mother by him of Triton, Poseidon had numerous extramarital amorous encounters. Among the best known of these was his pursuit of a grief-stricken Demeter, whom he pursued while she searched for her daughter, Persephone; in order to escape him, Demeter transformed herself into a mare, but Poseidon could not be deceived and, in turn, became a stallion, in this way fathering the immortal horse Arion” (Giesecke 2020). And so, horses became associated with Poseidon.
While the mythology of the other gods and goddesses that the planets in our solar system are named after usually go very well hand-in-hand, Neptune is a fairly newly discovered planet, as mentioned above. I don’t know if there is any merit to this idea, but I feel like the people who chose to name the planet Neptune did so because we used to believe Neptune was a blue planet and, therefore, could be easily associated with the oceans (i.e., Poseidon’s domain). Again, this may or may not be true.
Either way, it can be beneficial to look at other mythological beings and archetypes to understand the archetype of Neptune better. For example, the story of the hero called Orpheus.
Orpheus
Orpheus feels to me like the ultimate Neptunian hero. He was the son of the muse Calliope or Polyhymnia and “the Thracian king Oeagrus or, alternatively, Apollo, who was said to have taught him how to play the lyre” (Giesecke 2020). His skill with the lyre was one of his greatest powers. “The Thracians were the most musical of the peoples of Greece. But Orpheus had no rival there or anywhere except the gods alone. There was no limit to his power when he played and sang. No one and nothing could resist him” (Hamilton 1942).
While Orpheus was one of the participants in Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece, the myth of the loss of his wife and his own death illustrates the Neptunian archetype very well.
Orpheus was married to a nymph called Eurydice, who was bitten by a serpent as she was fleeing the advances of Aristaeus, who was credited with the invention of several rural arts like beekeeping. The bite resulted in Eurydice’s death, and Orpheus followed her into the underworld, moving Hades, Persephone, and the other dwellers there into tears with his music. “The regents of the Underworld permitted Orpheus a reprieve: he could lead Eurydice back up to the world of the living, but he must not look back until he emerged from the land of the dead” (Giesecke 2020). Out of worry or longing, or both, he looked back just before Eurydice was outside the bounds of the underworld, and she was taken from him again.
Losing her again, Orpheus was so struck by grief that he “wandered the earth lamenting, moving animals, stones, and even trees with his plaintive songs. For three years he lamented, remaining true to Eurydice’s memory and, by spurning their advances, angered some Thracian Maenads who tore him limb from limb. While the rest of him lay where he was killed, his still-singing head and sounding lyre were carried along the streams of the Hebrus River to the sea and eventually to the island of Lesbos, home of inspired poets” (Giesecke 2020), where “the Muses found it and buried it in the sanctuary of the island” (Hamilton 1942). The connection here to poets (the poet Sappho was from Lesbos, which is from where we gotten words like “lesbian” and “sapphic”) is very Neptunian.
The Symbolism of Neptune
Fast Facts
Keywords: Cloudiness, unreality, idealism, sacrifice, dreams and fantasies, imagination, escape, psychic sensitivity, spiritualism, a desire to transcend, a longing for bliss, compassion, romance, unconditional love, empathy
Domicile: Pisces (in modern astrology)
Detriment: Virgo (in modern astrology)
Anatomy: Feet, pineal gland, spinal column, nervous system
Colors: Sea green, dull grey to black
Metal: Neptunium and silver
Stones: Rock crystal and opal
Discovered in 1846
Neptune spends approximately fourteen years in each sign
Symbolism
Neptune is connected to the transcendental, otherworldly, spiritual, mystical, and dreamy. While Jupiter is connected to belief, Neptune is closer to faith. Neptune can also have a desire to experience something transcendent, like experiencing or creating transcendental beauty through art.
Due to Neptune's dreamy nature, it also signifies the shadow side of escapism and illusions. Becoming addicted to escapism is also associated with Neptune, as addiction is also a part of Neptune and can be a part of the otherworldly, transcendental experiences or something that takes us out of our current reality, which is also connected to Neptune.
Neptune is also connected to idealism. It can be the idealistic standards we set in certain areas of our lives, as well as the unwillingness or incapability of seeing the reality of certain situations and/or relationships. Neptune is often described as being foggy or murky, so the incapability of seeing things for what they are can be an issue. Confusion and deception are also connected to Neptune, perhaps due to its foggy quality.
Neptune is also connected to eroding boundaries and, in that way, a desire to merge.
Richard Tarnas summarizes Neptune’s correspondences and archetype in the following way in Cosmos and Psyche:
“Neptune is associated with the transcendent, spiritual, ideal, symbolic, and imaginative dimensions of life; with the subtle, formless, intangible, and invisible; with the unitive, timeless, immaterial, and infinite; with all that which transcends the limited literal temporal and material world of concretely empirical reality: myth and religion, art and inspiration, ideals and aspirations, images and reflections, symbols and metaphors, dreams and visions, mysticism, religious devotion, universal compassion. It is associated with the impulse to surrender separative existence and egoic control, to dissolve boundaries and structures in favor of underlying unities and undifferentiated wholes, merging that which was separate, healing and wholeness; the dissolution of ego boundaries and reality structures, states of psychological fusion and intimations of intrauterine existence, melted ecstasy, mystical union, and primary narcissism; with tendencies towards illusion and delusion, deception and self-deception, escapism, intoxication, psychosis, perceptual and cognitive distortions, conflation and confusion, projection, fantasy; with the bedazzlement of consciousness whether by gods, archetypes, beliefs, dreams, ideals, or ideologies; with enchantment, in both positive and negative senses.” (Tarnas, 2006, ch. 3).
He goes on to write that:
“The archetypal principle linked to Neptune governs all nonordinary states of consciousness as well as the stream of consciousness and the oceanic depths of the unconscious. Characteristic metaphors for its domain include the infinite sea of the imagination, the ocean of divine consciousness, and the archetypal wellspring of life. It is in a sense the archetype of the archetypal dimension itself, the anima mundi, the Gnostic pleroma, the Platonic realm of transcendent Ideas, the domain of the gods, the Immortals. In mythic and religious terms, it is associated with the all-encompassing womb of the Goddess and with all deities of mystical union, universal love, and transcendent beauty; the mystical Christ, the all-compassionate Buddha, the Atman-Brahman union, the union of Shiva and Shakti, the hieros gamos or sacred marriage, the coniunctio oppositorum; the dreaming Vishnu, maya and lila, the self-reflecting Narcissus, the divine absorbed in its own reflection; Orpheus, god of artistic inspiration, the Muses; the cosmic Sophia whose spiritual beauty and wisdom pervade all.” (Tarnas, 2006, ch. 3).
As with Uranus and Pluto, there was also a range of historical and cultural phenomena that coincided with the discovery of Neptune that have become a part of its significance. As Tarnas writes:
“These include the rapid spread of spiritualism throughout the world beginning in the late 1840s, the upsurge of utopian social ideologies at the same time, the rise of universalist and communitarian aspirations in both secular and religious movements, the full ascendancy of Idealist and Romantic philosophies of spirit and the imagination, the widespread cultural influence of Transcendentalism, the new popular interest in both Eastern mystical and Western esoteric traditions, and the emergence of theosophy. Here too could be cited the rise of the recreational use of psychoactive drugs in European bohemian circles, the beginning of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and the invention of anesthetics. The invention and cultural impact of photography and the early experiments in motion pictures, as well as the new aesthetic spirit of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, were characteristic of the Neptune archetype in its association with image, reflection, subjectivity, illusion, and multiple realities. The growing focus on the unconscious, dreams, myths, hypnosis, and non-ordinary states of consciousness in the decades after Neptune’s discovery is also suggestive of the archetype. So also was the distinct collective emergence of a more socially compassionate humanitarian sensibility that was expressed in the public attitudes, social legislation, art and literature of the Victorian era and the nineteenth century generally (the novels of Dickens and Stowe, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, the abolition of slavery and serfdom, the movements and the laws to limit child labor and other cruelties of industrial capitalism, the first laws abolishing capital punishment, the wave of founding of societies for the protection of animals, the growing role of women in shaping social policy, the beginning of modern nursing through the work of Florence Nightingale, the spread of care for the sick and wounded in war, the first Geneva Convention, the founding of the International Red Cross, etc.).” (Tarnas, 2006, ch. 3).
Wherever we have Neptune in our chart, “we willingly offer ourselves in a spirit of charitable service. Devotion can evoke acts of genuine selflessness, or indeed, occasionally manifested as a form of martyrdom.” (Taylor, 2018, p. 81).
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Sources
Brennan, Chris. The Astrology Podcast, episode 326: “Neptune in Astrology: Meaning Explained” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NTKvrrim_c), 2021-11-03.
Fry, Stephen. Mythos. Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House), 2017.
Giesecke, Annette. Classical Mythology A to Z. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2020 (ebook).
Gillett, Roy. The Secret Language of Astrology: The Illustrated Key to Unlocking the Secrets of the Stars. London: Watkins Media Limited, 2012.
Kent, April Elliott. The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology: Everything from zodiac signs to prediction, made easy and entertaining. San Diego, California: Two Moon Publishing, 2023.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1942 (ebook).
Parker, Julia & Derek Parker. Parkers’ Astrology: The definitive guide to using astrology in every aspect of your life. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2020.
Tarnas, Richard. Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View. Viking Penguin, 2006.
Taylor, Carole. Astrology: Using the wisdom of the stars in your everyday life. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2018.
