Neptune in Aries
3/13/2025 Neptune enters shadow
3/30/2025 Neptune enters Aries
7/4/2025 Neptune retrograde (2 Aries 10)
10/22/2025 Neptune re-enters Pisces
12/10/ 2025 Neptune station direct (29 Pisces 22)
1/26/2026 Neptune re-enters Aries
3/31/2026 Neptune exits shadow
3/23/2039 Neptune enters Taurus
As discussed by every astrologer on planet Earth, we are in an extraordinary period of big planetary changes in 2025/2026. Installment number one was Pluto entering Aquarius in November. Now we are at installment number two; Neptune entering Aries.
Since it takes 164 years for it to go around the sun, humans will never live long enough to experience Neptune transit all twelve signs. Instead, we get Neptune transit for about five or six signs in an average lifetime.
On March 30, Neptune enters Aries. It is impossible to overstate the significance of this move by Neptune. A new era comes with Neptune in the first sign of the zodiac and where it will be until 2039.
The last time Neptune was in Aries was between 1861 and 1874.
In preparation for big planetary move, I’ve been researching various seminal events that took place the last time Neptune was in Aries. Neptune is of course one of the creative, artistic planets and Aries is the sign of war, battles, independence, breaking free. It is no surprise that the Impressionist movement of art launched in 1872 during Neptune’s trek in Aries. Artists who were independent thinkers and creators breaking free from the established ‘acceptable’ style of art. Also baked into these renegade artists is the fact that during the 1860s France and the early part of Neptune in Aries, France was at war with various countries and many of the men who would become Impressionists artists were conscripted (drafted) into military service. This time impacted their art. In fact, Claude Monet who was sent to North Africa as a soldier said later that the vivid colors of Algeria, “contained the gem of my future researches.” It would be Monet’s painting “Impression of Sunset” at their exhibition that would launch the word “Impression” for the whole movement.
In America, Neptune’s transit in Aries would change the history of the United States. The last time Neptune was at zero Aries was April 13, 1861. The day before, on April 12, was the 34-hour battle of Ft Sumter, South Carolina which marked the beginning of the US Civil War. While Neptune is intuitive, dreamy and creative it is also fuzzy and susceptible to illusion and delusion. Ft Sumter is a man-made island in a harbor, very Neptune, and was built in the 1830s to protect the town of Charleston.
I do not always go this deep into history, but for this event I think some context would be helpful. In November 1860 Abraham Lincoln won the Presidential election. Lincoln was opposed to expanding slavery into the western territories. Southern politicians and power players saw the writing on the wall that if new states (carved out of territories) did not have slavery, then their pull in Congress would diminish which could end their right to own human beings. Imagine that.
The response to Lincoln’s win was almost immediate, South Carolina seceded from the USA a month after Lincoln’s win. Then within six months ten other states joined the Confederacy. In response, Lincoln authorized the Union troops to protect Ft. Sumter.
On April 12, the Confederates shot the first bullet and a two-day skirmished ensued. The Union lost the battle. During the fight, civilians watched the battle from the shore. If those South Carolinians took comfort in the Confederate’s quick win, they would not see their side victorious at the end. If Lincoln and the Union thought the war would just be a few skirmishes and then they would be victorious they would get one part correct, the Union would win but it would not be a short war. It lasted four years with 620,000 Americans confirmed dead and 400,000 missing. It was long and bloody. Did Neptune know any of that was our future when it entered Aries in 1861? It remained in Aries until 1875 which then included reconstruction, industrialization, and the expansion of the West. While slavery was abolished, civil rights were not equal among races and genders. And of course, laborers in all areas were subjected to abusive work environments, including child labor. However, after the Civil War America became a muscular international force. Now on this Neptune return to the Civil War of 1861 we would not be wrong to take a big gulp and be concerned about what is on our horizon. To be clear
Neptune’s entrance in Aries does not have to be another Civil War. It could be different type of battles. Perhaps cyber? Financial? There can be a dissolving of boundaries and borders in some way. It is hard to say but given the history between Lincoln’s election and Ft Sumter it seems reasonable to assume that whatever comes up on our horizon may not be a surprise since it certainly wasn’t a surprise to anyone in 1861.
For an excellent review of Neptune in Aries going all the way back to 464 BCE check out astrologer Jessica Davidson’s write up. From Ancient Greek and Rome to the Peasant Revolt in Britain and the War of Spanish Succession you will see a lot of common themes. Spoiler Alert – A lot of rebellions and uprisings but also scientific and tech breakthroughs.
We will know more about our current transit by Neptune at the end of May when Saturn exits Pisces, and it too enters Aries and heads for a conjunction with Neptune which I have previously written about and will be the subject of many more posts, I am sure.
