Neptune is the planet of dreams, imagination, and Divine inspiration. It is also the planet of delusions, betrayal, addiction, and deep, forlorn yearning for the unattainable. When the Neptunian longing for transcendence and bliss fuse with unmet needs for love, belonging, safety, or self-worth, we can get lost in an emotional fog. We end up chasing illusions and sacrificing our real life for a fantasy. As painful as it is, disillusionment is the key to waking up from Neptunian confusion. We have to let go of what isn’t real to be able to build on solid ground.
We have a page about Neptune if you want to learn more. I also recommend Liz Greene’s book The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption and The Book of Neptune by Steven Forrest.
Neptune in the 11th House in the Natal Chart
Overview
The 11th house relates to groups, friendships, ideals, and visions for the collective future. Here, Neptune wants to belong to a group through which it seeks redemption through fellowship, and an end to loneliness. The work is to be able to join with a group of like-minded people without idealizing the group and losing your individuality.
Gifts
- being devoted to a larger purpose
- sensing the emotional needs of the group
- humanitarianism
- awareness of the interconnectedness of all humans
- ability to sense and influence collective emotional currents and group dynamics
- mystical feelings of unity
- ride-or-die friendships
- spiritual fellowship
- resonance with invisible allies and guides
- capacity to inspire or uplift collective spaces
- empathy toward collective suffering
Challenges
- idealizing the group or cause
- loss of self in collective identity
- susceptibility to manipulation by ideological movements
- intolerance to people who don’t share the same ideals or beliefs
- impulse to convert others
- playing out unresolved family issues within the group
- forming overly symbiotic friendships
- feeling betrayed if your devotion is not reciprocated
- playing savior to your friends
- attracting wounded or tragic figures
- engaging with groups that don’t feel aligned out of social obligation
Lessons
- recognizing that friends cannot cure all loneliness and there is no perfect society
- developing healthy interdependence
- maintaining authentic individuality within groups
- becoming conscious of any projection dynamics and resolving them
- recognizing that everyone has the right to decide their own ideals and goals
- setting healthy boundaries
- learning to receive support from others
- dropping inauthentic social obligations
Potential
- becoming a visionary leader or compassionate organizer
- fostering inclusive communities
- finding your soul family
- contributing to human spiritual evolution
- mastering the art of collaboration
- experiencing transcendent unity through group consciousness
- building a collective dream
- becoming a respected elder within your group
The Neptune Growth Journey
Neptune shows us where we are attached, clinging to illusions, trying to escape our existence, or hiding from reality. When the illusions dissolve, we are left with what is real and what actually matters. We are left with the raw truth, and our real self. And that is where the real magic is found.
Faced with the truth we were trying to avoid, we finally have to take responsibility for meeting our own needs. We take off the rose-colored glasses and come to terms with life as it is.
As we make peace with reality, we find that it is where we can actually meet our needs. We can, step by step, find real fulfillment in the real world, which feels far more solid and satisfying than our fantasy.
Once we know how to meet our needs in a more Saturnian way, we can then access the imaginative and dreamy side of Neptune without getting lost in the fog.
The desire for transcendence doesn't go away, but we are able to direct our feelings of existential longing toward what is truly boundless: spiritual practice, creativity, and communion with nature. We become channels for grace, Divine inspiration, and the feeling of Oneness we wanted all along. We’ve finally become a vessel who can receive Neptune’s magic without dissolving or drowning.
