Neptune Retrograde in Pisces ♆ 2024

July 2 – Dec 7, 2024

Planets in retrograde are not spinning backwards – it is an optical illusion as seen from Earth due to the fact that planets travel at their own respective speeds around the sun. In astrology, this illusion manifests as a “backwards” functioning of the planetary roles. Click here to learn more about retrograde.

Since April 2011, Neptune has been swimming “at home” in Pisces. We’re finally getting closer to wrapping up this long transit; Neptune will transition to Aries next year in 2025 for the first time since the mid-1800s. This will actually be the last Neptune Retrograde taking place completely in Pisces until nearly 200 years from now.

With Neptune in Pisces, a global spiritual awakening continues to unfold, though this is not really how it feels. More aptly, this transit is one long, collective existential crisis. Many trends from the 2010s and 2020s reflect Neptune in Pisces and her capacity to blur the lines until they no longer exist: legalization of marijuana and psilocybin; global surge in popularity of yoga, meditation, and mindfulness; extra-terrestrial themes in music and pop culture; virtual reality; opioid addiction; mass delusion and manipulation via the media & political platforms.

Neptune turns retrograde for five months every year. This transit is subtle yet profound. Pisces arrives in the bubbling river, eager to carry us back to regressive, self-destructive behaviors. We might enter into an unhealthy relationship, or fall back into an old habit, for example. Get all the details and take your time, whatever it is. Neptune is muddling and hazy, not clear or logical. If it seems too good to be true, it is. Neptune reminds us that vices do not equate to higher consciousness. Addiction and escapist behaviors are a cry for help.

When outer planets turn retrograde, nothing dramatic happens. This is not like Mercury Retrograde. Neptune Retrograde offers an extended meditation on our beliefs, as well as our hope. These waters are introspective and reflective, so much so that we will struggle to express ourselves, our inner experience. This transit is like being woven into a cocoon. It happens so deftly and slowly that we don’t realize what’s taken place until we are already deep inside.

Neptune’s movements affect sun sign Pisces the most. This is true for people with moon or rising sign in Pisces too. Those born with natal points in Gemini, Virgo, or Sagittarius will struggle the most with this transit. Sun/moon/rising sign Cancer and Scorpio can integrate this nebulous energy more effortlessly.

Cancer Season, happening now, is one of the most conducive periods of time for growth and healing during Neptune Rx in Pisces. This is also true of Scorpio Season. Virgo Season is one of the most difficult times of this retrograde, with the sun in opposition to Neptune. Sagittarius Season also tends to be rough with the sun squaring Neptune. These are two months in which it becomes very challenging to discern illusion (Neptune!) from reality.

Listen to Neptune, the Mystic from The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst. I was born with Neptune Retrograde in Capricorn. To find your Neptune sign and whether this planet was direct or retrograde at the time of your birth, click here.