posted March 23, 2019 02:01 AM
I went through this transit a few years ago (2012-16). Since then my clarity and health has increased in many ways (still a ways to go). And I've gotten much more willing and able to patiently do the work that my involvements actually require.This is an ego-deflating transit we all go through at various times to cleanse away unnecessary ego that identifies with roles and competitive comparisons; to emphasize less doing and more open investigation about who we are.
quote:
Originally posted by Capguy75:
... I read Robert Hand's assessment on Astro.com and... hooo boy... things don't sound so good.If I'm understandign things correctly: anything I set my hand to - whether starting dating or starting a new endeavour - is, at best, doomed to failure and, at worst, likely to produce emotional trauma as you get exploited or make misguided F**k-ups.
In summary: Everything You Turn Your Hand To Will Go Wrong.
I have Robert Hand's book Planets in Transit and that is not really an accurate summary of his assessment of the transit Neptune square natal Mars.
Maybe it doesn't help that he starts the text with, "There are a number of dangers with this transit..." So rather than keying in to a supposed level or quantity of danger with the transit it is better to understand the actual gist of it.
-- Natal Mars is the default mode of assertion, physical energy, action-based ego, 'see what I can do' and 'me first'.
-- Neptune is the higher octave of Venus and can prefer cerebral love, fantasy, the idea of the ideal over the physicality or disappointments of it or the transient nature of its forms.
-- In transit square natal Mars it brings a steady cleansing of what has become an ego-based momentum, or line of action that needs more imagination or intuitive/creative input to supplement raw energy with more elevated values or considerations. This is easier to do when Neptune acts with smoother, flowing aspects upon Mars, but you get what you got for now.
A good bit of advice is simply to stay loose and open rather than making hard-and-fast plans far in advance that require a great commitment.
Temptations can come in the form of reliance on stimulants or substances to try to keep up the old levels of energy; the stimulation of new idealisms to merge your energies with those who already have a momentum you could use to supplement your own. This is where Hand warns about leaning on others rather than understanding yourself and making some temporary adjustments. This could mean cutting down how much you are working so you can manage your stress levels; not investing energy into projects that are more wishful thinking than possible, at least for the time being. In other words, scale back rather than transferring hopes to others to hold you up.
The reason he makes the point of the negative potential that you could emerge as a loser in your efforts, is because this is a period in which your usual vigor and confidence to follow through is not there. So it is too easy to pull up short of the effort needed and rely on hope or wishful thinking to cover you.
He gives good advice by saying, "Defeats may make you feel discouraged, but don't take them too seriously. And there is a lesson to be learned here. The more you identify with what you do rather than what you are, the more difficulties this transit will cause. You are not what you do..."
With these kinds of hard Neptune transits things are never as bad as they seem, just less confidence within you for battling on. Pick your battles.
The driving-life-drunk analogy is yours, not his.
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"Drift like a cloud and flow like water, seeing that all life is a magnificent illusion, a playing of energy, and there is absolutely nothing fundamentally to be afraid of." -- Alan Watts
Soul Stars Astrology by The Declinations Guy
Expert Rectification