Neptune-Pluto Contacts; an Occult Dimension
For years now, I have been observing the unique inter-relationship of Neptune and Pluto, Pluto and Neptune, coming into contact with each other by transit or Solar Arc, or synthesizing with other planets within a natal or arced Midpoint picture: there almost always seems to be an experiential reference to “other worldliness,” the occult, the esoteric, the strange, especially in the pure conjunction.
I have heard stories!!: UFO sightings and visitations; a series of meetings with someone who taught voodoo practices to alleviate marital distress; an executive going to a jungle retreat to learn drumming inroads to the higher Self; innumerable visions, change-of-life occurrences assisted by the supernatural, or simply taking up the study of astrology or the occult, etc.
In probably my last 1,000 horoscopes or so, I have searched out the developmental phenomenon of the transit or arc contact of Pluto-Neptune or Neptune-Pluto. –I say, “May I ask you a research question, please? … at this time, from March to August 1974, what did you experience that we could call occult, magical, esoteric, even bizarre? What was significant about this experience for you?”
Even in a young child’s development, at age 5 or 6, say, I have heard of angel visitations and special voices … a soulful talk with an inspired granny or a strange aunt … experiences that are never forgotten.
For example, I learned from a dry-as-the-Sahara, retired heart surgeon that, at 23, when the Pluto-Neptune contact occurred for him, he had had a massive car accident that killed his girlfriend. He had been driving. In the wake of that tragedy, this then-engineer decided dramatically to return to university and become a doctor, a heart surgeon, to pay back the life he took in the car accident! And he never married.
Time and time and time again, corresponding to the natal midpoint picture MC=Neptune/Pluto, I’ve seen the synthesis image of “making money, profiting from the occult, the esoteric, etc.” corroborated in the lives of professional Astrologers, Tarot readers, Numerologists. At the least –as with the big businessman, corporation president I just spoke with this morning— it’s been an acknowledged appreciation for, fascination with astrology, reading esoteric books …”I have every one of your books, Noel!”
***What are these symbols telling us?
We are seeing supernatural, peculiar-realm dimensions coming together with special sensitivity within an individual’s life perspective. There is an enormous intensification of sensory response possible, even to the point of losing the frame of reality, possibly through drugs or alcohol. We are seeing paranormal dimensions of creativity, even supernal inspiration!
To me, the Neptune/Pluto midpoint pictures are particularly rewarding points of analysis because of the extra dimension added by the third planet or point in the mix. For example, you can just feel the sensorium (the Moon) channeling extreme creativity and high sensitivity, perhaps big mood sweeps and fluctuations … anxiety about begin appreciated… with Moon=Neptune/Pluto.
We can feel the grief, weakness, macabre torment possible with Saturn=Neptune/Pluto. Oppression enters being through the lens of the supernaturally magnified.
When the Ascendant is synthesized with Neptune/Pluto, a mystical air may flavor the personal image; you can see this dimension in the person!
With the Sun: there is an illumination of creative enterprise or possibly the drain on the life-system through over-indulgences.
Please see page 851 in Synthesis & Counseling in Astrology for all the other images possible, and start looking into your client’s horoscope for the magical time(s) of development. When you hear the story –or don’t!—relate that to the flow of analysis. Remember the transit contact(s) will be as protracted as the Arc contact(s) because of the intrinsic slow-speed of Neptune and Pluto; i.e., the influence will be permeating rather than blasting.
And What About Neptune-Pluto Natally?
This is an interesting and, I think, important question. The last occurrence of the most rare conjunction of these two most distant planets was in 1891 (allowing orb, the period was basically 1887-1894). The Neptune-Pluto conjunction was a key signature in the horoscopes of the most senior leaders of World War II, in the prime of their life, fighting an inspired world-struggle battle for power.
Hitler (deeply involved with the occult) was born in 1889 and had the conjunction with a 4-degree orb; Eisenhower was born in 1890 and had the conjunction with a 1-degree orb, etc.; General Erwin Rommel was born in 1891 with the conjunction exact; Field Marshall Montgomery (1887, 6-degree orb); Yugoslavian Marshall and President Tito (1892); mystical Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (1891). And just think of the thousands and thousands more senior officers visualizing and commandeering the course of the war with this signature of Neptune-Pluto narcotizing their deployment of power. –This is a sub-generation we’re seeing, coming into its prime in the 1930s.
And another most interesting observation is this: a sub-generation group of people born in 1860-1865, say, experienced the arc of Neptune to conjunction with their natal Pluto at the prime of their life: Evangeline Adams and Max Heindel, born 1865 (Neptune=Pluto at 32); Sepharial, 1864 (Neptune=Pluto at 32); Alan Leo, 1860 (Neptune=Pluto at 40). With all these powerful astrology leaders maturing into great prominence around 1900, the great era of British Astrology and the extraordinary marketing triumph of Evangeline Adams for astrology in America made history.
The millions of others born 1860-1865 comprised the audience for the innovators, leaders, and marketers of “new Age back-then” investigations and teachings. The first twenty years of the 20th Century were halcyon times for the supernatural, for the occult, for astrology: Houdini in his prime chased the séance artists and entered entertainment history and our everyday vocabulary. Millions expressed Neptune=Pluto collectively. It was the golden era for stage magicians and mentalist performers, passing themselves off as supernatural wizards; people could not get enough of this entertainment throughout Europe and America.
***This little essay is not meant to be definitive sociohistorical research. Rather, it is to alert us to the fascinating dimension of Neptune-Pluto interplay and synthesis. Watch for it by Arc and Transit in the horoscopes of your clients: you’ll most often uncover special dimensions in your client’s development … perhaps slight but powerful … often unique and lasting … and usually with some mystifying stories as well!