The
Moon is the planet of emotional responses and needs. Its expression is as
evident as early as childhood, which is when many people express their Moon
with the least amount of inhibition. Neptune, on the other hand, represents
artistry, imagination, spiritual transcendence, and a universal sense of
empathy for others. So, as a Moon-Neptune child, you were a kid who really lived
on a different wavelength. You found it easy to get completely lost within your
imagination, to the degree that your parents regularly had to pull you out of
it, from time to time. You developed a strong need for these games of make
believe, as they allowed you to enter some magical world that you otherwise
couldn’t. The average Moon-Neptune child is also very empathic, from an early
age, easily able to pick up on people’s feelings. Both the Moon and Neptune are
very caring energies and the combination of these two planets often symbolizes
a bleeding heart, which you probably were from the start.
Our
Moon also represents our relationship with our primary nurturing figure,
whether it was a mother or a father. For a person with Moon in aspect to
Neptune, there’s usually a profound sense of merging within this relationship,
for better or for worse. Many Moon-Neptune people have a nurturing figure who
subtly demands for the child to take care of them. This parent is emotionally
stunted and dysfunctional, possibly even mentally ill, with some sort of
personality or mood disorder. They may also have an addictive personality, as
Neptune represents addictions of all sorts. The parent could’ve struggled with
drugs or alcohol or maybe just with finding some way to evade their
responsibilities and realities. As a result, they looked to their child, who
was often quickly responsive to them, for comfort and support. This sets up a
pattern for you, Moon-Neptune, of being the one to compulsively take care of
others. You’re not used to feeling any sort of emotional boundaries between you
and another person, due to your nurturing parent. You feel like their problems
are your problems and need to be healed immediately.
The
other kind of nurturing figure for a Moon-Neptune individual is more positive
and functional. This parent represents an ideal sense of compassion,
spirituality, and creativity. They display a remarkably nonjudgmental attitude
toward their child, simply allowing them to be themselves and unconditionally accepting
them, without criticism or pressure. The parent might be either an artist of
some kind or a person involved in a healing profession. Whether you had the
empathetic nurturing figure or the sick, dysfunctional nurturing figure, you
were given an example of putting the emotional needs of others before your own.
This might make you an exceptionally caring, tenderhearted adult but, if taken
too far, it can prevent you from truly getting in touch with what you need in a
situation. You might too compulsively put your needs aside to cater to other
people’s feelings.
Having
a Moon-Neptune aspect means that you are a true emotional sponge, apt to
soaking up all of the emotions of everyone else within a room. All strongly
Neptune types display this ability but for those with the Moon (the instinctual
nature) hooked up to Neptune, this trait runs the deepest. In fact, you often
times don’t even realize when you’re taking on other people’s thoughts and
emotional responses as your own. It can go as far as you unconsciously
imitating the speech patterns and physical mannerisms of those who you’re
closest with. This is especially true if they’re having or just had some sort
of emotional episode. It’s like you take them into yourself. Intimate
relationships can feel overwhelming to Moon-Neptune people because of this and
it’s why many of them seem to prefer solitude. Being alone can feel like the
only time when you get any real peace.
Solitary
time allows you to unravel that inner life of yours. But Moon-Neptune energy is
very difficult to unravel. Neptune is chameleonic, capable of spanning the
broad range of human behavior from saint to sinner to every shade of grey
between. So, with Moon in aspect to Neptune, you have the ability to access all
of the various colors of your Moon sign, especially since the Moon is such a
changeable, fluid energy. It really all depends on your mood. You can be
fragile, powerful, lost, inspired, melancholy, faithful, inaccessible, unguarded,
profound, and silly. It can seem to people as if you’re constantly changing,
from one moment to the next, particularly depending on what environment you’re
in or who you’re around. This utterly multi-faceted quality comes effortlessly
to you and is what allows you to emotionally understand everyone. If you also
have the Moon in a Water sign, then there’s nobody’s shoes that you can’t put
yourself in. You know exactly where they’re coming from and what they’re
feeling.
For
Moon-Neptune people, the key is to channel this divine empathy and emotional
depth into a constructive outlet. Lots of people with this aspect will become
artists, either by profession or by hobby. Obviously, the creative fields make
the perfect channel for the Moon-Neptune soul. Your vast imagination, your
instinctive ability to be anyone at anytime, and your deeply felt emotional
life are tailor-made for being an actor, a writer, or a musician/singer.
Moon-Neptune folks are just highly sensitive, sometimes more so than they’d
like to admit, and might need a bit of coaxing to open themselves up to being
emotionally exposed like that. They might be rather shy in the beginning, in
that way. But, once they become comfortable expressing their inner selves on
the stage, they can do amazing things. We don’t really have to think about the
Moon’s expression. It just flows out of us, once we’re open and our guard is
down. So, Moon-Neptune artists are usually the ones who just can’t explain
where their inspiration comes from or what their process is. It comes from some
profound place that even they don’t fully understand.
Being
creative is what allows the Moon-Neptune individual to feel attuned with
humanity, which is a deep-seated need of this placement. These people need to
honor their compassion and their need to be openly compassionate, which can be
difficult in this often cold world. Spiritual practices can go a long way in
this regard, as well, teaching always to forgive and to give unconditionally.
That’s why, if you have this aspect and haven’t found some sort of artistic or
spiritual outlet, it might be easy for you to harden or become self-absorbed. If
you don’t learn what to do with your gifts, you might just shut down altogether.
You may try to act uncaring and cold (taking on a role, in true Neptune
fashion) when the truth is anything but. This can be the result of being taken
advantage of one too many times, sucked dry emotionally or financially. It
might also be because you just feel like your needs are never being met and it
leads you to develop a self-victimizing, “why me?” mentality that can make you the one who’s endlessly draining
others. You may become compulsively needy, driven by a feeling that your
feelings are never recognized, even as you rob the emotional resources from
those who are trying to help but inevitably give up.
To
become a healthy Moon-Neptune, you must neither drain others nor allow yourself
to be drained. Boundaries must be set. Even some of the seemingly tougher
people with these aspects feel terribly guilty for not answering a troubled
friend’s phone call when they understandably just need some me-time. You must
remember that you are responsible for no one’s feelings but your own. You can
use your healing abilities to comfort others and make them feel accepted. But,
you don’t have to carry the weight of their emotional needs. Alternately, no
one is responsible for how you feel, either. Some people with the Moon in
aspect to Neptune can play serious yet subtle guilt trips with others, as they
are so dependent on people’s responses, feeling like they are the source of
their happiness and well-being. Falling back on neither behavior pattern helps
to establish healthy limits in your relationships.
Having
this placement means that you’re supposed to take comfort in the fact that
we’re all emotionally connected. The purpose of a Moon-Neptune aspect is to
neither encourage nor pursue too much emotional dependence. Even when you have
children, you’ll probably be wonderfully caring and nurturing toward them but
still aren’t going to keep them overly tied to you. Neptune isn’t an exclusive
energy. It opens its arms to all and doesn’t discriminate. So, seeing how the
Moon rules how we take care of others, you’re really meant to take care of people
in a universal, far-reaching manner. You can be drawn to charity work because of
this. You’ll feel fulfilled by showing up to the homeless shelter or the
nursing home and uplifting the people there. Just make sure you’re doing this
selflessly and to not be given credit for being selfless. There’s often a
subtle difference with these aspects. Don’t play the martyr role. Instead,
engage in acts of kindness for the sheer fulfillment of uplifting a fellow
human being.
Moon-Neptune
energy is extremely intuitive. The good thing is that you’re borderline
psychic, when you know how to use this energy. You can “read” people well, tend
to call things before they happen, and dreams are a particularly vivid thing
for you. Just about everyone with this aspect absolutely loves to sleep, which makes sense as both planets are unconscious
planets. You’re a very deep sleeper and completely enter another realm when you
go to sleep. Your dreams are so powerful that they truly feel real to you.
Sure, most people say that. But, a Moon-Neptune’s person’s dreams are nothing
to fool around with. They’re often predictive, if the person pays attention to
them. Being unable to sleep is a rarity for you but also evidence that some
real emotional problems need to be worked out. It can be a sign of running from
the depths of your feelings, as this aspect allows your emotions to heavily
manifest in your dream life. That dream life can also bleed into your waking
life. People tend to catch you daydreaming or getting so wrapped up in your
deep thoughts that you forget what’s happening around you.
You’re
very susceptible to the irrational elements of this energy, especially if you
have the conjunction, square, or opposition and/or the Moon in one of the Water
signs. An unbalanced Moon-Neptune person can become deluded, in some way. You probably
have a running habit of lying to yourself and to others, although it’s often
about relatively harmless things. If you convince yourself that’s something
true, you can sell the story very well, even to someone who’s very perceptive
about when someone is lying. This placement usually makes for an effortlessly
good liar, due to the boundless imagination. It can become a compulsive thing,
as you often don’t even mean for the lie to come out of your mouth, and a way
of protecting yourself from being exposed. It’s usually not in a malicious way,
though. Moon-Neptune is very prone to just fibbing about things that would
bring up feelings that they don’t want to face or talk about with someone else.
So, obviously, cultivating more emotional honesty and directness, in this
regard, is a way to curb this habit.
There
is usually an appealing air of vulnerability around Moon-Neptune individuals.
You will display your Moon sign in very vivid and soulful ways because the
expression of Neptune is like the ocean. It’s too large and limitless to contain.
So, the traits and responses of your Moon sign are often spilling out and over,
like a tipped over glass of water, even when you don’t want them to be. You
also have a very deep connection to this energy, as your intuition is an
overriding element in your nature. You need to feel like you can operate on
this sense of flow and not have this wavelength interfered with or directed by
others. You feel comfortable around very tolerant, accepting souls who aren’t
going to be too judgmental. Moon in aspect to Neptune really has a need for
peace, at the end of the day. You want a truly safe haven to come home to, in
order to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of the world. This can involve a
few trusted friends or loved ones but it can also just involve yourself, as
you’re most likely at ease alone. All you really need are great music, movies,
books, television series, etc. to get totally lost within. This (healthy) sense
of escapism is one of the things that makes you happiest in life.
Moon
conjunct Neptune: Out of all the aspects, you’re probably the most prone to
being overwhelmed. This is because you find it so natural to receive all of
these different impressions and psychic impulses that you see it as a way of
life. You can actually be very surprised to learn that a lot of other people
don’t process situations in this way. The conjunction means that you can
experience irrational phobias or anxieties or you can access an eerie sense of
inner calm. You might be so spiritually enlightened that you have an emotional
center most could only dream of.
Moon
square or opposite Neptune: The square and the opposition are the most
challenging aspects. So, you might struggle with feeling emotionally balanced,
often veering toward alarmingly deluded or irrational behavior. You are the
most prone, out of this group, to try and adapt to the cut-and-dry ways of the
world, instead of fully embracing your beautifully sensitive, creative spirit.
It usually takes a conscious stepping away from the “real world” to create your
own values. You have to learn to be both in the world but not of it, operating
on your own plane.
Moon
sextile or trine Neptune: Having the sextile or trine gives you the most
balanced approach to this energy. You know how to survive and adapt to the
demands of the world while still being defined by your own spiritual ideals and
sense of compassion. You are highly adaptable, in fact, and might be a bit too
prone to using your empathic way with people to manipulate a personal situation
to your advantage. Being an artist is something you may really utilize, as you
have a savvy understanding of how to use your creative skills to contribute to
the world.
wow, I understand now a lot of things..., wish i would have read this younger...
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly how I experience this conjunction in my own life any ideas on how to stop pickining up peoples accents and mannerism...I have tried most if the protection bubbles and shields do far nothing works.
DeleteThis is the most accurate summary of this energy i've come across, and i've searched extensively. I have Neptune in 12th Sag, square Moon conjunct MC in Virgo [1 degree orb]. Neptune is also the apex of a T-square & i have the other 3 personal planets in Pisces, so this energy is very strong in my chart. Thanks so much. This is a very helpful article that really refines my understanding of the major forces in my life...
ReplyDeleteThank you this was wonderful to read
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this! Very helpful
ReplyDeleteVery true I have moon in Pisces house 12 sextile Neptune which is the only good aspects to my moon. Everything else aspecting it are bad, malefic planets. Not even one fire or air planet aspects it. Fortunately, I have the Neptune sextile. Its ironic though, considering my moon is unbelievably piscean, the one good aspect I get to it is of course, Neptune. Must have been meant to be for some reason. Also, this is off topic, but is it normal that daily transits influence my behavior more than both my progressed chart and my natal chart?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interpretation of this aspect. It's very true.
ReplyDeleteVery neat article. You definitely know what you're talking about. I have a moon gemini/ neptune capricorn opposition and I've always been a constant daydreamer. Nothing, I mean nothing could ever limit that function. No situation (i.e work / school) or person could ever keep my chronic daydreaming in check. Dreaming in general has always been a strong presence in my life, and dreams bleeding into reality definitely happen. Sometimes it feels like I'm not all the way stable or connected to the fabric of reality and I just wander. I find music, art, and poetry to have a alchemic reaction to my senses. Especially music it's like an experience that's heightening at times. My imagination is insane. On the flip side obviously people can be hella draining. I tend to pick up others garbage, thoughts, accents, and feelings. It becomes a task to untangle myself from them. I use to walk around in bulky clothing, because I hated people touching me. It was a hazard. Now I'm more comfortable w/ it to an extent. Solitude is my friend. It is heavenly and the only way to recharge.
ReplyDeleteI think for me it's more of a challenge, because I also have Mercury in cancer opposite neptune in capricorn. That by itself fogs the hell out of situations, create confusion in speech, and makes it tempting to tell fibs. Though...if done it comes back to bite me in the ass. Plus I learned I can't outright lie, because the asteroid Iris is in my 3rd house and no matter what, when I try for it I either start smiling, or laughing like a lunatic. My thoughts can be all over the place, but are unusually well ordered in my head. It's only when I try to physically express them verbally what's inside is never communicated correctly. ~shrugs~ My life. Thanks for the article hun.
Wow ....thankyou for that :) defiantly the most I have ever identified with a discription of this energy :) really really spoke to me :) I have neptune conjunct asc opposite my moon in cancer
ReplyDeleteThanks! Really Enjoyed this article. I have Neptune (2nd house Sag) opposition Gemini Moon in the 8th. In addition, Neptune Quincux Sun & Jupiter (9th house Cancer); Neptune trine Venus (10th house Leo); Neptune Square Mars (10th house Virgo); Neptune sextile Pluto (12th house Libra)...Neptune is hitting almost everything in my chart...I FEEL EVERYTHING...lol. I have no Pisces planets but feel very "Neptunian" nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteLoved this article! I have both Neptune and the Moon conjunct in the 8th house. It's definitely true about being an emotional sponge which can make being in a group setting uncomfortable at times because I can FEEL everyone's emotions. I laughed that this aspect loves sleep!! I could probably sleep all day if I wanted to.
ReplyDeleteMoon in Aries trine Neptune in Sagit...yeap, yeap, very true. Sleep is my second favourite thing, after reading/movies/music. And dreaming...boy, am I dreaming or what!! Such a deep sleep I have with vivid dreams, most weird and yet they seem taken from a fantasy movie or something.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I always wanted to learn to play guitar, but it seems procrastination worked better. Finally, a year ago I decided that I had enough with self-pity and with thinking that I was going to suck at it (Saturn in 5th house). I give it a try and so pleased I had done so...I LOVE it!! And also true, I pick up on emotions/gestures, etc from others and I find myself talking like other people...it shocks me and I try to correct myself...I feel like my identity is affected somehow.
Moon in Leo (11th house) trine Neptune in Scorpio (2nd house) means a little too adaptable to giving to friends at one's own expense and survival. Learning to give with boundaries which is much more effective!
ReplyDeleteI have an inconjunct from Moon to Neptune (Moon-Neptune-Pluto).
ReplyDeleteThe fulcrum planet is the Moon (borderline psychic indeed). I pick up on people's motives, thoughts and feelings (2nd house - 8th house - 3rd/4th house).
Your description of the opposition fits me best. It is absolutely gorgeous and accurate.
This line is an invaluable piece of advice and incredibly helpful:
"You have to learn to be both in the world but not of it, operating on your own plane."
This is an eye-opener and feels like a match for me. It boils down to this: do my shit, do what I came here to do, but without allowing myself to drown in the mundane matters of life.
To not allow myself to get carried away by it all and losing myself in it. And especially not try to be everything to everyone.
Practicing non-attachment is essential and vital.
For me that means sticking to smaller groups and few (close) friends and focus on self-actualization.
Then share my gifts and talents, without lingering anywhere for too long, so as to not soak up any energy (inadvertently).