Astrology of Now: Goodbye to Neptune in Aquarius

2011: Idealism + action / Neptune + Uranus

Neptune, the god of idealism, illusion, fashion, faith, glamour and mist, is in the very last degree of Aquarius now. This is momentous because he will not return to this spot for, oooh, another 160 years or so.

We are in the very end game of Neptune in Aquarius until February 3. It'll be interesting to see if anything unfolds over the next three weeks that somehow sums up the misty one's tour through the sign of the geek.

The things that have been in fashion for the past 14 years have had an Aquarian in flavour – and not always in the way one might have predicted (Why weren't we all dressed like a cross between Ellen DeGeneres and Eddie Izzard?). But looking back, it's easy to see certain themes that have been extremely Aquarian.

2006

We talk about  the "celebrity culture" of the noughties. The truth is that as long as there's been the gutter press (like since the first newspaper), there's been celebrity journalism. What was different about the noughties was the raising of ordinary people to celebrity status. The "common man or woman" is ruled by Aquarius. Need I say reality TV to you? TV is ruled by Neptune.

Aquarius also rules computing and high-tech, and especially social networking. Have you noticed how geekdom has been glamourised in the past ten years. I mean someone made (a rather good) movie about Faceboy Zuckerberg for goodness sake. Then there's the near-deification of Julian Assange and Steve Jobs.

2010

How about the maths wonks on Wall Street and in the City of London. Every bank had to have a room or two full of quants working away at their algorithms. Yes, the algorithms that hid the bad housing debt that got us all in the deep doodoo. With Neptune's mystification it didn't seem so important that no one could actually understand the formulae. Will the wonks finally get their comeuppance when Neptune takes away the glamour? I jolly hope so.

2011

This past year, we've seen how people all over the world have stood up for those Aquarian ideals (Neptune again) – fairness and freedom. Neptune (faith) in Aquarius (humanity). People have stood up for the people.

This is exactly what happened last time Neptune was in the 29th degree of Aquarius, in the so-called "Year of Revolutions" 1848. (To read more about  this click here.)  Just a few days after Neptune moved into Pisces, the Communist Manifesto was published - a document full of Aquarian ideas about raising up the common man.

So what will happen when Neptune moves on? Will those high, beautiful concepts just fade away? Well, the Communist Manifesto didn't and eventually the 1848 dream of universal suffrage became a reality across Europe - but not until very recently for many of the countries that saw those 1848 uprisings - Hungary, Slovakia and Poland for example.

Interestingly, most of those countries had to wait until 1989, when Neptune swept through Capricorn, the sign of government. In fact in 1989, Neptune was where Pluto, the destroyer, will be this year. Makes you think doesn't it.

All the outer planets bring change. But when Neptune helped to change the face of Europe back in 1989 it was on a wave of jubilation. (Things soon went wrong in the former Yugoslavia, of course, but that is another story.)

In the case of the Middle East and the Western Occupy movement this year, the demand for change has come from the generation weaned on Aquarian technology. The idealism of Neptune has been an important part of the mix. Without idealistic, self-sacrificing Neptune in this critical last degree of Aquarius, would the Uranus-Pluto square have brought anything other that violent rebellion?

I think the altruism of Aquarius has been absolutely evident in 2011. But what will happen when Neptune moves to Pisces?

Well, to me two important things eventually came out of those 1848 revolutions: the end of feudalism in Austria and Prussia, and ultimately the end of serfdom in Russia. And on the same theme, the last leg of Neptune's tour of Pisces saw the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War that brought an end to slavery in the USA. (Yes, I know it wasn't all plain sailing after that.)

And now, in 2012, who are the slaves that need liberating, I wonder.