Loss, Surrender and Sacrifice

Neptune stations and turns Retrograde today in the sign of Aquarius, and as she makes her turn, she comes face to face with the planet Mars in the opposite sign of Leo.  When Neptune stations Retrograde, it is time to ask ourselves, where we have put ego, will, pride and selfishness forward at the expense of compassion, altruism, and the recognition of our connection with all of life?  Neptune is about surrender of the will for something higher, surrender of the ego for the benefit of the all, surrender to the Divine. We need to ask ourselves how we are serving our own interests perhaps at the expense of others.  Never is this more so than now, as Neptune in the humanitarian sign of Aquarius, comes head on against Mars, the warrior, in arrogant Leo. 

When first starting to write this article, I thought it would be all about the oil spill.  Neptune rules oil, the ocean, toxins, poisons, gases and epidemics.  When opposing Mars, it’s often the things that we cannot see, or are not being told, that are the real problem.  Yesterday, there was speculation that BP was not telling us the whole truth about the oil spill, and that there might be more than one leak.  We’ve also been given weak platitudes about how the ocean will correct itself, clean itself up... and all will return as it once was in its pristine clarity.  Philippe Cousteau (grandson of Jacques) has been trying to redress this misinformation this past week.

Then today, we are confronted with another incident.  A Freedom Flotilla of international activists were on their way to deliver humanitarian (Neptune in Aquarius) aid to the Gaza strip, loaded with wheelchairs and a dental clinic.  They were defying Israel’s draconian embargo on certain types of aid.  While still in international waters, Israeli war (Mars in Leo) ships surrounded the smaller boats, and commandos boarded the Mervi Manara, opening fire with machine guns as soon as they landed on the deck, killing numerous activists on board.  Israel is trying to claim that the activists were armed and instigated the violence.  But the Mervi Manara was carefully screened for guns before leaving port.

Neptune stations exactly opposite the Israeli Mars (aggression, war, violence) today, in the proud sign of Leo, even as Mars by transit will return to this place this coming week.  Neptune is also the planet of deception, smoke and mirrors, and even as the smoke is just starting to settle, Israeli officials are redefining, rewriting, and recreating the surrounding circumstances: the activists instigated the violence, they were armed... etc., none of which is true. 

Aquarius is ruled by Uranus, and Uranus just entered impulsive and aggressive Aries on the 27th of May.  This brings a whole new element to the Neptune in Aquarius aura, in which activists and humanitarians will be more willing to take a more aggressive posture.  But it certainly also contributed to Israel’s impulsive actions, the results of which could be pretty far reaching internationally.

Neptune is about loss and defeat and a willingness to let go.  Surrender to a higher cause.  Neptune is also about sacrifice, or committing actions that benefit the whole, rather than the self.  Sacrifice literally means to make sacred.  Whether you surrender to music, or art, or give of your personal time to help others in need, or surrender your personal will and desires to those of the Almighty, it’s the sacrifice of the lower, and the personal, to the divine.  In order to do this we are being compelled to accept the things we cannot change, have the courage of our convictions to change the things we can, and to have the wisdom to know the difference.