Neptune in Pisces: From 1850s Séances to 2020s 'WitchTok'
Understanding the spiritual cycles of civilization using the astrological symbolism of Neptune
Neptune is currently in the sign of Pisces.
The planet entered Pisces in Feb. 3, 2012 and will remain there until Jan. 2026. In modern astrology, Pisces is considered to be the home sign of Neptune; this is due to both Pisces and Neptune being associated with spirituality, dreams, fantasy, imagination, emotional ecstasy, creativity and abyssal oneness. Neptune’s orbit around the Sun takes approximately 165 Earth years, reflecting the life cycles of civilization spiritual movements.
The Previous Transit of the 19th Century
The last time Neptune was in the sign of Pisces was from 1847 to 1862. Anyone who is vaguely familiar with religious history in America will know that this was an incredibly explosive time period in regards to spiritual movements. For American Protestantism, the ‘Third Great Awakening’ began during this time and fueled all sorts of social reforms such as abolitionism and the temperance movement. It also focused greatly on alleviating poverty and other forms of social activism. The themes of this movement are deeply Piscean, focusing on compassion and cultivating piety from within the individual.
But this time period was not only a resurgence in mainline American Christianity, it was also the birth of all sorts of other strange movements.
In 1848, only a year into Neptune’s Piscean transit, the infamous Fox sisters claimed to be able to communicate with spirits and launched the “Spiritualism” movement. This time period was characterized by trying to pierce the veil that separates the physical plain from the spiritual plain. Séances became a sensational common practice, as well as mediums who claimed to be able to contact spirits. These themes are heavily Neptunian, since Neptune’s energies are characterized by the dissolution of boundaries. Interestingly enough, many spiritualists also were advocates of social movements such as abolition and women’s suffrage, just like many mainline protestant groups at the time.
Also during this transit, the infamous spiritualist and founder of Theosophy, Helena Blavatsky, began her alleged 9 year journey travelling the world and exploring all sorts of esoteric spirituality across the globe. During this time she travelled to countless countries including Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Tibet, France, England, India, America, Mexico, and many other places. In her travels, she encountered all sorts of magicians, shamans and other occult practitioners from whom she cobbled together her syncretistic spiritual framework which would later become Theosophy.
Perhaps once of the most monumental shifts in the American religious landscape also happened during this transit: the settlement of Utah by the Mormons. Joseph Smith founded Mormonism in the 1830s and died in 1844, three years before the Neptunian transit of Pisces began. However, his successor Brigham Young and his group of Latter-day Saints began their exodus to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving there in July of 1847. Later that year in December, Brigham Young would become the elected leader of the religious group. Both of these events happened the same exact year Neptune’s transit began.
While Karl Marx and Charles Darwin would scoff at being called ‘religious leaders’, they undoubtedly caused major tidal waves throughout the world with their replacements for religion. Even if an ideology doesn’t identify itself as a religious movement, that doesn’t stop it from being treated like one. We can see this happen with communism and Darwinian evolution, which has served as replacements for religious frameworks for millions of people since their inceptions. Fittingly enough, Marx’s Communist Manifesto was published in 1848 toward the beginning of this transit and Darwin’s Origin of Species was published in 1859 towards the end.
Today’s Transit of the 21st Century
This morning a friend of mine sent me this article by Independent discussing the explosion of modern witchcraft, specifically on social media. This witchcraft side of TikTok, known as ‘WitchTok’, is surging with thousands upon thousands of neo-spiritualists. Crystals, astrology, tarot, spell casting, incense, yoga, meditation; practically every New Age practice under the sun has been piled together in this social milieu. As we have seen in the previous section, this is all just a modern coat of paint for the spiritualist movement of the 19th century. Both groups are primarily comprised of women who tend to be politically progressive and, like Blavatsky, cobble together numerous old spiritual practices from across the globe into one metaphysical framework. Neptune, yet again, is dissolving the boundaries between spiritual practices, which are represented by Pisces.
The company Gaia, one of the largest New Age media groups, launched Gaia TV in 2011. This was one year before the modern Neptunian Pisces transit began. Gaia TV has become an icon for the New Age movement, covering all topics spanning from crystals and yoga to UFOs and Atlantis. In 2021, former Disney Channel star Demi Lovato became a celebrity sponsor for the company, serving as a symbol who represents an entire generation of young women who have identified with this neo-spiritualist movement.
Another female celebrity, Gwyneth Paltrow, founded a similar media company: Goop. While Goop started by Paltrow in 2008 as a New Age themed newsletter, it became incorporated in 2011 around the same time that Gaia TV launched. Goop became infamous for peddling New Age alternative medicine products that were largely ineffectual (as detailed by JonTron in his hilarious videos about the company). Just like how many proponents of the spiritualist movement in the 19th century were attacked for being charlatans who scammed people out of their money, California officials from the Consumer Protection Office have sued Goop for false advertising.
The themes of “expanding consciousness” in these New Age groups correspond to the symbolism of Neptune in Pisces. In classical Western astrology, Pisces and Sagittarius are both ruled by the planet Jupiter, which is the planet of expansion, abundance and fortune. Whereas Sagittarius signifies the fiery outward expansion of conquest and travel, Pisces signifies the watery inward expansion that is experienced through spiritual experiences. However, this New Age goal of “expanding consciousness” is often nebulous and ill-defined, which corresponds to Neptunian symbolism of delusion, illusion and fantasy.
The perfect microcosm that represents this delusional form of spirituality is the case of Amy Carlson AKA ‘Mother God’. In 2014, Carlson began her New Age cult “Love Has Won” just two years after the beginning of the Neptunian Pisces transit. One of Carlson’s delusional claims was the she has been reincarnated 534 times with her past lives including those of Mother Earth, Gaia, Cleopatra, Jesus, Joan of Arc, Harriet Tubman, Marilyn Monroe, and the mother of Elvis Presley. Interestingly enough, she listed Helena Blavatsky as one of her past lives. Carlson and the rest of her cult binged copious amounts of sex, drugs and alcohol, corresponding to the Piscean tendency of ecstatic escapism. The group ended in 2021 with the tragic death of Carlson due to alcoholism and colloidal silver poisoning (which she viewed as medicine). If you want to understand the dark side of Neptune and Pisces in a nutshell, watch the HBO documentary on this group (warning: it can be quite disturbing at times).
While the New Age movement is perhaps the most apparent manifestation of this Neptunian transit, it is not the only spiritual movement taking place. Perhaps the masculine equivalent of New Age can be seen in the rise of neo-Paganism in men. I personally have seen a large influx of men with Norse pagan or Celtic tattoos and haircuts. Here is a lazy copy-and-paste from Wikipedia:
Contemporary paganism has been defined as "a collection of modern religious, spiritual, and magical traditions that are self-consciously inspired by the pre-Judaic, pre-Christian, and pre-Islamic belief systems of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East."[1] Thus it has been said that although it is "a highly diverse phenomenon", "an identifiable common element" nevertheless runs through the pagan movement.
These individuals often reject traditional religions in favor of a cobbled together mish-mash of ancient pagan aesthetics and virtues. It’s basically New Age for dudes; instead of crystals and witchcraft, it’s vikings and Nietzsche.
And lastly, and I am certainly a bit biased on this point, I feel that the rise of Orthodox Christianity in America certainly has something to do with this transit. While between 2010 and 2020 there was a sharp decline in Eastern Orthodox church attendance in America, 13% of Orthodox parishes in the United States have experienced a “surge in vitality” since 2020, according to Alexei Krindatch, national coordinator of the US Census of Orthodox Christian Churches.1 This was undoubtedly due to the pandemic clearly delineating which Christian denominations were sincere about there faith, with many Orthodox Churches refusing to close down.
https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=58713
Very interesting! You've quickly become one of my favorite writers on Substack.
This is an interesting idea with a good explanation as to how astrological phenomena can affect the conscious of humanity. I have to ask, where do you find information that accurately describes how astrological events can affect us? it’s something i wonder about but unfortunately theres so much misinformation it can be hard to find good sources on this stuff.