Introduction

The word “inventure” has been chosen by me to address the real meaning of a secondary direction: the inside adventure.

About 6 years ago, during a short holiday, I arrived incidentally in the “Achterhoek” a region in the Netherlands known for beautiful nature, houses and rest. By then I happened to visit Slangenburg Castle and the chapel of its related Benedictine Abbey. I was struck by the fine warm atmosphere in the chapel and immediately decided to return whenever I should feel the need for a journey inside.

 A New Moon according to secondary directions

A couple of months ago, when I discovered the fact of the upcoming New Moon according to secondary directions (further to indicate as NM pr. in this article), I immediately remembered the chapel and decided to plan a retreat at Slangenburg for this event. I made a short search for the website and a telephone call and the visit was arranged. The NM pr occurs about every 30 year in somebodies life. It is the moment when Sun and Moon in their secondary directions will meet at the same degree of the zodiac according to the principle “a day for a year”. Astrologists use secondary directions and transits to understand the influences of planets on life of individuals at a certain moment in time.

In his book dealing with Pluto Jeff Green explains the difference between these techniques as follows:

–          Transits lead to changing circumstances and afterwards they will influence the inner

–          Secondary directions the inner change happens first and afterwards the person will express this in the outside world.

During secondary directions the soul is prepared to future changes and they will be effectuated later in the real world e.g. as a result of a transit. The last time I had this NM pr. was 30 years ago, the year when our youngest child was born. We experienced this by then and still do as a big gift from heaven. The degree for the NM pr. gives directions for the following stage in life. A New Moon always indicates the beginning of a period and the NM pr. indicates a new beginning from a strong experienced feeling of the soul.

The 21^st degree of Taurus.

The 21^st degree of Taurus for this NM pr. is represented in several archetypical systems.

For this article I will use the systems of Janduz and the Sabian system according to Rudhyar and Jones. According to Mr. and Mrs. Koppejan in their book “Beeldengids van de dierenriem” the symbols of Janduz should be regarded at the etheric Moon plane (the external symbol) and the Sabian symbols as an influence on the inner astral level of chakra’s and energy centers (the internal symbol). There is a direct relation between these archetypical meanings and the psychology of Jung.

The archetypical symbol according to Janduz is: “An owl, sitting high in a tree, watches a snake, rolled around a branch. Underneath a wild bear comes out of the bush. He turns his head and shows his teeth”. This degree is indicated as a degree of alertness. The growth of consciousness shows a big potential when somebody can find inner peace. A nice challenge when somebody is in a period with heavy transits from Pluto opposed to Saturn and square Neptune.

The archetypical symbol according to the Sabian symbols is “A finger pointing to a line in an open book”. It is about the learning to discern what in one’s culture and religion is meaningful. It symbolizes the finger of God indicating the stage of growth in somebodies life and the way understanding for this can be developed to become seed for the knowledge of future generations.

Slangenburg castle

When I entered the castle at the beginning of the retreat I was received by a friendly host that explained me many things about the history of the castle and the modus operandi for the guests. Since the midst of last century the castle is used as a retreat. People from various destinations have been visiting it and still do. The common thing is there need to withdraw in themselves for a while in a quiet surroundings, the individual  reasons are various ranging from the remembrance of a moment of personal grief to the need for inspiration to be creative. There is plenty of opportunity to withdraw in the own chamber, library on a walk through the forest or in the chapel of the abbey. About 75% of all guests during my stay had visited the retreat more than once. There is a possibility to attend religious ceremonies but participation is fully optional. During my 3 day stay I attended a number of religious ceremonies, a managed meditation and made withdrew every day for some time in the chapel of the abbey. The warm serene atmosphere had caught me and the relaxation was experience thoroughly. An ideal place for meditation on the symbolism of the 21^st degree of Taurus. I also read a lot. I brought some neo theosophist material with me from Alice Baily explaining the relation between illness and the construction of our body and a book from Prof. Stoop a Dutch doctor about the theme “Darwin, love and God”. The last book discusses the official ideas of the Roman Catholic Church in relation to modern scientific insights about the story of creation from Genesis and the celibately rules.

 The experience

The NM pr. Was on the last day of my stay. I made a walk to the chapel and experienced a real flow. When I reached the chapel I  saw a number of burning candles almost forming a complete circle. By lighting 2 additional candles I could make visible the Omega symbol Ω. Rudhyar, the man who wrote about seed man, once indicated the “Omega state” as a ultimate state of consciousness. A beautiful symbolism to meditate on. Once having entered the chapel the feeling of flow remained and the ideas about the lines of expected contribution to society became clear to me. A contribution from the idea of collective interest looking for the places where seed will be received in fertile soil.

Introduction

It is not evident that each man or woman will go through a period with Neptune in Pisces. The most important reason for this is the length of the orbit of Neptune around the Sun. Every orbit will take Neptune approx. 165 years. Neptune is the 8^th planet in our solar system.

Neptune for first time  has been signalized by Galilei somewhere in 1612-1613, but the real discovery is dedicated to John Galle and Heinrich d’Arrest on September 23^rd 1846 when Neptune was signalized at 25:53 Aquarius. It took Neptune until February 7^th 2010 to reach position again. When Neptune was discovered in 1846 Saturn was on the same degree of Aquarius, remarkable because at the moment of “discovery” by Galilei, the other big planet in our solar system, Jupiter was on the same degree as Neptune.  This year Neptune will make the transit to Pisces on April 4^th. Neptune stays in Pisces until August 5^th, when it returns to Aquarius until  February 3^rd 2012 as a result of the retrograde motion. After that Neptune will stay in Pisces until March 30^th 2025.

Neptune energy

Neptune is known for the quality of making things unlimited. Visions and dreams for a perfect society are also related. Neptune represents the need for total perfectness but can also result in disillusion. In addition Neptune represents pictorial expressiveness, pictures, photography, movies, art, fashion and glamour, but Neptune also represents selfhood, self-esteem, self-deception and scandals.

Significance

The effect of a Neptune transit in Pisces is not a very simple issue. The one and only experience before, mankind being aware of the existence of Neptune and its influence, has taken place about 160 years ago. In addition it is not very simple to analyze the influence of a transit of Neptune through a star sign, because the effects do not result in the most eye catching events. Where a transit of Pluto results in thorough revolutions and a transit of Uranus gives innovative and sudden and unexpected incidents, a transit of Neptune has influences on ideals, pictorial expressions and the fading of restrictions and these are issues that can’t be expressed very clear. It also corresponds to one of the known influence of Neptune, namely dissolution and making things unrestrictive and invisible. Beside the mutual aspects between the mystery planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto play an important role, while they are of predominant influence on the mutual exchange of energy. Where Uranus discovers and brings awareness, Neptune brings the divine dimension and Pluto takes care the whole will be purified thoroughly.

According to Rudhyar (in his book “The sun is also a star”) Neptune is the universal solvent. Solvent in the ancient alchemistic mystical meaning. The ancient alchemists searched for gold in more than one meaning. An important cover for them has been the search for a chemical formula to derive pure from base metals. In reality they tried to understand the source that connects all. Although not striking and in accordance with the qualities of Neptune this process takes place in an inner-world. Important is the fact that Neptune is in Pisces in the own sign, there where the expression and influence of its qualities can be most effective. These effects can be 2way, the dissolution of structures from the past and the creation of issues in an, as it might be, other reality. The perceiving through different eyes, a filtering by a diffuse number of factors. Furthermore we should encounter and differentiate between the effects on the image of time when Neptune is in its own sign Pisces and on the personal qualities of people born with Neptune in Pisces. In the coming years the influence of the transit of Neptune in Pisces in the years 2011-2025 will become clear. The effects of the presence of Neptune in Pisces in the natal horoscopes of people born in these years will become evident later. Especially from the moment these people had their first Saturn return (about the age of 29) and start to make projections of the inner-world, they have been developing in the first part of their lives, on the outer world of people around them, this will become evident. So in the period 2040 up to 2055 we will see the effects of this.

Neptune in Pisces (1847-1862)

The preceding time Neptune made a transit in Pisces took place, as mentioned before, in the years 1847 up to 1862. At the moment Neptune entered Pisces Uranus and Pluto where in Aries. On April 4^th this year, Uranus will be in Aries too, Pluto in the contrary is in Capricorn. With Neptune in Pisces the dreams for  political systems representing a perfect society will be strived and we will see reforms in health care, prison systems and arts. The pictorial capacities of these people will be phenomenal.

Examples of people born with Neptune in Pisces are:

• Karl Marx, founder of the communist ideology was born in 1848;
• Vincent van Gogh, the famous painter and founder of the neo-impressionism was born on March 30^th 1853.
• Sigmund Freud, psychologist and “inventor” of the idea mankind has something like an under-consciousness, was born on May 6^th 1856.

Examples of social initiatives or striking incidents during the Neptune in Pisces transit period are:

• The discovery by Florence Nightingale during the “Krim”war 1853-1856 that most soldiers were not killed on the battlefield but as a result of the lack of good healthcare when they were wounded. After her return in London she founded a nurse school in the St Thomas hospital, one of the first educations in this area and with the most influence. In 1859 she wrote “Notes on Nursing, What it is and what it is not”, the first modern handbook for nursing. Her opinion that health not only is the absence of illness, but also a situation where mankind can deploy all his or her talents, has been of big importance for the foundation of the World Health Organization (WHO). (Source: Wikipedia).
• The battle of Solferino in the Austrian French war with many casualties and cruelties gave rise to the founding of the Red Cross organization by Henri Dunant.

Neptune is also related to viruses, epidemics and bacteriology. The discoveries by Louis Pasteur of pasteurization as a means for the preservation of food in 1862 and by David Semmelweiss of bacteria’s being the reason for puerperal fever fit very well in this picture.

What can be expected from the coming transit of Neptune through Pisces

The years before Neptune will enter Pisces we experienced another particular fact, namely that in the years 2004-2011 Uranus and Neptune were in each others sun sign (Neptune in Aquarius and Uranus in Pisces). We indicate this as mutual reception. In such a period  the energies of planets are as effective as they were in their own sign. This also gives rise to big expectations for children born between 2004 (when the mutual reception started) and 2025 (when Neptune enters Aries). We can expect a generation with a fantastic pictorial intelligence and capability. So we can be prepared for breakthroughs in pictorial art, photography and movies.

In the coming years we also can expect initiatives for improvements or revolutions in societal systems where all individuals will have equal chances. As Pluto makes a transit in Capricorn all these years and Pluto has the objective of purification we can envisage thorough changes in systems, associated with power struggles.

We can also expect breakthroughs and new discoveries in health care with a revolutionary impact enabling a different, more patient focused, organization of care. There will be discussions about the organization of healthcare and prison systems related to the issue of societal justification. In institutions for healthcare there will be more attention for the care itself (attention for the patient, quality of care, quality of life). The current boundaries will dissolve and care will be given less in big scale organizations but more in specialized clinics as well as at home. The role for the patient will be more important and he will have more influence and decisive power.

Also prison systems will change as they need to. The environment where people serve their imprisonment will become more in line with the character of the offences they were imprisoned for. This to further the experience of imprisoned to their reason of punishment.

Finally the process of de-christianization will be stopped in this meaning that a religion will become more important for the individual and the notion that we all serve the same God will become more and more accepted. However in this process we can expect power struggles initiated by people trying to defend the privileges of the current situation.