The Astro Study Room
Learning the truth of the stars together. Astrology 101 with a few side quests.
The Astro Study Room
#13 - Neptune, Dreams, Escapism, and Surrender
The line between reality and dream isn’t a wall, it’s a tide and Neptune decides when it rolls in. We dive into the week’s sky with Mercury retrograde in Scorpio, Venus slipping into Sagittarius, and a much-talked-about Grand Water Trine that’s drenching everything in feeling and intuition. Then we zoom into a bright, noisy Gemini supermoon and explore how to separate signal from chatter when desire runs hot and clarity hides under the beams. Expect clear, practical guidance on what to notice, what to release, and where to let curiosity lead without losing your footing.
From there, we take a story-rich tour of Neptune: discovered by math before sight, named through debate, and forever tied to stormy seas, surrender, and the collective dream. We unpack Neptune’s core themes and share personal transit insights, including how Neptune can dissolve daily routines to make room for deeper inner work.
We connect the dots across generations before peeking ahead to Aries and the values we might re-glorify. To close, we share reflection prompts for tracking dream themes and naming the fog, plus a simple lucid-dreaming method. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves the liminal, and leave a review so more star students can find the study room. What is Neptune asking you to release and what truth might finally come into view when you do?
Until next time, we invite you to connect with us on Patreon for additional resources and to share your all of your thoughts on Neptune! In our next episode, we will be going through the ashes that is Pluto!
If you are interested in getting a reading from Jordan, you can email her at yourwitchylibrarian@gmail.com or message us on Instagram @TheAstroStudyRoom
Follow Ember’s witchy embodiment journey on Instagram @emberfaemagic, take her free quiz to find out what is holding you back from your sensual magick or sign up for her newsletter at her website.
We would love to connect with all of you! Check out all of our content on TikTok and Instagram @theastrostudyroom
We also just launched our new YouTube channel and video episodes are coming up! https://www.youtube.com/@TheAstroStudyRoom
Come check out our free Patreon where we share extra journal prompts, ritual ideas, and other musings and behind the scenes content.
If you are interested in getting a reading from Jordan, you can message us on Instagram @TheAstroStudyRoom. In 2026, I will have a better booking system reading to go!
Follow Ember’s witchy embodiment journey on Instagram @emberfaemagic, take her free quiz to find out what is holding you back from your sensual magick or sign up for her newsletter at her website.
Alright. Oh. I'm gonna keep that in. Hey star students, welcome back to the Astro Study Room. I'm Ember Faye, your friendly neighborhood Fire Fairy Witch.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm Jordan, a university librarian by day and a dedicated astrology student by night. And yes, welcome to the Astro Study Room. Our goal for this podcast, as always, is to feel like we're all just students meeting up after class to go over our notes together. So bring your notes, your water, and all your pens and highlighters. Every other Tuesday, we will be exploring core astrology topics, breaking them down, and just chatting about how these concepts show up in our real lives and reflecting on what wisdom the stars have to share with us. If you enjoyed this episode, I hope you will consider subscribing and leaving us a review to help us grow this little cohort of astrology students.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, and if you love our podcast, don't forget to check out our Patreon, has content on there to help you learn more about the planets, connect with them, and we would love any feedback in the comments on our Patreon or on social media. The Patreon is so cute. We have members on there, uh, members who comment on the episodes. You'll get to be the first to know when an episode is launching. And of course, as you may have heard in our podcast, we do have donation tiers on Patreon. And if you feel so called to do so, we'd be honored to have your support. We have fun and affordable donation tiers to help you stay connected and support the magic behind the mic. But as always, no pressure since we're here to make this content as accessible as we can to our listeners.
SPEAKER_00:Welcome to episode 13, where we are going to explore the dreamy and mystical Neptune. And I think, Ember, you said in the last episode that near the beginning of the series, Neptune was the planet that you looked forward to the most. So tell us about that. Honestly, I don't really know.
SPEAKER_02:I don't sometimes it's because of the connection to deity. And in this case, it's Poseidon. And I'm not particularly connected with Poseidon, but I do love the ocean. So that could definitely be a little like subconscious connection there. I think I just love the idea of Neptune being this collective understanding of like our subconscious and the connect, like the connections between us all, and also being a little like confusing and and out there in illusions. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Confusion is not my forte. I find it very uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_02:I'm always confused. So I just lean into it and I'm like, okay, Neptune, let's go. It's kind of mysterious. I don't know. I think Neptune is cool, so I'm excited to talk about it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and just like on our episode on Uranus, we are shortening the format a little bit here for the modern planet. So it'll be a bit different than the format we were following for the traditional planets. And that's largely because I simply have less to say about the modern planets since I don't intently focus on them as much as I do the traditional planets.
SPEAKER_02:And I think that's fair because we're talking more on the collective level with these planets. And depending on how you read charts, these like more generational planets could be a little bit less of a focus for you. I still really love that we're going through them individually though, um, because I definitely learned a lot about Uranus. And I I don't know, I got excited researching Neptune and Pluto's. I'm like so excited to get to Pluto too. Pluto's gonna be a good one. I do love me some Pluto. And so we hope you enjoyed this episode. And Jordan, before we go into it, can you please tell everyone how they can get a reading with you?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, you can message us on Instagram at the Astro Study Room. I do natal chart readings for 30 minutes and for one hour, and I do solo return readings for 30 minutes and one hour as well. And Ember, I really want to talk about your newsletter and then the meditation that you posted because I personally loved it. I did it while I was at work, super accessible. I really loved it. So I want you to tell us what you're doing. Oh, thank you.
SPEAKER_02:I was ready for that. Yeah, so I officially launched my newsletter. So in our last episode, I think I was talking about that it was gonna be coming out, right? Like I hadn't actually launched it yet for Uranus. So I sent it out and I'll have the second one coming out uh November 21st. So we're filming right now, it's November 16th for context. So it's like the end of the week. Yeah, so that newsletter, uh, it is called the Pleasure Pages. And you can sign up for it at my website, www.emberfey.com. I don't know why I said the www millennials. I know, right? I'm like www.la la dot com.
SPEAKER_00:Http colon slash slash.
SPEAKER_02:Uh yeah, I just um it's I don't know. It feels like a little love letter note to people who have been so supportive to me. Right now, most of my followers and subscribers are people that have been in my life. I do have some, I was gonna say like random people, but people who have found me through social media that has been really cool to watch that grow. But most of these people are people that have like supported me or loved me in one way or another. It's been really just kind of lovely to create this content and kind of just share what I've been up to, share these meditations. So the the meditation Jordan was referring to is I'm calling them Ember Fay Magic Movement Meditations, where it's a meditation that I channel based on card pulls and uh you move during it. And I'm trying to make it so you can move, whether you're sitting in a chair or standing, whatever is like more comfy for you.
SPEAKER_00:Wheel of accessibility, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And we'll see how that goes as I move forwards. I think the movements aren't anything intense, like you're not gonna get like sweaty doing the movements.
SPEAKER_00:Like I said, I did them at work, like you know, in my work clothes.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, I think it's just to get us a little bit more connected with our bodies. And so I posted on YouTube. I have a YouTube channel now, which is really exciting. But yeah, so uh sign up so you can get on the newsletter, it'll be bi-weekly, and I think that's what I have to say about that. Or you can follow me at Ember Fay Magic on Instagram to kind of see everything I'm up to.
SPEAKER_00:As you all may know, Ember has her Venus in Gemini. So her love language is words of affirmation. I do love words of affirmation. So please let us know how we are doing. Give us feedback on how we can help you learn and you know the comments and the likes and the subscribes. We are both students ourselves, so we definitely don't know everything, and we will totally be upfront with that. I totally feel like I should be hearing this in your voice. I love you saying it though. Yeah, and as we always say, we are learning together in this little astro study room, which is why it is very, very special to us.
SPEAKER_02:So buckle up, star students. Class is officially out, and the study room is in section.
SPEAKER_00:All right, so for our astro weather segment, today I'm mostly going to be laying out some status updates on what the planets are doing.
SPEAKER_02:There's a few status updates like on like on Facebook. It's gonna be like How are you feeling today, Saturn?
SPEAKER_00:Saturn is feeling stressed.
SPEAKER_02:With a little emoji.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. There's a few different ways it's gonna say, Don't ask why. Don't message me why. There's a few different ways you can go about listening to this. You can listen to each planet and really try to soak it all in. Or what I tend to do is I give the most attention to my chart ruler and my time lord. If you know your chart well, you can also pay attention for planets that are in the signs where you have your angles. And if most of this goes over your head, don't worry about it. I think just being around the language and jargon of something like astrology is part of the learning and absorbing process.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my gosh, my dad comments on that a lot. He's like, I really love the segment you do about the like astro weather stuff that you guys do, but I don't ever know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_00:I was like, okay, dad. That's so fun. I I honestly I feel like I wouldn't do this today. Like I think I'd be too bored, but I really used to just listen to Astro weather without having much of a clue at all what they were talking about. But I really did like pick up the lingo that way. That's so it'll happen. Your dad will soon speak astrology.
SPEAKER_02:I love that for dad.
SPEAKER_00:So when this episode comes out, Mercury is still retrograde in Scorpio and will be until November 29th. Mercury is also about to take its spot in applying to the Grand Water Thrine that has been making headlines in astrology. I think this is um December 6th or December 7th, to be exact. And Venus is currently in Scorpio and will be ingressing into Sagittarius on November 30th. It is also applying to an opposition with Uranus and Taurus. Mars is halfway through Sagittarius and currently squaring the lunar nodes. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer and currently retrograde until March 10th and is one of the key players here in the Grand Water Trine. Saturn is still retrograde in Pisces and is another key player in the Grand Water Trine. Uranus has retrograded back into Taurus for the last time that most of us will ever experience. And look out for some oppositions coming up with Mercury and Venus in the near future. Neptune, hi Neptune, is retrograde in Pisces for the last time any of us will ever see. And Pluto is living its little Pluto life in Aquarius for many more years to come.
SPEAKER_02:Over to the local news. It's little Pluto life. I know we talked about it a little bit in the last episode, but just what the Grand Water Trine is and what you would expect to see with that.
SPEAKER_00:So a Grand Let me tell you let me tell you that's what I'm saying. I know now I can't cut out that clearing throat. Grandwater trine. Yeah, so a shrine is a beautiful, opportunistic, abundant energy. It's kind of it's considered like the Jupiter of aspects. Um, so a grand water shrine is three Jupiters, um, and it is three planets that are harmoniously flowing together, and they're in water. So you think of all the watery things. So intuition, relationships, depth, dreamy spiritual things, some fogginess, emotions, and then you kind of apply them to the trine, and then you think about the planets that are involved. So we've got Jupiter, which is a planet of abundance, we have Saturn, the planet of hard work and boundaries, and then it's not Mercury and Scorpio. No, I think it is. I think it's the Kazimi that's part of the trine, I think. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, don't quote me on that. No, I think we talked about that in the live. I think we did, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And Mercury's definitely, I think, in Scorpio.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah. So I would I would say look at where you have your water houses and think about where you can apply some emotional opportunities and depth. And honestly, as far as because like I said in the last Astro weather, there's so much going on here that I kind of feel like you can manifest whatever you want right now.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, I love that. I also have been super emotional this week, like times infinity, and I'm now like pulling out my house really fast to be like, what houses do I have my things? Let's see, the 10th house, the sixth house, and the second. Those are the houses of wealth. I don't think the emotional things have been about I don't think the emotional things have been about money, but like I guess wealth doesn't always have to be money too. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:I've just been Yeah, I mean it's it's like how you're showing up. It's your legacy, it's your publicity, it's your career, it's your vocation, and then it's your work, it's your service, it's service that you do, it's your co-workers, it's your pets, it's your animals, and then it's your resources.
SPEAKER_02:I can like see your brain going through the list. That's so crazy.
SPEAKER_00:Really?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's so cool.
SPEAKER_00:That feels like another one of those like intuition things because I really do see in lists. That's I you can tell. It's like the way you're going through it.
SPEAKER_02:That is very interesting.
SPEAKER_00:I do have like I visually picture it's not a photographic memory, but I do like when I used to do theater, I would like be able to see the script in my mind and like read off of the script, which is not very good acting.
SPEAKER_02:No, but that's really talented. I could never do that.
SPEAKER_00:It's why I'm it's my memorizing, it's why I can memorize so well, which I think I I attribute to my Taurus Mercury conjunct my moon.
SPEAKER_02:So let me tell you about the full moon. So our next full moon is going to be our last super moon. Aww. I know the moon. It's been so pretty. It has. Um, and so if you haven't gone out to see her yet, what are you doing? Get out and go see her. Uh, it's also our cold moon. This full moon is in Gemini and happening on December 4th at 6 14 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. And as you know, we are in Sag Sun season with our Gemini moon. And I think this Sag Gemini access is really freaking fun because it just leans into kind of examining how we make sense of our experiences where you have this like quick learning, chatty social Gemini gathering up all this information. And then you have Sagittarius taking that information, examining it, looking for deeper meaning and asking more of the why. So for this full moon, especially because it's a super moon, you may be feeling extra chatty or have a lot of mental conversations or notice collaborations forming in your local communities because they're talking more, connections via social events. And I think it'll be really important to focus on teasing out what is just noise and what is actually meaningful. So when you sit down or stand under the full moon or dance or whatever it is you wish to do on this gorgeous evening, consider what is talking to you the loudest right now and think about whether it's actually worth your time and energy or if it is just this mental clutter. And with Gemini being an air sign, you could think about it and just kind of contemplate it. You could chit-chat with yourself. So talk it out loud. Talk to your dog, your partner, your friends, heck, come talk to us, come to our social media and talk to us about it. Um, your friends, your therapists, whatever's on your mind. But I think the question that you want to be asking is is this energy of the full moon one you want the moon to help you let go of, or something to help you work together and manifest this? Any thoughts on that, Jordan?
SPEAKER_00:I think it's really interesting thinking about the Sagittarius Gemini axis and life and astrology. It's really like a series of binaries. And when we look at a chart, we are looking at six different binaries. And so it is interesting to think about the Gemini versus Sagittarius, which a lot of people most basically boil down to the student versus a teacher. Um, but I do kind of like the whole kind of like this the social chatty student versus the assistant professor who's still studying kind of thing. Yeah. So I'm definitely gonna reflect on that a bit.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I've been trying to take these sort of local weather forecasts just kind of where it's taking me intuitively. So I don't know. That felt like I wanted to talk about that this week. Um, I remember when you start we we started this podcast, realizing that everything is a binary blew my freaking mind. I'm like, oh, these are across from each other. That's why this happens.
SPEAKER_00:I was like, oh wait till I tell you how you can tell when a planet will go retrograde. It's when it's opposing the sun. Always? No, it's much more so Mercury and Venus have their own thing. It's not, it does not apply. But Mars onward, um, when they are like, I don't know the exact degrees, but it's when they are like trining away from the sun until their next trine-ish. Whoa, okay. So like Jupiter is in Cancer right now, and because we are approaching Capricorn season, so the sun is approaching its opposition to Jupiter, Jupiter is retrograde, right?
SPEAKER_02:Whoa. That needs like a stamp of cool.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and in your chart, you have Capricorn and or um in Capricorn, you have Uranus and Neptune retrograde, right? Yes, and that is opposing your sun. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, okay. You're like, how do I continue now? And Jordan, you'll be so proud of me. I also saw that this moon is opposite Venus, which Venus is in Sag, our moon is in Gemini. So thinking about what this means with Venus representing our desires, I think this could actually amplify that energy of I think amplify the energy or like if if you want to go a little bit deeper, kind of tease out a little bit more, thinking about that thing that has been on your mind taking up that energy. Is this a should statement? Is this an I want to do statement and making it that much more important to figure out what you want to do with it? So those desires, it's like playing off that desire of Venus and that like passion.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm always so proud. I always love hearing what you have to say for all these new and full moon readings. Um, Ember and I discuss this all the time, but we are always pointing out ways that her and I really balance each other. Uh, speaking of binaries again, kind of um how we kind of balance each other in general, but specifically in this show. And your descriptions of the new and full moon is a great balance to how I deliver the rest of the Aster weather. So that being said, I am in fact excited that you pointed out the Venus opposition. I do want to point out here that in Hellenistic astrology, Venus will actually be under the beams during this full moon, which can make Venus feel weaker here. So I would say take everything Ember and I say and sit with it and think about what resonates with you.
SPEAKER_02:What does under the beams mean?
SPEAKER_00:So you know how a Kazimi is when a planet is conjunct the sun perfectly? Yeah. Before it is perfectly conjunct, it is considered under the beams. I think it's within 15-ish degrees, that's kind of debated. But about 15 degrees away from the sun, you are considered the planet is considered under the beams, um, which is not great. And then when a planet is within three degrees of the sun, it is considered combust, or that's when it becomes an extreme combustion, which is considered really not great. And you know how I'm always pointing out the negative parts of my plan of my chart? I have an extreme combustion in my chart. I know I can't catch a break. Except Jupiter. My Jupiter is will always be unafflicted.
SPEAKER_02:It sounds I have an extreme combustion. Why do they keep using this voice?
SPEAKER_00:Where is my pain smoker voice coming from? I also want to point out that this full moon is perfectly squaring the lunar nose, which can indicate something challenging to do with karma. But the dispositor of this full moon is our insulted Jupiter. Alright, so to kick off our conversation with Neptune, we are going to talk about how Neptune was discovered. Huzzah! Huzzah! So this is kind of a fun one because it matches some of Neptune's themes. But Neptune is a planet that we knew was out there before it was formally discovered. And this is not unusual. We actually have a planet right now that we do not know that we have not formally discovered, but we know it's out there.
SPEAKER_02:Uh in a- Wait, when you say formally discovered, we know it's there, but we're just like We haven't seen it.
SPEAKER_00:Oh. Um, it's in astrology we call it Trans Pluto. Um, and I believe in astronomy they call it Planet X, I think. Oh yeah. I remember Planet X. So Uranus was discovered in 1781, and based off of Uranus' orbit, astronomers could see that Uranus was not adhering to Newton's laws. So they were able to calculate that there must be another planet out there that was tugging on Uranus. And in 1846, using a bunch of mathematical calculations that I won't pretend to understand, they were able to figure out exactly where to point their telescope to see where the mystery planet was, and they were totally right.
SPEAKER_02:That is so wild. Physics is wild to me.
SPEAKER_00:And it's funny too, because as we will talk about, Neptune is a planet of like confusion and fogginess, um, and kind of like not being able to see clearly. So I think that's kind of interesting that that's how it was discovered. It was like, You gotta work hard to see me, baby. Do some math, bitch. Sorry, mom. I might take that out, I don't know. So then we can talk about how Neptune got its name. Urban Urbane Le Vivre. Was the French mathematician who predicted where Neptune would be and proposed that the planet be named Le Verriere after himself. Freddy always want to name it after themselves. Then am I right? My understanding is that for the most part, outside of France, no one was on board with this, and it was considered inappropriate to name a planet after a living person. So a few names were floated around. The two that I'm aware of were Janice, which I think is now one of Saturn's moons, the name of one of Saturn's moons. Yeah, I don't know if that's how it's pronounced. Janice. Can you imagine? Saturn, Uhonis, Janice. And um, I believe this has to do with two-faced symbolism and Neptune being the planet that looks into the past planets and to the future at future planets. And the other name that was trialed was Oceanus, because Neptune is a blue planet, and from Oceanus, I believe, is where it became Neptune, because Neptune was a much more recognizable name at the time than Oceanus, and it also fit the scheme of naming the planets after Roman deities.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think just a little quick reminder here that the Romans had renamed Poseidon, so the the Greek god Poseidon, Neptune. And so then they kind of named, I guess they went with this like Neptune, Poseidon, because it was blue, but also I think the storms and whatnot, and just it being like a very unpredictable planet, kind of like Poseidon slash Neptune's personality.
SPEAKER_00:Um I wonder if they knew it was stormy. I think I mean I guess every planet is stormy.
SPEAKER_02:I think when was this? So I would I did a very quick reading. I think they do no, I think they could see the storms, right? Like, isn't yeah, I'm pretty sure it was like they were able to see the storms. Because isn't that the thing? Isn't that why Neptune like looks like it does? Is because it's got these like huge storms and it makes the planet. I don't know. Could be making that up.
SPEAKER_00:We don't know what everything is. Well, I kind of think we aren't sure of well, no, I I am making this up. I have not read this anywhere, but I'm sure as our technology advances, we will see that the planets are not, you know, they're not just one color, like we're gonna see more colors. I think we've even seen that on Mars. Like Mars has more colors than we maybe I'm wrong.
SPEAKER_02:I might be wrong too. I'm not really sure, but I mean we do know, I don't know, whatever. Poseidon is cranky. I guess Neptune can be too. All right, Jordan, want to talk about our key themes here? I sure do. Get out your pants and highlighters, everybody. Yes, and pay attention because it's easy to get lost with Neptune. Okay. Is that funny? Did you like that?
SPEAKER_00:Yep, that was cute.
SPEAKER_02:Um, so I love, I was about to say, I just love fucking with my intuition. Um sorry, Jordan's mom. Um, but I no, I really do. And I love dream journaling. I love dream work. And so Neptune, like Jordan mentioned, has just been calling to me as a planet that I feel like I need an altar for. I actually um put on, I bought a lapis lazuli pendant, which you will hear later, can definitely represent Neptune that I've been working with and and using to kind of channel a little bit of divination. As I've already said, alluded to, two of our key words that we want to talk about with Neptune are dreams and imagination. So Neptune is a key to opening our door to the dreamscape. And so think the energy of fantasy, subconscious, and messages that can come through with really like no attention to what would actually make sense in reality. So when you get those weird hits that you're like, this makes absolutely no freaking sense. Like that is the energy of Neptune. The next words that I have are spirituality and oneness. Neptune is for connecting at the collective level in a very deep and spiritually profound way. And I think Neptune lends itself to having empathy and just being able to connect and understand that we are all connected to the universe and we can take that information and move forwards on a personal level, using that collective energy to also better ourselves too. And then escapism, fogginess, illusions. Since Neptune is very dreamy with little recognition of boundaries, so think the opposite of Saturn. We need to be a bit careful with Neptune that we're not just drifting, escaping reality, losing ourselves, right? This energy can be really disorienting, and you just don't want to forget to stay grounded. So, actually, talking about my pendulum, um, I do have there's like a copper uh spiral that goes through the pendulum. And I think that's really helpful with this lapis lazuliz to stay grounded here. And then the last word I want to add here uh from personal experience is surrender. So Neptune is currently right, Jordan retro, we said it's retrograde, transiting my sixth house of work and daily routine. And then in 2026, it will be moving into Aries, where I have my Black Moon Lilith at zero degrees. So my black moon Lilith mean. And I work with the Black Moon Lilith, Jordan. I I think you are like about it, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's fair. And this is an energy I felt before when Neptune made a quick visit to Aries earlier in 2025. This brought about a lot of disillusionment that I was experiencing and has been around around like my workplace, what I want to do on the daily. And then with that black moon Lilith energy, it's been a lot of surrendering into really deep shadow work around my sexuality, my desires, um, some pretty intense like goddess work energy. And all of this didn't feel like a choice, it just felt like it happened. And so I kind of just like surrendered into it and have been experiencing that. So that felt important. So I said a lot of words. So, like, again, if you if you got your cards out, dreams, imagination, spirituality, oneness, escapism, surrender.
SPEAKER_00:Anything to add, Jordan? I think Neptune is one of the planets that I feel like I have the least solid understanding of, which makes sense because it is a planet of illusions and confusion. But I think I struggle to know whether something is actually Neptune or just actually a signification of Pisces or the 12th house. So I'm curious to look back on this episode in 10 years and see how my thoughts change. But currently I mostly look to Neptune transits as like confusion and fogginess. And I guess um maybe like a I wouldn't use these words, but I can't think of any other words right now, but maybe like a veil being lifted. Um you know what? I don't know, because it also kind of puts down a veil. I guess it kind of like switches out the veils. Um so it confuses one thing, but allows yeah, it allows for something else to be seen. I believe some people associate Neptune as over-romanticizing something, but that might also just be a Pisces signification. It's kind of hard to tell these days. So again, I'll I'll be curious to see what how I look at and use Neptune 10 years from now.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I could definitely see that. I think Neptune was actually one of the planets I just was like a hit on for like all of our stuff that we had to write about, which was pretty cool. Yeah, I think it's just the different aspects of Neptune and it has these different energies that can make things feel foggy, but also like maybe if you can take that and channel it and enter into that deeper subconscious or your intuition, it helps like clear up the fogginess.
SPEAKER_00:Ember, what are some physical items people can have or use to connect with Neptune?
SPEAKER_02:So this brought me back to the lightning conversation that we had for Uranus, and I was like, that'd be so cool to have lightning and also a trinine, obviously, because that's like Neptune's symbol and has correlations with Poseidon. But when I sat with Neptune, what started to come to mind was actually a dream catcher, and it sent me down the rabbit hole of researching dream catchers because I was like, that could get real quickly into like cultural appropriation. And so I was like, could you ethically incorporate dream catchers into your home? So it is not cultural appropriation. And I think this is completely doable if done with respect and honor for the indigenous people of the Ojibwe tribe. And when I started looking into the actual meaning behind dreamcatchers, it felt more of like a yes that it would be a really beautiful symbol. And so, like, what are your what are your first thoughts on this, Jordan, before I go on?
SPEAKER_00:Lately I've been thinking a lot about how progressive, specifically I'd say progressive white people, there was a point, you know, around 2020 where a lot of our activism was very performative. And I would say a lot of us shut out anything that could be possibly considered cultural appropriation and also kind of shunned anybody who did those things. And I think, like I said, I think a lot of it was performative and not necessarily grounded in what people truly wanted or believed. So I guess I say all this to say that I am cautious, of course, too, when it comes to cultural appropriation. But that's something that I think as long as you're doing your research, I don't think you're harming anybody. I agree with that.
SPEAKER_02:And I think like having that honor and respect is important. So I definitely made sure I used uh Indigenous Foundation's website as my source for this. And I could totally cite it in the notes if you would like to look at their website. But if you've never seen a dream catcher at its most basic level, oh my gosh, Jordan, it's so funny too. When I asked you that, I totally meant what you thought about the dream catcher. Um I should have known that. I also love that you shared your thoughts on cultural appropriation. It's a difficult topic that people don't want to bring up and talk about.
SPEAKER_00:So especially, yeah, because we are we are two white women, so we are okay.
SPEAKER_02:Neptune and Dreamcatchers, because I could not find like a relation here. It was just more like intuition coming through. But at its most basic level, a dream catcher is made up of the web to signify the eternal web of life, a ring or a hoop to represent the circle of life, and then feathers that have a lot of different. Different interpretations. This website cited that it's usually good for the dreams to like the good dreams to have a soft landing to like climb on. It was really, it was really beautiful. And then newer modern interpretations of dream catchers may also include uh crystals, beads, things like that. The dream catchers, before they were commercialized, I think it was like in the 90s. They were reduced to basically like, oh, we heal bad dreams and like let's sell them to everyone was actually a very deep important symbol for oneness and then deep spiritual protection. And I think with respect and honoring these indigenous cultures, what a really beautiful way it could be to honor sort of and respect that oneness energy that Neptune brings is to potentially find like an indigenous source that crafts these uh dream catchers. Um, maybe like even from the Ojibwe tribe, which is where these stories came from, maybe like a commission a dream catcher that you could even incorporate some of those dreamy elements of Neptune, such as maybe some blue stones, blue feathers, and like I mentioned, like respect and research if you were gonna purchase. But I think that would be really, really cool. And if that doesn't call to you, if that's not your thing. I also wanted to mention that something very simple that you may already have in your house would be a mirror that could be a perfect for Neptune. So mirrors are a way to scry, help us gain access to the subconscious, but can also be very distorting and reflect back things we don't necessarily understand. So working with Neptune and your favorite scrying tools like a mirror could be a good way to work with that energy.
SPEAKER_00:I also just for fun wanted to point out that, like, if anything sounds like broken up or weird, uh, during our Neptune episode, Ember has a storm going on. So her internet kind of keeps cutting in and out. And I just thought that was a funny little synchronization.
SPEAKER_02:We do. It's a it's a blizzard. We're having a blizzard.
SPEAKER_00:It's been, I think today is the windiest day uh we've had here since I've lived here. Um it's not like snowing, unfortunately. I wish it was. I'm I'm I've seen so many TikToks of all the northern states who are getting snow so early, and I'm so jealous.
SPEAKER_02:It's a lot, it's a lot, and I'm traveling tomorrow, so I'm like, safe travels. Please don't snow. Um, tell us about the plant allies for Neptune. I think we can totally buy into plants that help with dream work and accessing intuition would be perfect for Neptune. And I will say that like this section in general with the plant allies and crystal allies is a little bit harder. And I think I talked about this actually with Uranus, where I keep finding things different sources and different recommendations. Like it's very easy with the traditional planets to find like this is associated with this planet. But these have been a little bit more challenging. So I was kind of going with the theme where Neptune plants tend to be calming and dreamy plants that will allow you to kind of soften the mind and allow easier access into the subconscious. So it's going to be allies like mugwort, jasmine, lotus, poppy. Those would all be really good plants to work with, especially for dream work.
SPEAKER_00:We've probably talked about this before. I can't what was the other planet that's with Poppy? Or was there no other planet? I'm thinking about it because I'm thinking, you know, Game of Thrones, I'm thinking about how they all were always drinking milk with a poppy to go to sleep.
SPEAKER_02:Was it the moon? Maybe it might have been the moon.
SPEAKER_00:That would make sense. But we often associate, you know, Neptunes with dreams and therefore sleep. So Poppy makes you go to sleep. Love that. I mean, I guess that's kind of what a lot of these do, but I love Game of Thrones. What about crystals?
SPEAKER_02:It would be a very similar vibe for the crystals. Amethyst is a really great connection to enhance spiritual awareness. Lapis Lazalis, like I already mentioned, um, and we have talked about with other planets. I can't remember. Was it Mercury? It might have been Mercury. Lapis Lazalis has a very cool deep blue color, which can connect to that like oceanic Neptune quality and helps you connect with self-knowledge and intuition. Like I mentioned, that pendulum that I have. And then other blue stones, so things like aquamarine and turquoise, which would promote inner peace and clarity to help remove some of that Neptunian fog. So if you're feeling particularly foggy, that could be a good way to work with that energy. And then we've talked about fluorite for mental clarity with mercury, but something like rainbow fluorite, which I actually have, the tower that I had for Mercury, uh, our Mercury episode. This is rainbow fluorite. And rainbow fluorate is a mix of impurities in the fluorite stones that causes these really cool like color formations. And I thought that could have a cool metaphorical relation to Neptune, where you have this very clarifying stone with a bunch of different elements and impurities that you can use to kind of like represent that fog and then bring that in and like receive some clarity specifically on that.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. That's so cool. Thanks.
SPEAKER_02:And what about the tarot? All right. So for tarot, Neptune is going to be ruled by the hangman. And I love this callback to the idea of surrender that I talked about earlier in the episode, where the hangman is literally upside down and just releasing entire control over the situation. And there's some like discrepancies in different tarot books where some people believe that the hangman is there by choice, especially because if you look at his face, it's very serene and calm while he hangs there. And so this card symbolizes a need to look at things from a different perspective, embrace stillness, go within and contemplate and enter that subconscious for answers, which is like a very astute reflection back to Neptune.
SPEAKER_00:I was while you were talking about it, I was thinking about I was thinking about the hangman and how I don't really know much, but like it's I guess it's one of those cards. I'm not a tarot reader. My mom is, hi mom. Uh, but the hangman is one of those things I don't know much about. So I was I was picturing, I was trying to picture what it looks like in my deck.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I am curious. I know like the RWS standard look, but I've seen the hangman be portrayed as like pretty scary. But then when I looked at the RWS version, I'm like, oh yeah, he actually is pretty chill. I don't know. That feels like it would be a very and if want to get into like is it it's a Shabari, right? That's like the rope tying. It's it's like a rope tying art, essentially. It's I've talked to I have some friends who are Shabari artists, and they talk about how hanging there and being tied like that is very like empowering, it can be really calming, and you kind of like surrender into it for sure, right? You have to like surrender into the pain, get past that.
SPEAKER_00:So I want to hear the essential dignitaries. All right. So I said this in the Uranus episode. I don't really use essential dignities for the outer planets, but I just wanted to talk about them because why not at least be aware of them? Neptune is in domicile in Pisces, in detriment in Virgo, exalted in Aquarius, and in fall in Leo.
SPEAKER_02:So exalted in Aquarius and Fallen Leo. Yeah. I have Neptune and Aquarius. So do you think it's I mean, the domicile and Pisces makes a lot of sense to me. Do you think Virgo and Leo is that? I always try to like make sense of these. I don't know. I really struggle with the dignities. I don't know why.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think also with the other ones with the traditional planets, I had kind of told like little stories a little bit to go along with them. Um, but these I just don't know. I don't think because again, like I said in the last episode, they don't follow the sacred geometry that the traditional planets do. And so I'm kind of like, eh. But we're inclusive. Yeah. Yeah. So we want to bring them up. And I also, we talked about this last episode too, I think. Um, does something become more real because we all talk about it and we kind of manifest it? Is Neptune exalted in Aquarius because so many people have decided that? And I I don't think so still. Or at least I don't think that would mean much for the individual. Like I could see like an exalted generation, but I don't think that could do much for one person, though.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I could definitely see that. Can you tell us about the transits?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. So Neptune spends about 13 to 14 years in each zodiac sign and takes 165 years to make a full return. Neptune goes retrograde about once a year, and the retrograde lasts about five months. Collectively, we're gonna think about Neptune ruling mysticism, imagination, the dream, spirituality, and escapism. Um, a lot of people connect media and film to Neptune. I'm on the fence about that. So you can see themes of like a collective hallucination. But when we think of like Neptune collectively, so we think about where it goes in the generation. So when we had Neptune and Scorpio, this was around like 1950, like mid-50s to 1970, there was a lot of talk about sex and taboo and psychedelics and the occult, and so like Scorpio topics coming up. When it moved into Capricorn, which is about mid-80s to late 90s, there was a glamorizing of capitalism and corporate culture and the Wall Street dreams, and then Neptune and Aquarius, which was the year that I was born, into 2012, where the internet was becoming a big thing, and there were digital communities, and online spirituality was becoming a thing. And then in 2012 till 2026, when we will see it go into Aries for not forever, but for the the last time we will see, um, there's been a lot of spiritual awakenings and wellness culture and conspiracy theories and blurred reality. Wait, for that, it's going into Aries.
SPEAKER_02:So would that be you mean that's because of its time we'll see it in Pisces? Oh, oh, Pisces. Okay. Well then wait, what does that mean with it going into Aries?
SPEAKER_00:Um, well, let's think about that. So Aries, you know, athleticism, war.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that was what I was scared of.
SPEAKER_00:So it could be, it could be a romantic a re-like, you know, right now in the US, we don't have a a current draft that we have running. There could be like a romanticization of soldiers and the military again, which is not something that we have as much. I mean, we still do have it, but it's not something we have as much right now. We could see that come back. Aries is the initiator. Aries is considered to be very, a lot of people say it would be independent. So a lot of maybe a lot of people establishing their own something is bold, selfish. Let me let me go through my list. It is bold, selfish, athletic, impulsive, brave. I don't know. I kind of think I think the one that sticks out to me the most is like re-glorifying and romanticizing, giving your life for your country kind of thing. Oof, okay. Yeah. It could mean something else. Maybe we will instead glorify athletes more.
SPEAKER_02:Also, okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. On an individual level, I would mostly look at what things it might be dissolved dissolving, what structures it's dissolving, or boundaries, um, especially because you know it's it's with Saturn right now, so that's kind of what we're all talking about. But maybe it's dissolving a relationship you have or a career that you have. So I I usually look at it as confusing or softening or dissolving. Do you well, what do you think? What do you think Neptune and Aries could mean?
SPEAKER_02:I think it's going to initially bring in a lot of this confusion about war, about battle, about the way we should be, we should be conducting war. Like we have a lot of war crimes going on right now. And so what I could hope is that there's this like dissolving boundaries, and maybe like, I don't know, more countries will be getting involved. Not saying that we're gonna like have a world war, but something that like will allude to this like breaking down boundaries and understanding and going deeper into like what does battle in the collective mean? What does what does this like what is war? Like, are we are we going to be changing the way we're fighting?
SPEAKER_00:I do think too, because Neptune, I think, is also often associated with like charity. So it could be why is Neptune associated with charity? It could be the 12-letter alphabet thing because Pisces is associated, I think. I can't that's the thing. I can't remember which things are and aren't. Uh like which thing is actually Pisces versus which thing is actually just 12th house versus what is actually just Neptune. So that's one of those where I don't actually know which one charity gets associated with. It might be Pisces.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, yeah, and then it brings us circle all the way back to how do these modern planets get their associations? Yeah. Dang, full circle.
SPEAKER_00:Every episode, we want to leave you with something to reflect on and something to do. So, Ember, give us something to reflect on.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so with all of this dreamy, intuitive, dissolving boundaries energy of Neptune, this and like journaling on this could be a little bit of a mind mess. So just stay grounded. Remember, grounding is really important. You could get some black tourmaline, hematite, copper, and also just like have fun playing around in your mind and your dreams. The questions I have for you today, what messages have been showing up in your dreams, fantasy or daydreams lately? And consider if there's a common theme between them and what might your intuition be trying to tell you. Question two, where in your life might something feel foggy? Whether maybe it's you're idealizing it or because you may be avoiding some truth about it, and sit with that. Think about what might clarity feel like on the other side. So once you gain clarity about that thing, how might that feel? And this number three is a little bit more of a toughie, uh just a little bit, you know, of shadow work. What are you being asked to soften, release, or surrender right now? And how can you offer more compassion or support for yourself as you navigate this? Shadow work, surrendering, releasing, understanding all of these things, like clearing up the fog, can be difficult. It can open up wounds, it can be challenging. Sometimes there's a reason these things are coming across as foggy. And so always remember to ask for support when you need it. So start with those, see where they land, and what about something to do, Jordan? For something to do, I think it would be fun to talk about lucid dreaming. Ember, do you ever lucid dream? Yes, I actually was actively practicing lucid dreaming in college and had to stop because I didn't feel like I was sleeping anymore. It was pretty wild.
SPEAKER_00:I lucid dream fairly regularly, and it was something I started practicing when I was maybe 13 or 14. And I will say, lucid dreaming has never been like what I hoped it would be like. I can't seem to figure out the part where I control my dreams. Do you can you can can you control your dreams?
SPEAKER_02:I could. So I could like fall asleep. Oh my gosh. It was mostly me falling asleep thinking about TV shows. Damon Salvatore has always been one and Dean Winchester, which is why it was interesting, Jordan. I was telling you earlier about how a certain deity presented themselves to me. So I think that is definitely some subconscious, some subconscious coming through. I think I don't know. Yeah, I definitely think there's different levels of lucid dreaming.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I uh I guess I'll have to advance. How do you practice, Jordan? You mentioned you practice lucid dreaming. Yeah, so what I used to do, I still do this. What I used to do to get started with lucid dreaming is I would count my fingers. So throughout the day, I would I would touch my thumb to each finger and I would count. And the point of this is it gives you an awareness what you're thinking about lucid dreaming again. And so if you be make that part of your routine, your brain will start to do that in your dreams. And that's kind of how I triggered myself to wake up in dreams. The other thing that I do is I look at clocks all the time. I will look at a clock and then you look away and you look back again. And in your dreams, fun fact, um, numbers and letters never stay the same. It's kind of creepy. So it's another one of those things where you start doing when you're awake so that you will trigger yourself to do it when you're dreaming. But you look at a clock and if you look back again and the time has changed, you are dreaming. I will say, like, I've never had, I know some people get sleep paralysis and they will see demons while they're when they wake up from lucid dreaming. I've never seen demons. I have gotten sleep paralysis a couple times, but it's never been anything that lasted more than a few minutes. I do feel like my like the dreams can get very creepy because I know, like, I don't know if if you know this, but in your dreams, they say the people that you dream about that you know in your real life don't look exactly how they do in real life because something about your brain cannot actually produce that person exactly as they are. And so when I'm lucid dreaming and I'm with, I have this one vivid memory of my partner Brendan in my dream, and I couldn't look in his eyes because he it just wasn't him, and it's so creepy to be having a conversation with him and knowing that it's not him. So sometimes I kind of like creep myself out with these dreams. So do at your own risk, but I will say it's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, that's awesome, Jordan. Do you want to do our this or that? I'm so excited. Okay, so this week I prepared the this or that's for Jordan. Um, and so this is like our quick rapid fire that we've been doing like questions for each other based on the episode because it's fun for us. We hope it's fun for you too if you want to play along. Please do. A spiritual bath or sitting by the ocean, calming music or silence in meditation? Calming music, I think. Journaling dreams or talking about your dreams, talking about them, tarot or oracle cards.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, uh Oracle, I think.
SPEAKER_02:Pisces or Cancer.
SPEAKER_00:Pisces, no Cancer. Oh no, I don't know. I'll say Pisces.
SPEAKER_02:I said it first, so I think I meant to write Pisces or Aquarius, but I wrote Pisces or Cancer.
SPEAKER_00:You know, I was trying to mentally prepare for one of those because I always put one of those, so I thought I was sure you'd put something like that. I don't know. Pisces, you know, is so intriguing. I don't, yeah, Pisces. I'll say Pisces anyway. No, I would say Aquarius. Well Pisces. Trevor, better than me. What is he?
SPEAKER_02:He's a Pisces son and a Cancer son.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, I was I was still thinking of Aquarius. I was like, who's the Aquarius?
SPEAKER_02:Thank you so much for being here with us in the study room. Whether you're just beginning your journey with the planets or deepening a connection you've held for years, we hope you're walking away with a little more clarity surrounding our dreamy Neptune.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, and if you have any comments or questions, we love hearing from you on our Patreon and are loving this process of building a community of astrology students. So it's all linked in our show notes. I can't believe we're gonna be finishing up our planets next time.
SPEAKER_02:We know.
SPEAKER_00:We're gonna be the last one. Oh gosh, it's we've been here since like June.
SPEAKER_02:I know, and it's so we've I've learned so much, and so I'm just as excited to go through the Zodiac.
SPEAKER_00:I know, me too. This podcast is my practice of asking big questions, uncovering the hidden truths, and creating an accessible space for others to do the same.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm so grateful to be learning alongside Jordan and all of you, sharing our resources and diving into what it means to connect with the cosmos. Thank you so much for being part of our journey, and we'll see you back in the study room every other Tuesday.