Neptune & Loss Of Faith

Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune Agnolo BronzinoDear, Elsa

It is said Neptune stands for faith, but it also stands for a dislike of the real world. How can you be faithful, if you live in a place that you don’t like and that never satisfies you in any way? That’s a paradox I don’t get, (which is very Neptunian I guess). I have a strong Neptune and it made me pretty faithless. What do you think about this?

Thank you,
My Neptune is Killing Me Softly, U.S

Hi Neptune,

I would not associate Neptune with “dislike” or  even lack of satisfaction.  “Disillusion” is the term paired with Neptune.

Disillusion describes a vague feeling of sadness when people or things turn out to be less than ideal.  The perfect man farts, bursting the fantasy bubble. Or maybe you wake up and find you’ve been robbed in some way. Someone has let the air out of your tires.

The term “dislike” seems Mars-flavored to me. To dislike something is active and thrusting. Even if you’re passive-aggressive about it, there is still an underlying rage.

Lack of satisfaction may be associated with Jupiter. Your expectations may be outsized? I know this – a humble person is rarely dissatisfied.

This does not address your question, but I’m hoping it helps with clarity. I’ll also try to answer this:

How can you be faithful, if you live in a place that you don’t like and that never satisfies you in any way?

I don’t know exactly what you’re trying to be “faithful” to.  Faithful to God? Faithful to your partner or your friends? Faithful to the promises you make to yourself or others? Faithful to your employer?

Generally speaking, people who succeed in being “faithful” adhere to a set of beliefs, they’ve defined. If they get satisfaction from this, it might be because they feel they’ve achieved some level of self-mastery.

As an example, people hire me to read their charts. I believe it’s my duty to do my very best to help them (defined belief). Adhering to this belief, I show up for work and faithfully execute my duty.

At the end of the day, I may feel satisfied, knowing I’ve done what I consider to be “the right thing”. But I may feel nothing. Or I may feel tired. Or I may not think of it at all.

A person can choose to do something “in good faith”. This means they’ve considered an action or a cause and decided to invest in it, hoping something good will come of it.  But the “good” that comes from it may not manifest. If it does manifest, it may not come back to them at all, in a way they can see. But they do the thing anyway, because the feel it is right or good, on faith.

If you’re looking to do X to get Y, you’re talking about “trade”, not “faith”. There is nothing wrong with trade. One more example…

Let’s say you get a new neighbor. You go over, knock on the door to meet them. You might bring them some kind of housewarming gift, on faith they will appreciate your gesture and it will get your relationship off on a good foot.  But it may not have that effect at all. They may meet you on the porch with a shotgun.

Your act of faith is a choice you make; it’s within your sphere of control.  What you get back, if anything, is outside your sphere of control.

I wish I had the ability to better answer your question. I am posting this on faith that this will help you or someone else. I do not feel particularly satisfied, but this seems irrelevant to me.

Can anyone else weigh in?

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26 thoughts on “Neptune & Loss Of Faith”

  1. What a good clarification! (Elsa you are great!)
    I can’t think of anything to weigh in. My idea of Neptune is lack of clarity (fog), and making mistakes because of that (based on illusions).
    Then I’d think faith would need clarity, but people can have faith in unclear or mistaken things… me too a bit fuddled (Neptune in 12th?)
    Then again, sometimes faith is very strong for things that have no rational explanation (like relgious faith).
    Very good post at any rate, I have faith in that.

  2. Avatar
    ScottishFoldSoul

    Maybe the guilt over not feeling faithful to situations or people is a transitional step to anger over them being oppressive or unhealthy. You don’t feel faithful because the conditions aren’t good.

  3. Avatar
    Bored Neptune Person

    I’m no astrology expert, I’m still learning about it but I’ve always equated Neptune with lack of satisfaction (with life and world) too. Because if you can’t help wanting things to be ideal, then you’re not satisfied with anything. I’m not sure if someone should “cure” this with wisdom (like being humble), because thats when you become an artist (an author for example) coming up with utopic or ideal ideas, and create more beautiful things than what exists in real world. Or become mystic-like, and look for an entirely different world, and then get beyond-this-world kind of insight, and maybe even information. I tend to think the lack of satisfaction has its own function, kind of. Why would anyone look for a different (and better, and more beautiful, and maybe more spiritual) world, if they’re already fine with the one they have? It’s not that bad a thing, when you know how to handle it.

    1. Avatar
      ScottishFoldSoul

      Your perspective is interesting. If I’m understanding you correctly an easily dissatisfied Neptune is kind of a motivating force then?

        1. You are preaching to the choir, Bored Neptune Person! My 9H Scorpio Neptune is exactly conjunct my natal Jupiter and both quincunx my 4H Gemini Mars. As a home study, I have spent a lot of time studying the psychological and physical implications of our natal charts. Years later, it still fascinates me.

    2. I can certainly follow your point here.

      But, this yearning for perfection, for idealistic ideals to manifest is not always something that serves you right… take for example Neptune in the 7th. My ex had that placement – on the cusp even which make it pretty significant (right on the DC line).

      His sesrch for the “ideal” partner can cause much harm, especially in relationships. Also, he had Venus in Pisces. His love was dreamy, airy and nurturing – but he had high, almost impossible standards/expectations, to relationships. It was like living in a dream castle, it was difficult to live up to his expectations and you had to be on your toes constantly. Because what does Pisces do when their ideals get desillusioned?

      First of all, they sulk. And depending on how bad you failed to meet those high expectations, you landed hard from that pedestal.

      Of course that fall from grace led him to cheat on me, but an emotional affair of course (Pisces you know…) … chasing another dream with another woman.

      I just hope he finds her one day.

    1. Avatar
      Bored Neptune Person

      I never tell people with a more balanced view of reality to change themselves or their perspective, because I’m fine with everyone’s nature. But such people always tell me things like you say. I wonder why.

      Being a regular and balanced realist is not a worthy way of being to me. It’s much like being dead, and I’m absolutely not interested in being more earthy.

      1. Some people can be too earthy! They’re too stoic and unemotional. I like to believe that they can be too imbalanced too.

        1. In my opinion, being “too stoic” is earthy, being “unemotional” is quite an airy characteristic. At the end of the day, whatever gets you through the night.

  4. Hi Neptune! I know exactly what you mean. I also have a ‘killing me softly’ feeling.
    It is as if your SOUL is slowly dying. Disillusion leading to dislike… I don’t know…

    With me I have a situation of Uranus opposing my natal Neptune/Saturn and I was also born with a Uranus Neptune square (although I’m not sure that Uranus does anything softly). On top of that Pluto/Mars is squaring my natal Sun.

    I have no answers, but I wish you well.

    1. Yes, I have it too. Natal Sun square Neptune. It’s like no matter HOW little I want in life, I always end up with LESS. It’s ridiculous.

      1. “no matter HOW little I want in life, I always end up with LESS” – KaD it’s the same for me! Sun/Mercury/Mars all oppose my Neptune.

        1. Thank you Marina, KaD, Clarice8 for stating the reductive effect a hard Neptune aspect renders in a chart. I never thought of it that way but it’s so true! My Neptune/Jupiter quincunxes my Mars – sometimes it feels like going up a down escalator!

  5. Regarding neptune and its dislike of the real world.

    The world is very saturnian at the moment. Governments are always telling us statistics like the size of the economy, unemployment numbers, inflation rates, the budget, education results and qualifications. They use hard evidence to convince people that they’re doing a good job.

    Neptunian people just look inwards at whether they feel happy or not about the state of their country. They measure the effectiveness of government by how much disorder they can see, how clean the streets look, how happy their kids are when they come home from school, whether there are protests or riots or wars taking place.

    The saturn people I’ve met need marriage vows and a piece of paper to know that their relationship is going to last forever without it they’re forever scared their partner will leave them. A neptune person just knows in their heart that they love that other person and would follow them to the other end of the earth.

  6. It sounds like she’s looking for proof, which is the opposite of faith. You have faith and then you get the proof, not the other way around. Faith takes courage because it actually requires that you move out of old thinking and perceptions, not knowing what the real ones will be. Disillusionment is a wonderful thing. Who wants to believe in illusions? That’s like the source of all misery.

    1. Avatar
      ScottishFoldSoul

      Well, not as long as the illusion feels good. Although in the long run a clear head is better than a foggy one, I miss some of the pleasure that came when being deceived.

        1. I’ve never had an illusion feel good, at least not long enough to satisfy me. At least for me it’s a source of misery.

          1. Libra Noir – I agree with you about the misery that comes after the illusion.

            But I’ve met a lot of women who are great at getting past it spend a lot of time shopping, looking for holidays, watching soap operas, eating, drinking, going out and constantly in need of a relationship.

            Basically anything that can distract them from the feelings of misery that they’re ignoring.

  7. Avatar
    ScottishFoldSoul

    Why distract yourself from misery when you can wallow in it? When you really whip yourself up into a good agony it’s like sex that doesn’t require a partner.

  8. She says she doesn’t like it HERE. I am assuming on Earth. Sounds to me like it is more esoteric for her. Maybe she came back at a time when she really didn’t want to but for some reason had to. To help someone for some reason. Maybe she feels she owed a debt. I got the feeling she is in real pain with this situation. Young soul perhaps. This was my deep gut feeling. I wish her peace in her heart.

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