Why is Neptune the Higher Octave of Venus?

Neptune VenusIf you hang around astrology circles long enough, you’ll eventually hear about the outer planets being considered “higher octaves” of some of the faster-moving planets. What this means is that the outer planet is considered to bring a higher, more universal expression to the principles of the faster-moving planet. But what does that mean in practice? Let’s look at Venus and Neptune.

First, Venus is exalted in Pisces, which Neptune has a special relationship with. Venus rules love and desire, and Neptune rules universal communion and spirituality. If Venus rules love, then Neptune rules unconditional love.

But I think it goes deeper than that. Venus rules what we desire. Whether it be love, good food, a gorgeous new dress, another bottle of tequila, or a syringe full of heroin, Venus is the instigator. Venus creates the desire.

But Neptune asks us to look beyond the surface desire and find the root of the craving. Jung believed that all desires have a sacred origin, and Neptune is the principle that confirms it. All of our desires have a holy core. We may think we want the new dress, but maybe what we really want is to feel beautiful, valued, and appreciated. We may think we want another bag of chips, but maybe what we want is to feel nourished and safe. We may think we want to get high, but maybe our real craving is to let down our walls and be at one with the universe.

Maybe we all crave to return to Source, with all the perfect love, comfort, and safety that implies. And Venus helps us create approximations of those feelings. But Neptune, difficult as he may be, is calling is to go a little further. Fly a little higher. Dig a little deeper. And when we do, we can feel the flow of the universe and fulfill our real desires. Neptune, in a way, brings us home.

Can you find the source of your desires? Where are Venus and Neptune in your chart?

29 thoughts on “Why is Neptune the Higher Octave of Venus?”

  1. My natal Neptune is conjunct my 9H Scorpio Jupiter and squares my Aquarius ASC. I am a perpetual student of spiritual studies. Astrology helps give context to my findings.

    1. I need to add that my natal 7H Virgo Venus semi-squares my 9H Scorpio Neptune/Jupiter conjunction. My Venus believes that if I tend to mundane relationship practicalities “true love” will be achieved. Yeah, not quite! In reality, this track only breeds resentment.

  2. My natal Neptune is conjunct my Venus in Libra in house 2. Pisces is on the cusp of house 7. Taurus is on cusp house 9, Jupiter is in house 11, conjunct Moon and Uranus, square that Venus in house 2.

    I have a lot of “work” with that in my younger years! It was Hippy time as well : – )
    I never used drugs or alcohol, thank God.

    When I became older I used this energy to do some work as a volunteer. I developed a spiritual life for myself. Therefore these planets in this situation are great tools.

  3. I don’t know the answer to this question yet.. but my Venus Neptune transit hasn’t started yet..

    I know it took me a while to find what I believe Elsa calls my ‘currency’ which is to be heard, receive supportive words, be validated, empathy, to belong and have people happy to see me, to have people see and affirm my troubles. I guess my love language is words and listening. I felt surrounded by rejection earlier and it made me small and bitter and angry.. I often need counsel and understanding..

  4. Also, I’m really craving the answer to this question. What drives Neptunian escapism, what is the trigger that makes Neptune transit or Neptune aspect people want to escape?

    These days I find some emotions or experiences to be intolerable and I absolutely have to watch Netflix or something :/ there’s something painful or intolerable about it.

    1. I think Neptune wants to escape the physical world and everything that entails. The world keeps us isolated in our individual bodies and draws our attention to material things in order to survive. Neptune’s ultimate goal is to dissolve all boundaries and create a complete oneness of all things. It’s the triumph of spirit over matter.

      1. I and many of my friends are generally lower Neptune.. I think we feel that some real world things are painful.. and something triggers us to watch netflix or get pretty high or sleep.. i feel a gross empty leaking sensation in my heart area and solar plexus many mornings or during many moments and that’s when I absolutely have to

  5. That Mitski “Nobody” video is really on my Neptune feeling, the words are true and heartbreaking-ish but the visuals distract from this feeling.. who doesn’t want to run from the feeling that nobody will

    And I don’t want your pity
    I just want somebody near me
    Guess I’m a coward
    I just want to feel alright

    And I know no one will save me
    I just need someone to kiss
    Give me one good honest kiss
    And I’ll be alright

    Nobody, nobody, nobody
    Nobody, nobody
    Ooh, nobody, nobody, nobody

    I guess that’s one of the feelings I’m running away with Neptune.. knowing that nobody can redeem me from some type of wrenching feeling

    1. I guess the corollary Virgo song is “Wise Up” by Aimee Mann (I’ve always thought she is a Virgo and don’t know why)

      1. She is a Virgo – Sun, Mercury, Pluto and NN!

        “Wise Up” is the ultimate Neptune transit song for me. I heard it for the first time right as I was coming out of Neptune opposing my Mercury, Venus, Sun, and Mars. It really helped me to face the decisions I’d been making and begin to take responsibility for making my life better.

          1. Wow I forgot that song and didn’t know the lyrics at all.. I used to sing it really wrong as a kid (also ‘Imitation of Life’).. but it was definitely in my subconscious

            But yeah those lyrics.. :/ wow

            My Neptune transit is also not that far down..
            I thought I know who I’m not but I think I pushed away a lot of stuff still do.. do not know what to do with myself at all

          2. There’s also a song called ‘Images of Love’ by AA Bondy that seemed a bit Neptunian for no reason that I listened to when the transit started.. I made an entire playlist starting with ‘Every Single Night’ by Fiona Apple and in the middle of the transit been listening to ‘Been Insane’ by John Frusciante which is also a very Neptunian song

  6. Loved this!

    We’re in Mars-Pluto now so I hope you cover that too at some stage. Also, Mercury-Uranus … because we get many bites of this.

    1. I feel the same way. Sometimes people forget, or simply don’t know, about the higher octaves.
      Good work, Midara!

  7. This is out of context but I just noticed that both jupiter (17) and saturn (25) will stay at the same degree the whole month of september due to stationing direct! Saturn will stay there most of october to. Just wondering how this might effect people with those degrees in their charts?

    1. Avatar
      the laughing goat

      Oh boy, Tr. Jupiter conjunct my natal Sun AND Tr. Saturn conjunct my natal Mercury, 12H. I imagine I will be breathing deeply… a lot. (audible sigh)

      Then again, you just never know what lovely something could be dropped in your lap courtesy of Jupiter… (grinning)

  8. Super perspective. Venus and Jupiter conjunct in my 11th House, expanding my personal dreams and wishes for delight. They trine the stellium of Pluto-Saturn and Mars, in Leo. Neptune sextiles those planets from the 9th House making the collective and universal connection to Source more vibrant as I age. I’ve often wondered why I could not remain in my place of origin, but, as you’re said in another post … BELIEVE THE CHART! I was not meant to stay put. There is a yearning for ‘home’ and I find it pulse from my Leo stellium heavy in my 8th House (legacy).
    With the arrival of Covid, like the big Spider who is sitting beside us all, I am more aware of why I am where I am, what’s important in the micro and macro; and Neptune’s vibrational recalibration at this time is in my 3rd House of communication. Tuning up how I tell the story, of satisfying my hankerings. Yes, I agree with you about this higher octave beaming me home even as I prepare to disassemble and move our small wagon home, once again.
    It’s fascinating stuff this life. Thanks for the slant on love.

        1. Mokihana, I often recognize something in what you write. Also this time. That is why I asked you the question. I am from 1954 : – )

  9. I guess there’s just an abyss like feeling right before I want to escape.. it’s the anxiety about the earth and my own petty anxieties.. and nothing can soothe these real looming problems.. not even a hug.. this reality is hard to absorb because we have the micro of our stuff and the macro of politics and the world.. things are just two flavors of uncertain.. and yet we still have wants and cravings.. nobody can save us but at the same time.. it’s not possible to take in or remain in this hopelessness.. so yeah the rules of an anime world seem better.. I never used to watch anime until lately..

  10. Neptune conjunct Mercury in 12h Scorpio here 🙂
    Neptune takes us on road-trips until we get ‘it’, and are ready to open up to receiving the higher octave, which is, just like in music, a higher frequency than that of Venus. We start to vibrate on a different level, or have become refined enough to actually feel it. It’s the step from human or material love to ‘divine love’. It’s rising up energetically in other words. The solution it delivers is often not a real solution to real life problems but a simple moving away from them; they have become irrelevant.

  11. Neptune conjunct Venus 5th h Scorpio.
    Often delusional in relationships, including my children.
    I just want rainbows and butterflies, always

  12. less judgemental, more open, tolerance, but usually maybe they may complain about the person’s great faults, (like virgo)if they get disappointed alot. neptune likes to think of perfection /the ideal and they keep believing that in someone. They’ll not be blind and see the faults if it’s so obvious, but they’ll forgive, once they go into their shell and like scorpio, and cancer, go into a shell/hide for awhile, to get their emotions in order. Unlike Virgo, who is always trying to nitpick and look for flaws, anand unlike scorpio who may cut you off; neptune does believe in the good, because there’s always something good in someone and every human being is worth the chances. A great theme of neptune is redemption.

  13. I am in Love with Neptune…under his dreamy-mesmeric spell, so to say! My chart’s sole dispositor is Venus (at 28° Taurus/12th house, conjunct my Gemini ASC, and conjunct Mercury at 22° Taurus/12th, and conjunct Mars at 5° Gemini, who is also conjunct my ASC…oh, and Varuna – the ‘Neptunian’ Vedic God – is at 29° Taurus/12th, also conjunct my ASC, and Sedna – the Innuit Sea Goddess, at 1° Taurus/12th, is conjunct my Sun at 5° Taurus/12th…also conjunct Saturn at 11° Taurus/12th). Yep, I gotta whole LOT going on in my 12th house!!! My ASC, conjunct to Venus, Varuna, and Mars, is opposite Neptune on my DESC at 0° Sagittarius. Neptune is in an exact sextile with ‘his wife’ Salacia at 0° Aquarius/9th and my Part of Eros also at 0° Aquarius/9th (currently conjunct to transiting Pluto)! My North Node is at the highest point in my chart in Pisces/10th house conjunct to Pallas Athena and Deneb Adige. Transiting Neptune is currently conjunct my Juno at 27° Pisces opposite my Pluto/Uranus. And, just for the record…hehe…my Moon in at 8° Capricorn/8th house. Anyways…what I’m trying to get across is this. All my life, I have felt very ‘Piscean’ – there are mermaids, dolphins, whales, seashells (artwork/figurines) are all over my house and as a child I would fearlessly swim in the icy-cold Pacific Ocean, near Santa Cruz, California, without a wetsuit for hours at a time…farther out than the sea lions! I have only been studying Astrology now for about a year and am amazed at my chart…it truly explains to me ‘why’ I am so in Love with Neptune!!! Thank you so much for your wonderful article…I Love this place…💗💗💗

Leave a Reply to Kri Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

Scroll to Top