As Neptune is currently at 5 degrees Pisces, we find him well into the sign he rules and so have perhaps begun to hear his call within us - an inclination to a deepening or a rediscovering of what our own spiritual nature draws forth. His pass here is a process of many years, so one hopes that within this time, our lost selves and parched souls might find a flowering as a result, but for me what is more interesting (perhaps because it is not so immediately obvious) is that we are also being offered tremendous insight into our own Virgo energies. Pisces sits opposite Virgo and therefore can offer the broadest perspective on this sign. Neptune in Pisces will activate Virgo energy through opposition to it. Neptune by its very nature can offer us gentle insight into our universal connectivity… something that often gets buried or forgotten by Virgo’s intense focus on detail.  Even if you don’t have any planets in Virgo, look to the house occupied or cusped by Virgo or look to your 6th house and explore the perspective Neptune offers you into yourself through these points.

Listening to a dharma talk the other day, the question was posed: “would you rather strive for perfection, or would you rather strive for wholeness?”  As someone with a strong Virgo signature it seemed rather fitting that this question find its way with such direct succinctness into my awareness. The response that rose within me was yet another question that cut directly to the bone: “why have i been so willing to settle for perfection?”

Neptune in Pisces suggests that perfection is an ever elusive state; one never fully realized but through Grace. For without this quality to balance it, perfection stands a strong chance of becoming instead a lovely and juicy carrot at the end of a stick, often driven from behind by a whip of guilt or shame or some version of self hate.

There is so much internal and external pressure for us to fix the many things broken and out of wack in our societies, our politics, our cultures, our religions, our families, our relationships, our environment, our lovely precious planet… you name it. The list is long. We are living in a time where Virgo energy – its insight and its dedication is much needed and much called upon. But it can also leave us feeling pinched, stressed out, overwhelmed and intense because the task is so huge and so daunting and so very important. It is easy under this pressure to become blinded as we fall prey to the siren song of perfection and thereby trigger some of the less optimal vibrational paths of Neptune in Pisces such as escapism in any of the many forms available to us.

 I would like however to offer that Neptune in Pisces at this critical juncture of our human family development is in itself a sign from the Universe. Neptune in Pisces calls each of us – however it might manifest in our lives and in our consciousness - to explore this idea of wholeness. It suggests through its opposition to Virgo that we try to withhold our judgment and our ideas of what it might look like… to simply sit deeply with open awareness to the complexity of whatever situation we find ourselves in and to allow wholeness to present itself to us. Allow it to rise up as itself. Neptune here offers the suggestion that we use the Virgo energy to act upon the moment as it unfolds rather than use Virgo energy to direct or dictate how that moment ought to manifest.

When we resist trying to press energy into ideas too small to fully contain them we are in essence inviting Grace to come and sit beside us. It's a scary thing to sit at the edge of possibility and let it flood you with how huge it actually is… and yet we must be ready for it, because Neptune is here, in Pisces calling us to do exactly that and simultaneously acting like a potentially wise and giant anchor point for all the Virgo energy that is concurrently being stimulated within us through opposition.

Neptune offers us the gentle reminder of Grace, telling us that the WHOLE package is invited to sit at the table.