Transiting Neptune conjunct Natal Ascendant

This transit will alter your relationships with others and change the kind of impression you make on people. The greatest single danger is that you are susceptible to deception by others, because you are in an unusually idealistic frame of mind, and you believe in the merit of proposals that you are invited to join, even when they are useless. In fact, with your excessive idealism, you are likely to get involved in many situations that you would usually avoid. Relationships, in particular, should be watched, for you are inclined to idealize people, especially a lover, and be blind to their real faults. Those faults may not be all that bad, but in your present frame of mind you probably would not be able to accept the truth. And when you finally do accept it, you will be disappointed. Do not expect more of others now than you could reasonably expect at other times. People are people, although you may lose sight of the fact while Neptune is transiting your Ascendant.

At the same time, there is a danger that you might lose sight of who you are and what your limitations are. You may expect too much of yourself, or you may think that you impress others in certain ways that are not at all true. If you feel that others like you, it may be that you are utterly unaware of certain complaints they have about you. And they may not be bothered at all by habits that they really dislike, which you try to repress.

There is one constructive aspect of the idealism that this transit may engender. You may become attracted to social-service work with poor, sick or disadvantaged people. Under this influence you are inclined to put your own needs second to the needs of others and to take upon yourself a ministering role. Just be sure that you have the strength to do this, for idealism alone cannot carry you through. You should be prepared to put up with the very real obstacles that will arise. If you have an idealized image of yourself as a selfless savior, you are almost certainly kidding yourself, and you won't be effective at all.

In relationships with others you may be inclined to play a martyr role. Stand up to people for what you believe to be your personal rights and do not pretend that things don't bother you if they do. If you play the martyr, someone else will surely be willing to play the role of persecutor. This applies especially in love relationships.

You may also become more interested in psychic, spiritual and religious matters during this time, but since you are searching for direct experience of the divine, you are unwilling to put up with movements that are excessively formal, ritualized or intellectual. Consequently you will probably not be attracted to an orthodox church.

Transiting Neptune sextile Natal Ascendant

This transit will change your relationships, usually in a positive way, although there are some pitfalls to be observed.

The principle effect of this transit is to greatly heighten your sensitivity to the feelings of other people. You become aware, at least on a subliminal level, of the deeper and more complex attributes of friends, neighbors and those whom you contact on a day-to-day level. Persons whom you have taken for granted now assume a very different look as you go below their surface appearance and look into their hearts. Thus you are able to be much more compassionate and giving to those around you. You may also become more interested in the plight of disadvantaged groups, which may lead to working with a charitable organization or an informal group to help these people. But even in your everyday contacts you act more selflessly and with greater understanding.

Someone may enter your life in very casual guise who will show you deep spiritual truths. And you may become involved in spiritual or religious groups in which you can share the new understanding of this transit. You may study mystical philosophy and metaphysics for the first time in your life.

But no matter how you react to this influence, the central issue is that in your immediate environment you learn to act toward others with much less ego involvement. You are less selfish and not so concerned with getting your own way.

The danger of this transit is that you may overidealize people, especially acquaintances who have made a profound impression upon you. You may regard them as spiritually and morally superior to any of your old friends, whom you may neglect as a result. The important point here is that these new people in your life are human also, and they may still have something to teach you. Most of us have a strong tendency to think that only a very spiritually elevated person can teach us about higher truth. With this transit you will learn about higher truth through everyday contacts. Do not invalidate what you learn from these people simply because you discover that they are only human.

Transiting Neptune square Natal Ascendant

At this time in your life your relationships with others are likely to become confused and difficult. You may encounter persons who try to dissuade you from a course of action that you have been committed to for years, with the result that you become confused about the direction of your life. The other person's intentions in this may be either good or bad.

This is not a good time to become involved in any kind of contractual or business negotiations. Even if the people whom you are dealing with are completely honest- and with this transit they may very well be dishonest- you will find it difficult to think clearly about your own goals and objectives in the negotiations. As a result you will not get what you want from the procedure.

Neptune is an ego-denying planet. That is, it has the inherent effect of making you feel unsure of yourself or unworthy and undeserving. Thus in your transactions with others, you tend to be not very assertive about protecting your interests, and you may attract people who will take advantage of your vulnerability.

On the metaphysical plane there is a lesson to be learned from this transit. Neptune is related to detachment, so that the less involved your ego is in a situation, the more freedom you will have to do what you want. By bringing about a loss, Neptune often shows us that our attachment to material objects or to certain personal relationships has prevented us from being free. So it is not usually Neptune that causes losses or confusion, but your ego's relentless drive to maintain the game it is playing. And this may be happening at your expense, when viewed from a higher perspective. When your ego takes over in this way, you set your priorities incorrectly, and you are not likely to be successful.

The strategy with this transit, as with other transits of Neptune that are commonly considered difficult, is to flow through it without any particular set plan of action nor any special objective. Simply treat this transit as a learning experience. If a relationship doesn't work out, ask yourself why you got into it in the first place. If you attract dishonest people or if your dishonesty has brought you trouble, ask yourself what purpose this served in your life. Often you will discover that you were trying to protect something that really wasn't worth protecting.

Transiting Neptune trine Natal Ascendant

Under this transit your relationships take on a spiritual cast, and you are much more inclined to idealize the people you meet. If a lover comes into your life at this time, the relationship will be so romanticized that it will be in great danger when you discover that the other person is not as perfect as you thought. Overidealization in any relationship is a danger to be watched for with this transit.

There is also a strong tendency to get caught up in an ideal philosophy, a spiritualized world view that is so abstract and removed from the real world that you are neither able nor willing to function here. You may have a strong desire to escape and withdraw from the world, which can be useful in some cases. If you are aware of this tendency and know that it is temporary, you can make positive use of it. There are times when it is important to go off by yourself and meditate upon the meaning of your life and what you are doing with it. The only problem is that you probably cannot go off for the whole duration of this transit, because it usually lasts more than a year. But for part of the time this might be a desirable plan of action.

A spiritual teacher or guide figure may enter your life at this time, and regardless of his or her personal merits you are likely to learn something valuable from the encounter. That does not mean that you should take everything you are told at face value. After this influence has passed, you will be able to reevaluate what you have learned in the light of your own intelligence and experience. At this time your ego drives are rather low, which makes you less interested in questioning what someone tells you. You reflect very strongly on your own failures and inadequacies, not destructively, but with the aim of improving yourself. Nevertheless, you judge everyone and everything but yourself uncritically. Eventually you will learn that you, too, are a source of spiritual truth, and that it is all right to question what another tells you, although that might be your own ego at work.

As with the sextile transit, your relationships are characterized by increased empathy and spiritual understanding of other people's situations and needs.

Transiting Neptune quincunx Natal Ascendant

Transiting Neptune opposite Natal Ascendant

At this time your close, intimate relationships will be difficult and confused. Also you should be very careful about consulting others for advice now, even professionals such as lawyers, marriage counselors or doctors. Of course, not all of these people will give you erroneous information even under this transit, but you would be well advised not to suspend your own critical faculties just because someone else seems to be an expert.

A marriage or other partnership will be difficult because communications are unclear now. Perhaps either you or your partner is trying to conceal something from the other. If so, you should stop concealing it as soon as possible, for it can only undermine the confidence you must have in each other. Even if you are concealing something for the other's "own good", your partner will not see it that way, and his or her confidence will still be undermined.

However, you may not be hiding anything. It may just be that communications between you are getting worse. Make sure that you really understand each other, and do not assume that you understand or that anything you say or do is understood automatically. Spontaneous and immediate understanding is not a feature of this transit.

Avoid legal confrontations at this time, if at all possible. Completely unexpected events are likely to happen, which you wont be prepared for. And your opponent may use underhanded tactics that could hurt your position badly. In general your enemies, if you have any, will be very deceptive during this transit. it will be very hard to understand their tactics, let alone deal with them. They may even make false overtures of friendliness to you. Do not treat everyone with suspicion, but don't take everything at face value either.

At this time you may be tempted to take on a relationship with someone who badly needs help. This is perfectly appropriate, so long as your objective is to help that person, not to bolster your own image of yourself. Sometimes, if you are surrounded by people who are worse off, you can deceive yourself into thinking that your situation is all right even when it isn't. Also it is best to avoid a close, personal relationship with someone who really needs help, because it could become a very sick dependency relationship that would be very hard to break. This is especially true in relationships with the opposite sex.