Conclusion

The zeitgeist, or flavor, of the Neptune discovery era was the rise in the tide of awareness to end needless suffering and to protect human rights. So also during its anniversary in the past year as the United States’ attempt to establish universal health care coverage for all its citizens. Although unsuccessful, with many a conservative alleging a communist plot, the result was the passing of the first major health care reform law in decades.

Neptune’s placement in our birth charts highlights (or obfuscates) areas where one is idealistic, gullible, or having trouble keeping boundaries. By sign, it describes a generation of souls. As Neptune takes approximately thirteen years to traverse a zodiacal sign, it symbolizes a generation of people who collectively share certain ideals. Each generation shares a collective destiny to decide what is true for them (usually contrary to the previous generation), and expresses that truth through the archetypal energies of the sign Neptune is in.

Neptune transits can herald a time when our dreams and aspirations reach new heights, and a time of deepening spirituality or religiosity. One can experience a lowered egoic drive in a positive sense by overcoming selfishness and avarice to become active in helping others who may be in need. We could sure use more of that in these times.

Next month, as a further exploration of this astrology and history theme, I plan on writing about the current configuration of planets in the T-square which I have mentioned in previous month’s articles. I’ll explain what it means to us as a generation, and also what events in history this line-up of planets heralded the last time this occurred in 1929 and extending through the 1930’s.

Neptunian Qualities and Historical Occurrences

If you have had experience with the qualities of Neptune, you will have noticed several Neptunian themes in its history. In keeping with its mode of discovery, Neptune endows characteristics such as nebulousness, impressionability, illusion, and subversion. Also equated with Neptune are dreams, oceans, mysticism, that which is formless and intangible, spiritualism, idealism, drugs, confusion, projection, and compassion. Furthermore, Neptune is associated with egoic crisis and defeat, idealism, and the illusion of the ideal. Neptune represents who and what we desire to be true, whether it is in fact true or not, and it typifies merging or becoming one.

Astrologers are keen to observe the synchronicity involved with scientists naming a planet, and looking at history one can find additional clues to Neptune’s archetype. That following year, the first draft of the Communist Manifesto was conceived, and in 1927, during Neptune’s opposition to its discovery point, the Chinese Civil War raged against Communism. 1968, at Neptune’s waning square to its discovery point, was the height of the Vietnam War (exemplified by the Tet Offensive); yet the battle to save Vietnam from Communism was ultimately lost. Subsequently, Laos and Cambodia became Communist as well.

Currently, Maoists in India are waging a battle to overthrow their government. Communism can be seen as a dissolving of boundaries between people: what’s mine is yours, and vice versa, along with the idealism that all person’s are equal. When seen from a historical perspective, communists movements pop-up wherever there is rapid industrialization and subsequent erosion of human rights. Unfortunately, as with so many fundamentalist movements, violence and murder often end up being means used to reach the ends; participants are blinded by the Neptunian theme of ideology.

During the years of Neptune’s discovery (1845-46), the Great Potato Famine ravaged Ireland - one in eight people perished. The practice of planting only one species, called mono-cropping (also ruled by Neptune), ensured that the fungus (Neptune, again) wreaked such havoc. Yet still scientists disagree as to what exactly Phytophthora infestans is, a fungus or a oomycete, which exemplifies the planet’s archetype of ambiguity. This same strain of fungus nearly wiped out the tomato crops in the Eastern United States in 2009 (Neptune’s return).

Other important events surrounding the time of Neptune’s discovery which shed light on its archetypal energies include:

1. • the founding of the International Red Cross,
   

2. • the first Geneva Convention,
   

3. • the publishing of Dostoyevsky’s Poor Folk, which, among other pieces of literature of  the time, was lauded as an extremely important socially conscious novel.
   

4. • the beginnings of social movements such as abolition of slavery and women’s rights campaigns,
   

5. • and the passage of the first laws ending capital punishment and child labor.

A History of Neptune’s Discovery

Galileo first discovered Neptune on December 28, 1612 but mistook it for a fixed star because it was in conjunction with Jupiter. On that date Neptune had stationed retrograde and thus its movement was undetectable by him. Galileo again observed Neptune on Jan 27, 1613 when Jupiter had turned retrograde, but due to the technology of his telescope he still thought it was a fixed star. Thus, he is not credited with its discovery. Remarkably, Galileo had invented his telescope only three years earlier in 1609 (astronomers celebrated last year as the 400th anniversary of his invention).

In 1821 astronomer Alexis Bouvard published what he thought to be Uranus’ orbit, but, when subsequent observations revealed significant deviations, he hypothesized that another planet’s gravitational pull was likely the culprit. Sir George Airy, the Astronomer Royal in England, corresponded with Bouvard about the orbit perturbations, and contemplated the immense difficulty in calculating the orbit of a hypothetical planet with the centuries of data collection needed for such a project. Sir Airy apparently considered the possibility that the Law of Gravity might not be valid at such enormous distances from the Sun.

In September of 1845 John Couch Adams, a mathematics student at Cambridge, calculated the hypothetical planet’s orbit, and sent his work to Sir Airy. The director of the Cambridge observatory, Professor Challis, wrote a letter of introduction for Adams to Sir Airy, but Adams never followed up with a confirmed appointment. Although Adams tried three times to meet with Sir Airy, twice he wasn’t there, and on the third occasion Adams was refused audience. Three weeks later Sir Airy asked Adams for clarification on his calculations, but Adams did not answer him for a year because he felt the answers to the questions were obvious.

Three eminent scholars of that age had a possible solution to the most important astronomical problem of their time, yet neither Professor Challis nor Sir Airy could be bothered to point their telescopes towards the heavens in search of Neptune’s illusory presence. Professor Challis felt it too difficult to locate a planet in deep space, and Sir Airy doubted the accuracy of the mathematical calculations.

In June 1846, astronomer Urbain Le Verrerier in France had independently come to his own conclusions about the orbit problem of Uranus but, like Adams, could not raise enough interest in his French colleagues to pursue the topic. Le Verrerier published his work and finally Sir Airy, noticing similarities in both Adams’ and Le Verrerier’s calculations, urged Professor Challis of Cambridge to search for the planet - he acquiesced, but thought himself unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, the persistent Le Verrerier, in order to circumvent official channels thwarting his efforts to find the hypothetical planet, contacted a friend who was a subordinate at the Berlin Observatory asking him to search for the planet. On the actual date of arrival of his letter, the evening of September 23, 1846, Neptune was discovered within 1 degree of where Le Verrerier had calculated it would be. It was approximately 12 degrees from where Adams’ had predicted. Later, Professor Challis of Cambridge realized that he had observed Neptune twice in August but because of his immense work load creating star charts he was unable to identify its location by comparing his finding with previous charts.

In the wake of Neptune’s discovery, both the French and the British wanted to claim credit for its discovery, but eventually the international community concluded that both nations were equally deserving. However, in 1998, there was an important discovery surrounding Neptune once again, the “Neptune Correspondences”. These were letters and unpublished research documents from Adams; important historical documents from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich that had been stolen by the astronomer Olin J. Eggen and kept secret for almost 30 years until their discovery immediately after his death in Chile.

Adams’ research papers, it turns out, had never been allowed to be reviewed by scholars at Cambridge - those who inquired about them had been told they were unavailable - and for good reason. It turns out his calculations were off by as much as twenty degrees. Some historians now believe that Adams does not deserve equal credit as co-discoverer of Neptune. It seems Sir Airy and subsequent astronomers conspired to keep England’s credit as co-discoverer.

The naming of Neptune contains intrigue as well. In England, Challis desired to name the planet Oceanus. While in France, falsely stating official approval by the French Bureau des Longitudes (yet another ruse), Le Verrerier claimed the right to name his discovery: Neptune. The next month, in October, Le Verrerier changed his mind and wanted the planet to be named after himself. His latest idea was met with great resistance and by December, 1846, the international community decided upon the name of Neptune due to its greenish color like the sea.

Although in later years Le Verrerier was named Director of the Paris Observatory, he suffered an immense personal defeat in having to share credit with Adams. In further machinations, Le Verrerier was removed from his position as Director by his fellow employees, who described him as a despot. He was subsequently reinstated after his successor died by drowning!