a depressed piscean

What with endless casual jobs, long periods of unemployment and having to find a cheaper place to live, Luella has not been enjoying life since 1998 at all. She believes that her troubles started when Neptune moved into Aquarius.

Luella is currently living in an old house with four other single women, and she’s grateful for a room of her own because she hasn’t been feeling very sociable lately and the women she’s sharing with are not the type of women she would normally mix with either.

Luella explains her situation in terms of astrology.

"My sun sign is Pisces, ruled by Neptune, and with Neptune in Aquarius - governing my house of privacy and inner being - I am happier alone right now."

Luella explains that Neptune is the planet of illusion and deception, and Aquarius is the sign that governs group associations as part of its eleventh solar house placement. In astrology, this means that during the long period in which Neptune transits Aquarius - it started in 1998 - there will be a slow and almost imperceptible deceptive affect on group associations.

"People in groups will not be as they seem to be," says Luella. "There will be mass deception in which we will all play a self-delusory role."

Because Luella's house of privacy and inner being is also being affected by Neptune, she is going through a confusing time.

"Of course," adds Luella, "Neptune also represents water, drugs, inner sanctums, the mystical and generally all things unknown, so an interpretation of its transit through Aquarius can take on many flavors."

"And isn't this just typical of Neptune?"

Looking at the effect of Neptune through previous signs Luella can only make a vague interpretation of its transit.

Prior to 1998 it made a slow and nebulous transit through Capricorn, the sign governing social status and ambition as part of its tenth solar house placement.

"It was a venal period," says Luella, "and a competitive period. It was a time when you were judged by what you owned and how much you were worth in cold hard cash. Everyone seemed to be keeping up with the Jones's. And yet nobody quite knew who the Jones's were."

In that its transit through Capricorn covered the stock market crash of 1987 and the economic slump of the early 90s, it is true that many former high fliers came down to earth with a thud and lost not only wealth but social status as well - and yet they didn't. There was definitely a feeling abroad that all will be well, that power and glory will remain in the grasp of those who formerly held it.

Luella sees this as being typical of the illusory, deceptive power of Neptune at work.

When asked: "Was the whole upturn during the late 90s an illusion?" Luella replied: "Are you as ambitious and as socially well-connected now as you were in the 80s?"

Oh, so that was an illusion, too?

Around 1971, Neptune started its transit of Sagittarius, the sign governing mental, physical and spiritual development as part of its ninth solar house placement.

"Interestingly," says Luella, "the 70s were noted as being a period in which New Age ideals came to the fore. If you weren't into anything esoteric then you were at least expressing the freedom to be what you wanted to be. Just about everyone thought they knew the answer to everything. It was written in the stars, or the runes or I-Ching or in one of the many new belief systems that came into being during that period."

"Of course," says Luella, "most of the New Age stuff was pure delusion, sleight of hand, a quick cure for whatever ails you - but it was harmless."

It was also the period of demonstrations against authority and this was a very Sagittarian thing. Make love not war must have been the best catch-cry to come out of the 70s but nobody knows how much of this was influenced by drugs, particularly of the psychedelic type.

"What was not harmless about the 70s," says Luella, "was its drug dependence. A whole generation seemed to be affected by drugs. Indulging in drugs was supposed to lead to Nirvana. For some it led to a watery grave. All very Neptunian, isn't it?"

Around 1957 Neptune made a slow and elusive transit through Scorpio, the sign governing life, birth, death and sex as part of its eighth solar house placement.

"Well," laughs Luella, "everybody knows that the 60s were all about free love and the illusion that if you loved me, you'd sleep with me or give me what I want."

"There were a lot of deluded lovers in the 60s," says Luella, "and those personally influenced by a badly placed Neptune in their relationship sector will suffer this fate throughout their lives."

"Neptune, of course," says Luella, "is the ruling planet of Pisces - my sun sign. It’s a sign depicted by two fish swimming in opposite directions. Pisceans have thus gained a reputation for being fishy, flaky and having a dual personality - neither fish quite knowing what the other is doing."

"Actually," says Luella, "sun-sign Pisceans are no more deceptive and elusive than anyone else in that we all have Neptune in some area in our charts and if it is badly afflicted it can wreak more damage on our psyche than the sun being in Pisces at our birth. So, forget all that nonsense about Pisceans being flaky!"

When asked: "So, how is Neptune going to affect us during its Aquarian transit?" Luella replied that we have quite a number of years to go before the full impact of its transit can be assessed, but already it looks very much like group association - particularly in the form of nationalism - is slowly filtering into our lives like an underground stream.

"We are drawn to bonding together in groups, being with a group of friends rather than one in particular," Luella observes, "but people in groups will not always be as they seem to be. There is a tendency for mass deception in which we will all play a self-delusory role."

During Neptune’s transit of Aquarius, Luella suggests that we should all be wary of getting swept up in a tide of mass deception.

On a personal level, Luella says that Neptune in Aquarius affects the sun signs in the following areas:-

Aries (your friendships, group associations)

Pisces (your inner self, the part of you that nobody sees)

Aquarius (your ego, your appearance, how others see you)

Capricorn (your financial circumstances)

Sagittarius (your self-expression, short trips, brothers and sisters)

Scorpio (your family home, your parents, your roots)

Libra (your creativity, romantic exploits, children)

Virgo (your work, day to day life)

Leo (your partnerships, close relationships)

Cancer (your shared finances, life, birth, death generally)

Gemini (your physical, mental and spiritual development)

Taurus (your aims, your status in society)

Because Neptune is currently affecting her inner self, her privacy, that part of her that nobody sees, Luella is a afraid of the future.

"I'm not happy living in shared accommodation," sighs Luella, "and as soon as I find a job I aim to get a place of my own and become a real hermit."