💫Venus conjunct Neptune at 28° Pisces 🐚🪸
The planets and signs LOVE to make their presence known in small ways through pop culture. As an example I’ll look to a trivial, but valid moment the ♓️Venus/Neptune conj. was foreshadowed and channeled: in Ariana Grande's SNL performance on March 9th.
On March 9, the Moon was in Pisces and we were anticipating a New Moon. In a way, it was preparing the 12th House for Venus' ingress. Two days later Venus entered Pisces, the sign of her exaltation and the domicile of Neptune, who was sitting at the other end of the constellation. Thus began their weeks-long courtship.
Grande was the musical guest on SNL performing her newest single "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)" which is probably the single most Venus/Neptune song ever written. But in addition to that, her visuals were distinctly Piscean with projections of water behind her throughout the show. At one point she even directly references the mythic scene of the birth of Venus when she stands singing at her microphone with an image of ocean waves crashing behind her. A singular representation of Venus being the "honored guest" in the sign of Pisces.
Now we can look to what Venus and Neptune mean specifically to really see how this performance was foreshadowing the transit. Venus is the planet of love, relationships, balance, and value; Neptune is the planet of illusion, delusion, imagination, and dreams. When they come together in an alignment it can be incredibly powerful for creativity, but it can also be dangerous. It's one thing to daydream, it's another to escape to our dayreams to delude ourselves in a fantasy and detach from reality.
The story that plays out in Grande's song is one of a heartsick woman (Venus) going back and forth between escaping into her delusions and remaining grounded in reality (Neptune).
We can't be friends / But I'd like to just pretend / You cling to your papers and pens / Wait until you like me again / Wait for your love / Love, I'll wait for your love
The woman rationally knows there's no reciprocation, but she wants to indulge the fantasy and hold out hope, even going so far as to say she'll wait for the love to return. As the song goes on, however, she gains a certain awareness that perhaps she's been a victim of deluded projection from the object of her love.
Know that you made me / I don't like how you paint me, yet I'm still here hanging / Not what you made me / It's something like a daydream
This suggests that her love interest isn't seeing her, but rather is indulging his own fantasy of who she really is--and then using it against her. When Neptune is involved, things are not always as they seem. For some people during this transit, they'll escape into their delusions and pretend to live in the scenarios they daydream up in their heads; for others, their projection of hope, desire, fear, and apprehension will cloud their judgement. The imagination and subconscious is powerful and terrifying in this way.
It's interesting to note also that Neptune, being the planet that rules illusion and images, is involved in projection specifically. And when Venus is involved in any way with him, there's always the risk of reality being obscured by the images in our minds that we superimpose onto it. This can be a good thing when used with positive intention and willpower, but more often than not it keeps us stuck in an illusion that becomes harder and harder to escape the deeper we go.
Grande's SNL performance kicked off Venus' transit through Pisces and explained the meaning of the Venus/Neptune conjunction ahead of time. It's common to think the astrology will show up in big, messy ways in our personal lives, or in global events. However, the astrology reveals itself to us most times in small, but significant ways. It's just about awareness and looking.
As this conjunction perfects and dissipates today I expect many to get lost in their imagination, but it won't always be light and fun. The urge to escape into pretend fantasies will be strong, as will the impulse to make assumptions of each other.