Neptune In Pisces: The Rise in Spirituality and the Decline in Religion

Neptune in Pisces most recently began in April of 2011 and will conclude in January of 2026. Its previous journey through Pisces occurred between April 1847 and February 1862, the years leading up to and at the beginning of the Civil War, which took place between 1861 and 1865. While Neptune moves through Pisces, beliefs shift significantly, and on a large scale. This article will explore the increase in spirituality and decline in religion.

Neptune in Pisces

Each point in the sky rules a specific sign; when that point is in that sign, its energy is strongest and its effects last the longest after it leaves that sign. Neptune is in the sign it rules. When Neptune moves through Pisces, individuals and large systems, like societies and cultures, experience spiritual awakening. For some, the awakening ushers in changing beliefs while, for others, the awakening energy increases their resistance to change.

Neptune in Pisces encourages us to have faith, surrender, be vulnerable, and recognize our connectivity to everyone on the planet. Neptune wants us to understand that we are all in this together. These are the positive traits of Neptune in Pisces. Its shadow energy is delusion, disbelief, confusion, and deception. It can be hard to “know what is real” while Neptune occupies its own sign.

History Repeats

It is interesting to study astrology over the course of human history and see how the patterns cycle through, especially when seen through the lens of the outer planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. In the case of Uranus, the cycle happens every 84 years for an 8-year span. In the case of Neptune, the cycle happens every 165 years for about a 14-year span. And Pluto returns to a sign every 247 years for anywhere from 17 to 31 years.

Therefore, it is not surprising that, as an aspect of American history, the period between 1847 and 1862, and the years soon after, when Neptune entered Aries, would be one of astounding disruptions in social norms and beliefs. The most profound event in those years was the Civil War, which brought about the end of slavery in the United States. It did not end inequality, but it did force the nation to begin a long process of reconciliation regarding race that is still unfolding.

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Spiritual, But Not Religious

As online dating was just beginning to become a new norm in society, profiles offered many different categories of identification, such as employment status, living situation, sexual orientation, political position, and religious beliefs. In the early days the category for belief listed atheist (no belief in God or a higher power), and a list of religious systems (Christianity, Muslim, Judaism, and so on) and sects (Christianity > Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, and so on). Eventually, the category “spiritual, but not religious” appeared and started gaining more and more traction.

According to the polling group Gallop: “U.S. church membership was 73% in 1937 when Gallup first measured it. It stayed near 70% through 2000 before beginning to decline, to 61% by 2010 and 47% in 2020.” For the first time in nearly 100 years, church membership no longer represented the majority of the citizens. Much of the decline runs parallel to the rise in social media, competing spiritual practices, and life complexity.

For most of human history, religion and spirituality were synonymous, so it is not surprising that the first year of noted decline, 2010, is the year Neptune entered Pisces. One way to think of Religion is as the Virgo side of spirituality, a container that “holds” the waters of spirituality and directs them in certain ways, like a damn managing a river. Pisces is the vast ocean, and while Neptune, the point of spirituality, is in its own sign, spiritual energy expands beyond the containers.

Decline and Backlash

The civil war theme is fitting across all aspects of belief at this time, just as it played out in 1861 to 1865. At that time a more narrow view of human beings could no longer hold against an expanding view of humanity. They were able to co-exist until the inter-meshing of society, mainly through trade and commerce, which made one idea insufficient when challenged by a newer, more expansive idea. People may not be equal in intelligence, strength, ambition, and so on, but they should be treated equally with regard to the laws, access to education, and the opportunity to earn a wage.

And…

Religion very much functions as a container for spirituality. And some containers, religious systems and sects, are more rule-driven and limiting than others. Not surprisingly the more inclusive belief systems gain, while the exclusive ones decline. Among the 70% attending church from 1937 to 2000, there was a constantly shifting increase and decrease among the different sects and systems. But once the “spiritual, but not religious” cat was “out of the bag,” and people, especially young people, could explore belief without a container, making their own, or just “riding the waves,” the decline in religion as an identifier was well on its way.

The civil war aspect arises when the declining group realizes that their “way of life,” in this case “way of belief,” is no longer considered the driving force or dominant norm and their loss translates into a fight to survive, even when the new system would include them. What generally happens is a loss of privilege, which “washes away” when Neptune becomes involved, and even more so when Neptune is in Pisces. So, the response must be strong to try to re-establish the container. But like a hole in an old dam that is holding back a river that is expanding and increasing in force, it will not hold.

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