Navigating Conflict: Neptune’s 2025 Ingress into Aries

On 30 March 2025, just a day after the Aries Solar Eclipse, Neptune will change signs for the first time since 2011, ingressing into focused and self-assured Aries, where it will remain until 2039.

Like Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius in 2022-3, this sign change by Neptune, considered by astrologers to be one of the so-called transpersonal planets, signals another major shift in the collective zeitgeist – one that is likely to see the rise of new artistic movements and musical trends, significant shifts in spiritual and religious beliefs, as well as the arrival of new ideological trends as our visions and hopes for humanity undergo a metamorphosis.

Unlike some of the other Neptune in guesses, this one should be quite noticeable because of the stark contrast in emphasis and feel between the soft, nebulous, and enchanting energy of Pisces into the much more sharply defined, individualistic and wilful nature of Aries.

These two signs mark the end and beginning of the zodiac. One is watery, open and diffused as boundaries dissolve and we merge with all that is. The other is fiery, highly independent and focused on asserting personal will and defending ego boundaries. So, a marked change in attitudes and worldviews should hardly come as a surprise.

New Cosmic Era

Zooming out for a moment, it’s also worth stating that Neptune’s move into Aries forms part of a wider cosmological trend that takes in several of the outer planets, including Saturn and Uranus, who will all switch sect during 2025, moving from nocturnal signs and yin elements (water/earth) into diurnal/active/yang ones (fire/air).

First up will be Saturn. Following in Neptune’s wake, Saturn will ingress into Aries on 24/5 May 2025 (depending on where you are in the world) where it will remain until 2028. 

This should give us an indication of the general direction of travel for the next few years, which will have a distinctly individualistic and choleric feel to it. 

Saturn-Neptune Conjunction

Worth noting: Both Neptune and Saturn will temporarily retrograde back into Pisces from September 2025 onwardsuntil mid-February 2026. Before then, they will spend the months chasing each other’s tails until August, when they come within orb of a conjunction, before separating again due to their very different speeds.

Despite the August close call, Saturn and Neptune will only perfect their conjunction in 2026. However, 2025’s manoeuvres should give us a preview of the headline themes to come, which include finding a way to combine or find a compromise between fantasy vs. reality, loose vs firm boundaries, as well as cost-cutting vs. debt in financial terms. 

Politics, Finance & the Saturn-Neptune Cycle

I have written about this cycle in more detail in my March 2025 Aries solar eclipse forecast but for those interested in financial astrology, the last encounter between these two planets took place in 2006-7. Back then, in February and June 2007, Saturn and Neptune formed a polarising opposition – the equivalent of a ‘full moon’ phase – to each other, which was not long before the 2008 global financial crisis.     

In her book, The Financial Universe (2004), astrologer Christine Skinner explains why the Saturn-Neptune opposition had such a profound impact on the financial markets at the time:

Artists under Neptune’s influence produce work that is magical, ethereal and illuminating. Accountants and economists, under similar influence, may lose their grip on reality – the creative accountancy and curious economic thinking that this produces having devastating results. The danger for organisations experiencing the Neptune effect is that they may become involved in projects that have more spin than content.

Skinner’s description could equally be applied to the UK political scene at the time, where spin became synonymous with the Blair era (1997-2007). It’s perhaps not a coincidence that both the fantasy money, hidden debt and obscure derivatives that came to characterise the pre-2008 financial sector; and the PR-style propaganda and media manipulation that New Labour became known for, both ended in disaster more or less at the same time – the height of the Saturn-Neptune oppositions when Blair was forced to leave office and several multi-national banks would declare bankruptcy and need bailouts just a few months later.  

Later in 2015-6, Saturn and Neptune came together via a challenging square aspect during the era of what some have called post-truth politics – the period of Cambridge Analytica, the Brexit vote and of course, the unexpected and somewhat surreal election of a reality TV star to the Whitehouse. More on that in my new podcast, which is currently available to listen to on Spotify. 

Bossing up: Desire for Agency, Authenticity & Sovereignty

But returning to the main topic of Neptune’s Aries ingress, what can we expect from this next chapter in Neptune’s story?

Taking our cue from history can allow us to make some educated guesses. 

The last two times that Neptune was in Aries were:

• May 1861 – August 1864

• 1697 – 1711

Common to both periods were the following trends:

• Wars and imperialistic tendencies e.g. American Civil War (1861-5) and frontier wars in Cape Colony, South Africa (1779-1879). 

• Independence or unification movements driven by nationalism and a desire for political sovereignty and economic self-determination e.g. Unification of Italy (1848-1871) and the United Kingdom (1707). 

• Pioneering new communities and a desire for independent living: Both the previous periods were characterised by mass migration to new colonial outposts such as America, Australia and South Africa. 

• Steam Powered Technology – During Neptune’s previous tour through Aries, we experienced the golden age of the steam engine (internal combustion) which powered industrial revolution and colonial expansion on land and at sea, which helped to facilitate the mass migration to the colonies that occurred during the second half of the 19thcentury. 

• Spirituality characterised by a desire for direct, mystical and psychic experiences unmediated by the church or ordained priests e.g. spiritualism and mediumship grew during Neptune’s previous tour of Aries, starting with the Fox sisters in the US in 1848 and culminating in the establishment of the Society for Psychical Research in 1892.

So, how might these trends manifest this time around?

Find out my predictions for 2025-2039 in Episode 1 of my brand new Astro-Insights podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and YouTube (embedded link below).